Weekend Wayback: GHOSTBUSTERS 2, 1989

This week is the thirteenth installment of Weekend Wayback, where I gaze back into the archives, trying to keep an eye on where I was, in appreciation of where I am, and where I could go.

Well, I missed last week's Weekend Wayback due to work obligations, and really haven't posted here since. Hopefully blog posts will turn around in the next few weeks, and you'll see s'more artwork more frequently.

Today being Halloween, I search for something appropriate to the day - and this is it.

While it isn't dated, I know I was pretty into drawing the Ghostbusters right around the time the second film came out, which was 1989, so I'm guessing this is from then.

A little bit of everything in this pic, from Ghostbusters HQ on the left (water damaged, sadly), the logo, the slime in the sewers, the portrait of Vigo, the Ecto-1, Winston Zeddemore, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, Peter Venkman, and Slimer (and the Statue of Liberty in the distance).

Big fan of the Ghostbusters back then. Even went as a Ghostbuster one Halloween, with my mom stitching a homemade Ghostbusters 2 patch on a shirt from a thrift store, and me going out and buying a toy proton pack.

Just got back from taking the kids out Trick o' Treating. You should do the same - don't forget your inner child on a day like today. They want candy too.

Today's Sketch: SAM HILL, PRIVATE EYE

Since I have a bunch of work in front of me right now, I don't do much more than really lose warmup sketches, most not good enough to post. So instead of Daily Sketches, I'm simply calling the ones I do post "Today's Sketch."

Well, Today's Sketch is Sam Hill, Private Eye, "America's Hard-Boiled, Wise-Cracking Sleuth."

Who the Sam Hill is Sam Hill you ask? Well, back in the 50s, Archie Comics came up with an imprint called Close-Up Comics, where they published Sam Hill. He only lasted for a few issues, but now Archie Comics is bringing him back (along with some other older titles -- more info on that here -->[CLICKY]).

But, c'mon - wise cracking? Hard boiled? Two things I love going together? I want my chocolate in that peanut butter, yo.

Get yer SHEDD together...

Some of you have been waiting for this - so nows the time.

For sale - signed and numbered copies (limited to 30) of "SHEDD HAPPENS! A Blair D. Shedd Sketchbook, Vol 1 (2010)!"

The book is 28 black and white (grayscale) pages long, with a full color cover (and back, and inside covers). The majority of the pieces are high-quality versions of my Daily Sketches, though there are a good handful of unseen sketches and mid-process drawings. Also one brand new, exclusive to the sketchbook piece, which was show partially during a "no frills" streaming show.

My inaugural sketchbook was originally created for sale at New York Comic Con 2010, but I have a bunch left over. While I might open this up to sale via the printer's website, those will not come hand-signed and numbered. If you want one of these special copies, straight from me, the artist, this is how you can get it.

Email me at info [a] oneGemini.com, with the subject "SHEDD HAPPENS!" First come, first serve. Priced at $10, plus $3 s/h. Payment via PayPal only.

I'll run this sale until they're gone!

Thanks!

Sunday Special: APPREHENSION?

Note: To preserve detail, this image is a bit bigger than my usual jpegs. It may be pretty large when viewed at full size on small screens.

I don't usually update on Sundays, but I liked how this came out, so I wanted to share it with y'all.

Like A Doctor In Blue, this is another warmup that also served as a digital painting technique test.

After drawing "cartoony" with my comic stuff so much, I like to remind myself that I do other stuff as well.

While this isn't photorealistic due to the presence of the holding lines, I still think it comes across a bit less cartoony than the previous Doctor piece. While I used several pieces of photo reference for lighting, I didn't actually try to make it look like anyone (though it comes across as a thin-lipped Jessica Alba. Hmph).

Once again, I incorporated some watercolor textures to add something a bit more meaty to the piece. Also, for texture's sake, I added a scanned piece of watercolor paper, to further confuse the viewer as to its digital origins.

All in all, I like how this tryout worked.

And once again, 100% Photoshop CS2.

Weekend Wayback: THE SKETCHES OF NYCC 2010

This week is the twelfth installment of Weekend Wayback, where I gaze back into the archives, trying to keep an eye on where I was, in appreciation of where I am, and where I could go.

We missed the Weekend Wayback last week, due to me being at New York Comic Con, so this weekend we'll take a look back to... well, last weekend. :)

I didn't do a ton of sketches, but I'll share with you the ones I did.













These sketches include my first Romana (of any sort) and first Captain Jack I've ever drawn. Happier with the Captain Jack than Romana, but hey, it was all fun. You'll also notice that I get a bit "sketchier" and cartoony with my sketches during cons. That happens mainly because I want to give everyone time to get a sketch (I take less than an hour to draw each, if I can help it -- a little longer on full-figure sketches). The cartoonyness also pops up cos I get looser with my sketches, as cons are usually quite a fun environment to draw in.

So if you'd like one of these puppies on your wall, or in your personal sketchbook in the future - watch here for future con appearances.

Cheers!

A DOCTOR IN BLUE

Today's piece was a warmup of sorts, though I put a little more time into it.

I wanted to test a few digital painting ideas I had, a way to add some random texture to my pieces. Nothing I haven't done before, but I added a few extra steps to give the background hints of watercolor (100% Photoshop CS2 for those wondering).

Also, I wanted to paint one of my own drawings of the Doctor. Not from photo reference, like everyone does (which, when done well, usually leads to a lot of same-looking paintings), but actually paint over one of my own line drawings - not to get realism from it - cos you can't from one of my cartoonish renderings of the Doctor - but to get something a bit more than my standard cel-shaded color.

Like many of the old masters, I put a lot of careful detail into the head, but when it came to the hair and anything below the neck, I just sorta slopped it on there.

You might not want to commission me to create you an image in this style - I'll charge you a bunch for the time and dedication it takes (you're welcome to ask - just don't swallow your tongue when you hear the price). I've done it before, but usually for novel and magazine covers, where the productions had budget enough to cover it.

Anyway, I'm satisfied with this little test.

NYCC 2010 Con Report!

In the words of Samwise Gamgee, “well… I’m back.”

Back from New York Comic Con. This post wasn’t up a day after, as you can see. I needed time to reflect. Unwind. Expand. Even now, the Thursday following, I still have too much to think off, too much to do. But I’m trying to fit in some time right now to talk about what was seen, heard, and done.

Get yerself a cup o’joe – this could take a while.

My wonderful Aunt agreed to watch our kids so Sarah and I could head off to New York City together. My Aunt came over Wednesday night and stayed over, with us skittering off (with very little sleep) at five the next morning.

From Lebanon, NH, we boarded a Dartmouth Coach with direct service to NYC. A little pricier than Greyhound – but this was nonstop (okay, once at a rest area), and had complimentary snacks, drink, lotsa room, movies, and free wifi.

Fiveish hours later, and we were in the city. I had been in the city proper a good handful of times before, but Sarah had not. Nevertheless, it was a bit of cultureshock for both of us, since the last time I had been in a big city was ’06, and that was Los Angeles – a very different beast.

We hailed a cab (the first time either of us had done that) to our hotel, The New Yorker. You can Google The New Yorker for more details about that, but it’s fine enough hotel. Not the biggest rooms ever, but what a view;








That is indeed our view from the 29th floor – which come to find out, more than a few comic pros and industry professionals were on the same floor with us. Many had meals at the attached diner, the Tick Tock.

I’ll mention this briefly, because it’s not important to the con itself, but tainted the overall experience; getting the hotel was supposed to be a simple matter. I’d hand them my debit card that had the full amount of the hotel room on it, and they’d put a typical hotel hold on it, and that’s it. It didn’t work out like that. To make a very long, frakkin’ crappy story shorter, PayPal flagged my transaction as fraud, we were left with no money, my father had to spot me a ton – then PayPal flagged THAT transaction as suspcicious, and I basically had to buy our rooms one night at time – until the PayPal transaction cleared, then the hotel ended up taking out $1200+ in holds on my two debit cards, on a room that only cost $825 (as of this writing, over $300 in holds has yet to be released). This is why I nearly went out on the streets and killed people – it’s NYC. Who’d notice?



Anyway.

First day of the con we setup just before 10am, Sarah wearing my Exhibitor’s badge (labeled Artists Alley) and me in my shiny Professionals badge (which had no names on them… lame). Setup was done, and we were good to go.



I shared a table with Ian Struckoff, writer of Black Label Comics [CLICKY], a friend from high school. Really – go check out his stuff. It was a big hit at the con – and should be a big hit with all my readers/followers. Heck, there’s art from me in them-thar pages.

Next to Ian was Matthew Dow Smith [CLICKY], fellow Doctor Who artist.

Things start running together at this point, so I’ll just try to rattle off some fun points that happened over the two days we were at the con;



- Lots of awesome Doctor Who comic fans stopped by. Thanks peeps!
- Lots of great cosplay stopped by or passed by. Fun!
- One or two people in Doctor Who cosplay gear looked at Matt’s table and mine, BUT NEVER STOPPED. LAME.
- Some dude liked a print of mine, but didn’t want to buy it – so he took a picture of it. LAME. Also, FUCK YOU, FATASS. (I would’ve stopped you had I not been so shocked you were that fucking lame and stupid.)



- Glad we could introduce so many Doctor Who fans to the Doctor Who comics. Kinda sad that we had to introduce them to the comic at all. A disturbing number of Doctor Who fans said, literally, “I had no idea there was a comic.”
- Sold a lot of prints, but not many of my SHEDD HAPPENS! Sketchbooks. People were willing to pay $15 to $20 for a print, but not $10 for 32 pages of artwork. Odd.



- Major stars to the Joker, Harley, and Ivy that stopped by the table each day. Harley was so dang adorable, we could’ve stolen her right there – but there are probably laws against that.



- Marvel Comics didn’t think I was good enough for a portfolio review. On Twitter, the portfolio reviewer went on to stay that those that didn’t make the cut didn’t show any grasp of the fundamentals, were of “fan art” quality, and probably would be happier in another profession. So, if you saw me on Saturday, you know why I was so grumpy and out of it.



- Had my first, and only, signing at the IDW Publishing booth with fellow Who artists Matthew Dow Smith, Kelly Yates, and writer Tony Lee. Not much for me to sign, as IDW only had the latest issue to sell, and only Matt and Tony worked on that. Wasn’t there for the Sunday signing (more on that below).
- Got to say hi to Joe Kubert again. It at least pretended to know me (I mean, c’mon, he’s had tons of students – I wouldn’t expect him to remember every one), but he was as friendly as I remember him.



- Ran into Andre Szymanowicz [CLICKY], ex-classmate who now hangs around Elephantmen and The Spirit.
- Also was paid a visit by Archie Editor [Edit: he's not an editor, he's frakkin' PRESIDENT of Archie Comics] Mike Pellerito – another ex-classmate of JKS.
- Very briefly reconnected with an editor from Dark Horse Comics.
- Did a few sketches (see an upcoming blog post for those).

…and did, saw, and heard tons of other things. Just too much. And that was just two days (Saturday and Sunday).

Our bus would leave at 1:30 pm on Sunday, so on Saturday night, we folded up most of the displays and such.

We went in for an early look around on Sunday, but were kept out by the RUDEST “security” people (as in “two bitches in jackets that say “security” who’s lives and careers are peaking as they stand there enjoying their 15 minutes of actually being able to tells someone to do something”) I’ve ever seen anywhere. That delayed us for a while.

We finally got into the con, folded up the rest of my gear, and spent an hour or so actually exploring the floor and picking up goodies for the kids.

We then grabbed a cab back to the hotel with all our gear (during which, the cabbie told us many streets were blocked off today for various parades).

We checked out, and sat in the lobby for a bit. But that’s when I noticed that our route back to the bus stop (The Yale Club) followed a few of those blocked roads.

We ran outside, and it took another ten minutes to catch a cab (seriously – every single one was full).

After finally getting one, and the cabbie almost driving off with Sarah still half-outside the car, we found wall-to-wall traffic. I started to get really worried as the clock neared 1:30. Our cabbie finally started to cut across smaller streets until he worked his way up to the Yale Club. I tipped him $15 for getting us there with minutes to spare.

…but as it turned out, the bus was about 15 minutes late. No regrets – rather be early than late to the bus stop.

The trip home was uneventful.

And since then I’ve been decompressing.

If you enjoyed all the photos – please check out the Facebook Fan Page, where I’ll be posting a few more photos of NYCC 2010.

Cheers to all that purchased artwork to get us to the show on time.

(And thanks to those few I swiped photos from to illustrate certain points – if you want proper credit, let me know, cos I’m not sure who took what – the majority of the pics were taken by Sarah.)

NYCC Artist Alley Table R-15!

New York Comic Con has given us our table assignment; as you can see above in the title, Ian Struckhoff of Black Label Comics [CLICK] and I will be at table R-15 in Artists Alley at NYCC.

Our table is about here;



To see where that is in relation to the rest of the convention, click here --> [CLICK] <-- to go to the New York Comic Con Show Planner page (click on "Floor plan").

Nearby at table R-14 will be fellow Doctor Who artist Matthew Dow Smith [CLICK].

I'll be selling prints, comics, sketchbooks, and live sketches. I'll also do at least one signing at the IDW Publishing booth (final details to be set in stone soon) and maybe make appearances at a couple of other booths.

This is also the last couple of days of the ESCAPE TO NEW YORK (comic con) SALE [CLICK]. Day one of the con - prices go back up to normal. Also taking a few pre-orders on sketches for the con itself -- email me for more details if you want to know about that.

Lastly, I'll be putting up a couple of more items on eBay tomorrow. We're still about $300 short of affording our hotel room, to say nothing of incidentals like cabfare and food. Hopefully we can get close.

Thanks for looking, many thanks to those who have commissioned and purchased artwork -- and we'll see you there!

Weekend Wayback: DRAGON'S BLOOD 1991

This week is the twelfth installment of Weekend Wayback, where I gaze back into the archives, trying to keep an eye on where I was, in appreciation of where I am, and where I could go.

Still busy with New York Comic Con prep, so I haven't been posting much on this blog. But I'm at the very least going to continue my Weekend Wayback posts.

This week's is from 1991, a year I don't actually have much surviving art from.

In that year (or in 1990) our class read Jane Yolen's Dragon's Blood together. I liked the story so much, I would eventually read the entire series (save for the one that apparently recently came out).

As an extra credit assignment for English class, I wrote and drew a mini comic which covered the undocumented second fight of the dragon Heart's Blood. This piece is the cover from that mini comic.

Funny thing; as you see, I made this into a "Marvel" comic, with "Marvel's Books to Comix Goes On!" as a tag, imagining this was Marvel comics adapting books into comics - which they have done since to a degree, with Ender's Game and the Dark Tower series.

BTW - the ESCAPE TO NEW YORK (comic con) SALE! is still going on. Click here --> CLICKY <-- to find out how you can help me get to the big show.

SHEDD HAPPENS! in person!

As you can see from the above webcam pic, "SHEDD HAPPENS! A Blair D. Shedd Sketchbook, Vol 1. (2010)" is now in hand.

The book is 28 black and white (grayscale) pages long, with a full color cover (and back, and inside covers). The majority of the pieces are high-quality versions of my Daily Sketches, though there are a good handful of unseen sketches and mid-process drawings. Also one brand new, exclusive to the sketchbook piece, which was show partially during a "no frills" streaming show.

The sketchbook is limited to 30 copies, and those 30 are going with me to New York Comic Con. They'll sell for $10 each.

I may consider selling them over the web at a later date - we'll see. But for now, NYCC is the only place you're going to track this puppy down.

And yes, the ESCAPE TO NEW YORK (comic con) SALE! is still going on. Click here --> CLICKY <-- to find out how you can help me get to the big show.

Cheers!