The Phenomenal Jock: Bye, Bye Baby

Finally, some pages from my upcoming comic The Phenomenal Jock: Bye, Bye Baby. The comic will debut at this year's MoCCA Fest.

Jock's ravenous hunger leads him to a nearby, quaint suburban home. But everything's not as it seems. Can Jock handle the mighty Pwecious!?!































































































































© Frank Reynoso, Jan. 2009, All Rights Reserved

Latest Issue of The Indypendent

The latest issue of The Indypendent is out now. With cover art by Lynne Foster and illustrations by Christine Hale, Tim Durning, Leo Garcia, Louis Joe Comeau IV, Brian Ponto, and Jaume Guerra aka Guerruntz.

Some stories that you might be interested in:

American Dreams: Obama Harnesses the Seductive Appeal of an Abstract Ideology by Cyril Ghosh

Obama's Choice: President or King by Ann Schneider

A Stalled Debate on Economy by Arun Gupta

Post-Palin Feminism by Abby Scher

And the feature article Who You Gonna Call? Expectations of Obama's Presidency by John Tarleton

And so much more.

Studying the Human Anatomy

Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life: Over 1,000 Illustrations by George B. Bridgman

This book is a must for any aspiring comics artist. It's kicking my ass but I'm learning a hell of a lot about the human anatomy or the flesh machine as I like to call it.

I'm doing what all professionals advise: draw everything in this book!

From my Sketchbook

I really like the simplicity and boldness of tattoo art.

















Saw this couple the other week in Park Slope.

















Just sketched this one while riding the train. Didn't base it on any particular person. Just a general vibe.
















© Frank Reynoso, Jan. 2009, All Rights Reserved

Demonic Brute Pencils

While preparing my portfolio for the upcoming New York Comic Convention, I penciled this piece just for the fun of it.















© Frank Reynoso, Jan. 2009, All Rights Reserved

NACLA Cover

This is an illo I did for North American Congress for Latin America (NACLA). Needless to say, the magazine deals with the US's relations with Latin America. It's a solid magazine with great, intelligent writing.

The issue should hit the stands in January. Pick up a copy. And read their articles, too.









© Frank Reynoso, Dec. 2008, All Rights Reserved

Fearless Cinema: Here’s the Best of This Year’s NYC Horror Film Festival

One of the things that kept me busy lately was writing this review of the NYC Horror Film Fest for The Indypendent. Below is an excerpt.

New York City Horror Film Fest
November 12-16, 2008

Halloween may have come and gone, but as movie ticket sales and rising rentals point out, horror is timeless. And this year’s New York City Horror Film Festival, now in its eighth year, showcased a cornucopia of the interesting, unexpected and the traditional.

Modern monsters (psycho-killers, zombies, urban legends, etc.), a staple of the genre since the 1960s, were well represented in notable films like the action short First Kill, the eerie feature From a Place of Darkness, psycho-short Drip, and the apocalyptic short Antibody. Bmovies — a volatile blend of horror, gusto and laughs — excited audiences with Frank Henelotter’s Bad Biology winning Best Feature and Zoe Polley’s teen gorefest Devil’s Grove. The horrific whodunit Surveillance by Jennifer Chambers Lynch and the monochromatic, antiwar, pantomime Hold Your Fire by Jesse Gordon spoke to fans of intense horror.



Multi-genre films, particularly the sci-fi/horror hybrid, pushed expectations and won audiences over with each showing. The 1980s scifi satire/homage short Martians Go Home follows a sci-fi nerd’s battle with hostile space zombies. Harry Owen can’t escape his short-film existence in the humorous meta-fiction The Glitch. Eel Girl is a sleek and humorous horror- short-cum-music-video. Audience Choice-winning feature Time Crimes (Cronocrimenes) by Spanish director Nacho Vigalondo is a mind-bending mystery that brings out the best of both genres.

Surprisingly, absurd and humorous horror films dominated the fest with provocation and by connecting with audiences. Read rest of review.

© Frank Reynoso, Dec. 2008, All Rights Reserved

Christmas at the Palin Household

This is a hi-res file that you can download and print out.

Forward to friends and foes.

Happy Holidays!!











© Frank Reynoso, Dec. 2008, All Rights Reserved

From My Sketchbook

I'm back, folks!

Below are a couple sketches from my sketchbook. (Duh!) Both were inspiered by a night of playing Arkham Horror with my good friend Keith McCleary.






































© Frank Reynoso, Dec. 2008, All Rights Reserved

Experiencing Technical Difficulties, Please Stand By

Due to some technical difficulties - the scanner I normally use is out of commission - I'll have to wait a while until I can upload new images.

But don't fret. I have a bunch of new illos and comics. So stay tuned.

Peace,
Frank

Loopity-Loop

Last week I covered the annual New York City Horror Film Fest. Over four days I watched about 50 films - features and shorts. Needless to say, I don't want to watch anything on the big screen for a little while. Hehehe.

Covering the fest pushed me back a little with my illustration and comics works. But I'll be in the swing of things by the end of this week.

Here's my piece on last year's Horror Film Fest - Bring on the Blood.

Late,
Frank

How To Create a Bloomzilla

For those of you who are curious about my working methods, here's a walk-through of my recent illustration for The Indypendent.

Keep in mind that I don't have a "fixed" system. Every assignment's different - eg. full-color versus black and white, hand-painted versus digital, etc etc. But below is an example of my general process.

1. I read the text and got a sense of the messages conveyed in the story. (Sometimes the full text isn't ready so an outline or synopsis is all I have to work from.)

With those ideas in mind, I sketched this little dinger. Usually I'll do a series of sketches - four to five or more if I can't "get it right." But considering I only had a couple of days to do this illo, I went with the first idea. (I strongly suggest doing multiple sketches before moving onto the final.)

Most of my "thinking" is done at this point. I look for strong composition and draftsmanship.

2. I plunged into pencils. I went online and used five reference pictures of Bloomberg to make sure I got his likeness. (Note: use multiple references to avoid legal troubles.)

I changed the head's angle so the reader can see his face more.

Though I did most of my thinking at the sketch phase, I still modify things as I move along the process. Surprises can be cool but too many of them can make your final look like a hot mess.

3. Using a couple of brushes, acrylic ink and a micron pen, I inked the bugger.

Any modifications at this point are nominal. Eg, extra hatching in various spots.



4. I scanned it in, cleaned up any blemishes, erased a stray line at the bottom and bumped up the contrast.

With the illo clean, I digitally added grays and sent the final to the designers.




And here it is.

Again, I don't have a "regular system" for doing illustrations. (Recently I've incorporated tracing paper into my illustrations. More on that some other time.)

But I always use the a) think and sketch, b) pencil and modify, and c) ink and finish process for my illustrations.

Hope you had as much fun placating my ego as I did. :)

Rock on,
Frank


© Frank Reynoso, Nov. 2008, All Rights Reserved

New York City Horror FIlm Festival 2008

It's that time of year again: the annual New York City Horror Film Festival. Michael J. Hein and his crew amassed a slew of movies that are sure to hit a nerve.

The fiendish festivities start tonight at Don Hill's and continue till Sunday.

Here are two of the fest's features.

Driven by biological excess, a young man and woman search for sexual fulfillment, unaware of each other's existence. Unfortunately, they eventually meet, and the bonding of these two very unusual human beings ends in an explosive and ultimately over-the-top sexual experience, resulting in a truly god awful love story. Directed by Frank Henelotter

Program 7
Saturday, Nov. 15th
10:00pm






Resident Evil: Regeneration is a fully CGI feature directed by Makoto Kamiya. The story takes place seven years after the first zombie outbreak in the US. Counter-zombie fighters fight to contain the outbreak and their own survival in a locked airport.

Program 1
Thursday, Nov. 13th
9:00pm









Photos courtesy of NYC Horror Film Fest

Bloomzilla

Here's an illo I did for the upcoming issue of The Indypendent.

Needless to say I had fun drawing our wacky mayor, who's running for a third term. And obviously he did it "legally."






© Frank Reynoso, Nov. 2008, All Rights Reserved

Venom Inked

Came out a little lighter than expected...
















© Frank Reynoso, Nov. 2008, All Rights Reserved

Geoff Vasile's Track Rabbit #3

Snarky characters, clean illustrations, and totally DIY, Track Rabbit by Geof Vasile's a choice comic.
















Track Rabbit © Geof Vasile, Nov. 2008, All Rights Reserved

Venom pencils

Last night's election kept me from posting new stuff. At any rate, here's a pencil of Venom.


If all works well, I'll exhibit at the NYC Comic Con in February. I'm still on their waiting list.












© Frank Reynoso, Nov. 2008, All Rights Reserved

Sample Panels from "Phenomenal Jock"

I've penciled additional pages for my old, unpublished comic "The Phenomenal Jock."

I plan to debut the comic at next year's MoCCA Fest.

Here are some sample panels.





















































































© Frank Reynoso, Nov. 2008, All Rights Reserved

A Few Pages from "Buenas Noches"

A while back, James Spruill and I made a comic titled Buenas Noches. We debuted it at this year's MoCCA Fest.

Here are the first few pages.










































For more of my comics: comicspace.com/illjodienda/

© Frank Reynoso and James Spruill, Nov. 2008, All Rights Reserved

"Sock the Vote" Comic

Here's my one-page comic response to voting.

Forward far and wide. :)















© Frank Reynoso, Oct. 2008, All Rights Reserved