While I'm away, this week & next week's posts will be about Artists I collect the work of. I want to share these artist's amazing stuff and ways to find them.


Jeremy Bastian:
Not only one of the most talented people I know, he's also a good friend to boot. Jeremy's work is amazingly detailed and creative. He does all his inking with a brush, which a lot of folks do, but not with Jeremy's 19th century engraver's-line sense. This piece was a gift because Jeremy knew how much I admired this character's design. You can find more of Jeremy's work at http://www.jeremybastian.com/

Mike Mignola:
Since 1993 when I saw the Wizard cover announcing Dark Horse's new Legend imprint, I have loved Mike's work. Hellboy has been one of my favorite comics ever, and I think Mike is a genius at panel by panel storytelling. I bought this piece from him in Chicago, which was my first big con to attend..it's also where I first met Mark Smylie). It took almost all my convention spending money to get this piece, but I really wanted it and Mike was pretty much the only guest I had come to see. http://www.hellboy.com/


Eric Canete:
I found Eric's work via his old blog (he has since overhauled it and started fresh) and was really amazed with how dynamic his compositions are. I love the energy and complexity he puts into each piece he does. Last year Eric did an Iron Man series for Marvel called 'Enter the Manderin' which just goes to prove he can do more than single images, he's a great storyteller as well. Just last week at the Big Apple Con, I browsed his original work and had to buy this Robotech/Macross piece. You can find Eric's blog here: http://kahnehteh.blogspot.com/




Evan 'Doc' Shaner:
Evan and I met through cartoonist Jay Fosgitt. Evan's work is more than just a 'throwback' to Toth lovers, he is really doing something original that it's hard to quantify. It's familiar and different at the same time. Evan's mugshot lineups are one of the staples of his commission list, so I recently asked for him to do a lineup of my favorite X-men team, the All-New/All different Giant Sized team. I also love that Evan is hand coloring these with guache. You can catch up with Evan's blog here: http://www.evanshaner.com/



Katie Cook:
Katie often gets labeled as a 'cute' artist, and while she knows how to work the cute angle, I think she is also equally witty and genuine. Though Katie does full sized commissions and comic pages, she is becoming more well known for her mini-paintings. They can range from comic characters to food mascots, to harry potter teachers, to cult movie creatures for subject matter. Katie seems to have no end to her familiarity with all things geeky. This mini-painting she did for Julia and I on our 5th wedding anniversary. You can follow Katie's blog here: http://katiecandraw.typepad.com/




Nate Pride:
Nate's artistic talent hasn't been as widely seen as it should due to his years placing balloons and aligning text. But, it's clear to me that his real place is as a pencil and ink guy. Nate's linework is something that I envy. He can throw down a perfect contour line to describe someone's arm or leg in a single stroke, or make hundreds of little hatches and tics that make a surface look moldy or weathered. This piece is one I bought from him a few years back at the Motor City Con. Nate can come up with these great characters that seem for all the world like they have a backstory and life to them. You can check out Nate's work here: http://www.natepride.com/



Jay Fosgitt:
Jay and I met through e-mail and then later in-person after he and his wife moved to my neck of the woods in Michigan. Jay's sense of humor is one of the things I like best about his work. On top of having beautifully clean smooth inks, he knows how to poke fun. Jay and I are both big Jim Henson fans. To return a favor, he offered to draw me my favorite Henson-based character..I told him it was a toss up between Gonzo and a Skeksis. He was awesome enough to do them both and throw a gag in for good measure. You can follow Jay's blog here: http://jayfosgitt.blogspot.com/


Duncan Fegredo:
Like many fans of Hellboy, I was nervous about a Hellboy book not drawn by Mignola. I didn't have the problem with BPRD and Guy because it was always intended to be a spin-off book. So when Darkness Calls hit shelves with Duncan's artwork I was very pleased to see what he had done. His next Hellboy arc: The Wild Hunt, is even better and I had to get some of his work to own. The cool thing about buying Duncan's work is that he pencils, scans the pencils and prints them out in blue-line on heavy bristol and inks the blue-line. So when you get a page from him, you get both the pencils and the inks are separate pieces. You can check out Duncan's site here: http://www.fatotto.nildram.co.uk/Site/index.html


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next week 8 more awesome artists, originals, and links

This week's post is a bit of a hodgepodge. After doing 5 signings in the last 7 weeks, I only have unrelated bits & bobs to share

New York Highlights:

While in New York for the Big Apple Con I had two major highlights.

1) Tour of 30 Rock studios.

Scott Adsit who plays Pete Hornberger on the show is a comics fan. We met at Heroes this year and I did a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen piece for him (which I don't have a scan of unfortunately) He, in turn, invited Julia and I to visit the set while they were shooting. We met Tina and Alec, and watched them all film a scene with Scott. Later we sat in on a table read where the entire cast was there. It was great! Thanks Scott! I owe you another LoEG piece!

(Photo: me sitting in Liz's chair in her office on-set)

2) Meeting Carol Cleveland

I'm a big Monty Python fan. Holy Grail ends up on my top 5 movies list fairly consistently. And at the Big Apple Con I was able to meet Carol "the female python". I always appreciated that besides her fitting the bill and looking sexy and cute in their skits, she completely got the sense of humor and had great comedic timing. She signed a "Zoot" photo for me and took time out to talk to me all three days of the con. I love that in this photo we took together, Carol still looks like herself (and not a victim of vain plastic surgery) and I still have the look on my face from when I was 11 and giggled all the way through the Castle Anthrax scene in Holy Grail)

The Old Guard:

While searching through old sketchbooks, portfolios, and file cabinets I found a bunch of Mouse Guard work from '02/'03. This would have been about one to two years before starting on 'Belly of the Beast', but I think shows a very close connection to the art from that first issue.

Saxon, Kenzie, & Abe: In this incarnation Saxon had studded armor but his trademark ear-notch and longsword were there from the start. Kenzie had a long tunic and coat-style cloak. My goal for his longer and more coarse fur is evident near his cheeks. Abagail was 'Abe' at this point. Healers had hoods as a trademark in my mind, but male or female, I knew this character was up to no good.

Sadie, Quiggly, & Lieam: You can see Sadie's dagger was part of her early history as was Quiggly's hat and squinty gaze. Lieam's cloak was more like a coat here and the 'triangle sword' looked more like a traditional short sword. This drawing of Lieam I did at a family function and I remember after all the stippling thinking 'I could keep up this style of work forever'

Aubrey, Gwendolyn, & Rand: Aubrey has only been seen in a few panels of the comics so far, but it looks like I borrowed her skirt and belt design for the current incarnation of Gwendolyn's costume. Gwendolyn always had a polearm as a weapon. Rand's shield design started as something based on crusade shields, but has now taken on new meaning I will explore in later series .

Celanawe & Midnight: My goal for Celanawe was to show him as an amazing old grizzled mentor who can still hold his own, but has a backstory where he was even more impressive in his prime. I think this may be the first drawings of Celanawe. Midnight was a good character at this point. He had a backstory made up by a pal of mine where he was a former circus performer turned swords-mouse. I kept the name and look, but changed most else about him.

Fan Art:

At Dragon Con I had my first experience with Mouse Guard costumes aka Cosplay. The female trio reminded me of the drawing Nate Pride did for me a while back of a more booth-babe geared Mouse Guard. Thanks ladies for your dedication!!

Ireland:

For the next two weeks, I'll be in Ireland and will be unable to type up new blogposts. I plan on using the time to do a bit of research for later Mouse guard stories and to see fans in the UK. So, as I have done in the past, I'll pre-type some posts for Blogger to auto-update for me. The subject matter will be Artists whose work I collect.

Legends of the Guard:
Mouse Guard will have an anthology spin-off mini-series starting next year called Legends of the Guard. The handpicked creators will be getting to tell their own stories in the Mouse Guard world. The list of creators on-board so far is very hush-hush, but a few names that I can mention are Jeremy Bastian, Nate Pride, and Mark Smylie. You can read a little more about it on CBR.

Design tips:
When I was in high school and my friends and I wanted to design characters (or perhaps even redesign our characters costume) we would use a sheet of photocopied 'blank' superheroes. This way we could just draw costume ideas or try colors without having to redraw the human form over and over and over.

When it came time to design Mouse Guard clothing, I used the same technique. I drew two 'blank' mice and copied them so I had a full sheet worth. And just like with my high school heroes, I can sketch out ideas, even crazy ones, without having to redraw the model. I find this very freeing to my designs. Not only do I save time, but I'm more likely to try unlikely ideas because of the lack of risk in screwing up the drawing underneath. Here you can see some of the designs that ended up going into the Winter extras and epilogue.


TMNT:
As a long-time turtles fan, I was really happy to pick up and read the collected volume that was just released this summer. And I found out that someone I owed a favor to, was also a TMNT fan, specifically of Raph. So I took the opportunity to do a drawing for him. After I colored it and mailed him the original inks and a color print, I thought it would be fun to play with photoshop to replicate the look of the old B&W style tones that were used in the original series. Here are the results.

Hellboy:
As long as we are on the subject of gifts and fan art. I wanted to share this piece I did as a gift for Mike Mignola. I love Hellboy and was really taken with the twist the latest 'Wild Hunt' storyline has taken. After reading Issue #6 I was forcing Julia to read the issue and study the panels and impact of what Mike and Duncan had done. I was planning on doing a drawing for Mike that I owed him for a favor, but the recent issues cinched what the subject would be. Julia and I want to express thanks to Mike and Christine and Katie for their kindness.

Fan Art:
Christopher Rice dropped this off at the Archaia booth at the Long Beach show while I was away from the table. It's funny because I saw him working on it in the Archaia panel at that show. Sorry I missed meeting you Christopher, and than you for the artwork!

Upcoming Appearances:
Big Apple Con Oct. 16-18
Forbidden Planet London signing: Nov. 7
Live Reading at the Flint Public Library Dec. 8 (6:30 & 7:30pm)
(2010 dates coming shortly)

Simple Model Layout Trick:

I'm happy everyone is enjoying the step-by-steps and behind-the-scenes posts I have been making about the process of making Mouse Guard. This week, I'm showing a model I made to help me keep track of mouse placement. For the funeral pyre scene in issue #6, I knew I wanted more than just the key characters present. And to keep track of all those mice, I'd need a layout key.

I used paper plates to rough in the balcony shape. Then I took soldier pieces from my RISK set to represent my characters. I used key colors for key players (though I was limited to the Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Black, and Grey that RISK comes with) and filled in the rest with grey. I toyed with the placement of each of them, knowing who needed to be close to each other for the dialogue.

Once I liked the placement, I drew circles around each piece's base and labeled what character was there. I took photos from several angles. This way I should be covered, but if not, I can recreate the scene using my guide photo. I really like the simplicity of some of these types of models. It didn't take any more than 20 minutes to set-up, and saved me far more than 20 minutes down the road of drawing and coloring.

Winter 1152 in Previews!

The Black and White ed. of Winter is in the Oct. Previews! Winter has received the same treatment as Fall 1152: 12" x 12" Printed pages (same size as the original artwork), cloth cover, velum overlay pages, and slipcase. The fans asked for it and Archaia delivered. As mentioned before, the price has gone up, but only due to the hand-tipped-in vellum sheet count tripling from Fall's (from about 20 to about 60!). So if you would like one, have your local retailer to use order code: OCT09 0693.

Ink & Stein:

For the next few months, Ink & Stein will not be on the last Saturday of the month. Because it interferes with Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, we have bumped it a week before it normally would be (Oct. 24, Nov. 21, & Dec. 19). If you are an artist or writer in the South Eastern Michigan area and would like to join us, feel free to do so on all or any of the upcoming dates. We meet at 7pm at the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti, MI

Fan Art:

This piece was given to me at Windy City, I believe. Unfortunately, I don't know the artist's name other than it's signed 'Gabo'. I apologize, to the fans and the artist. I'm so swamped at conventions and being pulled in every direction, that I don't remember people's faces or names more often than I'd like to admit. If you are the artist in question, let me know and I'll credit you appropriately.


Upcoming Appearances:Baltimore Comic Con: Oct. 10-11
Big Apple Con Oct. 16-18Forbidden Planet London signing: Nov. 7
Live Reading at the Flint Public Library Dec. 8 (6:30 & 7:30pm)

(2010 dates coming shortly)

Overlay Drawings

Overlay Drawings:
As promised, I wanted to show a technique I use when I'm struggling with a complex scene or layout. I find it useful to draw parts of the scene and then place them on the lightbox to work on another portion. For example, I can draw this background inside Lockhaven and then on a different sheet of paper, be drawing the hares. This way if I don't like the hares, I can erase or start over without worrying about ruining my background drawing.

In this example, I was also having to fit in lots of mouse characters. So I used yet another sheet of paper for that. Again, this way I can draw and erase the mice until I get what I like without ever altering or disturbing the hares or background. Once this step is done, I can scan the sheets in and composite them in photoshop. Here I color coded some of the characters he help me remember which mice they were as I inked & colored them on the final art.

Another example of when I'll use this is when the perspective can be tricky and I want to really get the background just right. I can draw all sorts of perspective lines and construction lines as I build up the setting. I then use another sheet to add the characters in using the background perspective as a guide for their scale and foreshortening. Scanning the sheets separately again (but using little 'X' calibration marks in the corners to realign them) I can also tint the background to help me see and focus on the characters more.

Ultimately, the photoshop composited images, which are cropped and sized for the final page layout, is printed and lightboxed onto the final bristol page.


Long Beach Comic Con & More:I'll be 'touring' Southern California part of this week and next. In addition to the Long Beach Comic con (Golden Apple #555 & Archaia booth #265) Where I'll be signing, I'll also be doing several store signings and appearances. Here is the quick run-down:



Wednesday, September 30, 4-7 p.m.
signing at Comickaze Comics Books and More
San Diego, CA

Thursday, October 1, 7-9 p.m.
signing at Secret Headquarters
Los Angeles, CA

Friday, October 2nd, 8:30 p.m.
Live Art and Music Party, Co-Sponsored by Atomic Apple, ComicVine.com and Archaia
Room #204
Long Beach Comic Con at the Long Beach Convention Center
more details about the events can be found here


Fan Art:
Patty Barden writes: "Last year, on November 1, my son and his sweetheart's wedding featured a Mouse Guard wedding cake--see attached. True fans. . . "Awesome Patty! And Congrats to the happy couple!
(no mention as to who made the cake)








Upcoming Appearances:Comickaze Comics signing: Sept. 30 (4-7pm)
Secret Headquarters signing: Oct. 1 (7-9pm)
Long Beach Comic Con: Oct. 2-4
Baltimore Comic Con: Oct. 10-11
Big Apple Con Oct. 16-18Forbidden Planet London signing: Nov. 7
Live Reading at the Flint Public Library Dec. 8 (6:30 & 7:30pm)

FCBD 09 Print Process

Weekly Blogging:
If you haven't noticed, I'm trying to update the blog more often than I have in the past. I was posting at a 1 per month rate before, but decided to up it to 1 per week. I'm certainly no James Gurney, and can't imagine doing a daily blog, but the weekly schedule seems do-able.

FCBD '09 process:
I just sorted through a bunch of sketches I had in a drawer to find some examples of my process. I'm reluctant to share pencils usually, but I think I have a few weeks worth of stuff to share. This week I'm showing the progress on the Free Comic Book Day print from this year.

Having done a FCBD print the year before, I had established a format: 5.5" x 8.5" print with 2 panels, a scene and the letters FCBD and the year. Here is my rough sketch. It's only a few inches wide in my sketchbook. My idea was to show Saxon, Kenzie, and Rand fighting weasels (a nod of stories to come). I was concerned here with the shape of the mass of weasels and the mice as a final focus.

The next step was to scan and enlarge the thumbnail to working size (about 6" x 10" for the images). I printed out the rough at size and then using a lightbox, tightened up the pencils on a new sheet of paper. You can see the rough as yellow lines in the image here. Note that I also used a font for the layout of the text here.

Once I liked the tightened pencils, I threw a sheet of bristol on the lightbox with the pencils underneath. I inked directly on to the bristol. This way I never get any pencil on the final art. I'm finding I like using this method lately. It means being tied to my studio to ink over the lightbox, but allows me to have cleaner final artwork. As for the "FCBD" portion, using the printed font as a guide, I was able to distress the text and add stippled texture.

I then scanned the inked artwork and started coloring in Photoshop (I'm still using 7 cause I like it and "if it ain't broke..."). This stage is called 'flatting' Not only am I selecting an overall palette here (which sometimes can change again before the final colors) I'm designating which areas are broken by color. I tend to do this on multiple layers labeled things like 'mouse fur', 'clothing 1', clothing 2', 'weapons' etc.
This is also the stage where I select linework that will get a 'color hold' ie: linework that will be printed as a color as opposed to black.

The final colors get rendered and tweaked. With this composition it was important for me to make the weasels a mass, but also have each weasel 'readable'. You needed to be able to tell where one ended and the next began. I also wanted to really help the mice be the focus, so I added the lightness to the background and color hold behind them.

Next time I plan on showing more overlay/lighbox sketch/layout techniques.


Detroit Comics Book Club:
This Friday (Sept. 25th) I'll be a guest at Detroit Comics in Ferndale, MI as they discuss Mouse Guard Fall and Winter 1152 from 7PM to 9PM. The plan is to have a real conversation about the books and story and the creation of the artwork and not to wander off into various other topics. I'm excited to talk about character motivations, places I feel the book fell short, or how little story threads tie together. With that in mind, I won't be doing any drawings or sketches at this appearance, I want to focus on the book club conversation.

September Ypsi Ink & Stein:
It's that time again, the last Saturday of the month! For those unfamiliar, a group of artists and writers gather at the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti the last Saturday of every month from 7pm 'till close. The idea is to come and work, make connections, bounce ideas off one another, and to inspire and be inspired. If you live in South-Eastern Michigan and want to join us, you are more than welcome!

Fan Art:
This week comes from Sandra Becker. You can check out her work by clicking her name. Thanks Sandra!


Upcoming Appearances:
Detroit Comics' Book Club: Sept. 25
Long Beach Comic Con: Oct. 2-4
Baltimore Comic Con: Oct. 10-11
Big Apple Con Oct. 16-18

Windy City Con:

This Saturday (Sept. 19th), I'll be at the Windy City comic con with fellow South East-Michigan pals Jeremy Bastian & Katie Cook. Because this is a one day show, I will be doing free quick doodles for anyone who has a Mouse Guard hardcover or their own sketchbook for me to do it in.

Long Beach Comic Con poster exclusive:

At the Long Beach Con (Oct 2-4), I'll be signing an all-new, exclusive Mouse Guard print, with an image created specifically for Long Beach Comic Con. Available only at the Atomic Apple booth. Limited to 25 pieces per day (75 total). I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. Careful readers/fans may be able to figure out both the mouse and location featured (though it will take some extrapolation)...though if you do, there is no prize this time.

Big Apple Con: *just added*

I will be attending this year's Big Apple Con (Oct 16-18). This was a last minute addition for my schedule, but as my next NYC show wouldn't be until fall of '10 (which at best I'll only make 1 day of), it is a trip I felt was needed. Thanks to Peter Katz for making the arrangements!

NYT Best Seller Week 6:

I almost hate to keep posting on this every week because I don't know how many times I can say I'm surprised! Is is now ranked #10 (out of 10) So I suspect Winter not to be there again next week, but if it is, it's thanks to the fans! Here is the full list

Fan Art:

This week's Fan Art comes from Dominic Bercier. I met Dominic about a year ago at Baltimore and he had some cool sample pieces to show off. He just sent this Mouse Guard piece a few weeks ago, Thanks Dominic!

Upcoming Appearances:

Windy City Con: Sept. 19

Detroit Comics' Book Club: Sept. 25

Long Beach Comic Con: Oct. 2-4

Baltimore Comic Con: Oct. 10-11

Big Apple Con Oct. 16-18 *just added*

Muppet Peter Pan #4
This may be my favorite of the Muppet covers I've done. Gonzo is my favorite Muppet and I didn't feel like I really nailed my take on him on the two other covers he's been featured on. I'm also pleased with the water (inspired by Windsor McKay) and the coloring. I think Peter Pan #1 ships soonish from Boom.

Dead Duck:
My pal Jay Fosgitt has a book coming out from Ape called Dead Duck (Previews Sept090577). Jay has a great sense of humor (a nice blend of Muppets, Monty Python, and Benny Hill) and Dead Duck is his way of pouring that funny stuff right onto the page. I warn fans of mine that it is more adult than Mouse Guard, but fun for those old enough to appreciate it. Oh, and here is My take on Dead Duck and Zombie Chick.

NYT Best Seller Week 5:Every week I figure is my last, and Winter 1152 keeps hanging on! Thanks to fans and retailers for making it happen! Here is the full list

Fan Art:
Mat Marbolo sent in two Fan pieces. I like the stylization and use of color on this one. Thanks Matt! here is the other Mouse Guard piece on his blog
Upcoming Appearances:
Windy City Con: Sept. 19
Detroit Comics' Book Club: Sept. 25
Long Beach Comic Con: Oct. 2-4
Baltimore Comic Con: Oct. 10-11
Mouse Guard Live Readings in the Michigan Area: TBA