Terry Moore's Blog, page 10

2012 Rachel Rising Print—Sneak Peek!

I just finished the art for the San Diego Comic Con Rachel Rising print. Size is 14 X 11 inches. Price will be $10. We’ll print a limited number, like 250 for the show, and I’ll sign on the bottom right.  The remaining prints will be sold online, so if you want one—and I hope you do—we’ll have them available for order July 17.

Can you find the naked lady?

Rachel Rising Cover Art For Sale

If you’re a “Riser” (I just made that term up to identify all Rachel fans. Yay or nay?), you know Rachel Rising covers are unlike any other cover art I’ve done before. Some are pen and ink, but many are drawn in pencil. To me, the pencil covers have a natural texture and earthiness, as in grave-iness. (It’s like some songs are electric, some acoustic.) And I’ve kept to a simple 2 color palette to give them an bold, pop-culture design that is unlike any other comic on the stands. You can recognize a Rachel Rising cover from across the room, and that’s a good thing.

This pencil approach requires fully rendered drawings, so I do end up with art that looks just like what is printed, no Photoshop tricks.

Today we’re pulling art to take to San Diego and I have five covers available for sale. I thought I’d post them here in case you see one you want now. Any I don’t sell online will be taken to SDCC. I’ve scanned these in color and to show the entire page, so you can see exactly what they look like in real life.

If you see something that interests you, contact the ravishing Robyn at sipnet@strangersinparadise.com

Click images for larger view.

Below is the cover art to Rachel Rising 9, which introduces the demon on the cover. I can’t tell you any more than that right now, but he is wickedly cool and I love his name. No spoilers here, since that issue has yet to hit the stands (it’s at the printer!), but I drew my ass off on this one. It’s been hanging over my drawing board. I referred to it constantly while drawing issue 9 and find it pairs very nicely with Hans Zimmer soundtrack music. On 11 x 17 DC art medium vellum paper, which seems to be, not Strathmore but, something more like Cason brand. $600.

Below is the cover art for Rachel Rising 11. Obviously, this issue has yet to come out—it hasn’t been drawn, it hasn’t even been written yet—but this is the cover. That happens because I have to submit cover art to my distributor months in advance so they can prelist the book for retailer orders. Since the book hasn’t been written, I typically chose an image I know will generally fit the story coming up, and I know our beloved snake-swallower Natalie will be playing a major role in the next few issues.  To the uninitiated, it looks like Natalie has a weird tongue, but we Risers know we’re looking at the head of a 6 foot snake in there. Natalie, you’re freakin me out. On 9 x 12 bristol. $500.

Below is the cover art to another issue in our future, Rachel Rising 12. This wicked moment captures 10-year old Zoe standing in the town graveyard… and all the graves are on fire. How creepy is that? Just another day in the small town life of Manson. I didn’t draw to the right edge because the size ratio would be too wide for a 6×10 comic book, but if sold, I would finish that out for the buyer so it will fit in a ready-made frame. I love the children’s book sky and clouds. This is on 11 x 14 Strathmore bristol. $500.

Below, Rachel Rising #3 cover art. I love this drawing, as you can tell, since I’ve used it as the Rachel Rising iconic image for my web banners and such. On Strathmore 9 x 12 art paper. $350

(Sorry, this just SOLD)

Below is the cover for Rachel Rising #5. I drew this in ink, thinking it would be mostly blacks but, in the final design, the walls were green and red. This is a simple graphic that means nothing to you before you read the issue, and totally creeps you out after you’ve read the issue, because you’ve learn what happens in that elevator. I think Zoe need more hugs. On 11 x 17 DC art paper. $350.

That’s all the Rachel Rising covers I have!

My most embarrassing con moment…

I chat about comics, the little town in Alabama where I came from, and the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to me at a convention, in this new interview with http://cassettepress.com/

How To Draw Funny now at webstore, and…

How To Draw Funny is now available at our webstore. (click link then click on Related Books)

Like the other books in my HTD series, I try not to waste your time on drawing fundamentals, but rather to give you info that hasn’t been covered to death. Whether you’re an amateur or a pro, I think you’ll find some good stuff in here.

I have one more chapter to write, How To Draw Comics, and that will come out late September. A month later, all the chapters will come out in one book collection. More on that later.

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I proofed Rachel Rising #9 today and gave it the final nod. Looks good. Brenner Printing (San Antonio, TX) does a great job. They’ve been printing comics since before I was in the biz. They know what they’re doing alright.

The turn around from printer to shop seems to be 3 weeks now, so maybe July 11? That would be fun, if it came out during SDCC. Speaking of…

It’s weird, but I’ve been drawing a lot of images that I can’t show you yet. That’s not like me, I like to share everything I draw. But this is that intense period before San Diego Comic Con, when I scramble to keep the book on deadline but also make other books and prints and tshirt images and every other wild idea we come up with to get fun new stuff to take to the show. I’ll show you some of the things we’re making, in the next week or so, but images are special surprises for the show.

For instance… here’s one I can show you. BAO Publishing is our Italian publisher now, and they have a French Bulldog named Cliff as their mascot. Being a dog lover, I think that’s great. All the artists in BAO’s stable are asked to draw their version of Cliff. You can see the collection at BAO’s Facebook page. I drew my version today. Here’s my take on Cliff.

BAO is printing Rachel Rising this summer. I proofed what I could today of the pdfs online (I don’t speak Italian, but apparently my characters do so fluently), and will see a print dummy book soon. I love what I’ve seen so far.

 

Rachel Rising 9 complete

The new issue of Rachel Rising is at the printer as of 30 minutes ago. You’ll be seeing this cover on the stands soon.

Rachel Rising #11 Cover Girl Is…

Natalie. Wicked snake lady Natalie. Kiss kiss!

Rachel Rising 8 is out on digital but not stores…why

Rachel Rising 8 went on sale today at http://www.comixology.com/

She was supposed to be in comic stores this week too, for a coordinated coast-to-coast release, but apparently the shipping didn’t make it. My apologies to stores for now being a week behind comiXology—we tried to coordinate the release—but I have no control over the situation once the books leave the printer and get trucked around. We had a May 23rd global release date. That’s all I know and I’m surprised it didn’t happen. Stores will hopefully have the book next week… 4 weeks after it shipped from the printer.

Rachel Rising 8 Update…

Rachel Rising 8 comes out tomorrow. Seek shelter.

How To Get Your GN Into Stores, & How To Find An Artist

So, David Walter writes to ask two questions I hear a lot, meaning a lot of people wonder about this, so I’ll answer them publicly:

I’m and budding writer and poet and I have written an few pieces of poetry and short stories, There is a couple questions I want ask: 

1) As an independent creator what reliable steps did you take to get your grachic novels and comics into the comic shops?

2) I’m a better writer than artist, and I want to turn my written stories into graphic novels. Whats the best way and the wrong way to forge a partnership with someone where we can bounce off each others talent?

PS

I think you would the perfect choice to do a Blade Runner grapic novel.

Cheers

1. A quick study of the comic book business will reveal that it relies on one main distributor, Diamond Comics. Diamond publishes a monthly catalog of new books and merchandise offered in the near future. Retailers selectively order from that list. There is actually a printed version of this catalog that fans can read called Diamond Previews. For example, the catalog for January will list all books and merchandise shipping from Diamond warehouses in March, so you have a two month lead time to place your order with your beloved retailer who will then order the books for you through the distributor and have them for you in March.

That is the system you, the creator, have to plug into. So the simple answer to your questions is, the most reliable way to get your books into comic stores is to be carried by Diamond Comic Distributors. The trick is, Diamond has the right to refuse you. They must first approve of your book(s) based on content, quality and professionalism. You can’t show up brand new with just one book because they want to see proof you can do more than one (too many people only make a first issue or two then disappear). And if they do list your book, it must collect a cash minimum of orders. You would have to check with them for the current amount required. You can contact the Diamond home office and speak to a rep at (800) 45-COMIC, or (410) 560-7100. They’re nice people and if you have a great new book or series, they would love to know about it. We all would!

2. For a writer to find an artist they can bond with, they’re going to have to go where the wild things are… like the “artist alley” section at comic book conventions—always a ton of talent behind those tables just looking for opportunity. There is the classic website, DeviantArt, where artists have pages with their own galleries and easy contact/interaction. And, this would require some shopping around but, I have to tell you, Tumblr is jammed with artists posting their work. It’s a big universe so you have to surf around, but the tumblr system is easy to navigate and you can see more artists in one hour than you could in a year of flipping through books. To get you started, the link I’m giving for them is set to show results for comic artists. Happy shopping!

If none of that works, try the hotel bar at your local comic convention and be prepared to buy drinks. A lot of drinks. Artists are notoriously bribeable.

And just in case you ask, sorry, I’m not available. I’m in a relationship with some dead characters right now.

Facebook & More

I’ve made a Facebook page I can finally use properly. This is the best place for us to talk to each other because it’s fast and easy. Like a 21st Century Letter Column. Check it out: www.facebook.com/terrymoorebooks

And now you know what’s in my menu bar, too. You can see I’m also on Twitter, Tumblr, Deviant Art, SoundCloud and ComiXology. I’ll post more about each page later and tell you how I use them to get my art out to the world.