Outcast Angels WIP - round 2

Here's thumbnails and some of the works in progress for my most rescent illustartions for the Outcast Angels book promotions that you can read more on at outcastangels.com or on my deviantart at xaqbazit.deviantart.com

Outcast Angels and WIP

Well I’ve been away a long time. I’ve been writing up a storm and drawing a bit. The blog was turning into a hyperlink for my Deviantart and I didn’t want that to keep happening. I’ve been feeling less public as I’ve kind of felt the double edged sword of having so much online, had some art stolen/copied and spread around. Which is really kind of disheartening. The sketchblog I was a part of fell off the face of the earth. I needed to rediscover loving drawing and it turns out I love laying stuff out, it’s my favorite stage. Anyway, I thought these pieces were ok, and I’ve been having a lot of fun doing splash page illustrations for Outcast Angels. heres some of the rough thumbnails. The ship (not for lack of trying) ended up having to be 4 layers, background, light rays (which I painted black and inverted in photoshop) and ship and splatter texture. This afforded me the luxury to invert the ship layer (making the lines white) and shift the black ones (infront of the white lines) just over to the right and down – making it look like every line had a highlight and stand away from the background. This other one was just drawn in two parts and composited (much less confusing) – but the black placement worked so easily. you can find the final versions on my deviantart page here. Below are some of my designs for atypicalcomic’s Takedown which I did a while back. I liked the motorcycle which I tried to give a batman ’89-eske jet engine. And a very nerf inspired gun. I was just on the TMNT podcast as part of the Incompetent Comic Cabal Cast (IC3). Which you can listen to, here (summarizing the first 4 tbp’s of the idw series in about 45 mins). i also got mentioned on episode 145 of Uncanny X-cast for doing a piece of art for one of the hosts and drawing the hosts into issue 2 of decisions for cosmic times comics. I had fun at Denver comicon and got very fast with drawing portraits, which was fun and I was surprisingly accurate for about a 1-2 min sketch. I’ve also been trying to cobble together Terra Novus a podcast radio-drama I had written and recorded with a full cast of students back in 08/09. I have a new audio engineer who is doing sound effect and levels but outside of the first few eps the actors were all recorded separately so putting all the lines in order has been somewhat painstaking. My hope, as we approach October is that I will be able to post episode 1 by the end of the year, I have the dialog put together for all of them but that’s only half the battle. I’ve been plotting & writing a bunch of comics issues to get ready to draw and pitch. The thing is I’ve been working on all of them simultaneously which has been slow to have something to show but at the same time I’m able to work on problems/plotlines subconsciously while I write one’s I’ve figured out. Then when I get it, I switch to that script – in about month binges/segments or so per series. Keeps each fresh and I think that will show in the writing.

notes from a monkey with a hand grenade

803 published "notes from a monkey with a hand grenade" which has the short story i colored "mommy said." james posted it on his da - here it is. as well as a sci-fi pinup i drew and he inked.


Xaq Bazit's Sci Fi PinUP by ~JamesWhynotInks on deviantART

Mommy said page 1 by ~JamesWhynotInks on deviantART

Mommy Said page 2 by ~JamesWhynotInks on deviantART

Mommy Said page 3 by ~JamesWhynotInks on deviantART

Mommy Said page 4 by ~JamesWhynotInks on deviantART

Mommy said page 5 by ~JamesWhynotInks on deviantART

Mommy Said page 6 by ~JamesWhynotInks on deviantART

K+H #6 and New Influences

I've found some new influences I've been looking at a lot lately like beart sears, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Steve Scroce, Bill Reinhold - awesome inker, and more of the usual Rick Leonardi and Walt Simonson. Also been getting into mainstays like Joe/andy/adam Kubert and Jack Kirby. Out of the new guys I think Koi Pham is pretty good and I think Ivan Reis is the new Jim Lee, someone who could actually meet his drawing ability and be his stylistic sucessor (i think the inking is one of the main ways they look different) and yet his storytelling doesn't fall into the all too overused Jim Lee Sterotypes, similar to what I'm finding JRJR does as well.

As far as Kord and Harley goes - NO I didn't draw or color these, but I did ink them. That credit goes to Johnathan Rector for pencils and Chandran Ponnusamy for colors. Comes out soon from Arcana.

Kord and Harley 6 - Cover by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Kord and Harley 6 preview-pgs by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Kord and Harley 6 preview-DPS by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Mysteria - at long last

I did these about a year ago and they are still some of my most polished work. I hadn't got to show them until now. The story jumps around a lot and as mentioned on my DA page the character, and script etc are property of J.L Reid. While the colored and lettered comic used to be featured on he website it now seems to be defunct.

Mysteria Pencils - pg 1 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Mysteria Inks - pg 1 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Mysteria Pencils - pg 2 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Mysteria Inks - pg 2 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Mysteria Pencils - pg 3 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Mysteria Inks - pg 3 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Mysteria Pencils - pg 4 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Mysteria Inks - pg 5 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Mysteria Pencils - pg 5 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Mysteria Inks - pg 4 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Mysteria Pencils - pg 6 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Mysteria Inks - pg 6 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Mysteria Pencils - pg 7 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Mysteria Inks - pg 7 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Mysteria Pencils - pg 8 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Mysteria Inks - pg 8 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Decisions Review

Indy Hunter recently reviewed Decisions issue 1 saying my art "...has a rough style that speaks to me as an artist. It’s a bit raw, unrefined but highly energetic. It does however seem a bit rushed and too loose in some areas. Also there were some structure issues in the second story that I wonder if drawn as an afterthought. With that being said, I think there is some promise with both Martin and Zach as a regular writer/art team. I do look forward to seeing how these guys mesh and progress into one working, effective voice." Se the rest of his review here.
I also just finished inking issue 6 and the first half of issue 7 of Kord & Harley for Mortal World Entertainment. And that is being published by Arcana Comics. Should be cool.

Post Megacon 2010

As a guest of What the Flux Comics, my Megacon table looked like this. With my prints on the lower left, portfolio to the right and shirts in the background. I was able to sell at least one of everything I had at the table. I also had the Concrete Dove posters, I inked and colored, as well as my shirts and Bellydancer posters, and actually had quite a diverse audience for them. I later started hanging the following sketches, that I did, live, at the con, on the front of the table to get people interested in Commissions, which you can see below, of Daredevil, Emma Frost, Batman and Batgirl.

Batgirl Con Sketch by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Batgirl con sketch - inked by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

I did end up getting four Commissions, including: Death, a character the man apparently got various con sketches of and seemed to list mine among his favourites, and mentioned it getting very positive comments from several other artist’s he approached to do one. A fellow artist’s personal character, for whom I regret to say I don’t remember the name (please email if you find this and let me know so I can link you). Batgirl sitting atop the Hulk’s shoulder. And a character from Patrick Sessom’s comic S.O.A.R.

Megacon Commissions 2010 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
Jeramy Hobbs, a fellow WTFC artist seemed to like my work quite a bit and I was asked to ink one of his pieces. This one of the main characters from God of War and Assassin’s Creed fighting one another, I was told this piece sold, later that same day.

God of War vs Assassins Creed by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
I got to sit next to Larry Watts and his wife Sarah, who along with Patrick Sessoms and Randy Taylor, along with a few others were running the ICCW table right next to us. We were all kind of in the corner, and business was hard. There were many artists but very few companies – so networking was about the only option and for that reason ICCW flourished, with around 25 new members after the first day. The ICCW rampage Vol. 1, featured my story “Friend$hip” and Patrick’s story that I inked, “3:33am” will premiere in Vol. 2.
I got to meet new artists, such as Banky Farando, Patrick Larcada, Matt Buck, and Lamar Mathurin as well as catch up with some past acquaintances from the Mini-Megacon, and old friends like Ryan Miller. I also bought a book from Botobit, Epidemic vol. 1 – which, like the ICCW rampage vol. 1, was an anthology of different artists from around the globe, though more fine arts related and less sequential focused. I also stopped and grabbed a flyer for the Orange County Regional History Center, who have several comic themed exhibits, both currently and upcoming.

I got a few artists’ to critique my portfolio and recent work in Decision’s, such as Rick Tucker and various companies I talked to. And I was even asked to review up and coming artist’s portfolio’s, which was great, such as Jeanette Pabon, who is working on putting a website together. I got to meet and talk art with one of my recent influences, Erick Jones, one of my all time favourite artist’s Dave Dorman, and others as I examined their wealth of original artwork they all had on hand.

I was also able to spend some time at the Cosmic Times booth with Robin on Sunday, where we signed the first available copies of Decisions for customers, which premiered this weekend, and got to talk with two of the nicest people working in Indy Comics. Here’s a pic of the three of us, the creative team for the 1st issue, excluding only the cover artist Dan Mann, who was also available for autographs at the con though I didn’t get a chance to meet, and the editor Connie Voss. (From left to right: Martin –writer-, Robin –letterer- and me, Zach –interior artist).


I did want to mention, to those of you who bought the book, and there is a note towards the end of the book that Cosmic Times is depending on readers like you writing in and letting them know what you think about the series, to decide weather of not to continue Decisions into a series. So send in those reviews! Speaking of which, we should hear back soon after from a few different blogs and websites who will be giving their opinion. Arthur: The Legend Continues, the Legend Continues (their flagship book) was received very well and even featured on the popular podcast Comic Book Geek Speak (CBGS) so I can’t wait to hear back about this one.

I was able to pick up some trades I was looking for at ½ cover price such as The Return of Superman, New X-men: Vol. 2, Fables Vol. 1 and Vertigo’s: First Cut. And while not everyone who stopped and looked bought something, most did take the time to grab a business card and that exposure alone is enough to help. All in all it was a great first Convention to officially be on the other side of the table at.

I was also informed I am slated to ink their next coming first issue – Outlaws, as the banner displayed on their website shows.

Unused Designs

Here's some old stuff I did right out of college, chances are yo won't be able to see most of it on this site if you don't have a DA account because it has a warning.

Skateboard Design roughs 6 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Skateboard Design roughs 5 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Skateboard Design roughs 4 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Skateboard Design roughs 3 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Skateboard Design roughs 2 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Skateboard Design roughs 1 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

DVLP Sleeping Samurai Design by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

DVLP Owlman Design by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Mysteria

So the pages I finished a few months back finally saw print the other day. I penciled them out and then learned I would also be inking myself. But I had fun with it and it has been my first published work that has truly been collaborative, I haven't just been a penciler on a project yet but this is pretty close considering it passed through a letterer and a colorist before it hit the presses. So that has been an interesting experience to get used to. I did the first 8 pages, not including the black title page.
http://1089comics.com/2009/11/08/misteria_herculean-tasks_pt1_title-wc/
I'm still trying to see if it is alright to post the original art now since the final art is open source anyhow.
You can use the thumbnails along the right hand side, the labeled arrows at the bottom or just click the pages to navigate.

ECV samples

major current influences:
Kelly jones Klaus janson Dick gardino Bruce timm Kirby Jorge zaffino Peter cheung JRJR Lee weeks

ECV Pencil Sample page by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

ECV inking sample 4 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

ECV inking sample 3 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

ECV inking sample 2 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

ECV ink sample 1 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART

Decisions comic - first look

So the website has posted some stuff about me and the book I'm working on for them, including character designs and a brief synopsis. Here's some links.

Synopsis
Skecthbook

News about me (copied and pasted since the page will change and soon be outdated. But right now it can be found here, or you can search the archives.)

Preliminary artwork by Zach Bassett for our forthcoming anthology series "Decisions". has recently been added to the Special Features section of the site and can be found - HERE. - 11.3.9

Zach Bassett is currently working on thumbnails for the first story in "Decisions". We were so impressed with his storytelling ability that we have offered him the second story as well. - 10.30.9

Artist Zach Bassett will be penciling and inking the first story in the "Decisions" anthology coming in 2010 from Cosmic Times. Look preview art coming soon. - 10.10.9

Also “somebody” I know will be lettering my pages for Decisions, and will have a short bio and pic up on the “team page” of the Cosmic Times website soon. As will I.
A similar bio will soon be found on the What The Flux “Staff page.” They also uploaded a small gallery of some of my black and white work (Capricious Alchemy cd cover, 2 Star Trek Defiant covers and the promo image for my Terra Novus serial radio drama.)
I’ve also been credited on all the promo material for “Outlaws” on the WTFM page as the inker.


The good news first and now for the “horrible, terrible, no good, [almost completely] very bad day” I got so busy inking that I neglected to clean my cats’ litter box, resulting in them using my comic box as a new litter box. When I discovered this I stopped immediatly to clean them, leaving my inking supplies out. The night got away from me and the next morning I woke up to a zebra striped room as my dog had managed to bite apart one of my brush pens and drag it across the apartment, leaving india ink everywhere. I found scraps of a plastic bag for my bottle of india ink, which I eventually found bitten up but not open under the bed, where he wasn’t able to complete his plan of total apartments destruction So the long and short of it is, its hard enough to keep my pets out of my professional things - let alone when I have kids. Like a page Ryan Ottely from Invincible posted on his DA page that took him 2 hrs. to ink and 6 in photoshop removing all the crayon from it, that his son thought he was just coloring it like a coloring book, when Ryan forgot to lock his office.

Crow quill