I've seen that face before...

After so much time and of so many entries, I really do not remember if I have posted this page before. Anyway, here it is. From the first chapter of The Hypothetical Lizard the stellar appearance of my elder brother as a haughty-seller-of-forbidden-things.
It was so funny to be able to draw well-known people in cameos.

Abstract drawing

I've always thought that Moore's prose in The Hypothetical Lizard was very difficult to move to a basic visual level, which is why I tried through the drawings and page composition substantiate the atmospheric feeling into something much more tangible.
This page is an example of what I say.

Waking up with the devil inside

More from Mool.
A quiet, talking scene...
...before the nightmare begin.
(what else can you get with a boy and a cursed god in the same place?)

No substance

I remember when I designed Mool character I thought I'd draw it as a translucent being, without shadows or reflections. The original idea was that he was feeding off the shadows of his victims, and so, gradually, he would be turning dark and massive (in this page Mool has swollen the shadow from the Priest of the Dark Order, so you can see little black spots on him).
Today this would have been easy to do with computer effects, but at the time was more complicated.
Just try to draw something without substance...

With great power comes...

...great voice!
From Mool.
A priest of the dark order conjures the God spirit through the gem of blood. I used the graphic appeal of the runes around the priest to indicate that his words were not those of mere mortals. Aesthetics, again, derived from my vision of Dark City. Great movie, indeed!

In a Dark Hole

This is one of my favorite pages from whole Mool series.
In fact, it's the fourth page of the first chapter, and I was very excited to translate graphically many of the ideas I had in mind about this character.
I remember that at that time I saw the film Dark City, by Alex Proyas, and I was very surprised and admired by its aesthetics (and for the great soundtrack too!).
So probably part of the paraphernalia of this temple can come from my admiration for that film.

Bunch of oldies

An old work than you already have seen some pages: Mortualia. From a closeup of the main character, Plague, to a splash-page, only to show the storytelling that I was doing 10-11 years ago, early into my professional career...

Conan the pencilled

This one is one of the first examples that I sent to the publishers to show my artwork. Probably about 1994-1995, and it's Totally drawn in pencil. I drew it on 2 oblong A4 and took advantage of this size to draw little details as the hair of the girl, Conan's axe or the scaly skin of the monster.
I sent the original ones to the publishing house and I only kept a photocopy of the work, where there were lost the majority of these details. But what is worse: the two a4 were not fitting good and you can see the shade that appears where they join, as well as certain twisted image... Anyway: I got the job.

Something happened on the way to hell

Sandra Lords is Hellina, but she doesn't know. Or she doesn't remember. Or whatever.
The fact is: if you press the right button in the right time, she'll remember everything. But if you press it in a wrong time, you may loose your head.
Curious case of button, indeed!

It's in his kiss

I really love in this page the kiss sequence. I think that it appears in a natural, simply way, but at the same time it reflects the disgust that she feels on being kissed (you can almost feel devil's tongue in her mouth, but as the old song says "hug him and squeeze him tight. Find out what you want to know If it's love, if it really is, It's there: in his kiss").
The last panel is pure Giger.
I wouldn't like that he was decorating my house...

Little big... horns

Second page from Hellina.
Continuing the story, in a splash-page appears a great red horned guy (I suppose that he's red ... at least, he's horned) threatening our heroine. Curiously, Hellina's room-mate continues sleeping so placidly.
That little things from comic-books, you know...

What the Hell do I know?

Another Hellina short story (10 pages). Written by Doug Myers. Threshold #50. April 2003. Avatar Press. I enjoyed so much drawing these pages. When we reach the next one, you'll see how much.
Really.

From the dead (8-8)

Well, the last page isn't among my favorites. I had to hurry many things to close the chapter, and the 6 panels turn out to be a bit confused. Into the original size, the lines are much clearer. But I realize that I must have lightened the details to grant major clarity to the set. Many suggested things stay, others remaine outlined, and the sensation of urgency invades what till then had been a good narrative.

From the dead (7-8)

Battle was coming to an end. It continued to rage for long hours. The warriors were brave, and ferocious, but... how to defeat a dead army?
And now, Slam-Kath, the lord of the frozen lands, is coming towards you.
Can you feel the cold, cruel, insane air that surrounds him?

From the dead (6-8)

The ferocious battle of good vs evil.
The battle axe vs the allmighty sword.
A very dark, strong and dynamic page, where each panel have his own personality, creating powerful provocative montage.

From the dead (5-8)

Here we have the bad guy. Slam-kath, the lord of the frozen lands.
I thought that it would be interesting to draw him as an albino, to reinforce the idea of his link with the ices.
I remember to have drawn this page in a frantic way, almost directly inking from the beginning. The darker were getting the characters, the more I liked the final result. I was finding it almost dramatic.

From the dead (4-8)

I used to call this page the "BraveHeart scene". There's a speech from Sage's father which succinctly says "compromise of liberty leads to tyranny; but dying for liberty leads to freedom". And then. the battle comes.
But it will be in one more day.
Or two.

From the dead (3-8)

Here you have an old druid (in fact, a mixture between a druid and a shaman) bringing some bad news according to a prophecy. A druid was a member of the priestly and learned class in the ancient Celtic societies of Western Europe, Britain and Ireland. The Celtic communities that Druids served were polytheistic. They also show signs of animism, in their reverence for various aspects of the natural world, such as the land, sea and sky, and their veneration of other aspects of nature, such as sacred trees and groves (the oak and hazel were particularly revered), tops of hills, streams, lakes and plants such as the mistletoe. Fire was regarded as a symbol of several divinities and was associated with cleansing. Purported ritual killing and human sacrifice were aspects of druidic culture that shocked classical writers:"These men predict the future by observing the flight and calls of birds and by the sacrifice of holy animals: all orders of society are in their power... and in very important matters they prepare a human victim, plunging a dagger into his chest; by observing the way his limbs convulse as he falls and the gushing of his blood, they are able to read the future."

From the dead (1-8) (2-8)

Many of you you have asked for a new complete story. It's funny: you ask for it by private e-mail but you don't use the commentaries in the blog. Last Wednesday there were 240 visits and even not a single commentary. You are very shy... I'll close again the comments.
Anyway: there are holidays in my hometown and I'm going to spend my free time with my family. So, I'll post today two pages of the Sage's first comic-book. You have seen some samples in previous posts, but now I am going to show the complete 8 pages.

Sage was drawn in a big format. Paper was bigger than a A-3. The reproduction size was so small that a lot of lines were deformed and mixed. At the time, I was very influenced by Luis García's artwork (you can take a look to his superb genius here), so I was using a lot of line artwork instead of big black masses. Probably, if I had to redraw this stuff I won't use the same style. But I was so satisfied with it at that time.