Page 136

Good morning. So, like I said last week, this is gonna be the last Thursday update for a while. I can't keep up with the twice-weekly schedule at the moment, so updates will only be on Monday for the next while. Hey, you're all subscribed to the RSS feed anyway, aint'cha? It should save you the trouble of checking on Thursday to see if there's an update. ;p

Plus, I promise the next sequence is going to rock your socks off, so you won't mind waiting a week between pages. Hot damn!

Also, I just found out that apparently I WILL be exhibiting at the Vancouver Comic Arts Festival in May, so WOOHOO for that!

Lastly, have a painting of Spider-Man and the Green Goblin. This is a Christmas gift for my boss. Who is awesome. The best boss in the world. I'm pretty sure he doesn't read this blog, so I don't have to worry about him seeing this before Christmas. If he does, "oops" :p

Page 131

 Good morning!

The picture you see below is a piece of guest art I did for the rad webcomic Odd Nauseam. It's fantastic and you should all be reading it - especially if you like zombies, jackalopes, and pancakes. And, let's be honest...who DOESN'T like all of those things? :p

Page 118

Good morning.

Below are some Odds N' Ends N' Things - the back cover to issue 4, and the inks for the front cover of issue 5. (Which was going to be a tribute to both David B. & Adolf Wolfli, and failed miserably on both counts - but that's fine, because now it's just a drawing of mine rather than a cheap imitation of someone else! :p )

And below that we have a treasure from the Calgary comic-con way back in June: an awesome drawing of Jeremy by Jeff Lemire of Essex County & Sweet Tooth fame. (Used with permission!)

What Did My Lover Say?

I don't post enough artwork on this blog anymore. So here's some now.

This is a piece of Green Wake fan art that I did for Riley Rossmo, the artist of said comic, in exchange for a Doctor Strange piece. (I bet you didn't know this, but I really really like Doctor Strange :p ) And hey, the first Green Wake trade paperback is out from Image soon - like any day now. Buy it, read it, love it.

(Title from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPPkTM6aKkE )

And here is a t-shirt design I'm working on for Saskatoon's community radio station CFCR 90.5 FM. Still in progress, I have to re-draw/re-purpose it vertically. Would have done that if I hadn't gotten distracted doing the piece above.

And now I'm about to embark on another huge music-related project, whoa...I'll post more about that soon...

Um...anyway...I'll see you tomorrow morning with page 102.

Page 96

Slightly late, sorry about that, won't happen again.

Edit: I also found these two pages that I drew for issue 3 and then never used...I still think they are pretty swell, so here they are!

issue 4 cover

I'm bored.

Here's the issue 4 cover in progress, then.

I have been wanting to draw this for at least a year.

Though, now I'm looking at it and thinking that the colours are going to look pretty off once it's printed. If the print version of issue 2 was any indication. (I think that one looked awful in part because of the cardboard texture I dropped in - never again...)

Issue 3 cover finished

You can now read the comic at

http://www.e2w-illustration.com/lsa.html !

I'll probably keep posting pages here, though, cuz I'm weird like that.

AND NOW

ECCC was fucking amazing. Can we do it again? Right now? Can we? Huh huh huh?!

Issue 3 cover inks

You can now read the comic at

http://www.e2w-illustration.com/lsa.html ! 

This includes a whackload of pages I haven't posted here yet. Enjoy! (Also please bear with me as I tweak a few things such as dead links & so on :p)

OH HEY WHAT'S THIS

I did all of this today. I think that's probably a record for me. Wahoo!

Yes, this is meant to be a rehash of the drawing I did for my art show flyer - it's a super-special super-secret gift for someone, sshhhhh!!

Gonna take Photoshop CS5 for a test drive when I go to colour this. I do hope it's true that they've improved the brush parameter settings, because all the earlier versions sure do suck in that department compared to Painter et al. :p

News

I've just been informed that Look Straight Ahead #1 & #2 have been nominated for the 2011 Gene Day Award, which recognizes Canadian self-published comics released in 2010. Wahoo!

Here's the complete list of nominees: http://joeshusterawards.com/awards/about/2011-nominees/
(scroll down a ways until you see "Gene Day Awards")

Thank you to the panel for nominating me and thank you to everyone who has supported and continues to support me as I work on this project - you have no idea how much it means to me. :)

(Back to work, now!)

Dance Party In Hell

Heeey folks, hope you're well.


Here's a drawing I'm working on to put on some flyers advertising my show.

It's a dance party in hell. Of sorts. Still debating whether or not to add some shading, but y'know what, I don't think so. :p It looks fab with flat colour.

Minor update

First off, a big hello to my new followers, and thank you so much for your kind comments and encouragement - it means a lot. Please let me know if there's anything you're confused about or anything you think I could improve upon - either artistically or story-related.

With that said, I apologize for the lack of updates. I had to move house back to Canada and it was a mad dash to get my flat in Bournemouth cleared out. I'm back home now and still kind of settling in. My drafting table is currently at my parents' house an hour away, so I haven't been able to draw any new LSA pages for a while. I know that sounds like a lame excuse, but I seriously can't draw on a flat surface anymore - I need the slight angle that the drafting table provides. :0

My other excuse is that I've started working at 8th St. Books & Comics in Saskatoon. I've seriously been wanting to work there since I was 16 (I'm now 25), and I always assumed it was just a pipe dream. Needless to say, it's been pretty awesome so far.

Now let's see some pretty pictures, cause I NEVER post a new blog entry if I've got no PICTURES to include!

This is a stand for my books & business cards that I made with help from my mom and Thea (thanks, you two!) for the show my course did in London. Most of the books got taken, because I'm a complete bonehead and never made a sign saying they were actually £3.50. I just pray they went to good homes. Hey, if any of you folks are out there reading this, please gimme a holler! No, I don't expect you to pay up - I just want to hear from you. :)

As Thea & I were working on this stand, the security guard came over and asked how long it had taken us so far - I said that I didn't remember, but then we pointed out my work to him (the instructors had printed the first three pages of the comic on huge, HUGE sheets of paper) and he said something like "Oh, wow! I saw those earlier and loved them! I thought a man had drawn them!"

.......and I was left wondering, what on earth is THAT supposed to mean? XD Women don't draw comics, or CAN'T draw, period? It sounded awfully sexist, but actually it was just hilarious.

Some new-ish pages. Some of these are already finished - I'll post them when I have a bit more of a buffer.

And finally, the model sheet for Jeremy's dad, Bill. This is dated November, I see - and yet he doesn't even show up until page 35 or something like that. Wow.

Pages 30 & 31

(Next - pages 32 & 33)

(Previous - pages 27, 28 & 29)

Hi-ho, folks! I'm going to be away for a couple of weeks - tomorrow I'm traveling from Bournemouth up to Scotland with my auntie. It's going to be amazing and I'm really excited. I thought it would be best to post some new pages before I leave!

Below those we have a business card I just made for myself, rehashing one of the drawings from page 31. Since I work in so many different styles, I had trouble finding an image that best represented what I do - I thought this worked quite nicely. Now I just need to figure out how to get rid of 250 of the blasted things! ;p

close, up, over

More "visual music." I'm not sure how or why "twirling ribbons" signify music, they were probably just really easy to draw. :p

I really think I should just set aside a day to colour stuff I've already drawn. Just for the hell of it.

Also HEY GUYS GO AND LISTEN TO THIS RIGHT NOW http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRTzuutL6mA&feature=related

SHINY SHINY

Handed in my project yesterday! :D And here's the finished, printed book...or at least a proof copy. No, it doesn't have my name on the cover...I hope I don't lose marks for that... :p


See how shiny it is!!

I'm hoping to order a small print run in time for the year-end illustration exhibition. GO AUCB, WE'RE THE BEST!!! I'll sell whatever is leftover from that at 8th St. Comics back home. Watch this space!

And just to prove to myself that I AM going to continue this thing...

The beginnings of issue 2, for real! OH JOY!!! :D

OH how I hate drawing cars...I suppose if I drew them more often I wouldn't have so much trouble? :p

New cover

A proper cover, at last - it's partially coloured but I clicked off everything except the lineart layer coz I'll post the coloured one later. I have nothing else to say except I'm really glad I figured out layer sets and the "liquify" filter in Photoshop. :p

Now what to draw for a back cover...?? :O

Last Shop Standing

Another old thumbnail. Still trying to think of a way to show Jeremy's gradual descent into madness. I've been told I should stick to personal experiences - but as I mentioned earlier, I went batshit insane very suddenly and that just wouldn't make sense in a proper narrative - it's gotta be gradual. I think part of the problem is that I feel like I need to show him interacting with other characters because it's just not interesting to focus solely on him...or is it?

Anyway, I'll get to the point and tell you why I posted this particular thumbnail. When I try to think of meaningful personal experiences from my high school days, what I actually remember most is the music I listened to and the countless hours spent in stale-smelling record shops poring over shelves searching for hidden treasures. And I always felt such joy upon discovering a CD I'd been seeking out for months or even years. When I think of this now it seems so absurd...was my life so empty that I was more attached to music than people? Would this feel mundane if I included it in the story or would it feel honest?

(I'd be remiss if I didn't at least mention the digital age and the sad demise of hunting for records in shops - I do still buy CDs and I still have an attachment to music in a physical form, but most of my shopping is done online because the stores simply never have what I'm looking for - in fact, most of the time they never did.)

Now that I think of it, a search for an elusive CD could be accompanied by Jeremy's search for the truth, for the missing puzzle piece, the secret to living that he believes everyone else already knows...

Shading & Lettering

A couple of days ago I tried shading one of the finished pages. Not sure if I like it or not - I think it would work well for certain pages but not for others.

I'm tempted to do it in blue or some other colour, rather than grey, but...I've seen my share of comics shaded that way and I think it's way overdone. Not only that, but I'm going to be doing a couple of scenes later on in full colour, which I don't think would have as large an impact if the shading on every other page was blue, green, or what-have-you.

OR I could just NOT shade anything...wow what a concept! XD

Anyway, here's something else I tried.
I created my own comic lettering font quite some time ago - it's called Printheads, after the comic I was drawing at the time. However, my lettering's improved significantly since then (largely because I managed to track down one of these) and I don't know if it's really necessary to use a font this time. I mean, damn...that font looks pretty cold next to the hand lettering, doesn't it? :p It just doesn't fit.

Let me know what you think, though....someone...anyone? :p

(Nag me to get back to work, too, since I'm only doing this as a way of avoiding real work! XD)

Doubt

"Ewww....get away from me!!" Stuck in quite a rut right now...gonna be a while before I post any more pages...I thank you for your patience :p