strange pith

strange pith, originally uploaded by eastaltus.

I was looking at some old EC covers of Weird Science and Weird fantasy, particularly some illustrated by Jack Davis. I must've have seen those covers a dozen times, but I still get inspired by all those tiny lines amidst a rock solid composition. I can't help but be in awe of the sheer craftmanship in alot of golden age comic illustration. You can sense the time invested in each panel, the skill in each brushstroke. I can go on and on about the lines, but really the strength of those pieces lie in the firm grasp of basic visual storytelling. You look at a cover for Weird Science and you can't help but get drawn into that world and want to know what else happens inside.
I am no purist by any means, photocopied minimilist doodles are as much an inspiration to my work as any EC cover so rock on with comics in general.

asterix

asterix, originally uploaded by eastaltus.

My cousin is visiting from New Jersey today. She will be staying with me for the next few weeks in the name of Science. We will conduct experiments concerning East Coast/West Coast transplantation. We will document such things as her gradual time change in Words per Nanosecond and how long before linguistic anomalies such as,"hella dude" enter her daily lexicon. We will eat ice cream.

petrolnaut

petrolnaut, originally uploaded by eastaltus.

I spent some unexpected free time at a cafe in North Beach today. It was very nice to sit and just focus on drawing even though I had enough coffee to drown a hippotamus. I didn't have much sleep, and when I laughed out loud at the sleep-dep story I was doodling, some of the other cafe patrons seemed a bit more wary. I like this little guy so much, I hope to fit him into the shorts book I am slowly creating. I also hope that I still like him after I've actually had a nap.