Barkings

The Fury Splash Page

2011-11-17T11:27:00.002-05:00

Here is the finished Fury splash page written by Mike Dobbs, pencilled, lettered and toned by myself and inked by Bill Anderson!

Enjoy

James Robert Smith and his writings

2011-11-07T15:42:00.004-05:00

Not much to be said that hasn't been in this article except Bob Smith is a wonderful man, a friend and a great collaborator.

Cheers

The Living End...The Graphic Novel

2011-11-03T10:55:00.002-04:00

It's been months that I talked with writer James Robert Smith about adapting his novel The Living End into a graphic novel. Our first foray was adapting his novel, The Flock, into a GN but once the rights were signed over to Warner Bros for the movie deal, all publishing rights went away. After having an early Winter storm that knocked out our power, and still has, I found myself with time to sit and take one of the more picturesque scenes in Bob's novel and lay it out as thumbnails. I changed the zombie money shot a little bit, but I still think it works very well. My goal was to also give our dog star BC, a little more personality, especially with ear, eye and tail positioning. I think he's a huge star!

Fury Update!

2011-08-23T10:39:00.002-04:00

Editor-in-Chief Steve Bissette really liked the Fury piece, but he did want to see a few edits. One was dropping the half-face device popularized by Steve Ditko during his run on Spider-Man in the 1960's. SRB felt it was too much of an homage so I drew in the entire characters face. One idea to hit home that this main character was The Fury-in-training was to have the floating head motiff popularized in the 1970's by such stalwarts as John Buscema and Gil Kane. Able Bill Anderson sent me over some reference and I got to draw the entire Fury mask. But now what to do with the credits circle? Easy! Tack it up on the telephone pole! It was an empty spot so I curved the Fury logo and sketched in the creator credits. Now it's time for Able Bill Anderson to work his ink magic.

N-Man & The Fury!

2011-08-19T08:34:00.002-04:00

Hello and welcome to "Mark finally draws something!" I've been very busy over the past few months designing and promoting the Panel To Panel book you see on earlier posts. Recently I was asked to provide a pin-up for Mike Dobbs' The Fury script. I've known Marvelous Mike for a long time and I was excited to work with him, so here is the splash page for The Fury's Day Off. The Fury ©Stephen R. Bissette. Speaking of Steve, last year saw me pencilling a couple covers and a 5 page N-Man story. Steve graciously offered to ink these pages and now we see the first Masztal/Bissette team-up! I used the pen name Wild Mark Hare after a signature style I used way back in high-school. Steve brought a different light to my tight pencils...and I like it!

More Panel to Panel from Paint & Pixel

2011-05-16T15:44:00.003-04:00

Here are some more images from Paint & Pixel, a couple promo pieces I had promoting P2P and a nice shot me and my friend Phil Owen. That's me on the left, before my severe hair cut of this past weekend.

Cheers

Panel to Panel!

2011-05-07T07:59:00.002-04:00

So what have I been doing for the past 4+ months? Well, I've been designing Panel To Panel. A huge book filled with interviews and art work from some of comics heavy hitters as well as indie superstars. We're talking Dave Sim, Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, Rick Veitch, Mark Bode, James Kockalka, Stan Sakai, Dave Mack, Mark Martin and many, many more. 274 pages of goodness. How can you buy this great book you say? Well first we have to get it funded. John Rovnak, the publisher of P2P, has posted the book on Kickstarter to raise the funds to print and get this book published. What can you do? You can follow this link, check out our video and page examples and read through the description of the book to see if it's something you would like to be a part of. We have a lot of incentives attached to many different investment packages. Signed bookplates, t-shirts, hand-drawn avatars, original artwork and grey wash portraits as well as your name in the book as a contributor and a copy of the book. I believe in this project and I need your help. Won't you support a fantastic project and help us get the first volume underway?

Cheers,
Mk

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

2010-12-24T22:57:00.000-05:00

And now something a little more in the mood of the Holiday.

Ho-Ho-Ho!

Damn, It's Danzig

2010-12-24T22:54:00.002-05:00

Here is the finished Danzig piece I teased earlier. Bill Anderson knocked a homer with the inks and then I dropped in the digital color. I think it looks smashing! Look for it in the Panel 2 Panel Magazine coming out early next year.

Cheers!

Eagle; inked, toned...done

2010-12-02T19:35:00.003-05:00

Here is the finished Eagle pin-up that I pencilled and Bill Anderson inked and then digitally toned. This piece really worked for both of us, even though I don't think either of us were crazy for our initial work. look for the Eagle Compendium coming out this Spring from a comic publisher soon-to-be-names.

Cheers

The Living End is going to be published!

2010-11-26T21:42:00.002-05:00

My pal James Bob Smith sent me a message this morning that Severed Press out of Australia is going to publish his zombie novel The Living End, A Zombie Novel (with Dogs) next Spring. Now whether or not I have the cover is another matter. I'm sure they have a fine stable of artists that produce their covers, but I hope, with the revisions I've made this morning, that Gary at Severed Press will see my love for this novel and give this kid a shot!

Cheers

New art...finally!

2010-11-19T12:26:00.003-05:00

Along with doing some semi-fun commercial art, I've had time to put together a pin-up for Neil Vokes' Eagle compilation, a dinosaur spread for a pillowcase art kit and a Glenn Danzig pin-up for Panel-2-Panel's latest magazine. Bill Anderson is inking the Eagle and Danzig pieces while I'm handling the Dino's.

Rock-n-Shock Wrap Up

2010-10-20T15:58:00.003-04:00

We're back from R-n-S 2010 and it was great. We saw, we conquered, we made money, we ate poorly, but we had fun cracking jokes and wondering why people wear what they were wearing. Oh...and elephant piss. Quite pungent. Seems the circus was held at the DCU Center a week before us and all of the animals were kept in the room we were using. Seems the caretakers of the animals poured buckets of elephant piss down what they thought was a sewer drain. It turned out to be an electrical grate so the piss hung around. We were shocked by the smell when we to set up. It dissipated a bit as the weekend went along, but it was still nasty. Anyway, my daughter joined Mike, Marty and myself and got to meet her dreamy Ghost Hunter. Our pal Jeff A. stopped by and shared some thoughts with us and finished off his Fango collection. I bought some movies, drew a lot of Zombies, including the girlfriend of Akihiro (The Human Centipede) Kitamura and that was very cool. I also got to say hi to Adrienne Barbeau, buy her book and have a picture taken with her. All-in-all, a great weekend.

Until next year!

Albany Comic Con

2010-10-19T10:09:00.003-04:00

I will be at the Albany Comic Con in Albany NY this Sunday from 10-4. I'll be there with my amigos Bill Anderson and Dennis Webster. We'll be talking about our new project Silent Scream and I will have comic pages for sale, prints for sale and samples of my latest work from Steve Bissette's Tales of the Uncanny. I also be doing sketches and if you ask nice, I'll even Zombify you!

Rock-n-Shock 2010

2010-10-11T11:35:00.003-04:00

It's that time of the year again and I will be at Rock-n-Shock again this year Zombifying anyone willing to step up in front of me. Marty and Mike will be along again for the ride selling some amazing items and generally having a great time. If you find yourself in Worcester, MA this weekend, come check us out and say hi!

Cheers!

Drink-n-Draw Massachusetts Style

2010-10-08T20:38:00.002-04:00

Phil Owen has done what I've talked about and didn't get done. He's organized and scheduled the first of many Drink-n-Draws this coming Thursday in Northampton, MA at Packards restaurant from 8-11. What is a Drink-n-Draw you ask? Well, you get a bunch of extremely talented artists, throw them in a room at a local watering hole and then draw...and...they...drink. It's a social experiment that Dan Panosian started up while hitting comic book conventions. He contacted some his artist friends and started a D-n-D. It's one of the more famous ones, but I'll bet there are hundreds across the country. So if you find yourself in Noho next Thursday, come on by and check us out. Guaranteed some great art, some laughs and maybe some juggling!

Cheers!

Crap!

2010-10-06T16:05:00.001-04:00

Has it been that long since I last posted? I still got nothing to post, but...Rock-n-Shock is right around the corner so look for a R-n-S post soon.

Mike Weirengo

2010-08-13T21:09:00.002-04:00

Thinking of Mike today. He's been gone 3 years now. We lost a great talent and human being.

Cheers

Silent Scream #1, page 22 finished

2010-08-10T20:52:00.002-04:00

It's been a very long time for this project to wrap up. Dennis Webster has written the script, co-plotted by Bill Anderson, I pencilled the 5 page story along with a slew of pin-ups and covers, Bill has inked his heart out and then a colorist we handed the pages to started coloring the pages, but then they kind of spun off the radar. Bill grabbed some pages, I grabbed this one and now they're colored and ready to go to a publisher for a possible deal. Check out this page and the rest of Silent Scream online.

Cheers

The Flock Bookmarks in Color

2010-08-10T20:47:00.003-04:00

Months ago James Robert Smith asked me to work up some B&W bookmarks for the release of his novel The Flock through Tor/Forge. Now that he's working up the sequel; The Clan, Bob asked me to through some color onto the bookmarks. This is what came out of it. Not too bad. I'm happy with the textures I achieved.

Cheers

N-Man and Bugs

2010-06-02T11:53:00.003-04:00

Here's another cover/pin-up I did for N-Man. This time featuring some nifty bugs.

Cheers

He's Big! He's Bad! He's N-Man!!!

2010-05-14T15:46:00.004-04:00

Here is my 6-page story and pin-up I'm doing for Steve Bissette's Tales of the Uncanny!

Mr. Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle Is In The House

2010-02-22T11:38:00.003-05:00

Another cover, I think this is the last, for Silent Scream.I believe this one falls somewhere before Maria but after Musidora? I'm sure Bill A. will chime in and remind me of the order.

Cheers

Who is Maria

2010-02-11T15:33:00.003-05:00

Another cover for Silent Scream featuring the Maria robot from Metropolis (my version) and co-starring Fatty Arbuckle, Thomas Edison and Max Schreck.

Cheers

Musidora

2010-02-01T11:29:00.002-05:00

She's our femme fatale. Our French Adventurist. Armed with her wits, skin tight leather suit and a pair of bat wings created by Edison and inspired by Da Vinci, she watches over the male members of the Trust, especially the always in trouble, William Hart and Bull Montana. This is...Night of the Golems!

Cheers

Puppets

2010-01-29T10:54:00.004-05:00

Here's a reworking of my original Max Schreck puppeteer cover that was previewed here last year. This time I've added more characters and drawn them as real puppets and I've added Fatty Arbuckle into the design. He plays a key role throughout the entire series.

Cheers

Thomas Edison Kicks Ass.

2010-01-19T09:48:00.003-05:00

Here are pencils to the cover of Silent Scream #1 featuring Thomas Edison looking all heroic in front of the Optimus Effect. That doo-hickey around his waist, on his back and arm is the Optimus. A nifty device for plucking souls from the void and placing them into mechanical machines and retaining their sense of choice. Our pal Max Schreck on the other hand wants to obtain the Optimus to enslave these souls into his war robots and have them do his bidding.

Cheers

Young Robots In Love

2010-01-14T11:27:00.002-05:00

A cover shot for a future issue of Silent Scream. Maria and Guiseppe dream of having offspring and of course I had to work in a robot infant development scene with black inky placenta goop.

Cheers,
Mk

Ink'd

2010-01-08T23:46:00.002-05:00

Both bookmarks have been inked. Bristol board, Faber-Castell brush and pen tips.

Cheers

Titanus Walleri #2

2010-01-07T22:14:00.002-05:00

A little more of a fierce pose with some nice white space.
And spittle.

Cheers

That damn bird

2010-01-07T14:24:00.002-05:00

James Robert Smith has had a great year. Besides meeting me and having me bounce artwork off of him of his writings, he's also been busy having novels published, short stories being published, novels being optioned and moved into movie production and making book deals. So Bob is looking to do some book signings and he asked me to draw up some artwork for a couple The Flock bookmarks. Heck, that's easy and it will be fun because I haven't drawn those damn birds in a couple months. Here's the pencil rough for bookmark #1.

Cheers

Another Passing

2010-01-05T11:21:00.005-05:00

Barry Blair was a friend and a fellow duo-tone afficiando. We met in Boston in the 90's at one of the many Cons that we would see each other at. We lost touch when I got out of the business, but re-established our friendship on-line. I heard yesterday from Tom Sniegoski that Barry had passed away due to a brain aneurism. It's sad to see someone as talented as Barry pass from something so silent and hidden. I'll remember the talks we had about art and the insane comic book business.

Barry's Home Page

News From the Beat

Cheers to Barry

To young to go so soon

2010-01-01T17:41:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine died this past year...and I didn't even know it until recently. An old comic book compatriot, Jon Adams, just found me on the Hellboy.com forum. We got to chatting because we were both part of the comic book company abortion called Dark Moon Comics. I won't go into detail about that here, but what I want to talk about about is a writer friend of ours named Steve Kendrick. He died in September and I didn't know it because we're all so damn busy and this is an impersonal world and we lose contact with one another. Steve was the writer of a book I started inking at Dark Moon called Thespian. Zoe Rochelle was the penciller and he needed a strong inker to help out his layouts. I was brought on and knocked the book out of the park. I don't think Zoe liked the book so I did some pencilling/inking samples and I was put on the book as penciller. Steve Kendrick was a young, eager writer. He wanted to be the best at what he was doing, and I think the work he was creating at DM could have propelled him into greatness. He was influenced by Neil Gaiman and that dark humor came out in his writing. I visited with him a few times at his home, got to meet his mom and his sister and we talked often on the phone, going over story ideas and character designs. DM came to a screeching halt after no one was getting paid and I had had enough and contacted the rest of the creators to let them know what was going on and then make up their own minds on what they wanted to do. Steve and I stayed in contact for a little while longer, but like any long distance friendship it faded. I feel bad that I lost contact with him, and yet I feel good that I knew Steve. His health was always tricky and with any organ transplant there are always complications and I'm guessing the body gave up, but I'm sure the mind never did. Here's to you Steve Kendrick, always a great writer and always a fantastic person.

All In The Un-Dead Family

2009-12-28T16:02:00.003-05:00

To my surprise our next door neighbor wanted their family zombie-fied for Christmas. The husband is a movie fiend like me and he loved my cover to James Robert Smith's zombie novel The Living End. They provided me a few good shots of the family and I went to town on it. Baby Liam is creepy!

Cheers

Jobs Lost Due to Ending of Greyhound Racing in Massachusetts

2009-12-27T14:12:00.003-05:00

This is what I've been reading all morning. My boss even sent me a link to Boston.com about this. Jobs were lost because the factual word didn't get out strong enough. Massachusetts had some of the most cleanest and regulated tracks in the USA. Greys were seen by a vet before, after and in-between races to assure their health was up to standards. Now that the citizens of Massachusetts have voted to have Grey racing Not-In-My-Back-Yard, then they haven't ended racing, they've just pushed it onto another State. Tracks in other Southern States are filthy and grossly unregulated so what have we done? Sent healthy animals in good conditions to unhealthy and mismanaged conditions. Hurray for us. The idea of Greys not racing was a huge positive, at least that's how the supporters made it appear. They didn't tell you about track conditions. Where did people in this State think the Greys were going to go after racing was banned? Our Rescue group will take in those dogs that are available and that we can handle. How many injured animals will be left behind by breeders, trainers and owners and where will they go? Hopefully into loving, caring homes. In my opinion shame on us for sending our Greys to another State instead of leaving them here, letting them do what they enjoy to and were trained to do under watchful, caring eyes.

Shame on you.

Zombie Wedding

2009-12-21T11:43:00.002-05:00

When Greg wanted to get a zombie picture done, I thought quick and easy...Oh NO! He wanted his brother and sister-in-law done up and he wanted it to be their wedding picture. I must say I had a lot of fun with this piece. It's 10 x 15 and mixed media of pencil, india ink, Dr. Martins dyes, grey markers, black markers and some razor blade scratching. Here's the before and after.

Cheers

More Zombies

2009-12-18T09:25:00.003-05:00

And here are a couple more zombies to get you into the Holiday spirit.

Cheers,
Mk

Finally, more zombies

2009-12-05T22:30:00.003-05:00

So November pretty much sucked. I got the swine flu right after Halloween so I was down for 12 days. 12 days of the worst headache, fever, cough and body aches I've ever felt. I usually don't get sick. Pretty healthy guy who tries to eat well and tries to get enough sleep. Well then it was back to work while feeling like crap and the Thanksgiving crept up on me. A few freelance gigs came through and I struggled through those. Now it;s December and I'm catching up on the friends who I met at Rock-n-Shock who wanted to be Zombiefied. Here are some of my new friends.

UPDATE: Here's the last one of the single zombies. Here on in it's couples and families. Mike Whelan (yup that's his name) was very patient and he was a joy to speak to. I was inspired to add a little rot green to his undead complexion. I hope you like it.

Cheers

Silent Scream pages 2 & 4

2009-11-02T14:03:00.002-05:00

More amazing pages of inks from Bill Anderson. I gotta start working up more pencils for Bill to keep working on. I do have the 2 Robot God covers that will drive him nutty so that will give me some time. Getting close to having the proposal ready to go to a publisher.

Cheers

Silent Scream Page 5...inked!

2009-10-29T22:48:00.002-04:00

More amazing inking from Mr. Bill Anderson! And you know what, the pencils weren't too bad either.

Cheers

What Makes Me Happy?

2009-10-26T10:39:00.003-04:00

Coming into the office and seeing that one of the numerous e-mails I have is from Bill Anderson and that means a new inked page! Bill kicked the ass out of this one. My pencils were pretty tight, and it's nice to see how Bill fleshed them out and let his style show through. I loved this cover when I first drew it and I love it even more now that I see it in ink.
Awesome job Bill!

Cheers

Watch me Zombie-fy!

2009-10-23T14:28:00.003-04:00

The very nice and personable Shaula Clark from The Boston Phoenix came by our Rock-n-Shock booth on Sunday as I was just starting my last Zombie picture for the day. She asked me if I would mind if she video-taped me drawing and explained it would be used as time-lapse demonstration up on the Phoenix web-site. Of course I said yes!!! Here it is in all of it's gore-licious beauty!
Zombie-fied!!!!!!!

Cheers

Rock-n-Shock Wrap-Up

2009-10-21T11:27:00.001-04:00

We love this show! This is my second time attending and my first as a vendor. I went with my two partners Mike Dobbs and Marty Langford. While they were selling DVD's and memorabilia, I went with the idea to sell my art prints and maybe do some sketches. Well after two rockers asked for me to draw them as zombies on Friday night, I then drew two more of their band mates on Friday and then after cobbling together a sign announcing Zombie-fying and a Alive/Dead comparison, I was booked solid drawing folks as zombies from 11-9 on Saturday and 1105 on Sunday. The management team at Crimson, and especially Leah Urbano, are top notch and were extremely helpful and caring to our needs. One thing that was great was that Kevin Barberi from WAAF was doing the PA work and playing soundtrack music all weekend. That made it a creative place to be. As for the 2 tattoo artists, we were set up right next to them and they were buzz-buzzing all weekend and they were both awesome guys. Jamie Cross gifted me a wonderful painting and I'll definately look him up if and when I decide to get inked. I'll be going back again next year so come on by and get Zombie-fied!!!

Big Silent Scream Update

2009-10-20T15:36:00.005-04:00

Do you remember earlier this year I was all giddy about the new project Silent Scream? Well I'm giddy again because I'm seeing inked pages from Bill Anderson and colored pages from Craig Rippon. Seems the Albany Boyz are catching up to me so I gotta get cracking on the initial issue layouts. Here are some pencils/inks and the first color we've seen from Craig on my original take on a couple of our characters.

Cheers

Rock-n-SHock is almost here!

2009-10-15T08:35:00.003-04:00

I'm sure you're tired of hearing about this, but seeing it's the first Con that I've been set up at in over 10+ years, it's a biggie for me. I'l be selling art prints of my latest work and selling sketches if you find something you must have drawn. I'll also be selling a 50th Anniversary print of Fiend Without A Face! Richard Gordon has graciously let me use his license for this print. They are limited and signed to 50 prints (50th Anniversary) and I will sign them and doodle a little brain if you like. Rock-n-Shock is at the DC Center in lovely Worcester, MA. Friday starting at 5:00 pm, Saturday at 11:00 am and Sunday at 11:00 am. MIke Dobbs, Marty Langford and myself will be set up at booth 52 under the moniker of Inkwell Productions. If you're a friend of ours, or you read our blogs or FB pages, or just are into the horror/sci-fi/heavy metal scene, stop on by and say hi. If you're reading this, If you come up to me at the table and say "Dude, nice zombie", you'll get a free print of either the gore red zombie or the rot green zombie, your choice!!!

Wednesday Comics

2009-10-05T08:57:00.004-04:00

So DC's 12 week experiment has wrapped up. What did you think? I enjoyed the entire experiment. I thought it was a clever way to shake things up for 12 weeks. I have to say the Wonder Woman story did not grab me and neither did the Teen Titans. I like Hawkman and I like Kyle Baker, but I though the reproduction of his art was too murky. My favorite part of Wednesdays was Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook's Kamandi. It was fun, it was clever and it harkened back to the days of Hal Foster and Prince Valiant. Ryan Sook was born to draw this material. When does the mini-series begin? I'm also curious to see how DC is going to compile the 12 week experiment into one collected volume. I'm hoping for an over-sized coffee table style book. Hard cover please. Softcover, as per past editions (H.R. Giger) will just simply fall apart when the binding let's go.

Cheers

Rock-n-Shock is Coming!

2009-09-23T14:40:00.003-04:00

And I need a nice sign for our booth.

Join us at Rock-n-Shock, October 16-18. I will be there with Mike Dobbs and Marty Langford. MIke will be selling Bizarro DVD's and Marty will be selling Volume 2 of his Western Massachusetts Horror Show DVD series. I will be there selling full color prints of my latest work along with an exclusive 50th Anniversary print for the 50's horror classic Fiend Without A Face! Ask nice and I'll draw you a sketch of your favorite horror Fiend!

http://www.rockandshock.com/

Cheers

Rough Enough for You?

2009-09-18T08:27:00.002-04:00

I'm back on The Flock track for at least one more time. I got a great idea for a piece so I'm going to work it up in the same style as the zombie painting and I hope it looks OK. Here's my first rough sketch. Let's meet back here in a week or so and compare the rough to the finished. Might be interesting.

Cheers

I'm Ashamed

2009-09-08T20:35:00.002-04:00

I'm ashamed in some of my local towns who, due to possible backlash from some conservative residents in their town refused to show the students in their schools President Obama's speech and Q&A with the kids of Wakefield. When was the last time a PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES had a speech banned? is it his politics? Is it his race? His skin color? We're a bunch of sad human beings. The following is a letter I sent to the City of Longmeadow, MA and to G. Michale Dobbs, Editor-in-Chief at The Reminder Publications.

City of Longmeadow,

I just finished reading President Obama's speech on MIke Dobbs' blog. You know the editor in chief of the Reminder publications? He gave us the truth on what President Obama had to say to the kids in Wakefield and then we were treated to the Q&A that occurred between high school kids and the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES! I am so ashamed of a local town in my fair State that, due to possible backlash from some conservative parents and politicians (re: Republicans), actually banned a speech specifically addressed from the President of the United States directly to those kids. What were you afraid of? What kind of damage could this speech have done? Answer: none. Did you read the transcripts? Have you? I bet you're feeling very embarrassed now don't you? I didn't read anything political in anything that was said by either the President or the kids? Did the students ask political tainted questions? Yes they did but most of it was about Universal Health Care. The rest of it dealt with President Obama and how he was adjusting to the White House and how bad of a basketball player he is. Is that what you were worried about? Is that the kind of Town management that Longmeadow has that buckles under pressure about a speech that hasn't been heard yet? I'm ashamed for you and the rest of the City of Longmeadow. Take a good look in the mirror tomorrow morning and ask yourself, am I weak? Was it worth having my personal opinion directed by others? Do I have heart and love for my country NO matter who runs it? I'd love to hear your answers.

Yours Truly,
Mark Masztal

Excuse me now while I retch.

You need a dust jacket

2009-09-04T12:02:00.002-04:00

I had a little spare time this morning so I put together a quick dust jacket concept. All we need now is a publisher to bite!

UPDATE: And here's the rot green version of the dust jacket.

Cheers,

Red or Rot?

2009-08-29T23:01:00.002-04:00

I've finished digitally coloring this ink wash piece and dropped in the title art. I like it! But I'm also torn between going with the red palette or the rot green? What do you think?

Cheers

The Living End

2009-08-17T15:14:00.003-04:00

James Robert Smith blew me away and inspired me with his novel The Flock. If you backtrack a few posts, you'll find cover art I did for a proposed graphic novel or mini-series. Bob has sent me his latest manuscript called The Living End, A Zombie Novel with Dogs. I've read it through twice and it finally hit home, and so did the artwork I was inspired to create for the cover. Bob's idea is to have The Living End published as a novel with spot B&W illustrations. If it happens, he's promised, as much as he can-you know how publishers are, that I'm the guy for the art chores. Before I start doing any B&W illos, I wanted to get reacquainted with zombies. It took a few attempts, the dogs were so easy, so I have this rough concept. I'll start transferring the rough to the nice paper, laying in pencil lines only, no shading. All of the shading will be achieved by grey washes and then I scan it and colorize it using Photoshop. I have an idea of what I want the color palette to be, but it may change.

UPDATED: The ink wash is complete and the art has been scanned. Looking forward to coloring this piece!
Cheers!

And I'll call him...Shar-Pei

2009-08-04T16:12:00.007-04:00

These words, uttered by The Godhead, sparked a life changing moment for me and Tom Sniegoski. We met through Steve Bissette. Tom had been writing and submitting short stories for awhile and one of them was adapted in Taboo #1, edited by Steve Bissette and drawn by MIke Hoffman. I'd been running into Steve while he was out doing Swamp Thing signings throughout the Northeast. Tom called and said that Steve suggested we pull our talents together. I called Steve and he said Tom was good people. We spoke on the phone a few times, he was from the Boston area and I was in Western Massachusetts. We eventually met at a Boston convention in 1988. We hit it off and we started to bounce ideas around. I would travel out to Boston and hold up in Tom and his then girlfriend, now wife, LeeAnne's apartment on Beacon Hill. To get in the door you had to subject yourself to a walk around the block with their Shar-Pei, Spencer. Once you did this you were allowed in the door. We eventually started goofing about how would Spencer look in a kimono. Well one thing led t another and we had a pretty good design for Shar-Pei.
He wasn't our orignal idea though. Our original project was called Gutter Rat and that's what we were selling at the Albany NY Fantacon. however no one was buying. They did however like the rough drawing I had of Shar-Pei. Well we went back and started putting together our first 6 page story. Armed with Chinese reference material, Frank MIller's Ronin and a pile of duo-shade board, I drew from Tom's script a quick 6 page adventure. LeeAnne lettered it, because my hand lettering, although good, wasn't good enough.
We trotted down to NYC to the latest Fred Greenberg Spectacular and there we met Gary Reed from Caliber Press. We did our song and dance about what we wanted to do with a mini-series and Gary said he'd call us. Well, he did and we had a deal to do a three issue mini-series. This was 1989 and we were both excited. I started cranking out pencils and then inks. Then once the pages were lettered I went through and used the duo-shade board and the occasional zip-a-tone to finish the book. I hand-colored the cover and The Swords of Shar-Pei was done! After the next 2 remaining issues were completed we collected the issues into one spectacular romp with a new wrap around cover and we hit the convention circuit traveling along the Northeast.
We followed up the Swords with the Guns of Shar-Pei. This time the story was driven by our love of gangster movies, spaghetti westerns and Lawrence of Arabia. The Guns was an adventure in itself because Tom was writing stuff that I had never drawn before and it made me draw out of my comfort zone. It was fun and challenging. As we saw numbers dwindle, we moved away from Caliber. I stayed on and inked a couple issues of Deadworld and Tom went on to write Vampirella for Harris Comics. We worked for the same publisher, Dark Moon for a couple years but the bad business practices of the company left us no choice but to walk away and watch the company fold. Eventually Tom struck up a friendship with Billy Tucci and Crusade Entertainment. Bill wanted to grow his company so he offered a select number of creators to join his crew and self-publish through his Crusade imprint. Shar-Pei was back, but this time the book was called Dogs-O-War!. We teamed up Shar-Pei with a female Doberman sidekick named Gypsy and continued our story, this time introducing more, bizarre characters and helping me on the art chores were inkers Ethan Van Sciver, Nathan Massengill, Eric Powell and Chuck Angell. This I felt was a great mini-series. Unfortunately Billy Tucci pulled the plug on the creator owned books and we finished up our run and we were done. It's been a long time since I drew Shar-Pei, but I felt this was the time to draw him again and see if I could still do it.
I guess I can.

Woof!!!

It's Fiendish

2009-08-02T16:47:00.003-04:00

Fiend Without A Face. 1950's b-movie classic. I love this film. Over the past couple years, I've met Richard Gordon, who produced this movie. He's a wonderful man and someone I highly respect. Mike Dobbs and I are thinking of attending Rock-n-Shock this Fall and setting-up as guests/vendors. We want to let everyone know about the 50th anniversary of this great movie and I'll be selling this print in 2 versions. One signed by myself and Richard and a less expensive version signed by myself. I'm posting the B&W art and then 2 color version that I gave the Photoshop treatment.

Cheers

The Flock...Movie!

2009-07-13T08:18:00.005-04:00

As most of you know that check in here at Barkings, I was working up some art for graphic novel adaption for James Robert Smith's book The Flock. A great read for anyone who's into great characters and Prehistoric 9ft TerrorBirds. Warner Bros. picked up the rights that squelched any graphic novel adaption, but I just recently read that Producers have finally been made public about The Flock movie. Follow this link over to Dark Horizons. Congrats Bob!!!

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/14601/murphy-wells-take-to-the-flock-

Cheers

By Asgaard!

2009-07-09T22:23:00.002-04:00

Here's a piece I pencilled back in 96 for Chris Golden's Thor book he created while we were all over at Crusade Entertainment. John Lind inked it and I really like how he dirtied up my sometimes too tight pencils.

Cheers

Wild Things...Color...Done!

2009-07-08T21:54:00.003-04:00

Almost done. The logo is complete and I have to color it, then I wrap up the rendering on the Wild Things and then this one will be done and then I can submit it over to Cory at Terrible Yellow Eyes.

UPDATE: The color is done. I think it turned out exactly how I envisioned.

Cheers

Wild Things...inked

2009-07-06T12:24:00.002-04:00

This piece is finished at the inking stage. Next is the color and that's when Max will pop and the Terrible Eyes will be...terrible!!!

Cheers

Wild Things!

2009-06-29T12:29:00.002-04:00

Here's Max and all the rest of the Wild Things.

Cheers

Hobbits and Terrible Yellow Eyes

2009-06-28T08:29:00.005-04:00

I like a lot of different styles of art. Picasso, Mucha, MIchalangelo, Kirby, Buscema, Bissette, Totleben, Muth...you get the picture. Well Justin Gerard has been added to the list. He's been doing some fine art work over at his blog. He's been tackling Tolkien. One of the most beloved authors of two of the finest pieces of literature. I recommend you check out his brilliance.
Another interesting project Terrible Yellow Eyes. It's a tribute blog dedicated to Maurice Sendak and the brilliant book; Where The Wild Things Are. Different artists invited to present their vision of Mr Sendak's amazing book. I grew up reading this book. I was Max...later on I became one of the Wild Things. Guess I'm still a bit of a Wild Thing.

Raar.

And I shall call thee...Robot God!

2009-06-02T10:58:00.002-04:00

Part 2 of my planned 2-piece set. I'm imagining either a flip-book or variant covers.

Cheers

ROBOT GOD pencils!

2009-05-28T14:15:00.002-04:00

I finally finished this piece. It wasn't that it was hard, the piece was in my head and travelled down my arm and then to my hand and sprouted on the page, it was just that I put a lot if line detailing into it and it took longer that expected. I also had to dig up some reference on the rifle and arm of Will Hart.

Cheers

Star Trek...I think

2009-05-20T12:15:00.002-04:00

Major Spoilers, avert your eyes now!
So my wife and I saw the new Star Trekmovielast night. We're both die-hard fans of the Classic, and she is a die-hard fan of NextGen. We liked the new movie, but we didn't love it. They messed with the time lines too much and I know that by killing Kirk's father they change entire time-lines, but too much was changed.
Kirk's brother Sam; gone. Will never exist.
Spock's mom; gone. Killed while transporting?
Spock and Uhura snogging all over the transporter pad; stupid and meaningless.
Captain Pike placed in a wheelchair; what happened to the Menagerie?
Spock serving with Pike prior to meeting Kirk; wiped from History.
Leonard (The Corpse) Nimoy; please leave him out. WTF?
By introducing more stupid Time Travel storylines (seems to be the only way to write a Star Trek movie lately), Abrams and company open up the door that lets them play in the Star Trek sandbox but not stay within the rules/guidelines. Give me all of the cool flashy stuff, but throw away all the meaningless history and backstory that makes Classic Trek that much more Classic. That seems to be their new haiku.
As for the good stuff? I did like the flash of the movie. The new Warp effect was simple but it worked for me. Casting all around was good. Zach Quinto was made to be Spock and Karl Urban (usually a huge action star) brought us the grumpy McCoy that we've grown to love. Simon Pegg's Scotty was fun but underused. Sulu, Chekov and Uhura were all fine, just not amazing. I was confused by all of the new alien races that were put in front of us as eye candy and I had a hard time understanding why an Orion Slave Girl is now a member of the Star Fleet Academy.

Beam me out of here. Scotty

Robot God!

2009-05-18T11:09:00.004-04:00

Robot God is part of the Silent Scream story and it all ties into the power struggle between The Trust and The Kabale. Dennis' take on Robot God is this:Robot God, the movie and the world domination concept, has souls implanted into the robots which gives them choice, except for them being turned into somnambulists by Dr. Caligari.
Here is my pencil rough and then rough blue-pencil drawing. I'll firm up The Trust faces and then start detailing with my HB pencil.

Cheers

SilentScreamtheComic.com

2009-05-12T20:33:00.004-04:00

We got a great deal on a domain and hosting so bookmark the site. We'll have content as soon as we can.
Silent Scream!!!
Cheers

Dogboy and Fatman go to the movies

2009-05-09T19:27:00.003-04:00

It was a warm, overcast Friday evening and our hereoes; Fatman and Dogboy jump into the JunkMobile and...aw heck, me and MIke Dobbs went to see Wolverine last night. It was good. We both thought there were some problems, but we also agreed that the characters were good, the effects were good, just...something was missing. (Spoiler Alert): I had a few problems in continuity. Sorry but Scott Summers shouldn't have been in this movie. Professor X should have also not been in this movie. I know there is a desired tie to the first three X-Men movies but I still had a problem with these characters being jammed into the movie. Jackman was very good, Schreiber was nasty, and Danny Huston was a good bad guy (duh). We also saw one of the supposed 5 endings. I look forward in seeing all 5 when the DVD comes out. Mike and I also stayed past the credits to see if there was a special ending. There was. It sucked monkey junk. What a waste of time that did not help the movie at all.

Nuff said.

SRB in ink

2009-04-30T08:50:00.003-04:00

I laid down the ink the other night and I think Mr. Steve came out alright. Let's see if it gets picked as the winner in the challenge/contest over at Mike Dobb's blog.

Cheers

SRB

2009-04-24T15:06:00.002-04:00

Mike Dobbs is running a Contest/Challenge over at his Blog. Draw your best Steve R. Bissette portrait and you might get it either published or win a swell prize. Check out Mike's blog (it's rad) and also check out Steve's Myrant. You can find them over there on the right of your screen under Where In The World.

Cheers

Would You Buy A Comic Book From These Guys?

2009-04-22T15:47:00.003-04:00

In anticipation of some publisher absolutely loving our proposal, I drew up portraits of the creatives on Silent Scream;
Dennis Webster; plot and script • Bill Anderson; plot and inks • Mark Masztal; plot and pencils.
I've been told that I look sinister.

Update: Bill has tweaked his portrait digitally so I thought I would post it here in place of my illustration. I'll tweak my art and re-post at a later date. Bill sent this over and it's perfect...Bill:

One little picky thing re: the portrait - the line coming up from the collar and the removal of the jawline indication at the bottom of the earlobe (I've got one, honest) make it look a bit like I've got a goiter. I did a quick touch-up to the jpeg that I think is a little more representative of my face (tho' I wish I had the square jaw of your pencilled version of me), see what you think...

Cheers

Casting Call...Inked!

2009-04-14T13:49:00.002-04:00

Finished this up over the weekend. It will be helpful once I start working on the Silent Scream web-site for images and content.

Cheers

Perhapanauts

2009-04-09T15:11:00.002-04:00

I completely forgot about this piece. I was originally going to go to the Boston Comic Con last weekend but Life Interruptus and I didn't make it. I wanted to swing by and talk to my Massachusetts buddy Craig Rousseau and to see if he was interested in this pin-up for an issue of The Perhapanuats. I didn't get a chance to give it to him so I'll probably ink it up and send it out to him.

Cheers

Casting Call

2009-04-07T09:24:00.004-04:00

To keep track of all of the characters we have in Silent Scream, I decided to do up a little Silent Scream Bible so I can refer back to it when I need to draw a character to make sure I didn't forget anything about his/her attire or hair style.

Cheers

Silent Scream Pages 4-5

2009-03-25T11:30:00.004-04:00

Done. Got all 5 pages finished and I've gone over them with a fine tooth HB lead. They'll be going off to Bill Anderson to work his ink magic and in a month or so we'll be sending the whole package out to prospective publishers.

BTW, for the funnybook challenged few that read this post (Tony), the "X's" I mark are black areas that will be filled solid with ink.

Fingers crossed!

It's Mine!

2009-03-24T17:18:00.002-04:00

There are certain artists that I respect and then there are the artists I highly respect. In this latter list is Steve Bissette, Tom Mandrake, Tim Truman, Mike Zulli, Ryan Sook, Guy Davis and...John Totleben. Well I have original art from most of these artists. The only one missing currently is Tim Truman because I just recently picked up this beauty by John Totleben. It's from Vermillion #8, page 5. The description was alien sucker face...consider it SOLD! after that description.

Cheers

Frakkin' Good

2009-03-21T21:05:00.002-04:00

The Battlestar Galactica series finale was on last night...It was frakkin great! The attack on the Colony was a Wam-Bam-Frak-You-Man Spectacular!!! I'm happy with all of the resolutions of characters storylines. I must admit after devoting 5 years to watching this series, I got a bit melancholy and misty over the ending of the series and where some of our characters ended up. Now I have to find something else to watch on Friday nights at 10:00 pm. At least we still have the Caprica mini-series and the BSG: The Plan movie coming later this year. It was a great 5 years, my thanks to Ron Moore, David Eick and all of the crew and especially the cast for making me a BSG convert.

So Say We All!

Page 2

2009-03-17T10:27:00.003-04:00

Sorry about the pages being out of order. I started drawing page three due to the challenges of establishing characters first before tackling their environment. I think the first panel has that SteamPunk feel we're going for. Of course the dirigible doesn't hurt. My father-in-law is again playing our Jedediah West and I acted as model for the hands.

Cheers

Silent Scream pencils

2009-03-13T14:18:00.002-04:00

Here are pages1 & 3 from the Silent Scream concept, plotted by Dennis Webster & Bill Anderson with a script by Dennis Webster. It's a period piece, 1920's, so I'm using a ton of reference material so I get the correct feel of the era. It slows me down a little bit, but I think it will be worth it. I want to thank my father-in-law, Ed Korovae, for modeling for me. He's the sharp dressed Jedeiah West wearing the fashionable overcoat and bowler.

Cheers.

Mr Hart & Mr Montana

2009-03-04T15:08:00.003-05:00

I'm a sucker for Golems. When Dennis suggested using them for the book, I was sold.
Here's an encounter between two Golems and Bull Montana and William S. Hart in a warehouse.

Cheers

Secret Project Post

2009-03-02T11:57:00.004-05:00

I've been working with Dennis Webster (writer of the macabre) and Bill Anderson (inker extraordinare) on a secret project. No publication news yet, but we are working on it. The Silent Scream concept is very exciting and for me it was an add-on. Bill and Dennis had other ideas and that was the one they wanted me to pick. Some concept work is done and I've got thumbnails done on a 5 page story to help sell the project. I'm pencilling the pages starting this week so I'll have more to post later.
Here's what I've got so far:

Enjoy!

Quick Update and a Purchase

2009-02-23T19:42:00.002-05:00

Taking a quick moment to say Hello and to post this great Alex Nino page I bought from a seller in the Phillippines. It's a great example of his brushwork from 1969. I'm working on having the page translated, but until then, it's a joy to examine and enjoy.

Cheers!

NYC Comicon Update

2009-02-09T14:55:00.004-05:00

We walked, we talked, we were jostled, we met with reps, we met with publishers, we bought artwork, we bought books, we bought toys. A good time was had by all, but man that was a long, tiring, chaotic show.

Update: I ran into my Massachusetts Amigo Craig (Perhapanauts) Rousseau. We talked briefly (don't forget this was the chaotic show) but I was able to flip through his Canson sketches and I picked up this sweet Etrigan piece. Please wipe the drool from your chins.

Cheers

NYC Comicon and the Secret Project

2009-02-06T19:40:00.002-05:00

This weekend is the big NY Comicon and for some crazy reason I'm going. I was contacted by my old inker friend Bill Anderson and he asked me if I wanted to read over some concepts that he's putting together with writer Dennis Webster. I know Bill is a stand-up guy so I said yes. Out of the dozen or so concepts I showed interest in 4-5. The I sent that off and then I added a last minute afterthought. Well it was that afterthought that Dennis and Bill thought I would be perfect for. I'm meeting Bill and we're going to talk to some publishers and go over the meeting that he and Dennis took on Friday. Maybe I'll see something in print this year!!!
Oh and my neighbor Mike Dobbs is going with me to check out the show, buy his wife something luscious and take in the massive nerdness of Comicon.

Cheers

V1 Design

2009-02-02T15:50:00.002-05:00

I was approached by Paul Kozub to design some ad concepts for his new vodka V1. He's a new, young entrepeneur cooking up the original wheat based vodka and then having it distilled in Poland. He had some great ideas and I took some of them and ran with it. I did 8 ads in total, but I think these 5 are the strongest ranging from edgy to safe.

Enjoy.

It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage

2009-01-28T11:26:00.004-05:00

We had unexpected surprise visitors the other day. Dean Mijka and Todd Lajoie were pals of mine 25 years ago when we all worked at the Mott's Shop Rite in Westfield. We hung around and became good friends. Dean went off to serve Uncle Sam, Todd went to college and I was just finishing college. We all have our own lives now, but while Dean was in town the boys swung by and said hi and delighted my wife with the embarassing stories of our youth. Here we are 25 years ago and now. It's definately the mileage and we won't go into the 1980's stripper shorts on Todd and Dean.

Cheers

Dog Friends

2009-01-20T14:35:00.005-05:00

After I had locked in my two core Greyhounds, DeNiro and Posie, I fostered for quite a few years. Don't ask me how many dogs, but there were a lot. Buddy came to me as a 8 1/2 yr old retiree who had been kept at his breeders Tewksbury kennel after he was retired. The State made him surrender a few Greys so we took in Buddy and he came my way. He was scruffy, needed a few extra pounds put on him and also needed to learn manners. After a couple weeks the boy was shining and he was adopted by Gary and Rachel from CT. Rachel just wrote me that the Budd'ster had celebrated his 16th birthday in December. 16 is awesome for a Grey. He's having some mobility issues and he lost an eye a few years back, but the Budd'ster is still hanging on.

Barb and Mark Draa where the first few people who welcomed me to Greyhound Options and they were the proud parents of Pandora. She was a sleek shiny little grey female with amazing eyes. She was a member of the Girl Pack. 4 female greys that roamed the play area together and ruled with an iron paw and even scared a few people too. They didn't let the boys get in their face. I found out today that Pandora had passed. She was the last of the girls; Ivy, my Posie, Jennie and Pandora. Give your furry ones a rub behind the ear today for all of our survivors and those we've lost.

Woof

Upcoming Movies

2009-01-19T10:17:00.002-05:00

I'm a movie geek and I do like my comic books. This year has got two comic book movies coming out that I'll be first in line for. The first is The Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons ultimate graphic novel. When the individual issues were being released I was buying two copies, one to read, one to store away. I also bought the Watchmen watch, the softcover graphic novel, the special HC graphic novel and I even have a couple of the French graphic novels. Wolverine was always one of my favorite X-Men going back to my first new X-Men issue 111 by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin. This issue blew me away and I stuck with the X-Men for a long time throughout different creative teams.
Enjoy this image I cobbled together from the Watchmen one=sheets and also this new image of Wolverine and his gang; Deadpool, Gambit, Sabretooth and Silver Fox.

Cheers

Darryl in 4C

2009-01-10T19:21:00.003-05:00

Here's the finished piece of Darryl, glorious in all his hues.

Cheers,
Mk

Darryl and the beginnings of color

2009-01-05T22:31:00.003-05:00

Coming together rather quick.

Cheers

2009-01-05T15:53:00.003-05:00

Here's Darryl inked up and ready for color.

Cheers!

Darryl Pencils

2008-12-29T11:11:00.002-05:00

And this morning we have Darryl pencilled and ready for inks.
I think this one came out quite well. People at the real J.O.B. described it as disturbing.

Your thoughts?
Cheers

Darryl

2008-12-21T14:57:00.002-05:00

Now this posting has no tie-in to the Bob Newhart show. Instead it relates to a secondary character in the B.P.R.D. storylines. He's one of those funny characters that draws your attention and makes you feel sad for him and his situation. This will be one of the next pieces I work on. I have some great Canadian Birch tree reference so stay tuned.

Cheers

It's My Birthday This Weekend

2008-12-13T16:25:00.002-05:00

I'll see you all back here on Monday.

Cheers

The Owl in ink

2008-12-09T14:41:00.004-05:00

I finished inking The Owl piece this past weekend, dropped in the title and I've got a great idea when I go to color it.

Stay Tuned

The Owl & The Ood

2008-12-01T12:14:00.002-05:00

I finished up the Ood pencils last week but didn't get a chance to scan it until now. The Owl was a quick piece once I found the right photo reference for the owl and downtown L.A. Nastiest part of that piece was finding that shot of the Peacemaker barrel. Lots of side shots but none of the actual barrel foreshortening shot.

Enjoy.

New Artwork

2008-11-28T20:32:00.002-05:00

I'm working on a new piece based on Robert D. Forward's cut classic The Owl, so I'll have a scam of the pencils for oyu next week. I also finished pencilling the Ood piece that I previewed earlier. For now though I'm playing fanboy.
I ordered some Guy Davis pages earlier in the month and Guy tells me that the pages are working their way East. I've picked up 2 great BPRD pages and a wonderful all villains page from the Deadline mini-series. I'm also very excited because growing up in the sixties I was exposed to a lot of great comic book talent and one of them was Jack Sparkling and one of my fave comics was Spaceman published by Dell Comics. I snagged a nice page off of ebay from issue 5. That page is paid for and hopefully next week I'll be getting a couple nice packages of artwork.

Cheers!

SCARECROW!!!

2008-11-21T20:31:00.003-05:00

To celebrate the premiere release of Disney's The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh (Dr Syn), created by Russell Thorndyke, I thought I'd post my version of the good Dr. and his 2 thieving cohorts.

Cheers.

Because Jeff V. Asked

2008-11-16T19:52:00.002-05:00

I've been gone for a bit, between work, 2 weeks of the flu and my wife having some surgery. I haven't been doing much drawing, instead I've been catching up on some reading, watching some new and old TV and re-charging my batteries. My old friend Jeff Vella responded to my last post and I felt I had to show a peak at a couple projects I'm working on.

Enjoy.

Basic Things Color

2008-09-22T19:52:00.002-04:00

Here's basic color laid in on the Things piece. I sampled some photo reference of Louisiana swamps and I made the effort of making sure that all three Things each have a different color palette.

Enjoy,
Mk

Things inked

2008-09-19T11:25:00.002-04:00

Finally. It took a bit because of the detail and coverage, and I'm very happy with how it turned out. I also designed a quick logo and threw it on. Now it's time to color, however I've three more ideas kicking around in my head so maybe I'll start coloring and then break off to do some coloring.

Muck!
Mk

Pencils finished...inks await!

2008-09-12T13:15:00.002-04:00

To quote JScott from the HellBoy Forum, "you might be sacrificing a few nibs for that one."
I'll be in inking Hell tonight.

Cheers