The folks at inDELLible have published the first anthology TPB, calling it Popular Comics, Issue #1. I have a 5 page story inside written by Bill Cain called Captain Tornado. I only pencilled and inked the story, colors were by Jared Prophet and it was lettered by industry veteran Daerick Gross, Sr. Cover is by the legendary Steven Butler! It's available on Amazon.

Daerick also acted as the art director of the project. He has been great in giving advice and critique and I feel like my artwork has been evolving under his guidance.

I originally had a second story, but life intervened... however something will come of it! Stay tuned!

I hadn't posted for a while, so this update is more of an attempt to say "yep, I'm alive and busy behind the scenes!"

Here's a head study I executed with a brush pen... mostly to see what kind of tight control I could have with details. The image is about three inches tall, to give you some frame of reference. I've been drawing for years and have played with brushes off and on. This is the first one that turned out halfway decent enough to show off.  

I bought a small round Pigma brush pen from Hobby Lobby (not endorsing the store, but it's nice alternative to Michael's.
I've played around with a sable and Higgins ink before- but really only about 3-4 total work hours messing with a brush in all my time doing it. I'm not a fan of clean up so I've never really hassled with it. This one was after about a half hour of inking different heads.

I need to start posting current images!

There is a comic book shop about two miles from my work which I'll occasionally go do during lunch. I'd go more often but I'd become broke very quickly.

Because I don't go often, I'm not really keen on what's "hot" or up on any current story lines. I'm an artist, and buy only books based on if I like their art.

So I found a few, but one in particular- The Rocketeer Adventures 2 had a story in it where I loved the art. When I got it home I discovered it was by artist Colin Wilson, who've I'd admired for years and years! Of course I liked it! He's done everything from Blueberry, to Judge Dredd, to Rogue Trooper, to Star Wars Invasion (Incidentally, the last time I went I found Invasion and picked it up because I liked the art- and again discovered it was Colin).

One of the best things an artist should learn is to discover not only what catches their eye, but why. I like Colin's use of detail, the realism in his backgrounds, props an…

Another "republished" page. Admittedly, I went through kicks between being wanting to be a sequential artist or being a filmmaker, and because of that conflict, I would un-publish posts about what ever I wasn't into, trying to tailor my blog into what I wanted to reflect. In the end, sequential artist always seemed to win. Here's an older post that I had done talking about older newspaper strips. I was reading an article where Ham Fisher had so many assistants that he hardly drew much of his strip- which would account for the lack of consistency in his character designs.

These older strips were found through public domain, and had given me a real focus on how I want to approach my webcomic. -jfm

I've been trying to find other influences outside my traditional comfort zone. So, as you know I've discovered the Cisco Kid, but lately I've found some others whose artwork I really like:

Ham Fisher did a strip called "Joe Palooka" for 25 years. While th…

Originally posted a few years ago- but blogger seems to make these jump back to the top after you've unpublished and republished again.

I'll be the first to say I never finished my end of the bargain on these correspondence courses. This one came right before my dad passed away, and while I've gone over and used the materials the boxed set came with, I never had the nerve to do the work and send it in for critique. 

If I do another course, it will be for story graphics or inking. I'm not severely interested in being a comic book artist as much as the now extinct Adventure Comic Strip artist (like Milton Caniff)- which was my first exposure to it all and what I really wanted to do. I may resurrect the webcomic attempt yet.

With that, here's the original article below, from sometime in late 2012:

After many, many years of regretting not going to the Joe Kubert School, and pining over the Correspondence Courses, I bit the bullet and ordered the "Heroes and Superher…

I had posted this in September, 2016. It was my first real attempt at becoming published with a comic book anthology. The book is now being published in a limited print run.

I’m excited to announce that I am returning to my Comic Book roots and will be illustrating two short stories for the inDELLible comic book anthology!

inDELLible is an homage to Dell Comics, a Golden Age comic book publisher whose works are now in Public Domain. Their anthology will include several stories from many talented writers and artists. I’m humbled and honored to be part of the team.

inDELLible is headed up by Editor James Ludwig, Assistant Editor Dave Noe, and art directed by industry veteran Dærick Gröss Sr.

I will be working with Bill Cain on “Naza”- who is a prehistoric warrior looking for his lost love, and "Captain Tornado"- a two-fisted space opera adventurer; and with Brian K. Morris on the “Masked Pilot”, a 1930s hotshot aviator.


We’re in the beginning stages now, but I will be able…