Here's the second of my runs at doing a premium commission: Zecora. I really like the way these watercolor pieces are coming.
Zecora's kind of a favorite of mine. It's probably the Z thing.
I'll be at Indiana Comic Con with a new print!
This year I'll be making my first trip to the Indiana Comic Con. I'm looking forward to it, both to experience a new show and to see some old friends. And, since it's a new place for me to visit, I've done another new con print. These things are expanding a bit, aren't they?
You know, I'd love to do a Sydney one. Hint hint.
New for 2014: Premium Commissions
I want to try some new things at my 2014 conventions. One of them is this: a new "premium" commission. I want to take a limited number of much more complicated pieces, colored in watercolor rather than marker. I'm only going to do a couple for each show, and you can either place an order or select out of the ones that I already have done.
To start, I'm trying some My Little Pony stuff. I draw the ponies a lot, but I haven't had much of an opportunity to play with the backgrounds and those are a lot of fun. Also, I haven't done watercolors in a long time, so it's nice to start refreshing that skill. Here's Twilight Sparkle as a premium commission. I've got a Zecora one on the drawing board that I'll be showing soon, too. Both of them will be available at Connooga next month.
If you're interested in getting one, give me a shout and let me know. I'll certainly do a few through the mail. For these, 9x12 in full color, one character in an environment, I'm going to charge $125.
Coming Soon: The Complete Love and Capes!
The news broke on Twitter last week, but I wanted to officially announce that there will be a Complete Love and Capes collection from IDW this summer. It's going to include all 24 issues of the series. The only new story page will be the one-page "Hostess" 
It's going to be quite the package of goodness. You can preorder the book on Amazon here.
1000 Deadbeats and More
This past week isn't just the anniversary of the Mac, but it's also a work anniversary for me. I just lettered my one-thousandth issue of the online Deadbeats strip.
I started working for Claypool back in 98 or 99. Honestly, I don't remember. It almost seems like I've always worked for them. At the time, Richard Howell contacted me about doing a pick-up Elvira story. The
Claypool has been an important part of my career. The regular assignments became the framework that allowed me to start a full-time freelance career. They were the known quanity that made taking the leap into the unknown so much easier.
We've gone through a lot of changes, from lettering on boards to paste-up to lettering completely digitally. Richard's been a good friend, and I'd like to think I helped the company a little, setting up the Claypool website and helping the transition from print to digital using some of the lessons (and mistakes) I made along the way on my own projects.
We've had a good run, and I'm glad it's still going.
ConNooga Exclusive Print!
In preparation for my appearance at ConNooga in Chattanooga, Tennessee next month (and my first show of the year!) I've done a con print for the show. It's Lookout Mountain, with Mark and Abby having their own look. As usual with these, these will be limited to 25 prints, and the original will be for sale, too.
I'm also looking at creating some limited edition, hand-colored Pony commissions that are a little more detailed and involved than my normal con sketches. We'll see how that goes.
Either way, my commission list is open, as well. If you'd like to get one booked before the show, send me an email at tz (squiggly at) thomz.com!
WIP: My Indiana Comic Con print
I'm working on a cover for something, but I can't show you that yet. And I just finished another cover, but I can't share that yet, either, darn it.
I'm also working on a print for Chattanooga for next month. Two new cities, two new prints!
Manga Studio on Sale!
I wrote at absurd length about my experiences using Manga Studioin my December #tzadvent project. The program is on sale
Convention Calendar 2014
Want to come see me in person? Here's where I'll be! Connooga Chattanooga February 21-23, 2014
Indiana Comic-Con Indianapolis March 14-16
MegaCon Orlando March 21-23
Emerald City Comic-Con Seattle March 28-30, 2014
WonderCon Anaheim Anaheim April 18-20, 2014
C2E2 Chicago April 25-27, 2014
Comicpalooza Houston Houston May 23-26, 2014
Denver Comic-Con Denver June 13-15
HeroesCon Charlotte June 20-22, 2014
Comic Con International San Diego July 24-27, 2014
Dragon*Con Atlanta Aug 29 –Sept 1, 2014
Baltimore Comicon Baltimore September 5-7, 2014
Cincinnati Comic Expo Cincinnati September 19-21, 2014
Wizard Ohio Columbus October 31-November 2, 2014
New York Comic-Con New York October 9-12, 2014
Akron Comicon Akron November 8-9, 2014
Changes from last year: I'm skipping FanExpo in Canada this year. Hopefully I'll be there next year. August-September is just filled with conventions and I need to pace myself a bit. No GeekGirlCon either, sadly, since it shares the weekend with New York. Connooga in Tennessee is new for this season. There's also a new show in Cleveland this year, but it's on my birthday weekend and I think I'm taking that weekend off. I should do that every once in a while.
And, as always, shows could be added. If a show is willing to bring me out, I can usually find a way to make time in my schedule.
My convention calendar is also accessible in the sidebar, too.
My Nostromo/Photoshop/Manga Studio Wrap-Up
I've been babbling for the last month 
What I wound up doing was having the Razer window open as I used each program and assigned keys as I needed them, rather than try to guess which commands I would use frequently. And I tried to make my commands the same across both programs, though I have separate templates for each. That way, if the zoom commands are different keys in both programs, I can make the same key on the
I also used the D-pad by my left thumb to be key commands, too. I've tried to reserve this for less-used commands and some file commands (save, open) rather than actions.
If you're a super-geek, here's what I wound up with:
Photoshop
01 - Magic Wand
02 - Shift (so it's easy to select multiple areas)
03 - Deselect
04 - Invert Selection Area
05 - Expanded Fill (a Photshop action that takes the selected area, expands it my two pixels and fills that area)
06 - Pencil/Brush tool
07 - Eyedropper
08 - Switch Foreground and Background color
09 - Regular Fill
10 - Contracted Fill (like 05 above, but it reduces the area by two pixels)
11 - Undo
12 - Select All
13 - Cut
14 - Paste
Scroll Pad - Zooms in and out of the screen
Space - Command
Left Alt - Hides Selection (Command-H)
The D-Pad controls Save, Open. amd Delete.
Manga Studio
01 - Magic Wand
02 - Shift (so it's easy to select multiple areas)
03 - Deselect
04 - Contracted Fill
05 - Expanded Fill (a Photshop action that takes the selected area, expands it my two pixels and fills that area)
06 - Pencil/Brush tool
07 - Marquee Tool
08 - Marquee Tool
09 - Rotate Canvas Cunter-Clockwise
10 - Rotate Canvas Clockwise
11 - Undo
12 - Select All
13 - Cut
14 - Paste
Scroll Pad - Zooms in and out of the screen
Space - Command
Left Alt - Hides Selection (Command-H)
The D-Pad controls Save, Open. amd Delete.
I'm a fan of this set-up. If you're looking to become a power user on the graphics side, I'd recommend checking it out.