Thread "February 2008: Casanova/Starchild -- Partners in Crime" in forum "KISS 4K Webcomic: Creator's Blog"

Posted at 9:01PM, Jan. 31, 2008

This year is a leap year, so we get an extra page for February. Which is kinda nice, as it gives me enough elbow room to do a cover. I'm happy with how this month's cover turned out, although it's a little embarassing as well. Not the cover itself, but the cover I was copying.

See, we're getting up on the one-year mark pretty soon. Not necessarily for when the webcomic went live, but when I found out I got the job. For me, that's when the webcomic started.

Anyway, I drew up two test pieces to bring with me to Wizard World LA last year. One of them is this image:

And the other one is the cover to the first Casanova story–the very first piece of artwork I ever published here.

You can see in the first one how Casanova is turning into the Starchild in front of two fops. The guy on the left, in blue, ended up being Alain, while the guy on the right, in red, eventually became the Marquis LeFevre. At the time, however, I had no idea who they were. Platinum Dan just said, "hey, bring some concept art to the con so we can look it over," and I cranked out those two images.

I was nervous as hell, too. And it shows in those pieces. If you can't see what I'm talking about, compare the first Casanova cover with this month's cover. You'll notice it instantly.

When I sat down to make the cover for this month, I got those old butterflies again. I realized that it was only because I was nervous the last time I did a Cas cover, and decided to relax. After all, this is the third story with Casanova in it, which makes him the most-published character on the webcomic so far. Hell, at this point, drawing ol' Cas should be like putting on an old pair of shoes.

I don't know if other artists have this problem. They either don't, or are smart enough to not talk about it. ;)

But I don't really care. We're all friends here.

So that's the long and boring story about this month's cover. It amuses me now and then to redraw something I drew a year ago. When I'm done, I usually hide the old version deep underground and surround it with leeches and napalm so no one else can see it. This time, however… :D

As for the "Manfur Mafia" reference, you really need to head over to the Kiss Fan Site and check it out. They're real nice people over there. I showed up to KFS when the webcomic first started, mainly to let fellow Kiss fans know that there was a comic online to begin with. They took me in like a lost puppy. They're great. Got my own dog house over there and everything!

Posted at 3:02AM, Feb. 1, 2008

I like that extra drawing.

This is gonna be a cool month.

I've also added is months cover to comicbookdb.com. I used Casanova/Starchild - part 3 for the title

Posted at 8:02AM, Feb. 1, 2008

Thank you, sir! I appreciate it.

Oh, and check this out:

Is that catchy or what? Damn. Awesome.

Posted at 6:02PM, Feb. 1, 2008

I have no idea what I had to find that showed you were nervous, but the new cover is amazing! So is the tribute video!

Posted at 9:02PM, Feb. 2, 2008

Heh. Maybe it's just me. You know how I am. :)

You guys should check out Pugnuggle Tales this week! Harry put in our old friend from December's comic: Death-Metal Dave.

Which pretty much means he put ME in his comic. Rock on, Harry! \m/

Posted at 11:02AM, Feb. 4, 2008

Cool to see Dave in a cameo!

And that Secretly Cruel 70's version is f-ing great! That guy really did a good job!

Posted at 1:02AM, Feb. 6, 2008

Yeah, he's a real nice guy, too. I've been talking to him via MySpace. Cool dude.

I'm told that Death-Metal Dave's cameo in Pugnuggle Tales isn't over yet, so be sure you guys check it out next week!

Posted at 11:02AM, Feb. 13, 2008

For those of you who don't see the difference between my first Cas picture and this month's cover illustration, I've created a handy-dandy illustration:

You can almost see the nervousness in the one on the left.

And, while we're setting the Kiss 4K Wayback Machine to last year, let's check out our two bad guys:

The column on the left shows their very first appearance in the comic. At that time, I really had no idea who they were. They were just two stuntmen hired to make Casanova's first fight scene look good. ;) I gave them some basic personalities–one of them moved like a snake; the other was a brute of a man with fearsome-looking knives. But that's about all the thought I put into them at the time.

Later on, of course, they got speaking parts and even names! As a result, they get a much more thorough treatment, as the right-hand column shows.

Posted at 12:02PM, Feb. 13, 2008

This shows some real improvement. Great job!

You can also see the difference in quality from the jpg art and the png art. Also an improvement.

Posted at 10:02AM, Feb. 22, 2008

Glad you dig it, man!

Yeah, I really like the PNG format. It makes some very interesting patterns.

Hey, I made you guys some desktop wallpapers! They're in jpg format, and sized at 1280x1024. Which is my own personal screen resolution, but it also shrinks down to 1024x768 nicely. Let me know if you guys want them in any other sizes.

Click on the small picture to see it at original size, then right-click and save it to your machine.

Posted at 6:02PM, Feb. 22, 2008

Thanks for the wallpapers! :-D

Whhhooooooaaaahhhhhh!

Anytime is KISS'n time baby, U.S.A!!!!

Posted at 1:02AM, Feb. 25, 2008

Thanks for the wallpapers. But why does Cuelebre sound like Mr. T? lol!

Posted at 4:02PM, Feb. 25, 2008

He sounds like Mr T because he don't take NO JIBBA JABBA!