more potter!

okay, besides getting ready for the holidays, i've been working away on both the x-men first class story and finishing up the haps annual... and with the tv writers strike (and usual holiday lull in new shows) i've found myself turning off the tv and listening to music (without even seeing the movie, i got the soundtrack to "walk hard" and got a big kick out of it ) and audiobooks - and finally finished listening to "harry potter and the goblet of fire" - man, i'm just amazed at how well all of these books fit together - now, onto "order of the phoenix"...

in my few free moments before crashing at night, i got back to doing a few more character pieces, this time harry and ron (while my take on harry was pretty easy to get down, ron went through a few different sketches...)





still have a few i wanna do at some point (but who knows when i'll get to'm - like hagrid, ginnie, mad eye, sirius and voldemort, and maybe even a few others)... but here's the whole set so far!



alright, off to get the boy at school - if i don't get back to you before then, merry christmas (to those who celebrate it..) and happy holidays!

-c

haps 1 cover sneak peek

not much new here... just working hard on the haps annual and the x-men first class issue... since you've already seen the cover to the annual, i figured i'd give y'all an early look at the cover to the ongoing... still needs color (obviously) and the real trade dress (just dropped that logo in for rough placement)...



alrighty, back to work!
-c
(finally saw "superbad" last week... definitely not for everyone, but i loved it)

marvelous news (ugh... pun ...so... bad... it hurts)

so, in case folks missed it over on the 'haps message board (guess i gotta be quicker about these things, eh, nic?)...

yours truly will be doing a fill-in on an upcoming issue of x-men first class with jeff parker.... after about 10 years as a comic pro, this'll be my first "real" comic work for marvel (sure, i did a page in a saturday morning cd tie-in comic when i was just breaking in - thanks again, dana! - and x-men licensing art for the first movie... but this is the first job NOT for creative services)...

so, with all the work on the 'haps and now the first class issue (and a few other things), i can't imagine i'll have a lot of free time for a bit... so i'll leave you with a buncha marvel sketch cards i did recently for upper deck...




-c

(but oh MY, was that a crazy football game last night... luck was clearly on new england's side at the end... but they managed the win)

happy turkey day!

hope everyone has a good one (celebrating or not)...

i'm glad to be spending the day with my family (and taking time to remember those who aren't with us... )

and here's a new commission... (hard to resist the "breast or leg?" joke)



-c

one that slipped by...

so, as you can probably tell, i've been pretty straight out with work the last few weeks (bob always say he can tell when i'm swamped with work just by checking for the latest blog update)... wrapped up that dc licensing gig (which won't see the light of day untl next summer or so, so i'll remind you then...) as well as the 7 page oz/wonderland story that is currently in colorific hands of chris summers (who, besides all the great stuff on devil's due books lately, did some sweet colors on two of the 'haps portfolio covers - i'lll try and post a page or two in color when they come back), and finally clearing up a few long outstanding commissions (danger girls, world's finest, the ff, gorillaz, and shego...as well as few sketchbook pieces for friends)...

but i'm really clearing the deck so i can get into the 'haps full-time (what i've done so far i'm really digging - hope you folks do too!)

anyway, back to the drawing board (and don't forget, come by the 'haps message board at the image forum and say "Hey!" - i was gonna talk tv, but i got stuff to do... and i think that'll make a good thread over there, right?)

but here's that commission i forgot to post...



-c

the cat's outta the bag!

so, it's official...

the 'haps are packing up and moving to image! it's been in the works for a while, but now the word is out. we'l lbe relaunching the book in deb 07 with an extra-sized annual then going to a new series in april... and the skies the limit!

if you haven't found it, there's a forum over on the image boards where todd and plan to hang out and post, so come on by...

http://www.imagecomics.com/messageboard/viewforum.php?f=44

here's an early mock-up of the cover for the annual (by me, not the SWEET variant by MIKE ALLRED! i bet todd'll post that one)...



we're hoping the book'll find it's audence with image and we'll be able to work on the book til we're old(er) and gray(er)...


oh, and happy halloween! (and happy day before bithday to our little cat!)

-c

red sox win the world series!

wow, twice in four years... sweet.

and i'll tell ya, until i saw them start playing the way they played those last 3 games in cleveland, i wasn't sure they had what it took. BUT the bats came to life (and not just manny and ortiz...) and everybody came through in flying colors.

and let's not forget the pats 8-0 record (that game was thing of beauty... crazy how good they are... should be a good game against the colts)

let's see, besides all the sports talk, i've been crazy busy with that dc licensing stuff and that oz story... among other things that'll be announced soon, i'm sure. had a good time at the boston convention last weekend (and a great zuni roll at the parish cafe with trish and friends ta boot!) and stopped by umass dartmouth to talk to the illustration class about drawing funnybooks...

so, onto the art post of this post... here's another supergirl commission...

boston comic show

okay, so the weather's clearing up for game 6 of the alcs (which, i'm glad to see back in boston... and i'm more than a bit pleasantly surprised they've even made it this far... we'll see what happens) and the pats'll try for 6-0 tomorrow... i won't be home to see the game, though, since i'll be up at the boston comic show (they've got a decent guest list withthe usual locals like me, norman lee, bob almond, paul ryan, among others... as well as the legendary jim steranko!)

been working on a few pages for an indy book called the oz/wonderland chronicles, as well as more dc licensing stuff, commissions... and getting geared up for some new 'haps stuff (if you read todd's blog, you'll know we'll have news soon.. and even a new website with all the fixin's!)

so, here's yet another canson piece (got inspired by the wonder woman day piece...)



-c

happy birthday, todd!

ugh... i've been under the weather these past few days (stupid cold and cough) as well as under the gun workwise (another one of those dc gigs i'll tell you about when i can), but i wanted to get a post up before day's end to wish a very happy birthday to one of my best friends and my partner-in-crime ("my other girlfriend", as trish is fond of saying), todd. hope it was a good one, brother!

so, boston made it to the a.l. championship against cleveland... gotta say, after the last few weeks of the season i wasn't sure they'd make it this far, but they've been playing great ball in the post season so far (unlike the yankees... ouch, although i really can't say it's torre's fault that they weren't able to produce runs)... here's hoping they can go all the way again.

patriots are playing fantastic ball as well, should be a good game with dallas next week (although it's way too early for all this 16-0 talk).


quick tv - reaper's damn good fun (love ray wise as the devil), the office has had brilliant moments (mostly the stuff without michael, who's become a caricature of himself - unlike the great bits with toby and creed), friday night lights, earl and 30 rock have started strong, chuck's been good fun, heroes.... we'll see.

and last but not least, another commission...

wonder woman day 07

let's get the sox outta the way first, shall we?

wow. great game... beckett really came through. let's hope dice-k has a good outing on friday with some decent run support.

okay, onto the rest of the post...

here's a fun 11x17 canson piece i did for this year's wonder woman day, organized by andy mangels out in portland, or. as a benefit for domestic violence shelters on 28 october 2007. check out http://www.wonderwomanmuseum.com for a full rundown and all the other art donated for auction this year (and see last year's contributions as well).



okay, back to work. (ooooh, new office and my name is earl tonight... and the return of 30 rock!)

-c

october already?!

wow, so even after letting the 12 game lead slip, the sox ended the regular season on top of the a.l. east (and tied with the indians for the best record in baseball...!) strange stuff... should make for an interesting october.

and how 'bout them pats? wow.

and let's not forget the new fall tv season (enjoying chuck and reaper, haven't gotten to bionic woman on tivo yet ... heroes again seems to be falling back on old comic book cliches, but i'll keep watching... the office was pretty darn good - now with more creed and toby!)

work's been busy with lotsa fun stuff that i can't quite talk about yet, but should have news to announce soon...!

unfortunately, had to cancel my appearance at the nashua, nh comic show in october due to family commitments, but i'm still planning on making it up to the boston show the following week ...


and now, another commission...



-c

... back to our regularly scheduled commissions...

okay, here's two commissions i finished up last week (got a few more to post later this week... and probably a harry potter piece, too...)





- the fall tv season starts up this week, looking forward to some returning shows and a few new ones... and figure i'll watch the last few sox games, too (sad that for a team that's already clinched a play-off spot, it seems like they're limping towards the post season... and looks like they'll even blow a 12 game lead and lose the al east title to the virtually unstoppable yankees... bah, can't even get excited about the playoffs)

- loving both the new dropkick murphys and the black francis cds (and eagerly awaiting the new foo fighters, too)

- watched the whole first season of friday night lights on dvd recently... wow, what a great show (although we're getting spoiled with entire seasons you can watch in a span of days, not months)


well, back to work!
-c

hermoine

okay, just a real quick one (gotta get back to the commissions on my drawing board)...

first, thanks everybody for all the compliments on the snape and dumbledore... funny that as i listen to the books and hear the descriptions of the characters as they're introduced, i've tried hard NOT to see the movie actors, but just what i think they should look like...

which leads me to my take hermoine... "... lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth,"



certainly is fun, doing thse... we'll see how much more i end up doing

here's hoping the sox won't need to go to the playoffs in the wild card slot (but it's looking more and more likely... ugh)
-c

love me some harry potter!

okay, so first off... tough coupla baseball games to watch this weekend (taking one of three... not so good, and certainly won't be good enough come play-offs...), crazy week with the patriots (solid win on sunday... shame all this is going to bring into question all the wins and championships)...

okay, on to other stuff... another commission a long time coming - over at his way cool site (http://digitalmedusa.com/sgettis/word/) , steven gettis collects pieces from artists interpreting their favorite literary figures/authors/characters... thought about it for a long time and didn't have a great idea (that wasn't already done)... but lately, i've been listening to audio books on audio cd while working (certainly less distracting than tv), and just got through the first harry potter...

... hence, severus snape (who, as the series progresses, becomes one of the most complicated of the bunch)...



and as things often go, i got it in my head to do more ... and the next one had to be dumbledore (i'll get to ron, hermoine, and harry in due time...and maybe a few more, we'll see)...




well, both kids are waking up from long naps (johnny's been loving his first few days of pre-school - we'll see if it lasts), so i'm off!
-c

sketchbooks!

just a quick heads up that all three canson sketchbooks are now available for purchase...

check out http://www.craigrousseau.com/sketchbooks.html for info...

and since i'm posting, here's a coupla new cansons as well...

-c

baltimore!

had a great time in baltimore... saw a sox game on friday night, met lots of great fans, sold a slew of sketchbooks and 'haps lost covers portfolios (both will be available on line real soon...!) as well as got to spend time with old (and new) friends...

todd and i had our better halves with us this time, and both trish and sharon had fun as well (when not getting stopped by baltimore's finest for not leaving a proper tip - all said and done, we had left about a 15% tip as opposed to the stated 20% after a less than stellar dining (and restaurant staff) experience... but it worked out okay in the end - so, folks, remember to double check your menus for "gratuities added for parties of six or more" (which wasn't on this restaurant's menu), and also that a "gratuity" is not a "service charge", which isn't disputable)... which is funny, since we think nothing of tipping 20-25% for good service... oh, well, certainly makes for a good con story, i suppose...

the weekend was dedicated to the memory of 'ringo (including raising money for the humane society (or aspcsa... i keep getting'm mixed up) a great night of billiards with fellow creators and friends)...

here's a coupla commissions i did for folks before the show...




-c

baltimore and the lost covers!

okay, i'm sure most of you folks have been reading todd's blog (you HAVE, haven't you? you do realize there's a link just over on the right... right?) so you know all about the "lost covers" portfolio... if for some bizarre reason, you're not, here's the skinny -

todd and i have come with a sweet little package of 5 "lost" covers for the haps along with the letters pages to go along with'm...
this full-color high quality print set (thanks, rico) will be limited to only 50 copies... and on sale at the baltimore show! (if we have any left, we'll be selling'm on-line at some point)...

and since todd's already shown the cover for issue 36, here's another one for ya... issue 17! (todd told me i should post the prelims... but i realized i don't have any for this one...)



commissions are finally back on track after a slight detour into topps "heroes" sketch cards (funs stuff... but likenesses aren't my strong suit, so...i'll post a few of the better ones to show y'all - once i get approval, that is )... i'll be bringing a few cansons this weekend that folks have patiently been waiting for (gwen stacy! hula chickee! star girl! and more!) and should get though the rest after i get back from maryland...

...where we'll be seeing the first place (!?!) red sox play the orioles friday night...

and if you've read todd's blog, you'll know that this show will be awfully different (and a bit empiter) without 'ringo, but we'll all be doing our best to celebrate his career... and more importantly, celebrate his life.

alright... if i don't post again before i go, i'll see some of you in baltimore...

-c

one week til baltimore...

so, besides the TWO new canson sketchbooks debuting at baltimore, i'll also have an exclusive print available from the fine folks at indigo ink (who, not coincidentally, did a bang up job on printing my sketchbooks... and most other sketchbooks these days! you rock, rico and gang!)

oh, yeah, todd and i will have a sweet little portfolio of the "lost" perhapanauts covers (check out his blog for some preview art)...


got several commissions to get through before the show...

and here's a few more mcdonald's pieces... gotta go watch the sox hopefully avoid a sweep in the bronx.





man, time flies...


-c

back from durham

so, ended up realizing (thanks, trish) that i'd regret not going to mike's service on friday. i'm glad i went and was able to spend time with mike's family and friends... and celebrate his life.

getting back into the swing of things here on a beautiful monday afternoon... don't have much else to share today ... but here's a few more of those happy meal packages...





-c

3 musketeers

david petersen sent a nice condolence note and in it called mike, todd and me the "3 Musketeers of the East Coast cons".

whether or not anyone else felt way, we certainly did... at any conventions we were at, we were practically joined at the hip, usually laughing at an in-joke that wasn't really funny to anybody else (although, given enough time we managed to get a few laughs... just ask his sister-in-law suzanne about some "bitty"). most of those shows, we'd also get together early (and make a side-splitting road trip down to heroes) and stay later, just to have the chance to spend time together. as much as we enjoyed spending time with all of our friends (and of course, mike had a LOT of friends... that's the kinda guy he was... just read the hundreds of messages being posted about mike) at shows like this, we'd selfishly just try and go off by ourselves for a meal or two. these shows were the only times we got to spend together all year (of course we'd spend hours on the phone talking about comics, tv, movies, sports, politics, life in general... but it wasn't quite the same), and i know we looked forward to these times for weeks beforehand... and talked about them for weeks after.

which isn't to say mike wasn't at the shows for the fans. from the start of show until close of day on sunday, there was always a line of fans waiting for mike, and he'd make'm feel like he was the lucky one to meet them. he'd sign stacks and stacks of books, talking all the while, never complaining... and rarely even getting up for a walk. he (mostly) stopped sketching at the shows because he never had the time to put pencil to paper with all the fans waiting for an autograph or a handshake.

i made no bones about the fact that mike and todd were clearly the superstars of the trio (the sting and stuart copeland to my "other guy in the police"), i was just happy to be along for the ride with my friends. humble to a fault, mike always made me feel like an equal, when i never even felt in the same league.

much has been made about mike being a nice guy (and he was... easily one of the nicest and most generous guys i've had the pleasure of knowing)... which made his wicked sense of humor even more funny (he could tell jokes that'd make bob saget blush)... often soft-spoken, he'd let loose with a joke that'd have the whole room howling and gasping for breath.

we felt like we were brothers... not by blood (we each have our own brothers that we're very close to), but by choice....

comics lost a truly great talent. we'll never get the chance to see more work from a true modern master.

i lost a brother... and my other brother lost a best friend.



and we lost our third musketeer.

we'll miss you, brother.

mike wieringo

went to post this last night but realized i didn't want to be the one who broke the news...



i just got a call from todd.

he told me that mike passed away of a cardiac arrest.

he was only 44.

and easily one of the nicest and most talented, creative people i've had the honor of calling a good friend. he will be sorely missed.

mclegion!

so, after all these months, another of the big projects i did for dc creative services is finally out... happy meal stuff!

yup, if you head over to your local mcdonald's and get a boy's happy meal (since girls clearly don't like comic book stuff... ) you'll get one of 8 legion pvc figures (no girls, remember... 'cause boys probably think saturn girl's yucky) - packed in a wrap-around clamshell case with a trading card... with art by yours truly.

not much more to say except it was a fun gig (although, ironically, i ended up doing most of the job with supersize me running repeatedly on msnbc)... and its probably gonna be the most exposure my work's ever gotten (even if i didn't sign'm)...

here's the art for the 2 i managed to get the other day ...






and the baltimore show is creeping up pretty quickly, eh? should have the new 'haps convention special done soon... as well as my new sketchbookS! (that's right, BOOKS... not one, but TWO more canson volumes are gonna debut in baltimore... and quite possibly a new b/w volume)...






i'm sure there's more (like the sox, tv, etc) but i've got stuff to do...

well, back to work!
-c

they might be awesome!

so, while quite a few folks were out at the biggest comic convention (in the u.s.) of the year, trish and i went with the kids down to cape cod... after a fun day at the beach and dinner with the family, we were able to get the kids to bed at the in-law's and head out to see they might be giants!

of all the tmbg shows i've been to (and believe me, i've been to a few), i'd rank this one as one of the most fun... great mix of new and old stuff, fun place and crowd (we've been lucky enough to see bob mould and frank black down at the beachcomber as well)...

besides that, commissions have been keeping me pretty busy (as well as work on some new haps stuff!)... here's another hellboy (this time with wolverine)...



tv's been slow (but luckily, hbo is keeping me entertained with john from cincinnati, entourage, flight of the conchords!... and even big love ... and rescue me is still great)

and since i know you read the blog, sir... congrats to bobby and janna on the new digs! (with any luck we can check it out soon) i'll try and get that housewarming piece done soon...

-c

talk about bad timing...

okay, so i got a call a few weeks ago from an editor i worked with years ago offering me a weekly strip in the paper he was now working for... sounds like fun, a crazy premise, why not? over the weekend i finally get to a point where i'm comfortable with the ideas i've got for the first strip and i figure i'll start working on it monday after i email him about the dimensions for the strip... and then he tells me.


the weekly world news is ceasing publication. d'oh. so, sadly no "alien baby" strips from me in "the paper". coulda been fun... oh well.

anywhoo, hope everybody has a great time out in san diego (sadly, i'm not heading out this year)... here's another commission...
-c

ahhhh, baseball in new england.

so, seems like we've become accustomed these last few years to bottom of the ninth wins and walk off home runs...

not last night...or many times this season, so far. funny how as fans we can complain about a team that's still seven games ahead of the second place team, but clearly they're not playing like a first place team right now...

plenty of time to turn things around... or crash and burn completely. we'll see.




so, anyway, enough baseball ramblings... here's hellboy and a little pig dude. (man, that book looks so amazing... i can't get enough of duncan's stuff)



-c

good ol' pointy shellhead...

so, i got out to see the transformers with my brother friday night... and i gotta tell ya, it was exactly what i expected... big, dumb, explosive... and fun. (but man, was i tired after watching that movie... like every other michael bay movie, the camera didn't stay still for more than five seconds...cut after cut after cut after cut, it became work to watch and actually figure out what was happening...)

got a slew of commissions going right now, keeping myself busy (along with the stuff todd and i are cooking up for the baltimore exclusive... and a gig for a former editor i'll tell ya about later)...

here's yet another canson paper piece... man, i dig the retro look of this armor so much more than today's suit ( and i can't wait to see eric canete's iron man book... wow!) civil war... bah.



heading up to fenway tomorrow (whoot!)... catch ya later,
-c
(my head hurts after the last john from cincinnati... but in a good way... and i can't get enough of flight of the conchords!)

love me some mouse guard!

so, i was lucky enough to get to know david petersen before he became a superstar with his gorgeous book, mouse guard (available in a beautiful hardcover collection at finer comic shops, books stores, and on-line retailers everywhere)... david and i agreed to swap pin-ups (his gorgeous pin-up below appeared in the second chances trade) and i was gung-ho to start and had the inks done in a few days... colors, however, took a bit longer.... but i finally go it finished. i took a few liberties, drawing what i thought some weasels might look like in david's complex world (i could be WAY off, but being the nice guy he is, david hasn't told me so...)

anyway, here's david's haps piece again...




so, back on commissions (with a few more harry potter pieces in the queue for friends in anticipation of the last book... and the new movie, which i hope to see soon) and other stuff...

...and i finally made plans to see transformers tonight.

have a good weekend!

-c

happy fourth!

-c

hogwarts or bust!

so, only a few weeks left until the final book in the harry potter series... i'm looking forward to it.
and see, that's a perfect segue into this latest commission...



can't say i'm great with likenesses, but i think this one came out pretty good... at least you can figure out it's not harry... right?
(this is another piece... 11x17 this time!... that looks MUCH better in person than in the scan)...

not too much else going on besides commissions at the moment (except todd and i are working on the baltimore 'haps exclusive... we'll fill ya in when sept gets closer)...

random bits...
- anybody know why the blog archives are just code gibberish? (all i do is post via blogger... beyond that, i'm lost)
- duncan fegredo's hellboy art is just blowing me away... wow!
- still hard to believe the sox are 10+ games ahead of the yankees this close to the all-star break...
- man, i'm loving john from cincinnati (especially seeing al bundy channel andy sipowicz and al swearengen)
- passed up a chance to see trasnsformers the other night, but hope to see it on the big screen (clips look fantastic, but i fear it's gonna be way too "michael bay" for my tastes...) and i'd love to catch ratatouille soon.
- politics as usual in washington and the headlines (amazing how much actually happens right before holiday weekends in the hopes that people don't pay attention... sad, but nothing new)

alright, back to work!
-c

josie!

so, every know and then i actually manage to draw something that i really dig (practically every drawing has at least a little "oh, i shoulda fixed that" in it... and more than a few end up in the trash... sorry, todd!)...

this is one of'm... of all the canson pieces i've done, i'd say this is my favorite... at least for now)...



and here's the revised color piece from the heroes con drawing...



oh, and with all the hubbub about bart allen this week, i will say i sure do miss the little guy ... but the bart from impulse, not kid flash or even the flash...

-c

gotta get at least one more in before july...

not much going on here, been a relatively quiet week recovering from heroes... so here's a coupla commissions.




as for tv, summer seasons are kicking in... after three episodes, i'll say i'm on board for "john from cincinnati"... "flight of the conchords" is a lot of bizarre fun... and "rescue me" is as good as ever.

oh, and the sox are back to double digits ahead of the yankees...

-c

back from heroes...

finally settling in after a longish weekend in charlotte for the 25th anniversary heroes convention (here's to 25 more, shelton!)...if you read 'ringo's blog ( www.mikewieringo.com ), you've probably already read his latest entry about the con, which pretty much sums it up. highlights were just hangin' with todd and mike... and the legendary nick cardy (who i'm proud to call a friend... not spending time with our fathers, we were able to share father's day with nick and had a great time hearing his stories). we sold quite a few copies of both trades and the con exclusive print and talked with lots of great folks who dig the 'haps as much as we do... and i did a buncha commissions (one of which i'll post below, courtesy of christian... thanks for the scan!)...



in all the hubbub, i did manage to lose an address for a jarek/koj commission i'm working on... so if ya read this billy (or one of your friends) drop me a line with yer address so i can get it out in the mail!

and before i went to charlotte, i also did this piece for my friend jill to give to keiran on father's day... (gotta love us nerd types)... and on that note, didja see the robot chicken star wars show? todd, mike and i were laughing our butts off in the hotel at a few bits.. (admiral ackbar cereal..."it's a trap!")



well, back to work.
-c