Tom Lyle

COMMISSIONS!! Your Time is Here!

2011-12-05T07:42:00.003-05:00

COMMISSIONS:
So ... the first five people to contact me and send me payment will get a great Christmas present -- and even on time for Christmas if you send the payment fast enough.
I'm taking on FIVE COMMISSSIONS (11" x 14" bristol board - full pencil - single character - simple, but decent background behind - nothing rude, please) for $120.00 each (includes shipping - but not RUSH shipping).
Contact me!

Email me at tlyle49@comcast.net

LACOSTE - Highlights

2011-06-06T06:16:00.011-04:00

I'm working backwards from the ending of the trip. This is from week 8 and 9 of the trip with Sue still there. It was great. We had rented a car to get around and that was very handy.

TARASCON, FRANCE - A very cool castle.

Saignon, France -- just outside of Apt. What a cool village with a great chateau/castle at the top. Very neat to be among all that history.

Sue and I in ITALY on the Mediterranean. Pretty cool. Only four hours from Lacoste by car. Not bad. That's like driving to Atlanta from here ... only much cooler.

LAVENDER!!!!
It was just starting to bloom in this one field near Goult in Provence.

Final projects and the critique for TRAVEL PORTFOLIO - a great class to teach because of the results that come from it with the students. They really surprise me with the art they produce.

Sue and I in OPPEDE LE VIEUX which is about 20 minutes away from Lacoste. There's the ruins of a cool chateau/sort of castle at the top of the village on the side of a mountain. Sue's looking good here ... as usual.

Final Critiques for VISUAL STORYTELLING 1 and 2. Don't I look like I know what I'm doing?

Here's the photo we took at the party after Vernissage. This is most of the students (a couple are missing) that were in Lacoste for Spring 2011.

Aren't We Cute?

2011-05-31T12:09:00.002-04:00

Here's my girl and me at a cafe in France. She's awesome. But ...

I miss her. She's already back in the USA.
I'll be there in two days.

France is AWESOME!!!

Lacoste - WEEK 4 - 2011

2011-04-23T02:51:00.009-04:00

Just a quick play-by-play for you. I can't go into too much detail as I would wax poetic forever.

THE CHATEAU DE SADE!!!

I've now officially been inside of it. With visiting artist James Casebere (picture above or to the left) here in Lacoste, he gave his guest lecture inside the chateau. Something new for me. We didn't get to see all of the interior spaces, but it was an experience being inside there nonetheless.

The pool of water at the top of Fontaine de Vaucluse was so much lower this year (see the first two pictures above) than last year ( I think that this is the same tree in the foreground of the third photo - which is from last year ... and, btw, check out the size of the people down at the water's edge in the second photo) and it was actually somber and creepy instead of awe-inspiring. It was so quiet. You didn't hear the rushing water. It is still feeding the river, but from some underground tunnels that come out further down the hill. Very weird.

The first two photos above are also from last year. The second photo shows the rocks and trees that are in the first photo from this year ... and how high the water was last year. The other one is from this year. As you can see from the attire, it was MUCH warmer this year.

All my witty little charges waiting to leave Fontaine.

For Travel Portfolio on Wednesday, we went sketching around Lacoste. The first photo is from just outside the Portal de Chevre (the Goat Gate) and the flower shot is what they were looking out on to for their sketching. But ... I had them drawing cars. Also, the last photo is of Maison Basse and the students went down there and did some drawing as well.

More to come.

I still have ARLES from Friday and the Abbey de Sananque from Saturday. I got to hear singing Monks. It was awesome.

France is pretty cool, folks.

I'M ALL DIGITAL NOW!!

2011-04-19T17:44:00.007-04:00

Never thought I say this, but I'm doing my art completely digitally now.

I'm doing finished pencils, but I'm using a "pencil" brush in photoshop on my cintiq.

It's great for my eyes. I love that I can get such cool detail in there again.

Wow.

Very weird, but interesting.

Here's the latest two pages ... and thanks to fellow sequential Mark Brooks for the link to the brushes. It's a big deal!!

Becoming a 21st Century Creator!

2011-04-05T17:05:00.002-04:00

All right -
Those of your who know me well (hello fellow students and faculty) with my current rants and all are aware that I am skeptical and scared of the digital revolution going on. I refuse to even consider giving any of my writing and art away for free.

So far.

I'm so aware of the results of digital piracy. I'm guilty (in the past - not currently) of it.

All of my students have a very cavalier attitude about it.

Why shouldn't I be scared and skeptical? How do you make money when:
a) it's priced cheap as crap (like giving it away anyway, and b) 5,000 people could own it when only one bought it?

What's new technology-wise that should convince me to change my mind? Why should I (with bills and a mortgage to pay) give ANY of my work away when I'm a known commodity, not a start-up business like my students would be?

So, talk to me.

Convince me to change my attitude. Agree with me. Talk to me. I want to know.

The publishing world is going to change more and I don't want to be left in the dust.

Help make me a 21st Century Creator!!

School's in Session!

2011-03-30T23:42:00.010-04:00

Hi all -
Before everyone got here, I did some prep work for the students and (with the aid of Bryan - I don't want him to go uncredited) sanded and varnished some lapboards for the SEQA students. I did 12 boards total, but this is only three of them. The view out beyond them is pretty nice. This is on the patio outside of Studio Two.

That was on the day, the little darlings were to arrive, so I had to clean up and get ready for them so they didn't think I was a bum.

I can't believe how smoothly it all went with the weather being so nice compared to last winter. In 2010, I was slogging up and down the hill for 6 hours and this year it was all over in less than 45 minutes. Everyone found their room and starting getting that "wow. I'm in France!" look.

The next day, after their trip to the APT Marketplace, I got to experience something new that they started after I was here -- a picnic lunch at Pont Julien - the old Roman bridge. As you can see, the weather was pretty ideal and everyone had a nice time.

Monday brought the first day of classes. At 9:00 a.m. my Advanced Drawing class (first photo) brought their eager faces in to Studio 2 (seemed like home) and had a great class. We did so well and were having such a good class that we forgot to take a break -- and it's a three hour class.

The next class was Travel Portfolio. It's a great class. I have 16 students for that one. It's my biggest class here. We went to the quarry to draw after my introductory lecture and had about an hour (or a tiny more) to be able to draw on site for the first time in France. Unlike last year's class where it was too cold to sit and draw most of the time, this was perfect weather for it. As you can see, there's always one "climber" and Daniel is my man for this class (as is, Matt, Sarah S, etc.)

Finally, on the second class day (Wednesday - yesterday), things really got rolling.

My hardest class so far is the crosslisted Vis 1 and Vis 2 class. But everyone is working to make it as smooth as possible and Wednesday's class went pretty well. In the photo, we're near the end of class and the Vis 1 students and discussing their Chickasaw layouts (yeah, I bring that assignment here, too) and the Vis 2 students are finishing up their 'arriving at studio 2' in-class storytelling assignment.

The next two photos are the students from my Travel Portfolio class. We took a trip to the nearby village of Menerbes and they did some great drawings. It 's been great seeing their enthusiasm and how dedicated they are to trying new things and pushing their artistic skill set to a new level.

The last two photos are of my Advanced Drawing class. We had a lecture and then used the interior of the library to do some quick panel set ups with storytelling of a guy asking a girl on a first date. On site drawing can speed up the backgrounds that you draw and they did very well.

That's been it for the first week of classes. I am drawing my tushy off on the BLACK BOX (more later on it) and I'm catching up. It's so much warmer here than last year it's amazing. The sun is always bright when it's out.

I still miss Sue, though. She'll be here in a few weeks.

LACOSTE - Part Two

2011-03-25T08:12:00.004-04:00

Hi-
It seems so different to be here this time. I'm in short sleeves today.

The students get here in a few hours. I've been here since Monday and it's Friday now. Classes start on Monday.

Here's a few pictures to show how different the campus looks without snow and freezing cold.

And Bonnieux couldn't look better.

So ... the students should have a great time. They say that this is the best arrival weather that we've ever had. It's a far cry from the freezing cold and snow from last year.

Classes soon.

Later-
Tom

Lots of BLOGGING soon - from FRANCE!

2011-03-18T07:18:00.002-04:00

Yep.
I'm getting to go back and the blog will be blazing with posts while I'm there.
So ... get ready and check in often.

Hope everyone is well.

More soon.

Tom

TRUE GRIT (2010) - See it!!

2011-01-02T16:56:00.003-05:00

First off:
I want Josh Brolin's agent to work for me. His part is so small, but he gets third billing. Wow!!

Now:
Go see this movie. Not only is it good, but there are great shots to see for influence in sequential work. In addition, despite the sometimes breaking of the 180 degree rule, the storytelling in this movie is impeccable. The Coen brothers know storytelling, that's for sure.

Good acting. Hailee Steinfeld is awesome. She has just the right blend of toughness and vulnerability to pull this part off.

Can't recommend this movie enough.

New Work - COVER ART

2010-12-05T05:52:00.004-05:00

Hi all-
I should be (if all falls together with a contract) working on a book for publication in France next year. Two albums. Very cool. Great writer. New style things from Tom Lyle.

Here's a taste of what is coming:

I'm very excited about what is coming from this.

Can't give any details yet, but it's a cool adventure, political-intrigue story with a smidgen of sci-fi as well.

Good stuff.

By the way, they won't be using this as a cover, but it looks good anyway.

COMMISSIONS for SKETCHES!!

2010-08-28T06:28:00.002-04:00

I've got a two week window of opportunity for those of you interested in getting a sketch from me. I'm taking orders on a first-come, first-served basis.

I will do full pencils on bristol board or inks on bristol board.

Send a note with an email and I will send you my rates.

Thanks for the interest.

Tom

STORYTELLING RANT #5,399 - A Punch in the FACE!!

2010-07-02T21:09:00.002-04:00

SHERLOCK HOLMES - THE MOVIE
Visual Crack + Cartoon Characters + Gratuitous Gross Outs = CRAP!!!

What's the deal with what passes for stories these days?

I finally forced myself to watch the movie that purports to be about SHERLOCK HOLMES and it's a piece of crap. I had kept away from it for a long time because the reboot (read: modernization allegedly needed to make this character palatable to modern viewers/readers) revealed to me by the trailers for the movie showed a character called Sherlock Holmes, but one the was not even close to being Sherlock Holmes. Not the real one.

Okay. I admit I'm not the target audience.

I am not a disenfranchised teen or twenty-something suffering through the depression of becoming an adult and realizing that adulthood has a lot of crap attached to it - so life seems like a big bowl of crap.

It's not - but this movie is.

The gritty facade that backs up the visuals only serves to appeal to the depressed target audience. But Holmes and Watson are Shaggy and Scooby in terms of depth of character. Bad dialogue. Bad pacing. No narrative drive (all the drive comes from the visuals and artsy MTV video editing.)

You know, a movie that is classic appeals to all ages and has iconic qualities.

I use GRAN TORINO for my Visual Storytelling 2 classes. I show it to the students and they all love it. I love it. It has good characters, good pacing, good dialogue, good visuals and a real story.

SHERLOCK HOLMES is the exact opposite of this.

Can't we raise the bar (again, I appeal to you all) for what we watch and what we create to a level that tries for mass appeal versus a small, but profitable, niche?

I don't know. Why do you people like this piece of crap? I'd love to hear why.

Keep writing. Keep drawing.

2010-03-16T05:54:00.000-04:00

http://heroinitiative.blogspot.com/2010/03/ed-hannigan-tribute-art-auction.html

STUDENTS ARE GONE FROM LACOSTE!!

2010-03-09T01:44:00.003-05:00

Today, the remainder of the students here at Lacoste all finally got up and got out of here.

Celebrating is in store!!

Everyone got up early, bright eyed and excited to be on the road again - as evidenced by Billy Evatte's enthusiastic expression.

The sun was rising, leaving a beautiful glow over the Luberon Valley. A bit of snow still glistened off of the mountains and on the streets and trees.

Cary Dube showed his energy level was high. The count down from mission control was started. Everyone decided to board the vehicle for the ensuing blast off to come.

The final bags and provisions were loaded into the space age vehicle that would transport the students to the magical realm of Marseille and the Marignane Airport. No one would be left behind (despite Nick and Josh trying to stay). At 7:15, all was prepared and ready.

The countdown finalized and blast off was commenced with no problems. The first stage was moving forcefully away from the pad. The second stage right behind, soon to return to earth and its origin point.

Thankfully, all went well and the world as we know it will soon be back to normal.

Darn it.

Reality bites. I've enjoyed living in a cocoon for 9 and a half weeks. There's no way that Savannah can compare to this.

Except ... that Sue is there. Thank goodness for that. There's no way that going back would in any way be good without her (and our pets) being there.

Thanks, SCAD for this opportunity. I'm coming home tomorrow.

SUE'S BACK IN THE USA

2010-03-01T21:55:00.002-05:00

But not in this photo.

Here my lovely girl is next to a water wheel in the little burg of Fontaine de Vaucluse. It's such a cool town and I was lucky enough to share it with her twice while she was in France.

We kept telling ourselves, we're driving around and exploring the SOUTH OF FRANCE!!

That's so neat. Thanks SCAD!

More soon.

Tom

The TOREADOR

2010-02-21T06:13:00.003-05:00

Nimes, France

The Coliseum

There's a statue out in front that is pretty cool.
Upon closer inspection, the French have a high opinion of the masculinity of a Bull Fighter.

You decide.

Tom

The Rest of the ANGOULEME' FESTIVAL

2010-02-09T04:48:00.006-05:00

Friday began with the obligatory "action shot" of all the SEQA's as they prepared to save the festival from the hordes of super-villains who were about to descend on the town of Angouleme.

We met some practicing artists in one of the Residences run by Magelis (thanks again to Geraldine Zannier for taking us to and setting up this visit.) Everyone loved all of the artists, but in particular they liked the work of Julien Mauffre. His style of BD illustration was very clean and entertaining with good black placement and texture use. I'd recommend any book by him that you can find. He (and the others) are published by Delcourt.

Saturday began with some BIG, heavy snow flakes descending to the earth in a peaceful and beautiful pattern. The problem is ... many of the female SEQA's were dressed for fun and not for snow. Jolie Menzel took a good butt fall on the wooden bridge over to the festival. She survived, but her Uggs were not the best shoe for the day. She had fun anyway, as did we all.

The problem with Saturday was ...

... EVERYBODY was here that day. It was so hard to get around. It was just about as bad as being at the San Diego Con. It was so much harder to get to anything and with it being spread out over the whole town (unlike San Diego which is all in one building), you would put some mileage on you shoes by the end of the day.

Once the snow stopped, we were left with only wet pavement so that they interesting sights of the festival were able to come out and play. Such as ... costumed people on stilts. I got to high-five this one. She kept twirling around and using the whole volume of her skirt to wrap around people as they walked by.

The final oddity of the con to mention is that ... the French love their American style burgers. So much so that they have a fast food place called QUICK Burger and for their wall decoration they show a scene of Americana ...

... a PHILLIPS 66 Gas Station. Now, that spells A-M-E-R-I-C-A-N!!!

We made it back to Lacoste in time to get some rest and prepare for classes. Our group got back at about 5:30. The group of students who went to Barcelona didn't get back until about 11:00 p.m. so they were all VERY tired on Monday.

One last thing that I saw on the way back ... NUKE PLANT!!!
European nuclear power. Awesome. I wonder how good their regulations are?

PART 1 Angouleme - THE INTERNATIONAL BD (COMICS) FESTIVAL

2010-01-31T12:52:00.006-05:00

On Wednesday, January 27th the Sequential Students at SCAD-Lacoste rose early in the morning and enthusiastically gathered at our bus for departure to the town of Angouleme - home of the International Festival of BD, a yearly event. As you can see, everyone was happy (ha!) to be up at 7:00 a.m.

It was icy and there was snow on the ground from the previous evening. Very eerie looking.

Not one of these students had ever been to this festival, so it was a great opportunity for all of them to wet their feet at one of the biggest festivals centered on comic books in the world.

It was still raining when we arrived in Angouleme and everyone still looked really happy. This photo is actually from Thursday, the 28th of January when we were going for our first day of the actual festival. Madame Geraldine Zannier of ECMA met us at the parking area and took us to the museum of BD - Comic Art. It was a very cool experience.

We went to see the French artist FRED in the afternoon of day one. There was no translator and I had hoped that they would show graphics of his art as a way to help the students with their attention. But there were no graphics and we had about an hour and a half of French that no one understood.

My fault.

I appreciate that the Event Organizer for the festival, Marie-Noelle Bas set up the seats for us at this event. I was mistaken about how much we might be able to get from the "encounter" as they call it. He was a very pleasant man. His work (when we could see the books held up) is interesting. I wish that we could have understood more.

We also had an encounter with the animation school of ECMA and were given a copy of their WHITE ALBUM that shows a selection of their best animated shorts. An animator named TIM had two shorts on the album and they were fantastic. The school was very nice to us and very gracious with their time.

All of the events on Wednesday took up most of the day so that we had very little time to go to the actual festival on the first day. We were able to go to a vernissage/opening of an art show for the Maison Auteurs - a building set up for the availability of economical art studio space so that artists can work on their projects in a comfortable environment.

It was a very neat set up and we met an artist who was an animator. She was quite good.

Finally, as a tribute to SCAD-Savannah Faculty member Dove McHargue I took this photo of Corto Maltese, the statue. The moon was so neat right over his head.

Be jealous, DOVE!!!

Love from France-

Tom

First - AVIGNON!!

2010-01-31T12:13:00.013-05:00

On Tuesday of last week, my TRAVEL PORTFOLIO class went to Avignon for a bit. Bitter cold and stout winds made it hard to work or photograph anything (I almost had my camera blown out of my hands), but it is a beautiful town. We went mainly to the exterior of the Palace of the Popes. We will be visiting the interior (with my letter from SCAD certifying me as an Art History Professor - wow!) on February 9th. Let's hope it warms up some by then.

The wall around the town was built to protect the pope and the palace. It's pretty cool.

Class Members: Sarah Desrossiers, Grace Allison, Peter Larvan (our intrepid and freezing driver and guide), Jolie Menzel, Kyle Maurey, Angela Falvey, Jennifer Bickford, Nick LeBruyne, John Waluskiewicz, Allison Horner, Whitney Leopard (yes, she IS cold, too), Jen Keith, Missy Pena and Margo Nelson

All having more fun than a barrel of monkeys in a refrigerator!!!

The SCAD-Lacoste CAT!!

2010-01-20T17:25:00.002-05:00

Hi all-
Here's the SCAD-Lacoste cat. She climbs all over the place and meows and purrs and generally has adopted all of us at this end of the campus. She ADORES Professor Daniel Brown. She has climbed into his apartment here many times. She was waiting for me in the doorway across from my apartment one morning - meowing away at me.
Yesterday she was perched on the post that is part of the gates going up to Pitot (the rooms - I'm in Daniel behind all of this) and I tried to photograph her ... and instead caught her in a great action shot!!

27 pages of plot done. More to come by Friday.

Tom

Travel Portfolio Trip: FONTAINE de VAUCLUSE

2010-01-19T18:12:00.005-05:00

For my Travel Portfolio class, today we went to the small, but beautiful French Village of Fontaine de Vaucluse which is 30 minutes NW of the Lacoste campus. It's a very unique town that has a river (which is very active right now thanks to melting snow - yeah, that snow from earlier) which runs right down the side of it. The most unique part is that this river is fed from a huge spring at the bottom of a cave (which no one has been able to find the bottom of yet - manned or unmanned mission). The pool at the source seems so calm, yet within 10 feet of that pool start the roaring rapids - going downhill and past the town.

It's all very beautiful as you can see.

The shot of me by the water wheel is from a bridge/street that crosses right over the water and into the main part of the town.

These two shots are from the pool - the source - at the top of the hill.

Surrounding the village and water are the coolest cliffs and caves. and some very neat looking stalagmite formations on the face of the cliffs. The rock around here in France is so worn and old and just plain neat looking that you know you're in a place that has magic.

There's a chateau of some sort that you can see on the top of the rock formations here. In the one shot, students in my class - Angela Falvey and Nick DeBruyne - are looking up at this amazing wonder of nature.

It's just so cool. If Sue were here, it would be perfect.

We will be going back there some time later in the quarter. I'm sure that the water won't be running quite so intensely. This land is beautiful. How can you not appreciate this?

My FRENCH DUCK Experience!!!

2010-01-17T16:42:00.002-05:00

Went to L'isle sur la Sorgue today and met a French duck.

He didn't quack in French.

Amazing!

Tom

Beautiful places that are very OLD!

2010-01-15T15:30:00.006-05:00

Living in the US, we have no idea what old really is. 200 years old is a miracle in the US, but that's just a baby here in France. While in Lacoste, I can't help but think about all the people who've been by the buildings I look at.

And yesterday, we went to a church in Bonnieux that was built in the 1100's, but it also had a sacrificial altar (glad we don't do that anymore) from the 7th or 8th century. It was slick with wear and age and I got to touch it.

I'm enclosing a photo of my TRAVEL PORTFOLIO class inside the church with our pleasant tour guide and keeper of the key, Monsieur Vincent Gils. I did an ink drawing of a nativity scene inside the chapel that he had made at age 14. I had the whole class sign it and we presented it to him as a gift for taking time to open the church for us. That's the drawing that he's holding in his hands in the group photograph. It was a marvelous trip and it was great to be indoors yesterday since the winds were blowing mercilessly all around.

It was still very cold - even inside the chapel, though.

Today was very calm and beautiful ... and MUCH warmer. Much more what everyone would like it to be like around here every day.

Education is happening ... even with all the fun. It's pretty cool to be over here.

Hey! On Wednesday, I FINALLY BROKE THE ICE AND STARTED DOING THE PANEL TO PANEL PLOT FOR MY GRAPHIC NOVEL. And I got 20 pages plotted. The story is flowing out nicely. I am going to work more on that this weekend. I'll let you all know how it goes. Thanks for all the support regarding my work.

More to come-
Tom

MORE SNOW with all the Students Here!!

2010-01-09T07:48:00.002-05:00

No trip to Apt for supplies today. Too much snow. The group shot is of our first breakfast all together. It's very cold and still snowing, but not all that much. Probably about 8" has fallen, but it's getting beaten down so much that it's not anywhere close to that thick.

The students are bored.

But they at least have computer access. The can Facebook themselves to death!!!!

Some really good kids here. It seems like a fun group. We should be really productive and have some good fun while doing it.

More later.

Tom

SNOW in Lacoste!!!

2010-01-08T08:56:00.006-05:00

It looks beautiful , BUT ....

the students are due today. All of the buses were canceled, so SCAD is driving vans back and forth from Marseille all day today as we get our charges to the campus.

Hopefully no busted butts!!

Vive' la France!!

Tom

Six and a half hours later:
Guess who slipped on ice and whacked his tail bone pretty well?
You BET!!
It was me.
I'm just sore. Nothing busted.

Tom Lyle Passed His Driving Test In France Today

2010-01-07T10:49:00.002-05:00

Here's Nicola ... my test manager.
He wasn't TOO scared driving with me.

Students are coming tomorrow.

Tom

TOM LYLE IS IN FRANCE AND WORKING TOO HARD!

2010-01-06T14:43:00.003-05:00

Hey all-
I'm in Lacoste, France for 9 weeks teaching for SCAD this quarter. I've had a TON of meetings so far this week and today we went driving for about 90 minutes and actually got to explore a bit.

Whoopeee.

I'm working hard, but it is France after all, so it can't be all bad.

Here's an assortment of pictures around the village of Lacoste.
The one of my cat is back in the US. Pursia wanted to come with me.
I had to settle for a photo.

OLD MAN RANT #1

2009-12-31T17:20:00.003-05:00

Hey. When did people stop learning how to be courteous about waiting in line? Or, better yet, realizing that people are in line ahead of them and then waiting?

I've had many incidents in the last year with people just walking right past a line and going ahead of others already waiting (myself included as one of those waiting). I confronted one a while back and was accused of being a racist. All is said was, "You do realize that all of us were waiting in line here before you?"

C'mon. Let's try to be nice to each other and find some common decency and courtesy for the new year.

Now, the old man part:
I think that some of this behavior comes from less structure in school that allows people to become even more self-obsessed than they would be otherwise. Too many "entitled" acting folks going around. Most are young.

The older people who behave that way are just jerks. They have no other excuse.

Wow. Two negative posts in a row. What a way to end a year!!!!!!

I'll be in Lacoste by Monday, so more to come ... from FRANCE!!

Tom

WOW! Where has this Creep Been?

2009-12-09T07:06:00.003-05:00

Or ... IS THIS ANY WAY TO RUN A BLOG?

I've been gone from the blog world for quite a while now. Part of it is being busy as a teacher at SCAD, but a good deal of it has been from a lack of knowledge of what to talk about. I've been at odds with where to go with my work and I didn't want to try and figure it out in public.

I need to be drawing something.

Here's some personal stuff ... and don't get me wrong - I'm not whining. I have felt guided towards my decision as to what to work on for a long time, but I've fought it.

Who knows why? I think mostly the fear of the unknown. Can I draw something new that "seems" new? Those "you suck as an artist" voices have been loud, but not too loud. But I've listened to them and seen my limitations.

And I haven't been happy with what I saw.

So, here's the deal:
I'm going to be in Lacoste, France for the winter quarter of 2010 teaching for SCAD (tough gig, I know, but somebody has to do it) and while there I'll be plotting and laying out the graphic novel that I've been talking about for three to four years now.

Seems about time to work on it.

I need an outlet for Tom and Tom's art and this seems to be the best solution. It also works towards my goal of doing film as I think that this story would make a great film.

Starting in January, I'll try to post some of my work process. In particular, how I work plot form even when writing for myself. I much prefer it.

I already have the basic story arc developed in my head. Now, I have to get it down on paper with the proper pacing AND choose the correct/best stories to use from my life as the stories I'm "telling" within the story of my graphic novel.

I hope you're intrigued. I am. And just a little bit scared. But I'll get over that.

Thanks for being patient with me about my posts.

Tom

Btw, here's a piece of art from my solo art show of comic illustration that was at a gallery in Brunswick, GA for the month of November. It was a great show. Pencils and inks are by me. Colors are by SCAD Grad Student, Kate Kasenow - a fine artist in her own right.

The black and white art for this sold at the show opening. Cool.

Questions for Sequential Art Creators (and others)

2009-06-13T08:24:00.005-04:00

Angel Hill's comments in the discussion box of the last post got me thinking.

(Btw, thanks to everybody for their posts. It keeps me thinking about stuff and lets me know how you guys are thinking, too.)

Here's one of the things that occurs to me all the time:
Why are you spending so much money on a degree if you're thinking so small potatoes in terms of income with the projects you take on?

I regret that the best money seems to be just in the mainstream. I wish that we had a system more like the European Market where the creators make decent money and are revered like gods. I could stand that.

That said, the realities of the system as it stands is that most of you probably won't make much money in this field UNLESS ... you help to create the change.

What is the change?

I don't know, but I see it in my head as a morphing or transformation of both the material we produce and the public's perception of it to a point that helps us earn what we really are worth for the skillset that we possess as sequential artists.

That puts the pressure on us (I know I'm not you guys' age, but I am still trying to make myself happy as a sequential arts creator, too) to create better material. Not deeper. Just better.

That's why I keep harping on how low the lowest common denominator aspect of most material that I see being created is. I had a very long discussion with a student yesterday about the validity of a zombie blood fest just for the sake of it versus a story with some characters that I give a crap about and scenarios that maybe I haven't totally seen before.

There may be a place for the zombie thrill ride of superficiality, but I think to fall to that option as your first choice (I hear all your ideas as a professor and I must say that most of you have superficial tastes at this point - as I tried to point out in my previous post, so did I at that point) is a mistake. Please shoot higher.

How do you enhance your taste and be more relevant as a creator?

Live life. Read a lot (read more than just what you're used to.) Talk to others with an open mind. Keep your options open, but give a crap about stuff. (That is - BE PASSIONATE.) Know that we all have a place here and that what we do matters - and it does influence others, so be aware of what you put out there. Study all the time. Never get lazy about your talent - it can leave you (or at the very least - deteriorate) if you let it atrophy through not pushing to get better all the time. Celebrate every accomplishment, no matter how small. Read more. Think about stuff. Think about others. Watch others. Help others.

Wow. I sound really New Age here, don't I?

Look. I'm just pushing for us all to get the most out of our lives that we can. Be part of the change, please. Go out and create stuff. Be willing to change. Be willing to grow. We never have all the answers.

Well, enough of this for now. Later, folks.

Tom

(Btw, the image above is a "tight thumbnail" that I did for the Chickasaw Adventures people for a book called JUSTICE CASE FILES. I have been brought in as a storytelling specialist for their project. They were having camera angle difficulties. This art was created digitally using the Cintiq. Interesting way to work for roughs and thumbs. Try it out some time. Take note that I allowed space for the word balloons. Do you see them in the blue line art? )

Something a Little Less Sweeping

2009-06-06T16:23:00.003-04:00

Hey-
I've been writing about stuff in really broad strokes lately. That's a habit I've gotten into in class and I need to watch out that I don't sound a) too old-farty, b) inflexible and c) tunnel-visioned. Now, look, I know that tastes change. I was not able to watch all the films that are available today when I was in college because VCR's were still not around for the general public. At least, not where I was.

I also had the taste of a horny 19 year old. To Steve Gellar's dismay, my main recollection of SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE (which he did the screenplay adaptation for) is Valerie Perrine running around naked. Yep. Class. That's me.

I'm really pushing my students and myself to see what we can do to raise the bar and get our medium looked at differently, but I really don't think that it can happen in our lifetimes. Too much already ingrained into the American Psyche (not psycho).

I think that we can produce some quality (in all genres of story and art) material in the next few years and help that goal, but I don't think we'll be revered like the European artists are.

I am constantly being told how much "extra time" that the European artists take on their projects because they take "a week a page." Again, as I've said in class, if I were to write, pencil, letter, ink and color a page - it would take me a week, too. The American studio division of labor was created to circumvent that.

Do we need to go to a "one person did it all" type of genre in order to be taken more seriously as an art form? Why cannot collaborations be taken just as seriously?

Now, I admit - the majority of mainstream stuff out there is pure crap.

That's not helping matters, either.

So, I do my job the best I can and hope for the best? Or do I work towards a loftier goal and end result and help "create the change?"

My main attraction to doing mainstream work at this point is two-fold:
1) the money is good (not great, but good) , and
2) I am addicted to the accolades that you get from fans of that medium.

I also am petty in that I wanted to prove to the mainstream publishers that I still have it in me. I'm still viable.

I did have some fun doing the VIGILANTE stuff, but the schedule was grueling and the end result was not satisfactory on many levels. Rushed work is just that - rushed work. I did a great job within the painfully short deadlines given, though.

Well, enough about me. I'm rambling as I figure out where to go from here.

I think I'm going to do the mainstream samples that I mentioned and then see where I go from there.

What's everybody working on this summer?

More later.

Tom

More Discussions? Hey. Where'd Everybody GO!?!?

2009-06-03T18:00:00.006-04:00

Hey-
We still need to talk about this issue of expectations and how I think the recent grads have been raised with lower expectations in certain areas and a sense of "entitlement" in other areas. These lower expectations have resulted in more crap movies and TV shows than used to be made. They make slick crap now instead of crappy crap. Take GRIND HOUSE, for instance. It looks bad intentionally, but that style of movie used to be made on the cheap. Now -- we have MICHAEL BAY!!

The king of slick crap.

Well, this is all coming up as part of this "discussion" because of Derek Diaz's comments from two posts back. Here's part of what he said:
I think part of the reception (referring to my concern and amusement over being dated because of background use - Tom) comes from the fact that your team-up with Hanna is a throwback and causes people to think its "dated" simply because they haven't seen your name in so long. Comics are just as nasty as any other media when it comes to moving on. Hardly anything is considered timeless. In one day, out the next. And I think that it doesn't have as much to do with the artwork as when you saw the guy last. Its a topic I've wondered about concerning my own work, wondering if I'll be able to stay "current" and "relevant" throughout my career. I would definitely assert that the guys who stay working as popular conventions evolve, have it much easier, they adapt naturally as time goes by. You're coming back into the game at a time when the focus has shifted from storytelling to "pretty pictures". Which is a bummer. And it leaves people looking at your work through blurred vision. I think there's just a different expectation now, good or bad as it might be.

Yep. If you stay busy, you morph as you go along. I think that I'm mostly concerned with some dated layout stuff that I do. As far as dropping backgrounds ... I don't know. I might try it. I just happen to like detail.

You should all be concerned with staying "relevant" and "current" in any industry, but as Derek points out, comics has a short memory unless you stay active. John Byrne is almost unknown at this point and he was the "KING" of the industry in the late 70's and early 80's.

Come on. Let's hear some more on this kind of stuff.

Why are you recent grads so willing to absorb, accept and even "embrace" crap? There's a lot of bad stuff out there. I know I'm petty, but I'm glad that Miller's SPIRIT movie did poorly. It was someone else, not the Spirit, stuck into his already existing Sin City universe.

SPRING QUARTER is over!! Long live summer. I am teaching this summer.

Good luck to all the recent grads of SCAD and anywhere else.

Tom

More ART Discussion

2009-05-31T10:17:00.003-04:00

Hi -
This thread of conversation is making for an interesting run on the blog, so I'm going to copy pieces of a couple of the comments from the previous post and add to them. Here goes.

From my illustrious former student Andrew Sides, this was said:
I don't buy the argument for a lack of backgrounds though, and especially using Manga or any other non-American comic art as influence. As sad as it might be, the level of expectation is probably a lot lower than we expect. Manga art has lack of backgrounds? Some of it might, but a lot of has as much detailed effort put into it as anywhere else.

Andrew's comment about the lower level of expectation is one of the things that has been on my mind the entire time that I've been teaching. I think that the low level of pop culture influence has had a "lowest common denominator" influence on the current generation to where they settle for less and get enjoyment from that lesser material that I just cannot find.

I love certain Manga material, by the way. GON is extremely fun and fun to look at. There are others, but that is my current fave.

I am constantly striving to raise the bar of expectations from students, partly so that the material will become consistently better and then maybe we can all make what we're worth.

I have some comments on Derek Diaz's post from my last one, but I've got to finish grading, so more on that later.

In the meantime, here's another layout page.

Tom

More stuff about ART!

2009-05-27T01:44:00.003-04:00

So-
I've got some lively commentary going here.
Thanks, Melanie. Nice comments. I'm going to comment in detail about one comment post and I hope he doesn't mind, but I'm going to paste it into the body here. So, here goes:

I think the lack of backgrounds is really attributed to the influence and influx of manga over the last decade, and you coming up and making your career in the hayday of the "american/image" style comics puts you on kind of the other end of the spectrum. You said something to Cornell today about how he wanted to do something so bad he didn't see it was hurting him. I know your playing one side hard because of the review so I'm just playing devil's advocate as you do for me, but as I mentioned - "dated" does not imply bad, just not-modern. All your mentors/idols would probably like your work because they holds similar values to you when it comes to sequential art, but if those same artists that influenced you (that I know of) made comics today they would be considered dated too. I saw a addendum mini-issue that james has in the new printing of BWS weapon-x and its digiatly colored. His style doesnt work with the times, its great in it's element but seeing it now a days is a little "fish out of water" for me. Still like your art Tom, and get where your coming from, these are just my thoughts. Even major players around the same early-90's point like McFarlane, Joe Mad! and Miller were influenced by Manga/Anime so more than a decade later and with Manga giving American Comics a run for their money, and market - even a different demographic entirely - and the fact that your marketing to at least one entire generation after your 90's work - this is the "Manga generation." Any negative connotation with "dated-look" probably comes from all the hacks who got jobs using all those "American" pseudo-Jim Lee rendering techniques everyone got burnt out on. I get that much of their "style" comes form cutting corners and that aspect you should stay away from, but there are some powerful things you may be missing out on by not letting it influence you. But backgrounds are a small thing in the overall scheme of "east vs. west" and I dont see them as being distracting or detracting from your art, so... Phew.

I think that he makes some good points here. I keep pushing my students and it's nice to be pushed back. I'm really tired of drawing the same stuff, so I am trying to modify what I do. I think also that Xaq makes a cogent comment that maybe the reviewer didn't mean "dated" to be as negative as I took it. 10 years doesn't seem like much to me now at 55, but it's an eternity in the publishing business.

There are things about layouts and drawing that I do garner from looking at the eastern influence (and, oh yes, I do look at it despite my reputation as a Manga-hater), but I'm still very cold on many aspects of it and lack of backgrounds is my biggest pet peeve.

So, I'm actually trying to decide if this is all pushing me to try and work on something that would challenge me and help me to change ... and what is that project, eh?

I still have never started my slightly fictionalized memoir/autobiography story even though I've planned and plotted a great deal of it out. Does that challenge me ... to do something with "normal" people?

Well, keep the comments going and in the meantime I'll post another page of layouts from issue #6 of Vigilante.

I do know, by the way, that some of this angst that I'm feeling is the result of getting older and feeling a bit like a dinosaur. I do think I have something to offer still (as do my students, thank God), but I feel a little like I need to raise the bar and figure some stuff out.

It'll all happen. I've had nothing but good in my life for a long time now. I just like playing the devil's advocate and it's kind of fun to have a student do it back at me.

Later, folks.

Tom

So, I NEVER POST OR FINISH A STORY. Kill me, then.

2009-05-24T20:01:00.003-04:00

Hi-
I figure you've all guessed that the visit to DC was more successful (so far) than the visit to Marvel. I just had issue #6 of VIGILANTE come out from DC this week and it was okay. I must admit that I think my layouts looked much better than the finished piece, but everything was SO rushed I am surprised it looks anywhere as close to good as it does.

Here's my rant for this post. I've read the reviews for 5 and 6 (my two issues for now) and I am irritated and amused that in one of the recent ones my art was classified "dated" because of the amount of background detail I have in the panels.

Yeah. Heaven forbid we should actually be able to tell where we are in the story.

I'm kind of torqued that you guys settle for crappy storytelling and lazy, pin-up art instead of a solid, well-drawn story.

Now, I admit, I think that there are aspects of my storytelling that need updating, but BACKGROUNDS!!

Gimme a break.

I'd love to hear about it from you.

I'm posting a layout for you to compare to the finished art.

See ya soon, I hope.

Tom

Still alive!!!

2009-03-17T20:05:00.001-04:00

Hey. I'll put up the rest of my NY story tomorrow and also give a career update.
Thanks.

Tom

OKAY ... the details of Scott and Tom's NYC Adventure!!

2009-01-03T15:01:00.008-05:00

TOM LYLE CONQUERS NEW YORK CITY!! DETAILS AT 11:00!

Well, here goes:
You've seen the pictures of my ROBIN page layouts in a previous post, but I'll post three pages of the inks/finishes that Scott did over my work later on this post.

It's been since 2003 since I've been to New York, but as always I felt very at home there. Sue and I left on Saturday, the 13th of December with freshly deposited SCAD Presidential Fellowship money in the checking account making this trip possible at all.

We stayed in Petersburg, Virginia the first night. Very uneventful trip so far. I-95 is extremely dull to me. Traffic wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either.

Using my brother-in-law's TomTom (how appropriate for me to use that GPS device), we drove a lovely path around Philadelphia into rural Pennsylvania on the way to Scott Hanna's house in Reigelsville. Those old, stone farmhouses are beautiful. It was great to see all of that after two days of mostly concrete and crap to see.

A good friend and major fan of both Scott and me, Doug Resnick (with his lovely wife, Chris, whom I finally got to meet) was kind enough to treat Scott, his lovely and talented wife Pamela Ptak, myself, and my lovely and talented wife Sue to dinner at a really nice Inn in Riegelsville. Good conversation and good friends with a beautiful fireplace glowing nicely in the background. It was a great start to a fun trip.

That evening, Scott and I prepared for our Monday assault on Marvel Comics' offices by copying and assembling the remainder (his ink pages ... I already had my breakdowns copied and ready) of our sample page packets to hand out. Our names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses on the back of each page of the sample packet. Take note, Tom Lyle students!!!

Here's the splash page finished by Scott:

Well, on to bed and getting ready for our trip on Monday, the 15th of December. Our first appointment is at 10:30 am, so we need to leave by 8:00 am in order to drive and get into Manhattan in time.

After a busy drive (I can't believe that people make that commute every day of the week) with no big problems, Scott, Sue and I arrive in NYC ready to rock.

Having never been to Marvel's new offices, I relied on Scott knowing about where Marvel is on 5th Avenue and he says we can walk there easily. Well, it's further than he thinks, so we arrive at the lobby of Marvel just in time for our first appointment.

We need not have rushed. Chris Allo is no where to be found. I have appointments with at least 10 people at Marvel and 10 at DC for the next two days, but this is not a great start to our mission. I even call Chris' personal cell phone number (I'm special!!!) and get no answer. I find out later that he had a family emergency to deal with, but at the time we were majorly disappointed. Chris is fine in our books, though.

Here's another of the pages he missed seeing in person at the time (just kidding, Chris!)

After that, we had three of our five pre-lunch appointments not see us at Marvel, plus we were not taken into the editorial offices. Instead we were interviewed in a conference room near the lobby. Odd.

I think it was a matter of the work day being nuts and no one wanted to really have to deal with us because of that. I knew we were pushing it coming to NYC so close to Christmas, but I had to push the trip to a week later in order to accomodate a meeting with Dan DiDio at DC and also to wait for the money from the Presidential Fellowship get deposited. It all worked out great, but it was hectic.

In the afternoon, things got better and we were taken down into the editorial offices and had all the meetings that were scheduled and more. Good responses from everyone about our pages. We were also really intent on selling the fact that we can produce a finished book together in one month - two weeks for me to do breakdowns and two weeks for Scott to do finishes. This is unheard of in the day and age. Lots of extra interest because of that.

Not being shy, I saw Joe Quesada in his office, so I stuck my head inside, apologized for interrupting his lunch and just said HI and told him that Hanna and I were in the offices selling ourselves as a breakdown/finishes team. He was gracious and said HI back and we chatted a moment before I moved on with a nice parting.

Here's the last page of finishes that I have a copy of at this time. Scott did page 5 (mostly) as well, but I don't have a copy of that.
All in all, our time went fairly well at Marvel. The coolest difference from when I used to go there in the past is cell phone technology. While we were stuck in the lobby of Marvel waiting to see about appointments that might or might not happen, I was on the phone calling to see if we could get new or revised appointments. That is so cool.

No one offered an assignment, but we left with a good feeling. The weather was gorgeous. It was almost 70 degrees on Monday. Very unusual for New York in mid December.

Tomorrow at DC Comics. I haven't worked there regularly since 1993, so it is interesting to return.

We drive back to Scott's house to stay for Monday night. Tuesday we (Sue and me, that is) will be staying in town and Scott will take the bus back home.

After a Monday night dinner, Scott and I get the sample page packets together for the assault on DC.

Tuesday arrives and I'll give you details about that in my next post. In the mean time, here's another photo from our trip:

NEW YEAR - Same Tom!!

2008-12-30T09:15:00.001-05:00

More on my trip to New York City later, but for now I just want you guys to see Sue and me by the big Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center.
Some nice tourist asked us to take their picture and they took ours.
But not our camera!!!
Later folks.

Tom

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!!

2008-12-14T06:43:00.002-05:00

Well, the trip to New York City was delayed by one week, so I'm in Virginia today and on my way to Scott Hanna's house. Monday we'll be meeting with a bunch of edtors at Marvel and Tuesday is our DC Comics day. I haven't been to New York for this kind of thing since 2003, but it seems fine. I'm not nervous. I know I can do this stuff.
So, we'll see what happens and I'll try to post some pictures from my trip as well when I get back next week.

Later.
Tom

Wow! Hello! New Art from Tom

2008-11-22T16:29:00.002-05:00

Hi all. It was a hectic fall quarter (my fourth at SCAD), but it's over and I'm working on some new sample pages to be inked by Scott Hanna. We are going to make another push to get some mainstream work from Marvel or DC. I did the first five pages of issue 170 of ROBIN using a script that Chuck Dixon had sent me.
It's the first time I've had a chance to draw Batman or Robin in quite a long time and I must say I had a great time.
If all goes as planned, I'll be going into New York City with Scott sometime during the week of December 8 to 12.
Here's the first 5 pages - pages 2 and 3 are a double page spread:

Some Old Pencil Art

2008-09-03T23:10:00.004-04:00

MUTANT X

Back in 2000 I became the penciler for MUTANT X and got to work again with Howard Mackie, my co-conspirator on SPIDER-MAN. I was generally enjoying the book and definitely enjoying the work, but two things were causing problems at the time. One: my mom had suffered a stroke in June of 2000. She was in the hospital for some time, but when she didn't die some people wondered why I was affected by it. Not my editor, Jason Liebig, but some others. Two: the atmosphere in comics at the time was highly charged because Marvel had fallen on hard financial times and everyone was seeing books get cancelled and artists losing their jobs. I had started drawing with a "got to please the editor" attitude first and foremost in my mind when I had always drawn with a "got to please myself" attitude first for all of my career before that.
In the end, my art suffered because of an atmosphere of fear.
No one can do well with that going on.
That said, here are four pages from issue 23 of MUTANT X. My figure work is good, but I'm skimping on backgrounds BIG TIME in an effort to save time. Not good.
I like the look of these overall. If you want, you can fill in the "X" areas with black as that was what the inker was supposed to do and you'll see that the pages would have worked fine as they are, but they should have and could have been so much better.
What do you guys think?

SEPTEMBER IS HERE!!!
Where did the year go?????

Yet another Memoriam! Too many. Too soon.

2008-08-17T21:16:00.011-04:00

IN MEMORIAM - ROBBIE GREENBERGER

BOB GREENBERGER gave me my first work for a major comics company. In late 1987 Bob gave me the new title STARMAN to work on as it's penciler. I designed the character sheets and started to work on the pencils for the actual monthly comic in early 1988 around the time that his son, Robbie, was born.

I never had the pleasure of meeting Robbie and now I never will. Robbie Greenberger was taken from this world, in what I say was, way too early. God had different plans for him.

Leukemia took him from us. Let these types of things remind us all to live our lives to the fullest ... and to fully appreciate friends, family and loved ones while they're here.

I hope that Bob, his wife Deb and their daughter, Katie, can find some peace over this some day. They say time heals. I hope so.

I owe Bob so much and I think that his son and family deserve some kind thoughts, love and energy from us all. I know that I am trying to send that.

Please go to Bob's site and read his touching blog detailing the entire arc of his son's heroic and valiant struggle against leukemia. Bob's website can be found at www.bobgreenberger.com.

I would also encourage any of you that can to register with the bone marrow registry at the address that Bob mentions on his website. bone marrow registry

Please help others.

Here's a note from the family: "In lieu of flowers, contributions in Robbie’s memory may be made to The Tommy Fund for Childhood Cancer, Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital, 20 York Street, New Haven, CT 06511-3202 (www.tommyfund.org). For information or to offer an online condolence please visit www.spearmillerfuneralhome.com"

God bless you all. God bless you, Robbie.

New ART Pages

2008-07-16T11:36:00.003-04:00

Here's four more pages of layouts from CHICKASAW ADVENTURES #5 that I did back in 2006. I did a very tight job on these. The layouts were done at a 6" x 9" size and I blow them up, print them out on bristol board in blue and then ink directly over the layouts instead of doing finished pencils. I try to add more black placement on the finished art than I do here, but I do try to make sure I place a good bit of the black areas even on my layouts.

I even try to work out my perspective (when I have a background that needs more than a horizon line) at this size so that the vanishing points aren't too far out for the page.

Take care.

Tom

More TOM-Foolery!!

2008-07-01T00:08:00.002-04:00

Hey! Guess who this manly young man is?

I know, I'm getting to be a pain with all these pictures and stuff. I'm just having fun looking at some stuff from the past.

If you guessed Tom Lyle, you'd be mostly right. I was still "Tommy" at that point ... but don't call me that now. Only my mom could call me that and get away with it.

This is from about the second grade.

I'll put some Tom Lyle art up in a day or two.

Later, Gator!!

GEEK TIME!!

2008-06-25T07:11:00.002-04:00

I was so flattered and thrilled to see a young man dressed as the SCARLET SPIDER at last weekend's HEROES CON. I was the designer of that costume and I must admit it's really fun to see someone take the time to make and wear a costume of a character that you designed.

His name was Thomas (as is my full, real name) and he was nice enough to provide a link to the photo that his friends took of us together. I'm attaching it.

As you can see, I'm not in costume. I'm not quite in shape for it right now. But I have started jogging again since my father's death. So, hopefully I'll be more svelt by next year's con.

Thanks, Thomas. I'm really geeking out on this.

Tom

REAL Heroes Con Photos and INFO

2008-06-24T17:06:00.006-04:00

Hi all-
First off, let me say that I'm overwhelmed by Matt Wieringo's scholarship in his brother's name that is to be awarded to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) where I am currently teaching. For all the info, you can read about it at Newsarama.

His brother, Mike passed away very prematurely and this will add to Mike's already voluminous legacy in such a positive manner. I thank everyone at HEROES CON (Todd Dezago and company) who was helping to raise money for the scholarhship. Some very deserving students will be helped a great deal by this effort.

Now, for photos from the show. That second one up there scares me. I've always been accused by my wife of being a mouth breather ... this confirms it.
;-)

In the first photo, featured prominently is Diana (Shazzbaa) Bennett. She was at last year's con and this was her second Heroes Con. She and all the other student volunteers (that's Andrew Greenstone sitting down) were a huge help. We couldn't have done it without them.

Btw, these photos are from famous SCAD Professor and new Sequential Department Chair, David Duncan. Go see more photos and info on David's site Gobnobble.

We'll be at HEROES CON next year as well. COME AND SEE US!!!

HEROES CON REPORT

2008-06-23T07:28:00.002-04:00

HEROES CON 2008 was in Charlotte, NC this last weekend. SCAD had a huge presence and it was fun. SCAD professors and one grad student conducted 7 workshops on varying topics around
Sequential Art and they all went well. Of course, yours truly went with his normal skill set and his workshop was on "Superhero Anatomy".

I want to thank all the teachers and students who helped. They were all great.

I have no pictures ... yet. I hope to have some soon. For now, you'll have to settle for this picture from last year's Heroes Con.

The summer quarter at SCAD starts today, so I'll be busy despite being tired as heck from the convention and the drive home.

Thinking about the Past!

2008-06-10T22:06:00.004-04:00

Well ...
guess who this little, precious wonder is!

If you guessed a future teacher at SCAD, then you are so genius.

This is little Tom Lyle at about age 2 with his Easter Basket full of fun stuff. I love this picture because I'm smiling so big. I was a shy kid except in front of a camera. What a ham!

I used to like to act out the songs from commerials on TV from back then. You'd have thought I'd become an actor, but ... no, I had to become a comic artist.

Spider-Man never knew I was coming.

Dad's funeral is tomorrow. I'll be teaching summer school starting on the 23rd. I will also be in Charlotte the weekend right before school starts for the Heroes Con. Come and see me.

I'm kind of not posting much art, am I? I'll start back with some soon.
See ya.

Henry Durham Lyle, Sr. 1914-2008

2008-06-05T15:30:00.004-04:00

HENRY DURHAM LYLE, SR - My DAD!!

My dad passed away today at about 11:00 am this morning. He was 94 years old. I remember the good and the bad things, but I'll tell you ... that man did pretty good raising three wildly divergent and different boys.

I've always been intrigued by the changes in life and society that my dad saw in his life. I mean, movies, airplanes and cars were very new when he was born.

The photo to the right is one of my mom and dad from Christmas of 1955. I would have been 2 years old. My brother Larry would have been 5 and Sandy would have been 8. What a dress, eh?

Anyway, I got to be with dad over the weekend and on Monday for his last really lucid days. I really appreciate that I was able to be there for that.

My dad was sent back to his home in Williston, Florida by Hospice, so he got to die in the home that he lived with my mom in at the end of her life as well. I think that being there made him happier. He was definitely ready to go to the Lord. I know that he missed mom tremendously. They were married for 67 years after all.

The photo to the left is from the summer of 1959 - July to be exact. I was 5. My brother Sandy is behind me - he is 11. My brother Larry is in the back - he is 8. That's my Daddio in those neat-o plaid slippers on the back steps of the house on Oak Street in Jacksonville. 2910 Oak Street to be exact ... again.

Larry has been gone for 13 years now. He died of AIDS in 1994.

Sandy is still here and strong as a horse. It's down to me and him now. I want to acknowledge that my brother was at the bedside for both my mother and my father's passing. I'm glad that they were not alone.

I was getting ready to go back to Florida tomorrow to be with dad, but ... at least I was able to say all my goodbyes on Monday.

I was lucky to have both of my parents for so long. It's just really odd trying to get used to the idea that the Lyle, family of 5, is now down to 2.

Say a brief prayer for every parent and thanks to all for your support.

Coming Soon!!

2008-06-04T18:54:00.003-04:00

Well, here I am with some more art - a con sketch from last year's HEROES CON - and no more news about my dad.

Dad is deteriorating rapidly and will probably move up to heaven within a day or two.

I am learning to deal with changes and no parents. Kind of weird, I must say.

My brother and I are not that close, but I do know that I want to have a relationship with him. However, the graphic novel story that I want to do involves both of us, family stuff, and personal stuff for me and I think he may not like what I do with it.

My wife, Sue, says to "write fearlessly" and to not worry about reactions from family or friends.

I will try to remember that.

Summer school starts June 23rd and I am teaching four classes again this year. I need the money and I like how easy the classes are with 8 or less students in each class.

Everyone be good and keep plugging. More tomorrow or Friday. I'll be away from home from Friday on with no access to the internet, so I won't be able to post for awhile after the next couple of day.

Best-
Tom

Promises, PROMISES!!!

2008-06-03T09:35:00.004-04:00

All right!
I'm back.
I'm alive.
I will post more often.
I will post art AND pictures.
I will not be a bum.

But ... just to fill you in:
It appears that life marches on.
I have just come back from two days in Jacksonville, Florida where my dad is (or was) living. He went into the hospital on May 29th and is now headed back to his house in Williston, Florida where he and my mom lived for 10 years to be under Hospice care. He is going to die and soon and I will have lost both parents in 6 months. That said, I've had them for a long time. My dad is 94. He regaled us with lots of stories this weekend ... and he had some life confessions. He, however, is fully ready to move on to the afterlife and be with my mom and brother in heaven ... and that's okay.

I'll be fine. I'm sad, but okay. I'm in Savannah until later this week, then I'm driving back down to FL to see my dad before he goes.

On a positive note:
I'll be at HEROES CON in June as a SCAD representative.
Come by and see me there.

The art posted is two pages of my tight roughs from CHICKASAW ADVENTURES #5. That's how tight I work. The originals are 6" x 9" for the actual art area. Small, but proportional to the final page. More to come.

Take care.

Tom

Still Alive!!

2008-03-21T04:54:00.004-04:00

Hey all-
To those of you asking about commissions ... I'm not currently doing them. By the summer I may have time. I'm trying to get finished with a huge job before I take on anything.

Sorry to have been so long between posts. I've been really busy with school - teaching at SCAD!

I'm taking on 5 classes for Spring quarter, so I'll likely be fairly unavailable again.

I haven't heard a thing from Marvel or DC in quite a while, so I'm pursuing other options. If they call, terrific. If they don't, life goes on and I can quite enjoy it.

I appreciate all the support since my Mom died in November. I've found out about a friend who has died two years ago (we lost contact with each other) and so I keep getting reminded of my mortality. Darn it.

My health is good. My wife, Sue, is doing great. Savannah is fine. SCAD is terrific. I'll post some new artwork soon.

In the meantime, here's a header I created for one of the Drawing classes I teach. Fun, huh?

See you all soon.

Tom

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

2007-12-21T07:01:00.000-05:00

Best to everyone for the holidays.

Hope you're all safe and happy.

See you soon.

Tom

JEALOUSY!!!

2007-12-06T18:51:00.001-05:00

Wish I were in Japan, too.
Hope you guys had fun.

Tom

My MOM!!!

2007-12-06T18:24:00.000-05:00

Well, I finally have to face some death again.
My brother died back in 1994. Now, my mom has died.
She died on November 26th.
I'm okay. I'm very concerned about my dad, but I'll be spending time with him over the holidays.
Say a little prayer for him (and for mom) and I'll be happy.
Thanks for all your support.

Tom

DAN SHURTLEFF - where are you??

2007-11-18T06:16:00.000-05:00

I should read the replies to my posts more often, Dan. I just saw that you wrote me a while back.
It edited out your email address, so just let me know your username and I'll write you. I'm tlyle49 and I use the same email company that you do.

Good to hear from you. I've tried to find you in the phone book and that stuff many times.

Hope all is well.

Tom

I'M BACK AND I'M ... BAD/MAD/SAD/GLAD/SCAD?

2007-11-18T05:15:00.000-05:00

Hey all!

The quarter is finally done and I feel that I can breathe again. So, I thought I'd start off by posting something fun before I got to the news and other stuff.
Here's a photo from Halloween 2006 where four of my students dressed as "Tom Lyle" for Halloween. I am pretty scary.
The bottles of Diet Mountain Dew were a great touch as, until near the end of this current quarter, I always had one in class.
I'm now caffeine free.

News and Updates:
I've contacted both DC and Marvel in the past 10 weeks and been reminded how odd this business is. If I expect to get any real buzz in my possibly resurrected superhero career, I probably really need to go to New York and see these people in person. Face to face contact has always gotten me more respect than phone calls or emails.

Marvel set a page rate back in the summer, but has not come through with any work yet. I blame no one for their lack of job offers. I'm just not the best at waiting.

DC editor Mike Carlin and Mike Marts have both chatted with me briefly, but nothing happened on those fronts yet, either. By the way, both of these men are professional and return calls and emails. I respect them both, though I've worked for neither.

I will finally start my personal graphic novel project by January if I have no concrete offers from the big two by then. I would still definitely be open to work even if I start my own project, but I have to be doing something (I've just barely drawn any published work this last year).

I lost a pet a week ago and that was hard, but a good deal of the pressure and toughness of the fall 2007 quarter at SCAD came from personal stuff. My mother has been in and out of the hospital and it looks bad (she's not young, so don't get all worried - it's just tough to see your parent near the end of their life, early or late.)

My dad is getting older and more feeble all the time. Again, he's no youngster (he's 93!!!), but he played golf up until he was 90 and the decline of his health in the three years since he quit playing is dramatic. He's using a walker now.

So, life has it's pressures. WHAT A WUSS, LYLE!

;-)

I think I've mostly missed working on something that made me feel good. Teaching makes me feel great, but I'm not working on Projects for me. I need that creative flow.

I'll let you guys know about my personal project in late December after I've started writing it more concretely. I've started making notes and "seeing" the chapters in my head. I write visually. I pace it in my head and try to visualize the whole thing so that it makes sense and feels right as a story. I will tell you that the project I want to do is based on autobiographical tales, but I will definitely change details and names to protect the innocent!!

Hope everyone is fine. Feel free to leave a message. Thanks to Matthew and Joe for letting me know they dropped by this blog recently. Happy Holiday everyone!

Later-
Tom

I'm STILL ALIVE

2007-10-25T06:17:00.000-04:00

School has knocked my butt this quarter, so I haven't posted in awhile.
I'm still here and I'll put up a longer post by next week.
Thanks.

Tom

Mortality and MIKE WIERINGO

2007-08-17T14:58:00.000-04:00

Hi all-
Been a while since I've posted. The main thing on my mind this week has been my mortality ... what with Mike Wieringo's passing and all. He was younger than me and went before me. He was the same age that my brother Larry was when he died.

Odd coincidence, but I couldn't help acknowledge it.

I met Mike a few times, but never got to have a depthful conversation with him and now I never will. I liked his art. I liked him ... what I got to know of him. I'm glad that he had lots of friends as close as Todd Dezago.

Nothing else to report right now.

I'm waiting to hear on other stuff and I'll post about them when I can. Hope everyone else finds peace and happiness for the remainder of the year ... and beyond.

Later.

Tom

In the meantime, I'm posting another of the sample pencil pages that I did. Spidey and Black Cat (and the Rhino) on this one.

Marvel Samples are done!!

2007-07-24T10:38:00.000-04:00

Well, I got four pages drawn for Marvel. I had done five pages of layouts back in May with the idea that Scott Hanna and I would work together and Scott would do finishes over my breakdowns.

The BLACK CAT page that I posted a while back was from that group.
Someone at Marvel requested some sample pages of finished pencils. I finished one that was the next page from the Spider-Man story that I did the layout pages for, but I was very unhappy with the results so I stopped after laying out the next one and did a bit of self evaluation.

After some contemplation, I decided that I needed to start something different. Scott had sent me the script to ULTIMATE X-MEN #74, so I read it and decided to do the first four pages as finished pencils.

I'm posting them at the same time as this blog post.
Let me know what you think.

Chris Allo at Marvel gave some good initial positive feedback, but nothing will happen until after the San Diego Con which is this weekend.

THOUGHTS FOR THE SUMMER

2007-07-01T09:17:00.000-04:00

Okay. I think that I'm going to sound like an old fart here, but why are the students that I'm teaching having such a hard time with observation and evaluation? Is it the MTV generation of fast visuals and instant gratification? Too much sugar? Too much porn on the internet? Too many video games (which are the Devil's work, I'll tell you now.)

I just cannot figure out why I seem to be talking Greek to these folks when I mention taking time to figure something out through observation.

Enough said about that for now.

I finished one page of my full pencil samples for Marvel, but I had guests from Wednesday on ... and it's hard to make yourself draw when you've got company that wants to party. I partied!!!

I'm going to regret all those calories later, but it was fun sitting in our small backyard oasis and drinking beer and wine and talking about life and stuff. Very cool. Especially since it's hot as heck here in Savannah right now.

Missed my 35th High School reunion last weekend, but looking at the photos online was interesting ... THEY'RE ALL OLD FOLKS!!!

Of course, I'm not.

More later. Best to everyone who has dropped by. Make a comment or two.

SUMMER QUARTER BEGINS - Back to Reality!

2007-06-19T21:01:00.000-04:00

Had a blast in Charlotte. I was so pleased that everyone seemed to remember me. I drew my guts out at the show and it was great. Did some pretty good sketches even if I say so myself. We pushed the heck out of SCAD there as well and that went really well. All six workshops by the other professors and myself were really well attended and that's good considering we were only put on the HEROES website about a week before the show began.
I'm working on finishing up a few commissions that I couldn't finish at the show and then it's on to some full pencils for samples that Marvel has requested.

Keep your fingers crossed and I'll be drawing for Marvel in some form this year. Soon.

I miss superheroes!!

Started the summer quarter at SCAD on Monday. I was tired from the con, but it went well. I'm teaching four classes and they're going well. INTRO, DRAWING, PENCIL AND INK 1, and PENCIL AND INK 2. Good groups of people in each class.

Best to all and thanks for the support.

Tom

HEROES CON 2007

2007-06-13T21:26:00.000-04:00

Hi all -
Well, as of Friday the 15th of June, I'll be in Charlotte, NC at the HEROES CON comic book convention. My first convention in about 3 years. Hope it's fun!
Come see me if you're there. I'll be at the SCAD table doing sketches and chatting.

Second Year Done at SCAD

2007-05-31T21:30:00.000-04:00

Hi, all.
Well, I just finished the third quarter of my second full (it's considered a full year even though I will be teaching this summer as well) year as a professor at SCAD. I've been privileged enough to be able to try to impart some of my knowledge to quite a few really talented students. I enjoy teaching and I hope it shows.
I'm nearing some possible work with Marvel for the first time in almost seven years and I much say that they little geek boy inside me is really excited over that possibility. Keep your fingers crossed and see what develops.
I want to wish all the new graduates from SCAD a big GOOD LUCK. Some of them are going to do quite well.
Stay in touch.
Later. Lyle out!!!!

When the BLOG hits the fan!!

2007-05-17T17:32:00.000-04:00

I'm really new to this blogging thing, but I needed to get my art and my life out there for the world to see. You all need to know that I'm still alive. I'm still producing artwork for comics and I'm even teaching college level kids at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

I needed to find a way to start getting my opinions and my information out there.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Tom