Out On The Town!

What do the Dark Knight, Kal-El and my brother Zach all have in common? They are proud denizens of major metropolitan areas that they improve with their presence!

My Brother Zach has moved to Portland and I am excited for him. I remember what it felt like to be here early on; there is a trilling sense of discovery accompanied by the awkward stumbling progress of establishing a life apart from that which you had previously been so accustomed to. He is a very talented illustrator, designer and all around good guy. I sincerely believe that he has made the first and most important step in the process of profound personal development: choosing the right venue for growth. A big part of succeeding in the pursuit of one's goals involves betting on an informed choice of a home base. Zach has bravely made that bold move toward an energetic future of golden possibility by joining us here in PDX!

Even though he has been here for a few months I still offer him a warm welcome and I hope you'll do the same by visiting his Blog:

http://zachfischerart.wordpress.com/
He and I went to Brunch at the Morningstar Cafe to celebrate his arrival!
My last bit of Sketch art from Emerald City is this Batman and Superman piece That I did on the final day of the con as things were winding down. Nathan and I had done a Star Trek/Wars competition on Saturday and decide to try a similar information gathering venture Sunday with the Caped Crusader and last son of Krypton. I finished the image once I got back and I think I'll offer it via Periscope's Etsy Store.


I don't do much DC-themed stuff at the moment. I do love the potential of those characters in the same way that I love the Marvel Characters but I think Marvel has been more in step with what I've wanted to see as a consumer of entertainment. That said; if you readers want to see some DC Characters then you can drop a line in the comments or email me a sketch suggestion or for a commission!

Buttons and Yeti-centaurs.

I'm part way through our first mini-comic and it is taking longer than I'd like. The good news is that Nathan should have a script for me as of tonight and I have finished buttons:


The other good news is that my sweet Star Wars headphone arrived and they are just as cool as I'd hoped.

No really, the good news is that I've been getting a lot of little things accomplished and I'm looking forward to seeing my buddy Nathan for our fun excursion north to that gem on the Puget sound. We will have at least one (but maybe two) mini comics in print to promote our big sprawling online comic. The first of them is the side adventure of the troll brothers and the second will be based on our Gnome protagonist.


This is a set of non-sequential pages from the min which will measure, roughly, 5.5 by 4.25 inches when properly sized and collated in finished form. I'm going to produce a cover for them too but that will come at the end of finishing all the interior art. Nathan will be here soon so I'm hoping, once he arrives, to see this whole little side project come together in a brilliant flash of bro-hugs and late-night snacking.

Emeralds On The Horizon

Nathan is frantic with school. I'm busy depicting a galaxy far far away but I am excited that no matter what happens in the next few days, we will both be in Seattle as of March 4th. Since I'm working on some little mini comics for the con that I mentioned in the previous post and I finished a Mario Kart tribute piece but since neither of those are really ready I'll show you this Drawing I did on the bus.

Good Old Number 9 Line

It was packed and the driver kept shouting "All the way to the back people... all the way back." I liked that the people sitting in front of me had interesting heads. I did not use an eraser!

Behind The Scenes Of TFTWP

I thought I'd share some aspects of how I put a recent page together. You can see the script here below. I start by printing out what Nathan sends me (which is his distillation of ideas that we've talked out or things he has a firm grasp on that will move the story forward.) I highlight the relevant parts of the script so that I can keep track of what I'm supposed to keep in mind for dialogue and description.


In this case I had some elaborate descriptions to work off of and some other panel descriptions that leave a lot of room for interpretation. You can compare the script with the thumbnail layout I did and then the finished page (here or seen below) that Nathan is working on (lettering as) I type this. It is also interesting to see how he will sometimes alter the interchanges based on things I've drawn or new ideas he has.


I've been trying to finish my pages really fast because I have a serious work load to catch up on but I don't want to neglect our beloved web strip. I've taken to using methods that I've seen Terry Dodson and Mike Mignola employ. One of those tools is the use of an establishing shot followed by several images that either only hint at or neglect the background when it is not necessary for telling the story. I rely on the mind of the reader to fill in the parameters of the location once I've given them the prompt.


This is a sketch of some possible banners for the revamped website. Nathan and I have been trying to do this for a while and with the approach of the Emerald City Comics Convention (where we'll both be in attendance) we have a concrete deadline for the launch. The only problem is that I have, literally, a dozen other White Pony related art projects to finish in the same time frame. This would all be in addition to the ongoing story (which is getting better and better; you guys just wait and see!)

I'm also drawing an 80 pg. Star Wars GN for Darkhorse (as I've mentioned before) so February is going to be one busy little month. Wish me luck friends!

To Game, Or Not To Game?

On occasion I will inquire about information on certain video game titles from friends who have made the leap into the world of modern systems; this is so I can experience their joy vicariously. I don't know where I stand on those sorts of games because I can see a balanced set of good and bad reasons to engage in (or reject) their use. I have negative associations with losing time to anything but guitar (the study of music in general really,) reading about science or the advancement of my art skills; this is probably why I should find another activity that doesn't reinforce my unrelenting fixation on productivity.


From time to time, I'm told, that just doing things purely 'for fun' is important. I know that there would be aspects to exploring the worlds made by VG artists that could be really thrilling and instructive. I have strong, positive memories of much less sophisticated games (than exist now) that expanded my imagination and live in my mind as real places. Here are the contemporary games (their sequels too) that I'm interested in:

Mass Effect:

Don't all these aliens look so cool that you would want to become a hermit in order to meet them?

Red Dead Redemption:

I love westerns and this would be like directing your own in real time or a grown up game Cowboys & Indians with requisite cursing.

Force Unleashed:

I have a life long obsession with Star Wars. No more needs to be said.

Left 4 Dead:

I am both terrified and delighted by zombies. I love the idea of playing this with my friends.

Dragon Age:

My friend Colleen says this game is amazing and I believe what she says. I also happen to be a fantasy dork, as you probably know.

Old Republic:

I might just be in love with The Preview but I'd imagine that it is probably pretty amazing to explore the world they've built.

Uncharted:

This is supposedly like Indiana Jones meets Tomb Raider and Mission Impossible; What's not to love?

Gran Turismo 5:

I have such pleasant memories of playing this game series with Nathan, Ben Brosius and Bob Grunau that it might as well have been a fifth member in our gang.

The Last Guardian

I missed out on the epic scale and beauty of Shadow of the Colossus so I figured this might be where that aesthetic journey of adventure will meet up with my adult tastes for great puzzles and beautiful environments to explore via a huge gryphon-weasel.

Age Of Conan

I have a mild obsession with Conan The Barbarian. I almost bought the art of book for this game and I still might."What is best in Life?" A good question.

Any Future Legend Of Zelda Game:

The Zelda series has been that irresistible siren song that keeps drawing me back in to the world of video games. It seems to have it all and I can't get enough. Hyrule has a special place in my heart.

There are probably a few more games I've forgotten but these are the ones that stick out as noteworthy. I'm compelled by a few specific types of games; I like puzzle games, racing games and games where you can explore the world while fleshing out a character (BioWare seems to hit a lot of these notes in their titles). I know that some of them are for different systems and or PC but I'd most likely get the system that gave me access to the majority of the games on this list.

If my friends Ben and Nathan lived near by I'd buy an X-box tomorrow but both of them live in other states and have families to spend their limited free time with. I probably won't ever do it but I like to fantasize about how much fun it would be. For the foreseeable future I'll be an art, science and music monk. Feel free to try and convince me otherwise; I'm obviously open to changing my mind!