Back from Chicago

This one is a little late compared to the other posts, but that is because I was in Chicago.  Tom [from Olympian Publishing] set up a couple of signings for me at a couple of stores I had never been to before.  Comix Revolution in Evanston and Chicago Comics in one of the cooler spots in Chicago.  Comix Revolution reminds me a lot of Green Brain in Dearborn, they have an amazing selection of books.  I came out with a nice Taschen- Hieronymus Bosch book, hee hee.

I had actually been to Chicago Comics like 11 years ago, approximately, maybe.  I was visiting a friend who had recently moved to Chicago and a group of us went out walking and came across the shop by happenstance. I was just as impressed as I was back then, great store.  I was able to snag the VERY impressive Drawing Down The Moon: The Art of Charles Vess book.  A friend of mine has this and I've already scoured each page with my eyeballs but I really needed my own copy.

I had a great time at both shops and I would like to thank Jim and Joe from Comix Revolution and Caitlin and Harrison from Chicago Comics. 

It was a quick trip, I left the Ann Arbor train station at 7:48 am on Fri. the signing in Evanston was at 12:00, which I was an hour late for.  Then  I went over to the Century Guild Gallery space where we hung out and had some amazing take out from Chickpea .  I got to see some new Gail Potocki pieces up close.  Then went back to Tom's and fell asleep.  Tom's a bit of a late riser and since he had only slept 2 hours the previous night I had a lot of time to myself in the morning.  So after I figured out how to operate his entertainment system, I put in his copy of Dune and proceeded to do up some more sketch covers.  These were taken with my fairly out of date iPhone so they are a little bit fuzzy hope you don't mind.  I actually watched Dune twice in the time it took me to complete 8 covers [all of which aren't posted].  The last one I did when I was in Chicago signing Kickstarter books. 

 What you can't really see on these are the embossed titles.  For this special sketch cover series they wanted to try a different color with the title stamp, but all the colored inks just didn't show up well enough.  So what they did is use embossing powder on them and it turned out really cool.  The title is in Teal on the sketch cover variant.  They used the same effect for the special editions made up for higher bids on Kickstarter.  There is an orange and a red variant as well.  This last Pook cover was sketched on before they came up with the embossing process, but I know it got a title [sorry Julio ;] ]. 

After Tom got up we had about an hour and a half to head out to Chicago Comics.  The signing went really well, I received a lot of very nice feed back from people unfamiliar with CPG.  There were also a couple of fans I have met before at conventions and I really appreciate that you all came out. Thank you very much to everyone who took the time to come and say hi!  After that it was dinner and pretty much straight to unconsciousness.  I had to catch the train at Union Station at 7:30 am.  Which I managed to do with plenty of time to spare.  It was only at the station that I realized I left my phone charger at Tom's... wanh wah...

I have one more signing scheduled and that is going to be nice and close to home.  Mar. 2nd at Comic City in Canton.  After that I get all geared up for C2E2.  That's right Chicago, you haven't seen the last of me!  MwaAHaaaHaaaahaaaaaa!!  So if you are in that area the 18th through the 20th, of March, you should come to the show.

p.s. if you have been curious as to why I've always posted with a ] or a [ it is because my parentheses buttons do not work on my keyboard.  :[

a couple of things to tide you over

I had another great time at Vault of Midnight in Ann Arbor last Sat.  I'll be working on arranging an art show there, sometime in the fall I think.  I'll let you know more when I figure out the details.  Thanks again to Curtis and Liz for having me.  I can announce two more signings at this point.  I'll be at Comix Revolution in Evanston IL. Feb. 25th [I know it says the 23rd on this here link, however I had to reschedule for Fri the 25th] and I talked to the owner of Comic City today and we have discussed having a signing Wed. March 2nd at the Comic City in Plymouth MI. 

Here are a couple of things I dredged up you might not have seen.  I am still working on the Kickstarter print so I have nothing "new" to post yet.  It will be some time I'm afraid.  I have made a deadline for myself on that project, I wish to have it completed by C2E2.  I cannot say whether or not it will be available at the show, but I may be able to show it to any who stop by my table in artist alley. 

This one is from "Your Lucky Book" by Jim Rose and Bebe Aschard-Rose.  Olympian Publishing has it available on their site.  Jim and Bebe wrote it and I was asked to do all the illustrations.  This is my favorite one.

This one is from my last portfolio "Serious Frivolity..." 

my very favorite book

Before I get into the titular topic I would like to thank a couple of blokes.  Mark Boss, Zack Smith, and Julio Pech.  These three gents have gone a considerable length in getting people interested in Cursed Pirate Girl.  Mr. Boss is solely responsible for this , the Cursed Pirate Girl Yahoo group.  There are tons of images of artwork for CPG, commission pieces, and even windows I had painted for the art store I used to work at.  I highly recommend signing in.

Well, my favorite book is called "the Ship's Cat".  I have mentioned this book before in various interviews but I have never really gushed, until now.  Have a look see-

Without this book I probably wouldn't be the artist I am now.  It is written by Richard Adams and illustrated by Alan Aldridge.  I grew up with this book and I think every one should own a copy.  Every time I see it in a used book store I have to resist buying it again and again.  It wasn't until about 4 years ago I discovered a series of other books he illustrated that I have become equally obsessed with.  

 

These books are absolutely marvelous!  You NEED these books!!  They all go deep into the fabric of Alan's imagination and it is a great experience.  That's all, you can thank me later.

 

Book signings

On Wed. I had a great time at Green Brain comics signing copies of the collected vol. one of CPG.  I would really like to thank Dan and Katie for letting me set up at their wonderful store.  It really is one of the friendliest comic shops I've ever been to.  If you're in the area, you have to stop by, they've got a lot of stock.  I was able to pick up Weathercraft by Jim Woodring while I was there.  They also have a great get together of local artists and do a comic jam every wed.
Green Brain's site 

this is me at the last Green Brain- Cursed Pirate Girl issue 3 signing

Tomorrow I will be signing at the coolest shop in Ann Arbor, Vault of Midnight.  Liz and Curtis have a really cool story of how they started their store.  They first sold comics and Spawn figures [that's one of the things I remember most, all those variant paint jobs hanging off twine on their walls] right out of their house.  Now they have a very prominent location on Main st. in Downtown Ann Arbor, the place is gorgeous and chocked full of neat stuff.  One of my favorite purchases I have made in the past is my three part promotional poster for Hellboy: Wake the Devil.  I had that up on my wall whilst I was living with some friends from highschool and the mother of one of my friends asked concernedly to her son, "does Jeremy worship the devil?" heh heh heh, I haven't razzed him about that in a while, I'll be seeing him tomorrow, if I can just remember... heh.  Oh and the answer is no... just in case you are too much of a dullard.   I still don't know how I'm gonna frame that poster triptych.  Anyhoo... Vault of Midnight If you're in Ann Arbor tomorrow around 4:00 pm and you see this store front, come on in and check out my lil comic book whydoncha.

a bit of catching up

So it has been awhile since I really tried to keep up a blog, so there has been a lot some might have missed.  For one I have finished all three issues of Cursed Pirate Girl vol. one.  Now a lot of you already do know that and might have even picked up the collection that is currently in comic shops.  If your local shop does not carry it, I would thank you to ask them to try.  It took a lot of work to accomplish and I'm still only half way there.  If you haven't purchased the trade then you won't know that vol. one is the first half of the story I wrote for the introduction of Cursed Pirate Girl.  There will be a volume two.  Sadly though I have not yet started working on it.  The story is written but that itself is only a very small portion of the whole.

Second, I have had the honor to work on two other comic titles.  The first came from the very talented David Petersen, who I am very lucky to call a good friend. I was asked to contribute a story to an off shoot project of his creation Mouse Guard called Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard.  It was an anthology book that gave comic professionals/fans the chance to immerse themselves in the world of Guardsmice.  My story was entitled The Battle of the Hawk's Mouse and the Fox's Mouse and can be found in issue one of Legends. 

I am very proud of this little ditty even though I colored it myself.  The following is one of my own pages from the story.

This is one of my favorites from the story, it shows the Hawk's mouse Faulknir.  My favorite part though are all the tiny mouse skulls dangling from the branches of the Hawk's nest.  The idea I had for that was since the mice were subservient to their lord the Hawk they would always be looking to show their loyalty to gain honor.  If a mouse family had little honor they could select among them a volunteer to go willingly to their lord and offer himself for supper.  This would bring the family much honor and the trophy of the offered mouse's skull would have a favorable place amongst the others.  The closer to their lord the more honored the sacrifice.  Those skulls that are placed in special shrines were of mice that accomplished great deeds in the name of their master.  I'm sure Faulknir's father has a very honored place among the top shrines.  For more about this story you can read about it on Dave's blog.  He featured each creator with an interview describing their stories and their creative processes.  my interview with David
I was also asked to contribute to a story from the pages of Felicia Day's -The Guild

The story I am in will be coming out in March, it is called The Guild: Tink [one shot].  I am just one of the artist's that have put ink to it and I am very happy I was asked to do so.  The story is written by Felicia and I humbly tried my best to make my part in it interesting to look at.  I'd post a sample if I could but you're just gonna have to wait.  Then again if you're an admirer of my work that shouldn't come as much of a surprise.  Here's a link to it on Dark Horse's site, Tink.

The only thing in my way of starting on vol. two of CPG is this little print I have to do for Olympian Publishing.  By little I really mean, the largest piece of artwork I've attempted thus far in the scope of Cursed Pirate Girl.  A while back Tom of Olympian Publishing had an idea to raise some money for printing the collection of vol. one, and that was to get it accepted on the site Kickstarter.com.  We were accepted and it was a runaway success.  We were able to raise a considerable sum at the end.  Towards the middle of our run on Kickstarter, Tom announces that if we reach the goal of 500 backers he would have me create a special print.  Well we reached 882 backers, and I'm about two months into creating this special print and I'm well over halfway.  Here is the link directly to Cursed Pirate Girl on Kickstarter, successfully funded.  I really like it so far I just hope everyone else feels it was worth the wait.  As soon as I accomplish this task I'm going right into work on the next issue of CPG.  I am reeeeeeeeaaaallly looking forward to it!  The next issue is titled The Bright Star. Hey... isn't that the name on that map she finds in Holly's cabin, you know, the one the skeleton hand gives her...?  Hmmmm... could be... Too bad it will be quite a while before any one finds out. 

Don't worry though, I'll put something up here from time to time.  Here, some more art to keep you wanting more.

Pandora

This one was for one of my biggest supporters, Tiara Thayer.  It was a birthday present for her last year and I had a lot of fun doing it.  She agreed to let me turn it into a print.  I will have these available at all the conventions I will be attending this year.

instant second post!! or CPG vol. 1 book signings

If you're interested I will be doing a bunch of book signings at different comic shops here in Michigan and in Chicago later this month. 

Feb. 9th- Green Brain Comics
Feb 12th- Vault of Midnight
Feb 26th- Chicago Comics

That's not all, keep checking back, I have to hear back from Olympian on a couple of others I'm trying to plan out.  Thanks!

New Blog!

Helloooooo... well I've got a new blog.  You can all give thanks or sneers to my dear lovely wife Emily.  She seems to think I need to get out there on the ol interwebs, so she created a new spot for me to ramble on about what I'm up to and art and stuff like that.  So, well, I'm not doing much, I've been working on the special print for all the wonderful people who contributed to the trade of CPG vol. 1 via Kickstarter.com.  It's been a long time coming and I'm definitely past the 50% mark, so that's good.  I just want to let you all know it is still in the works and you will eventually get one... I'm having a lot of fun with it, which equates to -I'm making it more difficult with every new little critter and sculpture I come up with to pack into it.  I have Twittered a sneak peek at a part of it, that also appeared on my FB account here- cpg w/ merstag and Turnip.  I won't be posting any more of this until it's more completed, so there.

I will however, post some stuff up you won't have seen before.  These are some con sketches from last year's San Diego Comicon.  

There is a bunch to catch you up with, but I think I'll save some for another time.  I'm gonna try to do this more regularly, wish me luck. 

First Post: Test

Sketching while visiting with Emily's family in Holland, MI.