This lovely pheasant has moved into the ornamental apple tree behind my studio. The tree is heavy with fruit and is a short leap to the roof.  This pheasant can often be seen fluffing up its feathers against the cold and sitting in the snow up there; close to all that feed and affording an excellent view of the surrounding area. It allows me to get within about ten feet before zooming away like Road Runner.

The feathers have changed from brown to white with the first snow then back to brown when it melted. With the advent of fresh snow, its lovely coat appears to be working back to white again.

Playing with a set of manga marker pens in my sketchbook.

Found this slipped into an old book.  I love the term “kadoodler”.

THE BIG LIE has been named the #6 biggest comic book controversy of 2011 over on Bleeding Cool, edging out all other 9/11 inspired titles such as Frank Miller’s HOLY TERROR and Bosch Fawstin’s THE INFIDEL. Shipping from Image in September, THE BIG LIE was scripted and penciled by me, inked by Gary Erskine, colored by Dominic Regan, lettered by Annie Parkhouse with cover by Thomas Yeates. It was co-edited by Yeates and Brian Romanoff. Eisner judges, please take note.

To celebrate, here’s a piece of pencil art from an earlier version of the story that ended up unused.

One of the things that has been taking up a lot of my time lately (resulting in less than frequent blog posting) is a cool job for the University of Quebec.  Its an educational comics project, using graphic stories, games and fantasy to engage kids on social issues. Here’s a character sketch from the material.

Sometimes you pick up the sketchbook, you have no idea what’s going to come out.

It has been brought to our attention that the gender requirements for wearing a SPERM shirt, as detailed in our previous post, are invalid. It appears the design, which parodies the well-known Superman logo, has become a favorite of Hollywood starlets. And who among us is ever going to argue with the likes of fabulous femmes Margot Kidder or Carrie Fisher about their choice in personal apparel?

If you are so well-endowed, you can order right here.

Marker in sketchbook from photo.