Direct YouTube Link:
2018 Appearances:
C2E2: April 6-8
Heroes Con: June 15-17
San Diego Comic Con: July 18-22
Baltimore Comic Con: Sept. 28-30
New York Comic Con: Oct. 4-7
Showing posts with label Mouse Guard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mouse Guard. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
Creator Commentary: Fall 1152 Issue/Chapter 3
I've made a Creator Commentary video for the third issue/chapter of Mouse Guard Fall 1152: Shadows Within. For this issue and the remaining issues in Fall 1152, I’ll be doing the commentary as audio-only. But 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!
2018 Appearances:
C2E2: April 6-8
Heroes Con: June 15-17
San Diego Comic Con: July 18-22
Baltimore Comic Con: Sept. 28-30
New York Comic Con: Oct. 4-7
2018 Appearances:
C2E2: April 6-8
Heroes Con: June 15-17
San Diego Comic Con: July 18-22
Baltimore Comic Con: Sept. 28-30
New York Comic Con: Oct. 4-7
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Mouse Guard Model Video: Sprucetuck
Below you can watch a video where I talk about this model:
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
2018 Mouse Guard Enamel Pins
New for 2018 I have created designs for seven (7!) new enamel Mouse Guard pins: Celanawe, Midnight, Piper, Gwendolyn, mouse skull & crossbones, a fall leaf, and a winter snowflake.
These pins will be released at conventions this year that BOOM! and I are attending. A few weeks after each pin is released at a convention, that pin will then be available in BOOM!s online store: https://shop.boom-studios.com/merchandise
A few of these will be making a debut at Wondercon this weekend...
WonderCon: Mar. 23-25
C2E2: April 6-8
Heroes Con: June 15-17
San Diego Comic Con: July 18-22
Baltimore Comic Con: Sept. 28-30
New York Comic Con: Oct. 4-7
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
2018 Mouse Guard Bookplate Process
Since 2012 I've been creating a new signed Mouse Guard bookplate each year (at the bottom of the post you can see other past year's bookplates and links to blogposts about them). The idea is that, with these signed by me, even if you can't bring me your physical copy of a Mouse Guard book, this bookplate can be glued in making your copy signed.I'll have the bookplate at my 2018 conventions and in my online store. For this blogpost, I wanted to go through the process to create the bookplate image.
I try to emphasize process with each bookplate. In the past I've done or emulated wood-cut, stained glass, embroidery, mosaic, etc. This year I did a painted wood carving. First, my source of inspiration. I did a quick google image search for 'medieval art' just to get a wide variety and see what kind of imagery/technique spoke to me this year. I found this piece from a Book of Hours titled 'The Visitation'. I loved the pattern in the background, and how, even though this is on parchment, the black spaces between the grid squares looks like carved relief. This, and the idea of gilded halos was my jumping off point.
In Photoshop I recreated the grid pattern. Then I drew (on copy paper) a mouse with a hooded robe in profile. The sketch was scanned and added to the grid along with some digitally added circles, 7-pointed stars, and a photo of a lantern I thought would look good on the end of the mouse's staff. Because there is no holy religion in Mouse Guard, I couldn't have the halo around the mouse's head, but I could get the same feel by having it around the light-source of the lantern.
I printed out the digital composition on copy paper and taped it to a piece of cedar shake.I had left over pieces of cedar shake from a crafts project from Christmas 2016 and almost threw out all the scraps last fall. Luckily, cedar has a nice color, grain, and is soft enough for my needs...but more on that in later steps.
To transfer the image onto the cedar, I coated the back with graphite (by scribbling over it with a soft-lead pencil).
Carefully tracing over the design on the front of the paper with a ball-point pen, I was able to get the image onto the cedar. Wherever I applied pressure from the pen as I traced, the graphite on the back of the paper left a mark on the cedar. This is the technique I've used for my Heroes Con large auction pieces when I have a detailed drawing I need transferred onto a large sheet of matboard.
The next step was to 'carve' the cedar. Remember I said cedar was soft enough for my needs? Well, it's soft enough a wood that I could draw into it with a black roller-ball pen and leave an indentation. Going over and over the same line made it deeper. It also made all the carved lines black, which helped for readability.I did a few tests of how to apply the pressure on some of the scrap pieces of cedar I still had. Finding out if lighter pressure or harder pressure was a boon for going with or against the grain, how to get a wider line, and how to kill a few roller-ball pens in the process.
After an evening of what felt like artistic desk-graffiti, I had the entire image's linework carved into the cedar.It took time and patience, and while the 'carving' was very easy compared to real wood carving (trust me, I know), I still had to nurse my hand and wrist for a few days following.
Last step at this stage was to very lightly sand the surface with a fine grit sand paper. The cedar was a bit rough to start with, but this also helped get rid of any splintery burrs that poped up in the 'carving'.
To color the piece, I used some copic markers and a metallic silver marker. For the lantern parts, I didn't have a gold pen (or paint) so I used a selection of acrylic bronze/copper tones I had in a drawer of miniature model paints.I was getting nervous about the piece here, because if the colors were wrong, there was no way to undo the process...sanding deep enough to get the penetrated marker stain out would also start to obliterate the linework. In the end, I didn't hate the colors, but felt something was still off....
detail photo of the colored cedar
The last step was to take a good photo of the piece and digitally tweak it. Normally the tweaks are limited to resizing it, adjusting some levels, and adding in the elements for it to be a bookplate, but this time I did more. The colors were still off. So I also added in a transparent photo over the silver bits of gold leaf.
Here is the finished bookplate which will be available at my 2018 convention appearances as well as in my online store
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Past year's bookplates & process blogposts:
2012:
2013:
2014:
2015:
2016:
2017:
Emerald City Comic Con: Mar. 1-4
WonderCon: Mar. 23-25
C2E2: April 6-8
Heroes Con: June 15-17
San Diego Comic Con: July 18-22
Baltimore Comic Con: Sept. 28-30
New York Comic Con: Oct. 4-7
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Creator Commentary: Fall 1152 Issue/Chapter 2
Direct YouTube link:
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
11" x 11" Elderberry Print Process
For the last six years I have released a limited edition 11" x 11" signed and numbered print. (At the bottom of this post are all my past prints & links to blogposts about them). They are supposed to show the "prettier" side of Mouse Guard (per a request from Julia) and are often named for the flora seen in the background.This year's print "Elderberry" was released at Emerald City Comic Con and will be available at my convention appearance throughout 2018 (and also in my online store). For this blogpost, I'll run through the steps to create the print.
I started by picking a mouse character (this happens to be Bronwyn, the Matriarch at the time of the Black Axe volume and seen in 2 panels in that book) and some type of pretty plant: Elderberry. I sketched out Bronwyn on copy paper in the hammock. On a separate sheet I drew a section of the flowers and leaves, and on another I drew the ladybug (an afterthought). I then assembled these scans in Photoshop, tinting the linework of each to help me see through the tangle of lines. I did rough flat colors to also help me visualize what was negative space, what was flower, what was leaf, and what was mouse. The berries I added in digitally and I populated the blooms by copying and rotating/mirroring the one section I drew.
The next step was to ink the piece. I printed out the above layout on copy paper and taped it to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. On my light pad, I was able to see through the surface of the bristol to the printout so I could use it as a guide to ink from.
I tightened up the details of the flowers, and got into a rhythm with their shape & textures. Obviously, this made the background much darker in the inked piece than my rough. One of the ways I approached resolving that comes later, but the other was to make sure the berries read as 'very dark', making the flower mass lighter by comparison.
After the inks were completed, I started flatting the color for the piece in Photoshop. The colors for Bronwyn were already set a bit from her appearance in The Black Axe, but they still needed some adjustment, and I could also call from my rough layout flat colors for help.
The purpose here isn't so much to worry about the final colors though as much as it is about coloring in the lines and establishing the areas, that her fur color is something different than the leaves above her head, of that the cloak has a different color edge trim.
In the final color rendering is where I not only shade and highlight (using the Dodge and Burn tools in Photoshop) but also making color balance adjustments to warm or cool areas that I may not have quite right in the flat color choices.
To help lighten up the background and make those Elderberry flower as delicate as I could, I added a color-hold on their linework. A color-hold is where I digitally paint over the ink lines so that they aren't black, but a color, or even painted and rendered color.
The finished Elderberry prints are numbered and limited to 300 copies and signed by me.
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Past year's 11' x 11" limited print process blogposts:
2012: "Peacock":
2013: "Raspberry":
2014: "Moonflower":
2015: "Lavender":
2016: "Juniper":
2017: "Rose":
Emerald City Comic Con: Mar. 1-4
WonderCon: Mar. 23-25
C2E2: April 6-8
Heroes Con: June 15-17
San Diego Comic Con: July 18-22
Baltimore Comic Con: Sept. 28-30
New York Comic Con: Oct. 4-7
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Creator Commentary Video: Mouse Guard: Belly of the Beast
I've made a Creator Commentary video for the first ever issue of Mouse Guard. "Belly of the Beast" was originally self-published in black and white and was later picked up by Archaia for publication in color as the first in a six-issue arc called "Fall 1152". In the video below I go page-by-page and panel-by-panel to share behind the scenes info, thought processes, points of interest, and art details. Enjoy!
Direct link to the YouTube video:
2018 Appearances Announced Soon....
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Black Axe B&W Edition cover art
The Black Axe Black and White Edition is coming! This is a 12" x 12" (original art size) hardcover printing of the Black Axe issues (which is as close as you will ever get to holding all the original art for Black Axe at once) with vellum overlays included where I inked weather effects separately all packaged together into a lovely slipcase. This edition of 1,000 will be signed and numbered.This book is currently being solicited by Diamond for a May release with ORDER CODE: JAN181333
For the cover art (which is debossed into the cloth cover) I sketched up Celanawe flanked by Conrad & Em encircled in a briar wreath with King Luthebon looming over them. I drew the characters all separately on copy paper and then scanned them into Photoshop. Each character (and the wreath) were on different layers and tinted differently to help me move, resize, and compose the image.
Once I had the layout done, I printed it out and taped that to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. Using a lightpad (I use a Huion) I could see through the surface of the bristol to the printout and use it as a guide to ink. I use Copic Multiliners for the inkwork (the 0.7 & 0.3 nibs mainly). Because this image was going to be debossed in cloth, I couldn't go too crazy with details, textures, and cross-hatching...but the wreath still got a little dense with linework despite my best efforts.Luckily, the artwork will also be reproduced on paper inside the book itself.
Speaking of the book, here is a sample of a few of the pages as they appear in the
Black Axe: Black and White Edition:
2018 Appearances announced soon...
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Mouse Guard Enamel Pins & Watch
BOOM!/Archaia and I released two new types of merchandise last year at some conventions: Mouse Guard Enamel Pins & a Mouse Guard watch!Pins were something fans had been asking for, and the watch was a suggestion of Jose Meza over at BOOM! And now, you don't have to be at a convention to purchase these ways to show your Mouse Guard fandom
Currently there are four character portrait pins (Kenzie, Saxon, Lieam, & Sadie). To the right you can see my original inked drawings with the pantone colors added in and with scale reference for each pin.Below is a better look at each character's actual pin. Each pin is $9.99 and you can order these pins online from: https://shop.boom-studios.com/merchandise
For the new Mouse Guard watch, I designed a completely new image for the face featuring fan-favorite Lieam. This watch has a stainless steel backplate with gunmetal case and a leather strap.It sells for $75 and can be purchased online through the BOOM! online store:
https://shop.boom-studios.com/merchandise/detail/8145/mouse-guard-watch
2018 Appearances to be announced soon...
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
Model Video: Matriarch's Chamber
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/HN1a7PwKgkY
2018 Convention Appearances To Be Announced Soon...
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
BOOM!/Archaia Holiday Card Process
Happy Holidays Everyone! Be it Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza, Festivus, Mid-Winter, or Yulefrost, may it be a merry time for you and yours full of live, love, and gratitude for each other.I was asked by my publisher BOOM!/Archaia to do the artwork for their Holiday card this year. In this blogpost, I walk through the steps to creating the final image you see to the left.
Rough/Pencils:
I was worried about too much open sky or falling snow on a Mouse Guard Yule Frost type image. I knew I was going to have mice around a candle-lit pinecone, but felt like I needed something more formal to make it interesting and read as a card-front. I found a piece of a gothic arch in a google image search that was part of a church's woodwork. It was much taller than what I needed, so using Photoshop, I distorted it to suit my needs format-wise. I then used a printout of that to lightbox a clean pencil version with all the specific iconography removed in favor of holly, berries, and a Mouse Guard crest (Swords, Strongholds, and Diplomacy: the three main tenants of the Guard).The other elements: each mouse & the pinecone were also drawn separately on copy paper, and then scanned in and assembled in Photoshop with the clean arch drawing to come up with this layout. The tinted colors of each element make it easier for me as I ink.
Inks:I then printed out the above layout, taped it to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol, and on a light pad started inking. Using a light pad allows me to see through the surface of the bristol to the printout underneath.
Copic Multiliners (the refillable SP variety with 0.7 & 0.3 nibs) are my inking pen of choice.
Inking this was a bit tricky because of how tight and light all the arch linework was in my rough. With every stroke, I felt like I may be ruining it, or being too heavy-handed at the least. To combat this mentally, I reminded myself that the piece was going to be reduced (shrunk) in scale to fit on the face of the card, so the bolder the lines, the better they'd hold up.
Color Flats:
After the inks were completed I scanned them into Photoshop and started the process of coloring known as 'flatting'. This is where you establish the areas differentiated by flat colors: The fur color is different than the cloak color, is different from the pinecone, is different from the arch, etc. Sometimes I use crazy jarring colors to do this because it helps me see mistakes if I've colored outside the lines.
Here though, I stuck with colors pretty close to the final concept and relied on tried and true fur/cloak color combinations. The pendant banners were in the red family just to warm up the background of the blue-violet sky.
Final Colors:
Once everything was flatted, I was able to render the piece. This means adding in all the shading and highlights and texture. With everything as flat colors first, it's easy to isolate an area, say the front mouse's fur, and render that independently of the cloak or inner ears or background.
For Photoshop using people, I use the dodge and burn tools with a textured brush for most of my rendering. I also use a freehand lasso with a slight feather on it to select areas and color shift them with the color balance tool to get those rosey noses and warm glows.
I added the snow digitally using a Wacom Tablet to draw in the flakes. This is different than the harder-edged and more process intensive way I did in the Winter series, and probably how I'll proceed in the future with any snow in Mouse Guard.
So, again, I wish everyone who reads this blog and all of your extended families & friends a Happy Holiday season with blessings of health, prosperity, joy, wisdom, and togetherness for us all.
2018 Convention Appearances To Be Announced Soon...
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