Upstate Articles - Then . . . Now!

Tewilleger House

I recently completed some pencil art for the Ellenville Public Library and Museum. Mark Mckenna, a well known artist/inker for the comics industry, embellished my work. Mark recently did the inks for the Batman Annual and Archie comics. This is the front piece for the museum coloring book that cites points of interest in the local community.

Retro-Deco

A vintage piece from my portfolio, that was drawn in 1988! The Art Deco influence, combined with the fashion of the times, inspired me to create this haughty figure.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like . . .

For the cold weather holidays, I hope people will enjoy my take on Santa Claus, Jack Frost, and the Ice Queen! This is the most recent addition to my Ten Cents a Comic series. Also available at: HALLOWEEN ADVENTURE and ST. MARK"S COMICS (Montague Street, Bklyn).

Halloween Greetings!

The oversized Halloween card is part of the holiday series pack. Stay tuned for more to come as the winter holiday season approaches! All are available at: HALLOWEEN ADVENTURE, 104 4th Avenue, NY, NY (a few blocks down from Union Square ), and at ST. MARK'S COMICS, 148 Montague Street, Brooklyn Heights, NY.

Holiday Post Card Pack

I am finishing up a series of large holiday art cards. They are drawn to look like the 10 cent comic book covers of my youth. The complete retro-style set will debut in 2010. It will include: Happy Holiday Comics, Heck of a Halloween Comics, and more! Shown is the card for Valentine's Day, Mighty Aphrodite's Adventure Comics.

Post Card

To help celebrate the Hunt Memorial Building at the center of Ellenville, New York, I created this colorful art card. The statue of a boy holding the boot, with the Hunt Building as background, is the jewel in the crown of this tiny Shawangunk Mountain village. The card is available in Ellenville, NY and the b/w art was printed in the Shawangunk Journal in early September.

Arts Wave

Mysterioso is one of my revamped paintings. It is shown this year in the annual upstate Arts Wave windows project, along with illustrations, prints, and other paintings. This piece stands out because of its vivid colors.

"I Claudius"

This I Claudius piece was drawn a few years back for the RSVP illustrator's book. I thought it would be a good companion piece to the Hail Caesar art that I recently finished. Here we see Caligula and his sister in a decadent repose. The angry dogs reflect the tension during his reign.

Poison Ivy Found!

Here she is! This is the second sample I drew for DC Comics. It was for the Batman animated comic book series. It was fun to draw in this style. I needed to use a brush, in addition to my pens, to get the desired Cartoon Network look. Almost a coloring book style!

Green-Wood Book

Over the last few months I completed eight b/w pages of illustrations, along with some color versions, for historic Green-Wood's history/coloring book. Featured is the cover art showing the beautiful Green-Wood Chapel. This educational guide will be available through the Green-Wood Historic Fund in late 2009. Other illustrations will feature Minerva on Battle Hill, DeWitt Clinton Memorial, and the Gothic Entrance, just to mention a few of the sites. The Chapel and Minerva color art cards are now available at the Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn, NY.

Science Fiction Future

This page is from the first episode of Galaxy Guy 101 that I wrote/drew for MoCCA in Soho. I finished two complete twelve page stories for them. The adventures of Guy and Gayle were meant to capture the nostalgic feel of the old strips, like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. It gives youngsters a look at this unique genre in comics.

Farmer's Market

A farmer's market is held in my home town of Ellenville, New York. To promote this local event I drew this promotional card art for the community. It was published in the local newspaper and also used as a poster in town.

SVA Postcard Collection

This piece was done for The School of Visual Arts. The theme was travel. Graduating artists at SVA contributed to this postcard collection. Since I completed my sabbatical at SVA, I was asked to produce a card for their collection. My traveler is placed into three different locations, Las Vegas, Stonehenge, and Paris!

Shawangunk Holiday Panel

There was such a positive response to my 2008 holiday greeting that I thought it would be good to post it here. Actually it was printed in b/w in the Shawangunk Journal in upstate New York. It features the E-Kid in the background. He appeared in over a dozen strips I drew for that newspaper. It featured local areas of interest and historic sites.

Minerva

The ancient Roman goddess was the first I drew for the Green-Wood series. The color was done by Edwin Vazkez. Minerva stands atop Battle Hill in Brooklyn. It is located where George Washington battled the British during the Battle of Long Island. The statue was erected by Charles Higgins, the Ink King. Minerva waves to her sister statue in New York harbor, the Statue of Liberty!

The Animated Batman Style

When Batman was being shown as an animated series a few years back, I did some samples in that style. It was shown to some editors at DC Comics. They were looking for an artist to illustrate the children's comic book for that series. It was more difficult to achieve than one would think! I usually use pens, but with this art it was mostly brush work. Here is one I did with the Joker. I recall at least one more try-out page featuring Poison Ivy.

Civil War Monument

The Captain History character, that I created for the Green-Wood history/coloring/comic book, shows us the Drummer Boy statue at the Brooklyn site. This is another important piece for the historic cemetery featuring a special Civil War tribute. Many Civil War soldiers are at rest here. The Drummer Boy story goes like this: A young Brooklyn boy went off to join the war effort. He became a drummer, not a soldier, because of his young age. He sadly lost his young life when caught in a battle between the North and the South. This is a monument to his youthful vigor.

Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art

As a young boy I enjoyed reading the Sunday comics pages of many newspapers. We don't see the wonderful adventures of Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, or Brick Bradford anymore! In an attempt to get young readers into the science fiction genre, I created Galaxy Guy 101 as a starter strip for kids, bringing back the classic cliff-hanger type of adventure. This was a give-away to children visiting MoCCA in SoHo.

Pratt Paintings Upstate

For the annual Blueberry Festival in upstate New York, I "refreshed" some of my paintings from my Pratt Institute days for exhibit. The 2008 art show featured works by local artists, and was brought together at the Hunt Memorial Building in the center of Ellenville.

Comic Strip Adventure

When I drew this cover for Strip Adventure magazine in 1992, I wanted to bring a nostalgic vision of the once popular comic strip, Tim Tyler's Luck, to the reader's attention. Even though the magazine collected classic strips that were still running in the '90's, I thought it would be fun to bring back Tim and Spud as they looked at the peak of their popularity, during the 1930's-1940's!

Library/Museum

This comic strip was drawn to highlight the Ellenville Public Library and Museum. It is used on the cover of their monthly newsletter and appeared in the town's newspaper. The art was also printed as a promotional postcard. The Gallery Link is where local artists' exhibit their works, as shown in the last panel.

Vintage Art

I did this cover for Saks Fifth Avenue's in house fashion publication in the late 1970's. It was a great time - the Studio 54 and Andy Warhol era! I was influenced by the terrific fashion illustrator of that time, Antonio Lopez.

Shawangunk Journal

The Ellenville Journal has changed it's name to The Shawangunk Journal. The newspaper's readership will cover the Shawangunk Mountain area in upstate New York. I did this super hero style art to promote their new name in a cheerful way, and get kids into art!

Sam's Point

This strip was drawn for the Ellenville Journal in upstate New York. It is also at Sam's Point as part of their educational display. It brings New York's colonial history to the comic strip genre. It is a quick lesson for young readers to enjoy. Postcards are available at the The Nature Conservancy, Eastern New York Chapter, New Paltz, NY.