The weekly Panel #7... so it is a whole page.

Decided I'd give you guys a whole page this week. I hope you enjoy.

-Anthony Summey

Weekly Panel #6

What could be more fun than a good old fashion bar room brawl?

Weekly Pnael #5

Here is an birds eye view inside the alehouse our musketeers frequent. I am not crazy about how turned out, but thought it was interesting enough to post. I've been working a lot of OT at the day job, but I am going to try and give you guys another new post where I rant about something comic book or pirate related.

-Anthony Summey

The Weekly Panel #4

A rapier at your throat will make even the most dastardly of pirates think twice before messing with the wench a musketeer has his eye on.

I like the sense of space created in this panel with the the silhouetted background figures. It is simple and effective, like most good things. But what do you think?

- Anthony Summey

The Weekly Panel #2

I thought it might be interesting this week to pull back the veil a bit and show a rough pencil version of a panel and its final inked version. I find myself feeling too tight to really let loose on the bristol board, so I have begun using copier paper to do my rough pencils on. I then light box it to clean it up for inking. And after I go to town with the inks this is the final product.

- Anthony Summey

Anthony Summey's Artist Statement

What is my work about? Seems like a simple enough question, but it is hard and somewhat limiting for me to define myself and my work. I know what I want my work to be, but often times finding it lacking. I know the artist who I would like to be like, but when comparing my work to theirs I tend to see my shortcomings in the light of their brilliance. Upon countless heart wrenching hours of self analysis I know what my strengths are and where my weaknesses lie.





I want my work to be part of the illustrative tradition in sequential art ( I'll explain the the two categories, the cartooning and the illustrative tradition, as I see them in a future post). I would like my work to be more realistic than abstract in terms of how I represent my characters and the world they live in. Simply put I would like my work to look more like Prince Valiant than Peanuts or Garfield. The preference is not merely aesthetic, but I believe that this more illustrative style lends itself better to the stories I wish to tell. That is not to say that an artist like Bruce Timm could not tell the same story in his style, and it be a good story. The difference in art styles would effect how the story is perceived by the reader and make it a different type of story. I want to tell adventure stories interwoven with elements from the horror and fantasy genres (i.e. zombies, vampires, mythical beast, monsters, etc.). I feel that the more illustrative tradition in comics offers a better platform for me to build these stories.





I would like my work to be like Mark Schultz, Al Williamson, and Alex Raymond. I find a grace and confidence in their work that I'd love to see in my own. I instead find a rough dark quality to my work which I am sure can be attributed to my study of horror comics. I see elements of Bernie Wrightson, Gene Colan, Graham Ingels and Tom Mandrake competing with the Schultz, Williamson, and Raymond aspirations. I have even had someone at a portfolio review compare my work to Wally Wood (which is one of the highest praises I have ever received). I find when I am able to reconcile these two aspects that my work becomes something of its own. It is no longer trying to be like someone else's work, but becomes its own unique thing.





I find that my strengths as a storyteller are in blending the genres of fantasy adventure and horror. My work is at its best when there are dominate shadows and my lines have enough character and weight to them. I find my work does not hold together as well with thin dainty lines with little contrast in them. I believe my work is more effective when I keep a high level of contrast between the black and white areas. It becomes weaker when I try and to do too much hatching to denote values. My feathering and brush stokes create a dark dreamy world where it is possible for pirates and musketeers to meet dinosaurs and zombies.





My work is about merging fantasy adventures with horror. I achieve this by combining the illustrative influences of Schultz, Williamson, and Raymond with the masters of the macabre (Wrightson, Colan, Ingels, and Mandrake) that have shaped my way of rendering shadow and light. My goal is to have my work be an effective partner to the stories they depict, and hopefully to be enjoyed by others.





-Anthony Summey

The Weekly Panel #1

This is a new thing I am going to do and post a panel from The Pirate Musketeers once a week. This is an establishing shot of Versailles. I had to take the time to do the research to get this right. It is always necessary to research the subject matter of your work. Because if you try and fake it, you'll lose your reader and come off like a hack (which I find myself falling into time to time).

- Anthony Summey

The Pirate Musketeers #1 cover

This is the black and white version of the cover to The Pirate Musketeers. I will post the color version once I've completed the interior pages and have some time to work on getting the coloring just right.

I know I've been a bit lax with my post. I am going to try and update more often with a weekly panel and some articles about the artist who've influenced me, pirate life, musketeers, dinosaurs, and my thoughts about creating good comics. Hopefully I'll get this blog a rocking in the next few weeks.

- Anthony Summey

The Pirate Musketeers: Meet the Crew #4

Name: Darius "The Daring" Dontez

Height: 5'-10"

Weight: 175 lbs

Country: Nomadic, currently serving has a Musketeer in France.

Occupation: Musketeer, adventurer, and pirate.

Darius was born the grand child of Manuel Garcia Dontez, the King of the gypsies that roamed the hills between Spain and France. He was the most beloved of all of Manuel's grandchildren, because of his boldness and confidence. This nurtured jealousy in the hearts of his cousins and they sold him into service of a pirate crew as a cabin boy.

It was aboard the ship where Darius learned to weld a sword, and his skill quickly became legend to any sailor in the Mediterranean. He rose to become the captain of his own ship and lead a fairly prosperous pirate life, until the day he saved the king from asasination. He lost his ship and crew in the process, but was rewarded by the king and given a position has one of his musketeers.

- Anthony Summey

The Pirate Musketeers: Meet the Crew # 3

Name: Captain Elijah Byrd



Height: 5'-9"



Weight: 235 lbs



Country: England



Occupation: Privateer




Captain Byrd is the elected leader of the privateering ship "The Purgatory". He is an odd sort of pirate, who holds a strict moral code and expects his men to be of noble character (which they are often times found lacking). He has taken this mission from the Cardinal not just for the gold promised, but he feels compelled by some higher power to find this lost treasure.

He is a stern, but fair captain as long as you mind your manners around his daughter, Bonnie Red, who he has raised on the ship for the past 15 years. She is constant reminder of the love he once shared with his departed wife,who was lost to consumption when Bonnie was but toddler. He would face any army or manner of devilish beast to protect her.

- Anthony Summey

The Pirate Musketeers: Meet the Crew #2

Name : Akbar

Height: 6' 6"

Weight: 254 lbs.

Country: Egypt

Occupation: former slave, warrior, pirate, and Quarter Master of the Purgatory.

Akbar was discovered by Captain Byrd and the crew of the Purgatory hung from the main mast of a slave-trade ship adrift on the ocean. Captain Byrd and his men boarded the ship hoping to raid it of any supplies that were left. Much to their surprise, they discovered that Akbar had survived. They quickly cut him down, and he has been a valuable part of the crew ever since.

The pirates learn that he had lead a rebellion against his captors hoping to free himself and his enslaved companions. They were successful, and for a time he captained the ship. He and his crew had turned pirate in order to survive on the seas, but were hoping to find their way back home. They were then discovered by one of the ships of the slave-trade company. They lost that battle and Akbar was hung then and there for his actions. It was three days before Captain Byrd and his crew found Akbar.

Akbar is the fiercest fighter among the crew. His heart is like that of the lions that roam the plains of his homeland. At times he seems to possess unnatural physical strength. His vocal cords have been damaged, therefore Akbar rarely speaks, but when he does it is wise to listen.

- Anthony Summey

The Pirate Musketeers: Meet the Crew #1

Name: Edmond de la Croix

Height: 6' 0"

Weight: 190 lbs.

Country: France

Occupation: Musketeer, adventure, scholar, and pirate

Edmond d'la Croix is the musketeer philosopher. Before joining the king's service has a musketeer, Edmond had studied at a monastery to pursue a career in the church. There he studied not only the works of the Church, but the philosophies and science of the ancients. Some have speculated that he left the monastery because he had discovered some truth the Church had long kept suppressed. Others believe he left for the love of a woman, who he could never hope to attain, and that these desires tortured him. Whatever the case, Edmond still believes in love. If that makes him a hopeless romantic or a fool, so be it.

Edmond is quite skilled with a sword 3 rd only to his comrade, Darius "the Daring" Dontez and the legendary Porthos. His knowledge of science, engineering, the arts, ancient texts, and languages make him the corner stone of our group of adventures.

- Anthony Summey

The Pirate Musketeers

The Pirate Musketeers is the working title for my comic book mini series to be published by Free Lunch Comics. I am planning to post often with updates and work progress, and maybe even a few tutorials. So you can get a behind the scenes look at how I put "The Pirate Musketeers" book together, and hopefully we might learn more about pirates, musketeers, dinosaurs and how a comic book series is put together from concept to finished product. So prepare yourselves, because we are about to sail with our pirate crew and musketeers.