Corto.



Pin up by Gabriel Ba for an exhibition about Hugo Pratt's most famous character, Corto Maltese. If you don't know the artist or the character, than you simply don't know good comics.

Vive le mode.


sketch by Gabriel Ba.

Yesterday we did something a little different from usual. We were invited to cover a fashion show. To document the backstage, to draw the girls, the clothes and the beautiful park the show took place.


sketch by Gabriel Ba.

We were there for hours, and it certainly was a different experience from the previous times we saw a fashion show, sitting on a chair inside a room with heavy air-conditioner.


sketch by Fabio Moon.

It's good to have to draw very fast. You have to make a lot of choices regarding which lines you'll include and which ones you'll leave out. You have to learn how to watch and how to translate what you see into simple figures.

Here, there's no time for the drawing made of shapes. No balls, squares, triangles. Here, we're following lines. We're following walking lines, actually.

They're pretty to look at.

Too young and too thin, tho.


sketch by Fabio Moon.

today's girl.


The same, yet different.

Every day, there's something to do.

Back in 2004, we were thinking about doing some animation. But we had to worry about the comics, so we just dropped it.

We made this test.

It looks awful.

Numbers.


The top 300 comics sold in December of 2005 are here, according to Diamond, and ROCK'nROLL is there at # 270.

I guess this is the second time my brother and I make this list. Since the first was when we worked on Autobiographix, I guess the fact that the book had a Frank Miller story, a Will Eisner story and a bunch of other stories from famous creators was the major factor for the sales that time around. This time, I'm pretty sure at least some three or four people ordered the book because it had my name in it. And then another couple of people ordered it because my brother was in it.

And the other three thousand people just love rock and roll.

Talking about the first new book for 2006


Matt Fraction talks about Casanova a little bit more in this Publishers Weekly article.

As the first issue proceeds at Ba's drawing board, jaws drop here at the studio. Unlike anything he has done before, this stuff is gorgeous.

For some time, the twins that write you these lines were worried that every comic book we worked on where the script was done by somebody else would lose some of the energy we put in it, just because it would be a story we didn't create, a subject not close to our own hearts.

Smoke and Guns was my test regarding this matter. The story of our beloved cigarette girl would never have come from my mind, and yet I enjoyed doing it immensely, and I think it shows on the page. And I never lost the enthusiasm, averaging two pages a day on the last leg of the work.

Now it's Ba's turn. More challenging than my choice of material, Ba is doing it monthly. Only time will tell how it will look after three or four months, but by the look of it right now, this is going to be great.

And also...

Smoke and Guns made the top five list of comics of 2005 acording to the Comic Treadmill blog. It's nice to be remembered, even if by a blog (or a guy writing one, anyway).

GUNNED DOWN in this month's PREVIEWS.


When you're doing an anthology, you feel like you're not working alone, even if you are. Your story becomes part of a bigger whole, just like you're entering a train with a bunch of other artists and you can't control exactly where this train is going.

Weird things can happen when you work with a lot of people at the same time.



In case you missed the first time around, and I'm sure a lot of people did miss it, Terra Major solicited Gunned Down in this month's PREVIEWS (to be available at your comic book store in March). This is a western anthology with a lot of artists and a lot of stories. Ten stories, to be exact. And did I mention that all the artists are brazilians?

Well, they are.

This is the book Ba worked on last year. While I was doing Smoke and Guns, he was doing a indian story 41 pages long in this anthology. And I already said a lot about how great it looks, so you'll have to order the book to check it out. I also have a short story in it. With pistol duel and everything.

For the curious, here's one image.


And here is another.


Terra Major is not a big publisher. In fact, it's very small, very independent, and it really needs the support of the readers who basically don't read the books because they don't know the books exist.


Gunned Down
order code for comic shops:
[ JAN063250 ]
(it's on page 316 of the catalog, if you're going to look for it.)

One year Later.



Yesterday marked the first year without Will Eisner.

How have we behaved in our field to honor his absence? What have we done to distinguish ourselves the same way he always did, the same way he expected his peers to behave? How did we survive the loss of the first and greatest life master of our profession?



We kept working. Creating, writing and drawing. If we never stop telling stories, if we never stop trying to touch others with our worlds, our characters and the emotions we put in everything we do, then his legacy will continue and we will do him justice.

Take your job seriously.

Love what you do.

Be the best you can, and expect nothing less from yourself and others.

Try to make this world a better one.

Keep working.

Keep living.

And find love.

The future of comics.



My brother and I were born in 1976, so 2006 was one of these years we would always look upon with wonder, being the year we would turn 30. What would we have accomplished? What would we still have to do, to discover, to create? Who would we be?

I know now that, to be a comic book creator, you have to create. Above all, you must have this urge to create, to tell stories and to create worlds. To make people see what you're thinking, and to make them think as you do it.

This year, I want to create more than I ever created before.

I want to reach as many people as I can, but if I can make one person think about life, about love, about being in the now, than all the work I have is working.

Even if I'm not getting rich doing it.

Why get rich, anyway? All rich people I know work less and less, and all I want to do is work more and more.

I want to do comics. My brother wants to do comics.

That's what we're doing in 2006.

It all about the attitude.

Good year for all of you, a year that will be about doing and being all the things we were always saying.

15000.

We just hit 15000 visitors.

This is the time to say some final words for this year.

Thanks for the readers who discovered us in 2005. And to those who remained from the previous years. and for those who are yet to come, thanks in advance.

I'm six pages into the zombie story, Ba is in full swing doing Casanova. Since it's the first time we try anything in a monthly schedule, we're yet to find out how it will affect the final look of the pages. So far, it looks great and it's only getting better. Not without it's bumps on the road, but that's pretty much every story. Creating is a complicated thing.

We never made so much comics as we did in 2005. And so far, 2006 looks like a pretty busy one.

One can hope, at least.

Thanks for watching and see you all next year.

Opinion.

Here's a quick opinion about someone who read ROCK 'n' ROLL. Scroll down a little, this guy reads a lot of comics.

Run down for the next two weeks.

We have been working crazy around here. On an feature animation project. All to be delivered by the end of the week. It's a lot of work.

And then there's Christmas.

And in between Christmas and New Year's, there's that zombie story I was warming up to do. The script was a little late, but it came, and I"m having fun doing the thumbnails. The actual pages should be equally interesting.

And then it's 2006.

Kind of sad looking.

More new characters. That's the only thing we seem to be doing these days. At least, that's how I feel. And the hardest part of it is to make sure all these characters - regular people, all of them - don't look generic. They're not the crowd, they're it. Once you see them surrounded by other people, they're the interesting ones, the ones you're suppose to look at, the ones who actually have something to say, even if it's something uninteresting and boring.

Because boring people say boring stuff.

No sitting around.



We have been really busy. Which is good, if you ask me. I rather have one hour of free time every day than just one hour of work done. I can really enjoy my free time if it's a rarity. And I really love my job.

So we have to finish some pages for next week. Ba has, not me. But we're a team around here, so I'm using the plural to keep him happy. To keep us happy.

Also, a cover needs doing.

Out of thin air as of right now.

I'll try to help as much as I can, but it's his show and I'm only enjoying the show from a safe, yet near, distance.

We're planning on drawing some 80 pages before the end of January, between him and myself, and some of it in color!

Right now, we're just happy that ROCK'n"ROLL is out and about in this world, meeting new friends. It's like we had a big baby to go with our smaller brazilian baby, and now we have twins. One is a bit bigger, but they're both beautiful.



It's a nice way to finish the year, and a great way to start on the next one. About the latter, it's going to be a killer.

It's time to face the music.

Let's Rock and Roll.

This is the proof that we can make our dreams come true. We wanted to make comic books, and here's one. We made it on our own and, just by looking at it, the publisher decided to publish it.

Maybe if you look at it too, you'll decide you must have it.

From sad to happy in one day.



I guess this one looks kind of sad, but sometimes you're not always feeling your best, are you? Yesterday was a sad day, for me, so I liked this one for that.

I saw the Image version of ROCK'n'ROLL today. Had to approve the printing for the final binding thing to happen.

It looked beautiful.

It arrived early this morning from Canada, so it was just a great way to begin my day. I actually woke my brother up and showed him the comic book. If he was having any second thoughts about getting up early, they were instantly gone at that time.

Beautiful.

Now I have to go back to my sketch book, and Ba has to get back to Casanova.

Look around.



I really like to create the background for my stories. It's fun to build the world, imagine the houses, the streets, the cars and everything else I might want to ad to it. I don't need to draw every little detail of it on every single panel, but I know it's there and I can choose what to show and what to hide.

As much as I can, I like to plan ahead, and do all this creating before I actually have to start on the pages.

Some panels are all about the detail. All about the background. Others might be about one gesture, and no background is needed. Balancing this is what creates a good page, and a good story.



I want to create words when I tell stories. I want the background to be as much a character as the people living in this world. Every place has a history and the way we portray this world let the reader know where they're going.

A want to create characters people will like to meet in real life, and so I want to create places people will like to go and visit.

And then be back again.



Today I received word that ROCK'n'ROLL will be in stores on December 7th. Our wait is almost over and soon we'll see what the impact, if any, our little comic book will have. But that's now the talk for next week. This week, it's all about reading.

I have three scripts on my hand. One that I want to draw but I'm not sure if I can, and another that I know I'll draw and I'm excited about it. And then there's the third one, which I don't want to draw, but I'll wait until I finish it to decide (even if, in my mind, once you think you won't do it, you won't no matter what).

And I'm expecting another script this week for some work for hire experience.

Show your SFist.


Mimi, our beloved Ursula and Smoke and Guns editor, looking good.

The SFist finds out Smoke and Guns was written by a local, which means there's another batch of nice words on the net about the book, and about the art as well, even if I don't live, or never visited, San Francisco.

Out of character.



So, this is pretty much what it looks like when I'm creating a character. I make a bunch of drawings of him, and none look alike. This is the plague from the days when I did not know how to draw, this "unevenness" in my sketches. The problem of course is the fact I like it this way. It has this "drawn from life" quality, where you're always a hostage of your own state of mind and your emotions, hence never really knowing what will come out of your hands.

Or hand.

Left hand, to be exact.

Whatever.

happy little fellow.



Here I am, stretching my artistic skills for the lovely undead. I have a friend who love zombies, and I immediately thought of him when I did this.

. . .

Ba is working on Casanova today. It looks good, but so far I'm the only one who can see it. I hear my villainous laugh echo on the distance as the puny little humans desire something only I can achieve.

And then I fall from my pedestal and go back to work.