Mother Stands For Comfort

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This is Lorelei, mother of Dacius and Damara, and the high priestess of Athena’s cult. She is gifted with many strange esoteric powers. She may have been responsible for the dead of her husband...

Another Braids character sketch, as promised.
Now I'm going to lay down and continue to be sick.

The King Of Bedside Manor

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Still sick. Still trying to work on Braids character sketches.

Here's one of Damara's brother, Dacius. Dacius is the King of Athens and son of the city’s high priestess, Lorelei.

Drive My Car

The last few days weren't very productive, comic book making wise. I got a new computer and Jackie and I (well, Jackie really) were attempting to make the transition over as smooth as possible. For the most part, it went fairly well. Finding drivers for my large format printer and scanner was a bit interesting but it all worked out. In fact, my scanner works better now than it did before the switch! So a HUGE thank you goes out to Jackie for making sure I'm all set up!

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I did manage to finish the colours for one of the inked Braids character sketches. This is Damara, sister to the King and captain of the royal guard. She's a can of whoop-ass, that's for sure.

More coloured character sketches coming soon!

All Summer Single

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No single panel post this time! Here's a fully coloured page from Braids of the Gorgon, for your perusal. Hope you dig it.

Now I'm off to ink the character sketches for the Braids pitch.

Easy

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I've finished the colours for the Braids pages. Well, they might need a tweek here and there, but they are 98% finished. I've moved to drawing up some more character sketches for the pitch. They'll need to be inked and then coloured, but that colouring will be super easy.

Oh yeah... with the release of Perhapanauts #5 and the reading of the whole Bone collection, I have already accomplished 2 of my New Year resolutions! And the new year is only 3 weeks old. Sweet!

Cover Up

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Today is the day, people! Today we see the release of Perhapanauts #5! Man, am I ever excited! Not only because another issue of the Perhapanauts is out, but also because this particular issue contains the 7 page story, "Evaluation", penned by Todd Dezago, coloured by Chris Summers and drawn by me!

And, there's more! Above are the 2 covers that grace this month's issue. The one on the left is the front cover, created by the ever impressive Craig Rousseau and Rico Renzi! The one on the right is the back cover by... well... me! The drawing came pretty fast, but the colouring took me forever! ;)

I hope you all get the chance to check out the book and like what you see!

Hamlet/It Was A Very Good Year

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These are the first 2 panels of the Perhapanauts back up story, Evaluation. I did the line art, it was coloured by Chris Summers and written/lettered by Perhapanauts co-creator Todd Dezago. The story is in Perhapanauts #5, which is out at all comic book shops (that ordered it, that is) tomorrow! Hopefully, you all will get a chance to check out my first time published... in colour! And in an Image book, too! The year has started on a very good note.

Ok, back to colouring the final Braids of the Gorgon page!

Closer

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Getting close, now. I have the first 5 pages of the Braids of the Gorgon pitch completely coloured and ready for the lettering! The last page is a splash page of the Gorgon unleashing some serious power and it has me a little perplexed on how to handle the colouring of it. I have a feeling it will all come together but, since I'm new to the colouring game, it's still a little worrisome. I guess we'll see in the next few days if I can pull it off.

Thanks to all the people who have supported me on my Resolutions (see previous post)! It even helped inspire writer and friend Elton Pruitt to do his own set of resolutions! Great stuff, Elton!

Confidence Man

New Year's resolutions aren't something I normally make. Come December 31st, they tend to be reminders of the things that you failed to do that year. But, after reading David Hopkins' and Jason Rodriguez's resolution posts, I felt like it's something that needs to be done this time around. So without further ado, Jason Copland's 2009 New Year Resolutions!

1. Get more comic work published than 2008.
This one is not going to be hard to achieve, actually. 2008 was pretty dismal in the work published category and I already have 2 things I did art for that should see publication. I'd love for one of my co-created projects (Kill All Monsters! and Braids of the Gorgon) to get a green light but the comic book industry doesn't seem to be taking many chances these days. I'm just a little fish in a huge sea of pros looking to land a creator owned gig. Which brings me to resolution #2...

2. More exposure.
This one goes hand in hand with #1. The publication of more of my work will increase my exposure to new comic people. I'm looking to also increase my exposure on the web, too. I've been trying hard to make sure I have new content for this blog 3 times a week. I've been doing that for just over 3 months and I think it is working. I plan on posting more "work in progress" type stuff here and on sites like Digital Webbing, too.

3. Produce more work.
As a few of my friends will attest to, I am very hard on my self, especially when it comes to my comic work. They say every artist is their worst critic. For me, that holds 100% true. I do believe that that critical voice has made me a better artist but I do feel that it has also kept me from producing work at a faster pace. I tend to worry too much about little things that no one else will ever pick up on. At a certain point, I need to let stuff go and just move on to the next panel/page/whatever.

4. Have more confidence in my work.
Confidence in my work is something that I lack, generally. It is always a surprise when I get someone asking to work with me or wanting to buy art. I can't believe that someone actually thinks I do somewhat notable work. I'm naturally self deprecating so it's hard to know when to be proud of something I've done.

5. Finish reading BONE.
I've tried twice to read the huge Bone book that my wife gave me for Christmas last year. I'm currently working through it. I'm just over half way. It's good but I find myself going off and reading other books when I should be hunkering down and finishing it. I guess it's just a little to "light" for my reading tastes. It's wonderfully written and drawn but it has a little too much... cuteness...? I intend on finishing it, though.

6. Lose weight and maintain it.
Yeah, you knew this one was coming. I've lost about 10lbs since the summer and I have about 5lbs more I'd like to shed. Playing more hockey is helping but it all comes down to the snacking. Jackie and I fell off the snacking wagon a few months ago. Time to get back on it, me thinks.

Well, that's about it. Only time will tell if I can achieve one, some or all of these resolutions but getting them down on paper is one step closer, I guess.

Only Time Will Tell

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Well, that was a nice break! I had a great week away from drawing/inking/colouring comic pages. Lots of quality time with family was had. Much food and drink was consumed. Many pages of comic books were read. Jackie and I even got in a few games of Rock Band, me on the bass and Jack on the guitar (ask us how we kick out the jams on the NIN tune "The Hand That Feeds")! Good times, indeed!

But, now that the New Year is here, it's time to start putting the axe to the grindstone (or mouse to the mouse pad), again. The Braids of the Gorgon pages are slowly making their way towards completion. I have 2 more pages to colour and then it's off to the letterer. Then it's just putting the finishing touches on the pitch package illustrations and off it goes. And after that? Time will tell...

Hope you all had a great Holiday Season!