Greetings from Warhead Beach: A Swimsuit Postcard Pin-Up!

Back in the roaring 80s, a fanzine called Amazing Heroes published an annual swimsuit issue edited by the late Mr. Kim Thompson, one of the founders, along with Gary Groth, of Fantagraphics Books.

The newly-colorized postcard version!

In 1990, the cast of Megaton Man™, including our very own Ms. Megaton Man, Clarissa James, took their turn for some fun and sun. The original, printed in gritty black and white on newsprint, has been colorized for the 21st century!

A limited-edition 11" x 17" print of this piece will be coming to NEO Con 2018 in Olmsted, Ohio, August 19, and you'll be able to get yours autographed by Don Simpson!

The original: pen, brush and ink with dot screen on Bristol board.

Note: There was also a Border Worlds™ pin-up that will be coming to blog near you soon!


Stella Starlight™, Tad ‘n’ Rover™, Yarn Man™, Clarissa James™, Partyers from Mars™ and other characters Megaton Man™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Stretch Before You Sketch: Ms. MM Warm-Ups!

Update (April 7, 2018): Finally colored these figures in Photoshop:

Originally posted October 30, 2014:

I have been doing a lot of penciling and to warm up, and I have a tendency to sketch Ms. Megaton Man in one form or another. (It's important to stretch before you sketch, particularly when a comic book is in production; otherwise you can pull a muscle!) As a character that straddles the comedic and dramatic, Clarissa has all the energy that I always loved about comics, and she just rolls out of my pencil.

Light Blue Col-Erase and Staedtler Mars Lumograph H pencil on Strathmore Recycled Sketchbook.

Update November 7, 2014: Some of these warm-up sketches seem worthy to develop further, so I scan and print out (often, slightly larger than the original). This frees the drawing from the sketchbook (where they often originate) and also preserve the original pencil drawing. This gives me a sense of freedom when I ink (I know I can't screw it up, since I can always go back to the original and try again), and that relaxation paradoxically is usually enough to ensure a positive outcome on the first try (go figure!).

The ink finals, below:

Hunt #102 Crowquill pen and India ink on Clearprint Design Vellum.

Hunt #102 Crowquill pen and India ink on Clearprint Design Vellum.

From Sketch to Splash: Robot Crap-Kicker

During the past decade, when I was in college and graduate school, most of my intermittent drawing activity was confined to sketchbooks, and then often Ms. Megaton Man, a more realistic megahero than the satirical Megaton Man himself. She is dynamic and fun to draw, and I would often fill page after page of her, often fighting robot. In this sketch, dated July 6, 2012, she does a ballet landing on her toes while kicking and punching two robots. Today (June 14, 2014), I finally finished inking the page. Here are the various steps:

The original 9" x 12" ringbound sketchbook page, in light blue Col-Erase and HB graphite pencil. I was too lazy to finish the robots.

Here I've scanned the sketchbook page and printed it out at 11" x 17", tightening up the robot figures in light blue and graphite pencil, and adding dialogue. A red Col-Erase pencil was used on the sound effect.

This is the inked version on Clearprint HP1000 Design Vellum. I use a repositionable glue stick to adhere the material to the pencil layout, and later remove the glue with a rubber cement pick-up. I use 2.5 and 3.5 Rapidographs, Hunt 102 crowquill, and a Speedball B4 to ink and letter.

Here is the image, with some flat coloring thrown on in Photoshop. I'm still too lazy to finish the robots, so a final color version will be posted later!