Worldbuilding Lecture Video

Last week on my Twitch channel (twitch.tv/davidpetersen/) I gave a talk on World Building. It's the same talk I gave at the 1FW workshop last year. And If you missed getting to watch the stream LIVE, I've made it available as a Video on demand (VOD).

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/467837400 

So come listen as I walk through the three main methods I develop the world of Mouse Guard with: Costumes & Characters, History & Culture, and Locations and Architecture.

Watch Highlight: Worldbuilding Lecture with Q&A to follow#MouseGuard from DavidPetersen on www.twitch.tv

2019 Appearances
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20
The Fantastic Workshop Nov. 13-18

World-Building lecture

In two days I'll be giving a talk on my Twitch channel on World Building. This is the talk I gave at the 1FW workshop last year that some fans asked I make available for folks who didn't attend.  So come listen as I walk through the three main methods I develop the world of Mouse Guard with. A Q&A will follow, and I often find that this is the most robust portion of any presentation I give, so please make your way over to Twitch on Thursday at 8pm. If you want to ask questions in the Q&A you will need a Twitch login (free), so make sure you have an account set up before the talk starts.

twitch.tv/davidpetersen

2019 Appearances
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20
The Fantastic Workshop Nov. 13-18

Merek as the Black Axe piece Process

With my plan to title my forthcoming sketchbooks by theme (see this year's Legends Sketchbook where I pay homage to 24+ Legends of the Guard stories) I already have my next one's theme picked: Black Axe Wielders. I'm going to work on this sketchbook slowly, no date set for release (though it will probably coincide with a convention appearance) and I spend a few days post SDCC warming up for some freelance cover work by doing a piece of Merek, the last wielder of the Black Axe before Celanawe. To the left you can see the finished piece, but below I'll walk you through my process for creating it start to finish.

Reference material:
In the 3rd Mouse Guard book: The Black Axe, I revealed (spoiler alert) that there have been nine wielders of the Black Axe before Celanawe. In the epilogue, Lieam dreams a starry crow tells him the folly of Merek, and I give the readers the only images we see of this axe wielder (as he does not appear on the scrap of tapestry). Merek does a horrible deed on the shores of Ildur, but instead of showing that again, I opted to have him battle a creature––a fan favorite, a crab! I still had the photos I took from when I was drawing the 2nd issue of Fall. Julia went to our local fish monger and bought two cooked, but whole crabs I could use as reference.


Layout/Roughs:
I then did a pencil drawing of Merek on a sheet of copy paper. On another sheet, I drew the crab (with some help from my reference photo). I combined these two drawings in photoshop and tinted them different colors to help me see which lines belonged to which figure. In the background I pasted in several stock photo crows in flight. Part of the story of Merek is that the crows saw his deeds and carry the folly of Merek with them. The symbol in the upper right corner is a made-up runic number '9' (the vertical bar is just a pole to hang the roman numerals V and four I's).


Inks:
Once the layout was ready, I printed it out and taped it to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 bristol. On a Huion light pad I was able to ink the piece while seeing through the surface of the bristol. For pens I used Copic Multiliners (I think I only used the 0.7 nib here). I inked this piece entirely on my Twitch Stream.

I purposely left some gaps between the crow silhouettes and the foreground or borders so that I could more easily isolate them in the next step...

Color Flats:
I'd planned to do the coloring process on stream too, but I came down with some con-crud after SDCC and I didn't feel up to being Live on Stream while feeling crappy. The first step to coloring digitally is creating color flats. This is basically coloring in the lines with flat colors. Establishing what areas are which colors. In this step I also established my color holds (areas I want the ink to be a color rather than black) And I isolated the inks for the crows, the runic 9, and Merek's scars.



Final colors:
Using the Dodge and Burn tools with a stock textured brush in Photoshop, I went in and rendered the final colors for the piece. Again, I'm sorry I wasn't feeling up to streaming the color process live, but there will be more piece like this down the road I can share with you all when I'm feeling better.

2019 Appearances
GenCon August 1-4
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20
The Fantastic Workshop Nov. 13-18

New Mouse Guard Tee Shirts

Hello Guardmice! I'll be releasing a new shirt at SDCC and in the online store soon afterwards! I've adapted the image from the 2019 German Print to be an image on Old Gold and on Sand colored Gildan tee shirts!

Here's more info on the original image

German Print: https://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2019/04/2019-german-print-process.html

And I hope you folks enjoy the new shirts!

2019 Appearances
San Diego Comic Con July 17-21
GenCon August 1-4
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20
The Fantastic Workshop Nov. 13-18

Creator Commentary Winter 1152: Hardcover Extras

I've made a Creator Commentary video for all the Mouse Guard Winter 1152 Hardcover Extras! Maps, Endpapers, Spot Illustrations, the Epilogue, etc! Please feel free to follow along in your copy of the story in either issue form of from the hardcover as I talk about the behind the scenes details, art notes, and my head-space as I go page by page and panel by panel. Enjoy!

Direct link to watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/OpyKu5-kpyY

2019 Appearances
San Diego Comic Con July 17-21
GenCon August 1-4
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20
The Fantastic Workshop Nov. 13-18

2019 HEROES CON Paintings

For Heroes Con this weekend, I've created two new Mouse Guard 16" x 20" watercolor paintings. Like last year, one of my paintings will be going into the auction, the other will be available for sale at my table Sunday (the morning after the auction) with a price based on the auction results. Below you can see both of the paintings of Gwendolyn and Sadie, but further down, I'll go thorough the process pictures as I created the paintings.

First step was to sketch out my characters on copy paper. I'd known I wanted to do Gwendolyn and Sadie, two prominent female characters from Mouse Guard. For the characters I pushed their costumes a bit beyond their looks in the comic. And over the course of three sheets of paper, I had the elements I needed for the characters themselves. Note I drew the pike-axe separately as I re-designed it, and I only drew one of Sadie's short swords knowing I could digitally re-use it for her other paw. As for the backgrounds...

I decided to reference some architectural photos I took a few years ago in Central Park. I'm bad with my park geography, but I'm pretty sure the diagonal floral motif is near the bridge where the scene from Avengers was filmed. Anyhow, these spoke to me, and I had them on-hand to make a pretty architectural-design inspired background for each painting. 

In photoshop, I took my pencil drawings, and the architectural photos and combined them into a satisfying color study of what I wanted my final paintings to resemble. The digital colors helped me pick colors and to pick the color values (light-dark ranges). To give the pieces some cohesion, I used the same arch template formed by Sadie's background to shape the diagonal floral pattern for Gwendolyn's. 

Then I printed out each design at 16" x 20, the same size as the mat board I was ready to paint them on. That meant printing each image in sections and taping the printouts together. This is what the grid on the digital version is for, to help me line-up and re-register the pieces.

To transfer the piece over to the matboard, I taped down a large sheet of graphite paper (like carbon paper) to the matboard, then taped down the image printout, and lastly traced over all the image details with a ball point pen. Wherever the pen put pressure on the graphite paper, the graphite was transferred onto the matboard. Below you can see the backside of the graphite paper after the transfer where the graphite is already lifted.

While the process went very smoothly (and below you can see the final transfer of Gwendolyn) I wouldn't ever use graphite paper for this use again. The wax binder that holds the graphite to the paper also transferred over to the matboard and acted as a bit of a resist for the watercolor. It was workable, but there was a thin white halo between the linework and the paint.

Then it was time to start the painting. I streamed most of that process over on Twitch. Below is a photo I took of my work set-up. A few brushes (mainly one wide flat, and two smaller round), an uncleaned tray of old watercolors (a few tubes were still wet enough to squeeze new dolops from), a water mug, and my painting. I should also mention that while I did my best to document the process, there are several points where I was focused enough on the work, I forgot to stop and take a photo.

Below is the background of Gwendolyn painted.

Below is the wash of Sadie's background painted.

Below I've worked on more of the design, shadows, and colors of Sadie's background.

Working on Sadie with the watercolor tray set-up.

Starting in on the fur and skin tones.

Skipped a few steps of Gwendolyn's fur, skin, and costume colors getting washed in and then built up...at this point I only had her dress, jewelry, book, and the pike-axe handle to work on.

Sadie is nearly done here. Just some color correction and the yellow piping/stitch trim to paint in.

Details of the two at that stage:

And then the painting portion of each were finished.

But––I always feel that my work looks better with a strong line. My painting skills aren't quite up to snuff to define forms entirely with color and shape. So, I 'inked' each piece with a brown color pencil. I used a dark brown color pencil instead of ink to soften the linework a bit compared to ink--I didn't want it to look like a coloring book. 

And below you can see both paintings fully finished. 

To repeat, one of these will be going into the Heroes Con auction (I've been told they do phone bids) And the other will be available at my artist alley table at Heroes the morning after with a similar price to the winning bid at the auction. 

For Reference, here is the blogpost for my two paintings from last year: https://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2018/06/heroes-con-2018-auction-pieces.html

2019 Appearances
Heroes Con June 14-16
San Diego Comic Con July 17-21
GenCon August 1-4
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20
The Fantastic Workshop Nov. 13-18

Rosard Mouse Print Process

*NOTE: THIS WAS WRITTEN PRIOR TO DISNEY CANCELING THE MOVIE AT FOX––WE ARE STILL EXPLORING ALL OPTIONS TO BRING THE MICE OF MOUSE GUARD TO LIFE*

When the Mouse Guard Movie was given a full green light from FOX, Stephen Christy and Ross Richie came to Michigan to deliver the good news, deliver the payment, and celebrate with a meal. As a thank you for their work on Mouse Guard as a book series and on the Movie (they are involved both in publishing at BOOM! and producers on the film at the FOX lot) I drew them each as a Guardmouse and gave them the original inked piece.

To the left you can see the finished colored version of 'Rosard' that I've released as a print available in my online store: mouseguard.bigcartel.com



Ross Richie is head of BOOM! Studios who acquired Archaia several years ago. But even before that, Ross had always been in my and Mouse Guard's corner. Early on he'd shared with me his appreciation for my book and hired me to do covers for BOOM! titles. When Archaia had hit some hard times, he mentioned to me, with no pressure or hard sell, that if things got bad, and I ever needed a new home for Mouse Guard, he was there for me. It was BOOM!'s deal with FOX that made the movie possible (and under the favorable terms for me). He's made a lot of things possible for me and Mouse Guard.



So, how to interpret Ross as a mouse? Well, I thought of Ross as firstly a guy who needed a weapon whose sound effect would go 'BOOM!'. Ross' personality is a big presence. It's not overwhelming, or oppressive, but it has a mass to it. I wanted to add that volume to his mouse's cloak, his oversized warhammer, and a story told in his fur and his scars.

The name Rosard comes from the origin spelling of the name Ross ('Ros') and the pronunciation of the Scottish Gaelic for 'Hammer' ('òrd' pronounced 'Ard'). I drew the Ross-mouse and the swirly patterned stones on one sheet of copy paper, scanned it in to Photoshop to resize it for the final artwork-size.



With the layout assembled and printed on to copy paper, I started inking it. I taped the printout to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. On my Huion lightpad, I can see through the surface of the bristol to the printout below and use that as a guide to ink from. For pens I used my trusty Copic Multiliner SPs...primarily the 0.7 nib that I like so much.

It would have been easy to get carried away with the textures of the scarred mouse, his fur cloak, well-used front sash, hammer details, and stone background...but I tried to restrain myself and leave room for color.



I scanned the inks and started to lay in flat colors as well as establish the few color holds (areas where I want the ink lines to be a color other than black) on his scars

Ross' colors weren't as easy to pin-down as other human-to-guardmice-inspirations. I think of some of Ross' tenacity and directness to be in the red-family for cloak colors...but I opted to make that the front accent panel color and leave his fur and cloak more in a natural cream and brown tone-range. The hammer also had to be seen...it needs to do some of its job before it's even swung...so I went with a brassy tone for that.



The last step was to render the colors by adding light and shadow as well as texture using the Dodge and Burn tools in Photoshop with a stock textured brush. I did some color adjustments from the flat colors, punching up the fungus color to be a bit more vivid.


I've told Ross that his mouse 'Rosard' may make it into the Weasel War as a casualty...and to not take that personally. It doesn't mean there aren't stories to tell about that mouse earlier in his life...

You can buy a print of Rosard in my online store: mouseguard.bigcartel.com

2019 Appearances
Heroes Con June 14-16
San Diego Comic Con July 17-21
GenCon August 1-4
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20
The Fantastic Workshop Nov. 13-18

Stjepan Mouse Print Process

*NOTE: THIS WAS WRITTEN PRIOR TO DISNEY CANCELING THE MOVIE AT FOX––WE ARE STILL EXPLORING ALL OPTIONS TO BRING THE MICE OF MOUSE GUARD TO LIFE*

Back when the Mouse Guard Movie was given a full green light from FOX, Stephen Christy and Ross Richie came to Michigan to deliver the good news, deliver the payment, and celebrate with a meal. As a thank you for their work on Mouse Guard as a book series and on the Movie (they are involved both in publishing at BOOM! and producers on the film at the FOX lot) I drew them each as a Guardmouse and gave them the original inked piece.

To the left you can see the finished colored version of 'Stjepan' that I've released as a print available in my online store: mouseguard.bigcartel.com


Stephen Christy joined Archaia after a troubled time where due to a partner leaving and other complications, the publisher was bankrupt and unable to publish comics. Until a new owner bought the company and had Stephen as his right-hand-man. Stephen essentially worked on the re-launch from his dining room table in Chicago (this is when Archaia had been in Fort Lee, NJ and before the official move to LA). Stephen has also been there for every incarnation of Mouse Guard being approached, pitched, and *nearly* sold as a movie prior to FOX and has been instrumental in shepherding it this time.




So, how to interpret Stephen as a mouse? Well, I think of Stephen as having an elegance about him. For that reason I kept his fur simple and I wanted his cloak to have detail. Trim and perhaps an insignia. And for a weapon, he's have something more like an epee or saber fencing sword.

I drew the Stephen-mouse on one sheet of copy paper, and the tree-trunk with mushroom fungus on another and then assembled the parts in Photoshop (tinting the background a different color to help me visualize it). The thistle was also inserted digitally from a clip-art sheet of insignias (I suppose that means he's either from or has valiantly served Thistledown--the same town where Gwendolyn is from).


With the layout assembled and printed on to copy paper, I can start inking it. I taped the printout to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. On my Huion lightpad, I can see through the surface of the bristol to the printout below and use that as a guide to ink from. For pens I used my trusty Copic Multiliner SPs...primarily the 0.7 nib that I like so much.

To make sure I could separate the background lines of the forest floor, I left a white gap between the foreground inks and the sticks on the ground. That not only helps visually separate them, but also makes it easier in the next step when I have to establish the color holds.


I scanned the inks and started to lay in flat colors as well as establish all the color holds (areas where I want the ink lines to be a color other than black) on the cloak details and the background floor.

Stephen's colors came to me very quickly: Brown fur, and a royal blue cloak. There is an elegance to that color that fits what I was going for, but beyond that I just associate Stephen with the color blue, so it was a natural fit. The mushrooms then get into an orangey-tan to compliment the wardrobe hues.


The last step was to render the colors by adding light and shadow as well as texture using the Dodge and Burn tools in Photoshop with a stock textured brush. I did some color adjustments from the flat colors, punching up the fungus color to be a bit more vivid.

I've told Stephen that his mouse 'Stjepan' may make it into the Weasel War as a casualty...and to not take that personally. It doesn't mean there aren't stories to tell about that mouse earlier in his life...

You can buy a print of Stjepan in my online store: mouseguard.bigcartel.com


2019 Appearances
Heroes Con June 14-16
San Diego Comic Con July 17-21
GenCon August 1-4
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20
The Fantastic Workshop Nov. 13-18

Celanawe Print Process

To have a new character print for my 2019 conventions and appearances, as well as to round out the main cast of Mouse Guard character prints, I've created a print of Celanawe (aka The Black Axe). To the left you can see the finished artwork, but for this blogpost I'll be sharing the art steps for how I got there in the post below.


Before the step-by-step though, the print is available for purchase in my online store: mouseguard.bigcartel.com




I started with a drawing of Celanawe on copy paper (right). I didn't have a clear picture in my head of where to put him in terms of a setting...mossy rocks, ferny undergrowth, something else entirely? So I scanned the character drawing and did a quick digital painting of fern-like plants surrounding the oldfur (not pictured). Using a printout of that digital painting as a guide, I penciled on a lightbox linework for the flora. The patterns of the leaf shapes in the foreground (bottom) were getting a bit too repetitive to also use as the background shapes, so I used a new sheet of copy paper to draw out a broader leaf that felt like it was from the same family.


With all those pencil drawings done, I was able to composite together a digital layout for the print. I blocked in the color on Celanawe so I could see him as a mass, and also to make it easier to paint in the leaf shapes behind him. The colors help me see when I'm inking what area is what item so that I can get their contours right but also so I can add texture in the right places.

This is a little overboard for a 'layout', and some fans who watched the process on Twitch pointed out that this almost looks finished as a piece in it's own right...


But I like inked lines, and that's what you all know Mouse Guard to be. So, with the above layout printed and taped to the back of a sheet of Strathmore Bristol 300, I started inking on my Huion lightpad with Copic Multiliner SP pens (the 0.7 for everything but around the eyes where I used a 0.3).

I streamed this part on Twitch as I built up my line weights, added texture, and tried to make sense of those lacy ferns.



The step after the inks are finished is scan them and start to add color. This part is all about flat color, no rendered effects, no shading, just establishing which parts are which colors. Since I'd done some color work on my layout, some of the color selection was already done, it was just a matter of carefully getting the new color layers to meet up with (and stay within the lines of) the inked drawing. At this stage I also established the few color holds (places where I want the ink line to be a color other than black)––in this case the cut on Celanawe's nose, the bowl opening of his pipe, and a little detail on the Ladybug shell where the white dot meets the red.


The last step was to render all the colors adding light and shadow as well as texture. I do most of that with the Dodge and Burn tools in Photoshop and a stock textured brush.

Another effect was I made a trail of my thumbprints on copy paper and a roller ball pen and scanned that pattern as the smoke trailing from Celanawe's pipe. I treated the thumbprints like a color hold on a separate layer where I could control the opacity over the existing scenery.



You can purchase this print (along with most of the other Mouse Guard characters) at my upcoming convention appearances as well as in my online store: mouseguard.bigcartel.com

2019 Convention Appearances

Heroes Con June 14-16
San Diego Comic Con July 17-21
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20