Blast from the Past #367: pencil drawing for cover of Archie Comics' "TMNT Adventures" #41

This is interesting to me for the idea more than for the drawing. Where did I get the idea to have those two characters reflected in Leonardo's sword blades?

At this point in time, I can't recall. But it worked pretty well, even if logically and optically unrealistic. -- PL

Blast from the Past #355: Pencil drawing for Archie TMNT Adventures #35 cover

This may get confusing, but I think that I will continue to number both TMNT-related "BftP" material and non-TMNT-related "BftP" material in the same sequence. Since I split my original blog, "palbog", into two entities -- one devoted to TMNT stuff and the other to everything else that I want to show and tell -- it has been a little hard to keep track of what goes where. But I think with practice it will work out just fine.

One of the odd things which seems to have happened is that I have lost the ability to search this blog, which I have used in the past to avoid as much as possible the embarrassing happenstance of posting the same thing twice (something I have done several times in the past). I'm not sure why that search function is not working -- it may be some arcane cyber-artifact of the blog transfer process -- but I did discover that I can search from the "Edit" page. It's a little clunkier, but seems to work.

In any event, I did do a search to see if I had posted this piece before, and it appears I had not. I suppose I could be wrong... I hope not. Please feel free to let me know if I messed up!

This is my pencil drawing for the cover of issue #35 of the Archie Comics "TMNT Adventures" comic book. I am pretty sure that Ryan Brown inked this one, as he did many of my Archie TMNT covers. -- PL

Blast from the Past #310: rough pencil sketch for cover of TMNT Volume 1, #15

Continuing on with interesting tidbits found in that same sketchbook -- here is the rough pencil sketch I drew while working out the design for the cover of issue #15 of the original run of Mirage TMNT comics.



For anyone who wants to see what the cover ended up looking like when penciled, inked and colored, I posted two images of it back on March 4, 2009.

Blast from the Past #84 repost: TMNT Vol. 1 #15 "clean" cover

Eagle-eyed readers might be able to see faint hints of a drawing of the Fugitoid peeking through the image of the rough pencil cover drawing -- darn that cheap sketchbook paper! -- PL

Blast from the Past #285: Pencils for cover of TMNT Volume 2 #7

This is my pencil art for the cover of issue #7 of the Mirage color TMNT comic book series, also known as "Volume 2". I drew this based on a panel that Jim Lawson had drawn for the interior art.



I think Kevin Eastman inked this and I colored it in Photoshop for the printed cover. -- PL

Blast from the Past #284: Pencils for Archie "TMNT Adventures" #34

Here are my pencils for the cover of one of the Archie "TMNT Adventures" comics -- I believe it was #34.



I'm pretty sure Ryan Brown inked this one. -- PL

A drawing for Emily

My daughter turns twenty-one shortly, and when asked what she wanted for this significant birthday, she responded with a request for two things, one of which was an original drawing of the Turtles celebrating her birthday.

I thought "I can do that!" and set to work. I started with blue pencil and no preliminary sketches, as I pretty much had the layout clearly worked out in my head. Here's a photo of the finished blue pencil drawing:



About the time I finished the penciling, I started thinking maybe I should go a step further with this piece and do it in color, perhaps using watercolors to add the hues over the inkwork. With this in mind, I decided to eschew my preferred inking tool -- the Pitt brush pen -- and go with a real brush and India ink. I didn't want to run the risk that the brush pen ink might run under the watercolor. It was the first time I had done any inking of this nature in a while. Here's the drawing half-inked:



And this is what it looked like when fully inked:



I wasn't sure what to use to color it, but then I remembered a nifty portable watercolor set I'd picked up at an art supply store in Bennington, VT last year on a motorcycle ride. I went out and bought a few new brushes, and got to it. I was more than a bit trepidatious, as I hadn't done anything like this in some time, but once I got into it, the process went quickly, and it was fun. I think it took me about an hour and a half to finish it to my satisfaction, and here's what the completed piece looked like:



I put the drawing in a "floater frame", and gave it to Em at her pre-birthday party, and she liked it! -- PL

Blast from the Past #245: Pencils for cover of "TMNT Adventures" #37

I remember that doing this cover was extra fun for me because at the time I was into watching wrestling (WWF and WCW) on TV while I worked. -- PL

Blast from the Past #244: Pencils for cover of "TMNT Adventures" #40

Of the covers that I penciled for the Archie Comics-published "TMNT Adventures" book, this is one of my favorites.



The layout was inspired by my memory of the great Jim Steranko "Incredible Hulk" cover from "HULK King-Size Special #1" in 1968. -- PL

Blast from the Past #242: Cover pencils from "Archie TMNT Adventures" #32

This is the cover to issue #32 of the "TMNT Adventures" comic published by Archie Comics. I drew it in 1991.



When I was getting this image ready to post, I was thinking that the very clean pencils probably meant that I had "cyberinked" it for publication. But when I searched online to make sure that I had the correct issue number, I discovered that Dan Berger was also credited for the cover art. I'm not sure if this means he inked it, or colored it, or added stuff to it (I think I saw a tattoo or two on the sumo wrestler Tattoo in the printed cover that I didn't have in the pencils). Maybe Dan will see this post and provide some clarity. -- PL

Blast from the Past #236: Steve Bissette pencils for "Turtle Soup" cover

I can't recall precisely when this single issue of "Turtle Soup" -- an anthology of TMNT stories by a varied group of creators -- was published, but I suspect it was during that fertile period of the late 1980's.



We managed to convince Steve Bissette of "Swamp Thing" fame to pencil the cover for the book, and he turned in this typically awesome and Bissettian masterpiece. I had the pleasure of inking it, and I believe Kevin applied the colors for the finished piece which was printed. -- PL

"Quest for Dreams Lost" pencils

I penciled these layouts for "Quest for Dreams Lost", a one shot benefit comic (a fundraiser for the Literacy Volunteers of Chicago), back in 1986 or 1987. "Quest" was published in 1987, with all proceeds going to aid the LVOC. A number of other independent comics creators also provided stories featuring their characters searching for famous artifacts associated with literature. In this case, the Turtles were looking for King Arthur's sword Excalibur.











If memory serves (and I offer the caveat that I have not looked upon the finished work in many years), I believe Ryan Brown did the inking. -- PL

Blast from the Past #223: Pencils for Archie TMNT Adventures Special, Fall 1992

Here's another of my Archie "TMNT Adventures" covers in pencil form, from 1992. I've always liked this one, partly for the unusual layout. I think Ryan Brown inked this cover.



I'm trying to remember if this layout was my idea or Murph's. It's been so long I don't really know. Maybe Murph does. -- PL

Blast from the Past #221: Archie TMNT Adventures #5 cover

Here's another Eastman/Laird collaboration from the Archie "TMNT Adventures" days. This is the cover for issue #5, which Kevin penciled...



... and I inked.



Looking at this again, I see something which has always irked me -- when a penciler doesn't take the time to fill in large black areas with pencil, instead just putting an "x" in the areas which need to be filled with solid black. It's probably an efficient way to save time, especially when you are inking your own work, but I've always thought it looks lame and unfinished. When I am inking somebody else's pencils, I like to see a completely penciled page. -- PL

Blast from the Past #220: "How to be a Ninja" (?) cover pencils

I can't exactly remember the title of the publication for which this cover was done, but as I recall it was one of the things that Solson published during the eighties under license from Mirage.



Kevin Eastman penciled this cover, and I think I inked it -- but I could be wrong. -- PL

Blast from the Past #217: Thumbnails for Archie TMNT covers

Over the years, I have tried -- generally successfully -- to save a copy of everything I've drawn. Sometimes they are just tiny scraps of paper with tiny, scribbly drawings on them, drawings that most people would probably just chuck in the wastebasket (and rightfully so). But every so often I run across something that reminds me of the process that one goes through in creating a drawing for, say, a comic book cover.



Case in point -- I saved this little piece of paper with three of my small and VERY rough "thumbnails" for three covers for the Archie "TMNT Adventures" book -- from left to right, #'s 42, 44 and 43. (In fact, I think these drawings may literally be about the size of my thumbnail!)



I thought it would be fun to show those thumbnails and then the finished pencil drawings that they eventually evolved into. -- PL

Blast from the Past #216: Cereal mini-comics pencil roughs

I'm not sure how I got the job of doing these pencil roughs for the mini-comics that were packed into boxes of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" cereal from Ralston-Purina -- possibly Kevin was busy or wasn't interested, or maybe I thought it would be fun and volunteered. Who knows? It's been so long, and it happened during a crazily busy period for Mirage and the Turtles.

In any event, there were three of these things, and they all linked together into one continuing story. If memory serves, I not only did these pencil roughs, but also finished pencils, which were then inked (by whom I can't remember, though it might have been Ryan Brown) and colored (by Steve Lavigne, I think). Wacky, but fun. -- PL

Pencil roughs for mini-comic #1


Pencil roughs for mini-comic #2


Pencil roughs for mini-comic #3

Blast from the Past #211: Archie TMNT Adventures #1 cover

Here's another penciled cover for the old Archie "TMNT Adventures" book, this one for the first issue. The pencils are by Kevin Eastman.



And here are the final inks, by yours truly. -- PL

Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird and Steve Lavigne collaborate on a "Jake Black Benefit Print"

A few months ago, Steve Murphy had the cool idea of getting me and Kevin Eastman to work together on a drawing (something we had not done in many years) which would then be used as the basis for a print, the proceeds from sales of which would go towards helping our friend Jake Black out with his medical expenses. (Readers of this blog may recall the other Jake Black Benefit print that me and the other Mirage artists produced (http://plairdblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/jake-black-benefit-print-at-fcbd.html) and sold at "Free Comic Book Day" in New Hampshire.) Murph managed to convince Kevin to pencil up this drawing...



... which I proceeded to ink...



... and then that version was zapped off to Steve Lavigne so that he could do his digital color magic on it, as you see here in the finished 11 by 17 print.



(Please note that this is a somewhat poor quality digital photo of one of the prints -- the colors are much more vibrant in the actual copies.)

And here, direct from Murph, are a few more details about the print, which will be premiered at this years's San Diego Comicon:

"There are only 100 of them, each is signed by Peter Laird. This group of 100 is SDCC exclusive and will cost $25 each. All proceeds to benefit Jake. In addition, since Kevin is attending the con, people will have the chance to get Kevin to sign it as well.

We will also be selling the "Mirage group jam" prints at SDCC, for $20/each, also benefiting Jake."

(Note: Steve Lavigne will also be attending the SDCC, so buyers of this print can get Steve's signature on it, too.)

And here's a fun little thing -- while inking the piece, I would stop about every minute or so and take a digital photo of the art. When I was done, I put all of those photos together into this (somewhat shaky) "time-lase" movie of the inking process. -- PL

Blast from the Past #210: Archie TMNT Adventures #33 cover

This is one of a series of covers I penciled for the Archie "TMNT Adventures" comic. I remember having a bunch of fun doing these drawings. Here's my pencils...



... and here's the finished version, inked by Ryan Brown with his brush of renown. -- PL

Blast from the Past #209: TMNT on motorcycles by Jim Lawson

Jim Lawson did these four "Turtles on motorcycle" drawings some years ago -- I can't recall exactly when. But I suspect it was within the last decade. I think he did them to send to Playmates for consideration as toy designs. -- PL