This month’s Diamond Previews has the Horrorwood Volume 1 Trade available to pre order. It contains all four issues of the book and also a great introduction by good friend Martin Powell. Order Code to give to your local comic shop is AUG07 3370. If they have trouble just tell them they can look at the newest issue of Previews on page 230.

If you want to get something that is a little more unique we are also creating a DIRECTOR’S CUT EDITION that contains everything mentioned above but also comes with a DVD that will have a short feature on the making of the book with interviews with me and co creator Brandon Terrell. It will also have an image gallery of art along with a couple of feature length horror films that inspired the series. Kind of different and kind of neat. Order code for that is AUG07 3371.

We really need the support on this as there is a specific number we have to hit in order to make the book financially reasonable to print. So all the support helps.

We will be doing a special promotion with the comic mail order service DCBS (Discount Comic Book Service). Anyone who pre orders the book through them will receive a special sketch by me along with their order.

So please help us out if you can. If you picked all the issues up when they came out I hope we’ve got something here that you think you would like to have along with those. Thanks!

Here’s the painted cover that my friend Scott did. He took some of my sketches and concepts for it and just created a really kick ass cover for it. Worth it just to have this.

Brent

Good old friend Scott Schomburg is heading out to the mecca that is The San Diego Comic Con today. He is one of the Finalist for The 2007 Comic Book Challenge from Platinum Studios. Scott’s got a great concept called J.O.B. and The Forever Five. Here’s a sample page and link to his Comicspace page.

Scott was also nice enough to pump out the cover to the upcoming Horrorwood trade which will be available for pre order this August. More on that this Friday.

Brent

Whooo, this weekend was another wild one in front of the computer. Lots of work to be done around here. I’m looking forward to the fall and the start of the football season. Things just seem to slow down a little more around that time. The weather is still nice but you know it could get cold any day. Summer in Minnesota’s you always seem to cram so much stuff into it that even though it’s stuff you should be enjoying, you are so busy it’s gets kind of hard to relax.

Anyway speaking of stuff you should be enjoying I wrapped up my Marvel Masterpiece cards a week ago. I think they turned out pretty good. I can’t really show any yet but I did snap a few photos from a safe distance as to not spoil anything. My only regret is that I planned a trip that fell during the turn around for these which basically left me with half the amount of time to work on them before I had to turn them in. Anyway I’ll post more when they let me.

Brent

So once again not much art to post today. I do however have some awesome links to some awesome stuff that you should totally check out.

1. Around Comics Podcast- in their newest episode artist Scottie Young and Mike Norton discuss what it’s like being a comic artist. They talk about everything from keeping a regular schedule, the types of supplies they use, and of course what writer’s do that drive them nuts. This show is always great but they really nailed this one out of the park. Still being a little green in the comic world it was great to learn and also relate to so many things.

2. Citypages: “Tales of the Twin Cities” special comic issue. this weeks issue was an all comics issue. I’m pissed that I missed the chance to submit an story.

3. Blue Sky Comics: Ben Hall. Great comic artist Ben Hall recently revamped his site and has made it more of a sketch blog. Check out his cool stuff like his upcoming project KnuckleJelly and also his wife Marlena’s great blog.

and click here if you want to see what tv show will be the inspiration for a small project I am going to be working on later this year for a publisher.
Enjoy!

Brent

Recently I’ve been on a western comic kick for some reason. I have some old stuff down in the basement from DC and also a friend let me borrow Vertigo’s first trade of the book Loveless by Brian Azzarello.

One character I’ve always thought was cool but never read too much of was Jonah Hex. I’ve been picking up his new series here and there when I get a chance. The great thing about the new series is that each issue tends to wrap itself up and you hardly ever have to pick up another issue to get the entire story. I wish more comics would attempt this. There are other books out that do it but they get disregarded as not being important due to the size and scope of the story which is crazy as anyone who reads this sketch blog knows I showed you that you can do a twelve page Flash story where he goes to the future to help a robot version of Abe Lincoln. If that’s not powerful storytelling I really don’t know what is. Here’s a Jonah Hex piece I did a while back.

Brent

I remember before I started doing this sketch blog that I had taken some time to really just go crazy with some drawings to get some fresh material to have and also have stuff for when I got really busy and didn’t have time to make anything for it. Well all that material is pretty much gone. Going to have to scan a bunch of new stuff soon.

Anyway something I did a while back was create a submission for a website called Project Rooftop. This is a fun site that spotlights creators by having them redesign established characters. I had an itch to take a stab at Green Arrow. When I started to draw him it was coming out fine but the more I got into it the more I had created a brand new character as oppose to just a fun redesign. Obviously this is not Oliver Queen. Maybe it’s a new sidekick? Anyway I enjoyed working on this piece even though it’s purpose got lost somewhere during the creation.

Brent

So I had no clue what I was going to write about today. I got up a little early to kind of scan through some sketches and figured I’d find something. I didn’t need to look long. I totally forgot I scanned this image in a year or two ago. I was on a flight to California by myself and had an exit row seat. Going through the instruction guide that was passed out to me I quickly noticed that this manual was a little different than the rest. Talk a look.

If you missed it here’s a closer look.

What the hell is a magician doing on the emergency exit manual? No offense to magicians but really, would they come on the plane dressed in a purple suit and a top hat? Ah well, at least whoever designed this had fun with it.

Brent

In 2005 while in San Diego for the Comic Con (which is coming up this month, sadly I won’t be there) I picked up a collection of the original Phantom comic strips by Lee Falk. The Phantom is one of the first costumed heroes and often get overlooked. His biggest claim to fame is a somewhat blah movie made in the nineties starring Billy Zane.

The Phantom is actually a really kick ass character and deserves for recognition among the comic community. I recently read an old issue of The Phantom and was reading a bio on Lee Falk and found out that famous Italian director Federico Fellini was a part of a Phantom comic strip fan club.

Moonstone books does a great job of keeping the character alive in comic form but for I’ve always felt that he really belonged in the comic strips. Some of the best artist have worked on the character there such as Ray Moore and Graham Nolan.

Falk also created another cool character named Mandrake the Magician. Though never quite reaching the success that The Phantom had he was still a great character that held his own comic strip for several years and a comic book through King Comics.

Brent

Sorry for all you out there that thought this post was going to be about that sweet Rodney Dangerfield movie.

Tomorrow I start my second year teaching a summer course at MCAD. I’m looking forward to it. Last year I sort of followed many of the basic training in books like How to Make Comics the Marvel Way, and some other books on making comics. This year we are going to change it up a little. I’ve been reading Making Comics by Scott McCloud and found some other great tutorials online that I think might make the class better.

Sorry for the lack of art posted on the site. Been very busy with a lot of work that I can’t show yet. Next month is going to be a big promotional month as I’ll have the Horrorwood Trade and the first book of Astronaut Dad in Previews. So things should be picking up pretty quickly.

Brent