Friday, July 30, 2010

bit and run returns


You knew this day was coming and it almost finally has.

"bit and run" returns in one week for the second volume.

I'm really happy with how excited everyone is over on GoNintendo, the Nintendo blog where I release my comics. Check them out.

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And because I couldn't decide between the two, here's a bonus teaser :

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

back from SDCC

Man, what a berserk last few weeks!

As you might have noticed the week before we left for the San Diego Comic-Con I pretty much abandoned my blog and ran out in a panic. There was so much to get ready, so many deadlines, and a ton of stuff to be put together before we left.

I'm pleased to report that things went very well and for the next few posts I'll be covering some of the highlights as well as posting some of the new work I took to the show.

I'm also picking right up where I left off with my blog, resuming my M/W/F posting schedule and getting back with the Alice work.

So hey, why not get started right here -- Here is my annual video tour of the San Diego Comic-Con. It's long and involves a lot of Star Wars. It's also 720p so can see all the nerdy detail. Also, if you please, click over to see it on Youtube itself so you don't have to deal with the video battling with my sidebar.

And if nothing else check out the last minute to see Kitty's guerrilla marketing in action and it actually work.

For 5 days we called booth #4616 home. Long live SDCC 2010 in our hearts and minds.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

FLIGHT 7 : Onere and Piccola

FLIGHT is the Eisner nominated, Harvey nominated, graphic novel anthology created and edited by the genius Kazu Kibuishi.

I was honored again to be included in the 7th volume in the series.

In Flight 6 my story was "Walters" a rambling, wordless 40 page story. It was a fantastical retelling of the true story about the man who flew his lawn chair with weather balloons. You can see the extensive "making of" posts here.

For Flight 7 I was challenged to develop a story beyond a wordless one. After some time I settled on "Onere and Piccola" an original myth of mine. I love mythology and I'll take any chance I can to try to write something archaic and sort of grand. Truthfully the story of Onere and Piccola is just a small facet of a larger mythology of a story that I hope to be able to show you all some day. It's just one of the stories told in the world of one of my stories. If that makes sense.

Well, I followed a pretty similar production for this story as do with most all of my work except in this case I made much more developed roughs.




From there it was a matter a drawing and painting.

Like many others I listen to music when I work. I can't when I'm writing or storyboarding or doing the roughs, but once it's time to draw and paint I'm all for it. I don't know how many other people are like this but I tend to gravitate towards a certain grouping of music/songs while involved in any given project.

For "Onere and Piccola" I listened to these three pieces of music in particular on repeat throughout the project. I hope they'll add to your experience reading the story.







Once I was done, I hand-lettered the text. Yes, it was a little tedious but the story is only 20 pages (actually 10 cleverly laid out spreads to speed the production time, drawing and painting went much faster) so it did take a little extra time to letter but in the end it really made things look that much better I thought. I'm very pleased with the way it all came together.

Like I mentioned earlier, with "Onere and Piccola" I wanted to write something kind of grand, a little archaic, and something with a little emotion. I hope you will enjoy it.

Here is a link to see a preview of the first 6 pages.

Ah, what the heck, I'll post them here too --



Flight 7 will be released at San Diego Comic-Con this year (in a week!) Stop by the booth #2235, I'll be there periodically throughout the day signing some books and hanging out.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Alice, final drawing 14/14

Note : I am posting the progression of these Alice pieces, start to finish. This stage is the final drawing.

"Epilogue"

Next post, Wednesday : Taking a break from "Alice" to talk about my story for FLIGHT 7!

Friday, July 09, 2010

Alice, final drawing 13/14

Note : I am posting the progression of these Alice pieces, start to finish. This stage is the final drawing.

This one I'm also very pleased with. I'm happy with her form, it turned out how I wanted.


"Who cares for you?"

Next post, Friday : "Epilogue"

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Alice, final drawing 12/14

Note : I am posting the progression of these Alice pieces, start to finish. This stage is the final drawing.


"The Court of Justice"

Next post, Friday : "Who cares for you?"

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And bonus update! I got the proof (pages are loose, you'll in the pictures) in for my "Alice" book. It's 8.5 x 11, 30 pages, color. It's drawings, sketches, and excerpts.

More about this in the coming days but it looks perfect, I couldn't be more pleased with it.





Monday, July 05, 2010

Alice, final drawing 11/14

Note : I am posting the progression of these Alice pieces, start to finish. This stage is the final drawing.


"What is his sorrow?"

Next post, Wednesday : "The Court of Justice"

Friday, July 02, 2010

Alice, final drawing 10/14

Note : I am posting the progression of these Alice pieces, start to finish. This stage is the final drawing.

This one well could be my favorite. Probably because I love monsters, especially winged ones. I also really like how Alice turned out. The next piece in the series is "What is his sorrow?" and it looks like she's thinking -- like she's really hearing the Mock Turtle sobbing.



"The Gryphon"

Next post, Monday : "What is his sorrow?"