September Book Signings

I will be signing copies of Karate Dottie and the Treacherous Treehouse at the Sharpsburg Public Library on Saturday September 18th from 10:30am to 12:30pm as part of the Sharpsburg Heritage Days festival in Sharpsburg, Maryland. I will be joined by Charles Matthews, the talented author who wrote Pinesport Divide.

I am also scheduled for a book signing at the Bizarre Bazaar on Saturday September 25th at Victory Comics in Falls Church, Virginia. If you are in the area, be sure to stop by and say hello.

Project Redstar and Geppi Museum

Just wanted to share what is currently on my desk. Here is a book cover for Project Redstar, a variant cover for Pinesport Divide by Charles Matthews.

I played around quite a bit with creating

patterns on the background. I got my inspiration from a ceramic and carbon fiber wedding band which you can see here. The picture of the wedding band really doesn't do it justice but if you look at it in a store, it have a really cool 3D effect.

I kept playing around with different sizes and I finally settled down with this size. I probably could have gone a little bigger for the individual blocks but I was concerned about legibility.

To create the background, I made a block of 12x12 pixels in Adobe Photoshop and then divided it in half. I then utilized the gradient tool to create a gradient black to white from top to bottom. On the other half of the block, I pulled the gradient in the opposite direction. I then saved it as a pattern. I created a fill layer in my book cover file and selected my custom pattern to create the effect. Creating another layer, I pulled two gradients from the sides to give it more of a three dimensional look.

This blog is not intended as a step by step instructional but if you have any questions about a specific technique, please do not hesitate to send me a note.

I recently had an opportunity to take a few days off and go visit some of the local museums in the area. One of the benefits of living in Maryland is the wide variety of incredible art museums in Washington DC and Baltimore. My older sons wanted to go see the Freer Gallery of Art and the Hirshhorn Gallery, both part of the Smithsonian collection of museums in the National Mall in Washington DC. At the Hirshhorn, I was very impressed with the body of work by Yves Klein.

In Baltimore, fans of comics books, strips and popular culture should visit the Geppi Museum. Conveniently located at Camden Yards, this is a great museum for all ages and recently was nominated for the Nickelodeon Parents Pick Award for best museum. Not only does it have a fantastic collection of original artwork and comics, but chances are you will get a chance to see some of the toys you grew up with no matter what age you are. My five year old son was a big fan of the toys and metal lunchboxes. We had a great time and look forward to going back.

Inks and Carrots

Here is the inked version of Leara. Changed the angle a bit. Inked with india ink and a brush. Cleaned up with Photoshop. For ink, I prefer Higgins Black Magic with a little bit of Koh I Noor rapidograph ink mixed in. If I use Black Magic straight, it tends to start get too thick for some of the finer liner work.

I always had a fascination with finding out what tools of the trade some of my favorite artist used to get their effects (especially inkers). It was almost as if finding the right tool would instantly improve my artwork. In college, I once had an instructor who wanted to make a point that it was about the artist and not about the tools so she had us paint with carrots. Initially I thought it was a stupid idea but it turned out to be a great exercise. There were all kinds of different solutions including using the leafy part of the carrot to paint like a brush or carving it into different types of pens using an x acto knife. It was a lot of fun and proved a point. We were able to create some very interesting textures that would not have been created by traditional means. Point was made.

That being said, having good materials matter and there is nothing worse than trying to ink with a cheap brush. I prefer Raphael series 8404 Kolinsky sable #2 for inking but there are lots of great brushes out there. You never know, you might find your favorite in the produce aisle.

Pinesport Divide Variant

I am working on a variant cover for Pinesport Divide, a great book by Charles Matthews. Here is the pencil layout for Leara. Next up traditional inks with a brush and then color in Photoshop.

Karate Dottie and the Alien Menace Color

Here is the colored version. Traditional line drawing with india ink on bristol board and colored with Photoshop. Still playing around with background color. May have to change things up a little if I use this image on the cover. Interior artwork will all be black and white. This is from the upcoming book Karate Dottie and the Alien Menace

Karate Dottie and the Alien Menace

Here is what is currently on my desk. This is the first image released from the upcoming book Karate Dottie and the Alien Menace and first appearance of Charlie. That crazy looking helmet is...you guessed it, the alien. Next up is inks. The book is scheduled to be out in late summer and I am working hard to get it out on time. In the meantime, if you haven't heard of Karate Dottie, head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of Karate Dottie and the Treacherous Treehouse!

California

Had a great opportunity to go to Terrenea Resort in Palo Verdes, California and it was absolutely amazing. Would highly recommend this beautiful resort. It is located on the former site of Marineland where the TV show Sea Hunt was filmed (not to mention many other movies and tv shows including all three Pirates of the Caribbean movies)

What does this trip have to do with my art blog? Actually a little bit since I got to see a couple of friends who I don't get to see that often. The first was John Culbertson who co wrote the Spirit House webcomic with me and who shares my birthday on August Six.

I also got to see a friend of mine who I hadn't seen in over eleven years, Wade von Grawbadger. Many years ago when he lived on the East Coast, I worked as an inking apprentice for Wade. We both love baseball so we headed to Dodger Stadium for the Season Opener. It was sold out but we managed to get tickets. They do Season Openers right in LA. Leann Rhimes sang the Star Spangled Banner, Will I Am threw out the first pitch and Larry King declared the Season opened. Toss in a giant flag, fireworks and fighter jets for good measure. It was a great game and a lot of fun.

Wade has worked on a ton of comic books over his long career and he is considered one of the best inkers in the business. You can catch his work next on the highly anticipated New Avengers relaunch from Marvel Comics. The series is written by Brian Bendis with art supplied by fan fave Stuart Immonen and Wade. You can also buy original art from Wade through his exclusive dealer at Fanfare. Check out his work and pick up New Avengers in June.

See More New Avengers Vol. 2 Various at IGN.com