The artist is IN! I am currently available for commission work of just about any variety (artistically speaking). Pencil drawings, ink, di...
I've just found out from one of the creators of "Sky Pirates of Valendor" (see this post) that the book is now being published by Jolly Rogue Studios, and series 2, issue 1, which included the pinup piece I did for them, is now in print. You can buy the book direct from their site here, or digitally from Cloud 9 Comix here. If you like pirate adventure and high fantasy, then this is the book for you!
Over at my other site, "AIM Comics", an advance edition of the first issue of "Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit" has just become available. We're doing a limited run of 25 copies for this one, and we're already down to 14 copies remaining. The book will be the same as the regular edition, but each copy will be signed and sketched by Bruno's creator, Ian McDonald, and each one will come with an individualized certificate granting the bearer citizenship to Bruno's mythical home of Rothland. It's a great deal for 10 bucks (including shipping), and the post also has a link to a preview of the first edition, so why not take a look?
As promised in an earlier post, here's the color version of the Drew Struzan-inspired drawing I did for "Sky Pirates of Valendor". While I'm no Drew Struzan, I really like the tone of this piece, and it was certainly an educational experience for me. It's always great fun to play with someone else's toys.
I'm just working up a piece using a paper texture I downloaded from this site. It looks like a good collection of resources for Photoshop, including textures, tutorials and more. I'll definitely be bookmarking this for future reference.
A while back, I got a great deal on a copy of Drew Struzan: Oeuvre, and fell into an attention hole over his work. I've always enjoyed his movies posters, but never really studied his work until I got this book. Like a very few other artists I can think of -- Boris, Frazetta, Alex Ross -- I occasionally find myself lost in some small part of a Struzan painting, studying the mechanics of the piece more than the gestalt of the thing. His composition, lighting, and use of color border on the mystical for me at this point. There's also his storytelling, his ability to capture the essence of a film in a single image, so much so that in some cases, his posters are better than the movies themselves...it's just astounding work all around.
Shortly after finding the book, I got the opportunity to do a pinup for a book called "Sky Pirates of Valendor", and since it is a team book, I thought it would be instructive to me to try and design it Struzan-style. I can't say it was entirely successful, but still, I think it didn't turn out too bad. The image below is the greyscale piece I turned in for the book, since it was b&w. However, I do have a color version of this somewhere, and I'll post it if I can ever remember where I filed it.
They've changed publishing tactics since soliciting the piece, and have now become a webcomic, so this piece, as far as I know, never got used, which is a shame, since I would have liked to have seen how other artists interpreted the characters. It's a pretty good comic, and I recommend you read it if you get a chance.
Gentlemen and Ladies, allow me to introduce Drakaina.
I'm not terribly busy posting lately, but that's a good thing, as it means I've got as much work as I can handle right now. A large chunk of my time is being spent getting "Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit" ready for publication, but I'm also hard at work on another project involving a slew of character designs for a German author. The deadline's kind of loose on that one, so I'm having great fun researching styles and textures, and playing with lighting and effects in Photoshop. Here's just one example of the characters I've recently finished.
Pete Abrams has just announced that Book 10 of his popular webcomic, "Sluggy Freelance" is available from IndyPlanet. The latest volume, long awaited by Sluggy fans, is titled "Ghosts in the Gastank". What does this have to do with me, you may ask? And well may you ask.
Go ahead...ask.
Well, I'll tell you anyway. If you'll recall, back in June, I posted about some color work I was doing for Sluggy's Saturday strip, "Meanwhile in the Dimension of Pain", drawn by fellow inkslinger Ian McDonald (he of "Bruno the Bandit" fame). Well, apparently the pages I colored for this set are being reprinted in this latest volume. I was still a bit raw when I did these, and it shows in spots, but I had a lot of fun working on them, especially with some of the dimension hopping panel busting stuff Ian was doing with the artwork. I credit these pages with having helped me move forward as a colorist, learning how to handle deadlines and maintaining a consistent look to a set of pages.
I've been a fan of Sluggy Freelance for a long time, if a somewhat irregular one. Abrams is definitely the creme de la creme of webcomics stardom, and the fact that his strip has been running so long shows how well received it's been in general. It's also helped set the standard for what a webcomics artist can achieve, although few have so far attained that height.
I'm pleased to say that Pete has graciously gifted mine and Ian's self-publishing project with a mention at his site, but also with a pinup piece for the first issue. Keep watch to the blog at AIM Comics for news on that front.
It's great to see the Sluggy machine keep rolling on...even if it does have "Ghosts in the Gastank".
Whoops....Almost forgot this one.
Here's the last leg of the Apex Halloween sale, a promisingly morbid collection.
"Apex Halloween One Day Sale-THE BLACKNESS WITHIN-40% off today only!
From Africa to Australasia, from Europe to the US, take a terrifying journey led by world-renowned and up-and-coming authors of horror. See how Moccus, the Celtic God of fecundity, brings His barbaric brutality to the twenty-first century. Experience the nightmare of an apostle unable to live up to His teachings in “Dreaming” and, in “Without Mercy,” witness the torment of those who can. But it doesn’t stop there. Even hundreds of years after Mocuss’s death, His savage reign continues for those who dare to question, as you will discover in “For They Are As Beasts” and “Abattoir Blues.”
Thirteen stories–some menacingly dark, others violent and rapacious–will show you a future where death is a blessing. With senior editor Gill Ainsworth, you know you are in for one heck of a ride—especially at 40% off. Drop by the Apex Publications Store and get yours today (Oct 29)."
http://www.apexbookcompany.
I haven't bought or read this one yet, but from the descriptions and the cover, it gives me an impression that it's got the same caliber as the early Mythos stories, or the early work of Robert Bloch, which would definitely put it on my radar. I'm going to go grab a copy right now...may I suggest you do the same?
The Apex Books Halloween sale rolls on...
"Apex Halloween One Day Sale-THE CHANGED-40% off today only!
It’s not the end of the world—it’s just zombies. Chris is an ordinary guy with a boring job, a perfect fiancée, and plans for a happy, if predictable, future. But when the dead stop dying and become, instead, simply “changed,” ordinary isn’t so comforting anymore. Wandering stray animals suddenly develop a taste for flesh and brains, and while most of the human zombies might be harmless, can anyone really be sure?
For a novel that is both horrifying and satirical, THE CHANGED by BJ Burrow will make your day. Especially at today's one day sale (Oct 27) of 40% off. Drop by the Apex Publications Store and get yours now.
Don't forget, any customer who buys any book between Oct 15th and Oct 30th will have their name put in for a raffle of awesome prizes: A critique Apex Magazine Fiction Editor, Cat Valente, or $25 gift card for Amazon.com, or an Apex Minion pack, or a $10 gift certificate to the Apex Store."
http://www.apexbookcompany.
This one is actually next up on my reading list. I love a good zombie novel but, like vampires, I suspect that the vein (heh) is quickly getting played out through overuse. Still, if I can count on anybody to offer me some good zombie fiction, it has to be Apex, whose publications could be called anything but cliche. I've never read anything by Burrow, but a sample of this book convinced me that it would be worth the read. Why not give it a try?
Another day, another great Halloween sale from Apex Books. This time around it's Fran Friel's "Mama's Boy", a collection of horrifically good short stories from a Stoker nominated author. I know I've reviewed this one before somewhere, but darned if I can find it. Naturally, I enjoyed this book, as I do almost everything from Apex. I did find that the writing wasn't quite as polished as some of their offerings, but the stories in the collection were great fun to read, and anybody looking for some good fright literature this Halloween would do well to check this one out.
From the publisher:
Apex Halloween One Day Sale-Stoker Nominated: MAMA'S BOY-40% off today only!
The Bram Stoker Award-nominated novella “MAMA's BOY” is the cornerstone of this 14-story collection from author Fran Friel and Apex Publications. This collection features a special introduction by Gary A. Braunbeck. For a collection of horror classics from award winning author, Fran Friel, you can do no better than MAMA's BOY. Especially at today's one day sale (Oct 22) of 40% off. Drop by the Apex Publications Store and get yours now.
“Fran Friel has a genuine gift for storytelling. Her highly adaptable prose boils over with emotion: love, guilt, fear, and the myriad shades between. Mama’s Boy and Other Dark Tales marks the arrival of a stunning new talent.”
—Michael McBride, author of the God’s End trilogy and Bloodletting
Don't forget, any customer who buys any book between Oct 15th and Oct 30th will have their name put in for a raffle of awesome prizes: A critique Apex Magazine Fiction Editor, Cat Valente, or $25 gift card for Amazon.com, or an Apex Minion pack, or a $10 gift certificate to the Apex Store.
http://www.apexbookcompany.
From the editors at Apex Books comes this little gem of literature:
Apex Halloween One Day Sale-ORGY OF SOULS-40% off today only!
"Twenty for one. Twenty souls for his brother’s life is a price that seductively beautiful Samson is willing to pay. Twenty souls drenched in blood, powdered with cocaine and more than one kind of ecstasy. A fair trade for the life of a brother. A fair trade for the life of a priest. And everyone he meets seems so willing to give theirs away.
ORGY OF SOULS is a horror novella measuring the price of a man by Maurice Broaddus and Wrath James White you really should read. Especially at today's one day sale (Oct 20) of 40% off. Drop by the Apex Publications Store and get yours now.
“Broaddus and White are an unlikely pairing of talents that works astonishingly well. Orgy of Souls is a powerful, innovative work of fiction and one I recommend wholeheartedly. A damned fine read!”
—James A. Moore, author of Deeper and Cherry Hill
Don't forget, any customer who buys any book between Oct 15th and Oct 30th will have their name put in for a raffle of awesome prizes: A critique by Apex Digest Fiction Editor, Cat Valente, or $25 gift card for Amazon.com, or an Apex Minion pack, or a $10 gift certificate to the Apex Store."
A good deal on a good book. I've read this one myself and really enjoyed it. The two authors are an unlikely match, one (Broaddus) a ministry worker, and the other (White) a hardcore horror writer. The end result is something similar to the work of Clive Barker, as deep as it is horrific, and well worth the read.
Apex is asking folks all over the help them promote this today, but I wouldn't post it if I didn't believe in it, so it's dead straight and on the level when I tell you that this is a book most readers will enjoy.
I was trying to create a rain effect similar to that in "Sin City" and came across this nice rain brush by Faeth-design over at Deviantart. There's some other nice brushes available under their profile as well; take a look.
This past Friday, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend Dave Sim's "Last Signing" event hosted by Strange Adventures comic shop. I've been reading Sim's work since the late '80's, and am proud to say I've read (and own, in one form or another) all 300 issues of his comic masterpiece, Cerebus.
Although I own several other pieces signed by Sim, getting to meet him in person was a moment I will always remember. His writing, his art and his commentaries (through work like "The Cerebus Guide to Self-Publishing") have been inspirational to me and helped to guide my own artistic career so far. It's not every day you get to meet one of your personal heroes, and I'm glad I was able to take advantage of this last formal opportunity to do so.
Dave comes across as a very outspoken person in his writing, and I think the expectation is that he's going to convey at least a little of that in person. I'll state for the record that in person, Dave Sim is every inch the gentleman and professional. He took time to chat with each of the attendees, did Cerebus sketches for everyone who wanted one, signed any of his work that was on hand, and distributed free, signed posters to all. He spent some time with kids who had no idea who he was, but were wowed by getting a drawing from a real comics artist, and did a couple of great character sketches for a newlywed couple in the crowd. For me, even though it was around 3 in the morning by the time I got to the front of the line (I was near to the last), he signed 13 books and gave me a Cerebus headsketch on a phonebook edition. His energy seemed unflagging, even after nearly 6 hours of signing and sketching, and he was witty and interesting through and through.
Just as impressive were the owner and staff of Strange Adventures, who campaigned to earn the opportunity to host this event, then stayed open ridiculously late to give everyone a chance to meet Mr. Sim. They handed out free comics to the kids, had lots of Sim's work on display, including some original art that was jaw-droppingly beautiful, and kept the tills open for anyone who wanted to build their collection. I'm sure they must have been dead on their feet by the end of the night (I know I was!), but they stayed upbeat and friendly throughout.
So, to Dave Sim and to Strange Adventures, I'd like to say a huge "Thank You" for providing this rare opportunity and carrying it off so well. Be sure to check out the Strange Adventures website soon for pictures of the event, and head over to Cerebus TV, where they'll be posting video of the event, including footage of Dave opening the event with a rousing rendition of "My Way". Good stuff, all around.
I've just read on the Apex blog that "Prime" by Nate Kenyon, the novel I illustrated for them, will be going out of print in both digital and paper versions as of next Friday. Now could be your last chance to grab a copy of this very good science fiction novel. I've read it, and would say that it's good even if I hadn't been involved with it. It's available for only $13.95 from the Apex store, and only $4.99 in digital format...either way, it's well worth the money.
A while back, Ian McDonald announced on his website that I would be involved in bringing his webcomic "Bruno the Bandit" to print. This is true, but it's only part of the story.
In fact, I'm hoping that "Bruno" will be the first of many projects from my own imprint, AIM Comics. This is, right now, just a banner under which I will be publishing some digital and Print on Demand projects, of which "Bruno the Bandit" is the flagship title.
Just yesterday, the blog for AIM Comics went live with my announcement of the Bruno project. I am keeping this separate from the Paladin Freelance blog because this site is mainly intended as my online portfolio, whereas I wanted the AIM blog to be dedicated to news about upcoming projects under that title.
For a while, updates to this site will be much fewer, focusing on non-AIM projects I have completed that are going to print or seeing the light of day in some way. Meantime, check out the AIM blog from time to time to see what's happening with my own self-published and partnered projects such as "Bruno the Bandit". Interesting times ahead.
I hate painting flames. Trying to get the look just right is always a pain for me. That's why I like finding something like this set of flame brushes from DeviantArt user redheadstock. This will save me a ton of time on the piece I'm currently trying to finish.
Micropayment service "Flattr" has just opened up to public use, and being a fan of all things micropayment, I thought I'd give it a try.
Flatter is a service that allows you to deposit a sum of money to a Paypal style account, then specify any number of sites to whom that money should be distributed at the end of the month. The amount you have specified to be disbursed will then be shared equally among the people you have "Flattred".
It's somewhat abstract for now, but I think it's an interesting idea, so I've added a Flattr button in the sidebar at the left. If you're a member, just click the button to add me to your Flattr list and a few shekels will be distributed to me each month, allowing me to keep producing the drawings that keep this site moving, and bringing me small steps closer to my dream of eventual financial liberation, shortly followed by complete hermitage in a tin roofed shack hidden deep in the wilds of Nova Scotia.
If you're not a Flattr member, but produce any kind of web content, why not sign up? Anything that can monetize creative work is good in my opnion, and it could start you working on your own tin roofed shack. Just not too close to mine, or I'll have to sic the dogs on ye.
Waiting for a Watchmen sequel that's likely never going to happen? Read every issue of Astro City and wondering where to go next? Let me suggest you try "Powers vs. Power" by Robin Reed.
The second volume of this series has just been released in various ebook formats, with my own work gracing the cover. Each book is a collection of short stories based on a group of original superheroes created by Robin for Metahuman Press. I enjoyed the first volume very much and am pleased to say that the second volume, so far, is maintaining the same level of quality.
Writing prose about superheroes can be a difficult task because the visual aspect on which the medium of comics depends is missing. "Biff!" and "Pow" don't parse the same in a non-graphic form. This means that the stories, if they're not to be entirely juvenile, have to be a lot more character driven. The problem is then to avoid the pitfall of turning the work into fanfic, making the characters cheap pastiches of existing heroes or winding up hip deep in long descriptions of powers and physiques. Robin manages to avoid these dangers quite nicely and has created a cast with a fair amount of depth and personality. Yet, the work does not cross over much into Alan Moore territory, in the sense that this is not a deconstruction of the genre. Superheroes in this world are a good thing, and there's a good sense of fun and wonder in these stories as well. I think these books will be enjoyed by anyone who actually likes superheroes.
Powers Vs. Power Book 2 is available in Kindle format from Amazon at the low price of $2.99, and in various ebook formats from Smashwords for just 99 cents. If you're fan of the genre, or of good storytelling in general, I really do recommend it.
In his latest "Rothland Tribune", Ian McDonald has spilled the beans that we're working on a print on demand edition of "Bruno the Bandit", so I might as well add some fuel to that fire.
We are indeed going ahead with a POD version of Bruno, but that's not going to be the limit of it, by a long shot. The plan is to get the work out into circulation through a variety of means. This includes print on demand, but also includes digital distribution. Digital comics seem to be growing in popularity, especially now that the big two have embraced the format. I hope that between POD and digital distribution, we can do something to really bring attention to Ian's work.
And may I say I think we're off to a great start. I'm in the middle of compiling the first book, and it's jam packed with Ian's earliest and some of his best storylines. We're going to be including original and never before seen content, and to top it all off, we've got a cover drawn by a guest artist that I won't name yet, but will say that Ian and I are picking our jaws off the floor after being able to get this guy to create some work for us. And there may be more surprises to come....
But I'm not going to go on too much about that here. This is meant to be my online portfolio, and I don't want to cross it over too much with that project. If this works out, I am hoping to expand this project to take in other work, not least of all my own long dormant comic book, "The Journals of Simon Pariah". So, I'll soon be starting a new blog dedicated to news related solely to that project. I'll post more about it here when it's available, which will be soon.
In the meantime, if you haven't read "Bruno the Bandit", now's an excellent time to go check it out. Ian's put the strip on hold for a while (but it's clearly not dead), so now would be a good opportunity to catch up on his extensive back catalog and see what all the hoopla is (and will be) about.
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