Calf Robe

This was one the early images in my series of drawings of indigenous people of North America. In this case I used reference photos to complete my drawing of Calf Robe, who was an actual person, and gave it as a gift to my dad. It was then that he told me that Calf Robe had been a rider in the Calgary Stampede at the same time as my dad had ridden in that same event.

Listen to Them 2

Adapting Bram Stoker's novel Dracula into the graphic novel format would be a dream project for me. This oversized tryout page was done on coquille board, and inked with markers and a black pencil crayon for the tonal values.

My interpretation of Dracula's appearance is different, I know, but it's how I've always seen him from the very first time I read the novel.

Golden Frankenstein

This pastel drawing is the culmination of a long series of drawings of the Frankenstein's Monster as brilliantly played by Boris Karloff in the classic 1931 film, Frankenstein. That film is a personal favourite of mine.

But why such a long series of drawings? Because it took me this long to finally get the Karloff look right!

Heimdall's Watch

This a personal piece where I attempted to do justice to Norse mythology, focussing on Heimdall at the Rainbow Bridge, with Odin omnipotent in the cosmos behind. Finished, I was not happy with it, and literally put it out of my sight for over six months. When I finally pulled it gingerly out of hiding, I got a surprise - it wasn't bad at all!

Sometimes you need to give time and patience a chance to work.

Done in markers and pencil crayons.

Karloff the Uncanny



With Golden Frankenstein behind me, I jumped right in to this pastel drawing of Boris Karloff as the titular character in the 1932 Universal Pictures film The Mummy.

This makeup, which Karloff wears only in the first few minutes of the film, took makeup genius Jack Pierce eight full hours to apply, and two hours to remove. Karloff later said: "That was the most trying ordeal I ever experienced!"

Listen to Them 1



This Dracula piece predates by several years the previous comic page seen in this section, and deals with basically the same scene. There are things on this page that I would never do now, but I still like it very much, especially the profile shot of the thirsty count.

Markers and pencil crayons on coquille board.

Operation Complete



This, and its companion pieces, which I will eventually post, are very frustrating to me. Why? Because they are done on a specialty paper called Duoshade (or Craftint). From the late 1920s through the 1990s, artists could use chemically developed shading papers, or “chemigraphic” papers, to add tonal effects to their drawings. These papers were precoated with patterns that were revealed by applying two liquid developers. I have plenty of the paper, but no longer have the the two chemicals used to bring out the patterns. The company that distributed the product has discontinued it, and I have searched for those chemicals high and low for longer than I care to think about - with no success. But I will not give up the hunt!

Tribute to Joe



This was done for a celebration of the 70th anniversary of the creation of Superman. Local Toronto area comic book artists were asked to contribute their art to a gallery show, and this is my effort, done in markers and pencil crayons, with some collage elements added. The collage elements are from left: Joe Shuster, Superman's original artist, at bottom Shuster with his partner, writer Jerry Siegel, and at right the Daily Star building of Toronto, which some have said is the model for the Daily Planet.