Comic Creator Gold Mine- Free Resources!

If you're like me, then you are in a state of being perpetually broke. This means that while it would be nice, you can't slap down some bucks for blue-lined layout sheets, or run out and get some sketch cards to practice on. Never fear! Graphic designer/ Comic book nerd Ralph Contreras has your back! At his blog, Comic Book Graphic Design, Contreras features a list of free printable sheets to help plan and organize your comic book project- from character design pages and turn-around sheets, to scene design pages (done on a grid for easy floor plan ideas) and page layout sheets. But that's not all! Contreras also has collected an impressive list of other educational blogs for aspiring artists to visit, and he posts a TON of handy instructional videos on his blog- some by him, others by top name artists in the industry. Take a few minutes, peruse through this blog, and get your printer warmed up! This place is a goldmine of resources for the starving comic book artist/ creator!

Artist Profile: W0lly

I first met W0lly at Free Comic Book Day over at Rebel base Comics in Charlotte. I saw his table all sread out with so much color- color isn't unusual to see in an artist's work, but when you're a penciler, the majority of what you have to show off is traditional black and white. But W0lly (who goes by the handle of William Wallace on Facebook and uses a pop art picture of Jimmy Hendrix as his icon- is this guy cool or what?!) likes to take as much of his work from beginning to end as he can.

Speaking with him, and later looking at his website, www.rebelstarstudios.com, I realized this is one of the hardest working guys around! His convention schedule this year included or includes C2E2 in Chicago, Heroes Con in Charlotte, NY Comic Con, the Baltimore Comic Con, the Return of Mini-Con, and a couple others he is waiting to hear back on! Whew! And that doesn't include his live performance art that he does at music events, too!

W0lly's current comic resume includes The Legends of the Black Pandas, an anthropomorphic martial arts epic featuring some mean looking pandas, and Fairy Tale Knights - a project W0lly has not revealed much about at this point. The best thing about the Pandas project is that the writing, penciling, coloring and lettering were all done by W0lly- an army of one!

Despite his achievements, W0lly is firmly set on the road of independent comics. He said he tried to break in with Marvel and DC several times but was turned away for different reasons, one being they didn't know how to market his style of art. Being an independent doesn't always get you the name recognition (or income) but it does free a person up to do more of what they want to do creatively and W0lly is embracing that.

Comic artists coming to Indian Trail

Comic artists coming to Indian Trail   
A great story about the mini-con coming up June 15. It also highlights Snow Wildsmith's author visit on the 12th and the Capt. America movie on Flag Day, June 14. Check it out!

Strikes! mini comic by Ben Towle

Winston-Salem based comic book artist extraordinaire Ben Towle has put out new mini comic. Strikes is author Bret Parks, as a first grader, telling of his experience of seeing The Empire Strikes Back with his father. Ben Towle (Midnight Son) provides the art which really shows a child's imagination at work in the real world. You can read it for free, or buy a copy for yourself. Follow the link HERE!

Noooo, Joe!

 This was to be the summer of the comic book when it came to movies. It probably still is, but for many fans, Hasbro and Paramount delivered a "bummer" right to the gut. After the boffo success of The Avengers, and the certainty that The Dark Knight Rises will be huge, there were a couple other comic book movies sandwiched in between- The Amazing Spider-man, and GI Joe: Retaliation. Of these four movies, I was looking forward to The Avengers and GI Joe: Retaliation. I could honestly pass on Spidey and I could wait for Batman to get to DVD.  Alas, I am still one of 30 people in North America who has not seen The Avengers yet (but my wife and kids are going while I am at work! Yeah- luvs ya, honey! Thanks!), but I was honestly looking forward to the new Joe film by director John Chu.

This new Joe movie promised a move away from so much sci-fi gadgetry and a focus on wild, military action (meaning summer movie style violence!) with a Cobra Commander who looks more like Cobra "I'm not Starscream" Commander and a Snake Eyes without lips on his mask. It also appears to have less "we are the world" flavor to its ranks. Now instead of a June release this summer, Joe fans will have to wait till March 2013 (doesn't that sound far away?) because Paramount and Hasbro said they want the movie to show better returns internationally and the best way to do this is to convert the film to 3-D.
 According to a tweet from Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson, some scenes are being re-shot or added for the 3-D.

While the movie may do better at the box office, I have my own ideas on why Hasbro and Paramount are delaying this movie. 1) "You sank my Battleship!" What looked like Transformers on water has tanked. Big budget, lousy returns. 2) "Shawarma." The Avengers has been Marvel's biggest movie to date in every way that matters. And who is making a chunk of the kid toys from this flick? Hasbro! Do you think they want to push to convince stores to stock up on super heroes and mega soldiers and find that one of them (the mega soldiers, I'm betting!) ends up taking space on the shelves- space the retailers could have used for more Batman, Prometheus or, oh I don't know- Avengers toys, maybe?
3) "Who's tha King?!" Right now it's Avengers. But this summer still has Spidey's re-boot, Batman's finale, and the origin-smashing Prometheus all waiting. Who knows- something else like "Ted" might just go gangbusters, too? (No, please, no!)

 What this says to me is that even with a turn from the first movie's style and approach, and even with stars like the Rock, Bruce Willis (in an El Camino!), Ray Park and Channing Tatum, and even with a slick marketing campaign that was ramping up and a lot of entertainment news coverage- at the end of the day, the suits who call the shots didn't have faith in their product to deliver. I really hope I'm wrong.

Stepping up for the kids!

Each year, publishers have stepped up to participate in our mini-con event, and this year is no exception! RightStuf! Media, which handles manga and anime and related materials sent a fantastic box of mixed goodies- pencil boards, t-shirts, bookmarks, key rings and more!

 Campfire Graphic Novels, who I have done several reviews on, sent a mixed box of graphic novels of all kinds of classic literature stories like Call of the Wild, Oliver Twist and Frankenstein. They are sending even more books featuring the writing of Dan Johnson for him to SIGN (win!) and give away! (double win!)

 A week or so ago, I posted a write-up of an interview I did with Chris Staros- publisher at Top Shelf Comix and one of the people on my list of "Comics Good Guys." Chris sent TWO boxes filled with this year's Free Comic Book Day edition to us (and he sent them BEFORE FCBD, too!). That's about 500 books, right there!

 :01 Books has also told me they are sending some books to us this year as well. :01 puts out some incredible graphic novels like Giants Beware and Friends With Boys that are well worth getting your hands on (whether that is free at the mini-con, through your library or buying a copy for yourself!).

 So if seeing great artists, collecting cool sketches, talking to skilled writers and just being in a comic book atmosphere isn't enough for you to want to come, maybe picking up some free comic books for summer reading will be!
 The big event is Friday, June 15 from 1:00- 5:30 at the Union West Regional Library in Indian Trail, The library will open for business as usual at 10 a.m. and will close at 6 p.m.

"Boingthump!" Video trailer for Wizzywig Graphic Novel

Wizzywig, by Ed Piskor, is the story of a computer hacker who goes on the run from the police. How bad are his crimes? Will the police catch him, and if they do, what will happen to him? Top Shelf is releasing this exciting graphic novel this summer. Priced at $9.99 for the digital edition or $19.95 for the hardcover book, the story weighs in at an amazing 288 pages!

 Check out this great video trailer Top Shelf publisher Chris Staros sent out Wednesday! It features some motion graphics and "nerdcore rapper" Adam WarRock.