Eric Orchard's Blog, page 35

Mad Maddy With Rapier

Here's a part of a Maddy Kettle panel. I drew a lot of flowers here. I like drawing repetitive compositions, although it's a lot of work. I like the idea that there are patterns running throughout my book, it gives a sort of visual cohesion to the whole thing. I'm currently inking the last stack of Maddy pages. The homestretch is in view! 

Some Inks!

Posting two different projects today, top is the Thimble Witch from Maddy Kettle which is currently going full throttle at the moment. And below is the Christmas print which is all wrapped up. If yo're interested in such things, the top image was inked with Pigma pens while the bottom image was inked with a dip pen. The big difference tio me is that there is more subtlety and personality in the dip pen drawing but there is a reliability of line in the Pigna pen that allows me to do things I can't do otherwise, even digitally.

On an unrelated note I'm currently obsessed with Jesse Thorn's menswear blog/podcast Put This On. This is, bar none, the best resource for men's clothes. Check it out.  

Thimble Witch Inks....

The Thimble witch looks kind of pensive here! I finished up the Christmas print and am back finishing Maddy Kettle now. Non stop inking until Christmas. We've decided to stay in Toronto for Christmas instead of our usual trip out east. It's just way easier in every way, and my mom will come out and sped the Holidays here.

I'm trying to drum up some extra cash for bills while I finish Maddy so I'm selling some comics on eBay right. Please have a look at all the comics I got there. 

I might also sell some originals too... 

Christmas Print Final Inks

Finished my new Christmas print! And here are the inks, which I actually edited back a bit in Photoshop but mostly I left my inks alone. I'm holding off posting the final colour version until it's up for sale, which will be Thanksgiving in the States or around there. It will be a high end print, and will retail for somewhere around 50 dollars USD, but that's not final. I'll let you know more soon.

I'll leave this up today and tomorrow and then I'll start posting my progress on Maddy Kettle again, which I now think will be all finished by Christmas. 

Headstones And Monuments By Steve Ogden

I wanted to share this wonderful project by my friend Steve Ogden. It's a compelling new collection of stories and art. Really hoping to see a print version!

I'll let Steve explain it:

"In August of 2011, I got it into my head to create a collection of thirty-one very short stories for fall, full of the smell of pumpkins and fallen leaves. These would be so short — around 1000 words each — that I could bang each one out in an evening. The plan was to write one story per day for the month of August, and release it just in time for the Halloween season. I would call it “Thirty-One for October”, and I intended it to be read at the rate of one story per day for the thirty-one days of October, with a fire in the hearth and a nice drink close at hand.

Unfortunately, I found I have no talent for microfiction, and I began to get frustrated. There were things I wanted to do with these stories, places I wanted to take them, things I wanted the reader to know about these characters and their histories that I couldn’t accomplish in 1000 words.
So the tales grew in the telling. What started off simple became nuanced and textured. Instead of thirty-one tiny stories, I wound up with 2 short poems and 5 stories that were much longer than I’d originally intended. In fact, the longest of these, “Visited upon the Sons”, is almost long enough for a book of its own. In the end, this book took me a year longer to create than I had planned, but when I was done, there was a lot more to read. I hope it’s more of a good thing"

Christmas Light

More details from my upcoming Christmas print. I feel like I'm posting bits of a puzzle! I sent it in to the publishers last night and got a big thumbs up. It took me more than 50 hours to do, maybe a lot more...so I still can't look at it objectively. But I think it's good...

And today it's back to Maddy Kettle! 

More Christmas Print Inks!

Winter Monster

Sorry about the lack of posts lately! I'm not sure whether to tell you I've been busy or lazy, both seem pretty accurate depending on when you ask. I finally finished the inks on my new Christmas print and the inks alone must have took about 50 hours, I really lavished a lot of care on this piece. This is the Winter monster, who appears in an upcoming comic by me. I'm just starting to colour the print right now. I imagine the colours will go faster.

By the way, if any of you read my post on The Rest Is Noise and contemporary classical music and were interested hearing some contemporary classical music I just discovered a great radio station that only plays living composers. Q2 Radio is out of New York and is very much worth a listen, I was blown away by some of the stuff they were playing there.

As far as reading goes I just finished A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, which is amazing. I'm trying to say something relevant concerning the book and last night's election, but I've got nothing.

Hope everyone is well! 

Christmas Pencils

Here's a lok at the rough pencils for my Christmas print, which I've transferred and am now inking. I'll be soliciting this by Thanksgiving and will be selling it in a different way than I usually have, but I'll update you about that soon. 

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