Charity art sale - O.M.A.C.

I have a friend who's wife has just been diagnosed with stage four cancer. My friend, who is a freelancer too and, as you can imagine, is struggling to get by. There is no such thing as paid vacation time or leave in the freelance world, and he's having to shuttle his wife to treatment as well as care for their son.

A group of us are trying to raise some money for him, to help him out.

I've decided to do some commission pieces to sell with ALL the money going to my pal, I'll pay shipping. I don't ever do commissions at home, so this is a unique deal.

Here's the first piece - O.M.A.C. It's 11.5"x17, on actual DC paper.

I'm selling it for a $50 donation, and you can paypal the money to me at mhawthorne@thinktankcomics.com or you can mail a check to Mike Hawthorne PO Box 20253, York PA, 17403

Just be sure to drop me a line if you mail an order in, so I hold it for you.

Also, keep an eye out for more pieces soon.

Best,
Mike

Dead of Night: Devil Slayer Release Party

Come by the Comix Connection and celebrate novelist Brian Keene's new comic - Devil Slayer!

I'll be there to show my support for Brian. He's a hell of a writer, great guy and a good pal!

More info here.

mike

More One Man Gang stuff

Here's the cover to issue three, which never made it to stands. :(

Mike

The book that makes my heart ache

Hysteria - One Man Gang. The one and only book I never finished, never turned in. The book was plagued with tons of things I don't even want to discuss here, because some stuff is still in dispute. I'd just be airing dirty laundry about people in the business that I shouldn't be airing, even though I know I'm in the right.

I also had an accident while working on it, some dumb drunk chick hit me with her boyfriend's mother's SUV she was joy riding in. Fucked up my hand and neck, and my schedule.

I created more art for this book, worked so hard, went out pocked to pay for promo cards, posters, even hiring help to try and get it done. All for nothing...so far.

My hope is to finish it very soon, and just publish it online till I get the publishing plans settled for the trade/comics.

Ahh, I'm going to stop belly aching now and just post some art from it. Some you may have seen already, some you may not have...


This was the original cover to vol. 2, back when was going to do it at Oni. I eventually decided against it for something more graphic.









Mike

The last Un-men Tuesday

So, the very last issue of The Un-men ships this week. I gotta tell you, I'll miss working on the series. It may be the single most fulfilling book I've ever worked on. I've committed several years of my life to the series, and worked my heart out on each issue.

In a perfect world there would be a place for The Un-men, but alas this place aint perfect.

Still, I'm incredibly thankful for each and every reader we did earn. I lived a very charmed life these last few years, and that's all because of you folks.

Continue to support the books you love, especially at Vertigo. A more dedicated group of people you'll never meet. They're sincerely trying to champion some great works, but the market s fickle and no book is safe. Vote with your dollar, brothers and sisters.

Anyway, the series ends with a bang so be sure to check it out. The second trade is slated for November, so keep an eye for that too.

Best,
Mike

Happy Labor Day!

What better way to celebrate Labor Day then with the Dirty Girls!

Mike

Dirty sports!

 Hey!

Well, the Olympics are over and the last of the sports inspired Dirty Girls went up yesterday. 

Kinda wish I had done a judo one, and maybe a softball player. 

Anyway, hope you had fun checking them out. 

best,

mike

PS - DAMN!

Un-men Tuesday 8/26

Two more Un-men Tuesdays before the series ends! Enjoy these while you can! ;)

Mike

New Thinktank goodies!

Be sure to swing by the site and check the Hysteria comic, as well as the new Dirty Girls.

Thinktankcomics.com

Best,
Mike

PS - Don't forget to support the ads over at Thinktankcomics.com. Those folks help us continue this webcomic venture, and keep the site going.

Dog faced rocker

I was going to do this for a contest to design a t-shirt for a band called "Forever the Sickest Kids". Then, I decided I wouldn't enter because...well, to be frank I didn't know squat about the band. So why pretend just to win a contest? Also, I ended up really liking the drawing and wanted to hold on to it. Can't decided if I want to paint it, or ink it. I think I will end up putting it on a shirt though.

Anyway, enjoy.

Mike

Un-men Tuesday 8/19

Just a few more Un-men Tuesdays before the grand finale! Getting harder to show pages without spoiling anything. Anyway, enjoy.

Mike

PS - DAMN!

Dirty Girls - Olympic edition

So, I wanted to do some Olympic inspired Dirty Girls over the next couple of weeks. I figure, who works harder and gets sweatier then Olympians? So, anyway, here's the first of them. Kinda nice doing some action poses for these new Dirty Girls.

Best,
Mike

Fear Agent back cover PT9 - One last tweak

After some great crits from folks here on the blog, friends, and artists, I did some last minute tweaks and am handing this puppy in to the boss.

Thanks everyone!

Mike

Fear Agent back cover PT8

Still tweaking this thing. After a quick crit from my man Mighty, and Tony Moore, I decided to knock those bright pants down a bit and bring those warms into the figure to balance this out a bit.

Anyway, something tells me I'll keep fiddling with this till I hand it in.

Mike

PS - I'll be selling prints and the original painting on my art site soon. Keep and eye out.

Hysteria Vol. 1, chapter 4 - God is my Co-pilot!

New chapter of the Hysteria webcomic starts today! It's maybe the funniest story I ever did, so go over and start reading it from the beginning!

Best,
Mike

Comic cross over! Fear Agent and Un-men!

It's a crossover event! Well, sorta anyway...

Here's the Fear Agent back cover, almost done or maybe done...not sure yet. Need to give it a break and come back with fresh eyes.




Oh, and it's Un-men Tuesday!



Mike

PS - Damn!

Fear Agent back cover PT7

Still plugging away. Lost a ton of work when Photoshop crashed on me. Rookie move that put me behind a couple of hours :(

Mike

Fear Agent back cover PT6

Ok, here's the final tonal painting. Made a few last minute corrections. The perspective on the chair was wrong, and I needed to figure out the high lights on the picture right shoulder. Also forgot to add "Texas" to his belt buckle, and had to hit some shadow areas to beef them up.

Now, to the colors.

Mike

Fear Agent back cover PT5

Still fighting with the tonal painting for the Fear Agent back cover. I'm really hoping to wrap this up tonight, and get to the color tomorrow. I'll be doing all the heavy lifting with the tonal paints, and using Photoshop to add digital glazes of color to wrap this up.

Anyway, enjoy.

Mike

Fear Agent back cover PT4

Still plugging away. Started by dripping a layer of grey to the whole image, and am now building up the blacks and whites, using that original layer as my midtone.

This will allow me to have a fully tonal painting to drop color on later.




I'm pretty happy so far, but there is still lots of round to cover.

Anyway, stay tuned. I'll keep posting the process throughout next week.

Mike

Fear Agent back cover PT3

Still working on the cover. This morning I saw more drawing problems. Actually, my wife pointed out some of them. She's my favorite person to get crits from because she's got a great eye, and doesn't mind shooting straight - no beating around the bush (how's that for mixing metaphors!)

Anyway, after working out the problems (mostly around the hip region and the arms) I decided to flip the image so he's holding the raygun in his right hand. I light boxed this onto a fresh sheet of heavy bristol, and will start paints in a bit.

Here's some pics.





Mike

Fear Agent back cover PT2

Remember a while back I posted I was working on a back cover for my pal's book, Fear Agent? Well, it's due and so I'm hard at work getting it done. Right now, I'm reworking the pencils after looking at the old roughs and deciding it was way too stiff and suffered from some drawing problems.



Anyway, here are some work in progress pics. As much as I feel silly posing for the ref, I decided to bite the bullet and give it a shot. Some old pulp cover artist I like used to do this kind of thing, so I figured if it's good enough for them....

Notice my son behind me trying to turn off the light.



Here's one of him trying to take the toy gun out of my hand so he can play with it ;)


I'm not using the photo as a guide for the drawing. In fact, it was the other way around. I used the old roughs as a guide for what I wanted, had my wife help light me the way I want for the painting, then take some pics. The pics will serve as a tonal guide, and nothing more. Even the colors will be made up later.



Here's some terrible pictures of the pencils, which are insanely rough right now. I'll tighten them up in the morning, and start painting this in black and white.



My plan is to then scan it, and add the color digitally in Photoshop mainly to save some time because I have to hand this in quickly.

Wish me luck.

Mike

Un-men Tuesday 8/5

Kinda bummed out cause I finish the final issue of the Un-men today :(

Still, it's a hell of an ending! Stay tuned!

mike

PS - Sorry for the delay with the Dirty girls. I'll post it tomorra'

PSS - I wonder what's in that crate? ;)

No Dirty Girl today

Sorry folks, gotta wrap up Un-men #13 today to get it to the printer in time to ship ON time.

I'll get one posted tomorrow morning.

In the meantime, enjoy this -



Mike

Art show opening tomorrow 8/1

Hey everyone,

I'm having a small art show at the York Emporium, and the opening reception is tomorrow August 1st at 7pm. I'll be doing a short talk (about what I'm not sure yet ;) and then a question and answer session. There will be wine, and cheese, and ART!

I'll have a complete set of the Sweet Science prints as well as some original drawings.

More info here.

Oh, and the complete story to the video below is online now. You can read it here.

Best,
Mike

Un-men Tuesday 7/29

No I didn't forget it was Tuesday ;)

Mike

Watch me draw, listen to me babble!

Watch me draw, listen to me babble!

Did this interview about the movie deal thing for 3 Days in Europe.

My man Jamar made the joke that the drawing is NOT sped up, but my talking IS, which aint far from the truth!

Mike

PS - Here's the news story that goes with this.

Dirty girl for 7/28

Whistle while you work!


Mike

King Jack

Ran across this, and did this for shits and giggles.

You gotta love those old Kirby characters!

Mike

Have you been reading the daily Hysteria webcomic?

If not, shame on you.

Mike

Un-men Tuesday 7/21

I kinda didn't want to post this, cause of the reveal at the end. BUT, it's a cool scene and you're gonna love how John works this issue out.

Mike

I'm back, with my Dirty Girls!

So, after a brief trip to Florida (with work, mind you) I'm back and have made up for the missing Dirty girl of last week as well as one for this week.

We have us an orchard worker, and a life guard. Both inspired by my trip down south.

Hope you dig'em. ;)

mike

Un-men Tuesday 7/15

Man, there are so few pages in this issue that don't give something away...it's hard to pick something to post.

Anyway, enjoy!

Mike

PS - Damn!

No dirty girl this week - New Hysteria!

I'm away from my desk, and can't get a new Dirty Girl up this week. I will make it up to you next week with an extra girl. That's right, TWO dirty girls AT THE SAME TIME!

So there you go.

Sorry, and thanks.

Mike

PS - There IS new Hsyteria up on the site though. So go read that!!

Hysteria Vol. 1, chapter 3

Hey all!

Chapter three of the new Hysteria web comic starts tomorrow. "Destruction Junction" is the first appearance of Bruce Lopez, and the rest of Port Aesteria's gang bangers.

Jump in and enjoy!

Mike

Un-men Tuesday 7/8

Hard to show a page for this issue without spoiling anything. BUT, here's a page with a John Whalen cameo. He plays Kilcrop's Washington DC lawyer.

Mike

PS - Damn

Happy 4th from the Dirty Girls!

Hope you had a good one!

best,
Mike

Un-men Tuesday 7/1

The inks from last week's preview. Art from issue 12!

One more issue to go, and the end of this series if fantastic! John is brilliant!

Mike

PS- Damn