Convention Sketch

Ok, not really. I felt there was too much going on for me to actually do this at while sitting at the table at Long Beach Con, so the very kind Necessary Evil fan who commisioned this, after generously purchasing a couple original pages, agreed to let me mail it to him. I'm thinking about turning it into a print for a future con.

The Whole Story:"Fishnet Femme Fatales"

Hi folks. About a month after San Diego, Josh called and said he's like to see me finish my version of the JLA story he wrote, so I finished the four remaining pages, and tweaked a couple things on the old ones. Here they are. (Sorry it took me so long to post.)

The Whole Story (continued)

Well, I certainly enjoyed the comic-con in Long Beach. SO much smaller than Sand Diego, which was kind of nice actually, focusing on comics. Nice, big section for the artists. Was so busy behind the table that I still didn't see it all. Met lots of nice folks, sold some books and artwork, and bought some toys and trades. Always fun and educational hanging out with Joshua Williamson and Jason Ho. Josh was kind enought to share his table with me.
Thanks also go out to our neighbor, Batman artist Dustin Nguyen, and Wolverine artist Darrick Roberston for the encouraging words and helpful hints regarding my portfolio. Darrick's son sold be a cool sketch of the Road runner he did while I was waiting to talk to his pop. Too many other folks to mention here, but I appreciated everyone's kindness and generocity. The pics here are of myself, Josh, and Jason. My sad little sign to ward off confusion, and a couple dressed as Luke And Mara Jade who came by our table. (Mara's my favorite SW EU character.)
I'll be posting some new portfolio pages that finiah the story I was working on for my San Diego portfolio in the next day or two. Got to go celebrate my mom's b-day. Talk to you all again soon!

Comic-Con Update.

Well, it was a fun, productive and tiring Con. None of the companies I can afford to work for was begging to hire me, but I had some very instructive critiques. I especially want to thank Richard Bruning of DC, Chris Warner of Dark Horse and Chuk Wojtkiewicz of Blur Studio for their time, helpful suggestions and encouragement. Not to mention the incomparable Joshua Williamson for a great script, and the immensely talented Vinny Navarrete for his beautiful and inspiring work.

Completed JLA PAges

Well, its been a very busy few days. I finished page 56 and went back and made some changes to all the previous pages based on suggestions form friends, or just stuff I saw that needed tweaking. As always it was a learning experience. I feel page 6 could be stronger, but its time to hit the road for some fun in San Diego with my buddy Dave, and some friends down there before the Con starts. I'm sure I'll get a lot of constructive criticism at Comic-Con, but as always, comments here are welcome.

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

New Business Card

So just a few days 'til I leave for San Diego, with one more page to go. So of course there are tree trimmers just outside my studio window going at it with chains saws all day. (Cue chainsaw) Ah well, I needed to make a new business card anyway. Thanks to gaming buddy Eric Carltock for the quick turn-around on these.

Page 5

Just got home fromm our little signing at The Comic Bug. (Those guys are awesome by the way, if your'e ever in Manhattan Beach, check out their great store!) Remembered I hadn't posted the new page yet, so here it is! 5 down, 1 to go. Then I'll go back and make a few adjustments that have been suggested. (Thanks for those by the way.)

Page 4

Well here it is. Still not crazy about all the facial expressions, but it's time to move on. Finishing up a cityscape for p. 5 as we speak. Critiques welcomed.

Grrrr argh

So what expression does a beautiful, young, time-displaced woman wear, as she 's edging past her young grandfather in then uncomfortably close confines of an office in the past, as she wonders if he's checking her out? And why do I create blocking for myself that's not in the script, that forces me to confront these questions? And will I wear a hole in the my bristol board as I seek the answer? Stay tuned.

Preview (sort of)

This sketch of Crimson for p.4 was going well, but the size is a little off. I liked it enough to scan it before I erased it (like I do so much of what I put on the page) and I thought I'd share to whet your appetites.

Page 3

Sorry this has taken so long. I'm actually about 3/4 done sketching out p. 4 already, and hope to finish p. 5 this weekend. I'm thinking of putting in a few more setail in the backround, window in the buildings etc, but I wnat to stay focused on the meeting in the foreground. Any thoughts?

Page 2

They say art is never completed, only abandoned. For the most part, I'm about as happy with this page as any page I've finished. My chief regret is theat the backwards numbers of the sign are so obscured by the figures and the '"kirby crackle" of temporal energies. It was a nice nod in the script to Zatanna's powers, and I hope Josh will forgive me if I move on to page 3. As always, constructive criticism is encouraged.

I hope to be back with page 3 in a few days.

At last we begin

Well, school finished up last week, so barring any storyboard work that falls in my lap, it's comic book portfolio time! Here is the first page of a great JLA script that Josh has been generous enough to let me play with. It's a time travel story in which Black Canary and Zatanna go to the 30's and team up with the Crimson Avenger! Here's page one. I better get to work sketching page 2. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Star Wars/Marvel Animation Mash-Up

I was just bowled over by the cinematic trailer for the new Star Wars: The Old Republic game. I wish I still had time to play computer games. It inspired me to dig out a fun little character sketch I did for a Star Wars pen and paper RPG I was playing a few months back with some friends. He's a Cathar Jedi based on the design for Black Panther's kid in the animated Next Avengers movie. If only he survived the first game session. Ah, well.

Inauguration

Well I've been pulled into the world of blogging kicking and screaming, but a little bird (that I trust knows what he's talking about) tells me you gotta have one of these if you want to make it in the comics biz these days.

For those of you who don't know me- (Seriously? haven't you got anything better to do?) my name is Marcus L. Harris. I have been trying to break into the comics biz as a penciler for a while, and have had my largest success penciling the first four issues (as well as doing covers and some character designs for subsequent issues) of Necessary Evil (published by Desperado and available at Amazon.com. plug-plug) , written by Joshua Williamson (the hardest working man in comics.)

Between now and Comic-Con 2009, I will be posting new portfolio pieces that I am working on to try to wrangle that ever elusive animal: paid comic book work.

I probably won't have time to hit the drawing table too hard till next week, so in the meantime, here is a tease from a page from my triumphant return to penciling interiors (for a short sequence anyway) from the forthcoming Necessary Evil #10.