Small Press Creators: Latour, Brunner, Renzi

Small press or no, Loose Ends is a testament to just how good comics can be. Latour, Brunner, and Renzi all manage to speak their own creative voices without creating a bunch of noise. As a result, there is nothing conventional, cliche, or phoned in about this book. So, if you haven't already, pick up Loose Ends, support small press creators and support good comics.

I guess you could tie it into Small Press Creators theme

Okay, so I buy myself this new sketchbook that's really big, probably the biggest I've ever owned. It barely fits in the backpack that I take to Sketch Charlotte. The freedom it grants is that I can not worry about running out of room and then blowing up the sketch on my copier just to piece it together on the lightbox. That's precisely what I had to do with my last Jet-Pack Jenny drawing and more recently, my Wizard of Oz drawing, which will be done as soon as I can get to my lightbox again.

On the topic of Jet-Pack Jenny, I started this drawing at last week's Sketch Charlotte meeting after yet another disastrous start on a Power Girl drawing. I liked it and finished it up over the weekend. I believe it's in the running for the cover of the collected Power of 01.

The second drawing was inked at Sketch Charlotte, but started while I was sitting at HickoryCon last month. The character is planned to be part of my next story Hanamori's Circus. I do believe that I'll be curbing my need to throw a lot of ink down on this one.

Smart Press Creators: Bridget Scheide's Brother Nash

The plan is to color this but I have too many irons in the fire right now, so I'm posting it with absolutely no Photoshop work. No thresholding, pencil lines still visible, but I did crop it.

I'm looking forward to coloring this because I want to emulate Birdget's color palette for Brother Nash.

Small Press Creators: Stan Ford's Jet-Pack Jenny

I have a notion deep inside my psyche somewhere that perhaps, someday, I'd like to try my hand at a newspaper style strip. Something action-adventurey, with a 1940's flavor and a lot of tips of the hat to Milton Caniff and Roy Crane. I think about it sometimes and then decide, "No, I still lack the strength of skills to pull something like that off and not look foolish." Yeah, I'm still a little too lily livered to give it a try but you know who's not? My buddy Stan Ford. Stan has been plugging away at "Jet-Pack Jenny and the Factor of 01" since 2006!! I greatly admire his fortitude in cartooning. Jet-Pack Jenny is smart, layered work with one foot in traditional science fiction soap opera and another in astute social commentary. Plus it's fun to read and, even better, it's drawn by a person with enviable skill and ability. Very often there are dense, muscular lines and pools of absorbing black shadows that draw in the eye of the reader with irresistible gravity. Stan moved to Charlotte a little more than a year ago, I believe, and it has been my pleasure to know him and be constantly astonished by the wide array of knowledge he has amassed about comics and cartooning. Give this little link a good click to check out "Jet-Pack Jenny and the Factor of 01" plus several of Stan's essays and observations on comics culture:
http://www.carpaltunnelpress.com/

Small Press Creators: Rich Barrett's Nathan Sorry

I'm afraid I'm a touch late in contributing to the Small Press Creators sketch topic here at BDS but, with a vacation now over and several small projects done with, I'm pleased to have had some small amount of time to post up a quick illustration of Nathan Sorry, inspired from a flashback sequence in Rich Barrett's graphic novel/webcomic of the same name (http://www.richbarrett.com/nathansorry/ ). I really like and admire Rich's comic, perhaps more than any other by a local creator. Nathan Sorry is so smart and well-constructed that it is always a delight to read. Rich makes a beautiful brushline that is personable and descriptive without being fussy or overdone. He's really learning how to draw a hell of a beard too. If I had stars or thumbs or whatever to give out, I'd give Nathan Sorry as many as I had on hand. For real, you should give it a read. After all, you only live once.    

Small Press Creators: Duane Ballenger

To know Duane is to love Duane. It really is that simple. He's one of those WAP guys who just can't help being good people. He produces some of the funniest mini comics this side of the Atlantic. And his shirts are legendary even if they rarely come in "big boy" sizes! ;)

This drawing is a direct rip off of one of his shirts that I'm waiting to get in a big boy size at hopefully the next Heroes Con. It's a small snapshot of his work, yet speaks volumes of his sense of humor.

Hard to track down on the interwebs, Duane can be found at local cons throughout the Carolinas. Do yourself a favor and stop by his table at the next show. Buy a few minis, get a shirt or two and talk comics with one of the good guys!

Small Press Creators: J Chris Campbell!

Shouldn't comics be fun? Shouldn't drawing comics be even more fun? That's precisely what J Chris does...he has FUN! And it really shows in his comics. In addition to being a purveyor of fun he's also the publisher of Wide Awake Press (WAP). Home to some really unique creations by some of the nicest, most talented people working in Indy comics today! (Hopefully we'll get around to featuring a few of them in the coming posts!)

This is a sketch I did of a combo of J Chris' Attic Bugs and Neatobots - more fun than I've had in quite some time!

Head over and check out what J Chris
is up to and see what goodies WAP has in store for you!

New Topic: Small Press Creators!

Shifting gears from the previous topics, this one is aimed at the unsung heroes of comics: the small press creators! To get the ball rolling here are three pieces I had in the hopper...

- Chris Schweizer's Crogan Adventures
Chris has created something truly unique and quite magical. Each book focuses on a member of the Crogan family and their historical place in the Cragan Adventures. The art is whimsical and the action is breathtaking..I cannot recommend this highly enough! If you have kids, are a kid at heart or if you're a fan of historical action this series is well worth your time!

This piece is a warm up study I did of the main character from the first volume: Crogan's Vengeance - Catfoot Crogan




















- Andy Runton's Owly
What could I possibly say about Owly (and Andy) that hasn't already been said? An amazing, well executed premise that is heart warming and simply loads of fun!












- Troy Hasbrouck & Jester Press' Night
This piece is a pin up I did for one of Troy's convention books from a few years ago. Night is the brainchild of local creator/LCS (Rebel Base Comics & Toys) owner Troy Hasbrouck. It's an action packed comic that boasts not only vampires & werewolves but zombies and even minotaurs!