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Behind the curtain on a lot of stuff
ALL THE LATEST
Hello there.
-I would say one of the best things about my career as it currently stands is that I have such a wide range of projects, each satisfying in different ways. The downside of that, is struggling to feel like I’m making much headway on any of them. At the moment, I’m trying my best to do all the linework on two pages of PROJECT RAVEN each day and make progress on something else on that day. Problem is, it can only be one other thing I can tackle on top of the RAVEN workload, so I might get to pencil a cover …maybe ink it the next day [or some of it, finish it the next day], do some colouring, do some writing, etc etc around the daily RAVEN workload. Last week I managed to keep up on my RAVEN targets while also…
pencilling/inkin/colouring a THUNDERCATS cover
Layouts for a STAR WARS cover,
Lightbox PROJECT RAVEN cover and pages
Write an intro for the THUNDERCATS trade
Finish an OLD DOG short story
Pay out invoices on the OPERATIONS project, manage progress on project
Update the OLD DOG DOSSIER print files, keep up with all the usual email correspondence [which was lighter last week, thankfully]
Work on this newsletter.
This week, I have to…
Start pencilling the next half of PROJECT RAVEN
Prepare and record an episode of TAPE DEC
Pencil/ink/colour a STAR TREK cover
Pencil/ink/colour first PROJECT RAVEN cover
Finish ThunderCats Issue Seven script
Get the DOSSIER final edit to the printer
Prepare for MCM London
Write an outline for the first arc of PROJECT NETWORK
Finish this newsletter, post it.
Again, all on top of my PROJECT RAVEN page quota. So yeah, I’m busy.
[PROJECT RAVEN PEEK]
None of this is to complain of course, I’m so lucky to have all this on the go and it’s definitely the direction I’ve wanted my career to be moving toward. It’s just a bit much to have on the go at the same timean there’s no sign of things slowing down. I wish I could invent and extra month to just chill out, read, think about ideas and made significant headway on ONE project so that I’m not hopping around, making sure all the plates are spinning evenly. Makes for a hell of a prolific year, though.
-I was on the most recent CoyCast [with Coy Jandreau and Jake Lloyd Bacon] talking THUNDERCATS, OLD DOG and various bits of media stuff.. I actually met Coy on at the Moon Knight premiere in LA- it was a relief to meet a fellow die hard comic head there, was good to have a proper sit-down with him on this podcast.
-Final reminder I’ll be at MCM London this weekend. I’ll be bringing books, prints and doing headsketches over the weekend. Not planing on bringing artwork, as I don’t really have much stuff handy, but if you’re going and looking for something specific, let me know asap.
-I’m going to SDCC! That’s the plan anyway. Been nearly 10 years since I was there last so will be fun to experience that madness again. All the projects I’m teasing at the moment will be out in the open by then and I’ll be looking to push them all. More as plans develop…
-I was hired to do this above promotional piece for the DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE movie a while back [2003!], just recently saw it appear online. I suspect I’ll have the original piece available via the ART DECO store in the next Declarations, so keep an eye out two weeks from now….
-Cartoonist Louie Joyce sent me the first issue of his GODZILLA: SKATE OR DIE mini-series and it’s so very cool. I’ve really admired Joyce’s work i the past, we both have a clear affinity for Chris Bachalo’s Generation X work that really comes through in Louie’s work, I think. It’s a real treat to see a newer cartoonist get gigs like this to show what they can do. It’s out June 12, tell your local retailer you want a copy NOW.
-TAPE DEC is back tonight! I’ll be doing the livestream with my collaborator on Alien, artist Andrea Broccardo. Livestream link here.
THUNDERCATS
THUNDERCATS Issue Four, the climax of our opening arc is out tomorrow! Here are some very pretty preview pages by Drew Moss.
FOC just passed for Issue Five, here’s a peek at an amazing spread by guest writer/artist Stephen Mooney!
Mooney is bringing some serious thunder for this issue, he’s written a great standalone issue that deals with the fallout of the events in this week’s #4. As an added treat, here’s another page with wonderful Mauro Gulma colours.
And for an advance peek of my own, here’s my cover for THUNDERCATS Issue Seven…
…which will be a Thunder-twins focused issue. I may have mentioned this previously but this arc is leaning into the characters outside of Lion-), who was the focus of our OMENS arc. Structured a little more like the original series, it’s fun to do more self-contained action pieces and I’m enjoying digging into the other ThunderCats a bit more. I am still hammering on the script for this issue, it’s taking me a bit longer as I’m swamped on PROJECT RAVEN, but nearly there.
But ho! There’s even more sneak peeks! Here’s a page of Drew Moss inks for Issue Six.
Man, this book is so much fun.
OLD DOG
I know I’ve said this many times before, but I should be sending the DOSSIER to the printer this week… myself and the designer Ryan Brewer have had schedules that have kept us both stalled at different times over the past couple of weeks. I’ve gotten SO many versions of the book over the whole editing process where I was about to send the book off and realised that I couldn't’ find the most recent version! So Ryan is gonna send me the final final version this week. Phew. Just hoping it’s before I head to London on Thursday.
More assets continue to be acquired for the OPERATIONS project. The final story by myself is written, now I just need to find the time to draw it! Solicits for the project are in, talking to Image about a proper announcement. More soon!
ART DECO
As teased in the last Declarations, there’s more on the ART DECO store than just original art. I’ve been asked about selling variants on here before, so this is me dipping my toe into offering variants, starting with something a bit special: you can now get the very limited edition Drew Moss foil variants of THUNDERCATS #1 signed by Drew and myself!
I’m also selling some limited edition ThunderCats prints, from my cover artwork for Issue Three. A small handful have a ThunderCats logo remarque too. I don’t often do this kind of stuff, I’m rarely in a position to offer signed material like this, so lets see if there’s any real interest.
Some behind the scenes stuff: The reason I’ve been able to integrate my art sales into the newsletter and spotlight that work more is that I’m working with a company called Kinetic to arrange it all and facilitate orders. I’ve been wanting to push that side of my work for a while, like with the ART DECO Kickstarter page, etc… but didn’t really have the resources to do it as much as I’d like to. I just wouldn’t be able to do all this on my own but I also didn’t want to just sign up to a new rep with a phonebook of names on their roster. I wanted to stand out a bit more so I talked to Kinetic Managing Director/Co-Owner Andrew Christman about all this and we were on the same page. So The ART DECO store is my baby, but the way I’m describing it; ART DECO is ‘powered’ by Kinetic. They’re able to manage that side of things, update my website with sales info, send the work out, etc, all under my own banner. It’s a lot more involved in a way I was wanting to do, and helps me be more pro-active on that side of things while also being able to concentrate on y’know, making comics.
In the last couple of months I’m very happy with how they’ve been able to help me integrate different parts of my business all under one banner, namely my website/this newsletter in a more streamlined way. It’s my hope that people who are interested in art/merch are driven to the actual comics I’m doing, while also giving Declarations readers [including those of you who are more dedicated followers of my work] a more direct and exclusive path to picking up artwork, should ye want to.
I was on the Comic Art Live show last week talking about this move along with Andrew Christman. If you’re interested in that stuff, you should have a watch. I was thinking I might have Andrew on TAPE DEC to talk about this kind of stuff as he is someone I’m collaborating with and it’s a subject that is’t discussed much. Anyway, have a listen, and check out Kinetic for more.
OUT SOON
May 22nd
THUNDERCATS #4 [W,VC]
THE RIBBON QUEEN TP VOL 01 (C)
May 29th
AVENGERS TWILIGHT #6 [VC]
MIDNIGHT SONS BLOOD HUNT #1 [VC]
June 05th
BLOOD HUNTERS #2 [VC]
June 12th
THUNDERCATS #5 [W,C]
June 26th
MIDNIGHT SONS BLOOD HUNT #2 [VC]
The Deadpool/Wolverine promo piece is great, good on you for making the cowl. The Thundercats signed print looks sick as well, great comp on that one. Totally hear you on feeling spread thin but also excited about all the projects!
Mooney brining the Thunder! Wow that looks amazing.