June Contest #2 – Win a HUGE ass piece of black and white art

We’ve almost hit the end of June. Summer’s on and the year is half up.

We’ve got our book now sitting in the July issue of Previews. You may have spotted this postage-sized image in it. It can be found in the independent comic section under Optimum Wound. Order code for your local comic shop is JUL09 1019. It’s hitting shops in early September. You can pre-order it at your comic store and soon on Amazon.

Congrats to Margo for winning our first contest a few weeks ago. Your package finally went out and you should be receiving your artwork and Rex graphic novella shortly. And now we come to our second contest in celebration of the release of Optimum Wound Volume One. This is a larger pen and ink drawing measuring 11 inches wide and 17 inches tall.

And it’s yours to win.
As the usual bonus I’ll send you a copy of Danijel Zezelj’s Rex in the package.

THE RULES
Just answer this question in the comments section.
Now that 2009 is almost half over what do you most hope to accomplish by the end of the year?

1. Leave your answer on the comment section of this blog.
2. You’re only allowed to post once. I read every comment so I’ll know.
3. Private messages or emails don’t count, it has to be posted on this blog.
4. You have to leave a comment before 11.59pm PST on Monday, June 29th, 2009 to be eligible. BEST ANSWER WINS. Then I’ll contact the winner by email and announce them publicly next Friday, July 3rd on the Contest #3 blog.
5. This contest is open to ANYONE in the world. If I have to pay shipping to South Africa or New Zealand, that’s MY problem.

Good luck everyone.
-Jay

Wicked Intent does some custom vinyl recreations of OpWound artwork

Back in mid-October, one of our long-time MySpace friends, Dell contacted us. He has a custom art shop under the name of Wicked Intent in Santa Rosa, California. They specialize in custom guitars, custom painting existing guitars, refurbishing old guitars but what we’re concerned about here is custom vinyl graphics. He thought some of my artwork would translate well into vinyl which happens to be one of the mediums that he excels at.
If you head on over to his MySpace page and take a look through his galleries you’ll see he’s quite accomplished with that craft and many others.

I was blown away with the results that Dell came up with. I asked him to detail his process. This is what he said:

The process for vinyls around here is to first find or make an image you like. You then need to make sure that the image is “vinyl friendly”. Vinyl is very versatile but does have its limits. Too much detail in the image and they are almost always difficult to work with. Most vinyl machines simply work as a plotter. The razor plops down and cuts the outline of the image into the vinyl. Some are more fancy, but I am not that lucky. In the case of the Optimum Wound images, the issue was trying to keep as much detail as possible as to not lose the reflection of the original work. It needs to look like the original image after all. Once the image is revised enough, its off to the cutter for a test. The only way to know if it will work is to cut it out.

Next, one has to peel away the unwanted sections of vinyl to reveal the image. This is why massed produced vinyls tend to not be very detailed. Too much detail is hard to work around with removing extra material. I do not mass produce. I am therefore willing to take a little extra time to work with the material removal. During this process, an exacto knife will be your best friend. Its great for lifting corners and holding down small sections you want that are surrounded by material you don’t.

Once the image is done its time to put on the application paper. This allows you to remove the vinyl sticker from its backing and apply it cleanly to the surface you are working with. Next, clean up the edges in a paper cutter so it looks all neat and pretty and off they go to whoever wanted it in the first place.
It’s a good to have talented friends.
Here are five pictures of Dell’s creations followed by 2 of the pen and ink pieces that he based them on.
-Jay

VINYL CREATIONS BY DELL OF WICKED INTENT

PEN AND INK DRAWINGS BY JASON THIBAULT

Forming an Alliance with Heavy Ink

A few months before we put out Rex I got in touch with the guys at HeavyInk.com. They’re a new online store aiming to become the Amazon of the comic book industry.

I had read the interview with Heavy Ink head honcho, Travis Corcoran last April at Comics Reporter and really liked what he had to say. I figured we’re a new publisher and they’re a new store. Let’s try to make something happen.

When Rex was finally published in May so I sent Travis a copy. By the summer Heavy Ink was carrying a healthy supply of the graphic novel in their inventory.

I’m still new on their system but on top of the online store they have a full blown social network, forum and RSS feeds for every comic series which you can subscribe to.

I think the main selling point to consumers is the 20% off every item that they carry and the free shipping. There’s A LOT of people who don’t live close to a comic store that this will appeal to.

I’ll revisit this later in the year after I’ve had a chance to explore their system in further deal.

In the meantime you can now buy Danijel Zezelj’s Rex at Heavy Ink.

-Jay

Words and Pictures with Jacen Burrows

By Richard Serrao

I recently interviewed Jacen Burrows and as always he’s very easy to talk to with no attitude despite being an awesome in demand artist. I’ve been a fan of his for a long time now, ever since he drew a comic called Skid Roze for Everette Hartsoe. For more info check out his website, livejournal or Myspace Page.

First professional work (piece / year) and maybe a quick story behind it.

I worked as Scott Clark’s background assistant for a few Wildstorm books back in the early 90’s. I can’t remember issue numbers but it was during the Moore run and also included the Spawn Wildcats crossover. That was a lot of fun.

Self-taught or formally educated? (or mixture of both, mentors etc…)

I did go to art school. I am a sequential art graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design but I would still say I am mostly self taught. Art School doesn’t really teach you things so much as give you an opportunity to just constantly work and figure things out for yourself.

Tools of the trade: Taking a quick glance over at your pens, brushes etc…what tools have you mainly been using over the last few years?

All my work is digitally inked so all I use is pencil and paper. Standard 11×17 bristol and an assortment of pencil brands but all 2H to H with some 4H pencils for roughs.

Favorite brand of ink?

When I did ink I always used Black Magic

Type of paper:

I buy my stuff from Blue Line Pro who offer some great deals in bulk. I usually get 300 sheets at a time of 2 ply standard finish.

Which artists or creators do you return to for a quick boost of inspiration? Who are the masters of ink?

I am constantly looking through new artists but the ones I can always go back to for inspiration are Frazetta, Wrightson, Quitely, Adam Hughes, Josh Middleton and Katsuhiro Otomo. I always have a few pieces of each of their work near my desk.

Once a client has handed off an illustration job to you, how do you first tackle the job. Could you give us a quick overview of your process?

There’s no real mystery to it. I like to go somewhere quiet and reread the script or descriptions a few times till I start getting ideas and then thumbnail out as many quick ideas as I can until something feels right and I can start developing that direction more. All done small on scrap paper. Once I have sketches I like I can move to the big paper. I try not to do a whole lot of the development on the final sheet because it can damage the tooth of the paper or cause dirty spots that don’t erase clean and disrupt the scan. One tip though, if you are ever having trouble getting in the zone, turn off all your noise. No TV, music, no people or pets, nothing but you and the page. The silence will kick start you and once going you can go back to whatever you normally do.

What’s currently sitting in your mp3 / CD player / turntable?

I’ve been going through a phase lately with less music than in the past. I have been listening to a lot of audio books while I work and I’m currently working the Chuck Palahniuk library. When I do listen to music I lean towards really dark atmospheric stuff like Inade, Godspeed and the recent Nine Inch Nails Ghosts or heavier stuff like Dozer, High on Fire, Devildriver and God Forbid. But I listen to a little bit of everything. The new Atmosphere is great.

What’s hanging on your walls and what is your favorite piece of art that you own (not created by you).

I have a lot of art up, mostly surrealists. I have some prints from Wayne Barlow, Cam Kennedy and Beksinski I really like a lot. I have a poster version of this one I really dig:

Last novel you read and last movie that you saw (that you’d recommend)?

Cows by Matt Stokoe and .REC the Spanish horror movie being remade in the US as Quarantine or Wall-E.

Current and upcoming projects?

I’m currently working my way through CROSSED, a 9-issue horror survival series with Garth Ennis about the end of humanity and the most horrible things we can do to each other. After that I’ll be finishing up an Alan Moore miniseries I’ve been working on for a while.

What would you tell an aspiring artist who is working his ass off but still needs and wants to break through to the next level?

Never take the easy or lazy way out. Do the hard angles if you think it makes better storytelling. Fill up the pages with details. Always remember you are competing with the best out there, not the worst currently working and you have to do the work. No shortcuts. Editors and publishers will respect a strong work ethic and a desire to improve over all else.

Previous Masters of Ink:
Tom Denney
Richard Serrao
Tony Moore
Erik Rose
Chris Weston
Jim Blanchard
Nathan Fox
Tom Denney
Richard Serrao
Dan Mumford
Ryan Jones
Rufus Dayglo
Kody Chamberlain

Masters of Ink #10 – Tony Moore answers 12 questions

Over the last few months we spoke with an incredible line-up of comic creators, poster artists and illustrators. Here’s one of the twelve interviews.

By Richard Serrao & Jason Thibault
12 Questions with Tony Moore

Tony Moore first came to my attention as a comic book artist during the first year of The Walking Dead. Richard sent me over a few copies in the mail to check out and I was immediately taken with Tony’s style. He drew the first 6 issues and stayed on as the cover artist through issue 24. He has made his mark as serious creator of genre works and has continued on with The Exterminators (with Simon Oliver) and Fear Agent (with Rick Remender).

First professional work (piece / year) and maybe a quick story behind it.

I don’t know if you can call it “professional” but my first book was Battle Pope, which Robert Kirkman and I released in 2000, under our independent label Funk-O-tron. We’d been friends since we were 12, which at that point had been about 8 years. He had some ideas and wanted to try publishing and he gave me a call. I was finishing my freshman year of art school and was down to try anything. It was a learning experience, and led to the job which allowed to quit my day job at UPS, which was Masters of the Universe’s Icons of Evil:
Beastman, a one-shot featuring the He-man villain.

Self-taught or formally educated? (or mixture of both, mentors etc…)

Much of what I know about comics was from obsessively reading and studying them. as far as comics illustration goes, I’d say I’m self-taught. But, I did go to art school, where I majored in Drawing and endeavored to learn as much about fine art as I could. I took a lot of Life Drawing classes, as well as Painting and Printmaking. I think I learned a lot, most of which translated into some insight into drawing comics in one way or another, if not directly.

Tools of the trade: Taking a quick glance over at your pens, brushes etc…what tools have you mainly been using over the last few years?

My standbys are Pilot v7 pens, Micron pigment liners (sizes 005, 01, 03), and round sable watercolor brushes. I used to buy small brushes, like size 0 or 2, but I recently fell in love with this ratty cheap size 8 brush. It’s giant and ugly, but it holds a load of ink, and has a miraculously fine point, which allows me to do a ton of work with it. Also, I like those Sharpie white poster paint pens for small corrections and negative drawing.

Favorite brand of ink:

Yasutomo & Co Sumi ink. Doesn’t appear to have shellac in it, so it’s easy to work with and washes out of my brushes if I carelessly forget to wash them.

Type of paper:

Strathmore 500 2 ply. All rag content, holds up to some abuse, and I can run it through my printer.

Which artists or creators do you return to for a quick boost of inspiration? Who are the masters of ink?

I keep a lot of EC comics around. Jack Davis, Wally Wood, John Severin, Will Elder.. those guys are my heroes. I also keep Joe Kubert, Moebius, Robert Crumb, and Guarnido nearby, as well. All these guys draw their asses off and have been a pretty definite influence on how I draw.

Once a client has handed off an illustration job to you, how do you first tackle the job. Could you give us a quick overview of your process?

I read the script and break down the pages at 2″ x 3″. Working this small allows me to focus on the storytelling and not get hung up in needless details. Then I scan those, and add gutter spacing and resize panels where needed, composing my final layout in Photoshop, where I print it out in 6% Cyan at 10″ x 15″. Then, I lay in some loose pencils to get started and start inking. I do a lot of the drawing work in ink, and rarely do a lot of tight penciling beforehand. Sometimes I’ll have someone else inking me, in which case I spend quite a bit of time penciling all the details in instead of inking it. This usually only saves me a couple of hours, but a couple hours on each page and 22 pages per book, sometimes it adds up to quite a bit of time saved. Then, finally, I scan the pages, and in the cases where I have an inker, I mail them off to have the book finished.

What’s currently sitting in your mp3 / CD player / turntable?

A lot. I listen to music all day every day. I really love honkytonk, outlaw country, and alt-country. A lot of today’s new stuff has gotten so pop, it’s just soft-rock garbage. Country’s a natural fit for me, because it’s storytelling. Johnny Cash, Shel Silverstein, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Steve Earle, Neko Case, Gram Parsons, Southern Culture on the Skids, Buck Owens, Allison Krauss, Flatt and Scruggs, and all 3 Hank Williams, just to name a few. That’s not to say I don’t mix it up. I love the guys on the Rhymesayers label, and have a big collection of Norwegian black metal. Two of my all-time favorite bands are They Might Be Giants and Queen. My random playlists sound like crazy person programmed them.

What’s hanging on your walls and what is your favorite piece of art that you own (not created by you)?

Surprisingly little hanging on my studio walls, actually, but my favorite piece of artwork I own is the original painting of Fear Agent done by my hero, Jack Davis. The guy is 82 and still doesn’t miss a beat. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and to have an original EC comics master draw my character is a career high. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t get any better than that.

Last novel you read and last movie that you saw (that you’d recommend)?

Unfortunately, I can’t remember the last novel I read. typically if I’m awake enough to read and comprehend, I figure I should be using the energy to work. The last book I read on a whim was The Stranger by Camus, and it was years ago. I bought The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard, and never got more than a handful of pages into it. The last movie I watched was High Plains Drifter, which is a load of awesome. The last new movie I watched was probably No Country For Old Men, which I also enjoyed greatly.

Current and upcoming projects.

Right now, I’m working on Fear Agent: I Against I, which is a 6 issue arc of space western madness on the book I co-created with Rick Remender. Beyond that, nothing is set in stone, but I have talked to some editors about some potentially tasty projects.

What would you tell an aspiring artist who is working his ass off but still needs and wants to break through to the next level?

Keep at it and chase the dream. Always be studious and working to improve yourself. When you’re complacent, you’re dead. Working in comics is kinda like that fight scene in Cool Hand Luke, where Newman gets the hell beaten out of him but won’t stay down. If, like me, you’re too dumb to stay down, then don’t compromise, either. You only get one go-round on this ride, so make it a ride worth taking. Also, don’t mistake working on a ‘big’ book or that ‘next level’ for an
answer to happiness. A lot of guys find that these dream books that look like an oasis on the horizon are actually just mirages, slaving away on someone else’s book with no control or stake in it to show for it. If it ain’t what you want to do, then figure out what makes you happy and go do it, because you never know when your time is up, and if you put off your own happiness, you might never get the chance to pursue it.

For further reading head on over to Tony’s Myspace page or his website

More Masters of Ink:
Jacen Burrows
Erik Rose
Chris Weston
Jim Blanchard
Nathan Fox
Tom Denney
Richard Serrao
Dan Mumford
Ryan Jones
Rufus Dayglo
Kody Chamberlain

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