David Petersen's Blog, page 76

Mouse Guard at Comic ConFor the 5 days that is comic con,...

Mouse Guard at Comic Con
For the 5 days that is comic con, I'll be spending most of my time at my Artist Alley Table GG-09. I'll have a few signings at the Archaia booth: 2635 almost every day. I'll be signing books, selling the 2011 sketchbook ($20) and taking commission requests ($200). For the commissions, I'll be taking names Thursday through Saturday on a first come first served basis. I only take a few names each day and start a new list each day, so if you don't make it on Thursday's list, try again on Friday etc. I'm looking forward to the geekfest of creators and fans coming together that is comic con, so I'll see you in a few days!(For those attending, I'll try and tweet (@mouseguard) any location/signing/info updates as much as I can. For those not attending, This will be a good way to keep up with any announcements & Eisner info)
2011 Sketchbook:Speaking of this year's sketchbook, I wanted to give you all some more info about it. It's a 24 page full color collection of original artwork I have colored specifically for the sketchbook with a few other covers added for good measure. They are limited to 400 copies this year (we were doing 300 in years previous). These should last us till just before next year's San Diego Comic Con. We will continue to offer this sketchbook both online and at future 2011 & 2012 conventions. So, if you are unable to get a sketchbook at Comic Con, you still have an opportunity to buy one without getting taken to the cleaners by ebay sellers asking top dollar for something still available from me for $20.
Color:
Like last week, I'm going to show one of the commission type pieces that I usually only color for a sketchbook, but can't include it because it's not Mouse Guard themed. For Jeremy Bastian's Birthday I did a piece of his Cursed Pirate Girl character Tag Clamb. The character is mostly seen over the course of a few panels in Jeremy's 3rd issue of CPG, but the visuals of this character struck me as amusing and fun to draw. When I was ready to color him, I had to give Jeremy a call to ask about the palette. Jeremy's book being in black & white, I had no idea if Tag was cream or blue or green or mustard...etc. I colored this piece last week as part of that live coloring Ustream session.

Fan Art:This week's Fan Art comes from Duncan Walden. He writes that he enjoys Mouse Guard and took pride in all the detail in his fan artwork. Thanks Duncan!!

Upcoming Appearances:
San Diego Comic Con: July 20-24
Baltimore Comic Con: Aug. 20-21
Detroit Fan Fare: Sept. 24-25
New York Comic Con: Oct. 13-16

Congrats in advance!Jesse Glenn (my friend & the real...

Congrats in advance!Jesse Glenn (my friend & the real life basis for Kenzie) and his girlfriend Tomoko Miller are getting married this weekend! I am proud to be serving as the best man and looking forward to having a front-row seat to seeing them tie the knot (provided I don't get him in too much trouble tonight at the bachelor party...)
Colored Commission:Last night I did a Ustream as I colored three past commissions that would otherwise never be colored or published (they are not Mouse Guard related). I did so to 1) have a Ustream event and 2) to have some material to share here on the blog for the next few weeks as a wedding, SDCC, & a family get together bar me from current posts) This commission is an anthropomorphic fox as requested by a fan. I real;ly like the finished piece, but because it's not how foxes behave in Mouse Guard, I couldn't include it in this year's sketchbook without creating confusion.
Older Sketches:While looking for material to fill the blog in advance with for the next few weeks, I stumbled across this drawing of a Mystic (or Uru) from the Dark Crystal. I did this sketch as a warm-up before I did the Dark Crystal poster for Archaia a few years back. The sketch is unfinsihed, but I remember at the time wondering if I had it in me to take something rough like this and use it as the foundation for a digital painting. This seems to be as far as I got, which makes for a nice quick study but a rather unfinished digital painting.
Fan Art:This week the art was sent in by Alex Challand. He said that Mouse Guard inspires his own artwork. Thanks for the kind words Alex! Very glad you sent this in, I like the character you have put into this mouse with his cool hood & belts.

Upcoming Appearances:
San Diego Comic Con: July 20-24
Baltimore Comic Con: Aug. 20-21
Detroit Fan Fare: Sept. 24-25
New York Comic Con: Oct. 13-16

Birthday Recovery + Deadlines on 3simultaneous projects =...

Birthday Recovery + Deadlines on 3
simultaneous projects = cool gift guest art as blogpost
An awesome toad riding goblin-ish-Green-man By Nate Pride (who told me the title that sounded like a Magic the Gathering card, but I forgot it)

A Katie Cook piece for my Harry Potter art collection of Ron playing Keeper for Griffindor (Weasley is our King...)


Upcoming Appearances:
San Diego Comic Con: July 20-24
Baltimore Comic Con: Aug. 20-21
Detroit Fan Fare: Sept. 24-25
New York Comic Con: Oct. 13-16

Short post this week because I'm catching up from time in...

Short post this week because I'm catching up from time in Traverse City for the Cherry Capital Con & I'm on a deadline (or three).

3 Self-Published Independent book recommendations:
Comics are stories. And while I enjoy a superhero bash-em-up from time to time, I want the diversity in comic stories & genres to be more widely known & appreciated. Here are three books that I have discovered at conventions this year which were all self-published by the creators and I think are deserving of wider recognition, not just for their conviction and bravery to self-publish, but also for their quality work.
Order of Tales: The City of Shells: by Evan Dahm
This is the first book in a series of three by Evan Dahm about a storyteller Koark keeping history alive as he searches to discover a lost story important to his people. What grabbed me about this book is the immersive world-building that Evan is setting up. I have not yet read the remaining two books, but I finished book one feeling I needed to (the story can be read online for free at http://rice-boy.com/ but I am waiting to acquire the physical books which may be tough for new readers as it seems the first book may have gone out-of-print... ). The fantasy world of Order of Tales is slowly unfolded through illuminated manuscript-like storytelling, race & culture designs, maps, and the sense that there is more to discover with every turn of the page.
The Green Monk: by Brandon Dayton
Brandon's ink work drew me to his booth when I passed it in the Phoenix Comic Con's artist alley. I saw his debut comic The Green Monk, a fairy tale of-sorts about a wandering monk who ,using an enchanted blade of grass, takes on a giant. After reading the story back at my table I went back and bugged Brandon several more times to talk shop about inking, pen work, his colored work (he had some lovely prints he colored digitally which looked hand-colored) and ultimately I purchased a commission piece from him for my Harry Potter themed collection.
You can find out more about Brandon & even buy a copy of Green Monk here: http://brandondayton.com/

Shi Long Pang (pronounced Sher Loong Pong): by Ben CostaBen also came by at Phoenix to show me his Xeric Award winning book. The Xeric is granted once a year to a comic creator deserving of taking their vision to print by a grant of funds to be used for the printing costs. Ben's story started as a webcomic and after winning the Xeric, he was able to publish his first volume. Pang is historical fiction in the tradition of Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo (Stan was awesome enough to give Ben a quote for the book cover) set in 17th century China about a short & fat young monk. Ben has really done his research about the history of the period and the politics and language, and religion....and it shows! You can read Shi Long Pang every Friday on Ben's site as well as order his hardcover: http://www.shilongpang.com/
Fan Art:Titled "I did not agree to this" by Adakie. I really like the design for the front of Kenzie & Saxon's cloaks. They both look a bit young...perhaps this is when they were still tenderpaws in the Guard.

Upcoming Appearances:
San Diego Comic Con: July 20-24
Baltimore Comic Con: Aug. 20-21
Detroit Fan Fare: Sept. 24-25
New York Comic Con: Oct. 13-16

Unexpected & Unplanned Visual Influence:Looking over ...

Unexpected & Unplanned Visual Influence:Looking over Black Axe #2, there are two examples of where the visuals were the result of fan interactions at conventions. I had no preconceived notion of how the Captain's Captain character Roarke would look when I started Black Axe (in fact, I didn't have anything specific for him when I started issue 2). I knew he needed to be surly and pirate like to fit in with the crowd I figured would populate the Mariner's Bell. I had also written the character's motives to be underhanded and swindle-ly when dealing with Conrad. Then it dawned on me, that a few years back, I had done a Conrad vs a Pirate Mouse commission for a fan at Dragon*Con. Seemed fitting to use that design again. Luckily, I had also already colored the piece for the 2010 sketchbook, so the design for Roarke was 98% done before I started...but I wouldn't have drawn a pirate mouse without that fan's suggestion.
The other example of this is the visual representation of the history lesson of the Black Axe. In the past I have used illuminated manuscript based on the Book of Kells to be the visual portal into what could otherwise be boring exposition/explanation pages of talking mouse heads. This timer around, I wanted to do something different (also suggesting that all of Mouse History isn't recorded in this way, and that the Legend of the Black Axe is legendary enough to be found in multiple sources) but was stuck on what to use as a visual. As I was headed to my shelf to retrieve a Kells reference book, I knocked over a fold-out scale reprinting (in book form) of the Bayeux Tapestry a fan had given me as a gift last year at a convention. I loved how the tapestry is essentially a long comic narrative, mixing images with words. Had it not been for that fan being so kind, I wouldn't have been led in that direction.
Recent Colored Commissions:I sent the printer the files for the 2011 Mouse Guard sketchbook last week. I try and keep the sketchbook pure Mouse Guard making most of the content images you could see in the comics. These few are non-mouse related, but wanted to share them. I did the colors as a 'warm up' before I was going to be doing a batch of Black Axe pages. (Panda & T-Rex in love, & Characters from Stuff of Legend; both by request)




Upcoming Appearances:
Cherry Capital Con: June 25-26
San Diego Comic Con: July 20-24
Baltimore Comic Con: Aug. 20-21
Detroit Fan Fare: Sept. 24-25
New York Comic Con: Oct. 13-16

2-D Design -or- The Most Valuable Art Class I took:Ok, so...

2-D Design -or- The Most Valuable Art Class I took:Ok, so that heading may seem a bit skewed, and may seem like I'm chalking up other classes I took as rubbish (which they weren't), but what I'm getting at is that 2-D Design 101 (or whatever the course number was at Mott Community College) was the class that switched on a lightbulb in my mind and offered me something new. Other classes were more about assignments that forced you to practice or pushed your comfort zone, while for me, 2-D was about discovering new information.
In 2-D I learned a language for things I took for granted: contrast, focus, balance, color, value, negative space, etc...AND how to manipulate them to achieve a visual goal. In this example, we were assigned to take a layout of shapes, and with three different color harmonies and placements, design three very different images. In the orange one, I was going for a subtle vertical transition from darker reds to lighter oranges. The green and red was designed to split the image aggressively into a left and right (and make the zig zag line between them a focus). And lastly, in the violet & yellow one I wanted to bring out that yellow elbow shape as the focus.
Using contrast (of color, value, and texture) I was able to make the three images look (somewhat) different. With my inking on Mouse Guard, I still use this concept with patterned linework. One of the points of contrast is to make touching areas either leap off of each other (high contrast) or blend together (low contrast). So to separate mice from backgrounds or overlapping characters I vary the style, texture, pattern, and thickness of lines to create contrast. And that is before I ever bring color into the page. Shape, pattern, & contrast became the framework for what my drawings & subject matter needed to fit into.
In another assignment, we were to create a design on an equilateral triangle and through mirroring and repetition, create four different hexagonal designs. This assignment (as did most every assignment) also featured some color theory, but I want to focus on the pattern design aspect. While I was called out by the professor for a few shapes still being recognizable & in similar configurations (remember the assignment was to make 4 very different hexes.) overall the hexagons were satisfactorily different enough for a good grade though.
This lesson came back to me when in Mouse Guard it was time to cover the walls of Darkheather in tile patterns similar to Moorish tilework, but without their iconography, substituting weasel iconography instead. I drew a stylized heather flower bud and then put the 2-D skills to work and came up with a variety of tile patterns. And I could put my lesson's mistake to good use, I have a few designs there that are very similar, and a few that are more different. Depending on how much contrast I wanted in adjacent tile areas, I had a pattern to do the job.
Though computers were well infused in education and design when I was starting college, we did not use them for this class. So all these assignments were done by mixing paint to specific colors & values, then painting them evenly on paper so as to not leave visible brush strokes (though later we could when trying to implement texture). The paper was then carefully trimmed with xacto knives, and lastly glued down with rubber cement so that there was no trace of residue. I may have groaned at the time about "how much easier this would be to do on a computer" but I'm glad I didn't. I may have still learned the design concepts, but I wouldn't have learned the Mr. Miyagi-type lesson of craftsmanship: no fingerprints, name in the right place, no exposed glue, no visible brush strokes, etc. It was a big part of our grade (1/3 most of the time). I think about the idea of craftsmanship being 1/3 of the grade on every page I do.
2-D Design class got me onto the path of thinking about an image before I start it (or at least before I try and finish it). It was printmaking that fully forced me to really process what my end goals were for an image, and what techniques executed in what order would get me there. No coincidence, it was my 2-D design professor Sam Morello that also taught Printmaking.
Upcoming Appearances:
Cherry Capital Con: June 25-26
San Diego Comic Con: July 20-24
Baltimore Comic Con: Aug. 20-21
Detroit Fan Fare: Sept. 24-25
New York Comic Con: Oct. 13-16

Free Comic Book Day 2011 Story:I am very proud of the sto...

Free Comic Book Day 2011 Story:
I am very proud of the story from this year's Free Comic Book Day flip-book. I am continuing to get emails and tweets from fans who discovered Mouse Guard through the story and from existing fans who loved using it as a gateway for their friends and relatives to get into the series.
So I wanted to take a post to talk about my process in getting that story finished.
In case you missed this year's issue, you can read it for free online at Graphicly.com here before reading the rest of this post.
Last year I found the task of writing short a Mouse Guard story for FCBD rather daunting. It needed to be accessible to new readers who have never seen Mouse Guard while still having something new and plot-connected for the existing fans. I was able to do a story that worked, but this year I felt I had to try a new approach. After the success of Legends of the Guard, I thought it would be fun to change the FCBD story format to be more like a folktale or Legend. With the story being told to a younger aged version of a known character, I could show how something as simple as a bedtime story could shape who that mouse became.

On a car ride to a friend's house I started thinking of folktales I liked which I could just do a comic translation of with mice. J.K. Rowling's Tale of the Three Brothers (featured in the Deathly Hallows), Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale (from the Canterbury tales), and Snow, Crow, & Blood (I had re-written a version years ago). What they all featured were a series of items, used in succession which change the outcome of the ending.

I then settled on a trio of concepts that are frequently echoed in Mouse Guard: Aggression, Defense, and Wisdom (Saxon, Rand, & Kenzie-- Swords, Strongholds, & Diplomacy). I couldn't come up with a "wisdom" item that would work to twist the ending and swapped it for poison, but made wisdom the key attribute to acquiring and successfully using the items in the correct sequence. Therefore, it made sense that I have a young Kenzie (the character's name means 'wise') told the tale that would shape his future.

The Hawk, Crab, and Snake would gift parts of themselves in their greed to get a greater claim on mouse-prey. A talon became a sword, a shell became a shield, and poison became..well, poison. The process of making the pages is my standard: break down the script into 1 page chunks, sketch the panels in a sketchbook, scan the sketches and assemble them in a Photoshop template of the page with placed text blocked where I think it goes, print out those layouts, and ink the final artwork on bristol using a lightbox to follow my layouts as guides. Lastly I scan the inks, and color the artwork and make final text changes.
ps: Sorry about missing last week's post. I was swamped returning home from Phoenix,and
with the power outage later that week I never got a good chance to catch up on the posting.

Upcoming Appearances:
Cherry Capital Con: June 25-26
San Diego Comic Con: July 20-24
Baltimore Comic Con: Aug. 20-21
Detroit Fan Fare: Sept. 24-25
New York Comic Con: Oct. 13-16

Reference Model: The Mariner's Bell:In issue 2 of Black A...

Reference Model: The Mariner's Bell:In issue 2 of Black Axe, Em & Celanawe were going to meet Conrad at a tavern. To design this brew-hall, I had to choose one of the buildings from the larger Port Sumac Model to fit my interior design into. The octagonal dwelling I chose was one that I found free online as a 'medieval hut'. I had also tacked on another free online cottage piece to the roof on the town model, so my interior design needed to use that exterior shape.

I took the same hut model and upscaled the printout. I reworked the graphics to be a two story space with a row of windows around the upper floor and stone walls on the lower one. To have a purpose for the hut I glued onto the roof, I made that the housing for a big bell that perhaps the town uses as a signal for predators, upcoming storms, or incoming mouse ships (deafening to the patrons of the tavern though!). I didn't build the bell into the model, but the idea came to me as I was gluing together that space.
I glued up the printed out design so that the graphics were on the inside. I left off a section of the wall to give me a view inside. The spiral staircase is a bunch of equally trimmed pieces of craftwood glued piece by piece onto a drinking straw. The balcony is sections of cardboard. While I had an idea of what the interior of this tavern would look like, it wasn't until I built a physical version of it that I got a real sense of the design as a complete location, before it was just floating elements (windows, staircase, balcony, etc.)






Upcoming Appearances:
Phoenix Comic Con: May 26-29
Cherry Capital Con: June 12-13
San Diego Comic Con: July 20-24
Baltimore Comic Con: Aug. 20-21
Detroit Fan Fare: Sept. 24-25
New York Comic Con: Oct. 13-16

Reference Model: Port Sumac:New Mouse City, new design ae...

Reference Model: Port Sumac:
New Mouse City, new design aesthetic! I wrote the description for the lower portion of the seaside mouse town as: "Docks, moored ships, and floating dwellings lashed and built off of one another form the heart of the port...". But to visualize the location and keep the design consistent, I built a model.
This time I had less to build though. When doing the Fall 1152 extras, I printed several free online papermodels of medieval cottages and buildings. I had about fifteen or so of them, which I tucked away in a drawer in case I ever needed them again. I dug them out and found a few more freebie models to print and construct. Then I started placing them on craft sticks poking out of a sheet of rigid insulating foam.
scrap bristol formed the docks and walkways, and I just kept cobbling everything together until I found it visually pleasing. This hodgepodge approach of collecting various models, in various scales, and placing them by eye and with no plan in mind, lent itself to perfectly designing the spirit of this mousey location which was supposed to evoke a bit of Mos Eisley from Star Wars, Scabb Island from Monkey Island, and a medieval shanty town.






More photos:



Upcoming Appearances:
Phoenix Comic Con: May 26-29
Cherry Capital Con: June 12-13
San Diego Comic Con: July 20-24
Baltimore Comic Con: Aug. 20-21
Detroit Fan Fare: Sept. 24-25
New York Comic Con: Oct. 13-16

Reference Model: Conrad's Ship:Because of how frequently ...

Reference Model: Conrad's Ship:
Because of how frequently Conrad's boat would be seen in Black Axe #2, I knew I needed to build reference for it. unfortunately, I didn't take photos of the build process, but I can tell you that it started with a cardboard skeleton of the hull, followed by a cardboard deck, and bristol board sides. The railings were all made with match-stick sized craft scrap wood.
For adhesive, I started with rubber cement, but as I went along making more permanent decisions, I switched to hot-melt-glue. The bottom of the boat's hull is also covered in blue painter's tape. It's helped me smooth out the contour of the compound curves, but also gave me a reference line for where the water level would be.
I tried to figure out a way to design the rigging so that Conrad could man the ship alone having full control over the sheet (how tight the sail is) and the rudder. This project was (like the Legends cover #2 library model) an exercise in tactile design. I tried drawing concept sketches for this boat based on various historic ships, abut didn't get very far. By cutting and gluing, I designed as I went eyeballing shapes proportions in 3d as I went. (only took 1 night)




So to showcase my madness here is a gallery of the model (16" long, 17" tall, 5.5" wide):



Thank you to Julia, who helped me take these photos, but photos of all my hand built Mouse Guard models that still exist (three older ones have bitten the dust).
Upcoming Appearances:
Motor City Comic Con:May 13-15
Phoenix Comic Con: May 26-29
Cherry Capital Con: June 12-13
San Diego Comic Con: July 20-24
Baltimore Comic Con: Aug. 20-21
Detroit Fan Fare: Sept. 24-25
New York Comic Con: Oct. 13-16