Dark Horse Book Announced!

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It's official! The press release for the Green River Killer graphic novel from Dark Horse just came out. It's a fabulous creator owned story from writer Jeff Jensen, profiling his father's experience as one of the lead detectives on the Green River case. Heavy stuff, but also a great look into the life of a family man living out the 'impossible dream' of capturing one of the most notorious criminals in history. Oh, and I drew it! I'm just into the last few pages as we speak. I'm likely not approved to show art yet, but at any rate, the cat's out of the bag, and I'm looking forward to talking more about the project very soon.

Japan Relief Auction - Get Some Original Art!

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Hey art lovers! I'm finally getting on board the Periscope auction for Japan relief. Now's your chance to get some fabulous original art and feel even better about where your dollars are going! All monies go to Peace Winds Japan via Mercy Corps. Check out Aaron McConnell's fantastic Super Frog piece! So what ever am I going to do, I asked myself. What could compete with Dustin's Akira, or Ben Dewey's Seven Samuari?

 

Well, for my money, you can't beat that dearly benevolent Mothra and his Mothra twins. Yes, remember them? Creepily small and mysterious. And who better to serve as a symbol of hope in Japan's hour of need?

My Mothra Twins watercolor here will be going up for auction right here on Monday, April 4th.

 

Start your bidding engines!

 

Emerald City Prep

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Today I received a very exciting package in the mail, just in time for Emerald City Comic Con. 28 pounds of lovely postcards announcing my first book, Dear Creature, and its release date of October 2011, from Tor Books. It's really happening! I'll have these with me at the show, along with a bunch of new art prints and goodies at my corner of the Periscope Studio table. Number 122! Also, I'll be doing commissions galore- watercolor washes, inks, the whole bit.

It's the place to be!

Get Down with the Sickness

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I'm stuck in bed right now with some sort of bug. But does it stop me from inking? Nay! Just have to remember to lift up the brush before I sneeze, turn head away from artwork, ka-bam, and I'm back to mustaches and suits. For that is what I am inking today. Lots of mustaches.

The plus side of being sick is the crazy dreams. You get some of the best material- or at least it seems like it's the best at the time. Like the one I had about my friend Felipe turning into a paint-tube lizard, lying in a field next to a 60s waitress in a pink dress.

Who was it that said only bores talk about their dreams? Was that in an Antonioni movie? I think you're boring, Antonioni.

Must be out in the world again. Maybe this is just me getting it over with before the upcoming Emerald City Con. Usually it's post hundreds-o-handshakes that I get like this. Which reminds me, I have to buy my train ticket.

Then back to the march of mustaches!

Classing it Up

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Here's a little sample from my book, Dear Creature. I decided to name the chapters from classic Roy Orbison songs, since I listened to a lot of Roy while working on the book. I had a whole soundtrack worked out, with Sam Cooke, the theme from La Strada, The Flamingos, etc. Roy rose to the top though— his melodramatic take on romance and heartache seemed to fit the book best.

Growing up, I spent hours upon hours traveling with my parents, in the car or on our boat, and Mr. Orbison was a frequent accompanist. I learned to love him even before he was all gen-X ironic via Blue Velvet!

The weathered canvas is also taken from memories of being on our sailboat, leafing through the old hardbound books on navigation, knots, and other seafaring stuff. The water and mildew would eventually get to everything, and those old books were especially susceptible to the salt air.

Mad Men Art

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Periscope's Tumblr sketch blog series continues this week with a Mad Men theme. Sarah and I are actually just watching the series right now, so it would've been madly lame to not contribute, especially since I love the early sixties. I needed to do a little polishing on my GN for the publisher last night, so I whipped this up while waiting for inDesign files to render.

I don't know what kind of BB gun Mrs. Draper actually shoots on the show, but I'm sure someone will correct me soon enough. Looking down the page, I'm seeing a theme of ladies in sheer things. Must change up my game.

Off to LA/Written up in Publishers Weekly!

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Today, I head down to LA to visit a good friend and show him what I've been working on. He was a great help on editing the script for my first book, so I'm very excited to be sharing my latest material. This morning I spent some time out in the field (which is a necessary part of this new work) gathering locational data and images for different places around my home town of Portland. And, even though it's not officially announced yet, that first book my friend helped me with just got a little write up in Publishers Weekly! Here's the link. Second paragraph for those in a hurry.