The Penguin

Howdy, all. I'm not sure if you've noticed, if you've ever been on DeviantArt, but it's kind of...um... pornographic . There's a lot of pretty blatant pornography mixed in with the art. I'm sort of embarrassed to post my art on there, because of the whole shame-by-association thing. Now don't get me wrong; I don't mind a bit of artistic nudity thrown in here and there, especially where it involves black-and-white photography (I am a fan of Man Ray). And I'm not opposed to erotica, where tastefully done (or, on the opposite side, tackily done, because it can be funny and weird and interesting to look at). The human body can be art. I have no problem with that. But I do have a problem when I go on an art site, and it seems like every tenth image is blatant commercial pornography. And I do mean commercial - the Deviant ID for these images is very obviously a group of paid photographers, co-opting an open art site to peddle their wares. Often

I'm developing something of a green thumb, or at least a green pinkie. Two years ago I set up a little garden patch in my back yard, and since then I've been trying out various kinds of fruits and vegetables, with varying degrees of success. This year I tried some seeds from a Howell melon and a gourd. I tried to start the melon inside the house, in a little Styrofoam cup; unfortunately, I think it makes the plants weak (or something). The gourd seeds, on the other hand, I planted directly into the ground. Here's the result: BOOM The photo doesn't really do justice to the infestation that is Gordy the Gourd. He has these hand-like feelers on the ends of his vines, which seem to reach out for something to grab; I've caught him trying repeatedly to crawl across the lawn toward the house. Mostly I just redirect his energies back to the fence. Eventually I may have to prune the beast. And the melon? Well, Melanie the Melon is not having quite the same succ

Dear Friends (and nemeses): Here's the logo for Blind Alley Comics, formerly Dead City Productions: I sure hope you like it...'cause you're going to be seeing a lot of it. So you'd better get used to it. No whining or complaining. At least, not when I'm around. Rick Out.

Here's the completed color cover for The Human Cannonball #1: Ain't it purdy?

Here are a couple of sketchbook pages, just to whet your appetite: Sketchbook welcome page freeform geometric designs The second page represents a style I've been working with for five years now; it's a sort of freeform geometric jazz image. Working on these is a very slow, meditative process for me, but the final product is sort of obsessive-looking and slightly mad. I've heard it likened to both Buddhist mandala sand-paintings and some kind of Op-art. The first sketch also contains elements of this patterning; a lot of my art involves this sort of repetitive, highly-detailed, jumpy motion. I hope it catches on. I plan to crank these out for Cons and galleries, hopefully to earn some extra cash. Rick Out.

I should probably provide links to all my stuff, like all the other kids are doing these days. Here's some links: My DeviantArt account My comic book production group Facebook page (currently) My website Fight or Flight webcomic I hope that satisfies your insatiable lust for Rick Schlaack art products. Most of the stuff will look familiar, but the DeviantArt account will have some never-before-seen work.

Howdy, y'all. After my two-month hiatus (summer jobs tend to interrupt everything), I'm back with a first sneak peek at The Human Cannonball #1 cover: The Human Cannonball #1 It's a Work in Progress at the moment; as soon as I get my head back together, I'm going to sit down and see what I can do about the color...a tad bit garish, at this point. You may have noticed the empty circle in the top left corner; this is where our logo is supposed to be. Problem is, we are currently without a company logo. Turns out there is another comic book company called Dead City, hailing from (apropos, non?) Detroit. Myself and the inimitable Joe Haines shall get together and have an intensive powow to figure out a new company name, quick fast and in a hurry. It really sucks; I'm having to change the Facebook page as well - I'll keep up the old page for a while, with a little thing that says, "DCP now has a new name! Go to this link", etc. I suppose it