Nick Davis's Blog, page 67

My journey and adventure at Annapolis Comic Con 2013

Welcome to the show

My adventure at Annapolis Comic Con 2013 is finished and as ever thank you to Ben and Awesome Conventions for putting on a great show. Had some great conversations with fans, got to attend my first ever panel with the Dr Who Experience (with fellow Brit Ben Taylor), did a fun in-show characterture and even picked up a pencil to draw at the show.

To finish off the event I took a trip inside the Tardis photo-booth with Tristan, met K9 and Princess Leia in a bikini… Yep, a full event, a little slower than most but these are the events you learn the most from. Reassess, re-plan the table, bring along more sketch cards, and more cuddly Teddy Bear Fun… Now enjoy the pictures and thank you all turning up and supporting me.

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My journey and adventure in Annapolis Comic Con 2013

Welcome to the show

My adventure at Annapolis Comic Con 2013 is finished and as ever thank you to Ben and Awesome Conventions for putting on a great show. Had some great conversations with fans, got to attend my first ever panel with the Dr Who Experience (with fellow Brit Ben Taylor), did a fun in-show characterture and even picked up a pencil to draw at the show.

To finish off the event I took a trip inside the Tardis photo-booth with Tristan, met K9 and Princess Leia in a bikini… Yep, a full event, a little slower than most but these are the events you learn the most from. Reassess, re-plan the table, bring along more sketch cards, and more cuddly Teddy Bear Fun… Now enjoy the pictures and thank you all turning up and supporting me.

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Exclusive Picture – The 12th (twelfth) Doctor and New Doctor Who Companion finally come out of the Tardis

I cannot believe I was lucky enough to get this before anyone else… After the jump I have the exclusive picture of the twelfth new Doctor and his brand new Companion  is finally revealed and I got this first!!! And you’re welcome Whovians

Taa Daa!!! Who knew?
Meet Nick Davis & Tristan… Your new Timey Whimey Wibbly Wobbly Doctor and Companion

Question is who is the Doctor? And who is the companion? Hope  Tristan & I got a smile… Enjoy the day Peeps

Tristan and I will see you at Annapolis Comic Con – Saturday June 29 10 – 6

The next convention is upon us and it is the most excellent and fun Annapolis Comic Con at the Roger “Pip” Moyer Recreation Center in Annapolis (click here for directions). Tristan and I will be there along with the Teddy Bear Tales illustrated book, the Cuddly Sketch Cards and new Teddy Bear Super Hero themed art plus much more… Learn what else after the jump…

Captain America Bear by Nick Davis

Along with the cool Teddy Bear Gear from Pocket Protector Tristan’s and the Cuddly Sketch Cards you can pick up original art and prints of traditional heroes and cartoon characters drawn by my hand. Also the full selection of Alt-World books will be there with Fabula Zero Exposition the most unique Graphic Novel ever written with added Ninjas, Sigmartyr an Action Figure comic, The Tether Saga and the Wonder Tales the original all ages Once Upon a Time adventure in the Ninth Kingdom of fantasy adventures.

All this and more… Come and join me at Annapolis Comic Con Saturday June 29th 10 – 6 for a great day of comic celebration and wonderment.  For full details about this event, the guests, artists, and panels (I will be appearing on the Dr Who panel) please click here.

So where are we now?

Me and my Kids on Fathers Day

Been a couple of weeks since I last posted to my blog. I’ve used this time to collectively get my breath, write, draw and generally just take a little break from the exhausting Kickstarter campaign that was the Teddy Bear Tales new comic book – Tristan & the Cuddly Defenders. I am also getting ready for a brand new job and what looks like a new chapter in my life. I accepted a position with Baltimore County as a Web Page Coordinator, it is very similar to my older Maryland State position with the Ports Administration and what I hope will be me getting back on the career ladder again. It means less of a struggle for my family, benefits and respect of my peers.

This of course means I’ve left Ace Sportswear which oddly enough I am kind of sad about.  I joined what I thought was a promising start up with the hope help it and found out my opinion, thoughts, ideas, energy and ambition were not wanted and I was barely listened too. It turned into an experience, that although educational, I will never place myself into again. I leave Ace with a better website, a restructured less buggy store but not really anything other than that… Sad really because I wanted to make an impression there just never allowed to do anything.

It is though time to move on now… New job, new prospects, new software, new skills to learn and a return to an environment that I am more used to working in. I’m kind of scared because I don’t know if I can match up to expectations, but also excited because of all the opportunities that are opening up again in front of me. Gods… It is good to have a career back again.

Rose on art board using acrylic on a pencil guide applied with a flat-brush.o

Also… It is time to give back a little… I am now an Art Instructor for Michaels Craft Stores, which means I will be teaching art technique, style and encouraging people to partake in art which I am really looking forward too. Over the last year I’ve had this urge to start teaching what I know and while my own technique may not be solid and there are other Artists out there with greater skill being able to give back, to show people what art has done to me and how it helped pick me up is going to be an amazing experience.

Professionally I am in much better place than I was a year ago with a wide berth of opportunities in front of me to grow and to provide for those I love.

Tristan & the Cuddly Defenders concept by Dan Nokes

Dream wise I’m now been afforded the opportunity to turn my accidental Teddy Bear Tales character Tristan into a comic book and with that I hope Tristan will reach a much wider audience. For me this is amazing to see Tristan grow from a few words, into story, into an illustrated story and now into a comic book character. This has been a long dream to write a comic book, something I said I wanted to do way back in my Itec days in Leicester in the early 90′s… Now it is happening

On an Immigration note I am still at a status quo. I am still afforded the benefits of the process while my application just seems to sit in limbo. I check everyday in the hope of a decision but this part of my life is in idle. Been a full year now and in many ways it is holding me back and this is the only thing that is niggling at me.

Life happens when you least expect it…

In all though… Been quite an eventful first six months of the year…. Life begins at 40, eh?

Tristan & the Cuddly Defenders all-ages comic fully funded on Kickstarter!!! Thank you all!!! Tristan Lives!!!

Tristan explores the World within a World – Art by Dan Nokes

We did it, it has been a long crazy and sometimes stressful 45 days but thanks to you all the next step in Tristan the Teddy Bears adventures have begun in the Tristan & the Cuddly Defenders. And you all made it happen on *Kickstarter – click here to learn more about this comic book! Not me, not the soon to be very busy Teddy Bear Tale Artist Dan Nokes… But you… Everyone of you that pledged, that shared this project. Everyone who joined the Grand Teddy Bear Army. Everyone that told someone about this all-ages comic book you all made this project fly and I cannot thank you all enough for your kindness.

Thank you for tolerating the last month of constant tweets, Facebook status updates, demands for retweets, updates, blatant spams and begging for pledges. We will now return to normal service as I begin work of collating and producing this comic book for you all to receive and read. The aim is to get this book out to you and released by Baltimore Comic Con in September.

I would like to mention along with all your constant sharing and barking, this project has been noticed and retweeted by Rob Liefield, Ed Brubaker, Josh Adam, Erik Larsen, Michael Oeming, Top Cow, Devils Due, Collectors Corner, Geeks of Doom, Golden Apple Comics, a tonne of Indie presses who now owe many favors too and many others who have all done an amazing job shouting about this project. The reach Tristan has had with this project has been very impressive for  little Teddy Bear.

I am now as you imagine very tired, a little deflated after a long push and wearily stand proud now and shout the battle cry Tristan Lives!!! The Kickstarter fundraising is done we got 104% of our goal, now the means is there for this project to come to life. Time to take a quick deep breath this is the brief pause before the real work is about to begin…

Watch out for updates, artwork and glimpses of this upcoming story over the next couple of months.

I thank you all again…

Now say it with me!!!

TRISTAN LIVES!!!

*Kickstarter is a crowdfunding website were you can pledge money towards projects created by artists, writers, inventors and in turn receive the item they want to create, and in many cases special rewards. It is little like micro-investing were you get ownership of the product, become involved in the project and help it fly. The website is very revolutionary and an amazing place for people with the idea, the know-how, but not quite the funds to get started to find their funding. The only rule is if you don’t make full funding you do not get a penny. Making these fundraisers an all for nothing and very stressful affair especially if you are close to making your goal and time is running out.

A Teddy Bear Adventure Comic – Tristan & the Cuddly Defenders Kickstarter heads to the wire!

“Teddy Bears have been protecting innocent children from Monsters under the bed since 1902…”

Tristan needs you help – Art by Dan Nokes

Essex, Maryland June 4, 2013 – Teddy Bear Tale Creator Nick Davis has had a busy month promoting his latest Kickstarter project, an all-ages Teddy Bear Adventure comic Tristan & the Cuddly Defenders and get it to its goal of $2225. Now with less than two days on the clock and at time of writing still over $600 to make before the Kickstarter deadline of Thursday Jun 6, 3:22pm EDT, he still has a mountain to climb to bring this all ages adventure home.

Tristan & the Cuddly Defenders is based off the adventures of Tristan the Teddy Bear from a series of illustrated story books of this heroic Teddy Bears thwarting the plans of the Evil Bogeyman and his Legions of Monsters under the Bed. These story books written in gleeful Roald Dahl style and illustrated by local Maryland Indie Artist Dan Nokes proved to be very popular, meeting with good reviews and growing audience of all-ages readers.

It is now time to bring Tristan, his friends and foes into the realm of comic books to introduce him to a brand new audience that might not pick up an illustrated story book, but may read a book full of Kirby-style action and a growing adventure.

Tristan & the Cuddly Defenders will be a 48 pages full color comic book featuring 3-4 comic strips that are connected by an illustrated narrative story. The story is written by Nick Davis, and Dan Nokes who did the amazing job of bringing Tristan’s world to life and is a master sequential story-teller returns to illustrate this book.

The book will tell of Tristan’s first adventures in the World within a World, a place full of wonder and magic that exist in the places were we lose our pens and loose change. It will introduce new friends such as Archer a Teddy Bear that was never loved and new foes as Tristan uncovers a new evil plan from the Bogeyman.

The Kickstarter for Tristan & the Cuddly Defenders has several incentive rewards, you can pick up a resin case of the heroic Teddy Bear, original art and prints, t-shirts and even a 22″ Real Teddy Bear version of Tristan the Heroic Teddy Bear. You can see these great rewards and read more about this amazing little project by clicking the URL here – http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/altworld/tristan-and-the-cuddly-defenders-an-all-ages-comic

About the Teddy Bear Tales

The Teddy Bear Tales are the illustrated adventures of Tristan the Teddy Bear, a humble old-bear who finds himself in the role of protecting children everywhere from the Monsters under the Bed. The books are traditional illustrated stories with pictures and prose throughout. To learn more about The Teddy Bear Tales here – http://theteddybeartales.com

About Nick Davis

He is a father, husband, Englishman and dangerous stalker of Tea… He is also a full-time Web Designer and part-time writer of several worlds of wonder, and is a sometimes artist. Nick has worked with Games Workshop on White Dwarf magazine and has published several all-ages books from the Teddy Bear Tales series to the Once Upon a Time adventures known as The Wonder Tales. He is the creator of Tristan the Teddy Bear and can still be found up-late writing this Teddy Bears Adventures or at local conventions spreading the word of Tristan’s heroic Teddy Bears adventures. Learn more about Nick Davis on his website at http://alt-world.com

About Dan Nokes

Dan Nokes is what experts call an URBAN MYTH, having survived the trenches of the independent comic book scene as a jack of all trades for almost a decade. Dan began 21st Century Sandshark Studios in 2002 with his super hero title THE REPTILE AND MISTER AMAZING. He has since then done a 12 issue maxi series ( THE PARANORMALS 2003-2008), a 3 issue western series (THE PISTOLEERS 2008-2010) and is currently working on his 2nd and final volume of the dystopian/post Armageddon masterpiece ADAM AND EVE: BIZARRE LOVE TRIANGLE IN THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!.

When not seen in blurry video footage, or in archival documentary specials on NatGeo, he is hard at work on the artwork for UNCONDITIONAL or plotting his next projects THE REPTILE AND MISTER AMAZING: THE RETURN OF KAT KARSON and IMPOSSIBLE SPACE TALES OF THE LAST PITT STOP! Want to learn more of this quasi mystical cryptozoological enigma visit Dan website at http://www.21sandshark.com

Inspired by the Kickstarter Comic Tristan & the Cuddly Defenders – Meet the Teddy Bear Eleventh Doctor and the Tardis

The Teddy Bear Eleventh Doctor by Nick Davis

This illustration of the Teddy Bear Eleventh Doctor by Nick Davis was inspired by the ongoing kickstarter for our all-ages Teddy Bear comic book Tristan & the Cuddly Defenders (click here to learn more about this Kickstarter).

Drawn on Tan paper from pencil, inked and then colored using Art Loft Markers, finished with white charcoal pencil.

A Teddy Bear protecting a child from the Monsters under the Bed please help our Teddy Bear Comic on Kickstarter launch

Watch the video to see what just one Teddy Bear can do against the Monsters under the Bed. Then join the Grand Teddy Bear Army and help Tristan & the Cuddly Defenders all-ages Kickstarter comic get published and help Teddy Bear’s continue their on going promise to protect children everywhere from the Bogeyman – http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/altworld/tristan-and-the-cuddly-defenders-an-all-ages-comic/posts/499687

A high five from Tristan the Teddy Bear and please keep pushing his Teddy Bear Comic Kickstarter!!!

Get you High 5 from Tristan the Teddy Bear. Art by Dan Nokes.

Okay Teddy Bear Tale Fans… Tristan needs your help!!!

Tristan’s brand new adventure comic – Tristan & the Cuddly Defenders is over 66% funded and we only need $800 to win the full funding for this project. As you many know when you use Kickstarter you either win your full funding or you don’t get a penny… With so little left we cannot let this project die!!!

Collect your high five from Tristan and let’s keep pushing!!! With 3 days left we can do this!!! Check out the Tristan & the Cuddly Defenders here – http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/altworld/tristan-and-the-cuddly-defenders-an-all-ages-comic/posts