Bob Fingerman's Art Blog Thinger

WOTTA CRYBABY

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:13:00 +0000

I did this drawing to redress my huge oversight in not including this fucking whining crybaby dipshit in From the Ashes. This drawing wraps up the bonus section to sort of ameliorate my fuck up.

Baltimore Comic-Con Cutie Caboose

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:20:00 +0000

A couple of weekends ago I was a guest of the Baltimore Comic-Con (thanks, Marc Nathan!). I manned my table and signed, sold and sketched for two days. One of the attendees commissioned me to draw "a big butt girl," and this was the result. I really like the way it came out.

Cover Tease for FTA Collected

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:40:00 +0000

In March of next year, all the WFTers (Wait For Trade) will hopefully spring for the book collecting From the Ashes. I hope everyone will buy it, actually. As a creator, I sometimes feel a tingle of guilt when something I do comes out serialized and then I want people who already bought it to buy it again. But as a fan and consumer myself, I say, "Hey, I do it all the time." So, guilt absolved. Anyway, here are a couple of rough thumbs of the cover, which will be a wraparound. I wanted to pay homage to the great "merry chase" posters that Jack Davis did in the Sixties and Seventies.

The Amazon listing has an incorrect page count (it will be longer, because of the nifty bonus section; details to come) and cover art. I guess this is a place-filler until I deliver the real cover art.

JAZZ AND CT REJECT

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:03:00 +0000

I did this drawing for Connective Tissue (which is still highly discounted on Amazon yet nonetheless is languishing, so BUY IT!), but it didn't fit my narrative. I like it, though.

This was done as part of a panel in an American Splendor thing I illustrated. I think it might make a nice print.

CONNECTIVE TISSUE THUMBNAIL SKETCHES

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:54:00 +0000

Most of the interior art in Connective Tissue (if you haven't gotten your copy yet, for crying out loud, do! It's now an insanely cheap 45% off on Amazon!) was done spontaneously on that page without advance thumbnail sketching. There were a few that required a bit of planning, though. Here are some thumbs for them.

Zombie

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:41:00 +0000

It should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with my work that I am a longtime, died-in-the-wool zombie fanatic.

Recently, I sold my second novel, Pariah, to Tor. I am thrilled (and relieved) beyond belief. It's a story that I've yearned to get out there for many, many years. I first conceived of it as a graphic novel (before my ambitions led me to write the regular kind), back in the mid-'90s. Fortunately (though I didn't feel that way at the time), it didn't come to pass in that format. I finally wrote it as a novel and the end result is much better.

The interesting thing is that part of my deal with Tor is to provide the book with some original interior art (I might do the cover, too, but that is pending). My approach is not to do illustrations of any scenes or characters in the book. I prefer to let the readers picture that for themselves. Instead, one of the characters is an artist and he does studies of the undead to pass the time (no more TV or Internet, so one must pass the time doing something). The conceit of the accompanying art will be that these are his drawings. I don't want any of the art to be typical EC-tinged stuff. The approach is to do sensitive, objective drawings. The zombies didn't ask to be this way. They're not evil.

To whet your appetites, here is one of the drawings. I might post some of the rejects here as the months go on, but here's a sample:

Pariah is due out July 2010.

Darla

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:49:00 +0000

Another unused Darla drawing from when I was working on Connective Tissue (which you really need to go buy, now).

Recess Pieces Makes Cameo in Horror Movie!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:16:00 +0000

Canadian indie-cinema horror auteur Brian Clement has featured my book, Recess Pieces, as set dressing in his Lovecraftian mind-fuck flick Dark Paradox. Clement plays an author who needs to get away from the city (where strange things are beginning to happen) to finish a manuscript for his publisher. But when he reaches his bucolic getaway to type in peace, well... the best laid plans of mice and men and so on.

It's an enjoyable movie. Check it out.

Recess Pieces makes itself comfortable on the main character's desk:
Auteur/star Clement having a "WTF" moment:

Connective Tissue Thumbs

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 03:55:00 +0000

Some thumbnail sketches for the book (which hits the shelves on or about May 13th!

Updates Imminent!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:31:00 +0000

With Connective Tissue hitting the shelves in a couple of weeks, I'll be uploading some of the prep work for it and some more images I cut from the final product. Please buy this book! It's really sweet.

Connective Tissue Video

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:29:00 +0000

Fantagraphics has been making these great little videos of paging through their books (all are on Flickr). I think they're a nifty way to get an idea of the book, especially if you're going to order online and not be able to see it in person at a store. Check it out (then order it!).

Video store clerk Darla Vogel is fed up — fed up with her job, fed up with her wake-and-bake roommate, fed up with everything. But when one of the customers at Kwok's Video offers her some of his meat-flavored candies, Darla takes a plunge down the rabbit hole into a surreal world of throbbing, veinous buildings, compulsory public nudity, weird creatures, and more. If William Burroughs, Lewis Carroll, H.P. Lovecraft, and Harvey Kurtzman ever collaborated, the result might resemble Bob Fingerman's bold confection of words and pictures — the copiously illustrated prose novel Connective Tissue.

"This is a genuinely monstrous book that made me laugh until something burst and now I think I might be dying. You really need to buy one of these." – Warren Ellis, author of Crooked Little Vein and Transmetropolitan

"Fingerman does it again! He disturbs, entertains, amuses and charms with his unholy Fingermanian mixture of perversion, humor, and pathos." – Jonathan Ames, author of The Alcoholic and Wake Up, Sir!

134-page duotone 7.25" x 8.25" hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-60699-143-5

In stock: April 2009
In stores: May 2009

Mysterioso

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 03:58:00 +0000

Color for a page of a project I just wrapped up. I think I'll leave it at that.

Not Everything Makes the Cut...

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 04:14:00 +0000

Self-rejected drawing of Byron (from From the Ashes).

BOOKPLATE FEVER

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:38:00 +0000

Yes, folks, there's not one, but two exclusive signed bookplates I've done for the upcoming (it's at the printer!) Connective Tissue. One is for the publisher, Fantagraphics Books, the other for retailer Panel To Panel. If you want one of these bookplates to come with the book, order the one you prefer from Fantagraphics or Panel To Panel directly.

FROM THE ASHES!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:28:00 +0000

Though I still don't have an exact street date (May 2009 is as close as I can get for the time being), here is the cover for the first issue of my forthcoming series for IDW.

Also, check out the new dedicated From the Ashes blog!

Graphic NYC Takes on Yours Truly

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:01:00 +0000

Ace photographer Seth Kushner and journalist Chris Irving are posting sections of their work in progress, Graphic NYC, a book about the New York-based comics community. They just posted my profile. Take a gander. Here's Seth's portrait of me. I think it's pretty sweet.

Bugs & Daffy à la Bergman

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:08:00 +0000

A while back I did a two-page segment for the Looney Tunes comic that my friend Joey Cavalieri scripted. The sequence was a parody of Ingmar "Chuckles" Bergman's The Seventh Seal, starring Bugs as Death and Daffy as Antonius Block (AKA Max Von Whythelongface). I went to town and with filters made it look like aged film. It was fun. Here are a couple of panels which (as they all were) ran cropped and covered with dialogue balloons.

¡Salario Mínimo está aquí!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:35:00 +0000

Got my copies of Salario Mínimo today from Dolmen Editorial and am very pleased to report it came out great. If you're in Spain be sure to pick up a copy.

Daily Crosshatch Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 22:27:00 +0000

Brian Heater recently interviewed me on his very fine comics blog The Daily Crosshatch. I was a little less guarded than perhaps I should have been (it was more a conversation than the typical Q&A), so I think I come off a bit sourer than I feel these days, but read it and judge for yourselves. All three parts are now up.

Guy Smiley

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 22:23:00 +0000

Okay, not the Muppet. Just a picture of Yours Truly (for From the Ashes).

CONNECTIVE TISSUE FINAL COVER

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 06:39:00 +0000

So here's the final version of the cover of Connective Tissue, as put together by ace designer Jacob Covey.

Now available to order from Amazon with a sweet 32% discount! Let's make this one a hit.

Culled...

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:35:00 +0000

This week I've been going over the final guts of Connective Tissue with the designer (Jacob Covey) at Fantagraphics. He's doing a great job and the book's going to look terrific. Seeing all the art put into a layout with the text highlighted that a couple of the drawings were superfluous, so I cut them and did new ones for the book. I liked the drawings I cut, but they didn't make the grade. Anyway, waste not want not, here they are.

Byrons!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 06:34:00 +0000

Here are some pages of me working out the character Byron, from the forthcoming From the Ashes.

Cerberus

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:18:00 +0000

Not much to say. Three-headed dog. Angry. 'Nuff said.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob Fingerman) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 04:00:00 +0000

It's official: IDW Publishing will be releasing my satirical post-apocalyptic saga From the Ashes next spring. It will be a six-issue series and stars Michele (my wife) and I in the radioactive wastelands of New York City. I'm dubbing it a "speculative memoir" (can I trademark that?). Consider it the antidote to the seriousness of Cormac McCarthy's The Road (which I haven't read, but it's on my list; suffice it to say, though, I'm sure there's nary a chuckle to be found between its covers).

Some of the prep art can be found here, in older posts. But now, I'm so deliriously delighted to say, this dream project has found a home, thanks to my editor/friend Scott Dunbier and publisher Ted Adams. The first issue will hit the racks in May, so between Connective Tissue in April, and this, 2009 is shaping up to be the big comeback!

Here's a sample page from the first issue.