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Wilson Kane wins a fortune and his future bride at a game of dice from the former pirate Balthasar. When he decides to go and get the girl, the pirate way, by kidnapping her, not only he finds out that she is more than a pirate could ever want from a wife... but that she has 4 identical sisters as well.
This discovery hits him when his men, who were supposed to help him out, each kidnaps a different girl... and none of them gets the right one! But Wilson Kane wants the girl he had met and no one else! Luckily for him it will be the girl herself to solve his problem and put an end to his dilemma...
a solution that will eventually fling her into a new way of life, aboard the Alidivento, across the Mediterranea sea!
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Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The pirate Balthasar - Chapter 5 B - RELEASE!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
The pirate Balthasar - Chapter 5 B - Work in progress

Monday, June 28, 2010
The pirate Balthasar - Chapter 6 - Cover

Small side contest: the Fox is naked! Dress the fox!

It's coming out pretty nice and thanks the to new wacom tablet it's faster too.
So I was also looking into our free stuff and realized I haven't done a paper/flash doll for our beloved Foxy... and you wanna know why?
I haven't gotten around to design another sets of clothes for him. That's where you, my friends, come in:

Please design a set of clothes for Foxy... so the poor guy doesn't get too smelly.
Things to take into consideration while drawing his clothes:
1) the colors won't change... unless you want to make a matching set with Lio.
2) his right shoulder has to be covered - because he is ashamed of his branding.
3) he likes to wear tight pants ^^"
4) he has to look a bit emo.
The clothes need to have a contemporary look to it and be "old style" at the same time.
This is one thing we can figure out together later though, if you don't mind my touching up your design for historical purposes.
Now to set the deadline for this contest... I'd say it depends on how fast you want to have the flash doll but we can leave it open until the end of July. Is it too close?
Let me know if it is and we'll push it after the Wilson Kane contest.
Thank you!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Tic tac 16!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Famous Illustrators - Lyle Justis
I took these two images from

I could not find a Wikipedia page to refer to as a link for the post title... so if you click on it you'll find yourself on another blog that talks about another illustrator: Barbara Bradley.
The ones who know me... know this name already.
She was my teacher and mentor and was one of the most influential persons in my life (together with my grandmother and a few other inspirational people I actually never met: Walt Disney and Osamu Tezuka amongst them).

Now that I am preparing for class I found these 4 pages and, at the same time, thought about him and her.
His drawings are very simple but very dynamic. He keeps them pretty sketchy but still loves to draw detailed costumes and crowded scenes packed with action. Unfortunately it's very hard to find the Treasure Island book illustrated by him (there's an awesome spread with a huge battle scene too, simply fantastic).
So I'll be for ever grateful to Barbara for making copies of her book and giving me the chance to know this great pirate illustrator. (and of course for many other things... and she'll be for ever missed ;_;)
Btw this is one of Barbara's drawings:
Wasn't she amazing? I know... I love her so much!
If I keep on working hard maybe, one day, I'll resemble her a little.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
tic tac 15!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
The "crappy" post!

The Pirate Balthasar - Chapter 5A
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Capitolo 5A - in Italiano! (release)
Famous Illustrators - Dean Cornwell

I found a list in this website here but websites come and go on the web and so I'll paste here some of its content, the ones that interest us more:
Book | 1st Us Edition | HM Publishing Year | Illustrator Dust Jacket | Illustrator Frontispiece |
---|---|---|---|---|
Captain Blood | Yes | 1922 | N. C. Wyeth | N. C. Wyeth |
Also Captain Blood/Triangle Bks | No | 1946 | N. C. Wyeth | None |
Also Captain Blood/Photoplay | No | N.D. | N. C. Wyeth | Photo Of J. Walter Kerrigan |
Also Captain Blood/Riverside | No | 1950 | Clyde O. Deland | Clyde O. Deland |
The Sea Hawk | No | 1923 | Harold M. Brett | Harold M. Brett |
Captain Blood Returns | Yes | 1931 | Dean Cornwell | None / End Papers By Cornwell |
In the book, The Dean of Illustrators, it is possible to see some of the preparatory drawings for the pirates appearing in Captain Blood. (I own the Cornwell book and it is now hard to find... but I am looking for the illustrated Captain Blood - both Wyeth and Corwell version).
He stands to pencil and charcoal as Rockwell stands to oil illustration.
In fact, if we go by pencil sketch and studies, Cornwell is my favorite artist of all times.
One thing I like about his artwork is the use of bright colors and the fact that he, sometimes, uses brilliant blue to outline things out and make the colors pop more. I think sunny California does this to you... Wayne Thiebaud is like that too, a colorist, a happy painter... the State calls for color and why should it not? Just look at Carmel-by-the-sea to see what I mean! Or Muir Woods! The light makes everything look bright.
I don't have many pirate illustrations of his, just the above ones and the Sabatini covers.... but I feel compelled to show you his others stuff, even though it's totally unrelated, so that you can figure out what I mean when I talk about a strong drawer and a pencil genius, not to mention his fantastic compositions.
Looking at his sketches there's a couple of things we need to take into considerations: how he divides everything into shapes and planes (very useful if you need to figure out structure); the continuity of the body under the clothing, absolutely perfect; his treatment of fabric and folds.
He likes to draw sharp features too and is very detailed.
These are some of my favorite drawings... the different materials are shown here with sensible lines. Definitely he does not stick hands to sleeves and shoes to pants. There's a body under these clothes, a body with volume and you can feel it. It has weight.
Look how he applies his fabric studies to the actual drawings. If you can draw fabric like this you are God! :D
Obviously he thought about it a lot and truly studied his thumbnails properly, then developed the ones that he felt more functional to the story he had meant to tell with one illustration.
I'll post you some examples... you judge by yourselves.

I am going to finish with my favorite little girl:
When I saw this little girl's drawing what I thought was: I cannot quit drawing anymore! Till I reach him!
With time... you learn to struggle and accept limit and decide to suffer in order to improve.
I will be Dean Cornwell one day, maybe... and have a drawing that will make someone go: I cannot quit!
Drawing is what keep us happy and unhappy, this is what true love is all about.
do you know... Chamaeleo chamaeleon Linneus?
What's the difference between a European Chameleon and Castalia?
You shall know pretty soon...
Le mie papadopulos preferite sono le zie! Voglio votare per loro
Ah mi ricordero' di aggiungere le zie al prossimo poll!:)
Scurvy dogs!

The first case was explained in the chapter itself. Consider that the Alidivento is a small ship and the Mediterranean is not completely an opened sea so it may have strong winds but does not have huge waves. It is also saltier than an Ocean (and salt help people stay afloat longer) and it's warmer (so hypothermia would take on slowly).
On an Oceanic Vessel a man overboard was doomed. I might have mentioned this before but most sailors didn't know how to swim. You stay on a ship, what would you need swimming for?
Taking baths was also not considered to be a healthy habit so... water was not even contemplating for drinking, most of the times, let's say it's something you sail upon.
In our case, although Foxy's recovery is placed a few panels after his fall... you have imagine the Alidivento maneuver, come about and do a large circle to go back and fetch its pilot. So we can probably imagine, instead, that the guy either grabbed onto one of the ropes floating along the ship or maybe he managed to stay afloat long enough to be rescued.
In our story we cannot let Foxy die: he is the pilot, he is good at it and he is Lio's boyfriend! We need him!
But the episode helped us start the relationship between him and Lio plus I used it to go "History Channel" on you and tell you about "man overboard".
The second case is the insightful incident that sparks Westley's love interest for Kes.
I could have used anything... a cold... dermatitis... diarrhea... but we've been on this ship for a month already (well, almost a month, right?). When you move into a new place there are a few things you need to do to settle down: buy toilet paper, pots and pottery, towels... you get a bank account, a phone line, the internet... Once you settled a month is gone by and you finally get to explore.
Volume 2 will explore.
Of course there isn't really much to be seen on board of a ship... except the people who lives on it.
Because of that the first chapter is a captain's log. By the log we'll definitely learn to know that Kane is very observant and that Westley probably opens up to him a lot.
I am warning you, I won't tell you everything directly, a lot of things I'll hint to and you'll have to piece things together yourself. I believe that's how life works and I want to reproduce that.
It will feel weird, at first, but trust me... eventually all the pieces come together, they just do it when they need to do it, it's more gratifying that way.
Anyways let's go back to our exploring people. We saw in the first volume that Wes is a doctor, he has his sick-bay set up in his cabin and takes Lio as a nurse. We heard from Cat and Fox that he can be scary and can even give orders to Kane or override his orders and revert them.
It's his medical dictatorship.
We needed to see the doctor at work (you cannot just say "I'm a doctor" and just leave it at that, right? Otherwise why put a doctor in the crew?).
I always believed that the surgeon had a reason to be the second most paid mate on board. Westley was born to show that!

At this point of the story Wes still hates Kes - oh, hate is so closed to love! - but because he looked stern and serious about his job and she decided to trust him... his attitude changes, becomes "professional" and he acts like a doctor should.
He understands it's not the case to say: you are scorbutic - in most Latin languages that also means: you are not kind!
No offense, she is not kind to him but just say it so, bluntly, in her face while she faces a serious illness... would be indelicate.
Plus it's possibly an early stage... no teeth fell off, no blisters show up on legs and arms... and probably it's just a dermatitis and nothing more.
Still it is better to prevent, rather than cure... aaah, and that's the cure: the magic lemon.
Using lemon or lemon juice on sailing boats has been known and forgotten and known for... centuries. Wes knows that lemon help prevent scurvy. Does he know it's because of the vitamin C? No, he doesn't... it's ancient wisdom. The history of the Jewish Physicians is very long, there's a nice book about it, you might find it interesting.... it's very amazing and, unfortunately, also very sad.
Limes were used mostly after the 1700 and in the Eastern/Caribbean and Asian Seas. As I said on SmackJeeves we probably had limettas coming from Persia but not limes in the late 1600. The lime was first mentioned by Sir Thomas Herbert in 1677 when he referenced a site near the coast of Mozambique. Our story takes place about 15 years before that. Also... we are in the Spanish Kingdom (Spain, Sicily and Naples all belonged to the King of Spain)... I'll post a map... here!
There are a lot of little islands on this side of the sea and we are island hopping right here! :D Between Sicily, Spain and Sardinia... (of course we went to Greece to fetch the girls but that was our man going out of his way to get the wife). We'll see an island with black rocks and shores... probably Stromboli! (I renamed the island though ;P) We'll try different Italian and Spanish foods and wines.
Now, Sicily has a valley known as "la conca d'oro" - the golden bowl - near Palermo. You'll find huge, delicious oranges, tangerines and lemons there!
That's why Wes uses lemons and not limes.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Chapter 5A - Release!
Friday, June 18, 2010
work in progress

tic tac 14!
I need a scanner now! Mhhh. I think monday's update will be of about 9 pages - instead of 19 - then 10 more pages will come in a few days (really a few days, it's all a matter of figuring out how and when to scan). They're only 9 pages but they are juicy ones! Someone will find unexpected attraction for someone that wasn't taken into consideration before XDDD.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Color schemes




Wednesday, June 16, 2010
quick blabber
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Traveling!

Saturday, June 12, 2010
a little blabber for the day!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Wallpapers!

Fan art 4 and Wilson Kane Contest!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
polls and covers!
there's a new poll for you... maybe 36 days is not enough to decide - considering volume 2 will be done November 16th - but still... maybe you have plenty of time to choose and decide who would you like to see on the cover of volume 2.
In the meantime I am trying to make this Foxy&Lio cover and I had picked for them the color green... but I am not convinced:


Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Il Pirata Baldassarre - Capitolo 4 (volume 1 - Fine)
Ecco qui il capitolo completo!!! E' finito così il primo volume, wow, che velocità (oddio mica tanto, sono un bradipo muahahahaha)!
Quanto prima farò un pdf con tutto il primo volume impaginato come si deve - copertine incluse!
A presto!
The Pirate Balthasar - Chapter 4 END
Issuu release of chapter 4! For your comfort, if you prefer to read here!
I will be making a pdf of the whole volume shortly! Stay tuned!
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
How to make a page...















