John Lang Illustration Blog

New Work

2011-11-13T21:19:00.005-05:00

I've neglected the blog again for a while, so it's time for me to upload some new work. Most of these images will also be on my primary website once it's updated, but I've included some of the process work for a few of these.

The above image is the cover for my good friend Ian Daffern's Freelance Blues #5, which is coming out sometime soon. Learn more about Lance's adventures and the FLB team at www.freelanceblues.com!

This illustration was for Canadian Family a few months back. They're featuring a "Top 15 Under 15" competition, and the illo was for the call for entries. I'm currently following this up with a new illo for their November issue, featuring three of the youngsters who've been selected.

This illustration is a portrait of Luis Gonzalez, which I did for Phoenix Magazine's July issue. I followed it up with two more portraits for their August and September issues, which I may post here at a later time. Below are the original inks for the portrait:

Lone Hawk: Coming November 2011

2011-08-06T15:08:00.003-04:00

My graphic novel, Lone Hawk: The Story of Air Ace Billy Bishop, will be coming out in November of this year (2011). The non-fiction graphic novel was written and illustrated by me, and features a forward by Jeff Lemire.

You can pre-order Lone Hawk on Amazon.ca!

Whazamo! Follow-up

2011-08-06T15:04:00.002-04:00

Now that Whazamo! month is over, I thought I'd post the hi-res version of the Animal Farm comic I did (click the image to see the larger version). I thought that the 2-tone sepia approach worked pretty well for this, so I may use it again in the future...

Whazamo! Video

2011-05-22T20:13:00.009-04:00

Whazamo!

2011-05-19T16:49:00.006-04:00

I recently contributed to WHAZAMO!, a comics feature on the Open Book: Toronto website. Here's the official description:

WHAZAMO!
Comics: Graphic vs Novel

Every TUESDAY and THURSDAY for the month of May, Open Book: Toronto will feature an original comic by a Canadian cartoonist. We asked them to share a story of one book that has inspired them as artists, as storytellers, as people. Together, their comics will open a window, a panel if you will, into the mysterious process of inspiration.

For my comic, I chose Animal Farm, by George Orwell. To see a larger version and read the full entry on my comic, click this link!

Freelance Blues #4

2011-05-02T17:05:00.002-04:00

My talented and esteemed colleague, Ian Daffern, recently commissioned me to illustrate the cover for the newest issue of his comic, Freelance Blues #4.

Learn more about Lance's adventures and the FLB team at www.freelanceblues.com!

Goggles and Monsters...

2010-11-09T15:53:00.006-05:00

Remembrance Day is coming up in a few days, and work on my Billy Bishop graphic novel, Lone Hawk, continues. Again, there isn't much I can show. However, I should be able to post the cover in a month or two, as it will be released when the book is solicited for Penguin Canada's Fall 2011 catalog.

I also recently did some personal work, which I've used for self-promotion. It's ridiculous, and is mostly the reactionary result of working on a historical non-fiction graphic novel for 18 months. It's on my updated website, but I've included a higher-resolution version here.

For what it's worth, it's available on my website as a 12x15" archival Giclee print (this taller version has space at the bottom for type - the print version is cropped).

The Rolling Barrage ...

2010-06-02T11:13:00.004-04:00

I haven't been posting much, on account of not having much to post. I've been working pretty much exclusively on Lone Hawk, which is coming along very well. I can't really show much of it though ... maybe just a taste here and there.

I should be wrapping up the work in a couple months, and it's currently scheduled for release in Fall, 2011.

Harvard Business Review

2010-02-06T12:27:00.005-05:00

Back in November, I did a collection of illustrations for Harvard Business Review, and I thought I'd post a few of them. The one above was the big one, a portrait of business guru Peter Drucker. HBR was considering it for the cover, but eventually chose to go with photography, so this pic was used as a full-page alongside the feature instead.

I also did a handful of spot portraits of various CEOs to accompany their thoughts on Drucker. They were pretty small on the page, but I was pretty happy with how the drawings turned out, so I thought I'd post them here a bit bigger.

In the meantime, my primary project is still the Billy Bishop graphic novel for Penguin. It's a long haul, but I think it's coming along well.

Patriotic Penguin

2009-11-06T11:35:00.002-05:00

A commission for a friend of the family ... a birthday gift for her boyfriend, who is an RCMP officer.

BILLY BISHOP

2009-08-18T14:59:00.003-04:00

It's official!

I am writing and illustrating Penguin Group Canada's first original graphic novel, a biography of Canadian First World War hero Billy Bishop.

The as-yet-untitled YA graphic novel will focus on Bishop's early life and career as a fighter pilot. Publication is scheduled for fall, 2011.

Dead DJs

2009-07-30T13:42:00.004-04:00

Last month I was asked to illustrate a promo poster for an event at a particular nightclub in New York. They were pretty clear on what they wanted ... the DJs being featured at the event drawn as superheroes.

I was also asked to find a way to incorporate each DJ's particular signature brand, company logo, or prop into the costume designs. Each DJ needed relatively equal treatment in the poster, save for one, who owns the club in question. And, of course, likenesses were important. Oh yeah ... try to get the nightclub logo in there too.

They called me on a Friday ... and needed the full-colour final for Tuesday. But we worked out a reasonable fee, so the work began.

I thought the sketches turned out pretty well - I put a lot of work into designing distinct characters based on the DJ's, incorporated a lot of stuff they wanted, and they layouts were pretty cool. Those are some tiny heads to capture a likeness on, but I was going to worry about that more in the final when I'd be working at a larger size.

The art director liked them, but it turned out there was someone else I needed to impress. The DJs' representatives rejected it, and they scrapped the idea entirely. Now, illustrations get killed - no biggie, it just happens sometimes. Could the folks at the club have checked with the artists' reps before asking me to do something so specific? Maybe ... but you live and learn, and next time I'll know to ask.

In the meantime, this is the only forum in which the sketches will ever be seen (a little too specific to use for another illo) ... and it was too much work over too short a period of time to let them just sit on my hard drive.

More sketches ...

2009-07-10T13:21:00.006-04:00

The first two are from my Moleskine sketchbook, the other two from my larger sketchbook. Each has their own flaws, though I think the masked Wolverine is the most wonky.

Beta Ray Bill

2009-05-01T15:42:00.009-04:00

I'm waiting to hear back from an editor about a big project at the moment, so in the meantime, I've had some, well, time. And time off is always a good opportunity to experiment! This pic isn't a huge departure from my current method, but I did try a couple of new things.

The character, Beta Ray Bill, is a pretty obscure dude from Thor comics. He's basically an alien who's a convert to Thor's religion, and was so badass that Odin awarded him his own hammer. To be honest, the original reason I did this drawing was to make up for a terrible con sketch I did of Beta Ray Bill, which I occasionally come across when someone visits my website through the link. I ended up liking the drawing enough to finish it off as an illustration.

Stylistically, the main thing I was trying here was an overlaying texture to make the drawing feel more like it's printed on newsprint. You can see it much better in this detail, where you can see it looks like some of the paper is coming through.

Lastly, for what it's worth, I thought I'd include the original ink drawing. I think I did a decent job with the lineweights (I did it pretty quickly, like just under two hours from start to finish), and the colour kind of obscures that.

So there you have it. Beta Ray Bill!

Sketches

2009-04-29T23:16:00.006-04:00

I've been feeling lately like I should be less "precious" about this blog. It can be hard for me to put work out there if it isn't my best work. But then, if I only posted my strongest work on this blog, it would be redundant, because that's what my "proper" website, johnlangart.com, is for.

When I visit an illustrator's blog, I'm expecting something more personal, more intimate, and less polished. I like to see what's underneath the polish. Why should my blog be any different?

So the images in this post are some drawings I picked out of my sketchbook that I thought might be worth sharing. Not perfect, but cool enough in their own right.

The astronaut is my favourite of the bunch. I was in a Starbucks when I drew it, so I did the best I could from memory, but regardless of accuracy, I liked how it turned out.

Silver Dallas

2009-03-02T14:59:00.003-05:00

I recently did another illustration for Dallas CEO. The article was about "tin ear" syndrome, which is when a CEO or executive is either disregarding or not paying attention to his business environment, likely leading to disaster. An example was an Insurance company CEO who spent $80,000 renovating his office after the company posted a loss and announced layoffs.

I was pretty happy with how this one turned out, particularly with the colours. I've been unsure about my colours lately, but I think this is a step in the right direction.

Westword Ho!

2009-03-02T14:39:00.000-05:00

I recently did the cover of Westword, a weekly newspaper in Denver. The feature is about a local developer who is being sued as a result of problems in his buildings.

The art director had the concept and composition pretty much nailed down when he contacted me, so there wasn’t much interpretation on my part. I mostly shifted things around a bit to be able to see the guy’s face a bit more, and tried to put as much character in the face and hands as possible. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. - J

Bloody Freelancing

2009-03-01T19:48:00.000-05:00

I recently did a pin-up illustration for my friend Ian Daffern. Ian and I worked on Shock Effect together for DC Comics' Zuda.

The image is of Lance, the lead character from Ian's webcomic, Freelance Blues, which he writes with Mike Leone, and is illustrated by Vicki Tierney. Cool stuff - you can check the comic @ www.freelanceblues.com.

Meaningful words...

2009-03-01T19:22:00.001-05:00

I’ve been meaning to start posting more often again. The image above was a piece I did for Dallas CEO (D CEO) back in December. I’ve been doing some more editorial work lately, but I can’t post it until it’s been published.

I’ve also been working on my new comic project, BRAIN FEVER, which I’m writing and illustrating myself. I’ll be posting some teaser drawings for that project soon as well.

New Secret Project ...

2008-12-11T22:45:00.002-05:00

More to come ...

SpeakEasy's Comic Book Show

2008-10-23T12:39:00.005-04:00

I will be participating in the upcoming SpeakEasy's Comic Book Show! I'll be showing original artwork, as well as large full-colour prints from Shock Effect.

Time & Space:
Thursday November 6th, 8pm-Midnight
The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen West
Second Floor Lobby

There will be a ton of awesome Toronto comic talents there, so check it out! Here's the official scoop:

Toronto is home to some of the best known comics artists in North
America. We have an active and vibrant community putting out some of the highest quality comics to be found anywhere. The SpeakEasy Comics Show features an eclectic mix of Toronto’s talented comic book artists - from those who do newspaper strips and political cartoons, to underground comix and mainstream superhero comic books! The event promises to display an exciting cross-section of the comics community here in Toronto, as well as a glimpse into how good comics are made. As the old cliché goes, there really will be something for everyone.

-J

Spy-tastic!

2008-08-04T10:47:00.005-04:00

I recently had some new work in a gallery show with my illustration collective from school, One Track Hand. The show was called "Mirror Mirror," and the theme centered around the idea of "alter ego."

So I took the opportunity to try some new things, and did a couple of mock 1960's spy movie posters. I started by coming up with a loose story and a title, then trying to come up with poster elements and colours that would fit with that story.

I was pretty happy with how these turned out, and I'm almost certainly going to be using some of the new techniques I developed in my future work.

Enjoy! -J

Fragment Press ...

2008-07-30T09:41:00.005-04:00

I forgot to post this stuff, but after the MoCCA convention in New York, my indy comic book Fragment that I put out a couple years ago got some press ...

The Comic/Gaming/Manga/Technology podcasters GeekNights reviewed by comic on their show. You can take a listen here: GeekNights

Also, the comic weblog Neilalien listed Fragment as one of five comics to check out from the show. You can take a look at his post here: Neilalien

Also, I've got some big news coming up in the next week, so be sure to check back soon! Exciting!

Cheers -J

Some Recent Work ...

2008-07-18T21:01:00.005-04:00

I apologize for the gaps between posts - things have been busy ... plus, I need to wait until the illustrations are published before I can post them.

I've been doing a lot of work for Dallas CEO (or D CEO), which has been pretty fun. The art director lets me do some interesting stuff that wouldn't necessarily get approved by other magazines.

Case in point is the illo above. It accompanied an article on how CEO's need to defend themselves against politicians who had been essentially badmouthing big business. With one of my sketches, I went with a "slings & arrows" idea, and that's the one he approved. It was a lot of fun to draw!

I also recently did a large (half-page) portrait of Simon Fuller for Billboard Magazine. At the time, he was about to be presented an award for his achievements, so Billboard did a feature on him. The magazine was also full of ads taken out by various studios, recording agencies and individuals congratulating Fuller. Also a pretty cool job.

I'll try to post again sooner rather than later :D

Cheers -J

Canadian Family

2008-05-13T15:39:00.009-04:00

I recently did a batch of illustrations for Canadian Family. The article was on "amazing moms", so they wanted to show a bunch of superhero moms. The image above is the final for the full-page illo.

These are the sketches I sent the art director for the full-page. The had pretty much worked out the ideas for all five of the images, and for this one, they wanted three super-moms rising up together. For the one, I wanted to get a bit more dynamic and superheroic, rather than simply rising up - and that's the one they ended up choosing.

These are the finals for the four quarter-page illustrations. I thought they turned out pretty well. As I mentioned before, most of the ideas were determined beforehand, so I just had to figure out how to translate it into an illustration. The sandwiches one was mine, though :)

These were the sketches for the quarter-pages. Rather than do multiple compositions for the ideas they'd already worked out, I just gave them a bunch to choose from, including my own ideas, and allowed them to choose the four they liked best.

A pretty good job overall. I really enjoyed the full-page, particularly, as it was really fun coming up with the poses, and creating the characters

American Illustration

2008-04-12T15:31:00.002-04:00

I was just recently notified that an illustration of mine has been chosen by American Illustration for their web gallery. Although it isn't as prestigious as being selected for their annual print publication, less than 3% of about 7500 submitted images are selected for the web gallery.

Being recognized by American Illustration has been a goal of mine for a while, so I'm pretty happy about it! The image that was chosen was an illustration I did back in November for Business Week, for an article on workplace safety.
-J

Giant Patriot ...

2008-02-03T19:41:00.000-05:00

Just did this pic for the Miami Herald, for their Superbowl coverage, which came out today. The story was, of course, the New England Patriots going into the game undefeated againts the New York Giants, who surprised everybody by making it to the Superbowl in the first place ... and not really an even match.

It was a bit of effort getting the sketches where the editors wanted them, but in the end it turned out really well.

Strange Business...

2007-11-19T17:19:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd post an illo I did last week for The Stranger in Seattle.

It was a pretty straightforward job - they wanted a portrait of M.I.A. with no background, so that they could wrap some text around it.

I was pretty happy with the way things turned out, both with regards to the drawing and the colour. I'm starting to use a bit more feathering in my linework, and I think it's adding some depth to my drawing.

Catching the Wave...

2007-11-12T12:51:00.000-05:00

Just did a job for the Miami Herald. It's for the cover of their "Business Monday" insert section. Here's the illo:

I thought it came out really well. I was trying some new things inking-wise with this one, specifically with regards to the water, and I was pretty happy with the results.

Here it is in context:

It's a bit crowded, and they appear to have saturated the colours a bit, but it still came out pretty well. There was a miscommunication in their office about the deadline, so given the timeframe, it could have been much worse.

The article is about how Florida has had to re-invent its economy several times, finding new ways to keep people going there. The wave is possibly about to crush the surfer (economy about to collapse), but also possibility of surfer riding it out (catching the new wave). Some of the other sketches were more conceptual, but this one had the most visual energy, and the art director thought it would look good executed in my style.

I'm working on some other stuff too, but I have to wait until it's published before posting. In the meantime, I hope this is interesting :D -J

More Business Week ...

2007-11-09T16:01:00.001-05:00

Business Week hired me again for this week's issue (out today) for a 1/4 page in the News section. Here's the illo:

The story was about the problem with large-scale, organized theft in retail stores like Wal-Mart, Target, etc. Here are the sketches I sent the art director:

I liked the first one because it's more iconic, but I understand that the second one is more clear about the organized crime aspect. I thought the illo turned out pretty well, especially considering that I only had one day for sketches, and one day for the final :)
Cheers -J

Business Week

2007-11-01T16:18:00.000-04:00

I recently finished a job for next week's issue of Business Week Magazine. The job was for two quarter-page editorial pieces for the BTW section. The image above is the final for an article on the rate of workplace injuries, and the one below is for an article on a company that is incorporating Facebook into the way it does business:

It was actually a bit of a trek to get to this stage, as there were a number of revisions with the roughs. I thought I'd put up the sketches for my original ideas, for comparison with the finals:For the safety one, the article is stating that incidences of injury are lower, but that the data may not be accurate. So I want to show a hint of past injury. They decided they wanted to go a bit more straightforward.
For the Facebook one, I originally wanted to go a bit more conceptual, emphasizing the "growth" and "building" factors of networking with Facebook. Again, they wanted to go a bit more literal.

Anyway, I think the finals turned out pretty well, and overall I had a great time doing the job :)

Cheers -J

New Comics

2007-10-09T14:28:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned earlier, I'm working a 12-page comic with writer Ian Daffern. I thought I'd post one of the pages I've been working on.
This page turned out pretty well, I thought. Once the story is closer to being done, I'll be posting a preview of the fully inked and lettered story on my website, along with pencilled pages.

Hope you like this taste :D -J

Penciled Pages

2007-09-20T16:08:00.000-04:00

I finished those pages I was working on a few days ago, so here they are. I think they turned out pretty good.Now that I'm working on my own comic again, I'll post some of those pages when they're a bit more finished.
Cheers -J

It's been a while...

2007-09-13T21:25:00.000-04:00

So, in retrospect, I definately neglected this blog after my last post. I've been working on things, but never felt any of it was something I wanted to post. The next thing I know, it's been three months.

I'm working on a 12-page comic right now with a writer friend of mine, Ian Daffern. I'll be posting some of that work soon. In the meantime, I'm also throwing together a quick two-page piece for an on-the-fly submission opportunity.

I thought I'd put up my linears for the 2-pager. It gives some insight into how I do my comic work, plus I think they're looking pretty good so far.

I draw these at half-size, so about 7.5"x5". It's small enough that it's easy for me to trace, redraw, cut and paste things. Also, my lightbox is small, so it's easier to handle on there. It's easier to get composition and the core elements of the drawings worked out smaller as well (especially perspective), and prevents me from getting distracted by details.

Once they're at this stage, I blow them up to actual size (roughly 15.75"x9.75"), tape them to the back of the page I'm going to draw the actual pencils on, then use a lightbox to work up the drawings to final.

I'll post the pencilled pages when I finish them. It should be by this weekend, as the window for the submission is small.
Cheers -J

Tennis, anyone?

2007-06-11T20:42:00.000-04:00

I just finished up the cover for Seattle Weekly:

The cover story is about a Seattle high school tennis coach, but the illo didn't have to directly reference the story.

The art director thought he would want the coach in there, but when he saw the roughs, he liked the one with just the girl.
I think it turned out pretty well. -J

Who wouldn't want more Bjork?

2007-05-25T07:53:00.000-04:00

Here is the final for the Seattle Weekly piece. It may get printed in black & white, but the art director said he wanted to push for colour.

I think it turned out pretty well, though you can see the texture of the paper better in higher res/larger versions. -J

Bjork

2007-05-17T20:51:00.000-04:00

I'm working on an illustration of Bjork for Seattle Weekly. Here are the sketches I did for the art director:
I wanted to make sure to get a likeness, even at the sketch stage, and it was a bit tricky. Basically, Bjork looks different in virtually every photo of her. I think I was able to figure out the distinctive bits.

The art director picked the middle sketch, with the wispy hair. I'll post the final when it's finished. -J

More Drawings ...

2007-04-10T13:35:00.000-04:00

I've been working on a lot of stuff lately, but nothing that's really at a stage to put up on here. So, I thought I'd throw up a couple of nice warm-up drawings that I did recently.I was focusing on the hair in this one, trying to find a balance between the 2-colour stylization, keeping it natural-looking, and avoiding too many extraneous brush lines. I think it came out pretty good, but the inking is a little shaky overall.

More Sketchy Goodness...

2007-03-01T18:53:00.000-05:00

I'm still trying to get a better handle on the whole "likeness" thing so that I can diversify my portfolio a bit. There was a photo of Dean Wareham in the new issue of Exclaim! that I thought was pretty interesting, so I thought I'd draw him for practice:

I think it turned out pretty well, though it is pretty straightforward. If I took it to finish and worked out the shadows and such, I think it would bump up the stylization a bit. Hopefully this makes up for the three week drought in posts :) -J

PS - The photo was by Michael Lavine.

Small Drawing, Small Post

2007-02-12T13:39:00.000-05:00

I was warming up the other day, and I thought I nailed this head. I haven't posted for a while, so I thought I'd throw it up.

-J

License to Kill

2007-01-25T21:03:00.000-05:00

Finally, I finished the Bond illustration. I'm trying to go back to muting my colours a bit more. I also played with the half-tones for a more delicate effect, rather than just a round highlight area, which I also think has been too punchy in my work lately.

-J

Sneak Peek

2007-01-18T19:31:00.000-05:00

I broke my rule last week and didn't post. The reason is because I didn't have anything to post. I've been trying to get this piece done, and things keep coming up to push it off, so I'm still not done.

However, this week, rather than post nothing, I'm just going to post a piece of the work-in-progess. I'm going to have it done before next Thursday. There! I've said it on the Internet, so it has to be true!

-J

Hammer Time

2007-01-05T20:23:00.000-05:00

Last week, I did my first job for Time Magazine, a b/w spot of a warthog for a mock progress report. A quick, fun little job. The piece will run between 1" and 2" square as part of the report logo.

These were the roughs I did: ... and this was the one the art director picked, which I re-drew in ink. They actually were prepared to print the sketch, but I did the inked version as well:That's all for now ... good times :) -J

*Note: The pun in the title is ... unfortunately ... intentional. I'm sorry.

Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel...

2006-12-28T22:48:00.000-05:00

Sorry, no drawing to post this week. Two reasons:

1) I didn't draw much over the holiday weekend. Family, food and related goodness.

2) I just got an assignment from Time Magazine for a spot illustration, and I need to work on the sketches.

I will, however, definately have something up for next week.

Cheers -J

Bond in Progress

2006-12-21T22:20:00.000-05:00

Not much this week, I've been busy with other things ... I'm working on a practice illustration based on Casino Royale. The image is a study of Daniel Craig from the movie. I think the likeness is there, but needs to be stronger. Hopefully I'll be able to put the actual illustration together a bit more quickly after Christmas.Happy Holidays! -J

The King

2006-12-14T13:44:00.000-05:00

Jack “King” Kirby.

I finally broke down and bought Essential Fantastic Four vol. 1, collecting the first twenty or so issues from the early 60's.

It’s blasphemy, but until this week, I had never read a comic drawn by Kirby, and had only been exposed to his work in bits and pieces, or through verbal description of his greatness. And I honestly didn't get it.

Now I get it. This dude could draw. "No shit," all the comic folks would say. Well, better late than never. How this guy could design so many characters, monsters, and machines while pencilling multiple books at the same time is astounding. And the drawing is rock solid.

But hey, I'm the last guy on earth to figure this out, right?

Anyway, reading Kirby made me like the Fantastic Four, so I drew them this week. Just a sketch, so no rendered shadows or anything, I tried to focus on structure. You can't hide bad structure in a line drawing. I reinterpreted their costumes a bit, but for the most part they’re pretty true to the originals.I know Sue's hands are a little funny, but my thinking was that in the finished, inked drawing, they'd be starting to go invisible. Torch's legs are a little funny too. Overall, I think it's a pretty good sketch.

-J

Blog ret-con ... THIS is the first post ... no, really

2006-12-07T14:52:00.000-05:00

I've decided I'm actually going to start using this blog. I don't know how many people will read it, but I feel like committing to it will help me organize myself in terms of my own work.

I'm going to try to post at least once a week, always with a drawing. Today, its some heads I drew.

I'm constantly working to improve my memory drawing, which is critical for comics, so I didn't use reference for these. I think they turned out pretty good, except the inked head is a bit fat, plus a couple other things I don't like (struggling with hair) but I'm going to try not to rip apart everything I put up here :)

I'll have some more stuff next week.

-J

Inaugural Entry

2006-03-29T17:28:00.000-05:00

Hi everybody (uhhh.. somebody I hope)

My first blog entry. Huzzah!

-John