ROACH-CORE!

(click on the pic to blow it up)

This strip originally appeared in the September/October 2015 edition of the "COMICS NEVER STOP" newspaper.

Sketchbook-Comic from 11/18/14

I drew this in my sketchbook during my last semester of school, in class, when I was supposed to be brainstorming for some other art assignment. I posted a pic of the page in my notebook, and promptly forgot all about the damn thing until just recently, when I happened to come across it while searching for some other scrap of paper that had been eaten by the clutter surrounding my drawing table.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Friday, January 3 2014

Originally published online via RAZORCAKE's "Webcomic Wednesdays" series on Wednesday, September 25 2013.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Originally published online via RAZORCAKE's "Webcomic Wednesdays" series on Wednesday July 17, 2013.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Wednesday, Mar. 06, 2013

Originally published online via RAZORCAKE's "Webcomic Wednesdays" series on Wednesday, March 06 2013.

Cadence's Birthday!

I'm a little tardy gettin' this strip finished, but I've been pretty busy, y'know? If you're interested, you can read a longer, more detailed account of Cadence's birth here.

Guide to becoming a Successful Comic Artist

Yep, my 72-pg mini-graphic novel,"GET INTO COMIX", is finally done, all printed up and everything. And despite what the self-deprecating comic above says, I'm pretty happy with it (although calling it my "personal masterpiece" is nothing I would claim in real life). No rejection letters as of yet, either ( I'm just getting to dropping 'em off at shops and doing mail-order sales, right now), but I always planned to self-publish 'cause who knows if it would happen otherwise? MAYBE, but hubris is not my forte.

If you'd like to get a copy of this book, just PAYPAL $7 to bradagenda@yahoo.com, leave your mailing address in the comments/notes, and I'll ship that sucka out to ya ( UNITED STATES ONLY, sorry!). And if you'd like me to draw a small sketch inside, I'd be happy to do that, as well.

Also, in case you haven't heard, the "AS YOU WERE" anthology (featuring comics by Mitch Clem, Liz Prince, Ben Snakepit and a 5-pg story that I contributed to it, as well) came out, and you can buy it HERE.

"Hey Brad, how's school goin'?"

Classmates 'n Dinosaurs

Collegiate Times

Incomplete Entree

This actually happened about a month ago now, but I didn't have time to draw the strip because of impending school assignments and whatnot. Sufficed to say, I'm much better now.

INTERLUDE: Life resumes, and I "Get [back] into Comix!"

I haven't updated this 'ol blog in quite some time, so I thought it might be a good opportunity to catch anyone who gives a shit, and I don't speak to regularly in the real world, up on what I'm doing.

As always, I'm still writing and drawing the weekly RECORD HEAT strip for the Phoenix New Times,, going to school ( I now officially have an AAS in Digital Art, and in the midst of attaining a Bachelor's degree ), and of course, spending time with my family (Shannon and I just had our 4th wedding anniversary).

Aside from that stuff, I've kept myself busy doing some little art projects, like drawing fliers, random sketches and whatnot. So, Here's a small smattering of images, most of which I already posted to my tumblr and/or Facebook:

This is pretty self-explanatory, but I was really happy with how this flier came out.

Anybody who knows my reading habits knows I'm semi-obsessed with the work of Jack Kirby, so what better way to honor one of my heroes than by butchering one of his drawings. The top pic is a scan of Kirby's pencils (which I stole from the Internet), and the bottom is the version with my inks and colors. 

It inspired me to try my hand at doing a "pin-up" of Spider-Man, which has sat, unfinished. on my drawing board for about a month, now. I can't bring myself to complete the drawing because there is nothing more tedious than drawing all the web-details on this dude's costume; I probably should've done the black symbiote costume.

Switching gears, here's a pig I inked and painted with watercolors...

...which goes really well with the acrylic cow that has adorned my fridge for the last year or so.

  

Okay, about this thing...

Alright, now that I'm through with all that stuff, let's talk about "Get into Comix!". If you've been following this blog for a substantial amount of it's existence, you may have seen me mention this story and post preview images of it as far back as December of 2009. Additionally, I ran installments of this story in the "Epic Tales..." mini-comics in issues #6-9, and about 50 pages into the story, I hit a major wall. I couldn't figure out exactly how to do a certain page, so I took a break from it, and started to work on other stuff, sure I'd return to the story eventually.Life happened, and we had our daughter, and I went back to school, and eventually never came around. Well, until about 2 weeks ago.

The fact that I had this "massive" story (considering that the majority of my sequential work consists of  comic strips at this point, I consider anything above 50 pgs to be long-form storytelling) which was unfinished, sitting on a shelf & collecting dust, nagged at me for a long time. But, until recently, I just didn't have the time to delve back into it. Circumstances being what they are, I find myself with a little more time to work on comics nowadays, so I've plunged headfirst back into the "Get into Comix!" story. 

Going forward, I've decided to repost the link to read the comic, in progress, on the homepage. I've also enabled the comments section so that maybe I can get some feedback from anyone willing to read through what's been posted so far. As of this post, I've just completed pg. 56, and I'd estimate about 10 more to go.

Once the initial story is finished, I plan on going back and redrawing the first 2-3 pages of the story (and probably some scattered panels throughout), so the illustrations are more closely aligned with my drawing style now, rather than circa 2010. Finally, I'm going to redo some of the clunkier narration/dialog in the story, and soon after, I'll begin worrying about how I'm gonna pay to get this thing printed. That being said, I'm pretty stoked to be this close to the finish line, and actively inching toward it everyday.

Okay.

Well, that's what's been going on.

I Need to Wear Undershirts

I am literally eating a hamburger as I type this sentence.

Anywho, below you will find a couple drawing I've recently made which will hopefully be used as fliers sometime in the future. I'll probaby add grey tones to the POTA-esque one at some point, but here it is in good old black 'n white.

As always, ready "RECORD HEAT" online every Monday, or in print in the PHX New Times every Thursday, blahblahblah.

Crossover Event

I swear to you, I'm not trying to make my daughter into a Tomboy or anything (not that that would be a problem for me); She's just taking an interest in the stuff I'm into, which just so happens to include some toys I've accumulated over the years, and floppy books with colorful pictures. And the fact that I watch  cartoons on a fairly regular basis is an easy hobby for her to relate to, as well.

In unrelated matters, I'm not a huge fan of Superman, but it's an obviously iconic character, and I don't remember ever really trying to draw him before. So, I gave it a shot...

I don't listen to as many podcasts as I did back when I worked at the glass shop, but one of the few I've kept up with is The Ink Panthers Show, which is hosted by the cartoonists Mike Dawson and Alex Robinson. I recently did a title card for one of their episodes (they haven't used it as of yet)...;

Lastly, I finally finished the black and white art for the "BroLoaf" 7" I was working on, and will be picking up my copy at the release show tonight.

Oh yeah, read RECORD HEAT every Monday (cross-promotion, yesssss)!

Love is Hate

 Not my best Finn and Jake, but whatever.



Here are a couple of designs I did for the band "ROBOT REPAIR", which just so happens to be featured in this week's "Record Heat" comic:

This is my first one, which might be a little too intricate for a t-shirt, I don't know.

This is an attempt to do something super simple...

... and this is probably the best of  both worlds, and maybe the strongest design.

We'll see which ( if any at all ) they actually use.

Meanwhile, This is a photo of the 7" record art I'm doing for a band called "BROLOAF", in progress:

Also, I made this pic, printed it out and framed it, and gave it to Shannon for mother's day. I really like how it came out.

And finally, this is a really creepy sketch I made for no reason.

It Won't Pay for Her College

This  is easily the longest time I've gone without drawing a new "Epic Tales..." strip since I it began, although    it's sister comic, "RECORD HEAT", is still pluggin' along regularly. It's almost as if the thing that I get paid to do takes priority, huh?

BTW, "Epic Tales..." is gonna be black and white again for the foreseeable future. I think it helps distinguish it from "Record Heat" (sorta), and makes it easier and more cost effective for printing.

Here are some of the sketchcards I did for Phoenix Comicon, which I tabled at last weekend:

 Kamandi, probably my favorite Jack

Kirby work that I've read, so far.

 Finn, from the cartoon "Adventure Time"

 Jake, also from the cartoon "Adventure

Time"

 Tom Scioli's American Barbarian

 Einstein, the punk rock panda.

And finally, my weird, sorta collagie (sic) final project for my photoshop class. BTW, the robot figure is partially swiped from this pic by Jack Kirby;

Alrighty, then!

Winning?

Actually, I didn't even pay for my table (thanks, Shawn!), and I really wasn't expecting to sell giant shitloads of minicomics to people that were there to see Robert Kirkman or Rob Liefield, or just to get good deals on comics.  But, it's funnier if I bitch about stuff, right?

Meanwhile, here's some other stuff:

This is a drawing I did as a color study for an acrylic painting in my Color Theory class last semester, and ultimately abandoned (and did this instead). I do kinda like it on it's own, though.

And, here's a couple new sketchcards and I drew before the con, and then inked and colored 'em with color pencils.

And finally, a full page pinup of  Eric Esquivel's "Blackest Terror" character! I might do some more shading and stuff like that if I decide to put this in my portfolio later, but y'know, whatever.   

  

Okay, I'm spent.

The Power of Love

 Normally, I'd complain about being too busy with school, job, parenting, blah, blah, blah to keep up with the strip, but instead, I'm just gonna post some sketches (in various states of completion) that I made in class recently ( rather than doing the actual assignments ), all having to do with upcoming comic projects ( non-school related, of course).

Stay tuned; As soon as the semester is over, updates will be back to normal. And if you miss me, go read Record Heat.