Unpublished Projects: Josef Talon Falconer: the (almost) series

(the text for this piece is a "work in progress", dear readers- soon as i finish it I'll update - for now enjoy the art of an artist who ALSO was a work in progress...;o)

This project underwent many variations since i first came up with it a few years before i became a pro artist-so that would be late '70s, early '80s.























These last three pieces were updates- the cover that Matt and I did was sitting around-still is- and i scanned it then did a wash over it.




the Drac and Falconer sketches were for a story i was gonna do back in '01-never got past the sketches-lol...;o)

Commissions...

Iwas asked to do a in up for friend's Chris Mills and Joe Staton's online strip FEMME NOIR.

They're putting out a book with several stories and a few pin ups soon-now here's the amusing thing-to me- my first attempt was nicely done but very lazy on my part- i went ahead and did "my" version of the lead female character instead of appreciating the author's concept more thoroughly- thus, my "out of period" take on the gal.




OK-my bad-so i redrew the piece more to the atmosphere of old forties detective films,including several villain types in the design.

But something about the composition bothered me.


So...one more time.

This is the one i sent to Chris.

Happily he approved and i moved on with my life...:)




And here's another cover "reimagining" i did for a fan who once asked me to do my version of Spider-Man # 152 with Spidey battling the Shocker.


Here, ol web-head is in the midst of a hot battle with the Molten Man (note Spidey's right arm position-if I'm not mistaken-and it has been many years since i read this-he was fighting with a broken arm that ish so he kept his hand tucked into his "belt.")




More to come...

Sketch Cards for Cancer Auction on Ebay!

Check out the great cards being offered for this very good cause:

COMICS-FOR-CURE

and if you happen to stumble upon mine,all the better for the charity...;o)

Marc of the Vampires 2

Well,here ya go,dear readers- the 2nd Marc story-I'm holding back the scripted version in fairness to the anthology it will be in-when that fine tome is released,I'll let y'all know-enjoy:

Marc of the Vampires

A long time ago,in a galaxy far...uhm...wrong backstory...

One day,many years ago,i was sitting in a hotel restaurant in San Diego (i think it was San Diego) talking with old friends Mark Wheatley,Marc Hempel and a few others about stuff and a vague idea i had for awhile started to gel during our conversation.

i had this idea about a homeless vampire-sleeps in a beat up old refrigerator box instead of a coffin- and had no where to go with it when a play on words brought the title to me- there's an old Bela Lugosi film called MARK OF THE VAMPIRE and as Marc and Mark were sitting right there i thought I'd call it MARC OF THE VAMPIRES-because it's about a vampire named Marc-cute,eh?




Well,i had little more than that for some time,but then Hempel's strip GREGORY was rocking my world and i thought I'd "borrow" a bit of his concept-Marc's character was this little boy who was in an insane asylum-usually in a straitjacket- crazy-yes-crazy entertaining and funny-seek it out-but anyway,i thought that maybe Marc had literally grown up in an asylum-a "home"-where he was taken care of virtually his whole life- other than his Doctor ( Orloff-what's that reference from,true believers?) all he has is his precious books- the fiction of literary giants through out history was his family.

Anyway...it took me years to figure out what Marc looked like and one day i hit on it while watching one of my favorite Japanese film series-ZATOICHI-his battered,unassuming shape and body language speaks volumes about him-it also disguises the beast within-Zatoichi is a master swordsman-a deadly killer-but only wants to be left in peace- Marc has some of those attributes,so i tried drawing him like the actor Katsu Shintaro-and Marc of the Vampires was born!




It was still a few years before i sat down and drew a story with Marc-he even almost became a one panel comic strip,done with black humor-a little Gahan Wilson of sorts-but that proved difficult-i wanted to tell more of his story.

Not being a writer i naturally drew silent tales of Marc's little adventures at first- then i got a chance to put a story with Marc into a book-the MORE FUND BOOK at the Baltimore Comic con-but it needed words-something to explain a little about this mysterious fanged nebbish.

Fortunately Bob Tinnell came up with some words to make things a little less confusing-just a little- Problem was i had a short story's length to tell a graphic novel's story-so i decided to play it like a short chapter of a bigger tale-hoping the fans would beg for more!

The begging never came and his story just ended in the middle of a scene-sigh...

Here's that 1st story:










Yup-that's the whole story- well,not really,but it's all we had room for so that's where it "ends".

We WILL finish it someday-promise-but until then i recently got a second chance at a more self contained story...




to be continued...

Sketchbook 2

Here's a pencil layout for STRANGE ENCOUNTERS,the 48 page special of UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN that Kurt Busiek,Roger Stern,Tom Orzechowski and Matt Hollingsworth did with me-it remains a highlight of my career both artistically and personally- and look at that team!

wowzers...;o)


the layout for a recent Batman/Scarecrow commission:

Cover layout for good buddy Curt Purcell's chapbook,NIGHT FALLS ON A FAIRY TALE:

Layout for a commission of CASABLANCA done as if i was designing a "film poster":



A thumbnail done for a ARMY OF DARKNESS comic audition i started and never finished-sigh...


more to come...;o)

Tragedy Strikes Comic Convention!

Well,not really... but if you go to the following website-COMICMIX-you'll read the newest installment of my bro Bob Tinnell's online strip E Z STREET and you'll see what i mean.

He and old friend Mark Wheatley have been doing this strip for awhile now and it takes some interesting twists and turns thru the industry I've been groovin' in for 24 years-take a look if you like comics,Hammer Horror (you'll see why) or just good writing and drawing.

Sketchbook

The 1st of yet another ongoing feature here in the Blogosphere- i have produced so many individual pieces of art within the various steps i go thru to get to that final piece that many of them never see the light of day-layouts,concept sketches,finished pencils,designs,etc...

This is as good a place as any to dump...er...present them to you,dear reader-i hope you enjoy it...;o)

This first is a sketch i did of Dracula-one of many I've drawn thru the years-but this one was for the proposed adaptation Bob Tinnell and i were going to do-ARE going to do- i tried to get some Hammer DracuLee in there without doing an exact caricature:




this is a pencil page from PARLIAMENT OF JUSTICE-Mike Oeming and i did this book some 5 years ago now but it still gets me some very gratifying compliments:



Yet another favorite character of mine-JONNY DEMON-co created by Kurt Busiek way back at the start of our personal and professional relationship-a great concept that we had to condense into a story half it's size-we both promise to do it justice someday:


This is a page layout for a project that Oeming and i were going to do awhile ago-I'd tell you more but we may still get around to it-i wanna keep some mystery after all:



THE BLACK FOREST sketches-a favorite book of my fans and myself-this is one of the many concept sketches i did before starting the book:


a Catwoman pencil sketch done for a commission:



More to come...

Unpublished Projects...part 4

Here's the sequence i did based on Bob's sketches...









and here's a follow up sequence he added...







The actual work never got seen in published form (nor as a film,sadly) but it did start a working relationship between Bob and I that continues to this day.

PS-a short time later we did a short story based on the opening sequence-changed of course from the TCM connection-and that DID get published in an indy comic called MIDNITE TERRORS.

Unpublished Projects...part 3

The TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE- a title which sends shivers down the spines of those of us who saw it back in 1974 and made us all avoid little backwater towns that sell BBQ.

Well,back before my good friend and writing partner, Robert Tinnell and i got deep into making THE BLACK FOREST and THE WICKED WEST,we did a little project together-it was never really meant for publishing,but it still counts as a "story".

Bob is a veteran filmmaker (his newest flick-he's the writer/director- is in preproduction now) and he was up for a possible directing gig on the remake of TCM- needless to say,he didn't get it (mores the pity,considering the resulting film) but we did do a series of storyboards to show some of Bob's ideas to the producers-Bob asked me to do them based on my comic book experience because he wanted them done almost as a comic-to help the powers that be to get his concept.

What follows are the original boards that Bob himself gave me as a guideline (take my word for it,h's a better filmmaker than an artist-as i suspect I'm a better artist than I'd be a director...;o)





The next pages-in the next post- are what i did with Bob's concept-including another sequence he added to the mix...

Unpublished Projects...part 2

This art was for a Comico Primer cover,way back in the dawn of my career- I plotted a short story based on an idea i had for years before i got into the pro side of things-i also did the pencils-the bonus was that i somehow convinced Matt Wagner of GRENDAL fame to both dialog and ink it!

The story was finished-essentially a 1st chapter to a larger-i hoped-story,which never got published because Comico canceled the Primer book- looking back on it,I'm kinda glad it never was seen-but that's because I'm so critical of the artwork now-some well meaning friends want me to "publish" it here and I'm considering it-we'll see...;o)

PS- the art here is actually not the original way it looked-years later i pulled a "Lucas" and added a wash over it.

Heath Ledger Memorial from Warner Bros.

http://thedarkknight.warnerbros.com/HeathMemorial.html

Unpublished Projects...so far...;o)

This is a promo piece i did (with colorist Matt Webb) for a-hopefully-upcoming book that I'll be doing with my pal,Robert Tinnell.

We wanted to do a comic that was an adaptation of a Dracula film that was never actually made-our take on the Hammer Films style of storytelling-it will be done in a book along with a companion Frankenstein "adaptation" by Bob and Brit artist Adrian Salmon.

Someday...;o)

Favorite Quotes...about me-part 2

"Neil Vokes is a true original -- creative, cantankerous, enthusiastic and an all-around great guy.

I started working with him on Vampirella, and when he was fired from the book by know-nothing bean counters, I called him up to tell him not to take it personally, it's not as if they had any taste or judgment.

That call led to several collaborations, and a warm friendship. I hope I'll still be coming up with projects Neil and I can do together until I retire, and I hope we're friends for even longer."

Kurt Busiek

The Third Man ['49]

"In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance.

In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce?

The cuckoo clock"

VAN HELSING film trailer...sorta...