I have been busy. I'm nearly finished drawing chapter 3 of Other Sleep, and I'm deep into flatting/coloring it as well. I've got someone interested in me doing some drawings for a thing they're writing, I'm doing a flyer for a local show, and I've got to plan a photoshoot for a friend. STUFF IS HAPPENING.

Not to mention those collections I keep putting off on working on, and planning that trip to Heroes Con next summer.

I'm afraid I don't have anything terribly new to show you guys right now. HOWEVER. That comic I did at the end of 2011, Zimmik Looks For Love in a Barren Land, is finally online and you can go read it in the comics gallery. I was waiting until my friend printed the anthology book that it was for. Here's the first page:

Lots of weird semi-emo stuff and nudity in this one, yeah.

Oh, and here's a quick thing I threw together last week as a bit of a test/experiment:
 That's it. Back to work.

[Brett]

Maybe I should start titling all of my blog posts after Wu-Tang Clan songs.

SO! After an 8-day drawing binge, I have FINISHED drawing the first chapter of my graphic novel!

This is one heck of an accomplishment for me. It's a huge step forward. Massive progress.

I'm also excited to announce that I have a website set up for it and everything already!
 YES. The comic is titled OTHER SLEEP, and the website is up and running! All you gotta do is click that picture. CLICK IT.

I'll be posting OS-related things on the blog there, and I've got a 3-page preview for the first chapter set up for you to ogle too. AND YOU CAN COMMENT ON IT. Go go go!

The complete first chapter will be up sometime in mid-to-late April. My self-set deadline is end of the month, so I can print some copies of it for Free Comic Book Day. Rob, the man who runs Mountain Empire Comics and Bristol's own Rob-Con comic convention, talked me into making a FCBD appearance at the store, and I don't want to show up empty-handed now do I?

I've also got a table for this year's Rob-Con, of course. I plan on having quite a few things there for people, including Burst Reach 2!

Exciting times, these are.

Also, in between all the drawing and planning and website tomfoolery, I did another photography thing:
The copy machine at work is old and does those wicked looking, lo-fi punk prints like you see in older textbooks, and I'd been dying to do something with it for a while now, and thus this was born!

And that's it. I got more work to do tonight. I'm just about finished lettering those pages up there, yeah...

[Brett]

I realize it's been some time since I've shown off anything I'm working on. Some of you, my theoretical fans and avid readers, are probably thinking that I've been sitting around on my butt, picking my nose and watching Trailer Park Boys. That's only half true, I was watching Mad Men and Breaking Bad, actually.

God, I can't believe I typed that.

But no, here's a quick glance at what I've been doing:
 I've been churning out pages like mad. The top row of pages is for a short supernatural comic I'm working on for Burst Reach 2, tentatively called GRICE. It's inspired by Hellboy, witch house music, and the Wu-Tang Clan, and I think it's the coolest comic I've ever drawn so far. The bottom half is pages for the graphic novel in progress. I'm on the cusp of making some sort of announcement regarding that, as soon as I figure out where I'm going to be hosting it and stuff.

Here's the first page of Grice, colored. Click to embiggen:
 And here's a finished image I did for the graphic novel, as the uh, cover I suppose, to the first chapter:
Finally, here's a photo I took in January and messed with the other night on a whim which was brought about by feeling kind of down in the dumps over silly emotional things:

Her pose kind of captured how I felt, heh. Plus, I haven't done anything actually photography-related in a while, so it was nice opportunity to use a different part of my brain.

Also a quick pencil sketch from the same shoot. I drew this after I finished reading a weird, awesome sci fi romance novel called As She Climbed Across the Table:
Other things: Been reading lots of comics, particularly older volumes of the BPRD, which I'm kicking myself for not getting into sooner, watching some good TV shows on Netflix, and some good movies too. The Social Network, the Man Who Fell to Earth, the Game, just to name a few. Also I've been replaying the crap out of Bioshock. 

So, all in all, things are moving right along, as they should be, right? OH ONE MORE THING:
 
I wish more movies looked this good. I'm trying to keep my expectations in check, but it's just too hard, man.

Okay, that's it. You can go now.

[Brett] 

I originally had a big, 900+ word blog entry written up in regards to Marvel and DC with the whole Before Watchmen and Ghost Rider fiascos that had taken place last week. But it was REALLY too long, rambly, unfocused, and well, other guys have done a better job talking about it than I have.

The bottom line was: Marvel and DC suck, yes, so BUY MORE CREATOR OWNED COMICS. Demand them from your local comic shop! It should be fairly obvious, yeah? SO DO IT.

There's a lot wrong with this frankly draconian industry, and buying more indie comics is a great way to start fixing things. Also, stop buying shitty comics, which is uh, most of what Marvel and DC put out. Seriously, QUIT IT.

NOW. With that out of the way, I can show you guys a couple of new pieces I recently finished. This first one is the result of listening to Ritualz and reading Hellboy: The Crooked Man. Not a bad combination, really:
I think this is the best use of color I've implemented into a piece.

Also, I did a naughty drawing for Valentine's Day:
Also coloring the pages for Cyberpunk Blues 2, and trying to put together collections of my Exciting Tales! and Distinguished Gentlemen strips from last year to print and sell at cons. Looking at e-book stuff too. Waiting for Eye Alive to release so I can put Zimmik up on here in its entirety. Finally, that graphic novel I was working on over a month ago? I had 60+ pages written, and am now working on a second draft that I'm 30 pages into writing and thumbnailing. The plan is to serialize it online like a webcomic, but we'll see. I gotta get the complete story and designs locked in first.

And of course, I'll keep working on other stuff involving pretty ladies. Just gonna keep moving and making work. YEAHHHH.

[Brett]

I LIVE! Heh, sorry, I kind of neglected this site for a while. Sorry. There was a mishap with the domain name due to transferring it from GoDaddy to Namecheap (because FUCK SOPA that's why) and in the realization that Squarespace had done away with the old yearly plan I was originally on, but it's all fixed up and we're back in business.

So, things I've done thus far in the year 2012:

-Photographed a nude model for a bunch of upcoming stuff I'm working on. The idea was to do more work in the vein of Embrace Infection but, eh, I dunno, I'm working on a couple pieces but I can't let go of this "been there, done that" feeling. Still, getting to shoot a cute model also allows me to do stuff like this pinup:
This also allowed me to achieve my dream of shooting a nude model standing on top of this super old TV that's at work. You'll get to see that one later, maybe.

-Started watching LEXX. I'd seen a few bits and pieces here and there when I was very little on the Sci Fi channel, and just remember being very confused, a little frightened, and a little aroused too. I'm still confused, but after years of collecting back issues of Heavy Metal, the series kind of makes sense to me now. It's almost like the creators read a LOT of Alejandro Jodorowsky's sci fi comics and said "hey, let's make a show like this!" It feels so much like Technopriests, a comic Jodorowsky wrote after LEXX, but still.

-Got angry at a random stranger on the internet for the first time in years, over something SOPA-related. My hatred for SOPA and PIPA is rather intense, yes...

-A customer at the storage buildings yesterday told me that he keeps his mother's ashes in his storage unit. Think about that for a while.

-Did the cover for Eye Alive volume 1, the anthology that my Zimmik comic will be printed in:
Har har har.

-Played Battleship for the first time in years too. Fun.

-Started work on the next Cyberpunk Blues story entitled Your Fan Club Sucks. This will go in Burst Reach 2, which I aim to have completed by April. I've set up a list of cons that I want to go to, and I want to get a table at maybe two or three. Talking to a friend about sharing a table at one of them. I may get more copies of Burst Reach 1 printed to give out, along with postcards, maybe some prints, and stuff like that. I barely know what I'm doing, but I'll figure it out and will of course keep everyone posted on it.

-Ordered a new computer. WOO.

-Also ordered tickets to see Radiohead next month in Tampa, Florida. I'm excited, but nervous about this as well. I haven't been on a huge trip like this since I was a kid...

And that's all. Don't stop moving.

[Brett]

My head really hurts right now. Here's Monday's Exciting Tales! strip. It's a tribute to Winsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland:
Not exactly one of my best, I'll admit, but I'm still fond of it.

I have all thirteen pieces for Embrace Infection finished, though a few need minor revisions. I had seven printed on campus today, though three of those are the ones which need revising. I'm excited to see them in the full size they were meant to be printed at, however, with the colors brilliantly popping on the glossy paper.

Here's one of those finished, printed pieces, entitled Feeling Good:

I've been thinking a bit lately about, well, women in comics I guess, given the shitstorm that hit last week with DC's Catwoman and Starfire being portrayed as trashy sex-hungry sluts, not real characters but cheesecake for fanboys to gawk over and fantasize about having sex with. It makes me feel dirty and uncomfortable, seeing the pages, and I don't like it at all. I'm plotting a new comic in which the villain is a woman, and I'm thinking hard about how to develop her as sexy, yes, but more than anything else, FORMIDABLE. There aren't a lot of formidable women in comics, I don't think...

Chiyoko in Akira, though. The big burly woman in the apron who protects Kei and Kaneda? I'm pretty sure she punches more faces in than she has lines of dialogue in the third volume. I love her. I just got volume 4 in the mail today, and she's on the back cover, in ragged clothes, ammo belts, and wielding a rifle. I do hope she gets to smash more faces in...

I also got a copy of John Dies at the End, because I saw the trailer for next year's film adaptation by Don Coscarelli:

Looks like he's channeling Cronenberg quite a bit, which makes this movie look even tastier. And given that the novel's from the editor in chief of Cracked, one of my favorite websites, I'm so excited about getting to crack this book open and start reading.

I just have to finish Philip K. Dick's Now Wait For Last Year first.

Also, I must admit something that MAY be considered blasphemy among many circles: I've been watching old James Bond movies on Netflix, and, well, I don't much like the Sean Connery flicks. And I LOVED On Her Majesty's Secret Service, despite the fact that yes, George Lazenby is not quite a good Bond. But man, the way that movie was lit and shot is phenomenal! And Diana Rigg as the Bond girl! It's a weird one, yes, trying to be grittier and more serious than the Connery films while at the same time including a bobsled chase scene, but I dunno, it may be my favorite Bond film alongside Casino Royale...

And I think I'm gonna call the entry quits here, because I keep getting distracted by Top Gear. AWAY.

[Brett]