WILDSTRENGTH!

Read about my WILDSTRENGTH! program here.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Post Supanova News

Hi All,

About two weeks have passed since I attended Supanova Sydney and I'm yet to hear if IDW want to work with me. Hopefully, I'll hear something soon. I had a good portfolio review with Ted Adams, the CEO of IDW Publishing. He liked my work and encouraged me to keep going. I said I am interested in working on licensed brands but in order to do so, I need to represent them more accurately, for example, Godzilla has a specific look and the owners are keen to keep him looking that way. I can do that!

I'm currently inking my six page story for Decay Horror comic. I'll post the finished artwork here when the issue comes out. I'm also inking anther six pager for Ashcan starring my own character Stealthmode. I'm off to Bali for a two week family holiday on Monday so I think I'll be taking some inking with me so I can meet my deadlines!

Below are the cover images I did for my portfolio review based on some of the brands IDW publish. The TMNT cover I was inspired to do from seeing the TNMT In Time covers illustrated by David Peterson. The Dredd cover started off being a cover image for my Stealthmode story, but I liked the threatening angle of the pose so I changed it to Dredd. The Godzilla cover I did after seeing some images of him swimming under water. I thought he was so much more dynamic and graceful when swimming so I thought I'd capture this in the pose (I included the submarine to show his size).

In August I'll continue with pages for my Water War story. I plan to pencil six to eight more pages and use them as portfolio pieces to show Wolfgang Bylsma, the publisher of Gestalt Comics, who will be at Oz Comic Con Brisbane in September. I might even pitch the story as something he could publish under the Gestalt label. If not, I'll finish the remaining pages (until I reach the magical 20 page number) and ink it with a view to self-publishing and selling it at Supanova Gold Coast next year. I've decided being a professional illustrator and comic artist is what I want to do for the rest of my life so I'm here for the long haul. One day I'll crack the big time and my artwork will appear in a popular title and distributed around the world. Wish me luck!




Thursday, May 22, 2014

Current Work

Hello everyone,

I've been so busy I realised I haven't updated my blog for some time. Since last entry I've attended Supanova Brisbane last year and Supanova Gold Coast in April this year. I took my portfolio along to Gold Coast to show Michael Golden and get some professional feedback. The review went really well with Michael offering some great advice. Not long before this I was thinking of giving up the whole illustration thing because I haven't been able to get any professional comic work for at least five years now (apart from the Killeroo Gangwars gig - Thanks Darren!) and it just didn't seem worth it anymore.
Luckily Michael gave me the motivation to continue.

I'm putting the finishing touches to my portfolio for Supanova Sydney in June, where I hope to impress the IDW team and hopefully get some work.  They're offering a cover to one lucky artist and maybe it'll be me. To be honest I'd rather an internal art gig requiring sequential pages so if my work is good enough, I could be offered a book. Either way, my Facebook page and this blog will be the first two places I announce it if I'm picked. The competition is going to be tough though, as this is the first time US comic publishers have attended an Australian convention in some time and every aspiring comic artist will be there for a chance at the big time. Wish me luck!

I've recently taken a new role in Council as an Active School Travel Officer. I organise active travel days at schools to get kids to walk, cycle, scoot, skate or carpool to school instead of riding in the family car. The program aims to reduce traffic around schools (which is a problem everywhere) and get kids healthier. With my strength training background, it's a good fit for me at the moment. The team found out I was a comic book artist and asked me to do some images for a 'Walk Safely to School' comic. Below are the images. The mascot is a Cockatoo called Zero the Hero (named so because we want ZERO road deaths).

I've also included some pencils from my portfolio review with Michael Golden. Some of them I posted on Facebook. I want to keep my current work under wraps until I return from Sydney. I'm doing half a dozen cover images and half a dozen sequential pages. I'm also doing roughs for a six pager for DECAY horror comic. I'll have those images done by the end of July. Then I'll begin preparing a new lot of portfolio pages for Brisbane Oz Comic Con in September where Wolfgang Bylsma from Gestalt (Australia's premiere graphic novel publisher) will be doing reviews. I had a good review with Wolf last year but my artwork has come a long way since then so there might be another chance to be offered some book artwork.

I've been asked by my fellow comic artists why I don't get a table at a con and sell my work. To be honest, I only feature in a couple of anthologies so I really don't have anything to sell. So what I've decided to do is complete a full 20 page comic hosting my Stealthmode hero character that has featured in Brisbane Ashcan and get it printed for Gold Coast Supanova next year (April 2015). I'll get a table then and have my very own comic to flog off to anyone who is interested. This is a tall order but what I'll do is use the script to do portfolio pages for conventions in September and November so the pencils will be done by the end of the year. Then they only(?) need inking, lettering and printing. However if I get IDW work I guess this plan will go out the window. Anyway time to go. Thanks for stopping by.

Ken