Kaare Andrews Spider Manga page 20

Here's page 20 from Spider-Manga. What's sweet about this piece in person is that Kaare inked the characters so they stand-out more from the pencil-only background pieces such as the falling bricks and the crumbling building. The contrast makes for some art that almost appears 3-dimensional, as the gray-toned pencil shading really appears as if it is behind the action. The super-tight inks on the characters are clearly from the hands of a skilled artist. If I were trying to trace the pencil lines, I already know my ink strokes would be shaky, not consistent, not clean and mostly crooked. Terrible.

I'm going to go off on a tangent for a sec. Let's talk about inkers. It takes some serious talent to ink artwork. Inkers aren't tracers. You need to really know how to draw and finish the artwork, and it requires some serious consistent pen strokes. The inker is the last line of defense and is in charge of making the original pencil art stand-out, injecting life into the characters faces, to setting the mood and telling the story in really only 2 colors. Many top artists started as inkers and it really seems to be an old-school talent to ink penciled artwork.

Finally, last but not least, I really like the layout. Simple but different. The diagonal long panes make for the feeling that Spidey is literally flying off the build, then falling, and on his way to a climatic [crunch] on the next page. Or is it waiting for him? Stay tuned...

Manga Star Wars by Adam Warren

I was digging through some old piles of posters and came across this gem. It's pretty large and didn't fit on my scanner, so I scanned it in pieces and will put it up here to show. I bought this Adam Warren Manga Star Wars print from SDCC 2002. This was when they were promoting the last Star Wars movie and had just released the last movie title and were selling shirts. So I bought a shirt and this poster.

It's quite a sight, the full poster. I'm just trying to frame it now so I can hang it and enjoy it.

Warrior Nun Areala Opening

Thought some of you might get a kick out of seeing this.. of what could have been..

Finally it might be cool to be in manga...

From the WallStreet Journal:

Score one for the nerds! Shares of Japanese companies involved in the production of animated films and comic books soared in Tokyo Wednesday amid speculation that Taro Aso, secretary-general of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party -- and a well-known comic-book fan -- may be the nation's next prime minister. Following Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's surprise resignation, shares linked to hobbies associated with "otaku," or nerds, jumped. (See related article.)

In May, while serving as Japan’s foreign minister, Mr. Aso unveiled plans to establish the International Manga Award to recognize foreign cartoonists. When the winners were announced in July, Mr. Aso told Kyodo News, “It is my hope that manga, through these works, will act as a bridge to the world.” Mr. Aso’s official Web site contains an ode to “manga” published in August that praises the genre for lifting Japan’s standing on the international stage and urges his countrymen to be proud of this success.

(more, see article for complete story)

Blog has a new look today

Hi Folks... If our site looks different than yesterday, it's because I changed our blog template because I felt the "whites" in the previous visual style were lacking character, too bland, and uber-subtle, if that's a word. The blog looked like it was a vast wasteland, when in fact we've got a lot of original art already posted, with a lot more coming. I'm just warming up the scanner. :) Well, the other reason for the change is that we now look more consistent with our "sister" original comic book art blog @ http://11by17.blogspot.com, which is focused on non-anime/non-manga original comic book artwork, instead much more Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, Neal Adams, John Byrne, Todd McFarlane, Romita, Buscema, Kirby, etc etc, you know 70s, 80s, 90s art. So don't navigate away yet, instead pull up a chair, get comfy and stay a while. :)

Email me or leave a comment with your impression of the blog so far and I'll respond ASAP. Do you want to see more new and original artwork? Any Ben Dunn Marvel Mangaverse fans out there? Any Adam Warren fans out there? Any Kaare Andrews fans out there? How about anime or manga fans? I hope to be in Japan later this year, so if anyone from Japan is reading, I'd love to know of any stores in Tokyo area that sell manga original art.

Manga Spidey & Manga Tigra commission by Ben Dunn

Back in 2005, I was able to get a hold of Ben Dunn and get this commission done by him, and it's in color too! Full 11-by-17 inches in size and vibrant colors!! Features his rendition of Marvel Mangaverse Spider-Man and Marvel Mangaverse Tigra. Very cool!

I highly recommend contacting him and acquiring your very own personal commissioned artwork. I know he does commission auctions on eBay from time to time, when he isn't busy, so keep an eye out for the next one. He does a really nice job on them.

Hey Kids! It's Gumby!

Not exactly manga, but not exactly human either. It's Gumby, kids!!

I picked up this sketch from Arthur Adams at the 2003 Wondercon. He was gracious enough to meticulously pencil then ink this sketch for me. Art's a funny guy too, so while watching him do his magic, it's cool to chit-chat a bit and learn what's new for him. I remember when Gumby's Summer Fun Special comic book came out, as well as the Winter Fun Special comic. Good times.

Some of you may know that Art is a big toy fan. If you see him at the next local convention, bring him some cool Godzilla toys. He'd like that but he might also already have them too. But did you know that Art did the covers for the Masamune Shirow "American" Appleseed comic book in the mid-late 80s. The link is to an Arthur Adams fan site.

Marvel Mangaverse Spider-Man 1 Original Cover Art

Here's the original cover artwork to Marvel Mangaverse Spider-Man #1. This piece was all hand-drawn by Kaare Andrews. The backgrounds were done digitally and then all of it was combined and colored at time of printing.

I like the way Spidey's mitts are bigger. Really stands out, and gotta love those webs. Not sure if this was something added by Kaare, or if it was in the original Marvel Mangaverse design by Ben Dunn.

I hope someday they will bring back the entire Marvel Mangaverse, and then take them up against the DC Mangaverse. hahaha

Dirty Pair original art

Any Dirty Pair fans ? Adam Warren did some great work when adapting "Dirty Pair" to comic book form.

This is a great page from Dirty Pair II and shows Kei and Yuri. And guns. Lots of guns. Warren original art doesn't show up often and when it does, it definitely gets snatched up quickly. If anyone is interested in seeing more, give me a shout and I'll post more of his stuff in the future.

Marvel Mangaverse Manga Spider-Man 1 Cover

The end of Summer is nearing. That means it is time for me to clean out my computer contents and especially those temporary folders I've decided to create on my desktop and appropriately named "stuff" and "stuff2". You get the idea. Well, cleaning up piles of artwork folders overflowing with jpgs, gifs, scans, movies and other art files always has a few surprises and gems. The gem I found tonight is a nice image of the cover of Mangaverse Spider-Man #1. Thought I'd post it here to stir some memories of 2001/2002.

This Kaare Andrews cover really made an impression on me. So much so, I got a hold of Kaare's original art rep at the time, Leonard, through email. Nice guy and he had a huge list of Kaare's early original comic book art for sale on his website. So I bought some, including this very cover he did here. Give me some time to dig up the scan. The original art for this cover is pretty cool in person as it is much more simple as compared to this final color printed cover image, with the painted backgrounds and sky. Would you believe those buildings were done on computer? Yup. Kaare works on paper AND with his computer, digitally coloring and finishing as he goes along towards being final and printing. Not many artists embrace technology and still rely on traditional methods of hand drawing, inking and coloring, but I'll save that topic for another post. Pretty soon there won't be anymore original comic book art. It will be a pile of jpgs, gifs and we'll end up at youtube.com looking for comic book art. ;)

Back to my story... Years later, I had a chance to meet Kaare and Leonard at Comic-Con San Diego 2004. I ended up picking up more of his original art then and there, and of course, I even got a nice Manga Spider-Man sketch from him. I'll post more of his stuff in the coming months, and as I find images/scans of art while I clean up my computer. I've even got some other Kaare Andrews artwork for sale. Follow the link on the right margin to my art for sale page, to see a scan.

Can you believe this book came out 5 years ago?

Oh the pain...

This page is from Marvel Mangaverse New Dawn, page 37. This page is loaded with great art, all sorts of emotional facial expressions, and nice story-telling. You can feel the pain by looking at the eyes in this page.. Original art by Ben Dunn, and acquired from him in 2002.

Layout is exceptional and great use of shading (inks) to complete this page.


Please enjoy my blog, but I kindly ask that you please do not link to, download, distribute, repost or otherwise share *any original artwork images* from this blog as they are the personal property of 11by17.com. Thanks for your understanding.

Iron Maiden in action (original art version)

This is from Marvel Mangaverse New Dawn, page 36. This page features the death of Iron Maiden. The last panel in this page shows her getting KO'd by the bad guy. Sucks to be IM in this page. Great story telling by Ben Dunn.

It's interesting to look at this black/white version then see the next blog post, where I show you the colored printed version. With only inks, it is difficult to make out depth in the image. Plus sequences that show a lot of detailed action such as battle pages, can be hard to make out in only 2 colors. With art, you can't add camera tricks to blur the background and sharpen the foreground. The art is all done by hand, so any "tricks" come during the coloring of the page.

Iron Maiden in action (colored version)

This is the color version of the previous post. It's interesting to compare the black/white original artwork to the final printed color page.

Tigra

Now here's a great page and I'm damn lucky to be able to call this one mine. For those of you new to original comic book art, there is a certain collector out there that only collects original art of Tigra. Does he have a thing for cats? Nope, just another passionate art collector. He even has a cool website dedicate to his collection and he is a nice guy to boot. Anyhow, after you read the rest of my blog, check out his Tigra gallery.

Anyways, the story goes like this. I missed out on the original chance to pick up this page in 2002. Then after searching high and mostly low, I came across the page in his gallery. After maybe 2-3 years of going back and forth in email, we were finally able to swing a deal that worked out for both of us.

This might be one of my more favorite Marvel Mangaverse pages and characters from Ben Dunn. The middle panel is classic manga, even has the speed-lines. Gotta love the blood spittle coming out of the guys busted up chops, after getting a swift kick in da head by a furry chick. Yo that's gotta hurt though, heh. The layout on this page is superb. Just some great story-telling and the flow/transition is well done. Kudos to Mr. Dunn for the great sequence in this page. Tigra rocks.

Iron Maiden

First up, here is page 7 from Marvel Mangaverse New Dawn, featuring Iron Maiden done up by American Manga artist Ben Dunn. I acquired this from Mr. Dunn in 2002 and he was gracious enough to sign the page for me. I've always been a fan of his "Mangaverse" although I can say with some authority that many others didn't like it. The series was canceled relatively quickly thereafter, I believe by the time 2003 came around. I was fortunate to be able to acquire these pages at the time.

I can't wait till the new Ironman movie comes out.

First post in this blog...

Thanks for stopping by and welcome to my new blog. This will be dedicated to original manga and anime artwork, probably Marvel Mangaverse artwork mostly, but there will be some other art that I post and share. I will try to only post artwork that I own but I may also link to other artwork out there. So if you have some cool original anime or manga artwork, please let me know about it and I will post to it. I'd love to hear from you about anything anime/manga. This is as much for me to share as for you to share with me. Contact me at: burton(at)11by17.com