Designs Aplenty

Finally catching up on posting a few designs I've done over the last few months. Quite a while ago, I was approached by a journalist who'd seen some of my work. He was looking for a logo for business cards, his website, that sort of thing. He had his concept ready to roll, including some initial sketches. Here's the final product -

My wife, in certain circles, is known as Ang Xiety. Well, they're not really perfectly circular, they're the oval rinks upon which the dangerous ladies of roller derby ply their trade. She's the coach of the local league, the Pile O' Bones Derby Club, which eats up a lot of her time. Rather than whine about my lot as a derby widower, I had the idea that I should try to cash in on her 'derby cred' and we've started up a roller derby inspired clothing line called Danger Belle. Our first sale was at a recent bout, and it went really well. If you're interested in seeing the designs, come by and visit the site. You can get there by clicking on the logo below.

Among my other pursuits, I've also begun work on a creator owned comic publishing and marketing services company. If you're a creator with a property you want to get out there, stop by Shatterday Comics (again, by clicking the logo below).

It's through Shatterday that I'll be publishing the comic, Temple, that I'm working on with Jake Gosselin. I've finally uploaded the 10 page preview online, which you can see here. Take a peek and let me know what you think.

So that's what I'm up to. I think you get a better idea why I post pretty rarely. Between starting two businesses, drawing a comic, a day job, and parenting, finding time to post news is rare indeed.

Comic Con 2010

I've been back from Comic Con Int'l in San Diego for over a week now, and I'm still trying to process the whole experience. 160,000 nerds of all sorts (myself proudly included) crowding into a vast hall to buy, sell, ogle, learn, worship and market. I tried to do all of the aforementioned activities, to varying degrees of success. The main reason for the trip was to drum up some interest in the comic I've been working on with writer Jake Gosselin called Temple. We printed off about 60 10-page samples to hand out to publishers, other industry professionals and anyone else that showed the slightest interest. Here's the cover to the sample (this will not be the cover to a finished issue - there are a lot of changes I want to make)

The boob grab on the cover really let people know what they were in for. It hooked some into reading the comic, while completely turning off others. That let me know that we'd nailed the intent, as it lets you know from the get go what sort of comic book Temple is. The other page that had the same effect, only exponentially greater, was the splash page - which I'm saving for a later post, sorry.

What I loved about the Comic Con experience, besides, obviously, all the intersting outfits, was getting that immediate reaction from someone in the industry. It was a chance to get feedback from someone I wasn't married to, the child of or the co-dependent of. I had the opportunity to go to a couple of portfolio reviews. The Dark Horse review was fantastic. Not in the, "OH MY GOD YOUR ARTWORK IS LIKE THE VOICE OF GOD WE WANT TO PUBLISH YOUR EVERY DOODLE" kind of way, but in a truly constructive criticism way. I picked up a bunch of helpful information in that quick meeting that will make my artwork much stronger from this point on. We also got some nice reactions and feedback from people we handed the comic to in the Exhibit Hall. The folks at the AIT/Planet Lar booth passed the comic amongst themselves with obvious smiles, which was amazing and incredibly encouraging to witness.

My favourite moment in the hall, though, came when Jake and I were plotting our next move and I looked over and realized I was standing next to Joe R Lansdale. Lansdale has written some of my favourite books and comics (his Jonah Hex stories with Tim Truman were mind-blowing). I introduced myself and handed him a copy of the Temple sample. He dug into it and seemed genuinely impressed, noting specifically the colours. I was already tripping out on a nerd high when he asked me to sign the comic for him. I don't know, or really care, if he was just being polite, but giving an autograph to someone you admire is just freaky cool. I got him to sign a copy of his new book, Dread Island, which I promptly forgot on the table in my star-struck stupor.

Speaking of being star-struck, I'll mention the other incredible creators I managed to meet while down there. The first was Eric Powell, creator of The Goon. When I first showed The Goon to my buddy Jake, he said his art looked like it was meant just for me. His style synthesizes so many of the things I love about comics, with a strong connection to the art from early MAD comics, especially Wally Wood. We talked Roller Derby briefly before he signed a copy of The Goon Vol 1. Next was the Godfather of Comics, Stan 'The Man' Lee.

This moment was just incredible. Stan Lee, holding a comic I drew. If you don't know how cool that is, there's no way for me to explain it. The final star I met was film director and comic writer Kevin Smith.

This is easily the coolest picture I have of someone reading Temple. Jake and I managed to get onto the guest list for an Etnies Shoes party promoting a line of shoes based on his films. The party included a live Smodcast, the podcast Smith does with his pal and producer, Scott Mosier (who I also got to meet very briefly).

Alright, I'm beat. Time for bed. There may be more Comic Con posts, if my brain files all the information soon.

Derby Doodles and Dutch Pride

Holy Cow, I've been off the blog for a while, eh? Well, here's a quick update. That nasty flu turned out to be pneumonia. Fun stuff. I was wishing that there was a market for lung butter. I'd have been a wealthy man. I'm mostly better, but there is still some rattle when I breathe.

I'm in twitter now -  http://twitter.com/gavindelint. Follow me. I'll try to amuse you at least as much as I offend you.

I'm still drawing, I haven't quit to farm pineapples or to go to private detective school (not that I haven't thought of it), but all of my drawing has been for projects that haven't really seen the light of day yet. There's the comic that I, along with my buddy and writer Jake Gosselin, will be pimping at Comic-Con International in a couple of weeks (HOLY CRAP IT'S ONLY A COUPLE OF WEEKS AWAY). There's also a Roller Derby related project that I'm working on with my wife that we should be launching sooner than later. It's had me in a derby frame of mind, so here are some derby doodles, just so that this post has some art.

Also, I've been devoting a little bit of time to following the Netherlands as they go for the World Cup. Finals this Sunday, versus Germany or Spain. HUP HOLLAND!!!

Brutarian magazine

Greetings from the graveside. I'm on day 8 of a nasty flu that has eaten away at all my spare (and non-spare) time, has make be a weak, shaky mess, and has caused me to tear up while reading zombie comic books. Not fun. The good news is that I have some art to share. The latest issue of Brutarian is available for sale, and it features not only an interior illo but also sports a fancy full colour cover from Mr Gavin. A. de Lint (that's me). Here's the cover

and here's the interior illustration for a creepy story called Block by Glen Alan Hamilton.

You can get your hands on a copy by sending five American dollars to

Dominick Salemi

116 Hawthorne St.

Colonial Beach, va

22443

USA

Get on it. 

Tomorrow, I book my room for Comic Con in San Diego. So very excited!

The Comedy Grind

Happy belated New Year everybody. Sorry for the post drought - as usual, I've been super busy but I have little to share. Well, I had little to share. I have a few new things to put up.

A pretty dynamic character named Shawn Hall is establishing a weekly comedy show here in Regina. It's called The Comedy Grind and it'll be taking place at Gabbos on Saturdays starting on Feb 13. You should get out there and support it. What's this got to do with me? Well, I did up a logo...

...and a poster.

The other thing I did recently was a logo for a trucking company, GTP Trucking Inc.

So, besides that, my main focus has been putting together a comic book with my buddy Jake Gosselin. We, along with another buddy Rob Simon - the brains behind Zoey Zeta and the Sisters of Power, are l are planning a trip down to San Diego for Comic Con this summer. Can't wait.