SDCC 08

It's July, so that means the San Diego Comic Con 2008 is right around the corner.

Derek Thompson and I will be listed under the name E-Ville Press again this year, located at Booth #1534. The first installment of CORA will make its debut this year, and Rose and Isabel parts 1 and 2 will be available as well. Derek will have an ALL NEW Monster Annual chock full of his awesome designs (365 of them!) as well as original art. We'll also have the AFTERWORKS 2 anthology for sale, which contains short stories by Derek, myself and many others.

I'll be updating this post with other booth/table locations and info, so check back often!

UPDATE: If you are a regular visitor to this blog and are going to be exhibiting at the con, feel free to post your booth/table location in the comments section (or email me). Thanks

Exhibitor locations:

SCOTT MORSE/JEFF PIDGEON/BILL PRESING [RED WINDOW]: #4800
LOUIE DEL CARMEN: # G4
SHO MURASE: #1830
BOBBY RUBIO: #1943
BOSCO NG/SERGIO PAEZ: #1329
BOBBY CHIU/KEI ACEDERA: #G6 and G7



click the map for the large version

_____________________

French edition Preview

For those who haven't seen the Akileos edition yet, there is a 12 page preview at BDGest.

And a few more images from Angoulême:


Many many talented artists and writers at the Akileos booth.


Bill and Dean signing away...


Main thoroughfare through the festival

Angoulême 2008

Time for a quick report...

The best parts of my France trip were not necessarily seeing the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe or the Musée D'Orsay for the first time, or the fine meals I ate while in the various cities, but rather the terrific people I met along the way. Here are just a few of the fine folks I met on my trip to France.


Richard and Emmanuel (L to R), editors of Akileos. I had my first meeting with them in San Diego last year and between now and then they really stepped up to make the French edition of Rose and Isabel a terrific looking book. They have been great to work with and the book is a wonderful result of their collaboration. Huge thanks to them for making this whole experience happen!(pictured here at Album in St. Germán.)



Dean and Barbara Yeagle (seated across from each other at far table position) and Jean-Jaques and Diane Launier (seated across from each other at middle table position). This was taken at dinner after an opening of Dean's art at Gallery Arludik in Paris. They are a very friendly couple and were a pleasure to hang out with during my stay. Jean-Jaques and Diane are the owners of Gallery Arludik and have been putting on shows by tremendous artists over the years. Their passion for animation as art was very inspiring and they were very gracious in showing us a fun time while we were in Paris.



I met Christopher and Brigitte while in Tours; Christopher is a well established comic artist that lives and works in Tours. He was incredibly gracious in lending his day to translate for Bill and I, as well as taking pictures of us signing and showing us around. Brigitte is from Bédélire books, an amazing shop where we did our signing; Brigitte made sure that we were well taken care of and enjoyed our time in Tours.



Here I am at the Hotel Mercure in Angoulême with (L to R) Christopher, Ben Cornish and Nick Parry-Jones, who work for Diamond UK and Legends, two fine Brits who I had the pleasure of drinking some beers with. Very funny fellows both.



Nicolas Seigneret (Bannister) and his girlfriend Flora. Bannister and Flora are an artist/writer team who have stories in the Flight compilations as well as books published by Dupuis. I had chatted with Bann via email and the web over the years and we finally got to meet in person at Angoulême.



Here we are with Jean Giraud! at The Hotel Mercure. The Mercure was the spot to hang out and socialize with fellow artists and exhibitors after dinner. Jean Giraud was very kind to accept copies of our books.

Many thanks also go out to the people who facilitated our signings and those that came by to check out Rose and Isabel at the stores and the festival. I've said it before about the San Diego Con and will say it about Angoulême as well -- it's meeting people that's the most fun for me. Thank you all for coming by!
______________________

Return

Hello! I'm back from a great adventure in France. I'm suffering more than expected from jet lag as well as a cold I acquired on the last evening of the trip, so it may be a few days before I get a proper report up. What I can say right now is that it was an incredible experience. Bill and I met so many great folks who were incredibly generous in showing us around and making us feel comfortable. I will post plenty about them as well as details of the festival in Angoulême and a lot more. Stay tuned!

-T

For now here is a photo of some of the stuff I got.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

Next week Bill Presing and myself will be heading to France for a book tour promoting European editions of Rose and Isabel and Rex Steele, published by Akileos. I haven't seen the French edition of R&I yet, but it will be the complete story with a new cover and printed in sepia toned color on the inside. Bill showed me a copy of the Rex Steele BD and it looks fantastic (and comes with a DVD!).


Our tour starts in Paris and then moves to Tours, Angoulême (for the BD festival) and back to Paris. If you live in or are visting France and plan to be at any of these events, please say hi!

Here's our schedule:

On Tuesday January 22nd at 4:00 pm Bill and I will be signing our books at Album Bercy (46, Cour Saint-Émilion in PARIS)



Then Wednesday January 23rd at 3:00 pm We'll be at comic shop Bédélire in Tours.



Thursday January 24th we arrive at Angoulême for the BD festival. We'll be at the Akileos table starting at 1:00 pm. We'll be there for the entire festival until Sunday the 27th.



Back to Paris on Tuesday January 29th at 4:00 pm for a signing at Album Comics (67, Boulevard Saint-Germain)



I'll report back when I return, plus pics of my new studio space.

The Beetle

Here's a rendition I did of the old school version of Spider Man nemesis THE BEETLE. This was done for the Maverix/Glide auction this weekend (more on that below). It is also ACTUAL MEDIA...ink and paint on paper -- no digital!

I was a huge Spider Man fan as a kid, and even though Spidey handily kicked the Beetle's ass every time, I still thought he was kinda cool. The "new" Beetle has no resemblance to the cool old design. He looks more like something from Michael Bay's Transformers. Yeech.



The Beetle will be sold to the highest bidder in silent auction.

Details on the auction:

Maverix is hosting a fund raiser for an important organization in our community, Glide Memorial Church. The proceeds from this fund raiser will go specifically to support their Children's Creative Arts Media Center.

The evening will include food, drink and the music of our talented DJs. Original and digital art from prominent contemporary artists will be up for bid in a silent auction, with the evening culminating in a live auction for the most sought after pieces!

It is a great opportunity to get the jump on holiday shopping and support a wonderful organization working with and for the under served children of our fair city.

Come celebrate the holidays Maverix style!!

Sunday December 2nd. 6pm til 10pm.
1717 17th street @ Carolina
SF CA 94103

click the pic for more info


______________________

Catty for a cause

UPDATE: Progress shots and final piece now added.

Ok, so I lied. The sketch a few posts down isn't going to be the eventual piece up for auction, but rather this one here:

This is the digital sketch for the actual auction piece. I wanted to do something that was a bit more familiar, plus I'm a Catwoman fan. I'm inking it now and wrestling with a way to color it in the hopes of somehow coming close to the sketch below. I consulted a couple of the guys here at the studio and got some really great information on their process and how they approach a piece. This image could be the beginning of a long road back to traditional media for me which I'm excited about.

The auction is this Saturday, info is here.

Digital sketch:



Here are the process shots:


This first one I was experimenting with watercolor and acrylic. The watercolor is on the right and is just a test section of the couch. I felt it was lacking intensity color wise. On the left side is the acrylic; I liked the flatness of the tones, but since it's opaque, I would not be able to trace off the ink lines on the light box. It would require either a transfer of the drawing or a "winging it" approach, recreating the drawing by eye. I didn't feel comfortable with either of those options at the time, so I went for test two.


The second test was done with Tria markers; they're alcohol based and would easily pull up the ink into a muddy mess so I laid down blocks of color first and then inked over it on the light box. The problem with this was it was hard to see the ink lines through the darker areas (such as the purple on the couch). Again, I liked the flatness of the tones.


This third test is what I eventually went with; a combination of watercolor and Dr. Marten's concentrated water color. This turned out to be the best way since I could ink the drawing on the light box, then watercolor directly over the ink lines. The concentrated watercolor added the intensity that I wanted. The major issue here for me was the toothiness of the paper...it didn't have enough to grab the liquid and it tended to pool in areas, got pushed around by the brush, and eventually dried uneven. So for this technique, that is the area that needs a bit more exploration. The concentrated water color also dries very fast which makes gradients and transitions tricky.

Well, the final turned out a LOT different than the original digital sketch...this was the first actual traditional color media work I've done in a very long time and I learned a lot from it. It was definitely not easy and there were a couple of times when I thought I was going to bail out of the whole endeavor. But it's done and I'm happy with it.


____________________

Auction piece: Work in Progress

I've been roughing out a number of compositions in the hopes I'll arrive at one that I like. This one is on its way, a portrait of Rose and her pal Liz who make quite a duo in the Cora story. Once I get the drawing right, I plan to do it up with actual ink, frame it, and get it on the wall at Maverix before the 29th. More info about the auction can be found here.

Upcoming Auction

Esther Pearl has been working with the fine folks at Maverix Studios to organize an art auction to benefit the Alzheimer's Association later this month. As many of you who read this blog know, the Maverix auctions are first rate affairs and always have a wide variety of cool artwork available to bid on.

I am going to try my best to provide another traditional piece for the show. I hope all the bay area folks will come by to bid on some great artwork for a good cause.

Art Auction benefiting the Alzheimer's Association
Saturday, Sept 29, 6-9pm
Maverix Studios
1717 17th Street
San Francisco
____________________

Return from SDCC07

First off, thanks to everybody who stopped by the booth this year; I enjoyed meeting and talking with all of you. I had a lot of fun this time around and Derek and I ended up selling out of all the books we brought with us (nothing to ship back!). Once again, I didn't get out onto the Con floor as much as I'd liked and there were some folks that I wasn't able to catch up with and I apologize for that.

I did however manage to acquire a few things and here are some of them:



THE ART OF DEANNA MARSIGLIESE : I can't say enough about this one - I've had her blog linked here for quite a while and I'm very excited to now have a book of her work. I kept it in the booth with me so I could look at it in my free moments as well as to pimp it to my friends who stopped by. It is chock full of design awesomeness and Deanna was very gracious in drawing in each and every book she sold.



Every page is gold and my favorite of all of them is "Cat Fight" with the space girls and aliens. What I love most about the drawings in the book is not only are they great designs, but they have an incredible amount of character and story attached to them. This is a rarity and the reason I will go back to this book over and over. The attitudes and body language of the characters in "Cat Fight" (and every other page in the book) say so much and are absolutely hilarious to boot.



JOCK is Jamie Baker's mini comic about a pet dog he grew up with in Australia. This is a little gem of a book and I had a blast reading it. Jamie has posted some very well written and funny stories on his blog and to experience his autobiographical writing matched up with his funny drawings is a real treat. He really captures the spirit of the dog Jock and his rag-tag group of canine buddies. Jamie I hope you do more of these!



MISS PAS TOUCHE by Hubert and Kerascoet is a book I heard about from Ronnie del Carmen who posted about it here. I was finally able to track them down at Stuart Ng and I am making a vow to learn the French necessary to read them because the drawings are amazing.

In addition to these, a few of the other great books I picked up were Louie Del Carmen's STEEL NOODLES, Pierre Alary's BELLADONE pt. 3, Chris Sanders' SKETCHBOOK #2, the new LOVE AND ROCKETS, Kelsey Mann's NOIR SKETCHBOOK, FLIGHT 4 (thanks Kazu!), Bobby Rubio's ALCATRAZ HIGH, SKIP LIEPKE's art book, and more. Next year I'll be driving down so I'll be able to safely transport the toys, posters and prints that I wasn't able to this year.

-T

PS: book orders that were placed during the last week will ship tomorrow and thursday.


_________________________

Book Orders and Comic-Con update

BOOK ORDERS:

All books with order dates from 7/13-7/23 have been shipped, so keep an eye out for them. Domestic media mail takes anywhere from 2-9 days. International orders were sent Priority International and will take 6-10 days. Orders placed starting 7/25 will be sent 7/31. Thank you to everyone who ordered for your interest in Rose and Isabel. I hope you enjoy the books.

COMIC-CON:

SDCC 07 is almost upon us. Derek and I are making last minute preparations for the trek. Our booth is #1534.

I've linked a great interactive map I found over at Jamie Baker's website. It has a rollover map of the con floor that tells you which exhibitor is at each booth (no small press or comic con tables though...). You may also add booth numbers to a list which you can print out for reference. Check it out here!
____________________

SDCC07

Yep, it's that time again. San Diego Comic Con 2007 is right around the corner.

Derek Thompson and I will be representing E-Ville Press this year, residing at Booth #1534. We'll be selling Derek's popular Monster Annuals as well as his original art, Afterworks 1 & 2, and my books Rose and Isabel 1 & 2. Other items from our pals will surely be on the table for sale as well.

Other booth/table locations:

JAMIE BAKER/RHODE MONTIJO (NERVE BOMB/ABISMO) : #1329
SCOTT MORSE/JEFF PIDGEON/BILL PRESING: #4800
IRA SHERAK (HOT MEXICAN LOVE): # L3
DONNACHADA DALY: #831
FLIGHT: #1128-1134
THE THOSE GUYS: #1035
LOUIE DEL CARMEN/OCTAVIO RODRIGUEZ: #G7
SHO MURASE: #HH-06
SAM HITI: # 1830
FLEET STREET SCANDAL (KEVIN DART& CHRIS TURNHAM): #E4
SAM & MAX: # 1032
STUART NG: #5113

Events:

THURSDAY 6/26

7:15-8:45 The Pixar Story: To Infinity and Beyond - a the latest film by Oscar nominated documentary director Leslie Iwerks. Room 6CDEF

FRIDAY 6/27

10:30-11:30 Pixar Short Films - Three of Disney/Pixar’s most talented filmmakers, Ralph Eggelston (For the Birds), Andrew Jimenez (One Man Band), and Gary Rydstrom (Lifted) discuss the studio’s short films, with a Q&A session to follow. Room 6CDEF

SATURDAY 6/28

10:45-12:00 The Simpsons - Meet Matt Groening, Al Jean, David Mirkin, Matt Selman, Michael Price, David Silverman, Matt Warburton, Don Payne, and Yeardley Smith (voice of Lisa Simpson). Moderated by Bill Morrison. Hall H

2:15-4:00 WALL•E - Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) introduces Pixar’s newest star, WALL•E. Stanton and sound designer Ben Burtt (Star Wars) present a first look at Disney·Pixar’s next animated adventure! Hall H

click the map for the large version


____________________

Auction update

Here is the finished framed piece. It will be hanging among some great work by artists including Peter De Seve, Tadahiro Uesugi and Pierre Alary just to name a few. If you're in the bay area, come by Maverix Studios (1717 17th st) and bid on some art to support a good cause! The auction runs from 5-9pm Sunday night May 20th.

For Auction

This weekend there are not one but TWO benefits to support the humanitarian Organization EMERGENCY - life support for civilian war victims.



Saturday May 19th - it’s the 14th World Wide SketchCrawl which will be a world wide fundraiser.

Sunday May 20th - Maverix Studios and friends will hold a benefit Art Auction in San Francisco.

Here's a digital sketch of my contribution to the auction, which will eventually be an original inked drawing titled "Rose and Lilith" based on characters from historical writings (Lilith) and my comic, Rose and Isabel.

You can get all the info for this weekend's fundraisers at Enrico's Blog
and the Maverix website.



(Here's a color version which may end up as a print or something.)

Gallery 1988 SF opening party and show!

Come celebrate the Grand opening of Gallery 1988 in SF during APE weekend! This show is packed with amazing talent..I've seen a bunch of the works already and they are awesome. Have a looksee at the invite below. (Click to enlarge).

Super7 signing pics

The new larger space (although it still fills up quickly with people)


Angus MacLane, Jeff Pidgeon and some cool dolls


Trooper and cookie


Troopers

Super 7 goes big

All the info you need to know!
501st! yeah!

Upcoming E-Ville Press signings!

Mark your calendars for September 8th and October 3 when members of E-Ville Press (yours truly included) will be selling and signing books at 2 venues in the Bay area.

First up is the grand re-opening of Super 7 in their new larger space on Post St on Friday, September 8th 7-10pm. Many of the contributors to Afterworks 1 and 2 will be there--more info on the signing coming soon.

Second will be Tuesday, October 3rd at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park. We will be signing and selling books at the opening reception before the Neil Gaiman event the same night. Rose and Isabel, Afterworks 1 and 2, Noble Boy and other books will be on sale. Myself, Scott Morse, Derek Thompson, Bill Presing, Jennifer Chang, and Afterworks 2 designer and graphics guru Mark Holmes are confirmed so far.

Kepler's Books
1010 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, CA
Tuesday, October 3

Hope to see you there!

-T