A couple weeks ago I finished up my last storyboard in a long run of consecutive shows. I enjoyed the work (and loved the money!) but by this time last year my comic work progress had pretty much slowed to a crawl.And I’ve had two comic projects on the side during that time.

At long last one of the two projects is getting close to wrapping up. I’m finalizing backgrounds on a 34 page short and I should be done some time next week.

I can’t show much as the project is a ways from coming out, but I can tell you that it is written by Eisner Award-nominated writer Derek McCulloch, is based on the short stories of Damon Runyon, and will be coming out from Image Comics sometime in the near-ish future. It’s a collection of short stories each drawn by a different artist and there are a few more stories to be completed so a release date isn’t available yet.

I can’t say much more than that, but here’s a sneak peak of a few panels  I finished up today.

Another page of digital pencils. This one was done in July. I’m currently working on page 159 but my productivity slowed to a crawl when I started my current storyboarding gig. I went from a page a day to a panel or two a week. But – unlike other ‘breaks’ I’m still plugging away. And my current schedule has a week off after every two boards, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to play catch up during the weeks off. I’m still hoping   to have the pencils complete early in the new year and inks done by mid-summer.

I’ve hit the part of the story where I really can’t show full pages without spoilers, so from now on it’ll be a panel here and there for show and tell.

And… here’s page 144, drawn in Manga Studio:

I’m slowly working my way through the final 70 pages of Wahoo Morris. I roughed them out in a space of a few weeks, and I’m now in the process of cleaning them up. My original plan was to just get the basic construction done digitally, then print them out, slap them on the light table, and do the clean drawing on the final Strathmore before lettering and inking.

My ‘roughs’ are turning out pretty close to finished pencils, so I’m thinking, instead of wasting time tracing them on the the light table I might buy myself a large format printer and just print them out in blue line and ink directly over that after the odd touch up with pencil.

Anyhoo, that’s still a decision for a few weeks at least into the future. In the mean time, here’s a random page of digital pencils.

I’m getting ready to head out to the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau. For the next 4 days I will be a guest of the 9th Rendez-Vous International de la BD de Gatineau.

I’ll be at the Festival doing signings, live drawing presentations, and a few other events. I also have an exhibition in the gallery section. About 30 pieces of original art will be on display, so drop on by. It’s FREE.

The full press kit follows the cut.

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