A Panel a Day

a Timbertoes Winter

2010-01-05T13:34:00.003-05:00

Found a stack of Timbertoes pencils from when I was still doing the Timbertoes strip for Highlights.

I found it difficult to do a strip that was obviously well-loved characters by John Gee,conceived straight from his imagination.

I wanted to go in a quirkier direction than Highlights would allow...treating them as small marionettes or dolls that somehow came to life and had to deal with all the issues of smallness in a big world. Little kids can relate then. Highlights wavered with the Timbertoes being either human-sized or as small as squirrels causing their scale to strangely change over the course of the years I did it.

What also complicated matters wasHighlight's approach to make it a safety aware, politically correct strip....much analyzed by more than one editor. Still I managed to do it regularly for almost 9 years. Not bad for a comic strip.

*On Highlight's site I am given credit for both Sidney Quinn's art and Ron Zalme who took over after I left doing the strip digitally and giving the "naked" Timbertoes "sprayed on" clothes. Hey....if Pa, Tommy, and Mabel were always running around naked why did Ma always have clothes on? Weird thinking this way.

Personally, I always wanted Ma to get with it, wear whatever she wanted to and let her hair down. She is a sad, very hung-up imprisoned in the 40's female comic strip character.

A Land of Ice and Snow...

2009-12-29T12:38:00.002-05:00

Evangeline © Judith Hunt & Ben Dixon

....and in that land there has just got to be a beautiful dangerous woman, guns, and a great big wolf, right?

Here's to a 2010 full of cartooning and illustration adventures!

Cartoon Styles

2009-12-27T12:48:00.004-05:00

I learned early to do differing cartoon styles to obtain work, meet the clients needs, and to empahsize the illustration assignment.

I found cartooning difficult at first as I needed to learn squash and stretch, exaggerated movement, and making people fun looking... but not too weird looking. I also found that I was unhappy unless I cartooned 3 dimensionally. I can't seem to draw "flat" cartoons and I blame it all on my early fascination with Disney films such as Pinocchio and Snow White and the early Warner Bros. cartoons. This ability came in handy as an art director to draw quick sketches to explain what I wanted from illustrators and later when I drew for Disney and Henson.

There is an emotional release in being able to cartoon the human or animal form. And when I have to go back to drawing accurate realism I have to get back into a serious frame of mind. Often, when I would get differing style assignments, I would feel like a two headed artist.

The above cartoons were for Highlights for Children and an advertising assignment.

Realistic Illustration for Children's Publishing

2009-12-18T13:48:00.005-05:00

A couple of sketches for chapter books assignments.
I especially liked doing the "little brother" with the "Who me?" expression.

Anyway, having realism to draw keeps me honest and remembering where the bones are in people.

Sorry about the quality, the publisher did not return the originals so all I have are tearsheets.

Conan the King

2009-12-13T19:01:00.002-05:00

Finally had time to find the Conan the King pencils on a cover that was not inked or printed from ages past. Amazing what you can find when you sort through old hardrives.

Wonder Woman and Tentacles

2009-12-12T17:49:00.006-05:00

Wonder Woman and the Terrors of the Abyss © Judith Hunt

A fun fantasy painting done to exchange for the WonderWoman vs the Robot Bugs painting I did and was auctioned off at the Wonder Woman Day IV event in November.

The mediums are colored pencil, gouache, watercolors, pastels, watercolor pencil.

Conan The King

2009-12-01T13:10:00.011-05:00

Conan the King* pencils by Judith Hunt inks by Al Williamson

Doing Conan the King was both challenging and interesting to draw. The armor, castles and fortifications, swords, and battle equip...and yes beautiful woman, crazed villains, and above all lots of muscles!

Working on the pencils for this book was a bit intimidating at times knowing Al Williamson would be inking the pencils. I admired his work a great deal and had studied both his work and career. I was quite concerned about giving him perfect as possible pencils to ink. Of course, he did a fabulous job as always.

*The above page was the one and only page returned by Marvel to me from all the issues I penciled. Have no idea what happened to them.....whether they were lost, stolen or just stored...I was never given a reason by Marvel.

Timbertoes

2009-11-16T21:21:00.010-05:00

Tommy Timbertoes by Judith Hunt "A is for Ant"

Some of the past comic strip work I've done includes working for Highlights for Children on Timbertoes. Did the strip for about 9 years right after Sidney Quinn died (he took over right after John Gee passed away). The editors of Highlights asked that I make the strip look like Sid's work for awhile as they were so concerned with the transition. I find it funny that online Highlights credits me with Sid's work...work that proceeded my working for them by over 10 years.

John Gee never made any royalties and his characters were "inheriited" by Highlights for Children. As far as I understand from letters (in which he is begging Highlights to promote his characters and explaining his need for more income), that were passed to me by my editor, John Gee remained a poor man, virtually unknown for his art, working in a Florida hotel until his death. There is not even a wiki article on him.

Sadly, this often happens to really great cartoonists.

* When I worked for Highlights for Children (both in-house and freelance) I was surprised to discover that the company holds an incredibly huge collection of cartoons and artwork of John Gee's stored in the attic of an old house in Honesdale, PA.

Memorial Day Book

2009-10-31T10:05:00.002-04:00

The particular book I am working on at present is brimming with patriotism. Having had family in wars and when doing the research I was conflicted while designing it...in many ways saddened but also inspired.

Goblin's & Grendal's Mother

2009-10-24T16:24:00.001-04:00

One side of a goblin vs humans illustration for Veritas Press awhile back. Y'know good old JRR Tolkien goblins.

Nasty, icky, vengeful Grendal's Mom. Another fun illustration assignment.

Water Dinosaur

2009-10-23T10:18:00.001-04:00

Evangeline's Dinosaur Farm

Yes, the dinosuar is not scientifically based....but it is a fun scene.

What would the comics world have done without the Earth's dinosaurs????

Sometimes cute chicks and Nazis just aren't enough.

Conan Pencils

2009-10-12T19:35:00.001-04:00

A Conan the King cover in pencil before Al Williamson laid his inks on them.

Loved pencilling Conan the King.
What's not to love?
Mean nasty villians, leather, horses, swords, blood, muscles, war machines, and a really mean nasty hero.

At this time period.....I was penciling Conan for Marvel, still doing Evangeline, and also illustrating Muppet Baby books for Henson....I did not know if I was going to be able to switch styles and moods for that day of work to meet the deadlines.

Felt like I worked 24/7 and I probably did.

Wonder Woman Day 4 Fantasy Cover

2009-10-08T13:41:00.006-04:00

Wonder Woman Day 4 is here and this is the second cover I have done for the event. Promised myself and Andy Mangels who organizes the event that I would do something weird and wonderful each year to auction off.

Good for a challenge and a break for me....gotta love fantasy art!

I told you I was a painter...not an inker.

The Lone Ranger

2009-10-08T13:01:00.007-04:00

Another old inked piece...this was more fun that the Spiderman sample for DC as it was my own pencils. If I remember right Gary Groth printed this in The Comics Journal. Used to do little pieces of art for the Journal way back when.

It is pretty bad. But fun! Just imagine...The Lone Ranger...still the good guy but taking no crap from bad guys....a violently vengeful Western hero.

First Inks

2009-10-06T12:02:00.004-04:00

Cleaned and reorganized the studio and found one of my first not-so-great attempts at inking for DC at the bottom of one of the studio's flat files. This was a sample page I'm sure Joe Orlando sent out to many a fan wanting to get into comics.

I found inking comic art really difficult as I am a painter and penciller. Doing just the samples inspired my respect for inkers ... fantastic hand and wrist coordination ....plus they have to plan in advance the line, type of texture line, and where the darks should go.

It is sad that inking is a dying graphic design art form slowly being replaced by digital art finished comics and graphic novels.

Yes, I did send in a bunch of samples and no I never became a comicbook inker...which I am grateful for ....being an inker would have driven me nuts.

Excuses & Favorite Pages

2009-10-05T09:43:00.002-04:00

Every artist who draws comics have favorite pages. These were two of mine from the Evangeline comic issue titled, Hate Boat. The meeting of Evangeline and Jonny 6 in a violent and dangerous setting. Perfect set-up for what came next, crazed, greedy, ruthless, vengeful people fighting in deep space.The odd thing about pages like these is they come to me in a flash and are the easiest to draw.

You can read the Hate Boat story at www.evangelinethecomic.com.

Yes, I'll finish the planned-more than half drawn-fourth issue of Evangeline as soon as the agent stops giving me science and history art to do.I was considering locking myself in a cabin in Baxter State Park for two weeks. I tried this last week and it worked amazingly well. My only wild companions were moose and loons...gloriously peaceful with lots of art completed.

Cheesecake

2009-09-05T18:14:00.005-04:00

Cheesecake once in awhile is all part of being a cartoonist or comic book artist. Being a woman cartoonist makes no difference...as cheesecake sells.

In this case it sells lingerie for a new company, Bo Peeps, based in England. Fun job and the owners are nice... been working with them for about a year as they change and develop their "look".
Soon there will be labels of this shepherdess online and in the stores.

The perks, besides the paycheck, is lingerie of course!

Death of Boromir

2009-09-01T15:12:00.002-04:00

Death of Boromir for World's End Images/Veritas Press

My stint working on the Conan the King comic gave me a feel for leather, weapons, and armor. So this assignment was a piece of cake! Plus Tolkien's imagery is so easy to have fun with.

Drawing Horses

2009-08-28T14:56:00.007-04:00

Partial cover pencils from Evangeline's Romanov Gold issue.

It amazes me that so many artists cannot draw horses in comics. I love drawing horses. They are full of muscles and create tension just by standing around. Nothing like flowing manes and tails to show movement.
I threw horses into Romanov Gold just to have some horses in a sci-fi comic book.

Hunting Dinosaurs

2009-08-26T09:28:00.012-04:00

Evangeline's Dinosaur Farm

One of my favorite panels in Evangeline. Finally got to draw a dinosaur in a position not usually depicted. The comicbook Evangeline's "Dinosaur Farm" was drawn and published long before the movie, Jurassic Park was released .There was also no internet at this time period for quick reference.

I just kept making dinosaur images in my head until I came up with this one. It just "felt " right.

Yes, I know it is not accurate.

A note about Ricardo Villagran the inker on Evangeline:

Ricardo's inking contribution was his discerning eye; his long years of experience in comics, his beautifully sensitive inks which helped both Evangeline and animals come alive. I hope to post lots of his work also on this blog.