Anyways, I’m running a day late in my posts.  This should of been up yesterday.  I appologize  I’ll try to get back on track today.  Maybe i’ll do another post tonight just to get caught up…

I honestly don’t know what this commercial is for, or what is being said.  But I can’t stop watching it. Partially because its so cute and adorable, the other part because its HORRIFYING……

I’ll let you be the judge:

God I want to visit Japan….

First the bad news:

Last week I was laid off from my steady graphic design gig.  This was my consistent income that was used to pay the bills and build up my savings.

So now my mission is to find ways to make up for the cashflow I’m losing.

Now for the good news!!:

One of the ways I’m doing that is I’m going to be opening up commissions.  So here are the rules:

* All work will be Sent to you as a hi resolution tiff file through email unless the original art is requested.

* Original art can be sent only for pencil and ink commissions, not toned or colored.

* I can send you a Print of anything that has been digitally colored or toned.

* Requests for the original art and prints will be charged an additional fee for shipping.

* If you are interested send leave me a comment or send me an email. Include the what commission you want (sketch, full color or whatever) Character/pose/situation, and a link to a reference photo of this character.

* I accept pay pal for payment. And expect to receive payment before work is started. (if this is an issue we can talk about it maybe work out a compromise)

* You can expect to have the work completed 1-4 weeks depending on the complexity of the request and where in the queue your commission is. (example: if your #3 and you have two complicated commissions ahead of you you might be waiting 8-12 weeks to get yours).

* I reserve the right to refuse any commissions.

* I maintain copyright ownership of all artwork created, and reserve the right to display artwork, either original or copy anywhere i deem appropriate (websites, portfolios etc).

If you have any questions feel free to shoot me an email, or leave a comment.
Here are the rates:

Character Bust (One character , Head and Shoulders without background)
1 – Pencil sketch = $10
2 – Finished Pencils = $40
3 – finished Inks = $50
4 – Gray toned (similar to a Manga) = $55
5 – Monochromatic Color = $60
6 – Full color = $70

Character full body (One character , Head to toe (or most of the body depending on how composition dictates), no background.)
1 – Pencil sketch = $20
2 – Finished Pencils = $60
3 – finished Inks = $70
4 – Gray toned = $75
5 – Monochromatic Color = $80
6- Full color = $90
7 – With Background = add $5 – $40 to cost depending on the commission type (pencil sketch being $5, $40 being for full color)

Each Additional Character (In the same picture) add 25% (Examples: pencil sketch of two full body characters would be $25, and full color illustration with two full body figures would be $112)

*PLEASE NOTE: These rates are for pin up commissions for private use. Sequential art, Cover art, and/or Pin ups for publications and/or commercial use have a different page rate. Email me or note me for more details.

If you don’t want to commission me for art, but you still want to own some shono work, you can buy some Shono Wear in my Shono Shop.

And very soon I will be offering prints of my artwork as well as copies of my comic Shadows Of Oblivion

If you have any questions concerns, or you’re interested in some custom art, shoot me a line, I’d love to hear from you!!

So i came across this:

Unfortunately I'm not sure who the photographer, nor model is. So if this a picture of you, or you're photograph, let me know and I will happily credit you here.

So from this picture i did my sketch:

This actually doesn't look bad..... Maybe i should use references more often...

I then Import the sketch into Manga Studio EX4 and then I lay in my lines and tones.

I do this the same way I did my Remake of Heaven’s Sorrow .  So if you want more step by step process of how i go from the sketch to final line art you can check out that post.

Finally I import it into Photoshop and put in the colors. Since i wanted more of a magazine model feel, I made it a little more feminine in my color pallet (I'm mostly talking about the pink)....

So there you have it.  From reference to finished art.

And as always, if you want me to talk about something, or go into more detail about a specific part of my process.  Or just have a general question for me, feel free to leave comments!  I love to hear them!

As a comic artist i find myself reading alot of comics.  One part because I’m a nerd and I LOVE comic books, and the other part because i want to keep up with whats going on in the industry, both in how stories are being told, and how art is being handled.  So I figured every week on new comic book day (thats Wednesday for those of you who might not know) I’ll do a post of what comic I’ve really been enjoying.  It might not always what came out this week.  In fact, most of the time it probably will be a week or so old.  But I’ll just tell you who the creative team is and why I enjoyed it so much.

So on this first Installment I’m going to do talk about a Story Arc thats been out for a little while but i just loved to death.  And that’s the Second Coming story line that crossed over all the X-men titles.

(there were various covers, i just like David Finch's art... haha)

Now, I have to admit. I HATE big crossovers.  I really prefer it when one complete story is contained in one title.  I hate it if i have to read 30 titles to get the full understanding for the story.  HOWEVER, for some reason, the massive crossover for this story didn’t bother me.  In fact, the reason why i loved it was because it reminded me of the 90′s X-men comics that got me hooked into comics to start with.  And they always had cross overs throughout the entire X-book series.  It has everything that i remember loving about the X-men.

Another reason why i just loved this story was it had all of my favorite anti-mutant villains: (i’m going to indulge myself and do a mini roll call here)

Bastion

Cameron Hodge

"The Right" Smilie armor troops

Nimrod Sentinels

And of course:

Master Mold

And, to my surprise i saw a character who i thought was long gone. (although apparently hes been back for a while, i’ve just been out of the loop.)

ARCHANGEL! the angel of death!

I’m not going to tell you all about the story here.  You should read it yourself.  But if you want just a straight up awesome action story with heroism and self sacrifice as the Mutant species balances on the edge of extinction.  You need to pick up this story arc!

My personal favorite is how bad ass Cyclops is.  Everyone always gives me shit for liking Cyclops.  But the guy is bad ass, and it comes through in this story.

I’m not going to spoil it, but I am going to tease you.  To MAJOR X-Men die through outt the story.  So brace yourself for an emotional ride!

Normally here I’ll say, run out and pick it up.  But i know the single issues are hard to find.  So you’re going to have to wait for the trade to come out.  BUT WHEN IT DOES!  go pick it up!  If you’re an X-men fan, you will love this story!

Okay, that does it for me today….

Thanks for reading everyone!

Here is the process of one of my remakes:

here is the original drawing. I did it about 4 or 5 years ago. Great idea, but as you can see, the Anatomy is not there. Coloring is weird in parts, but it deserves to look as cool as the idea...

Here is the the pencil sketch of the new drawing. This thing is already looking better...

I scan in my sketch and import it into Manga Studio EX4. Once there i can easily convert the pencil lines to blue. This makes for easy inking...

I then go over the the sketch lines using Manga Studio's ink pen tool. For this style i keep it pretty loose. I it keeps my lines more interesting, and more energy in the piece...

I then take out the blue line layer so that it dosent' distract me from the final inks. And at this point I'll make any needed adjustments...(one of the beautiful things about digital inks)

Next I'll lay in my flat zip-a-tones. i put in a fabric patern in War Angel's skirt. and a flat gray pattern for the blood. I also put in a dot pattern for her arm and leg armor...

In the final stage of the line art I'll throw in a flat gray tone to accent the shadows in the piece...

Finally I'll export it to Photoshop and put in all the beautiful colors haha. And then I'll throw in the logo and text.

Well There you have it.  I could be biased but i think this new version is about 1,000 times better than the old one.  I’m sure my opinion will change in 4-5 years and i’ll end up drawing it again.  But Thats a good problem to have right?

Anyways Thanks for reading as always!  And if there are any subjects or topics you’d like me to discuss on my blog, or you just want to say how much you enjoy it, feel free to leave me a comment!  (I’m an artist, my frail ego needs constant re-assurance haha)

Have you ever been looking at my artwork and thought: “DAMN that would love to wear that on my t-shirt?”

Well i want to introduce to you, SHONO WEAR. You can now wear shirts with my legendary Wolf Symbol, Or the Symbol of the Dragon Clan, And even WarAngel’s symbol.

I’ve also taken panels from my comic: Shadows of Oblivion and put them on shirts for you!

So heres the link: Shono’s Shop

Here are a couple examples:

We have Men’s and Women’s shirts and designs, so check it out!

Browse, Shop, Buy, Enjoy!!

And if there is any art you’d like to see me put on a shirt. or have any suggestions for my shop, let me know! I’m happy to accommodate!

Now ends my sales pitch haha.

So this blog post will be short, I’m just going to show you the line art.  The finished art, and the video that gets you between those points.

Here we go!

So here is good ole Tinkerbell in her line art glory....

And here she is all done.

And heres the video that gets me from point A to point B.  Just keep in mind, the video starts with all the flat colors already put in.  I didn’t waste time on that in the video.  Anyone who has ever colored in a coloring book when they were 6 can handle that part.  The video is also about 2 hours long.  But its in real time.  I didn’t edit out any mistakes or changes I made as i colored.  So you can feel better about yourself haha even pros make mistakes! haha

Okay the video!

Enjoy, and thanks for reading, as always!

Black and white Line art. (with a little special effects to make the lightning glow and zip tones for some depth...)

So after I inked the drawing I colored it in the normal way i color all my work:

So after i took a look at this cover and compared it to the cover of Shadows of Oblivion #0…

… I thought to myself.  Damn this cover looks boring and like every other cover of every comic book ever made.  How can I change this cover to look more graphic?  More like the cover for issue 0?

So i started to do some google searching for graphic art as inspiration.  And what really Caught my eye was Old Communist Propaganda posters.  They’re so graphic and depict such images of strength and unity for the working man, and the power we have when we unite.  (Even if this is propaganda, this is idealistic notions that i think everyone subscribes to.)

So keeping the line art exactly the same i retooled the colors:

"Communist Propaganda" cover

I think this looks really good.  But Cerberus blends too much into that background.  We need to bring him forward a bit more.  So a tweaked to colors a little more……

Communist Propaganda cover Final

There we go!  Thats looking pretty good.

Man what a difference color makes.  Even though the lines hadn’t changed at all the whole feel and meaning of the cover completely changes depending on the colors used.

I dunno, i found that that interesting, so I decided to share…..

I hope you enjoyed.

There is the initial drawing done in pencil. I usually sketch using a 2H pencil. This looks pretty bad ass to start...

Next i scan it into Manga Studio EX4 and convert the lines to blue. The composition was bothering me, so i moved around the characters to a composition that i like better....

Next, i ink over it all. The idea was to have the 4 human Green Lanterns in the foreground. and glowing figures in the background representing the GL corps. Now i was sort of (very) lazy so i just drew one figure and copied and pasted them all over the background....

Green Lantern is a Sci Fi book, so lets get a space background in there....

Okay lets see how this looks nice and clean without the blue. At this stage i also will make any edits to the ink that i might need.

Lets add in a little zip-a-tone. One part to add a little depth. One part so it looks a little more old school.

Those Green lantern silhouettes i added in the background are really distracting, and i think it sucks. So I'm going to take those out now...

Finally we export it into Photoshop and add the colors!

You can watch me do some of the coloring in real time here:

Well there you have it.  Another process blog in the books!

Maybe I’ll post some sketches next blog…we’ll see.

If there’s something you’d like me to talk about or show here in my blog, then just let me know!  You can always send me an email or just leave a comment in the blog!  I read everything, so don’t think I’m some stuck up jackass….. i need all the friends i can get……

Okay until next time blog-0-sphere…. ( i like twitterverse better)…

1. it saves me time. (i don’t need to wast time drawing perspective lines)

2. it saves me money.  (now i don’t have to spend money on ink and paper)

3. it saves me space. (i don’t have to store all my rulers and circle templates etc)

I’m still waiting to get a Wacom Cintiq.  Apparently they’re back in stock in Sept.  But until then its Intuos 3 for me!

So lets check out my process shall we?

You can't see it here. But first i lay in my perspective lines. Its a great tool in Manga Studio that saves me boat loads of time. Than i start drawing the figure in the fore ground. Admittedly, I didn't know what i was going to draw when i started. I don't recommend this, but sometimes its fun just to see where the pencil takes you...

Next I lay in the background. Again, i don't know exactly what i want, so this is sorta spontaneous. But I know generally the shape of the room so i lay it all in there....

Next I ink over the blue lines. The beauty of inking digitally is that its not permanent. I don't need to know exactly what the image is going to look like before i start. I can make decisions and changes on the fly. You can clearly see the changes i made against the blue line here....

Next I make the blue line invisible so that it doesn't distract me from the inks. I'll make any fine adjustments to the inks at this point.

Next we add in the gray tones. I use a mix of Zip-a-tone (or computone, or manga tones, whatever you like to call them) and flat gray to give the piece some lighting and depth. I usually use the zip-tones to add a dirty feeling texture to things. It really works for this character and comic in general.

Finally i export it to Photoshop and add in some lighting effects. AND WE'RE DONE!

I really like this process. And If i continue to ink in this rough looser style I might cut out some of the blue line work to save time.  But I’ll have to do some more experementing and playing around to see what works and what doesn’t.

I hope you enjoyed!  See ya next time!

I’ve just got back not to long ago from the legendary San Diego Comic Con.  or how its commonly abriviated as SDCC…. even though technically its Comic Con international….so the abriviation should be CCI?  but i like SDCC better haha.

This year was GREAT, but super busy.  I didn’t get as many portfolio reviews as i have in the past.  But the ones i did get were very insightful and useful.  When you go 6 months with everyone around you telling you how great you are, it is hard to grow.  I needed these editors at cons to kick my ass back to reality so i can keep on growing and improving.  So i want to just quickly shout out a big thank you to the people who took the time to look at my portfolio at the convention. Even if it was just for a minute.  so here we go:

So thanks to Phil Smith at Top Cow, Scott Chitwood at Red 5 comics, David Hedgecock at Ape Entertainment (who gave me the biggest kick in the pants, i appreciate it!), and the editors at Oni press who I think I annoyed with my portfolio samples, but they still were kind enough to give me a review anyways, and I truly appreciate it.  I know all of you who looked at my portfolio had very very busy schedules, so I truly thank you for taking the time to look at my portfolio. I also dropped my portfolio off at a ton of other publishers, but for all i know they toss it in the trash the second i walk away from the booth.  So i have no way of knowing they looked at my work.

Another reason I go to SDCC is because its the one time a year I get to see alot of old friends who are scattered across the country and I always end up making new friends, (or at the very least meeting new people that could easily BECOME friends haha.)  So I’m going to shout then out right here too.  They’re all very cool people and talented artists/creators so when you all click on the links to thier sites and check them out.  You won’t regret it!

First is My con partner, Dina Greenberg.  We’ve gone to every SDCC together and countless other cons.  Shes like magic, somehow getting us into the best parties!  She’s not going next year because shes doing something stupid, like getting married.  WHERE ARE HER PRIORITIES! So i’m looking for a new partner next year, any takers?

Next you gotta check out my buddy Ken Knudtsen and the other guys at Epic Proportions.  Ken does 2 fantastic comic books. “My Monkey’s Name is Jennifer” and “I hate Zombies”

I got to see my best friend in San Diego Di Chowmut!  You’ll see some pics of her later, she’s an awesome nerd to hang with, and an fantastic designer too!

I visited Anthony and Elaine Garcia, who I’ve referred to in the past as my Comic book parents.  But in retrospect thats probably an insulting term, cause these two are cooler than my parents ever would be!  This year at their booth they were cosplaying in some amazing Steam Punk outfits.  My parents would NEVER do that.  And now as I’m typing this I wish I took a picture to show the world, but i didn’t so you’ll have to settle with going to thier websites, twentytosix.com and shrunkenstudio.com

And on my last day at the Con i met this amazing writer artist team of Joseph Wong and Genevieve Tsai, who do a self published comic book “Islands in the Sky”  They were very cool, I just wish i didn’t meet then as i was leaving the con, cause i would of liked to hang out with them more.  I even bought a pretty sweet mousepad from them.  You’ll see how awesome in a little bit when I show you the pics.

OKAY OKAY, thats enough plugging all the people i met, lets get to the fun stuff, the PICTURES!!

We'll start with the view from my Hotel window, since this is the first thing i saw when i got to San Diego (other than the airport of course)

Looking down at my window. You can already see people lining up to get into the con. (Sorry for the weird pattern The window screen was wierd)

The motorcycle from the New Tron Movie. They had such a big booth there...

I am a sucker for Gundams, they're so freaking cool looking....

Another Kick ass Gundam...

Speaking of giant robots, check out the Mech from the movie "Avatar" That thing was so bad ass in person. I wish i could of took it for a spin...

More giant convention robots. This one was to promote the new video game Red Faction 2. But what made this robot particularly awesome was.....

... my friend Di popping out of its chest! Shes like the the creature from the Movie Alien. Poor robot didn't have a chance...

Speaking of Di here she is! Shes dressed as Gogo from Kill Bill. (probably my favorite movie haha)

Here is Di and me at Dicks last resort. Thats our favorite place to grab lunch in San Diego... well at least while the con is going on...

And these are our beers and Dicks Last Resort... (it was barely noon.)

From left to right. Dina, Di, and Me! These two are the coolest people and make my trip to San Diego AMAZING every single year!

okay, lets head back to the con.....

I'm a big fan of the Full Metal Alchemist. So naturally i had to nerd out and take a picture of this life size Alphonse Statue

Check out Optimus Prime standing guard infront of my hotel!

David Petersen signing and doing a little sketch in the copies of Mouse Guard i picked up from him. I love that comic!!

Look at this amazing mouse pad i picked up! Try to deny its awesome... YOU CAN'T CAN YOU!

The angle of that last picture might be hard to see why it is so awesome. I think this clears it up....

Slave Leias sitting on Odin's throne.... Is there anything more awesome? (to be fair i didn't take this photo, Marvel's C.B. Cebulski did. I did not have my camera available at the time of this awesomeness...)

Danny Devito and the rest of the cast of "Its always sunny in Philadelphia"

Mini Sticks of deodorant that were handed out. I think the people at the con were trying to tell me something....Kingdom of Loathing had thier own booth. My brother LOVED this game. I could never get into it. Its probably cause i'm a visual artist, but graphics are important to me. And the only RPG that has worse graphics than this game, are the text based ones...

Zangief Gets all the babes!!!

Okay thats it for photos, and this blog post is long enough as it is.  So I’m gonna call it quits.  And check in like tuesday for the next spell binding post on BLOGS OF OBLIVION!!!!*echo echo echo*

….hahaha oh man i crack myself up….

I start the drawing using Manga Studio EX4.  I draw on my Intuos 3 tablet.  I REALLY want a Cintiq, but they have been out of stock for months!  I hope i can buy one at the Comic Con this weekend.  Anyways, i do the whole rough drawing digitally.  To demonstrate, recorded 10 minutes of it on ustream.tv.  This is the first time i ever did anything like that, so the video is a little akward at times, but bear with me haha.

but when all is said and done i have a rough drawing that looks like this:

Here is the finished rough pencils for this page. It looks pretty good but its not very tight right now...

Next i convert the lines to be blue and i print it out onto my comic book board. The blue lines can easily be removed once i scan it back into photoshop

Penciled tightly (using traditional pencil media, not digital) and scanned back into the computer. Adjustments here and there remove the blue lines, and BAM we got us a good looking page right here.

So thats my new digital process. I’m hoping that once i get a Cintiq my time efficency will increase. But for what i have now, this seems to work pretty well.

So I won’t see you guys for the next few days as i adventure through San Diego.  If i get bored i might do a blog post from my hotel room, or my iphone, but don’t count on it, I’ll be having to much fun to care about you guys out in internet-land. (yeah i know that sounds harsh, but would you rather i lie to you?)

But DEFINITELY when i return I’ll do a fantastic post with pictures and shout outs to all the fun people i meet!

But if you’re at Comic con, or just want to see what I’m up to in real time you can follow me on Twitter!

Hope to see you at the con, and if not, i’ll see you when i get back!!

Okay way to start of a blog post with a random rant.  ANYWAYS  I’m going to the legendary San Diego comic con!  I’m leaving tomorrow and i’ve been busy updating my website and drawing new sample pages.

Though I have alot of line art this last year from the work I’ve done with Zenescope, their characters are not instantly recognizable.   I like to draw easily recognizable characters for conventions so publishers can see how i will handle their properties.  For example, EVERY publisher knows what Spiderman and Batman are SUPPOSED to look like.  So if i draw those characters they know how my style will look, and they’ll know i won’t butcher their beloved properties.  However if i draw my creator owned characters, or characters from a lesser known indie book, some publishers might not know if I’m drawing it right…..  does that make any sense?

So this year I chose a Witchblade script!  I’m a big fan of Top Cow, especially Witchblade and The Darkness, so i just jumped into this script!

The different in these samples, compared to every other sample i’ve ever done, is the process.  I did something i’ve never done before, and that was a digital underdrawing.  Typically i draw out a comic book page using blue pencil, that allows me to be as messy as i typically am.  Then I pencil tightly over the blue lines and when i scan the blue lines disappear.   But this time i did my “blue pencil” on a program called Manga Studio.  This seemed to work alot better. I can fix drawing errors faster and easier. Plus manga studio has time saving tools like the perspective ruler, that allows me to draw perfectly in perspective!  (cause i REALLY REALLY REALLY hate drawing perspective lines by hand.)

Once the Blue line is done, i print it out onto a comic book board and then I pencil tightly by hand, and scan it back in!  I think these are my best pages to date, but what do you think?

Witchblade sample p1

Witchblade sample p 2

Witchblade Samples p3

Witchblade Samples p4

Witchblade samples p 5

Tomorrow I’ll show you this new Digital process i’ve been talking about before i head out to San Diego.

And if you’re in San Diego and see me say hi!  I look exactly the way i do on my website…. except taller and….not a cartoon…

Its brand new and I did a lot of things I’ve never done before so there still might be some bugs. If you find some let me know, and if you CAN let me know how to fix them haha.

I’ll do a couple more posts before San Diego, and of course I’ll have my annual blog where i brag about how much fun I had.

SEE YOU ALL SOON!

(P.S this isn’t a picture of my cat.  Its a picture from a blog called “My Cat is a Jerk“.  I hate blogs about peoples pets.  But this woman’s blog is so well written and so funny I have to give it a little plug)

I did well for like a week, posting every single day, and then it was a month since my last post.
Between the day job, comic book work, re-designing my website, updating on twitter, keeping up on facebook, and preparing for San Diego Comic Con, the poor blog fell by the wayside.

I’m planning to get back on track after Comic Con… assuming i don’t another comic gig that sucks up every free second….AGAIN.
I should really get an assistant to do this stuff for me……

….slaves are still illegal right?

ANYWAYS

Here is a work in progress. I’m doing a Witchblade sample script for comic con, and I’m trying something completely different, and i’m not sure if its going to work yet. But the idea is, that i will digitally draw the under-drawing of the comic page. Using Manga studio tools like the symetry tool and perspective ruler to really get everything right. Then print that digital drawing out onto comic board and go over it tightly with pencils.

If its a success i will post the process here, if not… well at least you’ll see the beginning of the process here.

I'm thinking this looks pretty good so far, even with my Intuos 3 tablet. I've been wanting to get the new Cintiq tablet, but they've been out of stock for a WHILE.

I’m hoping that if this works it will increase my productivity and quality of the drawings…. i guess only time will tell huh?

Hopefully see you guys soon!  If you have any requests on what I should talk about here, or things you want me to post let me know.  I know a bunch of you read this blog, but no one ever comments, so until you do, I’m just going to assume you all love what I’m doing and I’m just going to keep moving forward! haha

Well today is Wednesday so that means it is NEW COMIC BOOK DAY!

This week Grimm Fairy Tales #47 published by the fantastic people at Zenescope is among the new releases.

Why should you pick it up?  Why do you think? ‘Cause i drew well over half the issue! Duh, come on, do i do anything other than promote myself on this blog? geez….

ANYWAYS I did the line art for pages 10-22 of the issue.  Its some of my favorite pages I’ve drawn for them to date, I really think you’ll like it, so pick up a copy.

I don’t want to hype up the comic at all, but i received alot of reports from people who went out to pick up a copy of my last issue i did (issue #45) and found it was sold out.  So i DO NOT suggest waiting to pick it up.  Run to your comic store right now this morning and buy it right away!

It has also come to my attention that another book i did for Zenescope hit shelves last week.  I’m going to look for it on the shelves today since I havn’t been in a shop in a while.  But if its not there i know you can buy it online from Zenescope’s store.

So for those of you collecting everything published by ole Shono, here is the Checklist:

• Grimm Fairy Tales #45

• Grimm Fairy Tales:  April Fools Edition #2

• Grimm Fairy Tales: Las Vegas Annual 2009

• Grimm Fairy Tales #47

And don’t forget you can always read my comic SHADOWS OF OBLIVION for free online!

So support Independent comics and help support me and pick up a copy today!  pweeeeeease….I’ll be your best friend…..

Well, like I said in my last blog i went up to NC to visit one of my oldest friends, and to go to an Anime con called Animazement.

To be fair, my focus was to hang out with my friend, not to go in all out con mode, so i didn’t attend any of the panels or events, or do any networking stuff.  But my first impression was that this con is great!  Very similar to my home anime convention ConnectiCon. (i still call it home even though i’m living in Georgia now.)  The big difference though is that Animazement was really well organized.  I can’t speak for how they operate internally as an organization, but externally, they had their shit together.  It was easy to get tickets.  It was easy to find what i was looking for, mainly cause they really optimized the space they had in the convention hall, and they had alot of big guests that impressed me.

So Since i wasn’t in full Con mode, AND this was the first con both my friends had ever been to, i had to be gentle with them.  I mostly just showed them the cosplay culture, and everything that comes with that, (some things i don’t even fully understand). I  introduced them to artist alley and the traditions with commission sketches and buying prints from your favorite artists. And showed them the sweet swag you can find in the merchants area.

I also showed them the Darker side…..

Me and my friends are pretty nerdy.  We love videogames and comics and anime, but i showed them that we are very cool nerds. Exemplified during our time in the Videogame section of the Con.  The three of us started geeking out when we saw an old school X-Men arcade game sitting in the corner……and we geeked out even more when we saw that X-men was not playing on that arcade machine….but instead Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  So we started playing and some kid, not to much younger than us, asked if he could join in as player 4.  We of course said Yes.  As we played this kid would not SHUT UP.  He ran his mouth at how this brought back memories, and decided to tell us about every ounce of trivia he knew…..Basically exemplifying every comic book nerd stereotype there is…..and suddenly we realized that geeking out about our favorite childhood videogame, isn’t so bad.

oh and i showed them furries…….like I said….darkside…

So anyways.  My personal Highlights was some fantastic costumes (i’ll show you pictures in a second).  I almost have my Final Fantasy VII action figure collection completed when i found a Reno figure.  And i picked up a sweet comic book Writen and illustrated by Ryo Kawakami.  (I wanted to link to his website, but the site that was writen on his comic is no longer active.  But the comic book is called “Forget Me Not.”  Its very well drawn in the Japanese Manga style.  It includes 2 short stories that are very interesting.  I’d tell you to go buy it, but i have no idea where you can get it.  Maybe you can find him at a convention….I also Picked up a sweet print from an artist……who i’m ashamed to say, his name escapes me at this moment…..

Also there was this FANTASTIC japanese rock band called Uchusentai NOIZ.  I can’t really describe thier music.  Its somewhere between Hardcore deathmetal and…uh…Brittany Spears.  By that i mean there are some parts that are so poppy in sound it makes you want to throw up….until the double bass pedal hardcore break down section hits and a spontanious mosh pit breaks out.  Plus they had awesome costumes.  I give them 5 stars! 4 for thier music, the 5th for the costumes! haha.

So.  Great weekend.  My friends had a great first con.  One friend took a ton of pictures, and the other wouldn’t stop drooling over the hot girls in cosplay haha. (i didn’t have the heart to break it to him….most of those girls were under age)

Now without further adieu, here are some pics!

Birds eye view of the entrance to the con.....Don't let that small crowd fool you, its packed inside....

What do we have here? looks like our first kick ass costume of the day....

I don't know what anime she is from (or videogame) but that costume is bad ASS. She pulls it off very well.

Sweet! It's Super Smash Brothers! Which do you think is my favorite?

Samus....DUH

Why?.....just.....why?

I admire the commitment to the costume. It's a pain in the ass to lug around a giant sword with you all day long. I salute you sir!

Where it takes comitment to lug a large sword around, it takes stupidity to dress all in black cover your face and cary an large gun with you all day. Though I admit the costume is freaking bad ass....I just can't get over the practicality. There was no way this man was comfortable for more than 30 minutes after he put on the costume.

Mega Man = Awesome. I will fight anyone who disagrees....

Uchusentai NOIZ performing. These guys kick ass!

Random dance parties would break out ALL THE TIME. Although this isn't new to me. I still don't know how or why this happens. One broke and all these people started dancing to the music.....BUT THERE WAS NOTHING MAKING THE MUSIC. no boom box. no ipod. NOTHING.......I was terrified of these black mages....

Bleach cosplay = awesome. Not a huge fan of the show. But i have alot of respect for large number of unique characters.

I couldn't get there in time to snag a picture close up....but check out the Tetris Cosplay!

My Reno figure.

My Final Fantasy VII Figure collection grows and grows......I'm not totally sure why i'm showing you this...I'm just outing myself as the giant nerd I am. But remeber my story, I'm still the coolest of the nerds....and thats just really really sad.

Saw this cloud on the drive back home. It looked like an amazing mountain. I took a picture. I wanted to share....

Okay thats it!  I can’t wait til next year…. or my next con!  More crazy pictures will find its way up then!

I love Anime culture.  Its just so fun, especially at conventions.  My favorite is cosplay, ESPECIALLY everyone that dresses as Sephiroth.  He’s so freaking bad ass.

If you don’t know Sephiroth is the main villain in the 1990′s revolutionary game Final Fantasy VII.  This game changed how i looked at video games.  It was like i was playing a movie.

I remeber the first time i saw the cut scene where Sephiroth walked through the flames (i posted it below).  I thought “HOLY FREAKING CRAP THAT IS THE MOST BAD ASS CHARACTER I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!”  And i replayed that part of the game AT LEAST a dozen times just to see it again and again. Not to Mention Sephiroth also has the coolest theme song EVER MADE! (Thats the second video i embedded here. If you don’t listen to it all the way through, you are cheating your life….)

Anyways…I just wanted to share.  Maybe on monday i’ll post some pictures from the convention.  See you then!!!

GREAT!

Then you should all go to the Playstation store and buy my comic “Ritual” off of the digital comics section.

What? you’ve never heard of my comic book, “Ritual?”

GEEZ okay, well i’m not gonna make you go back and read old blog posts.  So this is what its all about:

The sleepy Pennsylvanian town of Black Root is hit by a spate of bizarre ritualistic slayings, reminiscent of the Salem Witch Trials. The FBI is drafted in, but they have no idea that the supernatural killer is a long-dead witch hunter with a perverse desire for revenge.

Its a 4 part story. I did ALL the artwork for it, and it took FOREVER.  Here are some teasers from the comic:

So if you like what you saw here go buy the comics off of the PSP. Or you can even buy it in print if you want to!

Thanks for you’re Support everyone!  Talk to you tomorrow!

I don’t know how many of you read, or even know about my creator owned comic book “Shadows of Oblivion.”  Well, I’ve been posting pages online for issue #0 as i drew them.  It got sort of backed up do to some paying gigs, but I have FINALLY finished issue # 0.   I’m going to post the pages here, but if you want the best experience possible you REALLY need to go read it through my flash reader i built.  Just go to this site: http://shadowsofoblivion.shawnmccauley.com

This is an actual digital comic.  Not a “motion comic.” (better known as an animation), not some kind of comic with a sound track, or voice overs.  Its a real comic where you decide how long you spend on each panel, and you can flip forward and backwards however you see fit.  The only difference is that i broke down some of the narration, and panels to make a larger impact on the pacing of the story.

You will eventually see this in print.  But i don’t feel right selling the comic for only 11 pages of story.  So I’m putting an exclusive short backup story in there, and a bunch of pin ups and other drawings.  Its going to take me a few weeks to do that, but It’ll be worth it!  If you have any requests for what i should draw in the pin up gallery, then by all means leave me a comment here and i’ll do my best to fit it in there.

And incase you are way to lazy to click on the link and read the comic in its awesome form, here it is for you to check out:

Cover

page 1

Page 2

page 3

page 4

page 5

page 6

page 7

page 8

page 9

page 10

page 11

I hope you enjoy!  And give me feedback on what you think of it! i wanna hear!

Talk to all of you tomorrow!

I just got myself Sketchbook Pro 2010.  And i’ve only had it for a day or so, but so far i LOVE IT.  It makes me really mad that Wacom is out of stock of their Cintiq 21UX.  Because as soon as i started using sketchbook pro using my Intuos tablet, i realized how friggin awesome it would be on the Cintiq.  Even just through the Intuos tablet, its the closest thing to a real pencil i’ve ever used digitally.  With the Rulers, Symmetry drawing, and super easy interface….man…. well i’ll be suprised if i ever go back to regular paper and pencil again….if i ever get my hands on a Cintiq that is….

So anyways I just wanted to give you my preliminary report on this software, I’ll probably blog about it again once i get to use it more.  In the mean time take a look at the first few sketches i did on the program.

ENJOY!

The large girl's face was done using the Symmetry tool. and the circles were using the rulers. I just love how that actually looks like pencil lines how i draw on paper. I LOVE IT!

Well I’ll see you tomorrow.  I’m not sure what i’m going to blog about yet….. i’ll figure it out I’m Sure….

So storyboards are a very closely related cousin to comic books so i am VERY confident in my abilities to perform for this company, i just hope they give me a shot, and call me in for an interview.

Here are some of the storyboards i submitted to them with my resume:

I went pretty detailed on this first sequence. More so than i probably needed to. But i wanted to show them i had a strength in drawing

I had to fight my comic instinct and stay away from all the details i often put into my comic work.

I actually used Pen and ink and grayscale markers to do this, and i have to admit, I liked it alot. I might start working this way in my comic art....

I just really like this sequence...

okay i’ll stop boring everyone.  But wish me luck, I hope i get this gig!

That all changed today when i got my very first paycheck from the good people at Zenescope.  So BY DEFINITION I can now officially be called a professional comic book artist! haha.

This might sound silly, but i gotta thank Zenescope for making good on their word and paying their artists.  They’re an fairly small independent comic book publisher who are going up against alot of competition during in the worse recession this country’s seen in a long time.  Alot of publishers larger than them have been neglecting to pay their artists, like Devil’s Due Publishing.  And alot of smaller publishers never intend to pay their artists to begin with.  So my hats off to you Zenescope,  you’re an independent publisher, making great comics, and paying thier artists = Class act.  I hope you keep on kicking ass and taking names, (and hiring me for more work haha).

I GOTZ PAIDZ!

SO

Free Comic Book Day at Hastings was a great success!!  Big thank you to everyone who came out to visit me.  And big thank you to everyone at Hastings who treated me so well!  I really think that it is fantastic that a book store like Hastings is seriously embracing comics as they are.  Yes, i know you can buy monthly comics as Borders, or  at Barnes and Noble,  but if you’re serious about comics like me, then you know damn well why you will never pick up your monthly books at these stores.

If you’re not serious about comics, let me explain to you why:

1. EXTREMELY limited selection.  you can pretty much just pick up Superman, Batman, Spiderman, X-men, and Archie books….and THATS IT.

2.  You’re comics will be DESTROYED.  Barnes and Noble and Borders sticks their comics on those spinner racks, and are NEVER put in right.  There’s always some corner thats bent, or the cover is wrinkled, or there’s a tear on one of the pages. OR they’ve just been sitting in the spinner for so long that it has this permanent bend to it.

3.  NO ONE at the store knows anything about comics.  So god help you if you have any questions about comics, cause the employees are even surprised they have comics.

So Hastings is doing it right, by not only putting their comics on a magazine rack, similar to what you’ll see in any comic shop.  But they’re also carrying a variety of comics including independent titles.  I’m sure their employees probably aren’t experts in comics since they’ve just started to cary comics in a serious manner, but give them time i’m sure they’ll have experts on staff in no time…

…yes that expert will probably be me, but we take what we can get right?

But it really gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling to see that people are taking comic books seriously as a medium as a whole, and a multi media store carries a variety of comics, same as they would cary a variety of books, music, movies, and video games.

Now i don’t have very many pictures since i spent all my time there signing and doing sketches, but i do have a couple which i’ll post.  But I met some very nice people there who were very excited to meet me, and i was very happy to meet them too!  It’s nice to know you’re appreciated!

Next Year I will PROBABLY do a signing in a comic book shop, only for the reason that EVERYONE at the comic book shop will be there for comics on FCBD…. instead of at a place like Hastings where more than half of the people coming in are looking for music or books, and had no idea what FCBD was.

So here is me after we were all set up.  This is my celebrity shot before the mobs of people came around…..

I love that T-shirt i'm wearing. Its my new favorite haha.

So thanks again to everyone who came out to visit. And thanks to Hastings for being such gracious hosts!

I don’t know how many of you who read this blog live in the Atlanta Area of Georgia….

BUT

If you find yourself in the Atlanta Area this Saturday, Free Comic Book day (thats May 1st),   I will be signing at Hastings Book store at 54 BULLSBORO DRIVE NEWNAN, GA 30263 from 2-4 pm.

Ideally i’ll be hanging out before and after, cause i like comics, and talking to other people who love comics, and I’ve been working so much on this comic that I havn’t seen another human being in 2 weeks…  I CRAVE HUMAN CONTACT….AND SOULS……*cough* uh…i mean *cough*… Go Yankees!…..

Anwyays…. I also have a comic due on sunday, so i won’t be able to hang out TOO much. So if you’re in the area PLEASE stop by and say hello..I’ll sign your comic and maybe I’ll do a quick for sketch you! (Assuming that there’s no rules that will prevent me from doing that).

I HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

So today I’m going to show you the cover for Shadows of Oblivion #0.

The line art concept was actually first drawn back in 2005.  I was still in college back then, and starting to come up with ideas for what my illustration Senior project should be.  I decided this was the best opportunity i’d have to bring Shadows of Oblivion to life.  So i wrote the first issue.  (the first issue you will eventually see, will be very similar, but be improved story wise, and art wise.)  So i did a sketch of a cool “movie poster” like image that could be used to “advertise” my comic.  I really wasn’t going to make advertisements, i was just living in fantasy land at the time.

I really liked the extreme light and dark, as well as the somber pose of Cerberus in this sketch. So i applied it to "poster" like design...

So May 2005 is when my comic was going to be released in the "Senior show" so this was my "ad" for the comic. No one really saw this except my professor and me (and now you). Notice the terrible drawing and the poor graphic design skills.....and terrible font...

But i still think the idea was great. So in 2007 after i won a table in artist alley at the ConnectiCon, i redrew Ole Cerbby here to be the cover of the sketchbook i sold at the con.

As you can see The cover looks very similar to that original poster concept i came up with in 2005. Only this time there is a better drawing, and much better graphic design. I only printed 25 copies and sold them all at the con. If you bought one, you might want to hold onto it. Not only does it have some sketches in there, but it has the ORIGINAL first 3 pages of "Shadows of Oblivion" #0 The art is terrible, but when this book takes off, I'm sure that terrible art work will be worth something...

Since i only made 25 copies of that sketchbook, and it featured pages from "Shadows of Oblivion" #0 i thought it would be safe to use a variation of a theme for the actual cover for Issue #0. So once again i redrew the Cerberus here. Added some ink splatter some scratches, and now he's ready to be put on the cover....

Ta-da! Here is the cover to "Shadows of Oblivion" #0 you can obviously see the similarities in from the original concept, only executed much better! Personally i think think this cover kicks ass..... but I clearly am biased haha.

So that is how i recycle old ideas I had when I really sucked at drawing, and turn them into awesome.  (its not like i’m amazing at drawing today, but I’m good enough to pull this off haha).

I’ll throw in a mini contest for all you imaginary readers out there.  If you can tell me what piece of cover art inspired the final cover of “Shadows of Oblivion” #0  I’ll do a free sketch for you!

I’m kinda being vague on purpose, but cover art can be on a comic, novel, album, or movie (like on a dvd box).  If you guess correctly then I’ll sketch whatever you want!

Good luck! And as always thanks for reading!

1.  I totally failed at keeping a daily blog, since i didn’t post yesterday or friday.  But i have a legitimate excuse. I’m trying to finish Shadows of Oblivion #0 this weekend.  PLUS I’m exercising and i got my first haircut here in the state of Georgia!  (yes my hair hat gotten very long and shaggy in the last 3 months haha).  But I’m back on the ball…. at least for today.

2.  I am retiring my “Wierd Japanese” segment on my blog.

Why?

Well, because i think some people may misinterpret my intentions.  No matter how weird it, or creepy, i still think its AWESOME.  So I am replacing “weird japanese” with just “Japanese!”.  That way i can still post all the awesome weird stuff i find. but also the awesome stuff, and educational stuff. and really anything that damn well feel like, cause …well… its my blog, I’ll do what i want.

So today is the debut of Japanes! #1

Today i want to feature a dude, whom i do not know personally, and I’ve never talked to him, but I guess my roomate was like vacation friends with this guy…or something like that… whatever.  His name is Andrew Marston and he has this great youtube chanel called “Japan meets Andrew Marston“.  And he basically does a video blog about what its like to move to japan from America when you know next to nothing about the culture and language.  Its great stuff, and if you’re an American interested in Japan, REAL japan, not how anime’s portray japan, i highly recommend you checking out his channel.

I’ll post a couple of his videos here so you can preview it:

Hopefully that was enough to get you interested and check him out!

Okay i gotta get back to work and get this comic DONE.

I’ll see you (my one reader) later, and the rest of you (the imaginary legion of loyal followers) NEXT TIME!

…. I usually pull myself out of the depression by realizing that i can’t get better by “going through the motions”  and i rip out my anatomy book, and just get back to basics.  I’ve been doing a bunch of 1 minute gesture drawings……..which i’m not going to show here because…well, they look like big messy ball of scribbles. But AFTER i do the gesture drawings, i do some blocky poses.  By that i mean i basically draw a maniquine made from blocks in various poses, trying to focus on  making him (or her) look natural in the pose, and i don’t have to worry about things like muscles or clothes.

So here is the block gesture drawings i did today.

ENJOY!

I love thinking of funny poses to put them in. I have a few ideas as to what to draw tomorrow... i actually can't wait...

Anyways, I’m 4 days in the row with this blogging thing!  I might be able to actually stay on task this time…… I HOPE.

I know i sound like a broken record, but SERIOUSLY i wanna hear from you!  I want to hear what you like about my writing, what you want me to stop writing about, what wish I’d write about. ANYTHING.  Or just start up a conversation.  If a good thread gets going i can make that the focus of a post.

Or you can be perfectly content sitting in the shadows and making me think I’m just talking to dead space…. its up to you!

Talk to you tomorrow everyone!

Today Grimm Fairy Tales # 46 came out, so I’m guessing its okay for me to post some of the pencils from issue #45.  I figure if you haven’t bought it yet, you probably never will…BUT i hope after you see the pencils you’ll go out and buy it!

I’m quite proud of these pages.  They’re not the best pages i’ve ever drawn, HOWEVER i drew this issue in a little over 2 weeks.  So considering the quality despite the lack of sleep, and fast speeds i was drawing, AND i got it done BEFORE the deadline… well let me say i am DAMN proud of myself.

So enjoy some of the pencils from the book:

Grimm Fairy Tailes #45 p1

Grimm Fairy Tailes #45 p8

Grimm Fairy Tailes #45 p9

Grimm Fairy Tailes #45 p10

Grimm Fairy Tailes #45 p11

Not bad right? haha.  Well Go pick up your copy of Grimm Fairy Tales #45 (or #46 since it just hit shelves. but you won’t see my art there).

If your local comic book shop doesn’t have it you can always buy it online.

Thanks for reading everyone!