Happy Halloween!

Halloween Card 2012

TOMORROW I'll be attending the Halloween Comic Fest at Stadium Comics in Shopper's World, Brampton! I'll be joined by many wonderful talents, including my #1 collaborator, Fred Kennedy!

Come see me draw my very special halloween card, as seen above, tomorrow morning and afternoon and join in the festivities.

This Week In Drawing...

Beginning here and now is a new weekly segment where I will showcase all the art I've done in the past seven days, aptly titled This Week In Drawing.

While tidying my work space it occurred to me that I'm now drawing more than ever. I don't just mean work on Teuton or other sequential projects, but I'm also doing more commissions and practice sketching than ever before.

This increased output of art is no accident. I'm trying very hard to hone my craft and become speedier. While there aren't always a series of finished pages and pieces I can show off in a week, there are lots of little sketches, unfinished drawings and lost thoughts on paper that accumulate. It's here in this segment those will be shared.

Powie.

This week I worked on two Marvel sketch variants commissioned by a regular patron of Stadium Comics. The dude is a huge fan of The Punisher and challenged me draw Big Pun dispatching the variant covers' titular characters as harshly as I could imagine.

First was The Death of Spider-Man variant for Ultimate Spider-Man #160. Although I didn't read that storyline, I was aware the Punisher was partly responsible for Ultimate Spidey's downfall. So I chose a composition that reflected that particular plot, but also recalled The Punisher's first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129. (FYI; my favourite Spidey/Punisher comic is Amazing #577)

The second cover, Wolverine #310, I began loosely without much forethought into the composition. Whenever I think of Wolverine scrapping with the Punisher, I think of that issue by Garth Ennis and Darrick Robertson that saw Logan getting his face blown off and being steamrolled. What I recall most is the reaction of Frank Tieri, who was writing Wolverine at the time, and was so very pissed at how Ennis handled Wolverine that Tieri responded in kind with Wolverine #186. Though I think Ennis got the better of them both. Frank Castle proved to be the far nastier fighter in both comics, and Tieri suggesting the Punisher is a closet homosexual at the end of his respective book felt like juvenile name-calling. 

Anyway, this is all to say I couldn't get the image of a shotgun blast to the face out of my mind. I was really pleased with what came out. I put more work into the pencils than I normally do and got cold feet about inking it...

Another commission that came my way was for a young boy's birthday. The lad wanted a Mega Man, and that's exactly what homie got. Here's the sketch and the final...

And of course there was this weeks entry to Spitballin' Comics: Sailor Moon. As I say in that blog post, she's a character I'm largely unfamiliar with and I had low expectations for this particular sketch. My first draft looked like she was doing something indecent with her wand. Then the water colours caused the ink to bleed. When I thought it was pooched I left it for a time, and when I returned I was able to make it work.

Then there is always my regular comic work. This week I turned in the final page for the Teuton: Volume One reprint. You can see all the new pages for the reprint here and here.

While working on Teuton: Volume Three, I'll also be doing interiors for a story called The Forgetting in the third issue of Undertow, which is written by Luke Donkersloot and impeccably illustrated by Gibson-Fucking-Quarter. Learn more about Undertow @ The 7th Wave, and hear Gib talk about Undertow with the wonderful Alice Quinn from TdotComics here.

Here's some early page roughs and character designs for the book:

Lastly, here's some character roughs for a story I'll be writing as well as drawing. I won't say any more about it just yet:

New Sub-Standard Sequential Art!

TEUTON Volume One Re-Issue pt.2

I'm really trying to loosen up how I draw and ink. Instead of striving to be detail oriented, like most my previous work on Teuton, I'm now working at capturing fluid motions and really moving the eye across the page.

This is the first balls-out action sequence in this new round of Teuton, and I hope my new approach works well. I'll never stop working to improve, but I think I like where this is taking me.

I'd be happy to hear from anyone on what they think. Enjoy!

Episode 100 Shenanigans

Last night Stadium Comics taped their one hundredth episode of their web series, Unboxing Wednesdays. I was in attendance, and for the record I had a great time.

Courtesy of David Bishop's phone.

Inside the Irish football club where it was held, it was fantastic seeing so many friendly and familiar faces from the GTA comic scene. Shaun Hatton greeted me warmly with hugs and kisses; Alice Quinn very kindly kept my courage up before climbing the stage; David Bishop shared with me his exciting new comic, Deep Sea. The night was filled with small, enjoyable interactions with people I genuinely like.

That's really what makes Stadium Comics and the guys who run it especially great--they've cultivated a community of comic creators and comic lovers who all want to see each other do well. A network of support and appreciation exists between creators, bloggers, video hosts, readers, fans, collectors; and it exists because Stadium likes bringing people together.

So it was fun getting together with everyone. It was a pleasure being given some time under the spotlight in a very off the cuff talking panel. It was nice having a few words with almost everyone in a inebriated state. I can't wait to do it again for Episode 200.

Thanks, everyone!

Self Portrait

TEUTON: Volume One Re-Issue pt.1

Art Sale / Some More Fan Expo Coverage!

Geek Hard @ Fan Expo 2012



Mr. Green from Geek Hard interviewed Fred and I at our table during Fan Expo weekend. The lads at GH are all great guys and it's always a pleasure seeing them at shows. I actually had the pleasure of doodling Dr. Octopus in Green's sketchbook.

Incidentally, Geek Hard's Andrew Young published a positive review of Teuton: Volume Two, and for that I say "Heck yes!" My thanks to everyone for being so rad and treating me well at conventions.

Art For Sale

Also from Fan Expo are several pieces of original art that I'm casually putting up for sale. I figure this will be something I do semi-regularly, just have a limited sale on sketches and original pieces or whatever, including the pieces I've done for Spitballin' Comics. Exciting?

The sale items are listed below and can be purchased via Paypal. E-mail me to lay claim to an item: adam.gorham@live.ca

There's probably a smarter way of doing this, but for now this is how I'm playing it out. Cheers!

SOLD! Watercolours, India Ink, and Copic Marker on Stathmore

$20 - Ink on Marvel Sketch Cover

$40 - Watercolour and India Ink on Strathmore

$25 - India Ink on 8" x 11"

$25 - India Ink on 8" x 11"

Art and Shirts Colliding

I took a recent sketch of mine and made it into a t-shirt. I'm quite pleased with it. So far it's one of a kind, unless of course someone can get me to make another.

The image is made from die cut vinyl and looks crisp and slick on the garment. I toyed with adding more colours, but I like the simplicity of the black and white. Keeping that sketchy feel felt right. Except for Ghost's eyes. Those are red.

I've also made a shirt of my Evil Eddie piece I created for Base Camp X. It's a gift to my buddy Graeme, who for the record is awesome.