#puma blues

[dirtyriver]

RIP Michael Zulli (December 20, 1952 – July 8, 2024)

[smashedpages]

Rest in peace, Michael Zulli.

[viewfromthelake]

Chris Lake Art Newsletter, September 7th, 2025: "The View From The Lake"

Archie Lake Darling, ink & digital

I finished the black and white portion of this picture I’m working on, based on a photo of my dog at Lake Darling State Park in November of 2024. All but the sky is done with ink on paper, and I got a lot of satisfaction playing with various sizes and types of pen.

(I’ve been meaning to keep better track of how long these pieces take to make. The complete drawing - including the rough blue pencil sketch and all the inking - took 6 hours.)

Sky detail

After scanning this, I worked on my PC using the software GIMP to stitch it together (my scanner is only big enough for letter sized pages, so anything bigger needs to be scanned in parts), and adjust the levels. I then exported this nice, clean scan of my inks and imported into the Krita software on my Samsung tablet, where I digitally painted the sky and then applied a filter to give the sky that comic book/magazine/newspaper halftone effect. It’s hard to explain exactly why I really want this aesthetic, but I think part of it is that I love working with black ink, and when you’re working with just black, any grey tones have to be accomplished by patterns of black and white.

(This is where I stopped keeping such good track of the time spent on the project, but I estimate it was about 45 minutes scanning/stitching/adjusting, and then about an hour on the digital sky.)

I plan to do a digitally-colored version, as with a number of previous works, though - as always - the straight-up black and white version has a particular appeal to me. With the greater contrast, it’s like I feel all the textures so much more with my eyes.

A few years ago, I discovered a black and white indie comic from the 80s called The Puma Blues, which takes place in a near-future world where human civilization is crumbling, and the natural world is changing and adapting. It’s kind of a bleak story when you think about it, but also the contemplative pace and beautiful wildlife drawings made me fall in love with it, and it has had an influence on the way I draw nature.

A page from The Puma Blues #5, written by Stephen Murphy and drawn by Michael Zulli

Thanks for reading - or skimming - my newsletter. They won’t always be this long, but when I hit certain milestones in something I’m working on, I might find myself with a lot to say about the process.

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www.chrislakeart.com

[smashpages]

Rest in peace, Michael Zulli

The artist of ‘Sandman,’ ‘The Last Temptation’ and ‘Puma Blues’ has passed away at the age of 71.

[viewfromthelake]

Comics Reading Update 11/15/2023

After seeing The Marvels recently, I wanted to read some recent stuff with some of the characters on the Marvel Unlimited app. Read the first issue of Ms. Marvel The New Mutant and thought it was a good start, but then got to the end and realized this was such a recent book that only issue 1 is on the app so far. (SPOILERS AHEAD) Looks like in the comics, she's being referred to as both an Inhuman AND a Mutant, somehow. Yeah, somehow I doubt the Inhuman part will be referenced anywhere outside of comics. I saw that her resurrection happens in the current X-Men book, so I went back and decided to get caught up on that series. I'm still not up to the resurrection of Kamala, but I think I'm closing in on it soon.

It is nice to catch up more on the X-Men. I'm giving myself permission lately to just ignore the reference chart in the back of every X-book that shows you which different issues of which title are next, and instead just pick a series (X-Men) and read issue to issue in a non-pain-in-the-ass way. Sometimes I really like Krakoa X-Men stuff, and sometimes I have the same complaint that I do with a lot of current comic book writing where it feels like all the characters have the same sense of humor and also they're all sort of posturing with this "social media influencer" attitude. I don't know how else to explain it. And also it feels like these books have so much trouble deciding of killing their enemies is wrong - or at least very serious - or is 100% something to be glib and silly about.

My hardcover collection of The Puma Blues came in last week. It's nice to continue that beautiful strangeness in ink and paper. Though now with a physical book (and a thick hardcover at that), it feels like a real physical challenge to hold the thing open to read it while slouching in bed - my preferred reading spot. Like many of these really artistic books, I'm wondering how much of what is being said I'm supposed to understand. All the animals and nature stuff remains beautiful and inspiring.

[thingsireadthisweek-blog]

The Puma Blues: The Complete Saga in One Volume by Stephen Murphy and Michael Zulli (Dover Publications, 2015)

[acomicpaneladay]

The Puma Blues #2, September 1986 Art by Michael Zulli.

[escisiones]

... the Puma Blues was free to drift away entirely from the burdens of plot and spend issue after issue dreamily exploring how comics might convey the despair of being lonely and worried in the wild.

This Week in Comics, by Joe McCulloch, 8 october 2014