Comics

I’ve been hinting at what’s been occupying most of my time the last two weeks here, but overtly giving peeks at it on Facebook, however, I haven’t completely revealed just what the heck I did in the windows of the Contemporary Arts Center until now. OK, technically the art installation itself was revealed to the public Thursday, when I put the finishing touch on it. But I haven’t really explained what the heck is going on.

Basically, the CAC separately curates its large, front window display facing Charleston Boulevard separately from the exhibits running inside the gallery. These “East Side Projects” essentially let an artist use the entire display to execute his or her vision. I was asked by the CAC board if I’d be interested in doing something with the window for March related to my comic book work, specifically The Utopian. I was honored, of course, but a bit apprehensive. After all, I’ve only had a few little piece of “art” shown in a few group shows, and had never done anything on the scale of filling a 22-foot-wide space, especially one that would be viewable 24 hours a day on one of the busiest thoroughfares in Las Vegas. Also, I didn’t want it to be (nor did the CAC) want it to be an overt ad for The Utopian, but I did know what I wanted it to be: fun, colorful and representative of my illustration style.

The concept I ended up developing was the effect of a passerby looking at life-sized comic book panels. I wanted to get across a few of the major themes of The Utopian, including the tendency to render the past with overly nostalgic eyes, and of course, the message of real change coming from the group up — something extremely relevant in light of the uprisings in Iran, Egypt, Bahrain and elsewhere. To my surprise, the initial designs I submitted — a combination of art and text culled from or inspired by the original comics — were accepted wholeheartedly, which left me to figure out just how I’d fabricate all the parts of this giant diorama.

There were three major elements to this installation: The two different backgrounds, the “stand-up” characters, and the foreground lettering (speech balloons and captions). It became almost more like set design. After initially considering producing everything digitally and printing in large format (which would have cost much, much more than the approximately $200 I poured into this project), I ended up doing everything by hand. The back walls — one a forced “exterior” perspective, one a high school hallway — were hand-painted with a combo of house paints and  acrylics. The stand-ups (four of them) were drawn onto and cut out of 5-foot-tall foam board, painted with  acrylics and outlined with a Sharpie. I created stands from left-over foam board. The lettering was done (poorly) by hand on poster board, and then suspended from the rafters with clear thread. Other elements were also created on the cheap, such as the “PRINCIPAL” door plate (white adhesive letters on black foam board) and a homecoming poster.

It took me about three days to paint the backgrounds and a day and a half to cut and paint the stand-ups.  Installation of the stand-ups and hanging elements took another day and a half. I did it all myself, with some last-minute assistance from Sara.

Feedback so far has been very kind. I personally think it turned out just “OK.” Of course, you lose a lot going from a perfectly controlled digital design to a real-life environment. But the effect is there. And it definitely brings attention to the CAC’s windows. If you get a chance over the next few weeks, swing by the Arts Factory and check it out.

You guys know I use these “desktop snapshot” posts just as an excuse to blog, right? Right.

I’ve been mostly head-down for the last week, working simultaneously on three projects. One, as seen above, the final chapter of “Omega,” my action-espionage serial which has been running through the Omega Comics Presents anthology over the last year. The fourth issue (featuring the final chapter) is now available for pre-order and should be shipping the first week of April, so if you’ve read the first three chapters, you might want to order a copy NOW. It got delayed a bit by a variety of factors, including me having to switch inkers in the middle unexpectedly. But as you can see above, the man (well, I presume he’s a man. We’ve only spoken via e-mail!) has a way of actually making my poor excuse for comic art look almost pro!

The other project I showed you last time, but kind of talked around the specifics. It’s doing a comic book adaptation of “War of the Ghosts,” a story which has been used for memory research for almost a century, but this professor at UNLV had the novel idea to conduct the same research with a visual presentation, not just prose. I have two pages fully inked, but seven still to go, and a loose deadline at the end of this month, so most of my time is being spent drawing rivers, canoes and trees.

The third thing I’m not sure I want to talk about right now, at least not until I physically start the work. But it’s basically been approved and all the design work for it is done. You’ll just have to stay tuned for an announcement next week. Hopefully.

So, yeah, I’ve been doing a lot of artwork, and not as much writing. At least, not as much that you’re seeing in the usual places. I’ve been squeezing in time when I can to force progress on two screenplays and a potential novel, and once these art deadlines are met, I’ll be diving back into those full speed. It would also be helpful if I could obtain a new laptop soon. My lappy finally gave out last week, after barely holding on for the last year. To be fair, I’ve had it since 2004, so it was really waaaay past its prime. But I’m not the type to buy a new device when the one I have is usable in any way. However, I’m holding out for a MacBook Air, because, well, if I’m going to buy a new laptop, it’s going to be a good one. And the Air is the perfect middle ground between an iPad and a Macbook Pro — just enough power without the bells & whistles — and no moving parts!

All right, back to the Wacom tablet for me.

Photo blatantly stolen from Fox5Vegas.com. Thanks Jaaaay!

I was going to start the title of this post with the usual “Where I’ll Be” prefix, but next weekend is another of those where I’m sort of all over the place, so there you go. Here’s the deal: I’ll be signing comics and shaking hands at two very worthy events in Las Vegas next week, and I’m hoping you can come to one or both.

First up, next Friday, Jan. 21, from 5 to 8 p.m., I’m going to be selling comics at a benefit for Spread the Word Nevada, a non-profit organization that provides books to schools to promote literacy among children. It’ll be at Sunrise Coffee (3130 E. Sunset Road, Suite A, just east of Sunset Park) and organized by my pals from the Avant Arts Collective. Other creative-types on hand include a couple authors behind The Perpetual Engine of Hope, live poetry by Harry Fagel and Kari O’Connor, and a wine-and-cheese bar benefiting the charity. Make sure you bring gently used or new children’s books to donate as well!  I’m also going to be donating 25 percent of comic sales from that night to Spread the Word.

The next day, Saturday, Jan. 22, from noon to 3 p.m., however, is the official release party for The Utopian trade paperback at Alternate Reality Comics (4110 S. Maryland Parkway, #8). My homeboy and cover artist Hernan Valencia is going to join me to sign comics, kiss babies and if you’re nice and get in line, do sketches. I’ve partnered with The Shade Tree shelter for women, children and pets for this event, so please bring one (or as many) of the shelter’s most-needed items from this list. Donors (and customers) will receive raffle tickets to win comics and merchandise from Alternate Reality, as well as signed copies of The Utopian courtesy of me. There will be snacks and stuff, so come down and geek out with us!

If you live out of Las Vegas and haven’t bought your copy of the awesome 120-page Utopian trade paperback, I’ve got a solution for you. Also, if you live in either Portland or Phoenix and want to see my pretty face, well, check it out, I’m coming for you, too.

Well, I believe it was actually still Jan. 7 when I grabbed this screen cap, but apparently we have moved to a new day. Hello Jan. 8!

I’m still hard at work finishing the pencils on these pages from “Omega” for Vic Moya to ink. Interestingly, I’ve spent more time painstakingly rendering these pencils than I ever did doing finished inks for any of the previous chapters. Go figure. Maybe it’s because I want to provide Vic the best pages possible for him to embellish. Maybe it’s because, unlike usual, I’m not doing layouts knowing I’ll be finishing them, so I’m actually putting more effort into the initial rendering. Either way, I still have five more pages to do, and Vic still has to make them pretty, so back to the drawing board/Wacom tablet I go …

I’m back at the art thing, feverishly (OK, fine, I’m not burning up or sweating or anything, but you get it) working to get done my portion of the next issue of Omega Comics Presents before I look like a jackass for holding up the issue’s release, while all my other creative teams actually made their deadlines. To speed things up — and make it look a lot better than I could do — I’m turning inking chores over to my man Victor Moya, who illustrated the post-apocalyptic story Jarret Keene wrote for Tales from the Boneyard (you have bought your copy, right?). Of course, that means I need to actually send him penciled pages (in my case, digitally), so no more slacking from me.

Aside from one other project that may or may not happen in the next year, I’m swearing off illustrating my own stories in 2011. I’m focusing heavily on writing this year, and I predict much better visual results if I hire out an artist as opposed to try to do the one-man show. Either the art or the writing suffers when I do it all, and I’d prefer not to choose.

That’s one sexy-looking book, isn’t it? Yes, kids, it’s here: All 109 pages of The Utopian webcomic, plus eight pages of detailed annotations, are now available in one, full-color, 120-page volume.

As the story goes, I only started The Utopian to get pro credentials for a comic book convention. But almost two years later, here I am with a small publishing company, a number of other comics under my belt, and now a full-on graphic novel that will look lovely on any coffee table, bookshelf or nightstand. Also, more importantly, in your hands and read by your eyes.

The beautiful cover is by my man Hernan Valencia, who drew that for the first issue of the four-issue series, but it ended up getting printed inside as a pin-up because his alternate design for the cover worked better. I made posters from the pin-up, and they sold very well as art pieces at conventions, so I thought so strong an image would make a perfect cover for the collection. And swell guy that he is, Hernan gave blessings to do so.

I opted for a minimalist approach to placing copy on the cover, downplaying the “comic book” aspect of it, almost more like an album cover or fine art book. The back cover design carries the font from the cover in the sub-headers, but features prominently the original “Utopian” logo, and a not-terrible photo of me from former Rebel Yell photographer Josh Navarro.

All in all, I’m very happy with the way it turned out. If you’d like to get a copy, you can order it on Amazon.com for $19.95, but you can pre-order it directly from me NOW at a discounted price of only $14.95. And if you order it directly from me, I’ll even scribble my autograph on it. Just let me know if you want it customized in the special instructions.

Need added incentive?

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Are you guys sick of me yet? I feel like I’m starting to get sick of myself. Well, actually, I’m just sick period. But hopefully I’ll be better by Saturday, because I’m supposed to be at MaximuM Comics‘ new location in Henderson (520 S. Marks St. at Sunset Road) to celebrate the release of the final (for now?) issue of The Utopian.

This is my first in-store signing, and I think it might be MaximuM’s second or something like that. Either way, I’ll be there from noon until about 3 p.m. with the brand-new, fourth issue of The Utopian, as well as whatever I have left in stock from the first few issues (I can tell you I have only one or two copies of #1 left). I’ll be doing sketches as well, and MaximuM will be giving away other cool stuff in a raffle of sorts.

I just found out today (or yesterday, I don’t remember) that the awesome, new geek culture website/podcast/video channel, Nerdlocker, will be coming out during the signing to shoot some video and do a little interview, so it would be really really really especially nice to have you lovely people there, if just to hang out and drink punch. If it looks like a ghost town on camera, that won’t be good.

After that, I’m gonna head to Alternate Reality Comics (4110 S. Maryland Pkwy. at Flamingo Road), where my man Ralph is celebrating the grand re-opening of his store all day with sales, specials and guests of his own, including the elusive Jae Lee from noon to 1 p.m. If you’re a big Jae Lee fan, maybe go there first and then come see me at MaximuM? That would be cool. Or vice versa. Either way, a great day for comic fans in the Vegas Valley this Saturday!