30 Days Comics Day 20 Land Grab

#30DaysComics Day 20 - “Land Grab”
This is a little weird. :)

#30DaysComics Day 19 - A Dimension of Sight & Sound

#30DaysComics Day 19 - “A Dimension of Sight & Sound”
Trying out a silent comic for one of these.

#30DaysComics #18 - Heart to Heart

Trying a few new things, including a smaller page size and less panels. I’m also trying not to nail down the perfect comic, but just trying to go with the flow. I came up with three last night at work, and I’ll be posting the other two tomorrow for catch up. Hoping this is a sign of things to come!

BTW, special thanks to Dakota McFadzean and Ian of SmallComix for giving me such great advice!

30 Days Comics Day 13 - "Small Talk"

My newest submission for 30 Days Comics challenge. I tried using a fun palette instead of coloring it more realistically. I think it made it pop a big. Reminds me of the cartoon "Witch's Night Out."

As you can tell, I hate small talk while trying to dash in and out of a store. Less disingenuous human interaction, the better.

30 Days Comics 11 Asthma

45 minutes before November 11th, I was able to squeeze another page for #30DaysComics. I’m having fun using this time to experiment with storytelling, layout, and color palette. Generally I aim to print my minicomics, so more often than not they are grayscale.

Figured I would try a more contemplative entry, almost journal comic like.  I find thoughts on the day or even researched pages like my Jack-o-lantern page easier than jokes. Jokes just don’t fall into my lap, I have to squeeze them out of my brain all day like the final drops of toothpaste in a tube.

I like this one quite a bit. I wonder what other asthmatics would think of it.
Regarding the art. My brush pen died after the 2nd panel. I have to order more from Jet Pens. Can you tell the shift?

Side Note: I have Captain America vs The Asthma Monster comic framed in the living room with several other cherished comics.

30 Days Comics Challenge Day 3 Jack O' Lantern History

Just recently heard about the 30 Days Comcis challenge on twitter and tumblr. This is what I was able to throw together today. I've been down with a cold all weekend, so I drew this on and off between naps. I feel better now, and I'm fairly pleased with the coloring.

Not sure I'll be able to do one every day, but I'll do my best. Also, still working out some kinks in screen printing. Found my transparencies weren't 100% against the emulsion coated silkscreen, so the images are slightly warped and inconsistent for a four color job. Bought some glass to lay on top of the screen while it burns, allowing gravity to fix the trick. That means starting over. Also, I learned that if I am to do silkscreening, I need to work fast with emulsion. My last batch expired after a month or so after mixing with the sensitizer. This just means having to plans three projects at a time, making screens, and setting them aside until I'm ready. So far using just Speedball Diazo emulsion. If there is a longer lasting product, please let me know!

I'm also getting back to my mini comic. I have four pages penciled, and only one digitally inked. I need to hop on it, I want to get some mini comics and zines finished for the next show.

More Oscar work and animating

For the last month I've been developing this classic style character Oscar the Otter. My inspiration has been from early animation, particularly the rubber hose animation that you see in early Disney and Max Fleischer cartoons.
I'm planning on Oscar being my first large comic story. Shooting for 100+ pages, and to start off, I am writing a 16 page ashcan teaser comic. I want to have something to promote at upcoming conventions, so I'm busy telling my first mini adventure with Oscar.
Below you can see several character designs I've been working on. At the bottom, I drew a Dog plague doctor for fun, and now I'm really digging the look. So now I'm thinking of maybe doing an Oscar story set during the Black Plague.

Last note I'd like to mention is the fact that I've been wanting to build a zoetrope for several years now, and finally I am starting to work on one. If you haven't seen a zoetrope, check out this video:

 

I am building my zoetrope much like this design, but at a larger scale. The drum I'm putting together is 24" in diameter. The reason it is so large is that I'd like to be able to make 12 frames at about 5" in size. I'm planning on submitting this at the next Terrain Art Show, and making four or five different animation strips that attendees could swap out at will. Right now, I'm trying to get a hold of a junk one speed bike (even a kids bike), and taking out the gears, chain, and pedal so I can use it for my zoetrope. If you have one and live in either Spokane, WA or the Tri-Cities, let me know!

A Cthulhu Christmas Carol

Just finished this new mini comic:

A Cthulhu Christmas Carol minicomic is complete! You can read it here for free, and if you’d like to own your own copy, it’s only $2.00(shipping included). Email me at jesse.acosta(At)Gmail.com and ill send you a Paypal invoice for this minicomic!
Hope you all enjoy my Christmas tale, have a wonderful holiday! All the best in the year 2013!

Sketch Dump October 10 2012

Hello all! Ive been busy with a move to another city, and my computer setup isn't quite ready. But I finally had time to scan in some sketches I've done over the past few weeks. Mostly Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stuff, and a couple Megaman sketches.

Bebop

Krang

Krang's 80s android body

Rocksteady

Megaman

PharaohMan

Latest sketches

I haven't been sharing much recently, so I better show I'm still alive. I'm working on some comic stuff, most prominently Backyard Wrasslers and Capoeira Hermit Crab Hero Twins. Backyard Wrasslers is a fun strip format, and I have about four more strips in the inking process. BW is about kids who start their own kids neighborhood wrestling league for the summer. I'm having a lot of fun thinking about it. I can't wait to get a bit more done. I'm planning on making a 24 page teaser mini comic to introduce readers. It will not be a weekly/monthly web comic. I don't like stamping schedules upon myself. I'm moving soon, and my internet/computer access will be super iffy for a while.

I'm enjoying drawing the kids quite a bit in this comic. I'm really trying to go with a retro vibe too.

Toddler Mutant Ninja Turtle. TMNT fever has struck me again, 20 years later. I've been collecting the IDW new series since it started last year, and now I'm anticipating the new Nickelodeon TMNT series. I'm a little weirded out by the voices. Donatello is voiced by one of the Animaniacs, that's slightly jarring. Oddly though, Michelangelo is voiced by the actor who did Beast Boy in Teen Titans, and I'm not phased at all by this. They are really pushing the "teen" in TMNT, so these guys really feel 16. I love the animation so far, looks great. I've also been purchasing the new toys to display. The new toys are great sculpts, lots of fine details.

Lastly, I'm fooling with a TMNT homage/spoof. Thinking of making a 12 page story about these twin mutant hermit crabs. Hoping to choose a new mini comic project soon, and get cracking. I think this one would be a big sale at conventions. Who doesn't love mutant hermit crabs who know capoeira?

So that's what's going on with me. I also have another project I'm working with someone on, but that's hush hush for the moment.

My Comics Process Part 3 - Lettering

Welcome back. If you haven't been following, part one is here, and two is here. I hope you find these useful, and always, if you have questions feel free to ask.

Well, first and foremost, I finished my newest mini comic, an all ages story about a Shaolin monk who must save the village from a wild ogre. The comic is totally free to read online at Graphic.ly: http://graphicly.com/jesse-acosta/shaolin-monk-the-tale-of-zhao-and-meng/1

The book will also be in print and can either be purchased in my Etsy store (soon), and at any future comic conventions until copies run out.

Shaolin Monk cover!

So now on to the comics process. Every mini comic I take on, I try to work on a couple key points to expand my chops. The two big things for this book were environments and lettering by hand. Last comic was a little background-light, so I really pushed it for this book. As for that, I don't think I need to go into much detail. As in part one, I found a lot of reference photos to use for locations in the comic.

But lettering, that's what I'd like to talk about. As I've heard countless times in Jessica Abel interviews and lectures, hand lettering can make a world of difference. Also, in my portfolio review a few months back, this statement was also reiterated. Word balloons, dialogue boxes, sound effects, they are all a significant part of the art as a whole. They shouldn't deter from the art, they shouldn't be an eye sore, they should be integrated. Hand inked sequential art can clash against streamlined perfectly smooth vector balloons and fonts.

If you know much about lettering though, it's all about laying out an ames guide, ruling out lines, and creating word balloons with french curves. My art style doesn't express complete perfection, and I was looking for a quicker turn around for lettering. So I came up with an alternative approach: creating the balloons and text digitally, then printing them as non photo blue, and inking it by hand. This way you get a lot of precision, while still getting the uneven individuality of every letter by hand. Interestingly too, even though I'm going over a certain font, my own hand gestures make it in. The outcome is a blend of my own handwriting, a touch of varying line-weight, and slightly reminiscent of the original font.

The most important thing is the tool for inking the balloons and letters. I choose the Pentel Sign Pen SES15. The tip is pretty rad, it has a lot of give to it, but it's not uncontrollable like a brush pen can be. They are pretty awesome tools. The one trouble I have with them is that they don't seem to be waterproof. That leaves marker coloring and watercolors on top of inks to be slightly a messy situation.

Here is a comparison between my hand lettering, vs the digital fonts and vector balloons I made. Click on it to zoom in, and compare. I think it's not bad for my first attempt at this method. I also really dig the brush style letters, it feels very calligraphic. It's fitting for a story about a Shaolin monk.

This page is my digital lettering, colored in non-photo blue (Cyan 7%). I scaled the letters at 200% larger than the size it will be in the printed book. I printed it on bristol, then started to ink.

Here's what I came up with. I scanned it in, and placed it over my finished pages, and that's it!

I really like this outcome. If anything, I think the brushwork was a little thicker than I planned. Next time, I'll try printing the balloons out at 225% - 250%, thus making my signpen lines a touch smaller.

Have any of you tried out this method before? It saved me time, while giving me some nice unique letters and balloons. It really matched the book.

My Comics Process Part 2

If you haven't yet seen part one, please check it out here!

So since part one, I have drawn thumbnails for my pages. The thumbnails are atrocious, mostly just scratches and near stick figures. The thumbnail process is essentially doing long hand division by hand on scratch paper before writing the final answer on an exam. On the thumbnail stage, I need to make sure the page make sense and carries the story. Once I'm confident it will work, I start penciling, ruling out panels, then inking.

Here's what I've come up with so far:

Page 2 of 8

Page 3 of 8

Page 4 of 8

The first thing I like to do is rule out the panels. I use a ruler and pencil them, then I set the ruler aside and rule it by hand. I actually was thinking of just digitally ruling my panels for precision, but since my portfolio review with Jen Vaughn, she made me see how well it complements the art in a hand done style.

After I ink the panel borders, I start penciling the pages. I think part of the reason I've been so pokey slow with this project is because I've been working  in sequence. Since I have a script, I have thumbnails, I don't really need to work in sequence. My last project, Clashing Swords, I think I worked faster for two reasons. 1) I worked on 8.5"x11" pages and 2) I jumped around to the pages that intrigued me at the time. Opening this comic has been a little tedious, which is why I haven't inked page 1 yet. If I start page jumping, I think I'll get moving a little quicker.
Regarding paper size, I actually switched from 8.5x11 to 11x14 after inking two pages. I felt things were getting too tight on such small paper, and needed to move up. Also, with  every new project, I'm trying to add one or two new tricks to my bag. For this project, I want fuller backgrounds, which means bigger paper. Redoing two pages kind of killed some of my drive. But now that I have three complete pages, and page one is coming along, I have mojo again.

Seeing your finished work pile up builds mojo. It's like magic. I remember having the pile of pages for Clashing Swords, plus interior spot illustrations, and the cover and feeling like I just did a triathlon. I think that's what drives those artists who make Odyssey or Ulysses size comics.

Now it's 1:05am, and time to crash. Hoping to get page one completed, then I'm going to return to the script and see which of the final pages excites me the most and get cracking. My deadline for this project is August 1st, which means wrapping up by the 15th so I can set time aside for toning, lettering, and file prep, then finally printing and putting together the books.

Clashing Swords Mini Comic Give Away!

Hello everyone! I've been working away at this mini comic for about two months total, and today my precious creation is finally complete! This is an eight page story about a group of fantasy adventurers who are seeking a mad mage who has stolen a magical item that could unbalance the forces of good and evil! The story is very all ages, though I feel old school roleplayers will especially get a kick out of this book.

Well, I've got something very special for you! Tomorrow, in honor of Free Comic Book Day (May 5th, 2012), I am going to give away free copies of my comic to the first ten who email me first for the offer! My email is jesse.acosta AT gmail.com. This is totally free, I have stamps, and packages ready to go. If you are one of the first ten, I'll ask for your address, and send it out Monday morning.

Here are some preview pics below!

The cover! 

A pile of my books, waiting to be read!

Page One

For those not quick enough for this offer, my book will be available in my Etsy Shop by Monday. Excelsior!

Working on an anthology

My colleagues at The Comicsmiths' Guild and I are hard at work putting together our second anthology. This year we are going with a Halloween theme! I'm super excited, I'll be doing a six page tale starring El Gran Búho. I haven't spoken much about him, mainly because I haven't had time to work on a project yet. But this anthology entry is a perfect introduction to the character!

Head shots

Early concept art

Page from a potentially upcoming mini comic

El Gran Búho(The Great Owl) is a world renowned Mexican luchador (mask wearing wrestler), who also moonlights as a monster hunting defender of justice by night. If you've ever seen classic lucha films, you'll get an idea of where this guy's inspiration comes from. If you haven't seen these films, imagine an old Universal or Hammer horror picture, starring a masked Mexican wrestler as the hero, and then add a bit of the colorful nature and silliness of the 60s Batman tv series, with just a dash of a Godzilla movie essence.

The hero is much like Santo or Blue Demon in nature, he has a strict moral code, and uses his fantastic wrestling skills to battle the forces of darkness. He never removes his mask either. I'm actually excited to do some playing with that concept, it was one of the more entertaining notions of the old lucha films. Santo would go to sleep with the mask on, eat with it on, brush his teeth, swim, etc. There would also be sequences where he would remove the mask, to reveal another mask underneath.

I'm two pages in on this six pager, due by the third week of August. If things go my way (which generally doesn't happen), I plan to be done with three pages by the 6th of August.