ArtParkLoveMagic

Saturday at 2pm is the ribbon-cutting for the Art Park Statues, one of which was painted by me. i will most definitely get more pictures of my piece (much thanks to dude Pat Favors who was cool enough to take this one of me working on it). if you're in Dallas tomorrow afternoon, drop by. i'll take some time away from my drawing table (gasp!) to attend, so you can kick it with me and the other artists at N. Good Latimer and Commerce!
DartLoveMagic
in fact, there's a ton of artsy festivities in Deep Ellum tomorrow. my peoples from ArtLoveMagic are helping kick off the opening of the Deep Ellum DART rail station just down Good Latimer at Gaston. click the flier above for the 4 eleven.
it's been very hectic lately... if you didn't already know, my work on my blog/magazine ghettoManga landed me on the cover of one of the local newspapers, i spent several days traveling to downtown Dallas to complete this Art Park painting, and my daughter Marley celebrated her first birthday this week (09.09.09... photos coming soon)! and that's to say nothing of the freelance projects i'm working on! things are going great, and I am very thankful, if a little exhausted. for those who attend tomorrow, i'll see you there... otherwise, i'll catch up to you on the internet!
peace, love, etc.
-samax

that 70's comic

so here's a sneak peek at a panel from the page i'm working on right now. it's from page 25 of Permanent Residents, from a vignette that takes place in the year 1977. click the pic to view it a little larger! i'm having fun on this book, and I'm looking forward to drawing this chapter, which was my favorite when i read it in the script. one of the fun things about working on this book is switching to different time periods and characters. it makes it harder, but also more fun! well, that's enough for now, i gotta get back to work!
-samax

My Fan Art Got Published!

i submitted this drawing of Unknown, one of the characters in Ross Campbell's Wet Moon OGN series, a while back. even though he told me that he liked the piece, i didn't know that he had decided to use it until i bought my copy of Wet Moon Volume 5: Where All Stars Fail to Burn and got it home to start reading it. so i opened it up and looked at the back to peep the fan art section and there i was! i had hoped my piece would get in, but it didn't stop me from feeling surprised. i love seeing my work reproduced, and in this case many thousands of copies went out to comic shops and book stores all over the country! very exciting! if you wanna buy a copy, it's available on Amazon.com
peace,
-samax

Vroom, Vroom the Conversation Starter!

first of all, Dallas Comicon was the bomb! a big thank you to everyone who attended, came by to talk, check out my stuff, commission a drawing, buy something, and especially to my boys from the mighty Ghostwerks crew who helped bring that special geedub atmosphere! this piece was very, very popular. i only sold one copy, but almost every single person who looked at it laughed (some people actually fell out laughing). it was also something of a conversation starter, leading to several fascinating exchanges about racism, Bill Cosby, and social inequality (among others topics). this was my most successful show in a while, and it was good to see my friends really get into it. they have so much talent, and it's good to see them getting money and positive feedback from fans and customers again.
anyways, if you want to order a print of this, just let me know!
holla!
-samax

Con Artist...

I had a blast at Dallas Comicon today! I didn't get a chance to get up and visit any of my friends' tables because we were super busy all day! it has been fun getting back into conventions, and this was the best one i've done in a while! here's a few pieces that were updated for this con. i had several prints leftover from previous shows, so with the new pieces i added, i had a good variety. i did some fan art, some of my own characters, and some non-comics stuff. i've found that people appreciate that you draw stuff other than comics... puts it in perspective, i guess! i wish the new issue of ghettoManga Quarterly had been ready(sigh), but it was still a great show.
it was a long day, but i'm looking forward to wrapping up tomorrow. i know some of the people who read this blog are from out of the area, so if you are interested in getting prints, let me know. all those who i met at this show, thanks for your support and thanks for reading!
holla!
-samax

Don't Be Scurred!

here's a pin up i did for my friend Cal Slayton. it started as a quick sketch, but most of what you see was done with photoshop. shown here is Jack Brannon, the star of Cal's retro horror graphic novel Spookytown. if you like it, go check out Cal's work here. he's good and stuff! i will have prints of this with me at Dallas Comicon next weekend. Cal will be there too, and he always brings lots of cool stuff. if you can't come but still want to buy a copy of this, I should have them available by the end of the week to purchase online as well!
thanks!
-samax

new scene!

page 11, before lettering
so now Permanent Residents moves on to the first vignette, which is built around a rivalry between two Tejano volunteer soldiers in the Texas revolution. this comic takes place at the historic Menger Hotel, across the street from the Alamo, so in 1836, the site was actually a battleground. it was fun to dive into the period elements of the story (although it made me nervous when i read the script!). Period fiction has never been something i took interest in as an artist, so it is actually kind of fun to try it! i wanted to try to draw this totally in photoshop without drawing on paper first. i found out that i really like drawing cowboys, which i did not expect! so this vignette should be fun!
holla!
-samax

Movies That Should Be Comics, ghettoManga Quarterly, and other stuff i'm Doing...

Machete by Samax Amen. brush pen, photoshop. click to enlarge.
i've been keeping busy lately. besides working on the comic Permanent Residents for my client, i'm also writing, illustrating and quarterbacking the latest issue of my comics anthology/hip Hop culture magazine ghettoManga Quarterly, which is available for preorder now. the new issue will have the first installment in the series of illustrated articles Movies That Should Be Comics. the pic you see here is for that first article about Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse spinoff/mock-trailer-turned-actual-upcoming-movie Machette, whose star Danny Trejo was so easy to draw that I was able to knock this out in one sitting.
anyways, sorry i took so long between posts... i'll try to do better next time!

While You Were Sleeping

While You Were Sleeping pencil on paper by Samax (click to enlarge).

here's a classic joint from the archive...

Bee Girl Stance

Bee Girl Stance by samax. click to enlarge
here's a drawing of my daughter Marley that i drew today. just a quick ballpoint sketch, tightened up in Photoshop. my wife has Marley's nursery all decked out with a bumblebee motif (guys, you may as well know now, once you get married, women like to decorate rooms with themes), so i like to call Marley our little Bee Girl. she has recently just taken her first steps, but it would be stretch to say she is walking... i don't wanna rush her into pop-locking or anything. she falls on her face enough on her own, without me pushing her! she does love it when you beat box, though...
anyways, hope ya'll like it!
^___^
-samax
[EDIT: my wife pointed out that i forgot her birthmark, so i added it to her cheek!]

Marley's Favorite Video

Papa Moco Jumbie by Noggin
like all the babies i've ever been around, my daughter Marley loves music. her favorite video right now is Papa Moco Jumbie which they play periodically on Noggin. not enough for me and my wife's tastes (watching this little brown boy praise his daddy's job makes us almost as giggly as it does Marley), so i went and found it on youTube (after recording it on the DVR, of course). Papa Moco Jumbie is about a little boy who wants to be just like his dad, a Moco Jumbie (one of those guys on stilts at Carnival). obviously, Marley has no knowledge of her race, culture or any of that... she just loves dancing and singing along! but i'm glad to be able to have her dance and sing to this!

peace,
-samax

it's ALL about ME!!!

a pic of yours truly rockin' the live art on the roof of The Bone in dallas for the ArtLoveMagic/H4 Benefit Show.
that dude Sheldon interviewed me a couple weeks ago and posted it on 84Area.com. so if you're curious about me and what i'm talkin' about, click the pic and go check it out. leave comments. play nice. you know the deal...
-samax

Drew It Big...

Untitled (sketch portrait) by Samax. click to enlarge
no, my boy Drew doesn't have a rap album, action movie, or graphic novel coming out... i gave his portrait its larger-than-life aura because Drew is a big-time Superman fan. he has a tattoo of the Man-of-Steel's iconic symbol on his back, a Superman chain he wears on his neck... he's got a Superman TIE, for pete's sake! you only have to talk to him on the phone once to know he does everything Godzilla BIG, so i made sure to bring that superhuman steelo to his portrait, ya dig? anyways, i drew (heh) this with watercolor brush pens and cranked it up a few notches with photoshop. let me know what ya'll think!
holla!
-samax

Captain America

Captain America by samax. watercolor brush pens on computer paper.
okay, so for some reason i decided to enter this challenge on deviantArt to submit a new piece of art every single day for the entire month of July (this is the second one. for the first one, go here) . i'm not sure why i did it, since i am already MAD busy... BUT i do intend to keep pace. so as NOT to overwhelm the inboxes of all my email subscribers, i won't post them all here, but i'll definitely post some. i'll be using this challenge to catch up on some of the stuff on my "to do" list, including pending commissions and my comics assignment i keep talking about. anybody who wants a sketch of their favorite character, go to the sketch portrait post. same pricing will apply...
anyways, that's it for now....
-samax

I SWEAR it's NOT Common!

here's a portrait i was recently commissioned to do by a friend. no, i'm not friends with the rapper Common (so don't ask for his cell ladies... i don't have it) or Morpheus from the Matrix trilogy. Al is way cooler than those guys anyways, so i'm glad to be HIS friend instead! and he's already spoken for, so i can't give you HIS celly either, girls...
so anyways, here's the sketch joint i did for him. done with brush pens.
hope y'all like it!
holla!
-samax
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