Steven Ng

The Friday of WonderCon in 1996, I found these two pieces at Wildstorm Fine Art. The girl on a half sheet of bond paper. The lab illustration is from the Batman Superman magazine which ran about 7 or 8 issues. About 7 x 9 on board.

This is a Bruce Timm convention sketch from WonderCon in 1996. My friend Eric grabbed me and led me to Artist Alley. Bruce had just sat down with some friends who had a table and was doing drawings for $20. It was line up and wait for your turn. Bruce would draw it while you wait. I had a 11 x 14 pad with me and Bruce agreed to do Lois Lane from the not-yet-broadcast Superman cartoon.

The last few manga which I read and loved include Black Jack by Osamu Tezuka and Master Keaton by Naoki Urasawa. These are published in English as trade paperbacks, but each story is about 25 pages or so. I find them very readable. I did manage to buy a Black Jack cel. Black Jack is an unlicensed surgeon who only takes patients on his own terms. Typically asking for astronomical fees, but operating for free under the right circumstances. One of my favorites has Black Jack visiting an island wilderness. While retuning to the mainland on a ferry, a hunter loses a captured predator onboard. The wild cat attacks a young boy and a developer/politician. The latter employed the hunter to poach the endangered animal to clear the way for making the island into a big tourist attraction. Before agreeing to operate, Black Jack demands a huge fee from the developer, then operates on the cat and the boy before saving the developer. The antagonist is saved, but arrested for a satisfying conclusion. Master Keaton is an academic in the field of archeology, but earns his money as an international insurance investigator. He gets mixed up in murder plots and insurance fraud, but his intelligence and special forces background make him a formidable operator. This is a great time to be a comic reader and many great comics are becoming available. Some can be found put up on the internet for free by their creators. Many European bande dessinee are being printed in English. I love Blacksad by Diaz Canales and Guarnido. Flight of the Raven and The Reprieve by Jean Pierre Gibrat. Corto Maltese by Hugo Pratt. Comic strip collections Mary Perkins On Stage by Leonard Starr and Tarzan by Russ Manning are published in complete sets. Best, Steven

Victoria Ying drew the 2020 Diana: Princess of the Amazons graphic novel and wrote and drew her own 2020 City of Secrets graphic novel. This is Lisa, a switchboard operator from her fantasy two-book series. Victoria was a visual development artist for Disney features Tangled, Big Hero Six, and others. She illustrated Little Golden Books and other children's books. I met her at SDCC 2010 for the debut of the Peck n Paw and the Black Mirror comic anthology from the Disney visual development artists. http://www.victoriaying.com/

Philippe Druillet Lone Sloane in English: https://stuartngbooks.com/the-6-voyages-of-lone-sloane-en.html

This panel comes from a Wizard Magazine art tutorial. I don't have the original magazine publication, but it is reprinted in the 2005 book How to Draw: The Best of Wizard Basic Training on page 61.

Steve Wyatt is the man behind the Bernie Wrightson Tribute Project. He's seeking artists to do an original piece and write about Bernie's influence. These will be collected and printed as a book from IDW. The art will be auctioned and the book proceeds will go to Liz Wrightson. Bleeding Cool article

George Hagenaeur has posted some Mark Landis examples on his CAF Mark Landis Forgeries

The Schultz drawing looks like Ron Randall's character Mercy St. Clair from the comic Trekker.

I was at Ikegami's Spotlight Panel at SDCC a long time ago and he spoke of his admiration for Neal Adams. Found this fascinating program on Youtube where mangaka Naoki Urasawa visits Ryoichi Ikegami. We get to see Ikegami draw several faces and they talk about his work. Urasawa Naoki no Manben: Ikegami Ryoichi (S3E1, 2016) [english subs]

I think the fellow in the hat is Steve Purcell of Sam and Max fame. He's at Pixar now. Irish film director Nora Twomey made a presentation on her new animated film The Breadwinner at the new location. I've been a member of the CAM since 1993 and love the institution. I've met Stan Lee, Charles Schulz, Marc Davis, Ward Kimball, Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen, Lynn Johnston, Dale Messick, Patrick McDonnell, and many others at their events. Best, Steven

Andrew is selling copies of the book himself with a sketch. https://andrewfarago.wordpress.com/2017/12/04/signed-and-sketched-books-now-on-sale/?relatedposts_hit=1&relatedposts_origin=519&relatedposts_position=0 Best, Steven

My art collecting is all over the place, but largely defined by access to artists appearing at California conventions and events beginning in the 1990's. My favorite comics in those years were Bone and Usagi Yojimbo. Jeff Smith and Stan Sakai were generous in signing with a head sketch or doing quick free sketches. My appetite grew and I began to seek out artists for sketches and began paying for them. WonderCon in Oakland in 1997 was especially productive as I got my first Mark Schultz, Arthur Adams, Bruce Timm, Steve Rude, and Paul Smith. The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco ran live fundraising auctions and I purchased my first originals, especially comic strips, which I didn't often see at cons. Some of the first anime and manga cons were in California and Japanese guests often drew sketches during their autograph sessions. I sought out Kenichi Sonoda more than once and saw him all three days in Seattle three years ago. However, this became increasingly difficult due to high demand by the late 90's. Adam Warren sold his pencil layouts and commissions for low prices in the 1990's and I was a frequent customer. Animation artists began promoting their own work at comic cons during the 2000's. I learned they ran some of their own charity art auctions and found opportunities there. My brother's Stuart Ng Books hosted SDCC signings by BTAS artists Shane Glines (Ice Cream) and Glen Murakami (Shrunk'n Head, Under Beneath) in 2001. It was the start of his expansion beyond used books to being one of the largest book sellers of the artist-self-published sketchbooks. Pixar story artists Ronnie del Carmen and Enrico Casarosa, directors now, were special favorites. Stuart began importing bande dessinee and the SDCC booth became a magnet for artist's looking for artists new to them. My brother hosted French artist Pierre Alary at SDCC in 2005 and 2006. I loved his Belladone character Marie, the sword-wielding secret agent, in the days of the Three Musketeers. I was thrilled when Blacksad artist Juanjo Guarnido came to Big Wow ComicFest in San Jose. I have a handful of Studio Ghibli cels and drawings, but found many comic artists are great Hayao Miyazaki fans and will do extraordinary pieces. My best examples may be the J. Scott Campbell Totoro, Adam Hughes Kiki, and Stan Sakai Catbus. I work for a library and collect pieces featuring books and libraries. I have the American Born Chinese page by Gene Luen Yang based on our local Centerville Library where I worked for a time. I often write up the circumstances of art acquisition because I love the interaction with the artists. I have managed to purchase some older works by Carl Barks, Charles Schulz, and Chuck Jones, my three C's of cartooning. http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=6882 Best, Steven Ng

Early on, I once bought an original art page and the artist asked me if I'd like the page inscribed to me. I was caught off guard and didn't have a ready answer. I ended up asking for the inscription on the back. I haven't done it since, but it doesn't bother me. Best, Steven

John Fleskes, publisher of The Marvel Art of Arthur Adams is working on a new book project. Here's his request posted on Facebook: "We're treasure hunting! One of the projects that we are working on is a collection of Arthur Adams early works. We're seeking out fresh high resolution scans to key Marvel art originals from his first 15 years in the business. Please let us know if you have anything that you are willing to share! Covers and pages for Longshot, Classic X-Men, X-Men, New Mutants, and Fantastic Four are just some examples. We'll announce a release date once we have found enough key material to fill the book. This will also help Arthur to have nice archives for his art. Thank you!" https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=706818912854394&set=a.442649099271378.1073741829.100005788753475&type=3&theater http://fleskpublications.com/flesksite/

Congratulations Chris on the new addition. Pete Docter is a hugely talented filmmaker. Besides his Pixar films, he's a student of the animation and cartoon fields, too. He helped in the publication of the recent Disney flip books on the Nine Old Men. Another flip book collection is upcoming. I saw him interview Ed Catmull at the Pacific Film Archive. Pete Docter and animation writer Don Peri spoke on the Disney short cartoon directors of the 1930's at the Walt Disney Family Museum. Animation historian Michael Barrier reports Docter and Peri are doing more research on the latter subject for a book. Docter created a painting for the Art 2 Heart Philippines Typhoon Relief auctions. His Calarts student films are available on DVD from the animationshowofshows.com

Mike, I really loved seeing your art on display at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco years ago. Thanks for continuing to loan out the art for public viewing. Best, Steven

If you could find the owners of the finished pages, then they may pay a few bucks to have a copy of the pencils.

Terry sells them at conventions and online: http://www.strangersinparadise.com/ Best, Steven

Great choice. When I saw John Romita Sr. at WonderCon in 1999, he was seated at Literacy Volunteers of America and was doing headshots for $25. He had just done four or five Spider-Man's when I got to the front of the line and he asked me if I wanted one, too. When I requested Mary Jane, he said: "A man after my own heart." While he was drawing, I complimented him for helping the charity and he shrugged it off and said he was just showing off. Mary Jane Watson by John Romita Sr. Best, Steven

Doug has two books. Dark Horse published The Art of Doug Sneyd in hardcover in 2011. A paperback version is due soon. Doug published his own softcover Unpublished which features his unpublished rough submissions. This is Doug's blog written by his friend Heidi. She told me they are skipping San Diego this year. There are posts from other cons they do. Best, Steven Ng

In the Benno video, I loved the story about Michael Kaluta. As in the podcast, meeting the artists and being able to buy the artwork directly is hugely appealing to me, too. Steven