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I have a journal that I’ve been keeping since January in 2001 that has been indispensable to my creative endeavors.  I call it my idea book.  Below, I’ve posted a video of the first idea book I’ve filled. Right now I’m halfway through my second.  They are nothing more than a collection of random thoughts and half baked ideas I have for comics, movies, video games, and inventions, with an occasional weird dream thrown in for good measure.  These ideas would come to me in the shower, while driving, or those last moments before falling asleep.  And for a while there I just tried to file them away in my head.  The problem is my brain doesn’t hang on to things very well, (as my wife would attest) and I kept forgetting these brilliant (sarcasm) ideas I kept coming up with.  So I was inspired by a friend of mine to begin writing these things down in a journal.  That way I didn’t have to waste precious brain power remembering a cool Missile Mouse idea and could instead focus on the next big idea.  So far it’s worked out great.  Pretty much every comic story idea I’ve had began as a little seed in this book.  And the best part is, if I’m ever strapped for a cool idea I can dig back into this book and find an idea from when I was feeling a little more creative, then spin it with the knowledge I have now. So if you don’t already have on of these, I highly recommend you start an idea book.  You’d be surprised at how much creativity you brain can unload once it’s given an empty bucket to fill. And speaking of journal writing, I’ve always kept a personal journal of some kind since about junior high, but my entries were few and far between. I got a lot better after high school, though there would still be years where I’d only have half a dozen entries. However, last year I decided to take it seriously and I resolved to keep a daily journal. It was the first new years resolution I actually completed. For the entire year of 2008 I have an entry for each day. It was tough at first. There are a few entries written on tired nights that are nothing more than me going through the motions of journal writing. But now I can’t finish a day without jotting down an experience that happened to me that day, or my thoughts on matters that have garnered my attention lately. What’s also nice about keeping a journal is it’s helpful yo go back and read where I’ve been and compare to where I projected I’d be now. I can see where my priorities have changed, and also see if I’m living up to aspirations and expectations I had for myself in years past. I’d recommend trying this out along with keeping an idea book. You become better at writing, and it forces you to make some priority decisions. In my case I had to drop certain nonessential things out of my evenings, like TV. Now at the end of 2008, instead of a healthy log of hours committed to TV with nothing to show for it, I have a tangible book I can hold in my hand documenting my life that year. Not a bad trade if you ask me.

This has been a crazy Christmas season here at the Parker house.  I kicked it off doing something I’ve never done before…I went shopping on black Friday.  I’ll never do that again.  Though I got a sweet deal on a LCD TV, the whole experience put a bad taste in my mouth.  People were crazy, pushing and shoving, yelling, fighting.  Where was the Christmas spirit? I got home and decided I wanted this month to be more than just buying presents and finding the best deals.  My wife and I picked a family we know that was having a hard time this year and we decided to be Secret Santas and sneakily leave something on their doorstep during the last 12 days of Christmas.  We got our kids and neighbors involved too. That, more than anything, helped to change the feeling of Christmas for me this year. On top of doing all that we had a baby on the 6th.  Then we had relatives over to help and to hang out.  In the middle of all this my computer fried and I had to get a new motherboard, RAM, and power source.  Luckily it was all under warranty and I didn’t have to pay for anything.  But still, no computer for a week is hard.  I don’t know how the pioneers survived without email and RSS feeds.  Anyway, I know you don’t come here to read about my life so I leave you with an illustration I did for our family’s Christmas card this year.  In an effort to keep an eye on the true meaning of Christmas I chose to illustrate a little nativity vignette of Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus.  If the Christ Child was anything like my new baby, Joseph and Mary didn’t get much sleep. One other note, a friend of mine commented that he was happy to see some chickens getting a little nativity exposure.  We always see cows, donkeys, sheeps, and goats in nativity scenes, maybe the occasional camel, but never chickens.  So there you go chickens, this one is for you. And for everyone else have a merry Christmas!

Christmas and robots.  I can’t think of a better combo.  When Nick Mag called and asked if I could do a quick spot illo of a robot wrapping  up another robot for Christmas my answer was a resounding, “uh, letmethinkaboutitYES!” There’s always a little room in my schedule for robot drawings.   So if you’re in the magazine isle and you happen to see this: pick one up for the kids.

I finally took the time to add a comics section to my web portfolio. Check it out here. I’ve been meaning to do this since I redesigned the site back in March but I didn’t really have the time. The page has links to the 8 stories I’ve had published. Excluding the Missile Mouse graphic novel I’m working on now (which is completely roughed out a third inked, and clocks in at 172 pages,) they are all short stories, 10 - 20 pages each. I like the short story format because it forces you to make your point quickly. The trick is to make it feel like you actually spent some time in that world instead of feeling like you’re staring at a vignette. And I think the way you do that is making sure the story has a beginning, middle, and end. If a Peanuts strip can do it in three panels, I should be able to in ten pages. I can’t say I’ve been successful at this with all of them, but I’ve learned a lot with each one. They were each little adventures where I came out on the other side knowing more than I did when I began the journey. Each of them is dear to me in their own way. If the people who read them can take home a even sliver of what it might feel like to be in the worlds I’ve created then I call it a success. Hopefully you enjoy them as much as I did creating them. Because The Antler Boy and Missile Mouse: The Guardian Prophecy just came out this year and you can find the books they’re in at most large book stores I’ve only posted a few pages from each. The rest are posted in their entirety. If I had to pick a favorite it would have to be The Robot and the Sparrow, a tale about an unlikely friendship and how to cope with saying goodbye. I like drawing the big adventure stuff too like MM, and it has it’s place, but a part of me likes living in the small simple world of the Robot and the Sparrow.

About a month ago I got an email from someone requesting I post more drawings of vehicles.  To honor that request I give you Ottersub!

The latest Hellboy comic got me all fired up to draw the red guy some more.

Draw Force, Mission 007 - Robin

 

I grew up on a healthy diet of LEGO. I loved Space the most, though Castle was pretty cool too. I would spend hours making my own creations; space ships, houses, helicopters, hovercars, and more. I remember designing my own batman figures with little bat symbols cut out of paper and taped to my minifig’s chest. Now days Lego has licensed various properties from Starwars to SpongeBob. While I think this is great, and I love most of the starwars stuff, kids don’t have to exert the creative energy to design things (like their own Batman figure) anymore. But there is a flourishing community out there of MOC (My Own Creation) builders who are bringing creative ideas and solutions to their creations. One blog I follow that chronicles these creations is Brothers Brick. It was there that I saw this amazing MOC: The Inquisitor It was created by a fine MOC builder that goes by legohaulic. In his description of the piece he said he heavily based the design of the mech on this image: I was a surprised to see my drawing being the inspiration of a Lego creation. Then realized that was probably the reason I had such an affinity to legohaulic’s MOC. Anyway, thought I’d share. If you want to see a ton more of cool Lego creations check out the lego links on my delicious page. Some good ones: legoloverman WWI “Sandpiper” Recon Walker Adrian Florea 1 cbolego Armageddon Alien Chestburster Fleet Carrier Endurance Lakah

After a two year hiatus Mignola is back drawing an actual Hellboy story.  Hopefully this will mean there’s more to come.  I’m super stoked and in honor took a little break to draw the red guy myself. Though I love Mignola’s Hellboy design, I also love seeing other artists take on the character.  And lately Duncan Fregedo has been doing a tremendous job and fills some pretty big shoes drawing Hellboy for Mike.  My Hellboy is a little on the stocky side.  Maybe too much, but I like it. Pencils: And in color:

I’ve been ultra busy these days so I don’t get to blog as much. But the book is coming along well. There’s lots of new characters I’m adding to the missile mouse universe and I’ll be posting those in the coming weeks. I came across some old folders of artwork I did about 10 to 15 years ago. In it were a bunch of Missile Mouse drawings. It was fun and painful to see all the variations and evolutions he’s gone through over the years. I thought I’d post the pictures here with a brief explanation of each drawing. Hopefully you’ll enjoy this stroll through time as much as I did. 1992: This is the first drawing of Missile Mouse I ever did. I was watching Chip N’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers after school and every drawing I did seemed to be some variation on the theme of rodent adventurers. I remember seeing The Rocketeer in theaters and LOVING it. And every Sunday I eagerly rushed for the funnies to see if Calvin and Hobbes would be a Spaceman Spiff adventure. This drawing was my attempt to take everything I loved at that time of my life and distill it into one character. ________________________________   1993: I can see some Stan Sakai influence in this drawing. I did this for my high school newspaper. I updated his spaceship and blaster design, but MM still looks pretty much the same as the original design. ________________________________   1994: Fearing he was looking too “cute” I can see I began to stretch his proportions out a little here. ________________________________   1995: I finally settled on colors for him. Proportions are that of a human. Also little technical details seep in like knee pads and the jet pack harness straps around the legs. ________________________________   1996: I was heavily influenced during this period by Dave Johnson and Masimune Shirow. MM exchanges cute for kick butt. Emphasis on technological details and physique. ________________________________   1997: Continuing with the ultra humanized technical MM. First time I can recall drawing him with out his helmet on. ________________________________   2000: For a few years I tucked Missile Mouse away and focused on other stuff. Then one day I thought I’d take a whole new approach to his character design. I believe I was influenced somewhat by the Stuart Little movie that came out in ‘99. Gone was the helmet, human proportions, and technical detailing. ________________________________   2001: These two illustrations introduced a couple visual staples that would stick with the design. The jet engine based rocket pack, and the snub nosed blaster, and the large hairless ears. Also, going back to the extremely cute proportions. ________________________________   2002: I decided it was finally time to draw a Missile Mouse comic. The plan was to make a short 25 page ashcan and take it to conventions and sell it on my site. My design theory was to take the technical cool stuff I applied to the character designs from the late nineties and apply them to the cuter designs I did in 2001. He went through a couple phases in this stage, but through that I nailed down a few other components: the belt buckle, the blaster, the jet pack, the boots, gloves, and suit. ________________________________   2003: I did a follow up short story and changed the suit ever so slightly by replacing the open collar with a round neck opening, complete with draw strings. It stood for several years and can be seen here, here, and here. ________________________________   Today: This is the design from the Guardian Prophecy in the Flight Explorer book, and is where the design stands for the graphic novel. I took away the draw strings and gave him an updated symbol akin to the tri-triangle design from the original 1993 design. I’m completely happy with this design, but recognize it could still change as the character and the universe grows. I found this sketch I did a couple years ago which might be a good direction for the future.

Missile Mouse doesn’t normally carry grenades. Not that he doesn’t like them. It’s just that they’re bulky, and heavy, and a little inaccurate. That said, they’re extremely effective in difficult situations. No one understands difficult situations more than MM. In the image below he’s about to give a drognardian hopper something to make his bad breath go away…forever. That little Altoid of death happens to be a V50 made by EG (ExplosiveGalactique). Typically MM would prefer a surgical shot to the head with his trusty blaster. Quick and easy. But when you’re transport ship is shot out of the sky, and the only thing that survives the crash landing on a drognardian infested planet is a crate of V50s you’re not going to complain. You make do. This was a commission I did a week or so ago. You can get one like it by ordering one here. If you want. Been super busy. Work steadily progresses on the Missile Mouse graphic novel. I’m trying to ink 2 pages a night, which at times is difficult, but satisfying to know I’m staying on track. When I announced I was working on this book I said I’d post some designs and concept work to tide us over until the release of the book. Next week I plan to deliver on that promise. I’ll begin posting some character designs and background info on the key players in the book. So stay tuned.

Here’s a fresh batch of Digest Sketches. I had a lot of fun with these ones.    

This is a recent Missile Mouse commission I did.  MM is armed with the Plasmatic  CS-53*.  The official sniper rifle of the Galactic Security Agency.  It’s a plasma based weapons system hence the coolant canister attached to the underside of the rifle. *CS stands for Clean Shot and 53 represents the rifle’s model number in that series.

I’m not big into tattoos. Never had one and don’t plan on getting one. But if you’re going to get a tattoo, you can’t go wrong with the Robot and the Sparrow. The image is from the last page of my story in Flight 2.  My contribution to that book is a tale about an unlikely friendship between a robot and sparrow, and how friendship can close even the largest gaps. Melissa sent this photo of her latest ink to me. I’m honored you’d want the Robot and the Sparrow with you as a constant companion for the rest of your life.

I did this little ink sketch for a website called “Hey Oscar Wilde! It’s Clobberin’ Time!” created by Steven Gettis.  Steven has collected hundreds of sketches by some of the most talented artists of their favorite literary character.  I’ve always loved the story of Oliver Twist. I confess I haven’t read the book, though I am what you might call an aficionado of the many film incarnations of the story.  Below is the drawing I sent him.  It was drawn with a brush pen, a tool I don’t use too often, but after this drawing I might try using it some more.  Then I toned it with a water color pen filled with ink diluted with water.

Did this for a little art exchange with a buddy of mine. I got a cool image of a kid running with an octopus in his back pack. When asked what I should draw in return, Pete just had two criteria: underwater, and mechanical. I immediately thought SUBMARINE! I love submarines. Who doesn’t love submarines? Seriously. Who? I have a book called “Midget Submarines of the Second World War.” It’s worth it’s weight in gold. Apparently midget submarines played a crucial role in WWII. I’ll spare you the details. Just know that the cup of liberty you drink from each day you owe to those brave midgets fearlessly piloting their stout underwater craft. In honor of them I drew my own midget submarine and I share it with you. Also, I’ll be in Ottawa all weekend. If you’re going to the animation festival stop by the Blue Sky Studio’s table and say hi. I’ll have a full report sometime next week when I get back.

Wired.com posted a little exposé (love that word) about the ultra rad concept ships website: conceptships.org. It’s where I go for all my spaceship design needs. Highly recommended. You can see the exposé (still love it) here: Sci-Fi-Inspired Concept Ships Show Future of Travel. Wired was kind enough to include one of my images in the mix and had this to say: When Jake Parker isn’t at his day job developing special effects for big-budget animated films like Ice Age and Robots, he’s bringing his own creations to life in comic books. This vessel would compete in aerial death matches, so Parker envisioned a vehicle with superior speed and lethal attack functions. “I love the designs of pre-WWII racers,” said Parker, who works as a designer for high-end CGI firm Blue Sky Studios. “Their sleek lines and full shapes always appealed to me.” A bright yellow paint job with black racing stripes gave way to the craft’s nickname — The Wasp.   They got my job here a Blue Sky a little wrong. I’m actually an environmental designer. This image I did above was drawn in 2001. Practically a lifetime ago. It amuses me that it still has legs, that some people still dig it even though there’s so much I would change were I to draw it today. Anyway, kind of humbling to have my work sandwiched with great artists like Levy, Sparth, and Turley. On a side note I had an amazing opportunity to work with David Levy at ReelFX in Texas for the short while he was there. Super nice guy.