24 Hour Video Race 2008

For the 5th year (well, not in a row), me and my cohorts from Dog Food Productions are entering the Video Association of Dallas 24 Hour Video Race. If you don't know what that is... teams of filmmakers race to make a 5 minute (or shorter) film in 24 hours. We meet at a central location at midnight this Friday and are given elements that we have to incorporate into the final film. A theme, a line of dialogue, a prop and a location. We have to meet back at that location before midnight Saturday, tape in hand. Last year we won third in our division. Our only goal is to finish on time and make a funny film. Placing or winning is just icing on the cake. But We like icing.

Wow.

Iron Man was awesome. Every comic book movie from here on out has got the blueprint to work from.

New pieces I'll have at CAPE

I've been in an Iron Man mood lately, hmmm, wonder why? I'll probably try to knock out a couple of more before the show. The Iron Man with the sky, the X-23 and the Wolverine are all large 14" x 17" piece. The rest are 9" x 12"

Comic Con Thanks and Sketches!

A big thanks to everyone who stopped by my table at the Dallas Comic Con. I had a great time, met a lot of nice people. Even got a couple of artists to do some Spookytown commissions. I'll post them later.

Here are some of the pieces I did while at the show. A couple of them (Witchblade, Business Harley) weren't commission, just ones I did towards the end of Sunday. So I will have them for sale at CAPE if you're interested. Also I have a similar Wolverine and Cherry Darling in large 14" x 17" versions.

New Comic and CAPE 4 - May 3rd

I have a page in a new mini comic called "Mine All Mine" by David Hopkins. David wrote a whole bunch of one page stories (all about stealing, hence the Jane's Addiction referenced title) and got various artists to draw them. Including me. Here's the run down so far...

Samax Amen ("The Plan")
Joshua Boulet ("Hero and Thief")
Ryan Cody ("Long Walk Home")
David DeGrand ("Stealing Electricity")
Joe Eisma ("Lost Wallet")
Jake Ekiss ("Vending Machines")
Derrick Fish ("Misdirection")
Michael Lagocki ("Tools of the Trade")
Jim Lujan ("The Nigerian Scam")
Paul Milligan ("Kidnapping")
Wes Molebash ("I Found It")
Chad Sell ("Will Run for Food")
Cal Slayton ("Return Policy")
Justin Stewart ("Blanket Thief")
ZeeS ("Pickpocket")
Scott Zirkel ("The Oil Change")
Cover by Tania Kaufmann

It makes it's debut at...

For the 4th year in a row, it's CAPE - The Comics and Pop-Culture Expo! Once again it takes place on Free Comic Book Day and there will be a whole mess of comic creators, including me. The show is FREE and there are thousands of FREE COMIC BOOKS. It takes place in a park near Zeus Comics in Dallas.

Click here for information on CAPE!.

My Latest Creation!

Okay, the cat's out of the bag. If you didn't know, I'm going to be a dad soon. My wife and I found out she's pregnant (I don't go for that "we're pregnant" new age bologna) on New Years Eve. And on our 4 year anniversary, we found out it's a boy. We're going to name him Jack. Now, if you know that our dog is named Kirby and you're somewhat familiar with comic books, you can put two and two together.

We're both really excited about it. Right now, we're in the middle of getting his room ready for him. The furniture is ordered and the room has been cleaned out for the most part. Now we just have to get everything else we need (paint, bedding, supplies, a rocker, etc, etc) and we'll be ready for his arrival (ETA September 5th).

I set up JackSlayton.com for updates. It's mainly for friends and family (mainly female) to keep up with everything. It's just easier that way. Heather will be doing the writing, I really just upload photos. So, if you have an aversion to sonogram photos, onesies or belly bumps, stay far, far away.

Rockin the casbah, Rock the casbah?

Is that what they're saying? As a Clash fan for the past 20 plus years, I shocked to learn this.

"Rock the Casbah" is obviously their biggest "hit", therefore their most overplayed song and subsequently, one of the ones I really don't listen to that much, at least with much attention to detail. But recently I've found myself getting into again and was surprised as I heard it up close and personal through my iPod headphones. Those boys were saying "Rockin the casbah, Rock the casbah" and for over two decades I thought they were saying "Rock the casbah, Rock the casbah".

I thought, "No way. Could I have misheard that all these years?" And a quick Google search for lyrics proved that yes, I had indeed. Man, the things you learn. I feel foolish.

The Ghost of Tom Joad - Springsteen & Morello

I've always dug this song, but this live version rocks. Morello goes off towards the end!

Brand Spankin' New Pin-up

Here’s a pin-up I recently did for a guy named Steve Coffin and his book Kung Fu Engine. He saw my post about my free pin-up / cover offer for published books, dropped me a line and asked if I’d do one for him. This what I came up with, hope you like it.

Check out his book here.

New Dog Food Productions Web Site

I just redesigned the website for Dog Food Productions, a group of friends I make movies with. There are still a couple of bugs when viewing in Firefox and Camino, but I'll be working on fixing those. So, if you have some time to kill and like stupid stuff, stop by and see what's going on.

Ch-ch-ch-check it out!

Appearing at Dallas Comic Con - April 5 and 6

Come out the Richardson Civic Center Saturday April 5 and Sunday April 6 for the Dallas Comic Con 11. I'll be a guest there along with a many others including Christina Hendricks (Firefly and MadMen), Kandyse McClure (Battlestar Galactica), Jeremy Bulloch (Star Wars), Cindy Morgan (Tron and Caddyshack), John Wesley Shipp (Flash and Dawson's Creek), Eric Basaldua, Bob McLeod, Tom Morgan, James O'Barr, Kerry Gammill, Ben Dunn and more.

Click here for full information!

Madame Fishnet

Here is a pin-up I did for a friend of mine, Scott Story. It's a character from his series Johnny Saturn. Her name is Madame Fishnet (I think you can tell why). It's a for a book he's planning to publish of different artists doing their takes on characters from the series. Hope you enjoy.

Since we're talking about pin-ups. I wanted to put this offer back out there. I had a couple of takers the first time I posted this...

I'd love to do some pin-up or covers, free of charge for anyone out there that meets these criteria:

A. You're actually interested in me doing it. I know I'm not as good some artists, so you may think "Dude, no way would we want your stuff."
B. It's a book that's actually being (or going to be) published. I've done too many covers for books that are "being shopped" or "once we do (insert action) it's getting printed". No online only comics, must be a print comic.
C. It's something that I think I could pull off.
D. The deadline works with my schedule.

Anyway, the offer is out there. All I ask for is a free copy of the book it appears in.

Heinz 57 Commercial

Heinz 57 is having this contest where you create your own 30 second commercial, they narrow it down to the top ten, the public votes on those and the winner gets $57,000.

As some of you know, me and my buddies make stupid little movies Dog Food Productions (Those of you who don’t know are probably better off.) Anyway, we submitted an entry and you can see it on the Heinz site (ha, ha, hindsight) here...Dog Food Productions Heinz 57 Commercial

Or watch it right here...

It’s not that good. Mainly because we didn’t realize just how short 30 seconds really is. We had to cut out a bunch of stuff that “sold” the idea more. We shot green screen stuff, floating hamburgers and fries and more things that show me going crazy. The idea is there, just not as good as we planned it out to be.

It will not get in the top ten, that’s a promise, but at least we finished it.

Dave Stevens, 1955-2008

The great artist Dave Stevens passed away. If you’re not familiar with the comic book he’s best known for, The Rocketeer, you may be familiar with the movie version.

I had the pleasure of meeting him once at a local comic convention I was appearing at. He was the headliner. A lot of the artists scheduled to appear at the show did pin-ups of the Rocketeer for the tribute program book. Mine was one of them. I stopped by his booth and we chatted for a bit and the conversation turned to the book and my contribution. He was so nice and complimentary. He was really touched that everyone had contributed to it. He even gave me one of the large signed Rocketeer prints he was selling at the show. Very cool.

Sorry to hear he’s gone.

Dave Stevens Website

A couple of new images

Been a bit since I've posted anything, been busy with projects. Here are two images that I can post, the rest are under wraps.

Dallas Comicon Wrap-up

Just wanted to give a big thanks to all those people who stopped by my table at the Dallas Comicon. I had a great time at the show. Thanks to Ben and Mark too for having me out there, I really appreciate it. While I was there, I did a ton of commission drawings, here are some them.Here’s a photo of my wife and me at the show taken by David Hopkins. Also, one he took of me back in November at Wizard World. Thanks for the pics David and thanks for the Karma Incorporated trade, available at finer comic book stores. Everyone should go out a buy it! I even have a pin-up in it.

Interview

A Half Hour Wasted is a weekly podcast about comics, movies, television and more. It is hosted by Brad Milyo and Frank A. Rincon. At the Comicon, Frank was nice of enough to do a quick interview with me (as well as a bunch of other guests). So, check out. He says my part is about 15 minutes in....

Direct link to mp3 of the interview

Half Hour Wasted website

Dallas Comic Con - Jan 12 & 13

Come out the Richard Civic Center Saturday January 12 and Sunday January 13 for the Dallas Comic Con. I'll be a guest there along with a many others including Shawnee Smith (SAW and Becker), Tony De Zuniga, Bob Layton, Terry Moore, Cully Hammer, Steve Niles, Tim Bradstreet, Cat Staggs, David Hopkins, Jaime Mendoza, Scott Kurtz, Kristian Donaldson, Tom Hodges, James O'Barr and more.

Click here to check out all the guests!

Photo Parade!

Here is a selection or random photos taken in the past several months. No reason.

My lovely wife...
My tired puppy...
Me, Kirby and my dad...
Captain Kirby...
Heather and Kirby at my parent's place at Thanksgiving...
Again, the Mrs....
One of a series of billboards I designed..."I am ready for you to come out and play. C'mon two toys, no waiting."

Christmas Goodness

Since my birthday and Christmas are a month apart, I'm always loaded up at the new year with cool things to read and watch. I think I'm set until Summer now with this great Christmas haul.