World War Kaiju - progress report!

Hello there faithful followers.  I'll bet you're wondering how World War Kaiju is coming along, and how your host Patrick is doing with the art.  Well, happy to report that things are going swimmingly.  The art for the 1st volume of WWK is well over half complete - in fact, we're up to about 54 pages and counting!

Here are a few pages for you to sink your teeth into...

Lots of work on backgrounds from Josh Finney, who is not only writing WWK, but also providing some great help by doing 3D models , such as in the first page here.  I drew the Nazi lab loosely, and Josh whipped up an amazing 3D environment for me to do the final painting over. He also did the cities in the third page down.  Working from his models, I can blend them into the painted look and not spend extra days doing all of that myself. Bravo Josh!

In addition to pages like that, there are going to be some where I get to emulate various styles from comics and illustration of the 40's though the 70's.  Here I'm using a lot of different Roger Dean ideas from his great album cover art...

 … And here's a page that reflects a definite Steranko influence from his incredible "My Love Story" issue (as well as some Kirby Krackle!):

In terms of process, you might be interested to know that I'm drawing almost completely on the computer recently. In fact for the last dozen or so pages, I've only used pencil to do the rough layout of the page, and for a few pages even that was in Photoshop. I do enjoy changing things up a bit now and then, and I feel very energized doing things differently once in a while. And it's really a lot faster, I'm finding; my drawing speed with the stylus has increased greatly over the last couple of years. Here's what a typical drawing in Photoshop looks like, and then the final colored panel:

(Spoiler - those are Martians!)

So as you can tell, I'm having a lot of fun! And hey - you might want to go to  WorldWarKaiju.com to see a lot more: previews, special features, updates, and how to pre-order the book if you haven't done so yet.

That's it for now - I'll talk to you again soon!
-Patrick

WWK Kickstarter - final days!

Well! The WORLD WAR KAIJU Kickstarter campaign is down to its final couple of days, and I have to thank you all again for your support. As of this writing we're at about $20,500!  That's two stretch goals unlocked for everyone who pledged $55 or more (free bookmarks and magnetic poetry set)!

However, there's a goal I think we can still make that will benefit EVERYONE ON EARTH!  Well, at least everyone who is getting a WWK book.  And that is this: if we can get to $25,000 we will DOUBLE the amount of story content in the book.  At NO EXTRA CHARGE.  That's right, for no bigger pledge than you've already given, you will get both the first AND SECOND chapters in this one incredible volume. 

You can help!

 - if you've been waiting to pledge: NOW IS THE TIME!

 - if you're already a backer: please consider bumping up your amount by choosing one of our incredible incentives (signed bookplates, original art, Kaiju Drinking Game w/ Shot glasses, propaganda posters, and much more!

 - if you haven't blogged or posted about us yet:  be an evangelist!  Introduce your friends and followers to the awesome World War Kaiju universe and see if they might want to join us. After all, every dollar they give gets us all closer to a LOT more content. 

 

OK, thanks again for your time and support. I really appreciate everything you have all done.  Now let's get fired up and bring in a legendary ending to this campaign! 

WWK - Achievement Unlocked!

Thank you!!!!

Woohoo! We made our minimum goal. World War Kaiju is officially funded on Kickstarter. Check it out: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/309827462/world-war-kaiju-graphic-novel

What does that mean?

I means that now we REALLY need to get to work.

If you haven't yet pledged, or posted about us, or tweeted our link, or bothered your neighbors... Now is the time to do so! Why? One word: Stretch goals. (OK, that was probably two words but numbers are for terrorists!)

Here's what I mean: Our $15,000 goal was met, so we can do the initial chapter of World War Kaiju. BUT here is what happens if we make further goals over the NEXT TWO WEEKS...

$16,000: Everyone who pledged $55+ will receive a bookmark with their copy of World War Kaiju.

$20,000: Everyone who pledges $55+ will receive a kaiju-themed magnetic poetry kit. You TOTALLY want this.

$25,000: Once this goal is unlocked EVERYONE'S copy of World War Kaiju will DOUBLE in length and contain TWICE as much story content!

You read that right. If we (you, me, us!) can get enough people to pitch in, this book will be TWICE the story size for the SAME PRICE. Let's all appreciate that together.

Aaaaahhhh, I feel the awesome washing over me. Do you?

If - BIG if - but IF we get to $35,000 (more than double where we already are, but bear with me) we will TRIPLE the story content. Again -- For the same freakin' price!

So, yes, for my own selfish reasons I want you to blog, post, podcast, phone, text, and use the damned *telegraph* to get the word out. But the rewards are great - potentially THREE TIMES the story for the same price awaits.

You could also up your own pledge, and get some of our awesome rewards, such as the Drinking Game (including custom shot glasses), the Survival Pack (including a metal sign making you aware of how to survive a Kaiju attack), custom sketches, original WWK page art, and more. This, I think, would be a brilliant use of your spare money in any case. The choice is yours.

Thanks again folks. You all rock, whether you pledged money or spread the word about WWK, we are all in this together. You're the best!

Two weeks left - let's see if we can do this.

-Patrick

World War Kaiju: Flawless Victory awaits!

Wow, things are going great, but it's NOT TOO LATE to get in on the fun! As of this writing World War Kaiju is about $900 away from our minimum funding level with over two weeks to go. Check it out! WWK Kickstarter

If you're new to the party, WWK is a graphic novel I'm doing the art for. It's a fun and action-filled alternate history that sets up the premise: what if World War II ended not with the Atomic Bomb, but with the creation of giant Kaiju monsters? How would the cold war have played out if the world resembled Japanese monster movies from the 1960's?

So... Getting to our minimum Kickstarter amount is SUPER AWESOME, but... The really cool things happen with our stretch goals... such as DOUBLING the size of the book if we reach $25000! Yes, that's for the EXACT SAME PRICE as your initial pledge. So, if you've been waiting to pledge on this thing, the time is coming to do it. And, if you've already been generous enough (and intelligent enough! And obviously very good-looking!) to have signed up (and thanks!) then please get your friends to do it too; write on boards, blogs, or random city walls. Anything to get the word out would help.

In the meantime, if you'd like to hear me and the rest of Team Kaiju (Kat Rocha and Josh Finney) talk about World War Kaiju, here's a handy roundup of most of the interviews we've done over the last several weeks. You can hear our actual voices talk about all sorts of things! Click here for the interviews!

As always, for more info on our groovy project check out our home site - WorldWarKaiju.com

Thanks, -Patrick

World War Kaiju - Kickstarter campaign

What if Dr. Strangelove created Godzilla? That question might get you started on the road to enjoying my new project (along with Josh Finney and Kat Rocha): World War Kaiju! It's a graphic novel about an alternate version of the 20th century, one where the nuclear tests at Los Alamos in World War II didn't create the nuclear bomb - they created GIANT MONSTERS!

Now, it's 25 years later and all the major powers on earth have their own arsenal of Kaiju, and sit on the brink of a war they dare not start. It's Monster Assured Destruction - the Kaiju Cold War! And we're about to learn all about its secret history... It's a sprawling epic, a tongue-in-cheek retelling of history, a love-letter to Japanese monster movies, all this and more!

Of course, I'm doing the art on the book, so if you're reading this I'll assume you're at least a bit interested... ;)

And now you can help us out! Just check out our Kickstarter page and take a look at our intro video, our cool incentive offers, and other awesome stuff. For only $25, you'll be able to pre-order the book AND you'll be helping us with our dream of bringing the Kaiju Cold War to life for your fun and enjoyment!

For even more pulse-pounding, thrilling excitement, go to our home page at www.worldwarkaiju.com, where you'll be able to see a 17-page preview of the book, a page with secret info on several of the monsters in the WWK world, creator bios, and more!

More updates to come! You can also stay plugged in by liking our Facebook page. Thanks - talk to you soon.

-Patrick

Sketches - an evolution

Hello, somewhat faithful readers!

Well, I'm back, and it hasn't even been several months. I'm on a roll now. :) Actually, I have something to write about, which doesn't happen just every day.

Today I'd like to discuss the rough sketch for an illustration. That sketch has two reasons to exist: of course the first is that you need to create a rough road map of the illustration you are going to create. That means getting the composition and basic drawing done to the point where you are confident that the final art will be effective and at least mostly non-embarrassing.

But second,and perhaps every bit as important, you are attempting to sell your idea to the Art Director on a given job. That means it needs to look good enough that you won't have to re-do it completely because it's uninteresting, incorrect for the brief, or just plain bad. So it has to be exciting, easy to "read", and far enough along that the AD can easily imagine the final picture from what you send.

But the other part of that equation is that you don't want to put too much work into it, especially if it's not a high-paying job. (Pro tip: if you spend a lot of time on a rough sketch that isn't accepted, you just threw away an hour or more of your time, and that's money you'll never get back!)

Well. For the first *cough* several *cough* years of my career, I've used the method of doing a rough sketch in pencil, for the most part. Sometimes felt pen, or even ball-point, but usually pencil and always a DRAWING. However, lately, that's been changing. I've always known that the large areas of light and shadow were important, but I'd never really thought about streamlining my process, to concentrate less on the *drawing* and more on the *forms*.

So, I decided a few months back to try something different. And, it seems to be a success!

Basically, I'm starting with either an incredibly simple pencil drawing - like, just a few lines, really - or nothing at all, and sketching straight into Photoshop with a large round brush. This forces me to sketch with areas instead of lines, and gives the picture more punchy light-and-dark areas, and more structural solidity. Plus, it's a lot quicker! I'm enjoying the results.

Of course, I didn't come up with this method on my own, far from it! Many great artists have been working this way for years on the computer, and even longer using paints. However, I've only recently started to experiment with it, which is why I thought I'd share.

For simplicity, let me demonstrate with some pictures that are all for Wizards of the Coast, so I can say:

All finished pictures in this post are © 2012 Wizards of the Coast. All sketches © 2012 Patrick McEvoy.

Nice.

OK, so here's one I did last year where I did a pencil sketch, and then you can see the final:

Now, as you can see, I paid attention to the usual things in the sketch: the composition, the lighting, and the basic forms. And I did it all in pencil, which I've always been comfortable with. But it actually takes a while to draw - I come up with the areas, and then fill them in with pencil scribbles to create my shadows.

OK, then here is an example of what I've been doing more recently:

Here, I'm blocking in lights and darks here using fairly large brushes (set to 80 or 90 percent opacity in Photoshop). There are several reasons I like this:

- Looser drawing. It's not tight and over-rendered.

- Easier to pay attention to the large forms and areas of value, for stronger shapes.

- Quicker!

- I only have to draw details ONCE, when I'm doing the final.

Here are a couple more examples:

One thing to keep in mind is that I'm not even doing a final drawing for these: I'm doing all the final drawing work and details directly on to the final painting! Why draw details twice? Now that I'm more confident with my drawing than when I was younger, this makes a lot more sense. It's all about confidence, really.

And just for fun, here's one that I'm working on now. No final yet (it's in to the AD for approval, currently). I'll post the final after it's been printed..

This gets everything across to the AD that needs to be shown. It's punchy, has JUST enough detail to show what's going on, it was quick, and it doesn't bog down in unimportant details (well, unimportant to the composition).

That's it for now - let me know what you think!

-Patrick

Sketching!

So, I went to a great sketching evening with some new friends from the Bay Area chapter of the ArtOrder group (found at http://artorder.ning.com/ ) A wonderful time was had by all (Alexis, our hostess, Brian, Mike, MuYoung and me). We also procured the services of an awesome model Francine Mean, who brought many costumes and even put on a short Fire show for us after the session was over.

In the interests of full disclosure, I now present to you the sketches I did that evening. It was not only fun, it was a great chance to do something that I hadn't done for MANY years, and stretch those artistic muscles we all need to exercise once in a while.

2-minute warm-ups:

5 - 10 minutes:

(Here's where I started using some 4B and 8B pencils on top of the HB and 2B)

And finally some 20-minute pieces!

I think I was getting into a groove over the last hour or so, and I'm pretty happy with how the evening went. I'm looking forward to a lot more live drawing now that I'm back in the Bay Area and there are more opportunities for this sort of thing.


Usually I show off my finished stuff here or elsewhere online, or at least a sketch leading up to a finished piece so you can see the progression, but here we have just practice, plain and simple, with numerous warts to amuse you. Let me know what you think!

-Patrick

fun thing - Avengers

So. I was Googling for something or other, and up came this:

I thought to myself, "Hmm... I've seen these pictures somewhere before.. But WHERE? And it soon occurred to me: Oh yeah, I DID THEM!

That's right, I'd completely forgotten about one of the many Marvel special projects I did. Duh. I had drawn these like a year before the show came out, then absolutely never thought to check the show out. Someone else went in and did the inks and colors, but I'd done the drawings. It's always cool to see something like that finally released! So many of my Marvel pieces never get out to the general public.

So, for the first time - my Avengers Animated drawings!

©2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

©2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

©2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

The Blue and Red overlays are an indication to the colorist of where shadows and highlights could go. You can see they sort of followed them, but not always (for instance Cap's shield is very different). Oh, and I didn't draw the Hulk.

I also did Ant Man and Hawkeye, but they aren't on the cover... If I ever see them somewhere I'll post those drawings too!

One more thing - I should mention that after I discovered this I took a look at the show (on Netflix streaming) and it is AWESOME. Started a bit slow, but it really took off, with small arcs coming to a huge, satisfying conclusion at the end of the 26-episode first season. This is what Heroes desperately wanted to be, I think; great, epic storytelling. And, even better, it works for kids AND adults, too.

Well, that's it for today. Just thought you might want to see some behind-the scenes stuff. Leave a note if you thought it was interesting!

New things, new commissions

Hi all!

Well, things have been hopping! I'm officially art directing a new online game from Dark Skull Studios, I'm doing some work for Marvel, starting a new iPad project AND still working on World War Kaiju. Busy enough? Not really - I've got some commissions too!

Here's what I've done lately on the commission front. I'm having LOTS of fun drawing these days...

Neil Gaiman's Death:

Scott James Taylor as Starkweather (& Solomon the lizard!):

Mary Watson, née Marston (from Sherlock Holmes' "The Sign of Four"):

Need I add that I want you -- yes YOU -- to drop by my online store and order a commission of your own? :) click here!

OK, T.T.F.N - talk to you later.

-Patrick

More commissions

Not a lot to report today, but I thought I'd share the latest commission work I've done. Everyone's getting pen and ink lately, which is fine with me. I haven't done much of that in recent years, so it's great to get back into it. (And it's going faster with practice, too!)

Lobster Johnson:

Judge Death and Judge Fish:

Rorschach:

If you're curious, I'm doing all of these on Strathmore smooth bristle, using a combination of Deleter and Pitt pens, a Windstor & Newton #1 sable brush, Titanium white acrylic, and Higgins Black Magic ink. And they're all 9" x 12".

If you want to order one of your own, don't be shy - I love doing them! Find out all about them on my new online store!

-Patrick

Epic Gladiator is out!

Hi again!

Wow, what about all these posts lately? I'm trying to be more diligent about posting with news and interesting stuff as it happens.

Case in point: the release of an iPhone app I did the art for several months back. EPIC GLADIATOR! (The game is free!)

It's a social game for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch) where you train and equip your stable of gladiators and fight against your friends (or enemies) for glory and fun. Yay! And I did all the art - hundreds of icons, backgrounds, characters, etc. Believe me, there are a LOT of weapons to get, each one unique.

Let me know what you think! I'm pretty happy with it. And I even did the logo. Check it out:

(This is the splash screen for the iPhone version).

In other news -- have you been to my online store yet? I'll be adding more stuff to it each day, so give it a try! http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/store

- Patrick

Online store ho!

Hey folks,

Well, I've finally gotten a real online store together. Excitement abounds!

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/store

There's also a link to it from my main Megaflowgraphics.com site and here on the blog.

So, what exactly is there? Glad you asked. (Or, more precisely, I'm glad I think you asked...)

First, importantly, I have commissions available! Pencil and Ink now, and I'll be adding color soon. All the different options (sizes, backgrounds, number of characters) are available with E-Z pulldowns. Just order what you want, and put the description of your picture in the "Additional Notes" box during checkout. Couldn't be easier! :D

Also, I'll be adding some original paintings and drawings that I've done in the past for various assignments. The first piece that's up is my Forest Elemental painting. I'll be putting up some more of those on there soon. These are one-of-a-kind pieces, so don't miss out!

And finally, there are some prints available. I'll be adding more soon!

(By the way, did you know there is A LOT more of my art for sale through DeviantArt? Just go to my gallery there and look for any picture with the little shopping-bag icon next to the name. You can buy prints of different sizes, mouse pads, magnets, mugs and cards of all of them. I know, it's like you died and went to heaven, right?

Thanks, and please let me know what you think of the new store. I love to get feedback!

-Patrick

What I'm up to lately

Hey folks,

Thought you'd like a short update on my current projects. Would you? Darn this turn-based communication! Well, I shall simply assume you would and proceed from there...


A couple of interesting things came out recently. I did the illustration for an article in the new Dungeon magazine (#189) called "Killing Ground". You can see a preview here. Also out now from WotC is the "D&D Heroes of Shadow" supplement book. I did a few pictures in there that were quite fun.

Next up, I did the art and graphic design for an iPhone app that came out recently called "Police Scanner Radio" (yes, it's just what the name says!). The same company, Critical Hit Software, is in the very, very final stages of game-tuning for a new app called "Epic Gladiator", which should be lots of fun. You can find previews of the massive amounts of icon and other art I did for it here.

Lots of cards in the Legend of the Five Rings "Dead of Winter" set a few months back, and more in next month's "Before the Dawn". Read about that game on the AEG site.

In addition, I'm working on an awesome new Graphic Novel called World War Kaiju. Find out about it here, or check my DeviantArt account for updates! I think you'll be blown away by the ideas.

Speaking of DeviantArt, I'm updating that account more often these days, with both brand new art and favorite oldies. Take a look, give me faves, watch my account... Whatever makes you happy. :)

Aside from that, lots of development work for various iPhone games, concept art, and other stuff that I can't show for various reasons.

Oh, and did I mention I'm doing commissions these days? Let me not forget that!

That's it for now - talk to you soon!

Commissions - what they look like!

Well, I've completed the first three commissioned drawings, and I thought I'd share. I had lots of fun doing these, and hopefully there will be more in the future. I thoroughly enjoyed doing some quick work just for the fun of it.

(By the way, these were all ordered without backgrounds. The minimal backgrounds are included when I feel the figure needs them for a good composition, as all three of these did!)

*****

To recap, here are the types of pieces available and prices. NOTE - there's one addition now. Color! Yes, I'll be doing color pieces too, if anyone needs such a thing.

Here are the prices for a 9" x 12" picture -

Single figure pencil: $30

Single figure inked: $40

Single figure color/ink: $80

These may or may not include a bit of background or other elements, depending on how I think the composition works best. Also, the single figure could be a bust if you like. (Same price as a full figure, because I'll be putting extra work into the face detail, hair, etc.).

Add-ons -

Background: add $20

Each additional character: add $20

11" x 14" size: add $20

Shipping is included for U.S. - extra for other countries, based on actual cost.

Send your requests to me by email: contact@megaflowgraphics.com. For payment, Paypal is preferred, but I can accept a check if you have to do that.

Comissions and Wondercon wrapup

Much to catch up on, but important news first. For the first time in years I'll be accepting commissions for drawings! Custom drawings of any character or group you can think of. What a bonanza!

Here are the prices for a 9" x 12" picture -

Single figure pencil: $30

Single Figure inked: $40

These may or may not include a bit of background or other elements, depending on how I think the composition works best. Also, the single figure could be a bust if you like. (Same price as a full figure, because I'll be putting extra work into the face detail, hair, etc.).

Add-ons -

Background: add $20

Each additional character: add $20

11" x 14" size: add $20

Shipping is included for U.S. - extra for other countries, based on actual cost.

Send your requests to me by email: contact@megaflowgraphics.com. For payment, Paypal is preferred, but I can accept a check if you have to do that. ;)

I'm excited to give this a try! I'll be posting these on my here blog as I do them. Hopefully there will be a lot of good ones.

*****

And in other news, Wondercon went great! I sold a lot, caught up with good friends, and actually had some fun (which, frankly, I hadn't expected). There's a wrap-up of the con and some interviews with fellow artists on the latest episode of my podcast Ninja Mountain.

Also while at the con I was on the awesome podcast "Cammy's Comics Corner" on one of Cammy's crazy "Drinky Talky" episodes. That's right, me and a few other hep comics creators (Kat Rocha, Josh Finney and Jules Rivera) had some alcohol and talked comics. You can listen here.

That's about it at the moment. Talk to you later!

Wondercon

Last year's Wondercon was perhaps the best 4 days of my life.

No. Not perhaps. I can think of no more magical experience; no other time I would rather relive again.

But the past is past and the future is all that matters now. I hope that this year is even better in as many ways as the future can muster for me. And you can be a part of it!

Please come to see me on Saturday and Sunday (I'm arriving late Friday) 4/2 and 4/3 at table SP53 in the small press area. I will be sharing a table with Jules Rivera (If you are a listener to Ninja Mountain you may have heard me praising her "Marsh Rocket" web comic, which is well worth a read). I'll be doing lots of things:

1) Promoting my upcoming Graphic Novel "World War Kaiju", which I'm doing in conjuction with the new and soon-to-be-awesome Glitchwork publishing. The creator is Josh Finney (of Titanium Rain fame) and is co-written by Josh and Mike Colbert. Josh's lovely wife Kat Rocha also contributed a lot of creature design. WWK (as we affectionately call it) is the story of an alternate 20th century, where instead of the nuclear bomb, the great super weapon invented in World War II was the Giant Monster. The Kaiju! And now it's the middle of the cold war in the 1970s, where every major country has it's own arsenal of marauding monsters. It's funny, it's action-packed and it's very, very unique. See previews, designs, and hear me expound upon it at interminable length!

2) Releasing a new poster: The H.P. Lovecraft Rules of Survival! If you find yourself in a Lovecraft story, how will you survive with both your life and sanity intact? This poster tells you everything you'll need to know! Text by Josh Finney, and 9 original Lovecraft-inspired pictures by me. If you liked my "Uncle Cthulhu" poster from Boom! Studios, or my Call of Cthulhu cards, I am completely certain you'll LOVE this one.

3) Selling the Starkweather Immortal hardcover. My 160 page graphic novel of modern fantasy, intrigue, witchcraft, and foul-mouth talking lizards. Of course as is my tradition, with each copy you will get one piece of the original art from the series! And a sketch in the book if you play your cards right...

4) Convention sketches. Buy one!! Anything you want at popular prices. Be the first kid on your block to have an original McEvoy scribble!

5) Prints and postcards! Be the most awesome person on your block and display your McEvoy paraphernalia and/or ephemera proudly!

6) Most importantly: I'll be offering a World War Kaiju postcard, and all proceeds will be donated to Doctors Without Borders, who are currently doing such good work in Japan to help alleviate suffering. This is a very important thing, and I hope you will be good enough to generously donate. The cost is only $1.00 per card (a bargain!) but ANY amount will be gratefully accepted. And yes, 100% of the proceeds will go to this important charity. The cards will be available at both my table and Kat & Josh's Glitchwerk table. Buy lots - it's for a great cause.


OK! That's it for now. I really hope to see you there, just to say "hi". If you're at Wondercon please just stop by and let me know you read the blog or listen to Ninja Mountain. I'll be glad you did. :)

Returning

Hi all!

Well, if I'm lucky, you have been wondering where I've been.

Not in a good place.

But, I am returning, and feeling better all the time. And as part of my newly-reconstituted frame of mind, I've recently been interviewed by the astounding Cammy of Cammy's Comics Corner! Check out the interview here! We discuss H.P. Lovecraft, my upcoming comics projects, and a number of other things. And we rib my friend Josh Finney (writer/co-artist of Titanium Rain) in a gentle yet entirely cruel way.

More to come soon, including my upcoming trip to this year's WonderCon in San Francisco. I'll be sharing a table with the awesome Jules Rivera, and selling some stuff. Wow! The mind reels. Talk to you again soon!

Several items of interest

Today will be a link-heavy blog post, because there's a LOT to report. Thanks for stopping by; hopefully you'll find something to improve your lot in life, or at least give you a reason to continue slogging through this horrible world of pain for yet another day.

First, and most importantly... Starkweather: Immortal, my first hardcover graphic novel, is available - FINALLY - on Amazon.com! My largest piece of work by far, I'm really glad it's a real thing at last. I'm very proud of it, both as a professional accomplishment and as a piece of entertainment. Please check it out, and possibly even buy a copy. ;)




SDCC wrapup!

San Diego Comic-Con was great on so many levels. I got to see all the latest happenings in the world of pop culture, I met with friends both old and new, and I met a couple of my wonderful Art Directors in person for the first time (Hi Jon Schindehette and Jeremy Cranford!) along with several other interesting new potential clients. And I hyped my wife Danelle's comic book flatting business (she's been doing that for a couple of years now and has worked on a lot of really cool books - if you need a flatter/color assistant, drop her an e-mail!)  So -- Good stuff all around.

But primarily I was there to promote Starkweather, and that went just fine! Hello and a big thanks to everyone who stopped by the Archaia booth to say hi and/or buy a copy of the book. We had 100 copies air-shipped from the publisher in South Korea and sold out all of them over the weekend!

I was invited to an interesting event at the con, put on by  VentureBrosBlog.com We recorded a podcast where @spookychan, @TheSciFiBlock and I and several other cool Venture Brothers fans talked all about the show from the super-fan perspective we all have. :)  I think it ended up being very interesting - find out for yourself here:  http://bit.ly/9i1sUv

Also, I was on the Archaia "all access" panel, where the artists and writers from Archaia's creator-owned books got together to talk about our comics. If you were there you probably know it was a ton of great fun!


In other news...

Back in April of this year I was interviewed by the Electric Playground show on G4 Canada, and it's now been released to the internet!  I talk all about Starkweather and everything!



And also on the Starkweather trail, the folks at Popculturehound.com interviewed both me and D-Rod about Starkweather, and you can now read the awesome results here (mine) and here (Dave's).  They came out great, though they do call me "Jason" in one place for no apparent reason.. :D

 And finally, for those who are Ninja Mountain podcast fans! I made one of my all-to-infrequent appearances on the show this week, and with Jeremy away at GenCon I also played host to Socar Myles and Kieran Yanner:  http://goo.gl/b/Z4uP

Well, that's about it for the moment. What, that's NOT ENOUGH?  You want MORE?? Well, a) you're a sick puppy, and b) I'll have some really big news about upcoming projects soon.

As always, be sure to leave a message. I love to hear from you!

SDCC schedule - Come see me!

OK, I have some more info about my San Diego Comic-con plans!

I'll be selling prints, cards, and my new hardcover Graphic Novel Starkweather: Immortal at the Archaia Booth, #2635 (a 20 x 20 space right between Marvel and Image).  Also I'll have some signed game cards to give away and of course a FREE PIECE OF ORIGINAL ART will be given away with each copy of the book sold while I'm there.

Here are the official signing times:

Wednesday (Preview Night!)
Table 4, 7:30PM - 9:00PM

Thursday
Table 4, 12:30PM - 1:30PM
Featured Table 1:30PM - 2:30PM

Friday
Table 3 9:00AM - 10:30AM

Saturday
Table 3 9:00AM - 10:30AM

Sunday
Table 4 2:30PM - 4:00PM

IN ADDITION: there are going to be some informal places for signings/chatting with folks around the Archaia booth area and we'll be there off and on throughout the con - just stop by and ask for me!

DON'T FORGET! I'll be doing commissions for the first time! Do you want me to do a drawing for you? Be sure to ask!!

Single characters, pencil drawing: $20, or inked for $30. Additional characters $10 each. Please bring reference if it's not one of my characters.

And if you're on a budget, $10 will get you a sketch on the blank back of a WoW artist's proof card. Such a deal!!

See you there!

My art process!

As you may know, Starkweather: Immortal, a hardcover graphic novel from Archaia which I did the art for, is out now!! (You can order it so many places on the web, but you may want to do it on Amazon.com - CLICK HERE TO ORDER!).

As part of the bonus features, we were going to include a 4-page "how-to" feature, but unfortunately it was cut due to space. So now I'm presenting it here, because I thought it came out pretty well and some of you might enjoy seeing the process I go through to create my comics. And if you like it, or have any questions at all, leave a comment.



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Me and Starkweather at SDCC!

It's on!

We were having some worries behind the scenes. It seems that Archaia was switching printers. They were printing in China, but they recently switched to South Korea. Most likely a large part of this was due to the fact that Titanium Rain (another fine book from Archaia) was not allowed to be printed by the Chinese government, so they had to scramble to move the printing out of that country.

Well, long story short: Starkweather was delayed AGAIN... but this time only by a few weeks.

Starkweather: Immortal WILL be shipped soon, though not on June 30 as previously planned. And here's some really good news: Archaia are air-shipping some boxes of the book, hot off the presses, directly to San Diego Comic-Con! So writer Dave Rodriguez and I will have 100 copies of the hardcover graphic novel to sell. Let's hear it for capitalism!

Free Art Giveaway!!

Each and every person who buys a copy of the book while Dave and I are there will get a free piece of original art from the book. I do pencils one panel at a time, so each panel has a pencil original - and YOU can own one! Just stop by, get a signed book, and take any piece of art you like. What could be easier?


What? You want more? OK, here's a special offer you won't get anywhere else! I have a number of World of Warcraft cards I did the art for, with special blank backs (the artist proof cards). With EACH copy of Starkweather: Immortal sold while I'm at the booth, I will personally do a sketch to order on a WoW card and give it to you with the book. How about THAT?

SO - stop by the Archaia booth (location details to follow), and get the awesome book, an actual piece of original art from the book, and a sketch on a collectible WoW card. Hey, I'M excited and I'm just giving it all away. Imagine how excited you'd be to get it!

See you in San Diego!!