Come together by Bob Byrne

I really enjoyed last weeks posts about the studios so maybe another idea for us time pressed Micks would be to talk about the one comic that pushed us over the edge and made us want to do this nonsense...?

Spazzmoid is heating up so don't miss it! Also, don't know if all the Irish readers have yet seen my infamous Joe Duffy Soundboard thats burning up the internet. Fruitcake homo hamburger

Also my new design blog

The Return by Stephen Thompson

Batman's costume is getting a little tweak when Bruce Wayne returns courtesy of David Finch, so I thought I'd take a stab at it. Plus It gave me a excuse to do some pencilling and get away from the Cintiq for once.

Exciting update! I threw some ink on it.

Cú Chulainn

I think over the course of the last decade, I've written about ten Cú Chulainn stories. When I was in college I wanted to do a short film, when I worked in 3D I wanted to do an animation. Then, at the back of my mind for years, I've wanted to do a comic about him.
The beauty of the Cú Chulainn myth is exactly that, its a myth. With many different interpretations.

Early stories of the Ulster cycle deal with vicious heroes, dating back from the high middle ages.
Centuries later than that, the stories took a much more heroic stance. One to rival the Arthurian legends coming from across the Irish sea
In the late 1800's the Cú Chulainn stories centred around him fighting for oppressed people, reflecting our own countries struggles against the British at the time.

So with that I've decided on my own version. Its something that I'm going to tip away at in my own free time so expect to see the odd panel and character design pop up here on the blog.

I've drawn it very open line, as I'm going to leave a lot of the work to colour, something I'm getting more and more into these days

KING KRYPTON

Saw this yesterday. HAD to draw it. It's a super-Gorilla for godsake!

Dec.

Party like it's 1999

A reeeaaaallly old one today, just for yuks. I drew this Grifter way back in '99, when I was 21, during Travis Charest's second run on the Wildcats book. I was mad for all things Grifter, it just didn't get any more nineties for me. Looking back at this is kinda painful, as the staging is AWFUL(the muzzle-flash from his pistol isn't even on the freakin' page), the motorcycle is completely made up and wacky, and it's over-rendered within an inch of it's life(as was everything I used to draw). Still, has the odd bit of decent draftsmanship here and there, and more importantly it brings back very fond memories of drawing all day everyday, and dreaming of life as a professional comicbook artist.

Ah, memories....

Fall Girl

Nick's not at home. Hence this automated opt-out of show and tell.

Another old Batgirl drawing (I was mildly obsessed briefly), this time with added confusion. It's a scan of a photocopy too, but I dug it out with an interest to practicing some inking digitales on it. Hmm. Watch this space...

Studio Corner by Len O'Grady

This project caught me at a good time, since I just cleaned up between gigs. Space is at a premium until we move again, so the drawing table with Cintiq cradle is in storage. Instead, I've got a heavy-ass glass table which doubles as a book case. The majority of toys and all my statues are in storage. Comp copies are kept in the boxes underneath- they'll be heading to storage once I get motivated. Big Rubbermaid Drawers for Pads, computer bits and bobs and such.

Anatomy, Comic Book Theory, Movie/Artbooks and Graphic Novels. The top shelf hold stuff I've done that has been collected (sweeties are kept in the ceramic Vader head). Small Rubbermaid Drawers are handy for all my art materials, application manuals and various fiddly bits. Amongst the wee bottles are my two best friends in a deadline crisis: 5 hour energy shots and eyedrops. The whiteboard is magnetized so it doubles up for ideas and schedules.

If killing time, the Xbox, Wii and big ass Telly are just in the other corner. Outside is looking a lot better then usual, so here's the view outside my front door.

Studio by Bob Byrne

My studio is up these stairs....


My girlfriend NEVER comes up to visit except to print things. We both lived in an apartment in Dublin where my desk was in the living room so we were sitting 3ft apart both with headphones on so I absolutely love having my own space now

The studio leads on to the terrace which is the same size as the room itself, it's great. We're right on the top floor so nobody can see on to it. I sit over there on the left.

To the right is a collapsable desk with my pc and my top secret hydroponics lab where you can see three little baby hash plants just about to sprout into monsters. Above it is my notice board which I usually use as a production list but as you can see there's not much happening!

Beside that is the book shelf. Not that many comics or toys, mostly incredibly interesting history and educational manuals. Notice the pink stair stepper machine, absolutely indispensable for exercising. I'd recommend all you Micks get one, every time I send a big file or whatever I hop on that thing and strut it with gay abandon.

Here is my desk. I put a custom sliding tray on it for the Cintiq and it's perfect for switching between the two screens.


And what studio would complete without a visit from other artists?


So that's my place. Not very swanky like Mooney's but check out my view from the terrace. I sit out there drinking most days when I should be working. It's really calm.


So now you know where the magic is made, go read some, the last panel is something every artist can relate to.

Our Studio by Stephen Thompson

I've shared a studio with my girlfriend, painter and illustrator Lisa Jackson, for more than four years now so this place is a bit of a mixed bag. Starting from the left we have a big bank of built in wardrobes where I store a lot of my comics and various assorted crapola. Stuck to the front of these is a bit of paper where I mark off my pages when they're done. Then some IKEA shelving of dubious build quality which hold novels, manga and heavy art books/absolute editions along the bottom. Lisa keeps her creepy japanese dolls along the top of the shelves. Beside these are a skinnier set of shelves which hold dvds. In the centre of the room we have our desks facing each other so we can get lost in each other's eyes when we not working. Lisa has an easel set up to her left to fulfil her painty needs. On my desk I have the Cintiq front and centre 'cause I do almost all my work on that these days. Behind the monitor you can see the A3 scanner/printer for the rare occasions when I do physical art, nothing worse than having to stitch bits of a page together on Photoshop. Behind that are the windows (which always have the blinds down) and the door to the balcony. Then we have my big squishy office chair and behind that are the shelves that hold comics with art I really love, close at hand. And then that just leaves the door.

STUDIO by Will Sliney

I must've missed the email where we all decided to do this but its fun none the less. Of course as we all know, none of us can compete with Mooneys Castle, and like Declan, I too am in a temporary set up in my old room seeing as though I hva just come back from New York.

Anyways, lets get the ball rolling shall we.

Heres the main drawing area. Including a chair I robbed from my old college. I searched all over Cork for a proper curved table that I can swoop around going from computer to drawing board but the cheapest one was 500 euros so Ive come up with a temporary solution by combining desks. The table set up goes from Art Materials, to drawing board (Soon to have a lightbox on one side of it), to laptop, to cintiq, to iPad. I use the iPad a lot now for scripts and referance as its quite quick and easy to navigate. The laptop just powers the cintiq and usually plays a DVD or some music. Above the desk are old Everton and Ireland match tickets and to the right are old comic book panels that have been in my room since I was a teenager.
Look closely and you can see Crichton and Aeryn from Farscape peering over the cintiq, willing me to get the pages drawn.


Next up we have the library. Its mainly Marvel stuff to be honest, and mainly Spiderman at that. Although the DC collection has been building up a bit more in the last year or so. See those things to the left Declan, they are called weights.


Standing tall and proud atop the bookshelf are those Marvel Figurines. I stopped collecting them about a year ago but I do intend on picking up a lot more. I have a lot of things planned for when I build my own studio. A shelf housing these guys is one of those plans.


The reason why I loved those little figurines is that they stopped me buying tons of action figures. I couldnt resist these MOTU ones though. The designs on these figures are amazing. Doing a He-Man comic one day is definately an ambition of mine.

Art materials. My favourite are the Zebra pens got from JET pens online. Cheers to Bobby Timmony of DC's Night Owls for the heads up

And finally an old, old Spiderman painting from one of the five times in my life that I painted

WORKSPACE

I say 'workspace' as this hardly qualifies s a 'studio'. I'm back home working from my old room at the moment, so it's a pretty basic set-up. Only 'the ladies' get a tour of my bedroom (It's just a bed and some boxes at the moment) so this is the only thing i have to show you people.

Yeah, pretty big step down from Mooney's PALACE yesterday, but what're you gonna do? Working on a spoilerific Thunderbolts page today so i have to cover that up. What's on the screen might be of interest though... Don't tell anyone....

Dec.


EDIT:

Uncle Will here jumping in with a bonus Pic of Dec hard at work in New York

Magical Mystery Studio Tour

So I'll get the ball rolling on our 'Studio Tours' week here on the old Mickage blog.
After I got married a couple years back, we moved into our new house. I got the chance to design my perfect studio/imagination bachelor pad since we were having the house built from scratch.
I of course made sure to urinate on the structure every few weeks during the building process so as to assert my territorial claim on the land.

And so to the studio. I found it hard to take any one picture that encompassed the whole room as it's pretty large, so I'll take you round it in bite-sized chunks. The walls haven't been properly painted yet, so forgive that aspect, I'm thinking a nice azure blue. I made sure to take the opportunity to tidy the place up before taking the photos, as who doesn't love laborious housecleaning?

Picture the first:

This is my computer desk and work area. I recently got the new i7 27-inch imac and am totally in love with it. If I weren't already married I'd make it my wife. You can see my toy cabinet on the left with some of my japanese masterpiece edition transformers. On top of the cabinet is the picture of Thompson I keep for inspiration and arousal. Over the computer hangs my original Adam Hughes cover art for a Batman issue. The shelves hold various art and reference books, eg the Complete Calvin and Hobbes, various art of books(Drew Struzan, Mike Mignola, Sebastian Krúger... etc). You can also make out the cool Raiders Lego in front of the Gorillaz boxes.

M

My drawing board adjacent to the computer desk, where all the 'magic' happens....
Some more shelves and drawers on the left hold original art and supplies. More transformers up top.
Graphic novels underneath.

Another shot of that side of the room. Note the sweet Technic Lego Ferrari Enzo and the countless versions of Trivial Pursuit I've collected over the years. Comicbooks on the shelves underneath. These are the ones I haven't been able to find in trade form, and so hang onto.

A view of the other end of the room, with the bar on the left and the lounge area on the right.

Close up of the bar. I imagine once i develope the inevitable drinking problem that this will become an issue. A wee nip of courage in the morning before, during, and after work never hurt anybody, right?
On top of the bar among the various bottles is the lovely Nespresso machine I got as a wedding present. Sweet java eases the pain. That's Angel Puppet from the 'Smile Time' episode of the show taking a load off on the recliner. He's earned it.

This is the lounge area, where I get my movie/videogame on. The room has great acoustics for the surround sound, so this is where I spend most of my (minimal) spare time. Had a great couple of days recently with Dec killing zombies on Left 4 Dead 2. On the wall Thunderball-era Sean Connery surveys proceedings. You can see 'Cover Run', Adam Hughes' new art of book on the coffee table.
The teeny pic on the windowsill is of the wife, Jackie. Note the pretentious decanter of Brandy on the side table.

 View of the other end of the room from the TV. That's our stuffed penguin, Charlie, knocking out some z's. I really need to paint those walls...

My DVD shelves beside the drawing table. On top of them are my sideshow Buffy/Angel toys, and the wondrous Lego Milenium Falcon. Beside those is the beautiful premier edition sideshow statue of Indiana Jones from Raiders, my favourite toy. Jackie bought it for me as a wedding gift. She also got me a macbook as an engagement present after I gave her the ring. Truly she is the king of kings.

And finally the other side of the room, with the guest artist desks. On the wall is my original Ivan Reis art, the double-page splash of all of the yellow lanterns approaching Earth from Green Lantern issue 24. My two brothers got it for me as a wedding present, and I adore it. Also on the wall is a photo of the future(bigamy-permitting) other Mrs. Mooney, the delectable Ms. Portman.

Some mook posing as an artist.

Bat Brush

More booty from my recently unlocked treasure trove. An experimental Batgirl done wiv brush; a country that is usually alien to me.

More on this theme next week...

Doctor Fate

Now for something completely different- after last weeks detailed stuff, this one is more in the style of DC's animation. Doctors Strange and Fate are amongst my favorite characters the the rosters of the Big Two.