This blog has officially moved to mikezagari.com

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To be continued...

It sure wasn’t an easy decision, but after considering some gracious offers out west by DC Comics, I've decided that it's time to leave DC for new artistic endeavors.

I'd like to thank DC for all of the exciting opportunities and projects I've been able to be a part of over the past 6 plus years and giving me the chance to work with the best and brightest people in the comic industry. Specifically, I'd like to thank the Creative Services team including Ron Perazza, Dave McCullough, Jesus Reyes, Jon Chong, Jeff Rowe, Kwanza Johnson, Nika Vagner, Jessica Numsuwankijkul, Larry Daley, Sarah Wright, and Richard Bruning for not just being solid co-workers, but also good friends. Lastly, I'd like to thank The Dark Knight Returns for not only sparking a young boy's aspirations to work in comics, but also showing that Batman can clearly kick Superman's ass.

Looking forward to seeing what DC dishes out next year! And of course, keep coming back here to see whatever tomorrow may bring me...

Dark Ages Fantastic Four : Monty Python and the Holy Grail for CSC

For my “Fantastic Four Through the Ages” illustration for the Comic Social Club, I wanted to create something dark. Really Dark. So I chose the Dark Ages. Then, for inspiration, I ran through my mental rolodex of any movies that took place in the Dark Ages. And then happen to have chosen a movie that takes such darkness, and well…turns it upside down. My piece features the Dark Ages Fantastic Four battling the villains from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I did my best to stay away from Camelot though. It is a silly place. Check out the full “Fantastic Four Through the Ages” over at Comic Social Club!

(Click to enlarge)

King Con II Sketches!

Human on the Inside at King Con II: Brooklyn Comic Con – Nov 6 & 7

Do you like comics? Are you free this weekend? Well then come on out to King Con II: Brooklyn Comic Con on November 6th & 7th, from 11am - 7pm, at the Brooklyn Lyceum, 227 4th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215 and head on over to the Human on the Inside table for comics, exclusive prints, shirts and more!

I'll be sharing a table with Matthew K. Manning and the show will have plenty of other talented folk including Chris Claremont, Jonathan Ames, Paul Pope, Kyle Baker, Dean Haspiel, Becky Cloonan, Cliff Chiang and many more. For more information, keep your eye on the official King Con website here.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I unfortunately did not have the time to help coordinate King Con II, so a special thanks goes out to all the hard work the coordinators have done to put together the show this year.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Albany Comic Con Sketches

Sketch from SPX 2009

I did this sketch back in '09 for a wonderful Swamp Thing sketchbook:

Mike Zagari at the NYCC '10 Comic Social Club booth #2461

Come on out to the New York Comic Con this week from October 8th – 10th and head on over to the Comic Social Club Booth #2461 to meet Mike Zagari and grab copies of Human on the Inside, exclusive prints, shirts and more!

*UPDATED* New York Comic Con 2010 company branded floor plans (work in progress) :

FREE READING

Head to Comixels.com to read FREE FULL ISSUES of Human on the Inside #1, Conscious #1, and Conscious #2.

Also, make sure to check out the FREE PREVIEW of Human on the Inside #2.

Human on the Inside: things to come...

King Con II

The Brooklyn Lyceum is gearing up for another KING CON Comic & Animation Convention this year! The show is currently scheduled for November 4-7, 2010. Make sure to keep up-to-date with all of the exciting news and information on the show here: http://www.kingconbrooklyn.com/

Unfortunately, I'll be taking on more of a consultant role this year. Even though I had a terrific time helping co-organize the show last year, it ended up being much more time consuming than I was expecting. Don't fret! I'll also be exhibiting and will have the latest issue of HUMAN ON THE INSIDE and some fancy new art prints. Stay tuned for more information on them, as well as any of my upcoming projects.

The first KING CON was a fantastic experience and I can't wait for this year's show to top it!

Human on the Inside #2 is complete.

It's coming - Human on the Inside #2 - Sketches & Studies

Apple’s iPad and Creating Art

I'm getting the iPad immediately. Those were my words when Apple made their iPad announcement on January 27, 2010. Many of my friends and colleagues were surprised to hear me say this. Actually, they were more surprised by the name chosen and spent the next week making feminine hygiene jokes. Those were the days.

Though I try to stay immersed in digital media and keep all my electronics powerful enough to support my current projects, I've never been someone who makes right-out-of-the-gate device purchases. Trial and error could be a pricey road to go down in today's quickly evolving digital world. However, at the end of the day, everything about the iPad is exactly what I've been waiting for.

It has three main purposes for me:

1) READING BOOKS & COMICS: I've been using the Apple iBooks and comiXology Comics & Marvel Apps and have been very pleased. They both work intuitively and easily to do just what they promise. My only critique for the iBook app is showing the edge of the "pages". It's counter-intuitive since it just takes up screen space. As for the comiXology Apps, I'm curious as to why they do not support showing multiple pages at the same time. Otherwise, they have the best comic reading app, hands down.

2) DISPLAYING REFERENCE (for creating traditional art): The crisp and easy to navigate Apple Photos App has made this to be (surprisingly) my most used feature of the device. Now any and all reference can be on my drawing table, right in front of me. Of course, it's also now filled with embarrassing photos of me and my friends. Have to remember to consistently delete those.

3) DIGITAL SKETCHING & PAINTING: For this I took a nod from Jim Lee's work and immediately purchased Autodesk's Sketchbook Pro App . It's a great App that has a high versatility of brushes and colors, as well as simple to understand and navigate layer capabilities. It seems to be predominantly created for finger painting, since the shortcuts involve touching the screen with multiple fingers. It's relatively intuitive and my only critique is I don't believe there is a shortcut to set the canvas at 100%.

I also purchased the Pogo Sketch. I ripped open the package in the Apple store and immediately created this sketch:

I dig being to able to draw on the device with a pen. I feel much more in control of my line work, as opposed to the finger painting. However, it is difficult to be truly precise due to the stylus pen's round, felt-tip end. I hope Steve Job takes back his iPhone comments: "Who wants a stylus?? Yuck!" and they create a better stylus for the iPad. Apple could truly revolutionize creating art digitally if they somehow create a more precise device, closer to the Wacom / Cintiq pens.

Following my visit to the Apple store, I went to the Museum of Cartoon and Comic Art festival and thought it would be interesting to have several different artists sketch on the device. Of course, I really did this just to watch some talented illustrators struggle at creating art. Just kidding. Running off my first sketch, I requested that all of the artists create a Batman sketch. Here are some of the results:

Art by: Bobby Timony

Art by: Tim Hamilton

Art by: Kevin Colden

Art by: Dean Haspiel

Art by: Shane Costello

Art by: Joe Infurnari

Art by: Miss Lasko-Gross

Art by: Jon Roscetti

Art by: Matt Loux

A surprise bonus to the iPad is having the ability to watch movies and television episodes. Ultimately though, I still prefer watching them on a real screen. It only happens when I'm too lazy to find the remote.

All in all, Apple's iPad has fully lived up to my expectations. Whether I'm reading, drawing, or just viewing reference, it's just what I was looking for. Now I'm looking forward to the day when I can take it out in public without hearing more feminine hygiene jokes.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sometimes, to understand someone better, I like to sketch a portrait of them.

More about King Con '09

After helping run King Con, I have to admit that even though we were faced with many skeptical individuals, I think we ran a fantastic first show. Yes, we hit a few speed bumps along the way, but everyone helping us put the event together (which was the first time most of them had been exposed to running a show like this) brought in the elevated energy to make it a success. We weren't trying to one-up any other con or be the biggest con in NYC, but rather just run a great show filled with all the talented comic and animation folk that are passionate about their work. I don't blame some for being skeptical, but it’s definitely the optimists that made the show have such a great vibe!

I also exhibited at Zine Fest, which is one of the main reasons I became an adviser for King Con. Zine Fest was a fantastic show which had a mandate of "self-published / handmade stories" on your table and it took place solely on the lower level of the Brooklyn Lyceum. There were a few self-publishing comic creators there like myself, but overall, I don't believe too many of the customers actually read comics or were familiar with the comics industry. That’s fine, but I thought to myself “What if we brought the entire comics community to a space like this?” I mentioned to the coordinators that I would be down with helping put together an actual comic convention. King Con’s Event Coordinator, Regan Fishman, called me up a few weeks later and we started from there.

Now maybe I was predominantly optimistic because I experienced exhibiting at Zine Fest, but to make this a more comic-centric show, I knew there needed to be some major additions. We reached out to several very talented individuals including Brian Wood, Dean Haspiel, Jeff Newelt and Ron Perazza, who were all very supportive and excited about King Con. We then set up sixteen panels, which took place on the upper levels of the Lyceum. They covered all the diverse parts of the comic industry - from mainstream, to underground, to digital comics, to kids comics and more. We also had three workshops in which the attendees interacted with the panelists to learn hands-on about drawing comics, creating a character, and lettering comics. All these factors made the show a solid event and something I’m very proud to be a part of. I’m looking forward to working with the Brooklyn Lyceum again for a King Con 2010 and hope you’ll be there!

King Con Recap

Thanks to all of those who came out to King Con - Brooklyn Comic Con!! It was a fantastic show in which I was able to meet and work with so many great people. For those who missed out on grabbing the newly reformatted HUMAN ON THE INSIDE #1, I will be placing it for order on www.comixels.com shortly. And if anyone has some photos or stories they would like to share about the event, feel free to email me at mike (at) mikezagari.com.

Zine Fest Sketches 2009

Zine Fest June 27-28th 2009

I attended the New York City Zine Fest which took place at the Brooklyn Lyceum, last weekend. Thanks for all of those who came by and said hello!

Here is a nerdy photo of me with some comic I made:



I'll be posting some of my sketches from the show soon...

  

Final MoCCA 2009 Info!

I'll be at table 515 this weekend for the MoCCA Art Festival. For more info on my comic, HUMAN ON THE INSIDE, check out comiXels.com . I'll have both versions of issue 1, t-shirts, prints, and more! Hope to see you there!