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Hmmm... I'm not too crazy with the way the colours display in the .jpg version of the cover I designed & executed for ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) piratebanana's Shaolin Rock Star novella.
Yes, they look vibrant & pretty, but they're supposed to look subdued, almost drab. Drat. Must be something to do with working in Pshop on a CMYK file & that format not translating properly into RGB.
The back cover, by request, is the guitar, enlarged, as a background screen underneath text.
The launch party is in Toronto on Friday, November 14th. Sounds like a spectacular reason to reschedule rehearsal ;)
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*whew* That took a few days. If you feel like checking it out, find it HERE. It shows a bit of everything I've done since before Cocoa the Clown Series V, including some of my illustration for the Anthology.
Also added is a brief announcement of one of the many projects on my plate.
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...since I formatted my HD, these seem to be the only two fonts I didn't back up. Theyz MIA.
I know their names, but for the life of me cannot find them anywhere online.
Allow me to introduce or (hopefully) reacquaint you with ( Asiana )
...and ( Erica )
If they're commercial fonts that I somehow happened upon for free, I don't at all mind paying for them.
My sitch is that I used them both over the past year & need to find new copies so my Photoshop .psd's can play nice :)
x-posted
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Tonight I'm beginning work on my 1st official paid illustration/design job.
My friend Mike Bryant (you'll see his name in the Anthology, too) has written a novella & needs a cover for the book. And I'm the guy.
Wish me luck :)
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And so I would be finished my work on ysabetwordsmith's The Engineer in His Cups, but I decided to get funky with the font, & I'm not convinced it's working.
Not exactly back to the drawing board, but it's a couple hours more work.
I need a shower & another drink.
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Barring commentary & possible corrections from skarygrl, I think our story, There's No Place Like Home, is finished.
*big grin*
Before bed I'm going to begin putting together The Engineer in His Cups.
Also, I'm toying with considering extending the deadline & broadening the scope of invitations to contribute. The *my/our old LJ crew* community thing seems to have sputtered, with a pretty even split between old & new LJ-friends who are serious contributors, as well as LJers from the classic crew are interested vs those who aren't.
As they say, you can't relive the good ol' days. Hearts change, lives change, beliefs change.
I'm going to sit on that thought & get to work on the present.
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*sigh*
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Aug. 18th, 2008 @ 02:56 pm
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It's pretty sad when I can't make my own deadline.
Which is why I'm not that down over the majority of peeps who also didn't make it (sincere thanks to those who mentioned they were hard at work but would be a bit late).
But it gives me a bit of perspective regarding asking people to sit at home making comics during the summer. Everyone has a life, after all.
My illustration work was done late Thursday night, so I'm spending the next couple of days in Photoshop doing my greyscaling & text. I'm still excited.
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?
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Aug. 12th, 2008 @ 10:02 pm
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Well, skarygrl, your fears are realized - the art for your story has turned out totally pornographic.
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I need to do something with the front page of my site. It's just not working for me.
Going into the Free Comic Book Day Comic I knew Cocoa in Death Dog would be pixelated, cuz it helped me cut my teeth in Pshop, & I didn't use a decent dpi. And it's weird, Äma was totally right to mention it in his review, but until I read about it I didn't really care, & ever since it's really been bugging me. And having it as the 1st image someone sees when they venture over there isn't really cooking my noodles.
So it looks like I should get my ass cracking with replacing the image with a B+W that I have slated to colourize. And then think of something, I guess. .jpgs for page titles could spice things up a bit.
I'm losing track of everything Anthologyish that I mention here. There's a new collaborator, working with rosierevolution. Esmeralda brought in an LJ-friend as well, if I didn't mention it before. This isn't news, but details can be found here.
For the record, I was distracted from inking more of Time & Time Again by a short but very sweet visit by my new friend, Amanda. Also for the record, she digs the Sea Monkeys that aren't Sea Monkeys by virtue of them having ears & being anatomically correct.
You read me right. C'mon, it's me! That can't be a surprise, can it?
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Both came in yesterday & both have me tickled.
First in my inbox was The Tragic Tale of Lou, the Self-Aware Fly, written by esmeralda_m & imaged by her LJ-friend strahlend31. Then came The Adventures of Wrist Slashing Girl, written by klaproth_1 & illustrated by esmeralda_m.
I am feeling the love, fo' shizz.
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St. Äma compliments & criticises in this review of my A Free Comic Book Day Comic.
You can have your very own free copy mailed (or hand-delivered if you're in Barrie or the surrounding area) by visiting this order page. <--- go me on the blatant whoring! But, is it whoring if the work is free, or am I just putting out to put out?
Even if you're not a fan of Äma's, I had a SERIOUS laugh over his version of the Kindergarten For Grown-Ups colouring book page, included with the review. Great fucking stuff.
And, with it, I am going to add another page to wbmaclean.com dedicated not only to submitted versions of the colouring book page, but any & all manipulations of my art, no matter what subjects are broached. That is a promise.
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There isn't even an official deadline yet, & we have our first completed work. Sometimes inspiration hits like that.
esmeralda_m produced Rose today. I read it four times before the subtleties in the images impressed themselves upon me.
For those of you new to sequential art, I want to tell you what materials Esmeralda used.
An old, forgotten photograph from the 20s. Her hand-made model, photographed in B+W. A very cool little story. Digital manipulation.
And she submitted NICE LARGE FILES. 300dpi is the perfect scanning resolution for artwork; when NICE LARGE FILES with high resolution get reduced to page-size, the printing is nice & clear. As an illustrator, it also helps to draw pages as 10"x15", which then get reduced to 6.625"x10.25"
In addition, I'm pretty sure my collaborations are set. Unless I'm mistaken, I am going to write for thishollowhill's artistry & produce art for ysabetwordsmith's story, on top of submitting a solitary work.
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For the collective project, there are 12 interested parties so far!
There is no obligation for anyone to submit enough to meet the limit, but that's a possible 36 stories (is my math right on that?)
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Printing in colour more than doubles the production cost. Looks like we're looking at a B+W book.
Sending out email & message invitations right now...
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I want to publish something, & y'all know of my current love affair with the sequential art storytelling medium. But I don't have a standalone graphic novel anywhere near ready to go. I've been giving this some intensive thought over the last 2 or 3 days, &, by coincidence or collective unconscious, it just so happens that I got an email this afternoon from a friend & it kinda has me excited.
Do you remember the good old days? Everyone was making Cocoa or Ricardo strips, or fun, sarcastic jabs at each other. Yeah, there were a couple that were less than fun, but whatev.Note that I'm not looking to recreate *the good old days*. That'd be an impossible task. We all know there's a darkness that has settled over that era.
In this one case, in this one post, naming names is not allowed by anyone. I've met a lot of creative people here, good people, people I am proud to call friends. And with that I want to put together a collective-oriented collection of short comic stories.
This is my open invitation to every one of you on my f-list (this includes all those who have expatriated or been incommunicado for any reason - like I said, I'm not naming names - this is truly an inspired project open to ALL). I will follow up with personal invitations to all of you, some in emails, some in LJ comments. My hope is that everyone will participate & it will be a big mofoing book, diverse in style & eclectic in subject matter.
[EDIT: I will be personally inviting everyone who has *writing*, *drawing*, *comics*, &/or permutations of these as interests in their profiles. But everyone is still welcome to take part]
The caveat will be the same as with all other anthologies: the story must be stand-alone (not part of a pre-existing story arc) & must use characters that you either control or have permission to use. I officially do not care about drawing ability or writing experience - the mandate is to tell the story you want to tell. Photocomics will be accepted... but if you know that I know that you know how to draw or otherwise illustrate, you know that I won't let you cop out ;)
And this will not be a free book - we will be paid. PAID!!! I don't know about you, & I have no inkling about making any substantial cash, but won't that just feel pretty fucking good?
I am going to act as informal & volunteer editor, editor-in-chief & proofreader.
Critiques & commentary for this idea/intent are eagerly welcomed. Details will follow...
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Today & tomorrow I'm drawing with the equivalent of a toker rolling the roaches in the ashtray. I could've sworn I had another pack of non-repro blue leads kicking around, but I'm obviously mistaken.
A close-up of the gear.
The closest I've gotten to a splash-page are these two panels that together comprise about 2/3s of page 1 of Time & Time Again, the 5-pager that novemberbug's novel inspired. That's Drajaan Floyd on the left & the character of Leonie Smith, aka Stormbringer (I still haven't decided which name I'm going to go with on that one - any thoughts?)
And this is me in mock *hurry up with that vomitus receptacle cuz I, a person without a pinky finger, am about to hurl*
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DF
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May. 26th, 2008 @ 05:55 pm
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I honestly cannot remember the last time I tried drawing a superhero. Or a heroine-ish idealized woman.
Drajaan Floyd has been a challenge to draw. It's relatively easy to draw normal people, but getting the proportions down for an uberhawt buxom skintight leotard babe-atrix is really... weird... to do.
The way she looks on page one, panel one? Obama'd do her.
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I finished the pre-panel inkwork on I Need to Go, arachnerd's story dream. The blank spot is the title/credits panel.
( don't click if you don't like to see illustrated, digitally-penetrated pussy )
=================
Get your results by referring to the Belief-O-Matic.
For the record, I usually ID myself as *new age, but not crazy new age*.
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Colour
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May. 15th, 2008 @ 01:07 am
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I've taken one of my previously-made but unreleased greyscale comics & started to play with colour plates.
As I talked about it, Ashley accused my tone of voice as one of eroticism & sexuality. Sounds like I'm excited about it. Gonna play a little more before I crash, then tomorrow is dedicated to inks.
As I walked home through the grocer's parking lot, I struggled & overcame the urge to lay facedown on the asphalt to give it a hug.
I had one glass of wine.
It must be spring.Tunes: MC Frontalot demos |
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