B37: LAZING ABOUT

Hah, I can't afford to do that! Neither can Tess. Three weeks till Tokyo!

B36: MUCH THANKS

Much thanks that I'm back in the saddle and ready for 2011!

Much thanks for hindsight that says "I did a lot of really, REALLY impressive artwork this year!"

Much thanks to the people willing to take a chance on me, whether it was a success or a failure.

Much thanks for having nothing but sheer persistance and a bitter refusal to quit.

Much thanks to everyone who follows my work, no matter who you are. Who are you anyway!?

B35: COMING TO A CLOSE

The year's almost over already! Relax while you can, DM's... relax while you can...

B34: ALL IS NOT LOST

For Ari is here, fresh from Nekocon! It was actually a pretty strong table presence there! Angry Viking Press was there in form, if not spirit. A good way to end a good year.

Sketchcards will definitely be a fixture of regular drawing, much less conventions from now on!

B33: INTERIM ODYSSEY

What's helped me get through the long days & nights on the road & in the air? Etrian Odyssey III! Easily the best in the series, I think.

@JohnnyLamonte:
New York Comic Con & Wizard World New England were fun shows, despite a lot of minor irritations. The crowd at NYCC was ABYSSMAL. Even on a Sunday, you had to bump and shove a lot of people to get around. NYC itself is my playground, and any excuse to walk the streets from sun-up till 2 in the morning is a good one.
Wizard World New England was a first-time outing, so I was kinda shell shocked after such a blizzard of people to have practically no major crowds. Having President Obama next door for a Democratic rally might have dinged the crowds some too. But, like NYC, I like spending time in the greater Boston area with the locals. That's what it's all about, really.

B32: NEW YORK TO BOSTON

This week, a roundup of the past two weeks worth of insanity at New York Comic Con/Anime Festival (back in October 8th-10th) and Wizard World New England (October 15th-17th.)
First up, Tess and Tara from WWNE! Not bad for a first outing -- the convention, I mean!

B31: BLOODY MEMORY

Been feeling out of sorts for awhile now. This oughta straighten things out.

B30: SETTING A NEW TONE

Tess, with a nice halftone coating. Judging from this and the previous R-Type pic, I have a completely simple and reliable toning method now. NOW, I'm excited!!!
(Hahah, hasty comment entry at the last possible moment at work. ERASED.)

B29: THAT FELT GOOD, DIDN'T IT?

Just making sure Juri's on all my blogs.

B28: ADDENDUM

(And yet, I don't quite think I'm using the word "Addendum" like it's supposed to be used... ah, well.)

TEXT ALERT: This is a checklist/reminder/self-admonishment of what's on my desk currently, what's due and where I'm going in the next few months.

[WORK DUE]
-12 page comic, "Clockwork Loveletter" -- all pages pencilled, dialogue entered, just have to polish the SOB off. Over a month overdue.

-Undisclosed design work for a alpha-build of a video game. Very telling, isn't it?
Deadlines keep coming in weekly since about August 1st.

-Promo art for upcoming convention, "Nekocon". So far, no follow-up notices or threats of street-beatings so far.

[WORK ON TAP]
-Awaiting proposal for another design assignment. Equally vague. More on this later.

-"The Demon Mages #3", 32 pages. Long view says end-of-the-year, start of 2011 for release. I don't like that it's so far down this list though.

[NEXT STOP]
-New York Comic Con/Anime Festival: a personal trip, looking foward to seeing a few key creators there, and doing Demon Mages business with AVPress editors.

-New England Comic Con: a full out Angry Viking Press showing to close out 2010.
Question right now is... how to get there?

-Nekocon: Lots of N's, huh? THE LAST CONVENTION I ATTEND AS A PAYING ATTENDEE. It's been 12 years. Time to retire the 300$ tab each time I go to these things. Starting in 2011, if anyone asks if I'm going to (X) con -- instead talk to a guest relations rep and recommend me as a guest. I'm alarmingly cheap.

-Comic Market 79: It's on the books, there's a lot of people who are wanting to meet me on the other side. But money right now is terrifyingly short. SO. I'm taking donations. Details on the "how" coming soon, but even a PENNY put to this cause is a PENNY closer to getting there. I'll have an offer up soon as well to make it worth people's while.

B27: R-9R SLEEPLESS NIGHT

This made the rounds on my DA page and Pixiv BEFORE getting here!? Craziness.

What's good though is that I found an easy way of achieving the tones I want -- or at least, something close to it. Soon as I figure out how to get bigger dots at the sharpness I'm looking for, it'll all fall into place. For now, it's just about getting things consistent. Onward!

B26: NO MONEY FUN

Off to SPX this weekend for a day-trip! Still got a LOT of stuff to finish up in the meantime.

B25: PERFECT!

August is over! Thank goodness, 'cause that wasn't fun! What WAS a ton of fun was this gift art for a special friend of mine... Tasty looking parfait, huh?

B24: NEW FRONTIER?

Or at least, a reeinforcement of my existing techniques.
More from the new sketchbook. Or shoved in the sketchbook, in most cases...

B23: IT'S NOT ABOUT FALLING OFF

But, getting back on! Here's a look at the first few pages of a new sketchbook I started... in a book that's physically 12 years old. Get a whiff of that old-book-smell.

B22: EXPENDABLE

Bill Rizer, from Contra. Dude, get the spread gun, don't get shot with it!

B21: OMNIBUS

Gotta get back on the weekly posting cycle. It's sad that whole months have gone by with me falling off the proverbial horse. SO, here's some knick-knacks from the weeks prior, during and post-SDCC!







More next week! Seriously!

B20: THE DELTA WAR

B19: STATUS REPORT

Less about art, and more of a self-reminder:

-Angry Viking Press.com is wholly updated! Now "Angry Viking Entertainment", we're setting up for digital media to go up -- comics, specials, all sorts of extras! Check it out and join the forums while you're at it!

-San Diego Comic Con 2010 is next week, and surrounding that is about five days of solid vacation time. I hope to shake some hands, get some resumes out and DO WORK.

-Utage/Ichigo Folder blog post was a week late, but both works came in on time. I'll have more on both when I see the final product myself. Not so happy with the Utage one, but I did my absolute best!

-Otakon 2010 is RIGHT AFTER SDCC, and much as I say I won't be there -- I'll be there. Don't look for tables, I won't be at one. Just hang around UDON Comics or Felipe Smith, and you might catch me :)

-August and September are the next prime times for getting more comic/artwork under my belt. Unlike last year, I don't want the turn of the 3rd quarter to be a disaster.

B18: DUAL CRUSH

A week ago was a CRUSHING triple-deadline. Two of those pieces though, you'll be able to see at SDCC and of all things... Comiket 78. Here's a sampler.

B17: SKETCH IT OUT

More sketches from this past week-and-a-half's take from AMA/Anime Next. Hooray progress!

B16: EXCELLENT

Otomedius Excellent. U.S. release confirmed. WHAT?

Guess it's time to dig into the archives and get the fanart posted. Konami knew I was so starved for a Gradius game, that I'd take anything. ANYTHING. Those guys....

B15: OPERATION FARAWAY

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Gradius, my absolute favorite video game of all... 3 years in the making, is a complete concept album! Original tracks inspired by, and remixes of some of the most recognizable music from Konami's flagship shooter (plus some obscure favorites from other worthwhile Konami shmups.) "OPERATION FARAWAY", I propose to release by the end of the year in a physical form -- but online you'll be able to check out new tracks as I release them on Youtube! Look for more in the coming days! And tomorrow... DESTROY THE CORE!

B14: @ THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

Just some sketchwork while I walked the halls in NYC, and looked at my friend's graphic arts archive.

THE DEMON MAGES #2, preview pages

THE DEMON MAGES #2

THE DEMON MAGES #2, AVAILABLE NOW!!!

http://www.indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3663

MTAC 10 Nashville was a blast, and I'll gladly do it all again next year, if they'll have us.

Next big shows on the docket are San Diego Comic Con in July, Otakon the weekend after that, and New York Comic Con in early October. Somewhere between then and now, this proposed summer Magfest event might be worth checking in on and dropping your two cents for: magfest.org/node/566

B13: FAR TOO LONG

Far too long since the last post. Gonna keep it short and sweet -- so LISTEN UP!

PAUSE!

Hey, just checking in. I'm working hard to complete The Demon Mages vol. 1, so I'm afraid after a nice run on February, updates will be few and far between for March.

B12: DM's FLYERS #4 -- TARA

This was a fun exercise! I hope y'all liked the change of tune here, and I hope to deliver more short comics like this in the next week or two.

B11: DM's FLYERS #3 -- TESS

B10: DM's FLYERS #2 -- ARI

B09: DM's FLYERS #1 -- ZIGGY

B08: GROWL, FROM THE DIGITAL HAZE

Chalk up one finished commission. 100% digital work. Go me.

B07: FROSTPOCALYPSE

So very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very tired of snow.

Clockwise from top left:

-Continuing work on commission from last year's MTAC. Way late, but out of control color work. I want this one to count!

-Sketchwork for another request, a Draenei mage. No, I don't play WoW.

-A portrait, semi-cute styled bust for a friend's business card. This'll look good! :)

-Finally, an unreleased pic from last May. A commission piece that fell through the cracks sadly. But it's really cute and was a fun piece to draw.

B06: DEBTS TO SOCIETY

I think this all-in-one image format should work out fine.

Here, clockwise from top to bottom is a color example of the current commission I'm working on. Next is the brutally delicious Tira, from Soul Calibur. And, with maybe a better sized version later is a design sheet for my mecha musume, Hikaru. Hard to believe, it's been nearly a year since I played with those characters...

B05: ART JAM

Some samples of the take from Ohayocon this past weekend. These were all during the Art Jam panels from Friday and Saturday night, up on the projectors for live demonstration. I had a TON of fun producing them, which is a notch further in the direction of... well... let's not get TOO ahead of ourselves for now.

B04: THE ZENITH

Holy smokes. It's like I'm possessed! This BETTER maintain after Ohio!

What's insane is that all this has happened in the past THREE DAYS. All 100% digital work. Most of it Photoshop 6.0. Need I repeat it?

B03: OHIO BOUND

I was bound to be sidetracked at some point. But all the better for it. I'll be riding shotgun into Columbus for Ohayocon next Friday, and won't be back till the following Monday, so this post should tide things over until I get back. Some looks into works-in-progress:

A preview of a waaaaay overdue commission request. This WILL be done before I leave.

A preview of what I hope will become a kickass set of flyers for the year.

A little something extra. Crazytown.