Captions...

When I first came up with TC, there was one thing that I knew I wanted to do. In old comics, the captions were always very stylized (lettering in general was very stylized back then, something I am working on for the strip). But the captions always had a strong look to them that I liked. Below is an old Dick Tracy Sunday comic that illustrates exactly what I'm saying.

Look at the captions...

Anyway, I always liked that gumshoe, big/bold opening letter and wanted to get it in TC. Unfortunately, my skills weren't up to the task the first go around. But, with re-starting the strip, this was one of my top priorities when I got back into it. So, as a little preview, I wanted to show Strip 2 from the original run and again with the planned caption (which is still a work-in-progress)

ORIGINAL STRIP

REVISED STRIP

Now, all I need to do is work on lettering in general!

Trevor Keeps It Classy

The best way to come up with an idea is to just draw. Charles Schulz taught me that. And some of the best stuff I've come up with has been through that. Just doodling and lightning strikes. I got a whole strip out of this little drawing (itself just meant to be a practice Trevor). A gentleman will be talking (probably to Teddy), commenting on the classy party they are at and that Teddy should conduct himself with dignity. Then Trevor enters and proclaims "Shots?" I don't know where it'll find its place, but this panel will be done sometime. Wonder when...

Singing a song...

Just a silly drawing from last night

Trevor: Lounge Singer

Have a Good Summer

Funny little sketch I did the other day. I just had the right colored pencils at the right time. For the time being, this is an accurate statement about Trevor's age, as I plan on him being around 25/26 (my current age). But boy, I can't wait for him to join Captain America, Iron Man and Nick Fury (among MANY others) in the grand tradition of moving their birth date to fit in with current publishing dates.

Blades

Another piece of the TrevorCopter puzzle has come together. Enjoy part 2 of this ongoing experiment.

And I saved this still as I was putting together the composition.

Two Hearts

As part of the package I am putting together to submit to newspapers and publishers for TrevorCopter, I am planning on including an "opening credits" for the comic. This is the first piece, a quick shot of Trevor's loves: Ava, Lana, Mallory and Debbie.

Full Page Spread

A while ago on my other blog, Teddy the Bear and Other Shenanigans, I posted the full page of character sketches, most of them from TrevorCopter. So, since it pertains to the world of TC, I figured that I would post it here. Enjoy!

Trey

Col. Hawke, Director of ARMOR

Matilda

Teddy the Bear

Picard and Trevor

Confrontational Trevor

Dr. Neil Monkey and Mr. Villain

The Full Page

TrevorCopter: A Sexy Life

I've been finding that TrevorCopter is a great place for a lot of my abandoned projects to find a new home. The idea of Trevor having an evil twin brother comes from a short film idea about my friends' fake band, No Buffalo. Teddy the Bear has been around for 20 years, never finding a narrative story to fit into (but was the star of the single panel comic I did in college). But this sketch brings together TWO different stories into one.

A future comic (in more than one way) I've come up with is called A Copter in Time (the title is an homage to the book A Wrinkle in Time). TrevorCopter is brought hundreds of years into the future and finds that he is a cultural deity, a legend unparalleled. He is brought into that future by the characters featured below: Nano, Deacon, and Boopsie. Nano is from an old comic I did in junior high called Crossed Wires, a half-baked science story. Deacon and Boopsie are the second male and female leads of my epic play, Mike Eynon: A Sexy Life, which I wrote in college. They are from a future where Mike Eynon, slacker college student, is worshiped. Think Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

Anyway, I love when old ideas are able to find a new home. Most of the time, you find out that this was meant to be their home all along.

Bar Room Sketch

As you could probably guess, I have a lot of story ideas. Executing those story ideas is one thing, but I have A LOT of stories to tell, especially with TrevorCopter. You can't tell from this sketch, but this is part of possibly the most epic TC storyline I've thought of so far. But its also a funny little idea too. Enjoy.

Trevor settles into the hard life of a working man.

Around the World in 80 Strips: 1

I have this sketch of Story 4, Around the World in 80 Strips, that I did a while ago. Wanted to share it.
(And forgive the the lined paper and scratched out words)

TrevorCopter: REBIRTH

I got fired two months ago.

That's not the point of this post, but it is what started a return to TrevorCopter. Since the new year started, I unofficially set TC aside. I focused on doing a weekly strip for the CSULA newspaper and, when I got around to it, online comics for Restoring Truthiness and The Best Damn Nerd Show.

But then, I got fired. And over the past two months, I have been re-evaluating my life goals. One of those is pursuing comics and, specifically, TrevorCopter. The weekend after I was let go, I went to Rite-Aid and got a little notebook. That Friday afternoon, I sat down at a Starbucks and started drawing TC characters. After a few pages, I decided that I would dedicate this notebook solely to TrevorCopter. No non-TC Teddy cartoons or A@L ideas, just Trevor, The Copter and adventure. Since June 15th, the cast has expanded to nearly 40 characters (Main Cast, recurring and one-offs) and over 60 story ideas, with the first 6 (starting with the ever-in-production "The Deadly Introductions," which has now been fully planned out) forming the foundation of the world and taking on the name "Welcome Aboard!"

"Welcome Aboard!" will consist of the follow story lines:

The Deadly Introductions

The first story that brings TrevorCopter out of retirement to save President Rubester's dog

The Trevor Gala

Following TrevorCopter's triumphant return, a gala is held in his honor and everyone attends (except Trevor, who completely forgets about it)

Exotic Locale Love Story

Trevor, The Copter and Teddy are invited to the Mediterranean villa of Antoine, The Copter's creator. There, Teddy and The Copter begin their friendship and Trevor falls in love.

Around the World in 80 Strips

Trevor and eccentric billionaire Wallaby J. Cinnamon go one of their pre-planned "gentlemen adventures:" a balloon race around the world.

The TrevorCopter Flim-Flam

TrevorCopter returns to his hometown, Ruby Cove, and discovers that evil businessman, Lucar Scorpio, has purchased nearly the whole town. Trevor and the gang pull an elaborate con to take it back.

TreyCopter

Trevor's evil twin brother, Trey, takes it upon himself to destroy Trevor by turning everyone against him.

Over these stories, we'll meet Trevor's family: his dad Dr. Jerry, his mom Robo-Becky, his butler Teddy the Bear, younger sister, Cait, and his evil twin brother, Trey. We'll meet his loves: the mysterious Ava Kyle, the charming Lana Watson, professional socialite Debbie, and his (possible) true love, Mallory. And of course, we'll meet his allies (Agent Hawke and his brother Sheriff Hawke; Antoine, The Copter's creator; The Rubester, President of the United States; Wallaby J. Cinnamon, eccentric billionaire I. Ian Iverson III, Editor of The Ruby News Day; Parker Johnson, photographer with a secret and Peanut Jim, mayor of Ruby Cove, Trevor's hometown) and his enemies (Dr. Neil Monkey, The Vice President, Lucar Scorpio, StanCopter and a few more unknown adversaries).

Working in this notebook made me realize the true potential of TrevorCopter. I'm glad that I started the strip when I did (which was over a year ago now), but also glad that I didn't work through it. Even now, I look at the incompleteness of the 22 strips on this site and know that it was going in a completely different direction, one that would not have been able to bring these ideas and characters to life. The world needed to sit while it grew into something much bigger than it was going to be a year ago. My art needed to catch up to be able to capture the light spirit of this world.

And with that, I wanted to share some sketches from the notebook. This is the first peak into the new world of TrevorCopter.

Agent Hawke

  

Trevor and CopterTrevor

Trevor as The Crow

Trevor's dad, Dr. Jerry

I. Ian Iverson III., Editor of The Ruby News Day

(Princess) Mallory

Trevor's mom, Robo-Becky

Spider Hero: MENACE

The Vice President and his assistant, Matilda

Col. Hawke, Head of ARMOR

Lana Watson begins a press conference

Spider Hero being a menace

The lovely Ava Kyle and her companion, Luann the Bear

Parker Johnson, photographer for The Ruby News Day and Spider Hero, public menace 

The Copter Brigade (Clockwise from top left: Francoise, Trevor, StanCopter, Cait)

Teddy and Trevor perform a daring act

The Rubester and Teddy the Bear

Teddy gets caught eating a cake

Teddy, Ava and Lana lounging at The Trevor Pool

Trevor as Ronald McDonald

Trey

So, I'll ask again. Stay tuned, Copter Crew.

We shall fly again...

Edited comics

Not too different, but I have decided to give little captions to introduce characters to the strip.

Strip 22

Strips 20 & 21

Sorry. Work is crazy and I completely spaced on posting yesterday, so to make up for that, here are strips 20 and 21. Its as if it never happened!

STRIP 20

STRIP 21

Strip 19

Welcome back. We find our heroes, the duo known as TrevorCopter, on their way to FBI HQ to start their investigation into the kidnapping of the Rubester's dog, Old Chester.