Zander and Kevin's Inks inspired Frank Miller!

** UPDATE ** We forget to mention the most important part of the story -- that Shad Petosky of Puny caught this bizarre error. However, I don't know what's worse, that our picture was put into the Spirit DVD featurette or that Shad was watching the Spirit in the first place! Anyway, good eyes, Shad! 

--KC

On the extra DVD features of Frank Miller's movie The Spirit, there is a section in which he talks about his influences. As he inevitably talks about Jack Kirby, there are long panning shots of several Kirby pages. Someone wasn't on their toes, though, because one of the pages was this one...



...which Kevin and I inked for a Flickr pool in which Adam Koford dared artists to ink better than Vince Colletta. My side (the right side) is very similar to Kirby's classic style, but even a cursory glance will tell you that Kevin's left side is not. Not even on Kirby's weirdest day did he put Xs on the eyes of an unconscious character.

A clip of the video is here:



While I scratched my head in wonder, Kevin pointed out that this image on our website was a healthy 1500 pixels wide; better than most images of Kirby art on the web.

Here's the original on our office wall, where it's been hanging for the past two years:

Sketch Challenge: Drawing Without Reference

The Cannon boys are cartoonists. That's what they are and what they do. They draw all day and dream about drawing all night. They can draw anything you can think of. They will draw things you have never heard of. They will draw a box. They will draw in socks. SKETCH CHALLENGE GO!

Today the boys are continuing Kevin's theme from last week about trying to draw things without looking them up. Easy, right? READY GO.

1. Grasshopper

KEVIN: No doubt you'll immediately notice that I didn't draw the correct pattern on the hind leg. If you're sharp you may also notice that the hind leg is BACKWARDS.

ZANDER: YESSS! Got the major details right, though I'd deduct points for that cigarette. I should mention I drew a grasshopper from reference about 2 years ago. I guess that's kind of cheating. Oh, and I should deduct points for that cigarette, too.

2. Pelican

KEVIN: I win this one, because even though the photo doesn't show it, all pelicans have fish in their mouths.

ZANDER: I wasn't as far off as I thought. I don't know why I think of pelicans' lower beak areas as hanging flaccid like that all the time. What disgusting birds they'd be.

3. Mole

KEVIN: We actually have a live mole in our office, so as you can tell from the bottom image, we just threw him on the scanner bed. Uh... just kidding. I'm pretty proud that I got his front feet right, but pretty not proud that my mole looks like a big puff ball. And has a bicycle horn nose.

ZANDER: Mine is a star-nosed mole, and I'm going to have to assume I got him right, nose-wise. And I'll know from now on that moles have five claws. How interesting.

4. Giraffe

KEVIN: I can't believe I forgot those horn things. What are those for, anyway?

ZANDER: AARGH! The tail! I've never seen a tuft of hair that long on a giraffe's tail!! What gives? Ooh, and I'll have to remember the spots fit together like puzzle pieces instead of looking free-floating like I drew them.

5. Platypus

KEVIN: My platypus is perfect. Ignore the reference image, which has the platypus holding silver dollars in its paws.

ZANDER: Nice job, me, on the lack of ears. The rest: man, I obviously have never seen one of these things. Wrong feet, wrong tail, and my duck bill looks like Uncle Scrooge's.

note: all photographs were found on google image search. We don't own 'em or anything.

Sketch Challenge: 700 Zombies

The Cannon boys are cartoonists. That's what they are and what they do. They draw all day and dream about drawing all night. They can draw anything you can think of. They will draw things you have never heard of. They will draw a box. They will draw in socks. SKETCH CHALLENGE GO!

Today the Cannon boys are contributing to the 700 Zombies Flickr pool.

251. Timothy the Shoeshine Boy



Poor ol' Timothy. He just wanted to make an honest living for his nine brothers. But one of them went to public school and came home with the plague. Now his shoes, once his pride and joy, are nothing but a burden. How sad.

46. Frodo the Nine-Fingered




Apparently this person "Frodo" is based on a book or movie character or something. However, the only film I've ever seen is 1993's "The Good Son," so I decided to model my zombie after Macaulay Culkin's fictional brother in that film, Elijah Wood.

Sketch Challenge: Ink Kirby's Thor!

The Cannon boys are cartoonists. That's what they are and what they do. They draw all day and dream about drawing all night. They can draw anything you can think of. They will draw things you have never heard of. They will draw a box. They will draw in socks. SKETCH CHALLENGE GO!

Today the Cannon boys have inked a Jack Kirby Thor page once delineated by Vince "The Prince" Colletta. As Adam Koford (aka Ape Lad) says in his introduction to this Flickr pool:

"If you're a fan of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's epic run on the Mighty Thor, you've heard (and maybe even share) the complaints about the inking style of Vince Colletta. Well, now is your chance to put your ink where your mouth is and have some fun re-embellishing a select page of Kirby's dynamic artistry!"

So be it! Kevin shall ink the left, and Zander shall ink the right!

*Click on the image for a larger view*

I heartily agree with the notion that one should earn the right to criticize by at least giving it a shot oneself. If nothing else, you learn something. So we boys have learned something today. One, it's fun to ink Jack Kirby. Two, if Vince Colletta inked as fast as people said he did, the guy must have been a genius. Three, that's lovely Elizabethan English that Norse god inhabiting the body of an American doctor is speaking. Four, Zander couldn't bring himself to "re-imagine" Kirby the way Kevin did. I mean, he even slavishly kept to Sam Rosen's lettering!

Give it a shot! There's a non-photo blue image up on the site to download and print. And check out all the other versions up on Flickr; they're pretty great.

Sketch Challenge: 700 Pirates

The Cannon boys are cartoonists. That's what they are and what they do. They draw all day and dream about drawing all night. They can draw anything you can think of. They will draw things you have never heard of. They will draw a box. They will draw in socks. SKETCH CHALLENGE GO!

Today Zander and Kevin are drawing for the 700 Pirates Flickr Set.



Mutinous Marley is not the guy you want to give your crew a little pep talk. Just the fact that he has all of his limbs and both eyes is a dead giveaway right there.



Crabbeard doesn't know the difference between a crab and a lobster. Crabbeard spells his own name as Crabear'. Crabbeard is a chef and specializes in ortolan.

Sketch Challenge: 700 Unicorns

The Cannon boys are cartoonists. That's what they are and what they do. They draw all day and dream about drawing all night. They can draw anything you can think of. They will draw things you have never heard of. They will draw a box. They will draw in socks. SKETCH CHALLENGE GO!

Today the Cannon boys are drawing for the 700 Unicorns Flickr Set.

ZANDER:



Welcome, children! Shall I summon a dream for you? A misty lovely-land of sights and sounds and yes, smells in which you can sigh your cares away. Wonderful! Follow meeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

KEVIN:



Dazzle Beard is a jerk.

Sketch Challenge: 700 Clowns

The Cannon boys are cartoonists. That's what they are and what they do. They draw all day and dream about drawing all night. They will draw anything you can think of. They will draw things you have never heard of. They will draw a box. They will draw in socks. SKETCH CHALLENGE GO!

Today the boys are contributing to the 700 Clowns Flickr set.





You may or may not have heard of the 700 Things. It's a Flickr group that's creating 700 lists of 700 things, all with funny names, all needing to be drawn. It all started with 700 Hoboes. Now, they've got Knights, Unicorns, Robots, Zombies, Pirates, Clowns, Bunnies, Underwear-Clad Vigilante Mutants, and Dragons, and they're adding more. Click on the images above to go to the Flickr set in question.