Thursday, December 29, 2011

The Guild: ZABOO

In stores today!
The Guild: Zaboo #1
Dark Horse Comics

Written by Felicia Day and Sandeep Parikh, with art by Becky Cloonan



Zaboo has loved Cyd's game avatar Codex from afar since the two first met playing The Game.

Just what he'll do for love comes to the fore as he senses Cyd is in trouble, and he embarks on a real-life quest to escape his mother and become Cyd's knight in shining armor.

Co-written by Guild creator and star Felicia Day and costar Sandeep Parikh and brought to life by innovative artist Becky Cloonan.


You can read a preview of it over at MTV Geek!

Tee hee, they called me innovative! :D

Saturday, December 10, 2011

BPRD: Pickens County Horror




B.P.R.D. HELL ON EARTH: THE PICKENS COUNTY HORROR #1 (of 2)
Mike Mignola (W/Variant cover), Scott Allie (W), Jason Latour (A), Dave Stewart (C), and Becky Cloonan (Cover)
On sale Mar 28

Friday, November 18, 2011

DRACULA

DRACULA by Bram Stoker, illustrated by Becky Cloonan. Out from Harper Collins in April 2012!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

MCR'S ONLY HOPE artwork

MCR's Only Hope single! Wicked psyched on doing the artwork for it.

Monday, August 1, 2011

STORE IS ONLINE



Okay, I made an online store over the weekend. I put up WOLVES and a few other things, and by this morning I already have three hundred orders from all over the world! You guys are crazy! But the good kind of crazy— skinny-dipping/ howling at the moon crazy. Thank you all!

My self-published graphic novel MINIS is sold out already, but there are still WOLVES, and other goodies, like postcards, buttons and not least of all a few prints left of me and Mike Moses’s DRINK THE BLOOD OF THE DRAGON, a limited edition silk screened print!

This store is going to be for my self-published books and other merch- I'll try to keep it updated with new stuff every few months!

A few notes about things while I'm thinking of them:
Since it's only me, I'm only filling orders once a week! Maybe I'll get an assistant one day, but until then I am working around my schedule.
And yes, I do ship worldwide- however if you are in a country like Brazil or Thailand or Australia, it might take a while to get to you. I send stuff to my friends in Brazil and it takes well over a month to reach them! So if you are ordering internationally, please be patient :)

And again- THANK YOU for your support, you've helped make WOLVES into something bigger than I ever thought it could be! Self-publishing isn't easy, but it's so rewarding. If you draw comics, I highly encourage you to try it!

Monday, July 18, 2011

The Seance

It's high time I drew some ECTOPLASM!! :D


I spammed this around the internet a few days ago when I drew it, but forgot to post it here! Poor neglected blog. I deliberately tried to stay away from the blues, heh so instead I went for greens? Who knows! Took about 3 or 4 hours. You guys might be seeing more of this one day.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

HACK SLASH


I drew this HACK/SLASH cover!
Everyone I color seems to have blue skin these days.
It's a phase I guess!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Dracula Dracula!

A few of you have noticed this already, through google, june previews, comixology, or amazon-- that I have a new book coming out!! How exciting. So for those of you who's search-fu isn't as strong (or who just have better things to do, I don't blame you!) here it is:

DRACULA Published by Harper Collins, a hardcover weighing in at 368 pages, with Bram Stoker's original text and over 50 full color illustrations by me! I'll post more info soon, but for now I'll just say THE BLOOD IS THE LIFE and post this picture of Dracula himself.


:D

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Another trip around the sun!!

Holy shit, today has been a deluge of Birthday wishes!!! It's been a crazy week, mostly I've been working like a maniac, but I took last night off with buddies and Lauren and Mike took me to see SLEEP at Terminal 5!! \m/ YEAH THANKS GUYS! Needless to say, there was copious amounts of rocking out.

I also got news that my show at Rogue's Gallery in Chicago was named Best Gallery Exhibit from the Chicago Reader! Double holy shit!! I'm totally floored.

So yeah, after a nice lunch, it was back to work for me! I'll probably go grab a cupcake or something later, maybe set it on fire-- but I want to take a minute to say thank you to everybody for the outpouring of birthday wishes! I'm wading through the marshes of deadline hell, so it was nice to get inundated with such a show of support. Really helps as I trooper through this crunch! Seriously how can I reply to all the responses I've got? You guys!! :D I'll keep making comics, how's that?

And although I might be working (because really, what's a birthday without a little work?) I have to say this picture Mike Moses took last night sums up my birthday experience quite nicely:


We made our ancestors proud.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

¡Venganza!

Pen, Brush, Ink and Revenge. Done on an A5 piece of paper.

Done for VENGANZA Comics & Collectables's gallery in Perth, Scotland- they ordered a bunch of WOLVES from me for the store as well! VENGANZA opens July 16th- if you are in the area, go out and support them! Check out their website and Facebook for more info!

And for more information about WOLVES and how to get it:
http://inkandthunder.blogspot.com/2011/04/wolves-how-do-i-get-it.html

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Danger, Adventure, MCM!

So I wrote this up yesterday but blogger ate it, so today you get a semi-skim, watered down version!! At least it will take less time to read.

First I'd like to give a big thanks to everyone who let me stay with them: Emma Vieceli and Pud Ruddick, Jamie McKelvie and Hanna Donovan, and the lovely Rufus Dayglo, who has perhaps the most impressive taxidermy, Gundam, and original art collections I've ever seen!

Me and Jamie on the bus

I spent the first part of my trip was spent in Cambridge (what a lovely town!), then it was off to London before MCM Expo. Jamie and I made a day trip to Nottinham, where we stopped by Page 45 and signed everything in the store. Thanks to Stephen for hanging out, and supporting Wolves! :)

MCM was amazing, I had such a good time. I sat next to Paul Duffield and Kate Brown, who's respective books Signal and Fish and Chocolate are worth looking up. Behind me was Gary Erskine, a phenomenal inker who made me an amazing pen, and who's banner I might have defaced... And it was great to be across from Richard Starkings-- I was in amazing company!

Sketching!

Shout outs to Simon Gane, Rob Davis, Jane from MOMB Podcast, Josh from The Negative Zone,  Clark, Lisa, Nabil and the rest of the crew at Travelling Man, Tony Lee who gave me his whiskey because I batted my eyelashes... and a reminder to Nevs that if you get the Filthy Orphans together in November, I'll draw the flyer! And big thanks to Fred O'Rourke for the Copics- you get free books from me forever! And to Clark Burscough for the mix tape-- I owe you one! It was good to finally meet Warren Ellis as well!

And how can I forget the dapper Dan Boultwood, who, besides being a gentleman of taste and comics, is a good gun to have on your side if you ever find yourself stuck in an Elevator Action Death Parade.

Big props to everyone who organized comic village- Matt, Pud, Anna, and Dave! The show ran so smoothly! I did a panel with Emma Vieceli, Jamie McKelvie and Kieron Gillen, had a signing with the one and only Mr. Frank Quitely, and scored a victory with fellow artists Leigh Gallagher, Adam Cadwell, Joe List, and Gary Erskine against the writers in Artists vs. Writers!

Team Victory!

I know I'm leaving people out-- I'm still jetlagged, I've been getting up at 4am since I've been back. I'll try to amend this as the details of my trip start to emerge. MCM was amazing though, I drew a ton of sketches, sold a bunch of Wolves, met so many amazing people, and generally had an amazing time. You can now find Wolves stocked at Travelling Man, Page 45 and Gosh!


My only regret is I won't be around for the October MCM, but I'm definitely going to try and go again next spring! Oh, and I'll be around for Thought Bubble in November-- I'm counting the months. England, you were lovely.

Thanks for a good time- now back to work with you!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Drink the Blood of the Dragon

During the last few weeks, the inimitable Mike Moses and myself teamed up to create a limited edition silk screened print.
BEHOLD:
11"x17"
Silk screened print
Limited to 100 pieces
Signed, stamped & numbered
Prints will ship in JULY.
$35.00 + $10.00 shipping
"Drink the Blood of the Dragon / Speak the Language of Birds" depicts Sigurd and Fafnir from the Völsunga Saga. After Sigurd had slain Fafnir with the sword Gram, Odin came to him disguised as an old man and instructed him to bathe in the blood of the dragon, and eat it's heart to grant him invulnerability and the ability to communicate with birds.

SOLD OUT!!!
 Thank you!


Mike Moses is a phenomenal painter, illustrator and tattoo artist.
Find him online at www.thedrowntown.com & sufferme.tumblr.com
and at Thicker Than Water in NYC, tattooing Saturday-Tuesday

Friday, April 22, 2011

WOLVES: How do I get it?

WOLVES debuted at TCAF in Toronto! I sold out of all the copies that I brought. The Beguiling bought 20 copies off me, but I don't know if they are still in stock.

So! The easiest way to get a copy of WOLVES from me is to catch me at a convention- of which I will be at many!

TCAF (May, Toronto)
MCM (May, London)
HEROES CON (June, North Carolina)
SDCC (July, San Diego)
THOUGHT BUBBLE (Nov, Leeds)

I'll be updating this list as shows are added. Now: Questions!

I WON'T BE AT ANY OF THOSE SHOWS! HOW DO I BUY THEM ONLINE?
I have to finish coding my online store, which will go live when I finish it sometime in May or June. I'm working hard on several things right now, so I will get to it when I get to it! I will be shipping worldwide, and I'll only be accepting Paypal. Honestly though the online store is not a priority for me because I have so much work and travel coming up in the next few months, but I will try my best to get it live in a timely manner! And when it goes live I'll be yelling and screaming about it so you probably won't miss it unless you live in a cave. No offense to my cave-dwelling fans! :D

BUT YOU ONLY MADE ONE THOUSAND COPIES!
My first print run is 1,000 signed and numbered copies. If I go through these quickly, I'll make more, but they won't be numbered. Honestly I only made 1,000 because I wasn't sure what the interest would be. So don't worry, I'm going to try to keep WOLVES in stock.

I'M A RETAILER! I WANT TO SELL WOLVES IN MY STORE!
I'd love to wholesale WOLVES, but since I only made a limited run to start I'm going to take most of my orders for retailers after San Diego Comic Con! :) Feel free to contact me if you are interested.

That's about it! If you have questions feel free to post in the comments, and I'll update this post with the answers.

WOLVES in the press!
Matt Graham at Comics Nexus!
Jamie S. Rich at Confessions of a Pop Fan!
Annexe Magazine!
Stanley Jon over at Comic Book Daily!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Tokyopop, Etc.

Most of you have probably heard the news about Tokyopop closing it's doors (There was a nice short article on The Beat about it yesterday!) and thought about the possible impact it might have on some of the titles stuck in limbo since they were canceled, including Dan Hipp's Gyakushu, Brandon Graham's King City, Ross Campbell's The Abandoned, and my East Coast Rising. I obviously have mixed feelings about this, because while I was working on my book I had a pretty good time, but after canceling my second book 120 pages in I obviously still have some bitter feelings- and their closing does make me excited that I might be able to one day finish the story. Of course the hard part is if that time ever comes, I'm pretty booked for work, and my style and storytelling has changed so much- it will definitely be a challenge to pick up again! But a challenge that I'd be happy to step up to, if the time comes.

Tokyopop gave me a huge opportunity to publish my first solo graphic novel, one that paid off with an Eisner nomination for Best New Series, and as a finalist in the first International Manga Award. The book might be silly and a bit juvenile, but I still look back and remember how fun it was to draw, and all the good times I had working on it. It's also nice to look back on TP's early influence, breaking into book stores and opening up a section of the market that was until then impenetrable. They took chances on new creators, and for a while they had a great team of editors, writers and artists working for them!

A lot of people blame TP's downfall on Borders closing- though I want to talk about something different, about how they stopped being a publisher and started being an IP hoarder. To be a successful publisher I would have thought you'd have to make publishing a priority- and by canceling so many books and concentrating harder on their media developments over the promotion and production of the comics they published, they signed their own death warrant.

That's not to say it's bad to cultivate options for a property outside of comics, but it seemed, for my book and from my perspective at least, that they put zero effort into marketing East Coast Rising. I had issues with the design of the book that went unheard. I even heard that they didn't stock my comic in many stores. I felt like they were more excited when my book garnered attention from animation and video game companies than when it got an Eisner nomination. To me, I don't really care about media rights. Money is great and everything, but I'm in it to make a good book. And I think that's where our interests were divided.

Maybe my work was so different from the manga that they produced, that they didn't know what to do with it, or how to market and sell it- but that didn't stop it from getting an Eisner nom, some great reviews, and international acclaim from Japan. It even had a few foreign language editions including Italian and Finnish. Obviously it had potential to get traction, but somehow it missed the mark. It makes me think the book would have done better at a different publisher.

Tim Beedle, my editor on this book, was lovely. I also worked with Fawn Lau as a letterer, and she was great too! I can't just point my finger wildly around at the company and place blame on everyone, or a single person- some amazing individuals worked there! But the truth is there were some weird decisions being made. And as a creator, even though my editor was great, I never felt like I was important to the company, and that on the whole, my book didn't matter. I didn't feel looked after. And I guess my feelings were justified when they canceled my book with no warning. I even went to their office for a meeting to try and get the print rights back, or just get them to print it again- well I bet you can guess what answer I got.

Maybe TP just went around things wrong. If Stu Levy wanted to make a media company, I feel like he should have started it that way instead of trying to get into movies and other media through comics. That notion has always seemed backwards to me- if you want to make a movie, fucking just make a movie! It might not be easy, but it makes a lot more sense than making comics to make movies. That's like making cookies and hoping they will turn into a cake in the oven!

So yeah, I guess that's all I have to say. I'm excited at the prospect of maybe finishing my book, so it's bittersweet feeling to see TP go (although everyone I know who worked there was already gone...). I feel a little selfish being excited about that, but hey. I'm allowed to be selfish sometimes. I honestly don't have any hard feelings, but I do have some advice for Stu Levy: Next time you make a company, make sure the initials don't also stand for Toilet Paper.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Flu!

Today Flu Hartberg, Norwegian cartoonist and member of Dongery collective, stopped by the studio with champagne and strawberries (which makes him the best studio guest ever). I first saw his work years ago at SPX when I picked up a copy of his book ENGLISH CONVERSATION-- which is awesome and I highly recommend it-- and after that I'd look for his work at every show.

So Flu came by to visit the studio this afternoon, and we took a break to collab on some Trolls. (I think because I'm excited to see Troll Hunter at the end of this month!) First we penciled, then traded and inked!



Needless to say, Flu is invited back anytime... as long as he brings more champagne! Next time I'm in Oslo, I'll have to return the favor.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

WOLVES at the door

Wolves in the hallway.

1,000 copies of Wolves in my hallway. :D

Monday, April 11, 2011

Anticipating Wolves


WOLVES is set to arrive from the printer this week- I am so excited that I'm posting a few panels on my blog! I will be debuting them at TCAF, and will have them at MCM, Heroes Con, SDCC and Thought Bubble. Before you ask, yes I will be selling them online too, once I figure out how the shipping module works!

The first print run is 1,000- all copies are signed and numbered, 24 pages of b/w interiors with a 3 color silk screened cover. Fancy!

I'll post pictures when they arrive. SO EXCITED. CAN NOT WAIT.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

DEER

Prehistoric deer!
Had the weekend "off" so I doodled around as a warm-up for Orcs! Nothing special, just having fun. It's important to have fun!!

Friday, April 1, 2011

ORCS


ORCS. My next mini-comic to start after WOLVES comes out; did this warm-up piece on my “day off” today, trying to keep my brush in shape.

Wolves comes out this spring, maybe Orcs will be a winter release. I’d love to have it done by SDCC, but no promises!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

The Campaign


Teeny tiny comic! This is a re-imagining of an illustration I did a year ago based on a haiku I wrote a few years ago. I will do a mini comic based on it one day as a follow-up to Wolves. Heheh.

This piece is 4.5"x7" (teeny tiny!) and will be part of the Tiny Trifecta show, April 9th at the Cotton Candy Machine in Brooklyn!

DEMO!

Some of you might have noticed that the collected edition of DEMO volume 2 came out this past week! How exciting. To celebrate, Brian and I answered some questions on Vertigo's Graphic Content blog, and we signed and numbered 200 bookplates for GOSH! Comics in London:
Which you can pick up at their store if you in town, or order a copy online if you are so inclined!

I also had a signing and Demo themed gallery show on Friday at Challengers in Chicago! They have 50 original pages from Demo volume 2 hanging in their gallery through the beginning of May, and they have a limited number of prints on sale for $10! So if you are in town, swing by and check it out. The signing was great, big thanks to everyone who came out. I even made good on my promise to make cookies- lime and white chocolate, and salted dark chocolate chip. Yum.

Before the show:

Big thanks to Patrick and everybody at Challengers for making Friday night a success! Also I'd like to thank the gentleman Lance Curran, who gave me a tour of the Threadless HQ, and who also hooked me up with some new clothes- which was good because I didn't pack very well- oops! We also had Empires rock our hypothetical faces off in the warehouse. Not bad for a Friday afternoon! I managed to sneak in some time to hang out with my old friends, and one old nemesis- an ink nemesis- Matthew Woodson and I grabbed a coffee and talked some shop- he is providing art on an upcoming Northlanders story, so watch out for that. It's nice to know your enemies are still up to their old tricks, namely kicking ass and setting the bar.

So now that Demo is out I guess I'll quiet down for a bit until my next project is announced, but I make no promises. (I will actually probably still be loud.)

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

DEMO v2 GN- OUT TOMORROW!

OUT TOMORROW!

Collecting issues 1-6 of Demo Volume 2 in a beautiful trade paperback. And to celebrate, I'm posting some sketches that weren't released in the extras to issue 1: The Waking Life of Angels.

Also, I will be in Chicago on the 25th at Challengers for a signing and Demo gallery show! Bring your friends! Chicago I know you are tired from C2E2, but I promise a relaxing night of Demo and cookies (Yes I am bribing you to come to my signing by making cookies!).

And now without further ado, sketches:




Sunday, March 13, 2011

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Attn: Chicago! DEMO release show @ Challengers!

I'll be at Challengers in Chicago for a Demo release signing, and a Demo themed gallery show of original pages and art at Rogues Gallery, March 25th at 7PM! If you're in the area, totally swing by. I'm making cookies.



For more information about the event, check out Challengers website!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Demo Bookplate Edition!


ATTENTION LONDON! Gosh! Comics is releasing an exclusive Bookplate Edition of DEMO Volume 2 TP signed by myself and Brian Wood at the end of March. Here's a look at the bookplate, and more info can be found here!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Wolves


Here's a peek at my next mini-comic: WOLVES. It’s not the final cover, just a bit of a teaser image ;)

Anyone who has been following my blog for a while might remember that last year I published this short story in an anthology me and some friends published in Japan for a convention in Tokyo- it was originally in Japanese; this version will be in English, and will have a few added pages. I'm right now looking for a printer, hopefully it will be out for the spring in time for MoCCA, TCAF and MCM!

I'll put up the final cover after I send this off to the printer. Until then, hope you are as psyched about it as I am!


Friday, January 28, 2011

Thought Bubble Process

I've spent the last few weeks working on an illustration for this year's Thought Bubble festival in Leeds, England. While I was working out all the details, I remembered a few people asking me if I wouldn't mind showing my process a bit, so I tried to take some snapshots of the picture at various stages of completion.

I'll walk you guys through it.

After doing a few thumbnails and narrowing the ideas down, I did some pencils. At this stage they were still pretty rough, but tight enough to work over. I knew I would be inking the figures, and painting over the background in photoshop so I didn't bother tightening the trees up much.


Then I did some color tests- this step is usually pretty important for me, because it will lay the foundation for the rest of my color work. The colors for this came easily, which was a bit of a surprise. Usually I struggle with colors, but these were pretty straightforward.


Then I went ahead and threw some ink on Snow White and the Wicked Witch, like usual- with a brush and some ink. Pretty straightforward.


After that I worked on painting the background. I call it painting, I guess even though I work in Photoshop I end up approaching it as though I was working on canvas. I start with an underpainting of the basic colors I want to use, selecting from my roughs when it suits me. Then I build it up and move objects into the foreground and background when appropriate.


Now I lay on the figures! They were relatively simple to color, I only used one or two shades to lighten and darken the flat colors. My main objective was to get Snow White to stand out- Originally my idea was to have her be completely black and white, but it just didn't feel finished. So I added red, since I had the idea to add some to the background, and it really grounded the center of the image, and made her pop out without making her look completely removed from her environment.

Also notice on the witch, I colored the linework so the only black you see in the picture is on Snow White. This way the witch and the comics fall into the background a bit.


I wasn't sure about the sapling on the left that I had drawn in my original sketch, but I decided that area was pretty empty and needed a little somethin somethin to pull it together more. I also added the tree behind the witch to fill the space and add another vertical. These were all pieces of my original idea that I had deemed excessive, but thought to bring them back in the end. I guess you should always just go with your gut! I tend to over-think things, and second-guess myself if I work on something for a while, not really a good habit I guess. Anyway this is the final version!


And here is a close-up:



So there you have it! Snow White and the Seven Comics, for Thought Bubble 2011! And if anyone is curious, yes I will be attending :)