finished color

flatting

color fun

Color in process …

finished pencil

christmas peek

Not quite done, but here's a peek. Merry Christmas all.

kando characters

Okay, here it is. The official kanji for "Way of the Can." It is pronounced Kando. I see a headband in Corn's future …

ho ho ho!

Here's a rough study of the Christmas pin up I'm working on. At first I was going to have Peck dressed up as Santa Claus, using the garbage can as a toy sack. I thought of a better idea once I started brainstorming the sketch more. I thought I'd put Cornelius and Billy in the trash can, with Corn donning the Santa cap. I then thought about a set of antlers on Peck to make him the reindeer. Too involved though. Then I thought of the single sawed-down antler the dog on the Grinch Who Stole Christmas wore. We'll see how it turns out.

the way of the can

This post will be updated multiple times as I explain the curious philosophy of Cornelius Bacon. Known as The Way of the Can (a.k.a. twotc), it is a school of thinking that Professor Bacon acquired through his years of research in eastern culture. Unlike japanese styles (i.e., karate, aikido, hapkido, kendo, sumo, etc) or chinese schools (wushu, etc.), twotc is a fusion of the asian styles, culminating in the "becoming one" with a man-made environment. All martial arts embrace the forces of nature. Twotc takes it a step further by encompassing the creations and refuse generated by industrial society. What better venue to study the art of twotc than a landfill? Bacon found great inspiration in the founder of Jeet Kune Do, Bruce Lee. Adjust the a few words in his timeless quote and you have the doctrine of The Way of the Can: “Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like garbage. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless—like garbage. Now you put litter in a soup can, it becomes the soup can; You put trash into a dumpster it becomes the dumpster; You put it in a landfill it becomes the dump. Now garbage can compost or it can stink. Be garbage, my friend.”

(Cornelius Bacon, with apologies to Mr. Lee)

kintoki confirmed

Reservation made. Locked and loaded.

kintoki-con 2011

Looks like Peck might be making an appearance at Kintoki-Con's artist alley in June 2011. This is a new conference in Sacramento that celebrates all asian culture and animé. I think Peck will fit in the mix as he champions to the ancient art of Gar Bag Do (the Way of the Can). More info to follow as details develop.

solid for wcon 2011

Got my WonderCon 2011 confirmation in the mail. Excellent, Smithers …

cornelius's ode to tryptophan

"And turkey carcass, never flitting, still is ziplocked, still is sitting

On the frigid shelf a freezing just above my ice makor;

And his cold bones has the seeming of a future meant for steaming.

Hints of hot broth o'er him streaming beckons soup in De-cembor;

And my soul from out that vision that slumbers on the kitchen floor;

Shall be lifted—nevermore."

(with apologies to Mr. Poe)

wondercon 2011

Peck will be at WonderCon 2011 in SF. I'll also be there with fellow comic artist, Mark Machmann, current artist extraordinaire for the upcoming Arch Enemy Comics creation, Solo. Look for us in Artist Alley. Hopefully you'll see us wedged between the likes of Sergio Aragones or Mike Mignola. Cheers!

happenings

Just a heads up that the Peck site will be changing soon. I've purchased a new domain called peckcomics.com, BUT will let y'all know when it's up and running. I will be switching over to Wordpress (with Comicpress running over it) to make it more convenient for updating the comic on my side as well as viewing it from the audience's side.

Also on the horizon: I will be resurrecting my past cartoon panel, Incompatibles. At one point this feature was self-syndicated to 12 college newspapers. Grad work and career gave it an early retirement back in the mid '90s, but now with the schedule cleared out, I can go back to telling jokes in a format I've really missed. Stay tuned.

bacon in the wind

doh!

Okay, I'm a loser. I waited until now to try to register for WonderCon and just found out it sold out. Argh. In the past, WCon had plenty of space in artist's alley, as they would just add in more tables in that corner of Moscone. Apparently it has sold out much earlier in the fall months preceding the con, at least in the last two years. Ah well, lesson learned. I'll get in there early next time.

THIS DOES NOT derail the launch of issue one, however. That's still slated to hit the online store (Comixpress) at the beginning of April, along with a few full-color pin-up posters. So stay tuned if you're feeling a bit Peckish.

edit on cover

Actually I dug up this old sketch and am going to base the new cover on it. He will be running through an alley, underlit and in full color. I really want to make this more visually charged.

cover sketchin

Here's the beginnings of the new cover; I'm really shooting for a more action-packed vibe. I'm going to work on the background elements next—total extreme three-point perspective, should look really torqued. I'll be integrating Cornelius and Billy in the background and I'm working on a new hand-crafted type solution for the title. Mel Smith, Einser award-winning artist for Gumby, suggested I just go with "Peck" for the name instead of "The Peck." I think I'm beginning to agree with him, make it even simpler.

old cover

Here is the old cover of The Peck's first printing. I'm currently changing it as a few people mistook it for Rayman. Ack. I actually do like the cover quite a bit, but I'm biased and my eyes have been on it too long. I'm replacing it with a more dynamic image, one that will hopefully attract viewers' eyes more—full color, cool action pose, etc. Someday I think this old cover will make a nice commemorate poster.

heading to sf in april

Okay, I'm making good on my New Year's Resolution and bringing this comic blog to life. Updates will be beginning soon. FYI, The Peck will be appearing at WonderCon 2010. I'm redoing my issue #1 cover and touching up a few things, as well as doing a few pin up posters for the expo. My hope is to also have 1–2 t-shirts to fold into the mix. Look out for me in Artist Alley in April. Maybe I'll get lucky and get placed right next to Sergio Aragones or Mike Mignola.