By the by, if you'd like to get a commission like this of your very own, email me with the details of your request...I'll give you an estimate of how long it'll take, charge you a measly 75 bucks, and we'll get it started!
5.23.2006
Space Girl
Here's a recent commission I did for a fan...pretty fun, I must admit. Bikinis in space...doesn't seem all that practical, but it makes a killer image! Mark, if you're reading, your artwork is on the way!
By the by, if you'd like to get a commission like this of your very own, email me with the details of your request...I'll give you an estimate of how long it'll take, charge you a measly 75 bucks, and we'll get it started!
By the by, if you'd like to get a commission like this of your very own, email me with the details of your request...I'll give you an estimate of how long it'll take, charge you a measly 75 bucks, and we'll get it started!
5.19.2006
Crooks and Liars (and Fascists, apparently!)
I couldn't let this image I created for Seattle's The Stranger go unseen by the masses. It's so seldom I get to illustrate a topic I feel so passionate about. Follow this link for David Goldstein's thoughtful and sadly appropriate essay on Bush's domestic spying program.
5.17.2006
Transmissions from SPACE
So, SPACE...it was a kinda kooky year for me. I drove up from Virginia through a downpour on Thursday afternoon...hung out with the parents and my brother in Kent on Friday, and headed down to Columbus Saturday morning with Lurid Pal Galen Showman (BTW, it was still raining). The new SPACE-space was pretty impressive, undoubtably the best yet, at least in terms of convenience and location. I was tucked into what I thought would be an impressive little corner, with Joey Manley, Josh Cotter and J. Chris Campbell on either side of my table...but it was also a dark corner, and I think it resulted in making us kinda invisible. It's a nice room, though, and if they can just bump up the wattage on the lights a bit, I think it'll be a good location.
Sales-wise, a schizo day...dead for the first hour and a half, nuts and busy for the next three, then dead for the rest of the day...seriously, I don't think I sold a goddamn thing after 4:00, and the show didn't end til 6. It was kinda disappointing, actually...I just don't know why this show isn't more successful. I'd probably stop going if I hadn't been there all seven years (you hate to break a streak) and it wasn't so convenient to bundle it up for a trip up to visit the folks and friends.
I made a distinct effort to get out from behind the table and check out some other creators' stuff, something I've had trouble doing recently at shows where there's no one to mind my store while I'm meandering about. Met some cool new folks and picked up some interesting books...honestly, I haven't read much yet, but I'll try to remember to post when I do...or at least send out some emails. I especailly enjoyed meeting or re-meeting a couple of the Luird F.O.O.L.s from my message board, Matt and John. It's about time!
After the show, it was still raining. Galen and I drove over to nearby PF Chang's (which I'd been craving all day since hatching the plan to have dinner there around noon), only to find it choked with gussied-up teens waiting to have dinner there before the prom. The hostess told me to come back in two hours to pick up a pager, so we could wait another hour and a half for a table. Fuck that. We met up with J. Chris, Rob Venditti, Andy Runton and his friend Shana, gave 'em the bad news, and walked to an Irish pub next door, which was teen-free. It was pretty good...beers, fish-n-chips, and great company (including Rob and I swapping Borders employee stories from the mid-90s, when that store was a great place to work)...but I really had a taste for some orange peel beef.
The constant rain on the two-and-a half-hour trip back was tolerable only for the presence of Galen, and the great conversation we had about everything from porno comics to Hitchcock movies. He's one of my favorite people in the world to talk to, and I really appreciate these yearly trips back and forth to Columbus, where we've got nothing else to do but drive and blab about everything and anything. If nothing else, I'll probably sign up for SPACE 07 for that.
The pics I took were really nothing special, so here are a few links to people who know how to use a camera better'n I do.
J Chris Campbell
Jeff Manley (My neighbor at the show and an all-around hilarious guy. He ate an entire stick of butter on a dare!)
Pat Lewis
Rafer Roberts
Mike Dembicki
Sales-wise, a schizo day...dead for the first hour and a half, nuts and busy for the next three, then dead for the rest of the day...seriously, I don't think I sold a goddamn thing after 4:00, and the show didn't end til 6. It was kinda disappointing, actually...I just don't know why this show isn't more successful. I'd probably stop going if I hadn't been there all seven years (you hate to break a streak) and it wasn't so convenient to bundle it up for a trip up to visit the folks and friends.
I made a distinct effort to get out from behind the table and check out some other creators' stuff, something I've had trouble doing recently at shows where there's no one to mind my store while I'm meandering about. Met some cool new folks and picked up some interesting books...honestly, I haven't read much yet, but I'll try to remember to post when I do...or at least send out some emails. I especailly enjoyed meeting or re-meeting a couple of the Luird F.O.O.L.s from my message board, Matt and John. It's about time!
After the show, it was still raining. Galen and I drove over to nearby PF Chang's (which I'd been craving all day since hatching the plan to have dinner there around noon), only to find it choked with gussied-up teens waiting to have dinner there before the prom. The hostess told me to come back in two hours to pick up a pager, so we could wait another hour and a half for a table. Fuck that. We met up with J. Chris, Rob Venditti, Andy Runton and his friend Shana, gave 'em the bad news, and walked to an Irish pub next door, which was teen-free. It was pretty good...beers, fish-n-chips, and great company (including Rob and I swapping Borders employee stories from the mid-90s, when that store was a great place to work)...but I really had a taste for some orange peel beef.
The constant rain on the two-and-a half-hour trip back was tolerable only for the presence of Galen, and the great conversation we had about everything from porno comics to Hitchcock movies. He's one of my favorite people in the world to talk to, and I really appreciate these yearly trips back and forth to Columbus, where we've got nothing else to do but drive and blab about everything and anything. If nothing else, I'll probably sign up for SPACE 07 for that.
The pics I took were really nothing special, so here are a few links to people who know how to use a camera better'n I do.
J Chris Campbell
Jeff Manley (My neighbor at the show and an all-around hilarious guy. He ate an entire stick of butter on a dare!)
Pat Lewis
Rafer Roberts
Mike Dembicki
5.11.2006
Off to SPACE
I'll be appearing this weekend at the Small Press And Comics Expo at the Alladin Shrine Complex in beautiful Columbus, Ohio. I'll be sharing a table with Lurid Pal Jay Geldhof and selling all the new books. I'm driving to the show, which means I'll also be bringing along a sh'load of original art! There'll also be a bunch of other great guests at SPACE, including J Chris Campbell, Josh Cotter, Alex Robinson, Mike Dawson, Rob Venditti, Andy Runton, and ('natch) many many more! If you're in town, stop by, won't you?
4.27.2006
4.19.2006
Boomin' Bust
As a reward to all the faithful readers who stuck through all the fancy learnin' this week, here's some cheesecake for dessert!
Boom and Bust-Page 6
And so it has come to this...the town is deserted, but our lowly prospector from page one is still around, hoping to strike gold once again. Sad li'l feller.
Next up: Fun with Philosophy!
Next up: Fun with Philosophy!
4.18.2006
Boom and Bust-Page 5
The tough times arrive...the gold has dried up and the town is dying. I especially like the top tier of this page, as the look of the miner's faces tell the story. I'm also a sucker for a comics cliche, as evidenced by the guy pulling his pockets inside-out in the center panel!
Tomorrow...the conclusion.
Tomorrow...the conclusion.
4.17.2006
Boom and Bust-Page 4
This is where it really started to get fun...the tent city gives way to the booming, populous town, and all the folk are livin' high on the hog for awhile...until that note of foreboding in the final panel. For reference, I watched (and often paused) the Kurt Russell film TOMBSTONE and the first season of DEADWOOD on DVD...you have no idea how close I came to adding "cocksucker" as the second word in the story!
4.15.2006
Boom and Bust-Page 2
All right, I suppose I should have described this story as "mostly wordless" in the previous post. Still, if you're talking about the gold rush, and you're limited to one word, what's could possibly be more appropriate than "GOLD!"? Especially as uttered by a scruffy n'er-do-well with a couple teeth missing?
4.14.2006
Boom and Bust-Page 1
I thought the story of the gold rush would be told best wordlessly, and mostly conveyed via images and comparisons...so I sketched out an outline for a six-page story and got started. Throughout the story, I tried to show the same places and settings a various stages of their development, as you'll see as the story progresses.
A big tip of the hat goes to my pal Galen Showman, who pointed out and provided many sources of reference...one thing about working with McGraw was that I was often left to my own devices when it came to research, but to their credit, they usually "took my work for it", so to speak.
A big tip of the hat goes to my pal Galen Showman, who pointed out and provided many sources of reference...one thing about working with McGraw was that I was often left to my own devices when it came to research, but to their credit, they usually "took my work for it", so to speak.
4.13.2006
History Lesson
Responding to a request by fellow ink stud Joel Priddy, the following is a story I created last year for a series of history textbooks to be published by McGraw-Hill. He explains the genesis of the project far better and more eloquently on his blog, but here are the quick facts: The books were to be aimed to junior-high students, and would kick off chapters about specific historical eras with "graphic novel" stories relating to what the students were about to read. I worked on this project for the better part of 2005, as did a couple dozen or so other artists.
Of the first batch, completed last February, this was my favorite...a chapter on the gold rush, showing how small towns erupted and prospered furiously when gold was discovered nearby, only to die just as furiously when the riches dried up. I'll be posting a page a day, so be sure to check back often. And to my regular readers, fret not....although these pages contain a necessary dearth of hot, randy pin-up chicks, I'll try to post an image or two to keep you going amidst all this fancy book-learnin'!
Also, comments on these pages are not only welcome, they're emphatically requested! Don't make me beg, people!
Of the first batch, completed last February, this was my favorite...a chapter on the gold rush, showing how small towns erupted and prospered furiously when gold was discovered nearby, only to die just as furiously when the riches dried up. I'll be posting a page a day, so be sure to check back often. And to my regular readers, fret not....although these pages contain a necessary dearth of hot, randy pin-up chicks, I'll try to post an image or two to keep you going amidst all this fancy book-learnin'!
Also, comments on these pages are not only welcome, they're emphatically requested! Don't make me beg, people!
4.05.2006
Weekly Sketch 4/04
...kinda ridiculous I'm still callin' this "weekly sketch", considering the last one was over a month ago. Ah well.
Big thanks go out to everyone who checked out TEENY BIKINI #1! Hope you all dug it, and that you'll be back in a couple months for issue two...and speaking of issue two, I wouldn't be too surprised to see the images below end up in there somewheres!
I ordered a bunch of Sanford Col-Erase pencils from Dick Blick a couple weeks ago, and I'm really having a blast sketching with 'em... just love 'em to death. 10 each of Blue and Carmine Red...and at just .39 each, they don't break the bank.
Big thanks go out to everyone who checked out TEENY BIKINI #1! Hope you all dug it, and that you'll be back in a couple months for issue two...and speaking of issue two, I wouldn't be too surprised to see the images below end up in there somewheres!
I ordered a bunch of Sanford Col-Erase pencils from Dick Blick a couple weeks ago, and I'm really having a blast sketching with 'em... just love 'em to death. 10 each of Blue and Carmine Red...and at just .39 each, they don't break the bank.
4.03.2006
In Other News...
Not a lot of drawing going on over the weekend...I spent most of Saturday and a good deal of Sunday in the backyard, working on "curb appeal" and trying to solve some drainage issues around the foundation of the house, in advance of putting in a brick patio one of these days. Here's the thing: every time it rains, our backyard (which resembles Oklahoma of the late 20s) turns in to a massive mudhole, especially around the southeast corner, where the hypothetical patio will reside. The gutters drain directly onto the rock hard, non-porous "soil", and the water that doesn't end up in our basement sits there for several days. The solution, at which I arrived thanks to my Dad's advice, was to dig an 60 ft. trench away from the house, fill it with 2" PVC pipe, and drain the water into the alley in the back of the house.
It was only about 8" deep, and I had a lot of help thanks to the inexplicably energetic Mr. Babb, but sweet jeebus was it a pain! It's Monday night, and I'm still sore all over. I hurt in places I didn't know I had (my hands in particular for some reason). But its awesome...and as if to reward my hard work, we had a huge storm this evening and eureka, it works!
We also added some much-needed plant life to our dust bowl of a backyard...Brooke chose the plants and I dug the holes, and it looks pretty goldang swanky, if I do say so myself. Puck even got in on the action, watering one of the shrubs before we even put it in the ground. Oh, them pups!
Anyhow, the obligatory photos:
That's 60 feet, bitches!
"I was only trying to help!"
Looks even better in person.
It was only about 8" deep, and I had a lot of help thanks to the inexplicably energetic Mr. Babb, but sweet jeebus was it a pain! It's Monday night, and I'm still sore all over. I hurt in places I didn't know I had (my hands in particular for some reason). But its awesome...and as if to reward my hard work, we had a huge storm this evening and eureka, it works!
We also added some much-needed plant life to our dust bowl of a backyard...Brooke chose the plants and I dug the holes, and it looks pretty goldang swanky, if I do say so myself. Puck even got in on the action, watering one of the shrubs before we even put it in the ground. Oh, them pups!
Anyhow, the obligatory photos:
That's 60 feet, bitches!
"I was only trying to help!"
Looks even better in person.
3.27.2006
That's Just Super!
Hopefully, if I can get the last few pages inked and scanned, my new comic, THAT'S JUST SUPER, will be ready to debut next weekend the FLUKE Comics Festival in Athens, GA, and at APE in San Francisco (where I'll be appearing in the ever-lovin' flesh as well) the week after that. Previously announced on this blog as being titled HEY, LI'L LADY ( a name change very much for the better, and courtesy of Wide Awake Press publisher/genius/scalawag J.Chris Campbell), it's a 48-page wordless super hero adventure. Check out that cover!
Creepy Old Guy
From this week's Savage Love: What can you do when your 18-year-old sister decides to wed a shady creep twenty years her senior and thrice divorced? Unfortunately, not much.
3.24.2006
Entertainment, Weakly
My shitty month gets shittier.
Last December, I sent my latest promo postcard to five or six contacts at Entertainment Weekly, among all the other names on my mailing list. It was the final of four Suburban Supergirls calendar cards, and featured this image, along with my contact info, on the back:
I received my new issue in the mail today, only to see this image, by John Ueland, on page 23:
I mean, come on. It's even the same guy! I suppose it could be a coincidence, but that'd be a little easier to believe if I hadn't sent the damn thing less than a month ago!
Last December, I sent my latest promo postcard to five or six contacts at Entertainment Weekly, among all the other names on my mailing list. It was the final of four Suburban Supergirls calendar cards, and featured this image, along with my contact info, on the back:
I received my new issue in the mail today, only to see this image, by John Ueland, on page 23:
I mean, come on. It's even the same guy! I suppose it could be a coincidence, but that'd be a little easier to believe if I hadn't sent the damn thing less than a month ago!
3.17.2006
They're Here...and They're Fantastic!
The first issue of Teeny Bikini is officially off the press, and almost a week ahead of schedule! It's 20 pocket-sized pages of scantily-clad cartoon cuties! To get one a' these little babies, throw $2 (+$1 postage, packaging & PayPal) my way and I'll send one out posthaste. Use the handy PayPal button below for the speediest service...hell, I might even catch the mailman today.
If you're feeling even spendier, and that tax return is just burning a hole in your pocket, buy some art over at the new and improved Rob Ullman dot com and I'll throw one in for free!
UPDATE: Fixed the button below...PayPal was adding the standard postage rate ($2 instead of $1) by default for some reason I'm not web-savvy enough to figure out. If you were already purchased issue one at the previous charge, I'll send along an old-school refund (in the form of a $1 bill. Bling bling, yo.)
UPDATE II: It's come to my attention that the PayPal links on the "Comics for Sale " section of robullman.com are not working correctly. Until it's fixed, if you'd like to order, add up the prices of the books you want, and add two bucks for postage (provided you're in the US...if not, add $3). From there you can go to PayPal and send that amount (and make sure to include a list of the books you want as well) to me, using my PayPal ID, which is fromcurve@yahoo.com. It's easier than it sounds, believe me! Thanks for your patience!
3.05.2006
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