The only video collaboration my boyfriend Neil and I have worked on together so far. His song and video, my lettering!
Short interview about Mara, working with Brian Wood, raccoon anatomy, and more at HeroesCon, conducted by Ana Aesthetic and shot by Pat Loika!
I’ll be at Phoenix Comicon, May 23rd - 26th, Table #2214. Looking forward to my first trip to Arizona!
No pre-commissions, but I’ll be taking commissions at the show on a first come, first served basis, and I’ll have prints, totes, and thoughts on Star Trek for anyone who comes by! :)
Publicity Photo for “Amok Time,” 1967
All my childhood dreams. I watched “Amok Time” and “Journey to Babel” on repeat more than I watched every Disney movie combined.
Comicazi Presents: Not The Boston Comic Con 2013 - Great video wrap up of the fun event my local shop hosted in lieu of Boston Comic Con last month. The convention’s been rescheduled to August 3rd - 4th!
Manfully resisting the compelling urge to buy this wicked cute “Onomatopattern” cardigan from Threadless. Comic book SFX!!
Come see me tomorrow at the Newbury Comics in Kingston, MA for Free Comic Book Day! 11 AM - 3 PM, free quick sketches and more!
Out With Friends, April 6, 2013.
More on Flickr.
Kevin took some great photos of Neil, Cathy, and me today after we all toured the Grand Masonic Lodge of Massachusetts!
If you’re in or around Boston, come see me at Comicopia in Kenmore Square today, Saturday, 1-3 PM!
I’ll be signing issues #1 and #2 of Mara and giving away a limited number of tote bags and prints. See you there!
He may take a while, but Kevin Church delivers the best Christmas presents. Framed 1977 cloth Star Trek calendar!
My thoughts on photo-referencing: I don’t do it enough.
Either subconsciously or unthinkingly, over the past few years I’ve made it my mission to draw all my sequential work with no referencing at all. I don’t think this was due to any sort of cockiness, i.e., “I can draw this better than real life, so why bother looking at reference?,” but rather out of a genuine desire to just magically know how to be able to draw anything, always.
Of course that’s a lofty and unrealistic goal, and even now, about 6 years into drawing comics professionally, I still feel like an absolute beginner in most ways. Maybe that’s due to having studied fine arts rather than illustration or comics, and never having formally learned how pesky little things like perspective and pacing worked.
Anyway, the point is that now, I’m finally starting to admit that I may not just be able to come up with everything off the top of my head (though I certainly do try that approach, nine times out of ten). I remember something my friend and great influence Eric Canete said to me several years ago, when I asked him to look over my first set of substantive inked comic pages: “Is this supposed to be the inside of a car? I think it might be, because of the seatbelts, but why don’t you try looking at the inside of a car?”
Oh, ouch! But Eric really did have a great point. Observation is often the best teacher.
To that end, I’ve been using photo reference in about 10-20% of my panels on MARA, which is more than I’ve ever used before. Here’s an example of one of my most extreme instances of photo-referencing so far, from photographs, to thumbnails, to semi-finished inks. There’s my whole process.
Maybe some people still view photo-referencing as cheating, but more and more I view it as a kind of exciting evil. Sure, looking at a photograph isn’t as creatively “pure” as pulling something fully formed from your own mind, but if it helps you grow? Then I suppose I’m for it. I’ve been very preoccupied with bettering my craft and not painting myself into a rut through sheer stubbornness lately, so here you go. My confession. My name is Ming Doyle, and sometimes, I use other pictures to make my own pictures better!
Not that I wear many sweatshirts, but these “Superhero Mask” and “Flying Witch” numbers are pretty tempting!
