Collision! part 2 of 2 (Or: I Learned Things.)

The final. Original art still available!

 Cover art to X-23 #9, part of the Collision crossover with the Daken book.

What can I say? For a seemingly simple cover, this one took a lot of twisting and turning to get out the door. This is a moment I've wanted to show for a while, and I was going for an intense stand-off, but I'm not sure the body language is selling it.

Finding the right color scheme took many passes as well, the journey from magenta to brown had many stops and side-trips.

An earlier version, as appearing in Previews. I dunno, I thought I was Benjamin or something. Or Jim C.

I'm reasonably pleased with the Daken (although the physical copy printed so red he looks sunburnt) but getting my flat style of rendering to 'work' on Laura, at such a large size was a whole other challenge.

In the end, it is what it is. I learned things.

For he's a Jolly Good... Snail.

It's Free Comic Book Day this Saturday May 7th. It's also the 35th anniversary of the Silver Snail comic shop, a landmark of Toronto comics culture, and I'll be spending it there.

Each year they commission an original poster to commemorate the event, usually featuring store mascot Bobo (the big robot guy,) in some fashion. This year, they asked me. (See image above,) If you want one come down to the store, they're gratis.

Past posters have been drawn by the like of Charles Vess, Dave McKean, Stuart Immonen, Adam Hughes and Simon Bisley, among others.  Clearly, someone screwed up this year, but I'm pretty chuffed about the whole thing, regardless.

The Silver Snail and I have had a long association, and it's inseparable from my secret origin. It was the first comic shop I ever set foot in as a kid with my Dad. I didn't buy my first comic there, but pretty damn close. It was a wellspring of inspiration for me growing up, for years I couldn't just walk in to the store, as soon as I saw it at the end of the block, I had to break into a run. It was the fire in which my love for comics was tempered. It was a place where amazing, undiscovered things lurked on every shelf. 

And I had plenty of time to discover them all, as in later years, my mom would often drop me off there while doing purchasing in the neighborhood, leaving me to wander the store for hours. I'm sure the staff loved that, and later still, in my twenties, when I worked there for a year or so (with some of those same staff, I might add,) I came to understand just how god-damned annoying I must have been.

I don't get to the store much these days, I live and work in neighborhoods in other parts of the city, with easy comic purchasing options walking distance. But I wish I did.

And hey, I'll be there tomorrow.

Artists Help Japan

Poster art by Kei Acedera.

 

 I'll be at Revival in Toronto this coming Sunday the 17th, along with a whole slew of other Toronto creators and DJs, drawing like the wind to help raise money for earthquake and tsunami relief via the global grassroots movement Artists Help Japan.

I'll be on hand from around 6pm to midnight, taking commissions just like I do at conventions, except 100% of the fee will go towards the cause.

The event is all ages, and free to attend. For more info, click the poster above, or you can read the whole press release here.

Collision! 1 of 2

Cat added in post. My editorial crew and I agree, the addition of cats improves almost anything.

Out this past Wednesday, X-23 #8 featuring Daken, son of Wolverine!

It takes place on one of my favorite locales of the Marvel U,  Madripoor (Which, as a child, I'd always mix up with Majipoor. Careful kids, we are deep in the nerd zone now.) 

You can see the favor by how much love and attention is paid to the environment in this image. How utterly unlike so much of my other work...

Also of note: This issue and the next one, both parts of the Collision! crossover, are beautifully drawn by one Mr. Ryan Aloysius Montgomery Stegman. Check this out, if only for him. He is ninja.

See? No cat. Also: available! (hint hint)

Sketchin' Mutants at the Con, Like a Wizard

 Thanks to all who came out, chatted, got drawings, bought prints or picked up originals. You made the weekend awesome, each and every one of you.

I'll also be at the Toronto ComiCON Fan Appreciation Event April 9th and 10th, so if you missed out, you have a chance to make it right in just 3 short weeks!

Photo Ref Wednesdays No.3

Welcome back, my friends to our newest (Semi)weekly feature, wherein I post embarrassing photos of myself, taken in the hopes of capturing a certain je ne sais quoi for the art. All for the art...

Oh to be that young and that thin again, but with all the suave yet charmingly brash confidence I now possess...  (You can't see me, but I'm rolling my eyes at myself as I type this.) So here I am as both the Chief and the Sniper! The girl I managed to work out on my own, without the aid of a camera.

 

This was the first pro gig where I used a significant amount of photo reference. My art director, who was just not feeling the reality or weight of the drawings I was submitting, kept sending me back to the drawing board, over and over, and finally suggested I take some pictures.

So I ate those 4 small pomegranate seeds. What harm could they do? 

It made a huge difference to that particular illustration, and it definitely transformed my working process on every piece thereafter.  Bold step forward or the beginning of the road to hell? Probably not for me to say...

I was commissioned to create a background city-map, which curiously, is also based on a photo. In the end they went with their own image (see below) so this is the official debut of that unused map!

The final cover, featuring Other Map.

Not quite a Tutorial

Cover Artist Kalman Andrasofszky talks shop at NYCC from The Comic Archive on Vimeo.

As I ponder what might be a good assignment to decompress into a tutorial, here's a video interview with me from NYCC 2010 where I go into great rambly detail about my process.