CHOKER COVER Progressions!

CHOKER IS READY!

So, CHOKER is finally solicited! I'll harp more on it later, as one who's rent depends on it is likely to do but...for now, all you need to know is there's a preview up on CBR and the Diamond order code you NEED TO TELL YOUR RETAILER ABOUT IF YOU WANT THE BOOK ( ahem ) is DEC09 0342.

Tell em that, and the nice people behind the counter will make sure it gets to you this February! And Ben McCool & I will do the happy joy joy dance etc.

Here's a bunch of shots of the first cover, as it took shape...



The rough pencils, already with a bit of a go with the brush pen. ( just forgot to take a picture of the pencils didn't I. ) The idea was for a strongish profile shot, merging in with elements of the seedy city, all detectivy like. Yes, that's not a word, but I'm using it.



Decided on lots of pencil work, shading and what not, apart from basic line work.



I smudged it all on purpose to get some finer shading in.



Added a watercolour wash or two, plus a little acrylic for highlights.



Added some defining white lines with my trusty white pen. ( It's a signo japanese one for those wondering )



The final scan before photoshop work.



A bit of darkening up, some highlighting with airbrush, a hint of my ear ( yes, my ear from a photo ) bits of skin, merging it with airbrush, plus dodge and burn.



Basic colours, plus the blue hue I intended to be the overall colour of the piece.



Added the signage elements I wanted! Mostly generic stuff. I didn't want to pretend I'd be good at designing up too many!



The final! Added some more warm hues to it and tried to make the signage pop a little more.

Talking about digital comics...

I talk, half arsed really, about digital comics and stuff. Big props to Sony!

Me in the UK, buggering about: DATES!

I'm over here in the UK for the Thought Bubble Festival and a bunch of other stuff on the side.

First up though, I'll be buggering about the countryside, going to several places, signing at the Traveling Man comic stores in both Newcastle ( 19th November ) and Manchester,( 20th November ). Check with them for actual times as I don't seem to have that info.

Next, on November 21st, it's the Thought Bubble Festival in Leeds.

Commission info:

If I can get a couple done, I'll be doing painted up commissions there, anything you like ( well almost ) with the exchange rate the way it is these days, £90 for small ( US equivalent of A4 size ) and £150 for large ( The US version of A3 basically,). I'll have a few prints & artist proofs for sale as well, and as always sketches in books to sign etc are free.

Right then, Here's what I'll be getting up to at the festival:

From 10am to 12.30pm I'll be signing and sketching with Antony Johnston.

12:45-13:45 - Do Zombies Read Comic Books? Saviles Hall, Curtained Area. Host Martin Grund. Panel Discussion on the popularity of the horror genre in modern comics. We will be asking guests Charlie Adlard, Ben Templesmith, Antony Johnston, and Sean Phillips what they think the appeal is of titles like The Walking Dead, Wormwood Gentleman Corpse, Marvel Zombies, and Dead Space. ( Thus I will proceed to desperately trying to look like I know what I'm talking about. )

Then from 2pm till 5pm I'll be back at my table drawing/chatting etc.

17:15-18:15 - Crisis of Infinite Crayons. Alea Top Bar, 18+. Pictionary meets Draw the Marvel Way. Two teams of top comics artists complete various challenges to decide who is best! From the makers of the Kryptonite Factor. Guests include Charlie Adlard, Sean Phillips, Mike Carey, and Ben Templesmith.

Then it'll be down to London for Comica!

November 24th I'll be doing an "In Conversation" type thing ( I think ) with writer and director Philip Ridley at the Institute of Contemporary Art, 6:45pm in the Nash Room, followed by a signing. Get tickets at the ICA website here.

Then November 26th sees me doing a right proper signing at Orbital Comics!

POPGUN ANTHOLOGY cover progressions

Well, the news went live yesterday, over at Bleeding Cool, so I can finally show the progressions of how I did the cover! Sorry if this is a larrrrrge, picture heavy post.

& yes, I'll be in the UK for about 2 weeks. ThoughtBubble festival, Traveling Man stores signings in Manchester & Newcastle, Comica stuff down London way and an Orbital Comics signing too. Will blog details later ( Or check the appearances section of my actual website, www.templesmith.com ) but YES, will be doing commissions if I can, and signing as many books as possible for sure.

So...

Was a complete honour to be asked to do the cover to the latest Popgun Anthology from Image Comics.

Why? Well, I wasn't able to contribute to the last one ( no time sadly ) and the previous cover guys have been Mike Allred, Paul Pope & Tara McPherson. That's pretty damn spiffy company that is.



It all starts with a rough. A really rough, rough.



Early pencils, yes, I'm looking at a couple photos for this one, trying to go a bit more realist than cartoony.



Ever wonder how I tweet and watch so much crap on Netflix while I draw? Well, the computer is right in front of me at all times.



Tightening up the pencils a bit, have put the dragon in for placement, even though I actually draw that separately later.



The final pencils before I go to ink. Yeah, this pic is slightly out of order, sue me!



The inking begins. Using a great brushpen the uber talented Nikki Cook put me on to.



Main inks done. Just some bold lines really. I plan on the textures and paint to really be more about this picture than line work ultimately.



Err..no photos of the paint job til it's end! Lots of watercolour washes basically. Tried to get lots of stain type textures going on apart from anything else.



Paper gets a bit wrinkled with all the water I've put onto it. Before I scan, I add all the white lines with a white pen.



The final original real world art, as it looks after I've scanned it in, ready to do all the extra bits on the computer. Wish people would realize I actually draw...often times way more than the typical comic book artists!



I start darkening that stuff up. Also drop in bits of the photos I've been using for ref. A definite hint at a nose, cheek/mouth and bits of hand. Followed by lots of airbrush to merge it all and stuff and generally smooth it over a bit.



Really darken that sucker up. Lots of the burn tool, followed by some dodge as well.



Altering the colours, adding more. Always start with what I want most prominent first...but before the end of this image I change my mind and make the whole thing overall warm colours. ( Instead of my original plan of maybe blues with red bits to pop it out. )



Some colour! Also, add a pattern to her dress. More of the dodge tool as well it seems.



Add the Dragon, which I drew separately on another sheet. With it layered this way, I can do fancy things with it instead of having to pick it out of the background.



Add some overall tones. Not to mention some tricks with the dragon line work, courtesy of some textures I copy/paste into it from earlier things I've done.

I'll actually have a couple artist proofs of this image on me while I'm doing my UK appearances, so if anyone wants one, they are signed, numbered and for sale!



The final as the Popgun guys now have it after I worked out how the dragon should mostly work with their logo/cover style.

Psylocke, with Sentinel

A still life of sorts with a bad iPhone pic in some nameless hotel room on the road.

When I get the time I hope to finish the pic, for now, CHOKER from Ben McCool and I is keeping me real busy...be showing off a wee bit of that stuff shortly. Not to mention it'll be a Gem of the month in December's previews, ( so the madness should start early February )

Welcome to Hoxford teaser trailer

This comes courtesy of the uber talented Freshoil. Whetted my appetite for more stuff like this I think. ( Though not whole comics I think, which would stop them being comics & make them something else. ) If you can't see it just go here directly.


Incidentally, if you've never read Welcome to Hoxford, you can find it here with a rather large discount!

And yeah, I've been a lazy bugger & not posted too much lately. I need to. I shall soon! I'm off to London again next week though.

Back in San Diego. ( Well, for 2 weeks )

Finally made it back to the studio with a whole bunch of work to do despite finishing a bunch on the road. I can finally upload a whole swag of pictures of my travels too. Had a great time since my last bloggings obviously. New York and London were a blast. I didn't even get bird, swine or regular bland flu.

But before then, I just put up that wolverine painting I previously did on ebay, not for me but to help cover a friends US health care expenses ( yes, they charge you mega bucks when even something small needs treating and you're not able to pay wads of cash to bloated corrupt insurance corporations profiting off your well being, go figure. It'd be rather quaint by the rest of the western world's standards if it wasn't so horrific, ) So yeah, this one is for a worthy cause and you'd be not only getting a piece of art ( it's at least half decent I reckon ) but you'd be helping out a delightful young lady into the bargain. It's just a shame it comes to things like this.

More stuff later, including shortly, a whole bunch on CHOKER, which will be coming out this February and I'm deep into working on right now.

Next stop, London

Are you in London? My next convention appearance will be my second time at the rather grand, MCM Expo, this October 24th and 25th. Come on down. I'll be there on the con floor hopefully full time, both days and yes, I'll be doing commissions and have some original art and prints to flog if you're so inclined.

Yup, I do full on painted watercolour commissions, anything you like ( well almost ) with the exchange rate the way it is these days, for £90 for small ( A4 size ) and £150 for large ( The US version of A3 ) with time given, I won't be able to get too too many so you might want to reserve a spot. ( You can always email ahead of time: contact@templesmitharts.com )

Of course, if you just have books or stuff to sign, I happily do quick sketches for free. I'll be at table C25.

This should be the floor plan below, showing exactly where you can find me amongst some of the royalty, nay, the ubermensch of British comics. ( ok maybe that's going a bit far but you get the idea. )



Not only that, but I'll be doing some specific signings in the main area with frequent partner in crime/friendly email naggerer of Wasteland covers I am always late on... Antony Johnston. Saturday: 12pm-12:20pm and Sunday 3:40pm-4pm

And if you miss me in London, I'll be back extensively next month, in Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and again London for a couple special things.You'll be bloody sick of me soon.£

Sadly, I think my camera kicked the bucket in Brazil, though I took a bunch on my iPhone, I've yet to get a proper cable to connect to the laptop ( I forgot to bring my charger/connector on my travels damn it, ) so the last pics will have to wait awhile. Had an amazing time and definitely want to go back. Felt a lot like a French festival, with it's openness and community support. Great stuff.

Lastly, here's my version of that Wolverine you might remember I posted up as line art a few weeks ago. I'm probably going to ebay the original painted version ( and a colour artproof I'm sure ) next week to help raise money for, what else, to help a friend out with yet another insanely stupid American health insurance bill because their system is horribly broken. So look out for it next week when I give a plug to a worthy cause. ( And if you're in the US, do yourself a favour and never vote for politicians who support anything but some form of strong viable public option for all, it's what the rest of the civilized world has and it works. ) You should never have to worry about bills just because you're sick. Just worry about getting better.

And thanks to everyone who took a stab at colouring the basic linework for the image I put up too! Some amazing talents who showed me or posted their work. Cheers guys.



Ahem.

Now back to work.

Harvey Pekar

Last week I got asked to contribute to a big birthday present for Harvey Pekar. Part of 70 portraits by artists to help celebrate his 70th birthday. ( See them all here ) . Had a lot of fun with this one as I just hacked into it. Happy birfday sir. Happy birfday!

Brazil Pics Part 1

Well, I made it to Brazil, Belo Horizonte in fact, for FIQ a big comics festival here, though my luggage got lost and I've still not got it back...hopefully soon! I think my camera might be broken so these may be the only pics, apart from my iphone if I can get a charger...which I forgot to bring.





My art takes up two walls. This here is the unfinished presentation, before FIQ opens.







Before FIQ opens...











An astounding amount of brilliant art here. From all over the world.