The Return - Conclusion

And here's the last chapter of the internationally reknown (I'm Canadian and Mike's American...shhh) The Return: A webcomic in 8 parts. Thanks to eveyone for reading and we hope you enjoyed.

-Gino Collins
-Michael Moreci

The Return Page 6

Heres page 6 of The Return. See Michael Moreci's site on Monday for page 7. Enjoy!

The Return - A Webcomic Page 4

Heres page 4 of The Return. See Michael Moreci's site on Monday for page 5. Enjoy!

(Sorry everyone. I had page 5 up accidentally. Oops!)

The Return - Page 2

Heres page 2 of The Return. See Michael Moreci's site on Monday for page three. Enjoy!

-Gino

The Return - A Web Comic

Over the summer, Cold Blooded Chillers--an award-winning publication from Robert Heske--ran an open submission contest for its latest anthology: 2012. The challenge was for creative teams to come up with a short comic based on the 2012 'end of the world' mythology.

I was contacted by my writer friend Michael Moreci about providing the art for a script he had written for the occasion. The story departed a little from what the anthology was asking for but we both enjoyed the story and decided to submit it anyway. The end result is what you'll see here, a short called 'The Return.'

Michael and I earned an Honorable Mention for the strip, but not publication. Both of us liked the story, and rather than allow our completed work to languish in a drawer--or hard drive, rather--we decided to use the power of the internet and get the story out there.

So here's the deal: Michael and I are both posting this first page (of eight) on our sites. Every Friday, I will post even numbered pages; every Monday, Michael will post the odd pages. As mentioned above, the story is eight pages long. So in four weeks, we'll have posted the complete comic--and for free no less!

Cheers and I hope you enjoy!
-Gino

(Some of the above was taken verbatim or adjusted slightly from Michael's site. He is the writer after all!)

More sketchies

Here's a couple more sketches from breaks this week. I added a background to the previous pic and a whole new one. Enjoy.

-Gino

Cool September Days

Weather gets cold fast here on the east coast. It's a bit of an adjustment from 6 years in Korea. Kind of nice.

Here's a sketch I did while on breaks at work. Enjoy.

-Gino

Ooooh colours...

Here's some more experimenting I've been doing with Photoshop colouring. One is a cel type look while the other is a more water colour type feel. The character is one my own for a book I've been working on my a while now. Enjoy!

Been A While...

Hey all, I've been working on a short story with Michael Moreci for a submissions call and trying to get my sequentials to a place where I like them not to mention looking for a job and trying to keep my sanity..:P Sorry I haven't had time to post lately. I watched some of Brian Haberlin's Digital Art tutorials recently and decided to give a more painterly look to my work a try. I usually enjoy a more cel shaded approach but have been itching to try this for a while. Here's my first try. Not bad for a first attempt but I may keep picking at this for a while.

-Gino

Round two...FIGHT!

The last version of this pic really bothered me so I spent some time inking it up and then fooling around with the colours to match it up. Here's where I am with it right now still not fully finished I don't think. I'll leave it for a while and see how it sits with me.

-Gino

Colour by Number

Here's a coloured version of the last pic. I tried to go straight to colour and bypass the inks for a change. Definitely prefer inked better. Just doesn't feel right. Almost a rushed feel to the piece. If I have some time soon I'll give inking it ashot. Enjoy!

-Gino

Kee Yah!

Haven't drawn any fantasy themed stuff in a while (which used to be all I'd draw truthfully) but talking to my old roleplaying buddies fom a few years back got the old dwarves and elves and all the good stuff floating around in my head again. Also been absolutely loving David Aja and Ed Brubaker's Iron Fist which made me wanna draw some old school chop socky. One of the most detailed pieces I've done in a bit. Hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I did drawing it. Kee Yah!

-Gino

What's Cooke-ing?

A few months ago I had the pleasure of meeting illustrator extraordinaire Darwyn Cooke at the Calgary Comic Expo. Meeting is perhaps too strong a word as I said about three words in cowardice as I walked around all day asking for autographs and feeling overwhelmed with awe. But I digress. Darwyn Cooke has a brand new book coming out based on the Richard Stark "Parker" novels. The Mel Gibson movie "Payback" is a loose translation of the first novel to screen. Very loose from what I've heard. From all accounts it looks to be an amazing book and you can win copies of it at his quasi blog here if you do a picture of Parker. Here's my submission. I tried to get a 70s feel to the character and design of the piece. Enjoy!

Officer Joker

Just getting things set up after a international Korea to Canada move, a month long road trip across Canada from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland, and then driving back to Halifax to start the new chapter of my life. Done a little bit of drawing in between but without a scanner or proper time to work on anything. Trying to get back on top of things now and was inspired by the posters for the recent influx of security guard movies to do a sketch of Joker doing the "watching you" pose.

-Gino

Another One Bites the Dust

Captain Britain and MI:13 was a wonderful book with great writing and solid art month after month. A shame to see it go as well as the Guardians of the Galaxy series which I enjoyed. Hopefully all the creators involved will be seen soon on othjer projects. I can't wait to see Paul Cornell's next work. Here's a pic of Cap for kicks. Enjoy.

-Gino

My uncle Mike passed away this week. Wonderful man with a joy and passion for life and always ready with a smile and a joke. You're sorely missed Mike.

-Gino

Back in The Great White North and Hard Drive Disaster

My wife and I have moved back to Canada now and are relaxing at her parents house in BC. Everythings nice and the weather is starting to turn beautiful. The air is so much cleaner and my immune system is finally getting back to normal. If only my back would magically auto-repair here... Bought a car last week and we plan to do a massive cross country road trip from BC straight to Newfoundland. Should be a lot of fun and I can't wait to see family and friends along the way. On a much more horrible note my hard drive from my computer in Korea that had everythign I've drawn, written, designed, coloured, and all the photos I've taken over my entire 6 year life in Korea, died somewhere on the way to Canada. I removed it from my computer and used every precaution I could think of for the trip across the world but I guess something just happened. I don't think it's even hit me yet. Everyday I think of something else I lost on the hard drive and just sigh. It's akin to a house fire in my childhood home y'know? I've got most of my sketches but there's a lot of work from just the basic sketches. There's not enough curse words in the English and Korea languages for this. When I moved back to Canada to start my new life I didn't figure it was at the expense of the old. *sigh*

Up, Up and Away

Read Geoff Johns' Superman! Seriously. As angry as I was with another retake on the character and throwing away or retconning the origin in the last couple of years Johns makes it bearable. Beautiful artwork and Superman written great. Just good stuff.

Almost Done

Sorry about the lateness between posts. Been pretty busy packing up my life to get ready to move back to Canada. Crazy stress trying to get all this together. Three weeks to go and so much left to do. Here's a couple of pieces I did recently. The first one is my niece Brooklyn as a princess for her birthday. I'm fairly happy with the picture. The layout's a bit iffy but I'm happy with the drawing of her. First time I tried drawing a child. Mike Wieringo always made it look so easy. *sniff*

-Gino