Love and Capes Vol. 4… Next Week!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that

the fourth Love and Capes collection, What To Expect, collecting the most recent miniseries from IDW, will be in comic shops next week. Also included in it is the six page Love and Capes Valentine's Day story, previously only available digitally (and in the Rhinos Bowling book).

Hey, I Did a Gutters Strip!

This week, I did a guest strip for the guys over at The Gutters. They've decided to open up some of the writing chores, too, so this is one drawn and written by me, with lettering by Ed Ryzowski and colors by Rus Wooton.

Mine pokes some fun at the flaming hoops that must be jumped through to get a hotel room at Comic-Con in San Diego. Check it out here!

Everything You Need to Know About Me and Emerald City

Emerald City Comic Con starts tomorrow, and I will be there at Booth B-06. If you forget, it's on all my social media avatars. I will be sharing space with the always ebullient Ben Thompson.

I will be taking commissions all weekend. It's first come first served to get on the list. Black and white inked pieces are $25 per character, and colored pieces are $50 per character. I'll also have a number of pre-drawn pieces, and those prices range a bit, but they're comparable.

Also, I will have original art for my entire issue of the My Little Pony micro-series, including the covers.

I have a limited number of my new Seattle con print (25 printed, three have already been bought), as well as a handful of last year's con prints, too.

I'll be debuting a postcard set which includes all con prints, including postcard exclusive prints of Cleveland, Boston, and Las Vegas. The full set of twenty postcards is $15.

And, I'll have a couple of the new red Love and Capes shirts. Those are $15, too.

I will have an extremely limited number of advance copies of the fourth Love and Capes trade. When those are gone, they're gone (although I will be fully stocked for WonderCon).

And I'll have the regular copies of the entire run of Love and Capes and the first issue of the My Little Pony micro-series including variant covers. I am debating not bringing the original self-published run anymore, though. It seems like I may have sold all of those that I will sell, especially with the trades. For now, I'll have a few under my table for you completists who might be missing an issue or two of the run.

Many Things I Have Drawn This Week

I've been drawing up a storm in preparation for Emerald City Comic Con. I've had people request commissions, people who won t-shirts and commissions as part of the Valentine's Day promotion, and a couple of ones to have in my portfolio to sell. I've been posting these on Twitter (which is why you should follow me there, too) but if you don't, or if you missed them, here they are.

All of these are purchased except for the Twilight Sparkle/Spike one, which can be bought at Emerald City.

Drilling for Work

This post is going to be about art, but it's also going to be about the business of art. I have a great dentist, Dr. Nemeth. And while I like him a lot and recommend him highly if you're in Northeast Ohio, his reminder postcards left a little to be desired. Every six months I'd get one of these things and wince at the cartooning. They were serviceable, to be fair, and did the job. The front had a cartoon and I just didn't care for it. (Apologies, dear reader, if you're theone who drew it.)

So, the last time I got my teeth cleaned, I asked him about doing new cards. I proposed caricature cards of him as different cartoon characters with different headlines. As we keep going, we could do new cards. We hammered out a price, and then I drew some cards.

You can see them here on this post, and as always, click for biggimization.

Two things about this:

One, the good doctor loved them, and the next time he's going to a conference, he's going to bring them and show them to other dentists. That could very well mean more clients and more work for me. That's all to the good.

Two, I think this is one of the important things about being a freelancer. Sometimes work comes to you, sometimes you have to get the work. I saw an opportunity here, put myself out there, and got the job. Hopefully many more jobs.

The great thing about freelancing is the control of your job. But that means taking the reigns, too. Sometimes you have to shake the tress for work. It's part of the job, and it's not always my favorite part, but if you're going to do one, you have to do the other.

My Little Pony: About the Coloring

This week my Twilight Sparkle story appeared in the first issue ofthe My Little Pony micro-series, published by IDW. I'm happy with the reaction I've seen, and while I'm trying not to read too many comments, I have seen a lot of people commenting on the animated style of the art. Specifically, the colored ink line effect.

I have to say right here, that wasn't me. That was the colorist, Ronda Pattison. Not only did she have to color bookshelf after bookshelf (and, if you've read the story, you know just how many books I drew in that issue) but she colored the ink lines. I couldn't be happier with the result, and I want to make sure she gets the credit for that.

I've only really had my art colored by someone who wasn't me twice. First was in the installment of The Gutters that I drew last year where I was colored by Rus Wooton. The other was when my good friend Sean Tiffany colored the cover for the second issue of Love and Capes: What to Expect.

It's a very different experience to have your work colored by someone else, at least for me. For the past five years of Love and Capes, I've been coloring it myself. I can see the colors while I'm pencilling it, and I don't have to convey that to anyone, because I'm everyone in the process. I'm lucky that my My Little Pony had such a good colorist on it. It's very different than what I would have done, but I think it's much truer to the show than I would have done.

For instance, in my head all those bookshelves were browns and golds. Ronda colored them in cool blues and purples. It works very well, but it's not the way I saw it. I also didn't say anything because it wasn't "true to my vision" or whatever nonsense artists often say. You hire people who can do the job and then you trust them.

So, when you see my heavy brushy cartoon lines converted to color, that's all her, and I couldn't be happier. It really punched up my art.

What would it have looked like if I'd colored it? Different, that's for sure. I drew all those crazy books, I certainly wouldn't have colored all those lines.

You can click on the artwork here to embiggen the image and see the difference.

Love and Capes Emerald City Print Pre-Sale

I'm taking preorders for my new Emerald City Comic Con convention print. I have 25 of them and when those are sold, they're gone. They'll be $25 at the show, but if you preorder them here, you'll save $5 and be sure to have one waiting for you.

My MY LITTLE PONY… in stores TODAY!

Ponies, everyone!

My Little Pony art: Fluttershy

Three days until my My Little Pony issue comes out, and today's Pony piece is Fluttershy. Unfortunately, she doesn't appear in my story, but she's ny favorite's favorite, so it wasn't going to be long before I drew her.

I should be doing at least a couple more before New Comics Wednesday, and all these originals will be for sale at Emerald City Comicon in two short weeks, Table B-06.

Digital pencils, transferred to board by lightbox, and colored with Copic markers.

My Little Pony Art: Dr. Whooves and Derpy

This Wednesday, my issue ofthe My Little Pony micro-series… issue #1, in fact… comes out to comic shops in the U.S. (Sorry you have to wait, United Kingdom!) In that spirit, I'm switiching from drawing Couples Commissions to My Little Pony characters, First up, Doctor Whooves, with new his companion Derpy Hooves. Whooves? Hooves? It's like it's meant to be.

More stuff will be appearing all week.