Curse of the Eel Ch12 Art and CONVENTION UPDATES

Hey ya'll, making a quick update to my schedule so far! I'll be attending two conventions for sure this year:

SC Comic Con in March in Greenville, South Carolina
MomoCon in May in Atlanta, Georgia

Check my social media for my table numbers! And now, here's some art because I'm trying to get as much done between freelance work and my new teaching gig. I'm also teaching now, that's a new development!

This is a pretty important moment for Frank, who has been questioning his sexuality since chapter 3. Holy crap, that was 8 chapters ago... Love is the most powerful feeling ever, and it conquers all. Take care and I hope you'll enjoy the next update when it comes up!

SPX 2016!!

I'll be at table I-12 this weekend for the Small Press Expoooo! Here's a map and some covers of comics that didn't exist last year at the show, that will THIS YEAR!!

The Hidden Giant, the Golden Gate Bridge!

I got the chance to fly out to San Francisco last week and visit Riley Street Art Supply store for their anniversary sale! I went and spoke to a lot of really cool and inspiring people, I got to take in a few sights and also, do a little bit of sketching.

Shortly after arriving we crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge and it was just covered in fog. It was such an awesome sight to cross the bridge that we ended up pulling over for a second so I could do a sketch of it from Vista Point. I began with the inks, hoping that by the time I finished all the structure that the fog and mist would have lifted, but it just endlessly poured over the top of that hill. I only saw glimpses of beams and wires, and that made it even more interesting. After finishing the inks, we left for the hotel where I added the watercolor to the inks.

The next morning, unhappy with how the drawing just looked incomplete, I prepared some gouache with French Ultramarine Blue and started painting in the mist. I think this was a gamble that paid off as once the drawing was done, I felt like I managed to capture the feeling of this awesome architecture refusing to reveal itself by hiding in the mist. It's flowery and magical, but I write comics so that's just my imagination.

This drawing is also the thesis of why I love Stillman and Birn sketchbooks so much. This was done in my softcover Alpha, one of the new products, and well, I don't think there's a paper out there that can be this versatile and this much fun to draw in. I couldn't have done this drawing in any other sketchbook and have gotten this level of quality.

Materials: Pentel Hybrid Technica 04 and Zebra Large Brush pen, Sennelier and Da Vinci Watercolors and Holbein Gouache.
Paper: Stillman and Birn alpha softcover sketchbook, 150 gsm

Pearl, Steven Universe

Here's a drawing of Pearl from Steven Universe, a bit smaller than the Garnet drawing, but it was a fun little illustration. Pearl is actually the hardest to imagine in my style, her features are very different from how I draw faces and it became tricky to figure out the best way to translate them. I think this turned out well, although it'd be tricky to draw her again.

Watercolor, gouache and color pencil on Stillman and Birn beta paper.

Garnet: Steven Universe

Hello all! I just finished watching the first season of Steven Universe, and I totally get all the hype. It's a great show, so now i have excuse to draw the characters cuz I love their designs. It's also a really progressive show, which I think is important right now to teach kids to be tolerant of everyone and judge people by their character, not what they are.

This Garnet was done all in one go, took me about 4 hours to paint, an hour to sketch. The drawing is about 5 or 6 total paints, all on my usual Stillman and Birn paper. The tricky part was using the carmine, a new paint in my palette but with gouache to smooth things out, it turned out well, I think.

2015-06-24 Sketchbook update

Hello, I went to hang out with my friend Emma yesterday and I made some drawings in my various sketchbooks. Hope you enjoy them!

Everyone, let's love each other. Life is precious, and it's far too short to be spending it seething with hate.

M is for Marie

M is for Marie, a character from KCNO. The entire book is available online to read here: KCNO

Marie is not a character who was very popular, in fact for most of the book, people tended to dislike her because she had ideas that ran against the other characters of the comic. I think characters like Marie are ESSENTIAL to storytelling. To create characters the audience can disagree with, that is important to creating a world that feels real. Too often I'll read a comic, or watch a movie, or see a tv show where characters are all in agreement, or it's a character who is so unlikable that you hate them, but either of those can be boring. Like, SUPER boring! Character's should feel like people, not motivations, or cut outs or NPCs in a video game. A good character, whether you agree with them or not, is a character you want to see become better, no matter what they do or who they hurt, and Marie does hurt some people in KCNO. But I find that most people, after they read the book, like Marie a lot because she does become a better person. She's one of the more dynamic characters in the story in that she makes amends for being a jerk and she ends up happy. I don't think I knew what I was doing when I created her, but I think now I understand why a character like her is so important to good drama.

Tools: Pentel pocket brush pen
Paper: Stillman and Birn gamma sketchbook

J is for Jason - A to Z Character Challenge

J is for Jason, from KCNO. If Irene is one of my favorite characters, she rivals or shares the top spot with Jason.

Jason has an extremely popular radio show in his town. Love Me Do is a hit with people of all ages and Jason is known for giving solid advice on love, life, pretty much anything callers have a problem with, Jason can help them. His voice has brought many people joy, but then the people began to wonder who Jason is. What does he look like? Why doesn't he attend events? Why is this man that they love so much an enigma, and why does he want to keep it that way?

If you'd like to read KCNO, you can find it here: KCNO. KCNO is one of my most well received books, it's the only one I can think of that has actually made people cry, and it's one of the books I think I've done some of my best comic work on. The art is dated, but in terms of storytelling and layering and everything else, it's the book I'm probably most proud of. If you read it, I hope you enjoy! Comment to say what you think if you give it a read!

Tools: Pentel Pocketbrush and Copic multiliners
Paper: Stillman and Birn gamma sketchbook

Calla of the Sea Cover Colored

The cover has been colored. I have to state again, color is not my strong suit and I struggle against it constantly, but I did my best to convey the idea of the comic without over-rendering it or just losing any sense of subtlety.

Also, super thanks to my friend Melody Ledford who created the brush I used to get the lighting and shadow effects. She used it on her art better than I did, but it sure did make conveying different layers of depth a whole lot easier. Check out her art at: http://sheet-music-melodies.tumblr.com/

Now to head home and get this thing into a pdf!

UPDATE: Added the file with the title and my name.