The Quantum Moment Before the Closure

This is a late night post, but I figure a lot of you are up right now anyway. Some of my readers are already ahead of me, reading this from the far-flung future year of 2011. Some of you will be behind, reaching the future hours behind me.

But neverthless...

2010 was a big year for me. I daren't say "the biggest" because I hope and pray it can only get better.

In 2010...

I achieved two childhood dreams in one fell swoop; I drew a mainstream comic, and I worked on Doctor Who.

I made many new fans, and a couple of detractors, but I'm happy to say the fans outweigh the detractors not only in sheer numbers, but kindness and intelligence. A special shout goes out to @mtemplar on Twitter, easily my number one fan. All my fans are great, and I appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you.

I went to my first big convention, New York Comic Con, and came out of it feeling bigger in some ways, but really small in others.

I chatted (via Twitter) with some of my comic and geek idols, such as Jim Lee, J. Scott Campbell, Pete Woods, Phil Hester, Neil Gaiman, Paul Cornell, Storm (of Paul and Storm), Felicia Day, and in person even chatted with Johnathan Coulton and Joe Hill. A few of these people have even seen my artwork and enjoy it (Joe Hill recognized me in a comic store - honestly, What. The. French. Toast).

I made some new friends, including Matthew Dow Smith and (though I haven't met him in person) Charlie Kirchoff.

I got an awesome first pro comic editor in the form of Denton Tipton, and an great EID/Publisher in the form of Chris Ryall.

I spoke to a lot of great students and hopefuls about making comics.

I got some hard to swing doors to open just a little bit wider.

I got a bunch of great new ideas and routes to explore in the future.

And explore them I shall.

About 15 minutes to go, and for some reason I'm reminded of the last line from a game I used to love in high school; Marathon. Specifically, the last chapter, Marathon: Infinity, where this AI, Durandal, having exhausted all methods of escape from the end of the universe ruminates on the true nature of the protagonist of the game. And as I know with limited time left there are so many people I'm forgetting to thank, consider this odd little quote a THANK YOU to all who have supported me not only this year, but since I had this crazy idea of doing this comic book thing (like my parents, my wife and kids, my family and friends)...

"Now, in the quantum moment before the closure, when all become one. One moment left. One point of space and time. I know who you are. You are destiny."

We'll see you in 2011.

Today's Sketch: HARLEY QUINN

Hope everyone had a good Holiday weekend.

Today's (technically last night's) warmup piece is another experiment (like the previous Santa) with my digital pencil & watercolor technique.

Merry Christmas.

Happy WHOlidays!

Presented without comment.



...okay, one short comment;

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all!

Cheers,

~B

O Magnum Mysterium

And now for something completely different.

My 6-year-old son, Devon, just played a wise man in the local community church's Christmas Pageant. He done good. The pastor wrote the pageant, which had the kids dress up as the animals in the stable where Jesus was born, and the story was told from their perspective

As a favor to the church, I offered to illustrate the program cover, and also offer up the cover as full-sized prints, which the church could then sell (as they're trying to raise funds for some needed handicap access renovations).

My first idea of the cover had the animals facing the scene in the middle - but that meant facing away from us, and in my early sketches, all the animals became somewhat unrecognizable. Also, it's quite hard to find reference of a three-quarter back-of-the-head shot of a cow or camel.

So keeping my central image intact, I instead went for Alphonse Mucha/art nouveau inspired border, featuring the animals in a recognizable fashion.

100% drawn in Photoshop, of course, I tried to keep the lines looking very pencil in some places, watercolor in others, indeterminate traditional origin method in others. Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were rendered in the same fashion as my earlier "Apprehension" digipaint test. The animals were a related, but much simpler technique, akin to an ink wash over pencil.

In the end, above the trio, was the opening lines (in English) of O Magum Mysterium (you can Google that), and in the box below, the church name and date.

Anyway, everyone seemed to enjoy it, and the pastor made a point of mentioning I drew the image, as many thought it was a stock program cover.

I really enjoy how this came out, and learned a lot along the way.

Merry Christmas!

Teaser 5: DER STRASSE PG 1

Today's the day that ZOMBIEBOMB! #4: DARK DAZE went live at dual signing events.

For those of you not local to the signings, you can order your copy of ZOMBIEBOMB! #4 online from the Terminal Press website, and you can choose from two different covers.

Click here for ordering information, who the other contributors are, and sample work from each story (including the entire first page of Der Strasse, which I suppose is okay to show above as well).

If you grab one, let me know what you think!

Cheers!

Uh, I mean...

Brains!

Teaser 4: MORE ZOMBIEBOMB

And here's preview number two!

See my previous entry for a rundown of what you're looking at.

Be sure to seek out ZOMBIEBOMB! #4: DARK DAZE at www.TerminalPress.com starting tomorrow (December 18th)!

Teaser 3: ZOMBIEBOMB PAGE

Currently in a very un-Christmas mood (angry, stabby) thanks to a local bigot (check out my Twitter feed if you care for more info), so I'll post something very un-Christmas.

Zombies.

As mentioned in my previous entries here and here, I illustrated a 10-page story in the zombie comic book anthology ZOMIEBOMB! #4: DARK DAZE from Terminal Press.

As a reminder;

ZombieBomb! is a comic anthology conceived by Adam Miller and Rich Woodall.

Featuring over 200 writers & artists joining forces to bring you the baddest bunch of Zombie stories ever assembled. Full color and undead just for you.

Also;

I worked on a ten page story for ZombieBomb! #4: Dark Daze. Titled "Der Strasse" ("the road" or "the street" in German, so says the interwebs), it's a little tale with one strip club, a couple cops, and more than a few zombies. It's written by newcomer Tom Bennett, and illustrated, colored, and lettered by me.

And lastly, from the press release;

Two of New England's finest comic shops, Jetpack Comics in Rochester, NH and Hub Comics in Somerville, MA will be holding signings this weekend as ZombieBomb! Dark Daze debuts from Terminal Press.

So, with the debut tomorrow, I'm going to post two pages from the story today (one now, seen above, one later). Both pages are the most non-spoilerish and non-gory and non-nudity having pages I could find, so if you're into that kind of thing - track down the ish.

I left the lettering out - if you want to know exactly what's going on and what's been said, you'll just have to pick that puppy up!

Let me know what you think, and tune in again this evening for another page!

Today's Sketch: A HORSE. OF COURSE.

I recently completed a piece that had a few animals in it (I'll debut that piece this weekend). I used a certain style on the animals on that piece, and liked what I came up with (just sorta winged it), so I wanted to do one for myself to I could take better stock of what I had done to achieve that effect.

This may look like pencil and, I dunno, watercolor, marker, smearable medium or something on watercolor paper or something of the sort (which is why I left in the crooked edge on the left of the image, to make it look like a scan from a sketch book), but everything here is 100% digital. I even left up the layer with my prelim sketch (the faint lines in the background) to make it look a bit more traditional.

ZOMBIEBOMB! #4 Release Info!

Above is another couple-panel teaser of Der Strasse, the story (written by Tom Bennett) I illustrated, colored, and lettered in the upcoming ZOMBIEBOMB! #4: DARK DAZE from Terminal Press.

My previous post gave some info on this book, but now I have something to add -- info on the debut.

From the press release;

Two of New England's finest comic shops, Jetpack Comics in Rochester, NH and Hub Comics in Somerville, MA will be holding signings this weekend as ZombieBomb! Dark Daze debuts from Terminal Press.

For more info, click the link above, and for more art from Der Strasse, tune in to the blog on Friday!

Teaser: ZOMBIEBOMB!

I've been authorized to give you a bit of a teaser of a project I worked on a few weeks back. The name - ZombieBomb!

In their words;

ZombieBomb! is a comic anthology conceived by Adam Miller and Rich Woodall.

Featuring over 200 writers & artists joining forces to bring you the baddest bunch of Zombie stories ever assembled. Full color and undead just for you.

I worked on a ten page story for ZombieBomb! #4: Dark Daze. Titled "Der Strasse" ("the road" or "the street" in German, so says the interwebs), it's a little tale with one strip club, a couple cops, and more than a few zombies. It's written by newcomer Tom Bennett, and illustrated, colored, and lettered by me.

For those of you familiar with my Doctor Who work, this is a bit darker by default, and a bit grittier. It also allowed me to experiment with a few illustration styles I may use on the upcoming webcomic (limited color palettes, and combining cel-shaded foreground pieces with halftone-dot-patterned backgrounds).

ZombieBomb! #4: Dark Daze will be released sometime next week. The 18th I think? Who else is working on the issue? I have no clear idea. Apparently they want to keep that close to the chest, which is odd, based on what I know about marketing a comic. Usually, you want to let people know who is working on a book weeks, if not months, in advance of release, to build up buzz. Even if they aren't big names. That way even the small groups of fans those people have can be interested and excited in what's coming. But hey - this isn't my potluck. I'm just bringing a meatloaf. ;)

You can find past issues of ZombieBomb! at Terminal Press. This book has got some buzz, so seek it out where you can (it might not be in a comic shop near you).

Oh, one last note - bit of nudity, a bit of language, lots of violence (and that's just my story - couldn't even guess what happens in the others), so let's say "Rated R." Not for the kids.

Cheers!

24-HOUR HOLIDAY SALE ON NOW!

The 24-Hour Holiday Sale is in effect!

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE DISCOUNTED COMMISSION PRICES

As mentioned in my last post;

- This sale will not be on ALL of my commission prices. Just selected ones. Check the price list to see what's been discounted.

- I will not be offering my Traditional/Digital Mix commissions, JUST the 100% digital ones (though you still have a choice of print or digital copy delivery). Time and supplies do not allow me to sit down at my regular drawing table right now.

- I am NOT guaranteeing Christmas delivery. In fact, read my disclaimer. It's almost certainly going to be longer than that - probably into the new year - before these pieces are finished. If there's something you MUST have done by Christmas, I might be able to swing it, but there will be an extra charge for the rush job.

- Contracted work ALWAYS comes first. Sorry, I hate it at times too, but that's how it has to be.

- I'll only take on the first SEVEN (7) requests in my inbox (pending approval of the subject matter). If there are more requests than that, I'll put them on standby, but most likely, I won't get them in this round.

- My normal discounts are still in effect should you choose digital delivery.

Also, as I mentioned, those who get in on the sale have the option of getting a free bonus print. No matter if you choose print delivery or digital delivery for your commission, you can have one of these 11"x17" full color prints sent to you (I'll cover shipping). You may choose ONE (1) of the following seven images (specify which one of these, if any, you want in your email. Limited amounts of each, first ask, first serve);



And, once again;

24-HOUR HOLIDAY SALE!
Wednesday, December 6th, 2010.
12 AM to 12 AM (okay, so that's technically the 7th - humbug).
The prices are here --> oneGemini.com/comm.html

If you want a commission slot, email me at info [a] oneGemini.com, and when I check my mail in the morning, I'll see where we stand, and see if you got one of the seven slots.

Happy holidays, and best of luck!

Thanks!

24-HOUR HOLIDAY SALE PREVIEW!

(Above is last year's Holiday digiGreeting.)

UPDATE: When I originally posted this, I forgot to mention one big bonus of buying during the sale. Along with your commission, no matter if you get a print delivered to you or just digital delivery, you have the option of also getting a free print from a selection of my portfolio (shipped to you, free of charge). The free print choices will be revealed during the sale.

Like everyone else, I'm trying to gather up some last minute Christmas cash. With that in mind, for 24 hours, I will offer a discount on my commission prices.

A couple of things, though;

- This sale will not be on ALL of my commission prices. Just selected ones. You'll have to check in on the day of the sale to see which ones.

- I will not be offering my Traditional/Digital Mix commissions, JUST the 100% digital ones (though you still have a choice of print or digital copy delivery). Time and supplies do not allow me to sit down at my regular drawing table right now.

- I am NOT guaranteeing Christmas delivery. In fact, read my disclaimer. It's almost certainly going to be longer than that - probably into the new year - before these pieces are finished. If there's something you MUST have done by Christmas, I might be able to swing it, but there will be an extra charge for the rush job.

- Contracted work ALWAYS comes first. Sorry, I hate it at times too, but that's how it has to be.

- I'll only take on the first SEVEN requests in my inbox (pending approval of the subject matter). If there are more requests than that, I'll put them on standby, but most likely, I won't get them in this round.

- My normal discounts are still in effect should you choose digital delivery.

So with that stuff out of the way, here are the details;

24-HOUR HOLIDAY SALE!
Wednesday, December 6th, 2010.
12 AM to 12 AM (okay, so that's technically the 7th - humbug).
The prices will be here --> oneGemini.com/comm.html (don't look there yet - I won't change the prices until just before the sale starts).

I will take commissions before 12 AM, but you won't get a discount, so it'd be best if you just hold on to that idea.

So, tell your friends (or don't if you're trying to save a space for yourself). Hope to see you there!

EVIL INSIDE OF ME

Not really a sketch, but another playing around with some coloring techniques. I actually completed the linework on this a while ago, and it was going to be a much bigger Dr. Horrible vs Captain Hammer with Penny in the middle piece, but other obligations popped up, so...

thought I'd finally let this thing see the light of day.