Portfolio from the past - part I

Looking around on my back up HD for stuff to post, and I came across my old illustration portfolio. Still kinda like this stuff ;)

Mike

Un-men Tuesday 6/16

Spooky scene from Un-men #11 - Out tomorrow.

best!
Mike

Dirty Girls - The cigar roller

Happy (day after) Father's Day ;)

Hope you had a good one.

Mike

Hysteria web comic back on track

hey everyone,

Those of you following the webcomic over at ThinktankComics.com may have noticed that it's been kinda spotty the last two weeks. Totally my fault. I kept getting new scans and re-typed dialogue to Erik late. He did his best to get it done, and we're now BACK on track. SO, in the next few days you'll see the official conclusion to Hysteria, Vol. 0

The good news is that the web comic should stay on track from here on in. We're going to take this in order and post Hysteria Vol. 1 next. All of that is completely lettered and ready to go. So look for that soon.

Best,
Mike

Un-men Tuesday 6/10

Un-men Tuesday again! More previews form #11. Enjoy!

Mike

Dirty Girls for reals

So, one day my wife and I had to get my mother-in-law's van towed. AND who should happen to show up for a lady tow truck operator. My wife and I looked at each other, and she said what we were both thinking. "You gotta make her the next Dirty Girl!"

See, sometimes your muse will come and tow your car away. :)

I threw in the stressed out guy cause I think it makes it funnier...pluse my mother-in-law was kinda acting like this ;)

Mike

A REALLY Dirty Girl!

This past week's dirty girl.

I think this would work better as a painting. Wish I had the time.

Mike

PS - Damn

My love letter to Erik Swanson

So, you may not know who Mr. Swanson is. Erik is my long time friend from college who is now a designer and artist living and working in DC. He's also had a hand in almost every comic (the creator owned ones at least) I've ever done. From doing hand cut tones and paste up letters with me on the original Hysteria back in 98 and 99(!), to doing all the pre-press and lettering as well as production help on the web comic, dude has been coming through for me time and time again for years!

I couldn't ask for a better friend, or for a more knowledgeable designer!

Anyway, enough of the mushy stuff. Erik just hooked up a new batch of pages for the web comic, as well as dropping in "space" behind the hand drawn planets I drew. This page only works cause of Mr. Swanson. SO, three chears for you homey! ;)

Best,
Mike

Fight the Power! - Orphan Works Act of 2008

I wrote my senator and congressman a few weeks back regarding the Orphan Works Act of 2008. Well, I just got this letter from my local Senator:

***

Dear Mr. Hawthorne:

Thank you for contacting my office regarding the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008.

I appreciate your taking the time to bring your views on this important matter to my attention. As a United States Senator, it is essential that I be kept fully informed on the issues of concern to my constituents. Be assured that I will keep your thoughts on copyrights and private property ownership in mind when the Senate considers this or related issues during the 110th Congress.

The concerns of my constituents are of great importance to me, and I rely on you and other Pennsylvanians to inform me of your views. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office or visit my website at http://specter.senate.gov. Thank you again for writing.

Sincerely,
Arlen Specter

***

So, I know it's just on pebble but if enough of us complain to our law makers then those pebbles will add up!

Fight the Power!

mike

Un-men Tuesday 6/3

hey all!

Another preview from the upcoming issue 11. Hope you dig it ;)

Note - You can kinda see where I pasted in this cool burst pattern I was going to trace off onto the fountain at the bottom of the page. At the last minute I decided not to do it, and just went with water overflowing from the fountain instead. Just a bit of behind the scenes info for you.

Mike

All six Sweet Science prints now available.

My labor of love is finally complete! All six beautiful Sweet Science prints are now available for order.

These museum quality giclées are professionally printed on high quality, 14" x 18" cotton rag paper. The prints will be strictly kept to a print run of 100, and each will be signed and numbered by me.

For those who purchase multiple prints, you'll enjoy a 15% discount on your entire order. In addition to that orders of multiples will only be charged shipping costs of only one print.

So, the more the merrier!

Best,
Mike

PS - Look for an 8" x 10" open edition version of the prints soon!

Un-men #13 cover

Hey Everyone! Ok, I don't normally feature OTHER people's art here, but this is so sweet I had to share! Tomer's cover for the last issue of The Un-men is just fantastic. I want this as a poster SO bad!

Anyway, you can pre-order issue 13 now.

Best,
mike

Un-men Tuesday 5/27

Man, I'm so busy today that I almost forgot it was Tuesday!

Anyway, John wrote some great atmospheric scenes for this issue. I had great fun drawing all the rainy spookiness. Wait till you see how this one ends!!

Mike

Happy Memorial Day, Dirty Girls style!

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

best,
mike
http://www.thinktankcomics.com/dg.asp

Sticker Contest update

Hey, my entry is up for that Karmaloop.com sticker contest. So, please go VOTE!!

Mike

Karmaloop.com sticker design

So, I think I got this the way I want it. Looks kinda washed out in this jpeg, the high res version is more saturated.

I'll be submitting it soon. I'll keep you posted.

Mike

New contest art

Ok, so I'm working on a art new contest. All I have done right now is the line art. I haven't had any free time to finish it, so this has been sitting for a bit. I hope to wrap it up this weekend.

Stay tuned for more info,
Mike

Sweet Science prints pre-order

Hey everyone,

So, you all know about the Sweet Science prints I've done. The limited edition prints are all going to be about 14" x 18" archival prints on beautiful cotton rag paper. They're stunning, believe me! They'll be strictly limited to 100, so when they're gone they're GONE!




Well, I've decided to do a smaller, open edition version of the prints. These will be 8" x 10" giclée prints on a really nice heavy stock water color paper. I got a small batch of them in, and they're really fantastic! The ink is rated to last 200 years, and the water color paper really enhances the painterly quality of the prints.

They'll be more affordable too, priced at 20 bucks.





The REALLY good news is that I'll be taking pre-orders for the entire series, both open and limited edition, and offering a 30% discount on all the prints! I think I'll make the pre-order period about 2 weeks or so before I start sending orders out.

Anyway, look for more about this soon.

best,
Mike

Un-men Tuesday 5/19

Here's another preview for issue 11. It promises to be the creepiest issue yet!

Hope you dig it.

Best,
Mike

Sturgeon River

You know, sometimes I forget to tell you folks about my "other" book - Sturgeon River. I loved working with Steve Murphy so much on Umbra that I signed on to this new graphic novel of his. It's drastically different then Umbra, but really damned good. I started this around the same time I started Un-men, and will be finishing up around the same time as the series ends. Kinda funny how that worked out.

Anyway, here's a sneak peek.

mike

PS - Murph has been posting inked and lettered pages over at his blog, if you're interested.

OBEY HAwthorne part III

So, my entry is finally up! Go VOTE!!

VOTE HERE!

Remember, A vote for me is a vote for America!

Best,
Mike

Un-men Tuesday 5/13

Hey everyone!

Man, it is entirely too beautiful today here in Central PA! After a few days of straight rain, it was hard to resist working outside. Thing is, I almost forgot it was Tuesday!

Anyway, issue 10 is supposed to be out today. So, here's the official FIRST look at issue 11, which is a one issue story focusing mainly on Kilcrop and his relationship with Crainius. A odder couple there may never be!

Enjoy!
Mike

OBEY Hawthorne part II

Remember I mentioned I was going to enter an OBEY Giant t-shirt design contest? Well, I wrapped it up last weekend and sent it in. I had too much fun riffing on Shepard's work, and adding a lot of me into the mix. I'll let you all know once they OK'd it for inclusion into the contest.

Here's how it would look on an actual shirt.



Best,
Mike

Dirty Girls - Mother's Day edition

This one is dedicate to our resident Mom for all she does to keep us going. Thanks, beautiful!

Best,
Mike

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the great Mom's out there! Hope you have a great day!

And, the rest of you...give your Mom a call! She'll love you for it!

Mike

Un-men Tuesday 5/6

Hey all!

So, issue #10 of the Un-men is due to ship next week on the 14th. In the mean time, here's another teaser from that issue.

Enjoy!
Mike

Dirty Girls May 5th!

Listen, I know what you're thinking...

All I can say is get your mind out of the gutter! It's ONLY paint! The lady is a house painter for God's sakes, it happens! Seriously, I don't mean no harm! Look for a new Dirty Girl every monday over at my site, thinktankcomics.com

best,
Mike

OBEY Hawthorne!

I'm working on a piece for an OBEY GIANT shirt design contest. I'm a fan of Shepard, and would love to get to work this thing on a real shirt.

Anyway, here it is with no colors. Can't wait to finish it and enter this bad girl!

Best,
Mike Hawthorne

Sweet Science prints finished - part II!

Inevitably whenever I say something is "finished" I always end up going back into them and rework them. I got a great crit from my pals Erik Swanson and Tomer Hanuka, and here are the changes.

Best,
Mike

Sweet Science prints finished!!

Hey!

So, I found a little bit of free time to finally complete the last two prints in the Sweet Science series! I'm excited, and happy with how the project worked out.

I'll be offering the limited edition prints on my site. However, I'm planning on an open edition series of smaller prints. They'd be around 8 x 10, but of the same archival quality as the larger limited edition version.

So, stay tuned and be ready to pretty up your walls ;)

Best,
Mike

Un-men Tuesday 4/28

Hey All!

I'm gonna keep posting more Un-men Tuesday for you folks till the bitter end of the series! So keep tuning in for previews every Tuesday.

Best,
Mike

Dirty Girls April 28th

Here's this week's girl. My man, and webmaster, Jamal is recovering from the Pittsburgh con this past weekend so if you don't see the new girl over at Thinktank right away don't worry. She's comin'. ;)


You ARE checking the site every Monday for new Dirty Girls, right?! ;)


Also, you may see a slight delay for the new chapter of Hysteria. No worries, we're on that too. ;)
best,
Mike

Disgusting "publisher" rips off artists!

Just read about a publisher that ripped off a bunch of illustrations from online and put together a book that is selling for around 100 bucks!

Spread the word! This is utter bullshit!

Mike

Sweet Science #6 WIP pt1

While on the train to and from New York this past weekend, I got to work on the last of the Sweet Science prints. Sill a good bit to do, but I hope to wrap the series of prints up soon.

I'll change a good bit of this before it's final.

best,
mike

Un-men Tuesday 4/24

Hey all!

I'm going to keep Un-men Tuesday rolling till the series raps up. This time you get two for one, care of a nice double page spread. So, enjoy!

Mike

A very eventful weekend

So, I was at the New York Comic Con this past weekend. I wasn't set up or anything, just there to hang out and meet with some friends and colleagues.

While there I heard that it was announced at the Vertigo panel (no, didn't attend that either) that the Un-men will be ending. I've actually known for about a month, but have been waiting for the official word before I told anyone.

Here's the thing, don't get too sad for me. We got a big 13 issue run out of it, and I got to make the comic I intended to make. I'm damned proud of it, and every day tried to "draw it like I owned it". In the end we'll have two nice trades for our efforts, and a damned fine addition to the Swamp Thing mythos. I'm very, very proud.

Special thanks to all of you brave souls who did pick up the series. John and I love you all.

I also kept hearing from people at the con about a "movie deal" of some sort that involved me, which I had no idea about. Turns out this little bit of news was announced this weekend too. Turns our Jennifer Garner and Hugh Jackman kinda' like my book "3 Days in Europe". Who knew?

So, there you have. Yin and Yang, Chaos and Order, doing the whole balancing of the universe thing all in one weekend. Thank you cosmos ;)

best,
Mike

PS - Oh, yeah. There's a new Dirty Girl pin up over at my site.

Un-men volume one!

hey everyone!

So, Vol. 1 of the Un-men should be at your local stores! If you've been "waiting for the trade", then it's time to get moving!

I always like it if people support their local comic shop, but you can order it at any book store both online or off line.

You can also download a .PDF of the first chapter by clicking here, for FREE!

Thanks!
Mike

Ollie Johnston - R.I.P.

Just saw the news story that legendary animator Ollie Johnston died!

This is terrible news, as he was a professional hero of mine. He, and Frank Thomas, helped revolutionize animation. Cartoon films just wouldn't be what they are today if not for these guys!

My heart goes out to his family.

Mike

Un-men Tuesday 4/14

Well, it's Un-men Tuesday again folks! This time we have a preview of issue 10. We introduce the two Queen pins of Aberance's Red Light district. You can see Tomer's version of these lovely twins on the cover too.

ALSO, the first trade for the Un-men hits store this week! I got my comps last week, and they look great! The designers over at DC really put in some work! They're the unsung heroes of this book, but they deserve more props. I also think John's writing really sings in this format. His dialogue is sharp and funny, which I think some folks miss. Let's hope they pick up on it now that the trade is available.

Anyway, be sure to check it out.

best,
Mike

Dirty Girls April 13th

Hey!

Here's a Dirty Girl having to do a VERY dirty job! Enjoy!

Best,
Mike

Dirty Girl's Weekly work in progress pt. II

Remember that Dirty Girl painting I was working on? Well, I've been plugging away at it in my free time. Here's where it stands now.

Can't wait to wrap this up!

Mike

Un-men Tuesday 4/8

Hey all!

Here's another preview for issue 9. I love this page because of the scene with Otto(the body) gesturing while Cranius (the head) throws a fit! Comedic gold, care of John Whalen!

Be sure to pick up issue 9 this week!

Best,
Mike

Dirty Girls April 6th

Hey all! Here's this week's girl, a sweet Greek fisherwoman! This was my wife's idea, who is Greek herself. Trust me, the Greek ladies are as cute as they come ;)

Make sure you check out the Dirty Girls every Monday over at thinktankcomics.com

best,
Mike

Fear Agent back cover

I haven't had the time to commit to it as much as I'd like, but I'm working on a back cover for my pals Rick Remender's and Tony Moore's book "Fear Agent". Rick and Tony are good friends, and we all go way back. I'm so excited that they've had the success they have now, and it's hard earned believe me! Tony's been steadily tightening up his game more and more, and Rick is maybe the only guy in comics that works HARDER then I do! That's saying something, believe me ;)

Anyway, here's the roughs for the cover. I have to come up with an alien to add as a reflection in the window, and then tighten this thing up to get painting. If you look along the top, you'll see rough ideas for alternate versions of the cover.

I can't wait to get started on this thing!

Go check Fear Agent monthly from Dark Horse.

best,
mike

American Splendor season 2

Hey all,

I just got my comps for the new American Splendor series I contributed to, and it looks great. Bond's cover is fun as hell, and there's a great mix of guys doing the interiors. It was great fun to work with Mr. Pekar on this, and a nice little break from the normal hustle of the monthly book.

It shipped this week, so check it out.

Best,
mike

PS - I'll be offering the pages for sale on my site this week, so check back to find out more.

PSS - I posted the inks to this page a while back, just in case you missed it.

Un-men Tuesday 4/1

Hey all!

Happy April fools day! No tricks on you guys and gals today, just a special Un-men Tuesday preview to enjoy! This page features the new addition to the Un-men family, the Un-baby! You saw him dangling from Inkabod's neck last issue, and here the father and son are reunited...with some comedic results.

Be sure to pick up issue 9 on April 9th! More info here.

best,
Mike