Pirates v Squid

Doctor Atlantis is GOING NATIONAL!!!

2012-01-22T20:14:00.000-08:00

(Hey All, I've stopped updating this blog since I moved my work to my new blog, but for news this big I had to go back and post it on my dusty old blog)

Big News!!! My collaborative series "Doctor Atlantis" will be submitting to Diamond Distribution in late Februrary in an effort to go NATIONAL!

But there's a catch, we need money! Doctor Atlantis' writer, Ian Ally-Seals, has setup a KICKSTARTER project to gather funds for printing and advertising costs.

Even if you're not able to pitch in you can still check out Ian's amazing pitch for the series. It's so amazing it even makes me giddy, and I've been drawing this series for over a year now!

I'M MOVING!

2011-10-02T21:42:00.000-07:00

Well I'm finally moving!
No, not my physical address, just my blog.

I figured Pirates V Squid was a bit too random and nondescriptive
of the work I actually do,so for all future updates
please check out and bookmark...

THE MAD MIND OF MEFF

(fun fact: the actual URL doesn't have "the" in it)

My new header is a a head.

Doctor Atlantis issue 2 coming soon!

2011-08-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

AHOY all you Landlubbers! The second issue of Doctor Atlantis is in the final stages of production and should be in print by mid to late September.

I didn't want to show any art that would spoil the story, but here's a taste of the badassery to come!

If you want to know more about the writer and good people that publish it, check out their site at Rare Earth Comics

my studio space

2011-08-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

this is actually a shameless post so i can use the image on a message board trying to split the space, but if you're curious where i work... here it is!

new caricature flyer

2011-07-01T16:10:00.000-07:00

After Pinching pennies with all my black and white caricature flyer designs, I've finally done a color one. Hopefully this will grab some eyes out there, but I'd love to get your feedback on it.

Is it a good image? How does it read? and most of all, do you have any better suggestions for the tag line at the top? I want something with "caricatures" and "your party" in it, but beyond that I'm open to suggestions.

web source for craigslist posts

2011-06-16T21:52:00.001-07:00

hey all, this is just the header and sample footer for my craigslist post. i tried to house these images on the web via flickr but it turns out it stinks

early sketches for "paper"

2011-06-06T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
these are just some early sketches of the characters for a new webcomic I'm working on that will be available through Rare Earth Comics sometime this summer. It's called "paper."

caricature flyers, first

2011-05-29T20:26:00.001-07:00

caricature flyers

2011-05-29T20:19:00.000-07:00

these are the latest caricature flyers im using. i'd love any input anyone has or a preference between the two.

Coming Soon.... DOCTOR ATLANTIS!

2011-03-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

I just sent off the bitmapped files for my first major collaborative book, "Doctor Atlantis." It was conceived of and scripted by the brilliant Ian Ally-Seals of Rare Earth Comics, and pencilled/inked by myself.

It should hit the printers by May and using REC's resources, will have a wider range of distribution than my other mini's. Here's the uncolored, inked cover in all it's bad-assery.

Speaking of covers, here's the rough pencils on Waking Dreams #3.

There will be dog-men and robo-fists.

Waking Dreams #1 pt1

2011-03-30T17:41:00.000-07:00

Cover

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Waking Dreams #1 pt2

2011-03-30T17:38:00.000-07:00

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 9

Waking Dreams #1 pt3

2011-03-30T17:33:00.001-07:00

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12

Page 13

Page 14

Waking Dreams #1 pt4

2011-03-30T17:30:00.001-07:00

Page 15

Page 16

Page 17

Page 18

Page 19

Waking Dreams #1 pt5

2011-03-30T17:28:00.001-07:00

Page 20

Page 21

Page 22

Page 23

Page 24

Waking Dreams #2 pt1

2011-03-30T17:26:00.001-07:00

Cover

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Waking Dreams #2 pt2

2011-03-30T17:24:00.003-07:00

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Waking Dreams #2 pt2

2011-03-30T17:24:00.001-07:00

Waking Dreams #2 pt3

2011-03-30T17:22:00.001-07:00

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12

Page 13

Page 14

Waking Dreams #2 pt4

2011-03-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

Page 15

Page 16

Page 17

Page 18

Page 19

Waking Dreams #2 pt5

2011-03-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

Page 20

Page 21

Page 22

Page 23

Page 24

Unstoppable pt1

2011-03-30T17:08:00.000-07:00

Here's the second half of the first issue of "Unstoppable." After doing the first 13 pages back in october I decided not to continue the series in full effort, but I did want to provide some degree of closure for the first part of the story. Brace yourself, it's bummer-city.

Unstoppable cover rough

Page 14

Unstoppable pt2

2011-03-29T21:11:00.000-07:00

Page 15

Page 16

Page 17

Page 18

Page 19

Unstoppable pt3

2011-03-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

Page 20

Page 21

Page 22

Page 23

Page 24

Ninja = cute?

2011-03-29T21:02:00.000-07:00

This was a contribution to a friend's ninja anthology. After considering all these dark ideas playing on how ninjas are just glorified honorless assassins... I end up going cute. Ah well, it was a good opportunity to experiment with other inking methods and focus on spot blacks.

Mixed Nuts

2010-11-30T08:34:00.000-08:00

Despite all my griping about Hampshire college, I actually like some of the people there. That's why I redid the Mixed Nuts food co-op logo recently when they told me they were reprinting it for t-shirts. So here's the old and new logos:

Old:

New:

A Brief History of Time

2010-11-30T08:31:00.000-08:00

"A Brief History of Time" by Garl Mefferd (next time I'll watch the curls on my C's):
this was my contribution to the Trees and Hills anthology "Time" (which compliments their concurrent anthology "Play")

BEEFSTEAK!!!

2010-11-30T08:26:00.000-08:00

Now this one needs some explaining; After seeing the amazing work done by our female classmates with their Pinup calendar, the guys organized their own manly version called "BeefSteak." Here's my contribution, a scottish-caber-tossing themed version of Nick Patten, fellow cartoonist who has a lot of the same features I do (dark beard, glasses).

If you'd like to purchase a copy either talk to me or check it out with the man who organized it all; Josh Kramer.

CBLDF Monsters

2010-11-30T08:22:00.000-08:00

These were a blast. A comic site was raising money for the comic book legal defense fund (aka CBLDF or those badass defenders of the first amendment). They did so by selling original sketches of monsters on ebay.

And get this, I got an email from the guy who bought one of mine saying how happy he was with it! Turns out it was the Book Burning Boiler.

This is evidence that I need to do more fun pinup work.

Dream Comic

2010-11-30T08:17:00.000-08:00

Despite the name this isn't really related to my "Waking Dreams" series. This was part of a 4 page (and cover) assignment at the beginning of the semester. We had to make a comic using a mish mash of our recorded dreams as the material.

Suffice to say it's probably the weirdest and creepiest story I've drawn. Be afraid of my subconscious, be very afraid...

Thesis Poster

2010-11-30T08:14:00.000-08:00

Here's the two versions of my poster for thesis. I ended up going with the smooth grays since there's no point to halftones in a big polished piece. I'm still not used to working in greytones but I think I'm getting better:

Concepts, Turn-Arounds and Thumbnails... oh my!

2010-11-30T08:09:00.000-08:00

Here's some of the concept art, model sheets and thumbnails for Waking Dreams #1

I've been getting into doing thumbnails as a major part of my writing process. It feels so much more natural to "write" with pictures rather than typing it all out and trying to cram them panel layouts.

here's two sets of concepts and turn arounds for the characters Raina and Mika. I ended up losing Mika's cat mask seen in the blueline version, too clunky:

here's the concepts for the cat folk from Mika's tribe, I really wanted to make them each individuals, plus I've loved drawing anthropomorphic critters since growing up on the ninja turtles:

the crime: blog neglection; sentence: blogging!

2010-11-30T07:56:00.000-08:00

Alright, I've been yet again neglecting my blog, but I've got a good reason... I've been drawing my ass off! Here's the first of many new posts to get me caught up.

These are the rough pencils for my first issue of the rebooted "Waking Dreams." You'll have to wait until the printed version to see the words but I hope you like the sketchy pictures in the meantime:

Thesis pages part 1

2010-10-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

So I've been seriously neglecting this blog, but on the bright side I've been drawing my keister off. For our first month back at CCS we were assigned 16 pages combining work from our thesis with a dream comic (coming soon).

The following 13 pages (plus model sheets) are the opening of the first issue of a story I probably wont be continuing but was very into for a while. I've been pitching it as Don Quixote meets Rudy and it's more or less a story about perseverance in the face of the ass-kicking challenges of life.

pg 1 & 2

pg 3 & 4

"Cain" model sheet

extras model sheet

"Ernst" model sheet

thesis pages part 2

2010-10-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

pg 5 &6

pg 7 & 8

pg 9 & 10

pg 11 & 12

pg 13

yep! it's another cliffhanger! but for what it's worth the whole issue would have covered the resulting fight, which may yet be written and drawn.

"Waking Dreams"

2010-05-07T10:20:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, here my final project from my first year at CCS. It's called the mini-thesis and is the first story in a series called "Waking Dreams" that I've been toying with for a while now.

I worked my ass off on the art but the writing and dialog definitely could have used another run-through.

concept art for big mini thesis comic

2010-04-12T20:35:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, it's been a while since I posted but I've been busy at work on my mini thesis comic at CCS. I figured I'd share some of the model sheets and concept art that I have so far to give an idea of what's to come.

The Night Train

2010-03-23T23:06:00.000-07:00

This was my contribution to a White River Junction themed comic newspaper called "Caboose"
My story is called "The Night Train" though that may not be clear from how chaotic the page is.

BEARFIGHT

2010-03-04T14:34:00.000-08:00

I just finished my application to the awesome BEARFIGHT anthology being produced by Banner Year Press

Ma Barker: The She Wolf & her Viper Brood

2010-02-15T15:18:00.000-08:00

The closing story for our comic was "Ma Barker: The She Wolf & her Viper Brood," a dramatic retelling of the final showdown with the queen of the 1930's criminal underground.

Tom Casteel did the story and script, I penciled and inked the figures while Jesse Mead penciled and inked the backgrounds and vehicles, the coloring was done by a mix of Nomi Kane, Jesse Mead and myself.

LADY KILLERS!!!

2010-02-15T15:04:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone, CCS kicked off the spring semester with a massive group project where we collaboratively made a 32 page color comic in the tradition of Golden Age comic genres.

For ours we made a true crime collection of short stories called "Lady Killers!"

(The cover was penciled by me, inked by the amazing Steve Bissette, colored by the incredible Nomi Kane with the logo and side icons made by Josh Kramer)

I'm only posting the story that I penciled and inked along with Jesse Mead but follow the links below to find the work from the rest of our motley crew:

Steve Bissette (manager): srbissette.com

Tom Casteel: tomcasteel.tumblr.com

Andy Christensen: andymancomics.blogspot.com

Nomi Kane: www.brewforbreakfast.com

Josh Kramer: joshkramer.wordpress.com

Jesse Mead: jessemadeablog.wordpresss.com

UP! FAIR

2010-02-06T14:27:00.000-08:00

hey all, the good people from the "art & story" podcast are organizing an indie comic convention next november in kentucky. i dont know if i'll attend personally but i know they're awesome and their sweet voices have kept me company through many lonely nights at my drawing desk... so take a look!

Comic Pitch for "Trees and Hills"

2010-01-31T11:37:00.000-08:00

I just emailed this 4 page short to the New England indie comic group "Trees and Hills" for their next anthology. I'm crossing my fingers that it'll get in but even if it doesn't here it is for you to see!
Page1

page2

page 3

page 4

Boy <3 Robot

2009-12-31T19:22:00.001-08:00

I've been done with this comic for a while now but I just recently resized it for web viewing. This is my contribution to a wonderful CCS collaborative anthology comic called "Automatons in Love"

Props to my partners in crime: Jesse D, Carol and Kevin.

2009-12-31T19:21:00.000-08:00

"Boy <3 Robot" Part 1

2009-12-31T19:19:00.000-08:00

"Boy <3 Robot" Part 2

finally FINALLY updating...

2009-11-26T22:24:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,
Sorry I haven't updated this thing in forever, but I had a good excuse: I've been busy at my first year at the Center for Cartoon Studies and spending all my time drawing my butt off! I did some scans of the art and minicomics I've produced since I got here, but I'll just start with the most recent one.

This is for an assignment called "Bibliomancy" in which we create a story from 3 or 4 randomly chosen images/words, hopefully that the overall weirdness of it... enjoy!

Cover:

Page 1:

Page 2:

Page 3:

Page 4:

Filler Page:

my car is now cool

2009-09-02T21:08:00.000-07:00

I'm too tired to think of anything clever to say in this post, so I hope the pictures will speak for themselves. yes, this is my car and I painted it myself.

gene simmons

2009-08-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

I got this idea for gene simmons taking communion and thought it would be a funny single panel gag. I rushed it out as a warm up drawing, but if it gets a few chuckles I may go back and redraw it. Yes, the latin words are mixed up and inaccurate.

Pilgrimage Page 22

2009-07-31T15:56:00.001-07:00

smaller resized pixel format(below)

larger standard size

Here's the latest page and the last one I'm doing before the CCS Summer Cartooning Workshop (during which I'll be working on a short story comic).

I'm posting it twice to experiment with how different sizes look on my Blog, I may take one down in a bit.

"Pilgrimage" Page 21

2009-07-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

*phew* new page done, and it's also the first page of the next scene in my webcomic which will feature less visual storytelling and more actual dialog.... so get ready for my terrible writing!

Joking aside, I think my writing is one of the weakest areas of my work so it's hard to put my text-heavy pages out there. But you learn by doing so here they be. As always, input is most welcome.

captain's cabin concept

2009-07-09T18:14:00.001-07:00

More concept art, this time for the scene after next in my webcomic. it's a conversation between Hallow and a mentor-like figure to him by the name of Captain Gustavis. He's old, retired and now lives on the top of a hill on the island in his permanently grounded ship. The whole thing is upsidedown so the hull is the roof (top sketch) and the captain's quarters are the living room(bottom sketch). I'm sure I'll find ways to change it before I do the final pages but I'm pretty happy with these early concepts.

dragon concept cont.

2009-07-09T11:40:00.001-07:00

Here's my follow up to my last post about game concept art. I've been really influenced from recent gaming trends building relationships with constant game companions like Argo from Shadow of the Colossus, Elika from Prince of Persia or the dog from Fable 2. I think introducing a virtual companion in a solitary activity like single player gaming really does a lot to bring you into the game and opens up tons of possibilities for emotionally resonant storytelling.

So in that train of thought I brainstormed a dragon companion for my Dragon Slayer game idea. As a contrast to more menacing Dragons which appear very scaly, reptilian or bat-like and lanky, I've visually geared this character to be something both beastly and approachable. I drew some inspiration from characters from films like Falco from the Neverending story or Ludo from Labyrinth, but ultimately the heart of the character lies in man's best friend, Dogs. Specially, bulldogs. As a breed they capture that combination of stout sturdy toughness with lovable personality. For the wings I wanted something more noble than the ominous bat-wings so I drew from eagles. The tail, instead of ending in a stinger or serpentine tip, is a big club like a Glyptodon (prehistoric mammal) which serves as both a gameplay tool and to make the character seem tough but not vicious (in the spectrum of violence, pounding seems less dastardly than cutting).

My only concern is how the sketch "reads" to someone not as familiar with the characters as I am. Anyways, that's enough blabbing for now.

concept art week

2009-07-08T21:46:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned to a couple people that I'm concentrating on my concept art this week, though I'm studying a bunch of "The Art of..." books most of my original concepts are geared towards either my comic or my (prepare for the geekiness) game design ideas. One idea came after hearing about the sucky dragon-oriented game "Lair" and thinking about how I'd design a Dragon Slayer-type game if I could.

The sketch above is my idea for the protagonist for such a game. I wanted someone relatable and not overly powered. Rather than being a big strong knight in shining armor slashing away, you'd be a short, scrappy peasant boy climbing onto dragons' backs and finding strategies for beating them (heavy "Shadow of the Colossus" influence here). The character has a youthful look, loose hair for flapping in the breeze, big hands, feet and ears to give him more of a monkey-ish look (back to the climbing around part) and he's visibly burdened by all the various gear the typical fantasy hero sports (shield, sword, dagger, satchel, and in his case... a retractable clockwork grappling hook)

That last part is a mixed inspiration from steampunk, Rorsache's grappling hook from Watchmen and the clockwork weaponary of Fable 2, but really it's just a gameplay device to add depth to combat strategy and ways to quickly get onto the dragon's body.

I'm going to try to do some more concept art by the end of the week and add it on here. Maybe some more game-related stuff, maybe some concept work from my comics.

Pilgrimage pg 20

2009-06-24T13:55:00.000-07:00

Page 20

here's the latest page in my webcomic, the first one inked with the oh-so-wonderful Pentel Pocket Brushpen (*swoons*) and probably one of my more complex scene transitions and landscape shots. I've got such tunnel-vision with this comic that for all I know the narrative is totally incomprehensible, this is where you come in, dear reader, if you'd like to share your two cents on what's clear or unclear, I'm always interested in feedback.

accepted into the center for cartoon studies

2009-06-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

I just realized that after being so excited about my acceptance to The Center for Cartoon Studies, I didn't mention it on here. Well I got in!!! If you're one of the people I talked to about this while still waiting to hear back applying then you know how much I had invested in this. If you're curious about the school you should check it out, they have a very approachable website:

www.cartoonstudies.org

I attend this fall, I'm so psyched!!! :D

caricature flyer

2009-06-09T16:08:00.001-07:00

This post will earn the immediate derision of my friends Dac and Katie who have seen me go through so many versions of my business card and caricature flyer... but I don't care, I'm totally onto something this time!

I agonized over my first flyer trying to get it just right, but only now do I realize the major problems with it: namely, it doesn't "read" well from a distance (everything is small, cramped and it doesn't use contrast well) and there's nothing innately fun about it. So here's the old one...

For my new one it's still just in the very rough sketch stage, but I've eliminated the photo of me, created a more outrageous and whimsical caricature of myself shouting, and cut out most of my blabbing so it just tells the reader the keywords: CARICATURE/PARTY/FREE

...the more i look at it the more i think i drew myself like TOTORO, props if you get that reference.

Application comic for The Center for Cartoon Studies

2009-06-05T18:37:00.000-07:00

The Center for Cartoon Studies has a wonderful and strange application process. Part of the required portfolio is a 2-3 page comic that includes: the applicant, a robot, a snowman and a piece of fruit. Here's what I came up with in my demented imagination...

pg1

pg2

pg3

"Pilrgimage" Scene 3 (most of it)

2009-06-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

Page 15

Page 16

Page 17

Page 18 (unfinished)

The last page in this post and second to last of this scene shows my page "in process", most of the pencils down, just me lazily putting off the last of the inking. oi
...it probably breaks the reading flow to keep the unfinished page 18 in here, but I like to show the before and after of penciling and inking to those unfamiliar with the process.

Page 18 (finished)

Page 19

bridge sketch

2009-06-04T15:10:00.001-07:00

this is just a quick sketch that i did while i went for a walk today. while i was out i got a random heckle from some guy passing by in a car. of course all i could get was "*mumble mumble mumble* ...suck!"

I really like the structure of this bridge for some reason. It engages the space and it's easy to imagine someone hanging out along the lower ends where the railing are and looking into the river. small town details like that I hope will help one of my future comic projects.

sketchbook dragons

2009-06-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

the main reason I dont share my sketchbook stuff is, despite how much I enjoy it, my scribbly sketches are practically illegible to anyone but me. maybe i'll go over them in ink sometime...

anywho... dragons!

"Pilgrimage" Scene 2-part2

2009-06-02T13:06:00.001-07:00

Page 11

Page 12

Page 13

Page 14

"Pilgrimage" Scene 2-part1

2009-06-02T12:50:00.000-07:00

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

"Pilgrimage" Scene 1

2009-06-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

First Blog EVER!!!

2009-06-02T11:48:00.000-07:00

Alright people, this is my first blog ever, so strap in for a bumpy ride.

I'm still having trouble controlling the size the image appears on the screen, but here's a tip for more versatile viewing, for PC users, you can zoom in or out on any webpage by holding "Ctrl" and rolling the scroll wheel on your mouse (if you have one) or pressing the "+" or "-" buttons.

Neat, huh?