WINTERKILL

Did a new piece for A TWIST OF NOIR yesterday:

SNOW'S NOT COLD TO A DEAD MAN

That was the working title. I don't really give my drawings titles. Call it whatever you want. "Nice Job Backing Out of the Driveway in Fresh Snow" would do.

I sketched the clouds and lower half in pencil, then started inking from the top with micron pens. The skylines were done freehand. My favorite part, I think, is the mailbox.

Yesterday, I picked up some ink and an India ink brush-pen to try on large blacked-out spaces. I've been eating up the micron pens; I love them for inking these small pieces, but they don't give the kind of flat, opaque coverage I want.

Next, I'm going to work on a new comic for PULP METAL. I have a few things ready, but need something different before I post the Quin Browne short story I adapted.

I'm also finishing up a little e-book called "Flashdrive" (Sarah Bloom photography and various writers). Should be up soon. Today, if I can place the photos and upload it to the site correctly.

And with my free time, unless something comes up, I'll be either be watching bad Horror or 70's Crime movies.

BAD BLACK HEART

New Valentine's Day story, "Mine," by Rizzy Rodham at YOU WOULD SAY THAT, WOULDN'T YOU?

MINE

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Working on some new crimescene artwork and a stippled portrait of Charlie Patton today.

Wrote a poem last night, for the first time in months.

I'm sliding back towards music and martial arts training and have no idea how this year is going to play out.

BACK IN BLACK (LIGHTNIN' HOPKINS RE-MIX)

BLACK BETWEEN THE FRAMES #2 is up at Pulp Metal Magazine. Lots to read. So go read it....

BBTF #2

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Submitted a poem last week that will be appearing in a print microzine this spring. I have a slew of poems from last year that I never sent out. May get on it this week.

Finished the pencils on a new version of the Quin Browne story I adapted for BBTF.

There are a few things I could work on, but I think I'd rather draw a picture of Lightnin' Hopkins today.

NOT THE COFFEE, DAMMIT

New drawing, "Why you should always sit at a table, rather than a booth, with a clear view of the door," at Twist:

A TWIST OF NOIR

Sakura micron pens on a sketchpad. I almost painted it, but decided to go with lines and heavy blacks. Still undecided whether I should do greyscale or straight B&W on this kind of image. Black and white, I think, if I can pull it off. There are an infinite variety of effects you can achieve with straight B&W. Not always logical or accurate--often stylized, suggestive, even surreal--but my primary concern is eliciting a reaction, not winning a prize for photo-realism.

I'm reminded of Cornell Woolrich, one of the progenitors of Noir. His stories were often contrived, overwrought, at times nonsensical, but he dragged you into the heart of his existential nightmare and didn't let up until you almost couldn't stand it.

Finishing up a new BBTF today. Have another ready. Keeping an eye out, while I wait for details on an upcoming illustration.

METALHEADS

BLACK BETWEEN THE FRAMES, the monthly crime comic for Pulp Metal Magazine, now has a homepage:

BBTF

I plan to do a few single-panels, then a longer story or two this spring. I'm already at work adapting the short story of a friend.

* * *

Just finished an illustration for a periodical that I have never appeared in, as a writer/editor/anything else. Excited to be part of it.

Next are an illustration for a comic-themed book, new artwork for A Twist of Noir and a wicked little story for Valentine's Day. And I may get disenthralled up and running again soon--I discussed it with a guest editor and contacted a new photographer this morning.

What's on Chiller tonight....

PULPSTER

My monthly crime comic for Pulp Metal Magazine, BLACK BETWEEN THE FRAMES, is up and running. Here's the proposed intro (should be added soon) and a link:

You took a wrong turn and nothing makes sense. Left or right, the streets get darker. You double-back, retrace your steps, only to find the last intersection gone.

Don’t stop.

Don’t even slow down.

Because that noise you heard was something, all right. That blur in the alley more than a shadow.

This is the City of Wellesport. It plans to do more than welcome you. And the slip that brought you in may be the last mistake of your sorry life....

BLACK BETWEEN THE FRAMES

YOU LITTLE PUNK

Only too happy to do something for Paul Brazill's blog. That guy hauling ass across YOU WOULD SAY THAT, WOULDN'T YOU? was inked with Sakura Micron pens, painted in watercolor, scanned, then drained of color and tweaked to make it appear greyscale....

"Hightailer"

Working on some new stuff for A Twist of Noir and considering a few other projects.