Now Available for pre-order: Jet-Pack Jenny and the Factor of 01!

It's finally off to the printer, and physical copies will be sent out towards the end of April, along with their respective incentive rewards, which I'm finishing up now.

The book is something I'm very pleased with an Introduction by my fellow Sketch Charlotte member, Eraklis Petmezas, the entire Factor of 01 story in a beautiful 8" x 7 1/4" format, anotations of every page giving some of the backstory behind the process of telling the story and creating the art, and 5 pages of Guest Art by friends, Eraklis, Brandon Padgett, Joel Carroll, Henry Eudy, Collette Ardith, and Jonathan Rosenbaum. Since it's in the works at the printer, I'm offering it for pre-order for those of you that want to get the book as soon as it's available. Pre-orders will get a free digital copy in PDF format on a CD-ROM with a special sketch on the CD sleeve! (Kickstarter contributors will also get this special bonus!)

Here's some previews of the book so you can see how it looks.

$10.00 + $3.50 shipping!
If you're outside the US and want to order a book, just let me know!

Jet-Pack Jenny

Our buddy and partner-in-crime Stan Ford has a Kickstarter for his creation: Jet-Pack Jenny and he'd asked a few of us to sumbit art for a pinup section. 

This was my contribution...

You can see more of Jet-Pack Jenny and Stan's other work here: http://carpaltunnelpress.blogspot.com/

Pop Swap!

I'm going to be at the annual Heroes' Pop Swap tomorrow from 10:00 am - 4:00pm selling sketchbooks, original art, prints and possibly even doing some sketches! I'll also have an absolute ton of trade paperbacks & hardcovers, cds, dvds and other assorted "pop" paraphenalia on sale for CHEAP!!!

A few of the Big Dog crew will be there doing their thing too: Henry Eudy, Stan Ford, Herc Petmezas and possibly Terence Hoskins too! (they'll have mini comics, original art, prints and other assorted goodies too!)It's a regular reunion! You can get just about all of us to sign the 2012 sketchbook! ;)

Last year was an absolute blast and this year should only get better...hope to see you out there!

#deskdoodle - week 2

This week was pretty slow up until last night's Sketch Charlotte meeting! Terence Hoskins returns this week, but other than me, it's an all-new lineup!
This week's lineup (top to bottom): Collette Kling; Herc Petmezas; Terence "Teeminus" Hoskins; Brandon Padgett (me); Mark Godby; and the last two are Stan Ford

Each week I'll be posting new #deskdoodles to instagram, twitter and tumblr with the hashtag: #deskdoodle If you'd like to join in, just gmail me (BigDogsStudio) your deskdoodle and I'll get them loaded!

Perspective is a Harsh Mistress

(Apologies for cross-posting this everywhere, I just don't know where people see my work, so I put it everywhere, and today I have a ton to do, so I'm even copying and pasting the text.)

The advantage to re-drawing about half of the Factor of 01 to be consistent in print format means I get to completely rework things I have not been entirely happy with. Originally the first panel, while it worked, wasn't entirely what I wanted. This is closer, and while I don't think I've got the handle on 3 point perspective that it demands, I think it's good enough to serve the purpose.

I also won't be replacing this on the web site until the next strip is redrawn. I've completely changed the beat of the action. That's the worst part of the original artwork. I really do not like staging fight scenes in my comics, so I do it badly. In the first Jet-Pack Jenny comic, there's actually two strips that were all black as a cop-out, albeit done on a dare. That second panel is also the second part of my lesson in how harsh a mistress perspective can be. Never ever say you can fix perspective in Photoshop, it will still not look 100% right.

Ghost Rider

Here's a drawing of Ghost Rider that I started when I saw a neat little drawing Rico did in his sketchbook. I'd spent almost all night fighting with various drawings, including a Scarlet Witch that started off with such promise, and a Jocasta that got ruined in trying to render reflections.

My work is on exhibit

From Friday, Jan 6, 2012 - Friday, Jan 27, 2012, I'll be part of an exhibit at the Caldwell Arts Council in Lenoir, NC.Lenoir is located in the foothills of North Carolina just about 20 miles south down US Hwy 321 from Boone, about an hour north of Gastonia, NC on the same Hwy 321. Lenoir is about 2 hours at the most from most parts of Charlotte, NC, and Winston-Salem, NC. Visit this link for more on the Caldwell Arts Council. They are open Tuesday-Friday from 9am - 5pm. The Opening reception is on Friday, Jan 6 from 5pm-7:30 pm. I'll be there schmoozing since I'm a part of the show, so if you can make it, I'll be glad to see you. Here's a preview of some of the work you'll see in the show.

Designed Only for Killing

I did this little MODOK drawing a little while ago but only posted it to Twitter in a hurry. Here it is, but I think it needs a background desperately. Maybe I'll redraw it in complete glory sometime in the future, actually using reference for the character.

Storm

I know everyone is doing the Alpha-Beasts but the meme hit at a bad time for me to try and participate. I thought about it, but didn't know if I could find the time, and right now, I am just enjoying drawing people right now, and for some reason, super-heroes, especially super-heroes from the 1970s.

Storm was a unique addition to the X-Men in the 1970s. Regal, a little fetishized with her skimpy black leather outfit, and a propensity to be an excuse for peek-a-boo nudity. A lot of artists have a fondness lately for Storm in her 80s punk days, but being a nut for costumes designed by Dave Cockrum, I have to go 70s.

I do like the look I gave her in the drawing, almost like she just realized her picture was being taken. I'm also working on those shadows underneath the characters' feet. The highlights on her lower abdomen seem a bit weird to me, but I can live with it.

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.

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/

Oz

Again, not along the lines of any themes, but I needed to do a card for one of my in-laws, and this one jumped out at me tonight as needing to be finished.

Batwoman

Brandon made me swear to post this on the blog, so here it is, with no tie to any of current threads...Batwoman.

With this I was trying out my shortcut method of drawing characters that wear mostly black.

Planetary themed sketchbook - part II

Landed another sweet sketch for my Planetary sketchbook at last night's Sketch Charlotte meeting! Stan Ford was kind enough to lay this one on me...



I LOVE it when someone hands you you're sketchbook back and tells you to leave it open so it can dry! :) Stan put some work into this and really nailed Drummer...thanks Stan! :)