Gerz Blog

identify-a-bull

Sat, 18 May 2013 22:09:29 GMT

Here is how the "Cowboy Cerebus" turned out:

I decided to blatantly rip off... uh, I mean... pay homage to... the "Bully for Bugs" Warner Brothers Looney Tunes cartoon.

I hope that's accept-a-bull. (Sorry... that was unpardon-a-bull... sorry again... what an ultra-maroon.)

shitty future

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:53:37 GMT

Here is a commission request that I received from Patrick:

"With my writing partner, I publish a weird little book about how much I love my dog. The series leans on the 'man and dog wander the wasteland' trope to tell a number of different type of stories... I'm looking for a page that sums up a shitty future in one image... The setting for our story is America after a food shortage kills off most people and makes cannibals-of-opportunity out of the rest. Many cities are still intact, but most people have taken to living as far away from others as they can manage... The atomized society, without a single bomb."

After a lot of thought about what the world would look like under these circumstances, and with some thoughts from Patrick, I came up with a kitchen scene - sans zen and feng shui...

I thought: if there's no food you don't need the fridge, then it might make a good gun cabinet; you can store ammo in the freezer.

I wanted one element that contrasted the dim and grim scene and the snow globe idea just cracked me up.

The roaches were the finishing touch: ya just gotta have roaches.

Kraven images

Mon, 13 May 2013 20:52:57 GMT

Here's how my inking turned out on Zeck's Kraven piece...

...and here is a quick colour treatment that I did on the computer.

This came out kinda on the purple side and is really just "pre-visualization".

An interesting side note: Charles, who commissioned me to add the backgrounds and colour to this piece, likes the inked version just the way it is and has asked me to colour a print instead. Which is exactly what I was going to suggest to him.

I love it when things work out like that.

almost there... updated!!!

Mon, 06 May 2013 14:43:47 GMT

I got some more prints back from the printer...

I increased the contrast and bumped up the highlights on the underwater scene which improved it dramatically. The "Regency in Ruins" is still a little on the blue side but much better as far as brightness and contrast goes. The main issue now is the weight of the paper that has been used. I've now decided that it's too light and am going to try a heavier print-making paper.

The panorama view of the room from "The Last Day" is kinda cool; it's 3 feet wide and can be trimmed off and taped together to form a true 360 degree view of the room.

Maybe I could market this as a Cerebus Last Day wastebasket or something.

No! Wait!! I've got it!!!

Introducing the Cerebus Last Day Lampshade!

(You know you want one... you know you do.)

spring has sprung

Sun, 05 May 2013 10:58:01 GMT

"Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment." -Robert Benchley

It's tough to get drawing done when life keeps getting in the way. At least I'm getting some quality time outside now and then.

“Most lives are not distinguished by great achievements. They are measured by an infinite number of small ones. Each time you do a kindness for someone or bring a smile to their face, it gives your life meaning.” -Lisa Kleypas

Pride Stables: providing therapeutic horseback riding for the disabled, along with fresh air, exercise and meaningfulness.

Donate today www.pridestables.com

Kraven in the Rain

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 16:32:58 GMT

I finally got around to roughing in a background on the Zeck Kraven piece that I picked up from Charles at the Toronto ComiCon.

On the left is the tracing paper overlay with my pencils. On the right is my digital manipulation of same.

Zeck had inked the ledge at the bottom all the way to the edges of the illustration board.

I thought that I'd try an inset border because a) I don't like drawing all the way to the edge of the paper, b) I love having some of the elements extend beyond that inset border, and c) I thought it might be interesting to leave some of Zeck's original drawing untouched to provide a sort of "before and after" effect.

That may all change. Especially if Charles doesn't like the idea or how it looks.

home on the range...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:02:17 GMT

Here's a fun sketch Dave did back in '82 that Steven S. has acquired and asked me to do something in the background.

The first thing I did was import the above photo into my image editing software, flatten it out and get rid of the glare. Like this...

...I printed that out and then, since this was a quick, fun sketch, I decided to stay in that vein and do something quick and fun...

I call it, "Wrong Side of the Fence".

Now, when the original arrives in the mail, all I have to do is redraw it full size and, you know... better.

someday, my prints will come...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 22:37:35 GMT

I took the Regency in Ruins to the scanning place and had them do a print.

I'm quite surprised at the difference in colour, clarity and contrast. That's the print on the left.

It's darker, muddier and waaaaaaaaaaay too purple. I'm going to take the original back in and have them try it again.

The other World Without Cerebus prints came out pretty cool though...

Once I get them all looking the way that I think they should look, I will post ordering information here for anybody who is interested.

gone painting...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:31:33 GMT

“Tell people an invisible man in the sky created all things, they believe you.

Tell them what you've painted is wet, they have to touch it to believe.”

- George Carlin

Sorry, I haven't posted anything new for a while because I accepted a gig painting and renovating a 200 year old house and it's turned into a big job. Be back at the drawing board soon.

Regency coloured

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:29:27 GMT

Here is how the colouring turned out on the "Regency in Ruins"...

... or at least this is a photo of how it turned out. It doesn't quite live up to the real thing. I'm going to have a high quality scan of this done and I will post the results here.

Then we can talk about prints... of this and other World Without Cerebus pieces as well.