The Power Cosmic 2000, Part 1

My C2E2 trip to Chicago was over a week ago and I'm still trying to get a post up about the show. Sad, eh?

The short of it is the con went well for me. I got to meet new people, visit with people I knew already, buy cheap comic trades and get some invaluable reviews of my Marvel sample.

The long of it...? Well, it goes a little something like this...

Thursday afternoon, I flew into O'Hare without any problems... other than trying to figure out how to get downtown to my hotel without it costing $28+. I was already on the hook for $25 cab rides to and from my house to the Vancouver airport so paying more for cab rides was not the option I was looking for. Along came the Chicago Transit Authority and their Blue Line train. $2.25 to go downtown. Sold! Just make sure you have exact change, though.

The train ride was pretty cool. I got to see different parts of South Chicago from the safety of a moving train. The stations were kinda dodgy and I felt like I was being cased as an easy victim (middle class white dude with suitcase looking for maps trying to figure out where to go) but I managed to find my hotel without incident.

It was on the walk to the hotel I wished I had a camera. This was surprising as I've never had that urge when in other US cities. Maybe it's because the city is so old, unlike the western coast cities I usually go to...? Anyway, the architecture and the city planning were very cool to look at. Very inspiring to a guy that likes to draw stuff like that.

I was to meet Michael May, Grant Gould and Uko Smith in the hotel lobby around 4PM. It was 3:45PM when I got there so asked the clerk to tell them I was in the hotel diner/bar having a drink. Time passed slowly as I waiting for their arrival. I ordered some food and another drink, all the while Top Gun was playing on the TV overhead. I broke out the brush pens and paper and did a few drawings (see the 2 images in this post and the image from the previous post):

It was around 6PM that Michael and Grant got to the hotel. We went up to the room to wait for Uko. He arrived shortly after that and we headed out for dinner to a pizza place just around the corner from the hotel. It was my first real Chicago deep dish pizza. It was... fine. 'Nuff Said. Early night to bed as I was exhausted from having no sleep the night before. I was literally working on my Marvel sample pages 15 minutes before calling for my cab to the airport at 4AM. Anyways...

Friday morning, Michael and I arrived at the con around noon, as we didn't have to be there early to set up a table like Uko and Grant. I like the feeling of not having to set up, actually. I get to come and go whenever I like. It was cool of Grant let us use his table as home base, though. Carrying all my stuff around the con is a drag, so having a place to drop it off at is very cool. A tip o'my hat to you, Mr Gould!

It was time to hit the con floor!

Check out the next installment, tomorrow !

Me and Brent Schoonover chatting about... tune in tomorrow to find out!

Keep Yourself Alive

This sketch was done in the hotel bar while waiting for my C2E2 roommates to show up. I'll be writing more about my Chicago experience this weekend but I thought I'd better put something up here so you all would know I'm still alive!

The Goin' Get Tough From The Getgo

I'm working my way towards the last page of my Cloak & Dagger sample pencils. I'm feeling pretty good about them. The last page is going to be tough to finish as I have to almost completely redesign it. After doing the previous pages it has become apparent that the last page just isn't up to the others, in terms of layout design.

I need to put it into high gear if I want to have all 5 pages ready for my 4:30 AM departure, on Thursday! Wish me luck!

My Old School

Things are coming down to the wire. I'm working my ass off trying to get my Marvel sample pages ready for C2E2 (I leave for Chicago on Thursday!). I'm about halfway through them and I think they are decent. I'm sure once I pull them out at the show I'll see tons of things I'll want to fix. But, for now, they seem to be working out nicely.

The image above is of 2 panels from my Cloak & Dagger sample.

Everything Is Broken

I've shifted gears a bit and have begun working on some Marvel sample pages. My plan is to have at least 5 pages of pencils ready to show C.B. Cebulski at C2E2, which is a brand new convention happening in Chicago in less than 2 weeks. I was going to work from a Spider-Man Team Up script that C.B. had given me but I had the good fortune of getting writer/editor Stuart Moore to let me use one of his scripts, instead. The script I'm working from now is the Cloak & Dagger one shot that just came out called, "The Broken Church". So far, the roughs are looking good. Let's hope the final penciled pages turn out solid!

Going To California

That's it, folks! I'm walking out the door for ECCC! Makes sure you drop by the Pop Goes The Icon booth Saturday, if you can. I would love to meet you all!

Good + Bad Times

These pages are from the Marvel Age Team Up #4 script by Todd Dezago. Big shout out to Todd for sending me the script! I had a lot of fun doing this and I hope that it made me a stronger artist. There are definitely things I would change. No page is without some need of tweeking, that's for sure. But, as promised, here are the 5 sample pages I took with me to the Emerald City Comic Con... warts and all. Feedback is always welcome. Good or bad, as long as it is constructive, it's all good.

page 1

page 2

page 3

page 4

page 5

All The Madmen

Crunch time! Working like a madman to get the Thor/Spider-Man sample pages done for Saturday. Here's another panel from one of those pages.

The Emerald City Comic Con looks like it's going to be a fun time. Lots of people to talk to. More than I originally thought, which is cool. I may even buy some comics...

Both Ends Burning

I'm. So. Sleepy. Burning the candle at both ends to get my work finished for Emerald City. It's going to be tight.

This is the first panel of the first page of my Marvel sample stuff. Looking at it now, it reminds me of the cover to "Amazing Fantasy" #15, the first appearance of Spider-Man. Kind of fitting, no?

Flight Of The Snow Goose

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I'm hard at work on Thor stuff but I thought I'd share a fully complete page of Braids of the Gorgon. We just got back the lettered pages from Kel Nuttall and they look AWESOME! This pitch is looking so good!

Oh, yeah. I just booked my flight and hotel for my trip to Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC. Looking forward to hanging with Braids writer Ken Faggio. I've know Ken for about 8 years but this will be the first time meeting him in person!

Beat The Time

Here are a couple of rough panels from the Thor sample pages I'm putting together for the upcoming Emerald City Comic Con. They still need a bit of work but the pages are shaping up nicely.

Besides the Thor pages, I still have to work on some Braids of the Gorgon stuff, also for showing around at ECCC. Seems, time is my enemy at this point.

Eraserhead

Work on the Thor sample pages has commenced! Friend and writer extraordinaire, Todd Dezago, stepped up big for me and sent over a script he wrote for Marvel that has Thor in it! It's a Marvel Age Team Up script, so I get to draw Spider-Man, too! Here's a rough of one of the panels from it. Pay no attention to the floating head in the upper left... that was a failed first attempt which happened to be just nice enough to not warrant erasure. I'll Photoshop it out when I make my rough layout to pencil from.

And here are a couple of Thor villains that I love to draw but aren't in the Dezago script. Oh well, maybe next time, Hela and Loki.

Underwater Rimes (remix)

Work on portfolio page continues. Here are a few of the rough panels I've worked out for a couple of the pages. This scene takes place underwater (I hope that fact was already evident or I didn't do a very good job!) which is something I don't think I've ever had to draw much of. If I have, I've forgotten about it. While I'm pressing forward on these pages, I am also starting to work up some Marvel sample pages for a portfolio review with C.B. Cebulski. He'll be at the Emerald City Comic Con looking though portfolios and it's a great opportunity to hear what he thinks of my stuff.

Unfinished Sweet

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I've begun to work on some portfolio pages to show around when I'm down at the Emerald City Comic Con in April. These drawings are me working out a few panels for one of the pages. Normally, I would consider these my finished "pencils", meaning I would ink from these, but I think I'll have to tighten them up more for the sake of showing them to editors. Or should I? I'm planning on inking the portfolio pages, too. Maybe I should be showing editors exactly how I work, even if it is from pencils as loose as these? I'm new to this showing a portfolio around thing so any thoughts from people would be helpful.

Here's a quick sketch of Eury, from Braids of the Gorgon. It seems that even when I'm done drawing a project (for now), I still end up drawing characters from it when I should be drawing other things.

Trouble With The Sweet Stuff

Sketching stuff.

After finishing up the Braids of the Gorgon art, I began to wonder what I should focus my attention on. I'm in a weird spot, project wise. I should have a Perhapanauts story coming to me to draw in the near future, and it might be a long one, so I want to make sure I have the time and energy to make that kick ass. And, if either Kill All Monsters! or Braids find a home, I'll need to be able too give them the time they will demand. So starting something big just doesn't make sense. Then it hit me, I should put together some portfolio pages for my upcoming trip to the Emerald City Comic Con. And that's just what I'm going to do.

More drawings on Friday.

Divine Intervention

This is the Pallus Athena, patron goddess of Athens. She is another one of our major characters, as her presence is woven throughout Braids.

One of the things I love about Braids of the Gorgon is that it deals with the mythology of the ancient Greeks. As much as I love Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze (and I really do love that book), I can't help wishing it had some Greek Gods in it, meddling in human affairs. That's just where my heart felt interests lay. Heck, they don't even have to be almighty Gods erupting with cosmic power. They just have to walk among the masses and exude their divine influence.

All the Braids character sketches have now been coloured and are ready for inclusion in the pitch packages that Ken, James and I will be sending out soon! Actually, the pitch should be ready to go for the Emerald City Comic Con, which is at the beginning of April in Seattle. There will be a few excellent publishers at the show that would make a great home for Braids. Once we know that the pitch is ready, we'll try to set up some meetings with them. Ken showed some of the Braids material around at the New York City Con and got some genuine interest in the book, so hopefully showing the whole pitch will get us picked up for publication.

Steppin' In A Slide Zone

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I'm just stepping out the door to catch my flight to Minneapolis! FallCon 2008, here I come! Here's a panel from the Perhapanauts backup story I'm working on. Inking of said story should commence when I get back from the convention!

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Lorelei

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James Powell, editor of Braids of The Gorgon, has just written about how he got involved Braids and where we are, in terms of progress in the project. He even shared a couple of my character sketches I've recently done (different drawings from the one I'm sharing!). He's a valued member of the BotG team and a great guy. Go check out his site by clicking here.

I'll be out in Minnesota this weekend for FallCon 2008! Looking forward to hanging with good friends, talking to comic fans and making flight connections in Chicago (well, not that last one)! I'll have my brand new convention sketchbook, Marks On Paper, for sale so please drop by and give it a looky. Talk too you soon!

Catch My Fall

One week from now I will be attending FallCon 2008, in Minnesota! Looks to be a great show. Hope to see some of you there!

Heart Of Lothian: Wide Boy/Curtain Call

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Here's a page from my new convention sketchbook, Marks On Paper. These are a few panels from a short story that Josh Fialkov and I did for a anthology that never materialized. On the left are the panels in their pencilled form, and on the right are the same panels in their final inked form. I like pages like this, as they help show my process, sort of a peek behind the curtain.

The sketchbook will be making its debut at Fallcon, which happens in a few weeks! The books have already been shipped and they will be waiting for me in Minnesota upon my arrival.