Time to Face the Change...Ch-Ch-Changes

Astute readers will notice some changes to the blog in the last day. Besides tinkering around with my template, I wanted to highlight a few sections of the blog that are or will become more important. Mainly:

-Portfolio. Obvious, really. I want to provide a quick link to my best work for prospective clients.
-Tools. I plan on doing some writing on tools I use when creating.
-Reviews. In the past, I've been asked to do reviews, and wouldn't mind doing some more of them. If you're a content producer or distributor (e.g. books, films, software, luxury ermine lined sport socks, what have you) looking for an honest (key word: Honest!) review, hit me up with a sample or a link to download your product, and I'll review it here in my own funky fresh style.
-Contact. Also obvious.

If you are a constant reader and find that my tinkering has caused all or any part of this blog to break for you, please be a dear and drop me a line to let me know.

Gamer Girl

Just for a chance of pace this week, I decided to try one of the drawing jams over the The Drawing Board. The jam of the month is to do an interpretation of photo reference of gamer girl Olivia Munn. Not being a hardcore gamer, I've never heard of her, but when I saw the photographs, it just screamed out for a Coop style interpretation, so here's the result (SFW, depending on how strict your workplace may be)....

Nerd Rage!

Sometimes...not often, fortunately...I'll fire off a piece of work and forget to follow up on it. That was the case with this one, which I sent to the publisher over a year ago, and only remembered yesterday when I was browsing through a disc of older projects.
This is a pinup page that was done for issue #3 of the comic "Pencilneck" from Paperstreet Comics, a very well done comic by Vic Carungi, Jeff Blascyk and Antonio Brandao. It's the story of a mild-mannered banker who finally gets pushed too far, giving us a look at just what people are capable of under the right (or in this case, wrong) conditions.
Not only did the page make it to issue 3, but they've also seen fit to include in their trade paperback collection of the story. If you're interested in reading it (and I do recommend it...my own copy's on the way right now), the individual issues as well as the trade paperback...along with Paperstreet's other comics...are available from their estore.

Atomic Power!

Another week, another post at Whitechapel. I'm still enjoying the hell out of this every week, but I'm starting to think that it's eating into productive time, and I may have to leave it alone for a while. At least until I get a couple of personal projects done.
Meantime, here's the latest Remake/Remodel, "Atomic Man". From the character description:

"Adam Mann is conducting experiments with the radioactive isotope Uranium-235, and is caught in a "weird chemical accident" giving him atomic powers. He uses these powers to covertly fight crime and Communism as Atomic Man. His powers include super strength, flight, and projecting energy blasts from his right hand. To control and neutralize his power, he wears a lead glove over his hand and takes it off when he wants to turn the powers on. "

I was inspired by the covers of some recent Marvel comics for this one, especially covers by artists like David Finch and Richard Isanove. I think this one turned out particularly well. Comments or criticisms?

Click the image to get a full view in glorious color.

The Winner Is....

I'm pleased to announce that the winner of the draw for the free copy of Paul Jessup's "Open Your Eyes" from Apex Books is Angelia Sparrow.
Angelia was kind enough to link back to me from "The Den of Debauchery's Garden Gazebo" (now there's a blog title for ya!) and will be receiving a copy of the book by snail mail just as fast as the U.S. Postal Service can deliver it.
Thanks to Angelia and to all who entered, and be sure to check back for more contests in the (near?) future.

Meantime, if you just can't wait to get your own hands on a copy of "Open Your Eyes", it's available from the Apex Books store, and according to their blog today, is one of their top sellers for June. I've started reading it myself, and while I'm not a fan of this kind of high concept sci-fi, I find this book quite accessible and well written. Fans of "Solaris" and Danny Boyle's "Sunshine" should love this one.
Get your copy while it's hot!

Open Your Eyes to a Contest!

Apex Books has kindly sent me a couple of complimentary paperback copies of Paul Jessup's latest book, "Open Your Eyes", described as "a surrealist space opera of haunting beauty and infinite darkness." I've just started reading it, and while some of this high concept stuff tends to turn me off, I'm finding this one very accessible so far.
To give readers a chance to sample Paul Jessup's work and to check out the kind of offerings available from Apex, I'm putting up a copy of this book as a contest prize through this blog.


But you don't get it for nothing...no, no, far from it. In order to qualify, you've got to give me some link love. Here's how it works:

• if you have a blog, create a post linking back to this blog (you can use either http://paladinfreelance.blogspot.com or www.paladinfreelance.com...all roads lead to Rome). If you run a website, give me a link in your "Links" page or perhaps post a news item to your front page linking back here.
  
• Leave a comment with an email address, or better yet, send me an email with your name and a link to the site where I can see your post (my email address is just off to the left there under "Contact Me". See it? Good.).
  
• Once you do that, your name will go into a draw for the book to be held in one week, on Friday 10 July. The draw will be completely random, under the close scrutiny of an impartial panel of judges (i.e. my wife will pull a name from a hat).
  
• If you are the winner, I will contact you via email for a mailing address where I can send the book.
  

Only the winner's name will be posted on this blog, and all other personal information will be deleted once the book is sent. Scout's honor.

If this contest does well, I may have other goodies to offer in a similar fashion in the future. Good luck, and get those entries rolling in!

Of course, if you don't want to wait, you can always surf over to the book's product page at Apex Books and buy a copy either in old-fashioned paper or new-fangled ebook version.

Prime Number Two

As promised in my last post, here's a color version of that image from Nate Kenyon's "Prime". The color scheme was very much inspired by B-movies and sci-fi/horror comics of the 50's. I wanted it to look really garish to get across the power of the scene. The illustrations in the book are in black and white, so this one was done just for my own, and hopefully your, enjoyment.