Royal Rumble and Avengelyne

Finally posted my latest effeort for the Pile O' Bones Derby Club in the Illustration section. If you're too lazy to click over, here it is:

I've also been exploring my abilities as an inker recently. My buddy Owen Gieni is doing the art work for Image Comics' Avengelyne. He sent me over some rough pencils of a pin-up to ink, just for a larf. Here are the pencils:

and here are my inks:

All the inks are digital. No squids were harmed in the production of this artwork.

Drop Zone Mask

   First off, big thanks to Nick for buying the Swamp Thing/Yoda sketch. He's a good guy, you should stop by the Spadina Freehouse in Saskatoon for beer and say hi.

   Thanks, also, to Eye Inspire Events for asking me to draw the following mask for an oversized pamphlet that they're distributing to promote the Easter Seals Drop Zone event coming up in Regina. Click the link and check it out - it's a great idea for a charity event, one I'd totally do if I wasn't a sniveling craven coward. 

Gus from Sweet Tooth and ET

Here's the latest Crossover Buddies sketch: Gus from Sweet Tooth meets ET. This one's done with Staedtler pigment liners and Copic sketch markers. It's yours for $30. Send me an e-mail.

Swamp Thing and Yoda

I've been trying to squeeze even more drawing into the day than ever before. The latest chronological territory claimed by drawing has been my lunch breaks. At Bushwakkers I huddle over a piece of paper with my pencils and brushes and get some fun done. I'm working on a series right now of sketches that are based on the opposite of the well worn "Who would win in a fight" concept. Rather than pitting Superman versus the Hulk, I've decided to brainstorm to see who would get along the best. My first drawing is Swamp Thing and Yoda.

This (and the following drawings) are for sale. This one's $30 (including shipping). If you're interested, e-mail me to let me know and we'll work out the details. Or, you can just use that address to paypal me. Just be sure to include your full mailing address. Thanks.

oBaby and Tartan Tzar

Despite devoting most of my spare time to either parenting, drawing comics or working on Shatterday business (stop by the website - we've made some additions), I've managed to squeeze in a couple of design jobs. First, a former co-workers wife has begun an organic baby food business and was in need of a logo. After a little bit of tweaking, we came up with this design.

I was also asked by my favourite watering hole, the Bushwakker, to design a label for their 20th Anniversary Russian Imperial Stout. Once upon a time, I would've been paid in beer for this, but my 5 year old son doesn't drink yet.

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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.