The Avengers comes out this weekend! I’m very excited, and I think it’s going to do extremely well. Joss Whedon needs to get his due, and the Avengers will hopefully be a career moment for him. Nick Fury is not the Director of SHIELD as far as I’m concerned; the leader of earth’s mightiest heroes is Joss Whedon.

Mad Men will be here in less than a week! And it has been off the air for 18 months. Man, am I glad to see it return. I’m a huge fan of the show, the time period, and wanted to somehow celebrate how entertained I am by the series. I have a love for the golden age of comics. Sometimes I wish I was a freelance comic book artist in that era, when comics were new, exciting, and uniquely part of being American. Romance comics were in fact hugely popular in those days, easily surpassing sales of superhero comics. And at some point, they dropped off, were replaced by horror, war, and other genres eventually.

I love the women of Mad Men a lot. Their clothes are amazing and they all look stunningly perfect in every frame. This is a total excuse to draw some of Don’s romances in seasons 3 and 4. In a lot of articles, people tend to talk (or remember) the iconic scenes of season 1 and 2. The smoking of cigarettes, drinking of alcohol, womanizing, subtle racisms, the Belle Jolie campaign etc. But S. 3 and 4 are hardly on people’s memories, and they have some of the best episodes of all time! So I focused on the women of S. 3 and 4, but maybe I’ll revisit this project and get every one of Don’s flings (including Mrs. Barrett and… DORIS!) Next week, I’ll talk about my process (with an OVERLOAD OF MY SKETCHES). #MadMenMarchMadness!

The animated series I’m working on, “La Familia Figeroa”, has been an incredible project to work on. Character development is extremely difficult, especially for a comedy series. Kleber, one of our main characters, was the most difficult to develop. And with notes from producers, TV networks, and my own neurotic head, it took us a long time to nail down exactly what makes Kleber interesting. Below I’ve posted some more sketches from production.

There were some highs and lows, but we ended up with something that meets a medium of its previous incarnations. “La Familia Figeroa” still needs backing, so head on over to Indie GoGo. And for 3 lucky donors, I’ll be creating original character turnarounds, so you will have the most awesome gift that our production can give.

I don’t usually record my process for my illustrations. I’ve been working on coming up with a New Yorker style cover illustration with that unique sense of irony. They aren’t easy to generate! When I was done with the inks, I did run into a Bizarro cartoon that horrified me, but because I have the dog in a stroller, I at least upped the ante a little bit. So strange that we used the same looking dog!

Being the eternal art student that I am, I pulled from so many artists’ advice to get the insight necessary to make this piece. Daniel Krall gave an answer on tumblr to not create “puppet style” compositions. The first sketch I came up with was too linear. It might’ve been a great sketch to capture my idea, but is definitely not an interesting composition. Enjoy!

I’m happy to finally be able to talk about the animated series that I have been developing for some time now. My producers William Caballero and Victor Cruz have put together this Indie GoGo page to raise some funds for some already gorgeous animation. I’ve never seen my artwork go from concepts to animation so fluidly, and it’s a wild surreal experience to be a part of.

La Familia Figueroa (Indie Go Go FINAL) from William Caballero on Vimeo.

Part of the prize package is that you can be drawn in the style of La Familia Figeroa, by me! But hurry, there’s a limit of only 3 backers who get this perk, so become a contributor today.

When I was in high school, all I did was draw characters making out. Now that I’m older, I’m way better. At both. If you saw those old illustrations (or kissed me) you would be very embarrassed for me.

It’s the end of Black History Month but the beginning of March MODOK Month! Why can’t the two months be the same one?

I hadn’t heard of Leap Day William until last Thursday night. It sounds like a complete invention by comedy writers in a Rockefeller writers’ room. Happy Leap Day, everyone! See you in another 4 years.

The question in question was along the lines of “Do you have a preference of what kind of humor you like to do? Political, pop culture, sports-related?” He then went on to say he doesn’t consider himself a comedian or a joke writer. He likes to tell situational gags, like a farmer who sows seeds and waters them every day but they don’t grow. Then he turns around and sees a flower pop up through the crack of a sidewalk. It comes from his own life, lifted from his own gardening experiences. And then he realized, “I don’t think I’ve answered your question, but what do I care?”

After the panel, I showed Al my own Mad Fold-in that was inspired 100% by him. He wanted to save it along with the others he’s gotten over the years. He makes photocopies of them to do the actual folding so he doesn’t ruin the original prints. Instead of letting him do that, I just gave him another copy right then. But who knows, he may end up leaving both uncreased!

Thanks to the Museum of Cartoon and Comic Art in NYC. They’re putting on another great event this Thursday for Will Eisner Week, and I will be attendance!