David Petersen's Blog

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
For our first Christmas as a married couple, I made a nativity set for Julia. I have loved nativity sets since I was a kid. This set I made mainly out of wooden frame stock for stained glass windows that I had left over. The textures were achieved through wood carving tools, branding the wood with various tools, and a dremmel. I also made use of 5-6 different wood stains and assembled the pieces after the stain had dried. I wasn't able to handmake a gift...

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Color Tutorial:
I get asked about my coloring techniques in e-mails and at conventions, so I wanted to start posting some basics. I am a self-taught photoshop user, and that there may be better ways, or other ways to meet the same end, but these are the steps I take. I also want to mention that while I'm using Photoshop 7, what I'm showing will apply to any version of Photoshop older than 5.0.

When I started, learning to color, I read a tutorial on coloring (here). However, I found the method o...

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Model Building:
While working on a cover for Legends of the Guard (which I can't show yet), I wanted to feature an architectural library setting. I looked through my reference photos and found this one that I took in Ireland at the Trinity college library (where photography was prohibited, so excuse the out-of-the-coat-quick-shot blurriness). However, I wanted to go beyond this photo and make something more Mouse-Guardish.

I hate figuring out these things in perspective. It takes me forever to...

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Free Comic Book Day 2010:
Archaia will be releasing a Free Comic Book day 'flip' book that features a new Mouse Guard story from me and a Fraggle Rock story and cover on the other side. Here is my cover for the Mouse Guard side of the issue. The white box is for comic retailers to stamp or label their logo/address in hopes to attract new readership to comics to their store. The story I'm doing will be 10 pages and will take place in Spring 1153 (as an homage to everyone who asks when 'Spring...

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Happy Thanksgiving:
For us here in the States, Thanksgiving is this week. I have a great deal to be thankful for, chief among them my Wife, family, & friends. However, I wouldn't have the success I do without you folks out there who are fans of my work, so Thank You. I mean it. I have a career because people enjoy my work and I don't ever want to take that for granted.

Process:
Since Sean Wang's Runners: The Big Snow Job just wrapped it's first issue over at runnersunivers.com, I thought I'd...

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Square Format:
When Mouse Guard first came out, one of the things people noticed about it right away was it's odd format. There were folks who loved it for being different, and folks who hated it because it was hard to store or display. And while it was an unusual decision on my part (and Archaia's willingness to publish it that way) it seems that the square format is becoming more popular with titles like Dear Dracula, Stuff of Legend, & the upcoming Archaia Fraggle Rock comic.


There have been...

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Home from Ireland and London!
I apologize that I'm typing this up so late in the week. I had been trying to post on Tues. each week, but after two weeks away and flying over an ocean to get home, there was no way I was going to be able to type anything of substance. The trip was wonderful. Julia and I had a lovely time staying with relatives and exploring Northern Ireland and London. It was a great way to celebrate our anniversary and her birthday.

I have a wonderful batch of photos that I will...

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Due to being in Ireland, this week is a continuation of the list from last week of artists whose work I collect:

Joao Lemos:
I found out about Joao's work when Marvel's Avengers Fairy Tales #1 came out. I met Joao in New York two years ago when he was visiting from Portugal. He showed me a journal he had kept for a year in preparation for the Peter Pan story in AFT#1. It was amazing, he had stage plans from the original Peter Pan production, he had drawn characters and settings that were not in...

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While I'm away, this week & next week's posts will be about Artists I collect the work of. I want to share these artist's amazing stuff and ways to find them.


Jeremy Bastian:
Not only one of the most talented people I know, he's also a good friend to boot. Jeremy's work is amazingly detailed and creative. He does all his inking with a brush, which a lot of folks do, but not with Jeremy's 19th century engraver's-line sense. This piece was a gift because Jeremy knew how much I admired this charac...

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This week's post is a bit of a hodgepodge. After doing 5 shows in the last 7 weeks, I only have unrelated bits & bobs to share
Recent Commissions:Here are six commissions I have done at cons (or taken home from cons) from the recent past. All are 7" x 7" ink on bristol. top row L-R: Obi-Wan Mouse, Celanawe, Watchmen/Minutemen mice. bottom row L-R: Lieam & Crab, Arkham lineup, a mouse herald
New York Highlights:While in New York for the Big Apple Con I had two major highlights.
1) Tour of 30...

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