Here’s how this will work: I’m going to post some preview art from both stories here and everywhere. What you’ll do is go to my FB page and vote for whichever one you want to see first! Easy-peasy!

First up: A really cute story about an as-yet-unnamed kid gets turned into an alien! What adventures will he have? Will he stay an alien forever? Only one way to find out!

Second up, we have a cute little story about Kevin, a small child who also just happens to be a zombie! Kevin wakes up hungry one day and embarks on a journey of discovery… and of breakfast!

So there you have it! Now, all you have to do is go to the FB page and VOTE! Tell your friends to vote! Have your kids (if you have them) vote! We’ll leave the voting up for a few days. The character with the most votes by Tuesday, 4/24, will be declared the winner and will be the first book made. Yay! It’s all in your hands, minions; don’t let me down!

Talk to you next week, when I will talk about Stumptown Comics Fest.

So, with the convention season starting and the release of “Captain Dan vs. The Kraken,” I’ve been asked to write up a blog post explaining how I drew the arts for the new book. Now, I don’t often do this kind of thing (and I didn’t plan ahead for this one,) so bear with me and here we go! We’re going to tear apart the “Cantina Scene” from the beginning of “CDvTK.”

STEP ONE: The sketch.
Seems obvious, doesn’t it? All of my arts start out about like this. Blue and/or red pencil on paper. Seems counter-intuitive, I know, since all of my artwork is finished digitally. “Why would I draw it out on paper instead of working completely digitally?” Well, part of it is that I have much better control  over a pencil when sketching than I do a stylus, the other part is that I just really like drawing on paper. I think it makes my art seem a little more alive than it would be if I did it all digital.

STEP TWO: Redrawing it all.

So, the next step (and the one that takes the most time) is redrawing the entire image in Illustrator using the pen tool, patience and a lot of self-loathing. The idea here is kind of similar to inking a traditional comic book page; take the unusable scribbles from the pencils stage and make it readable. Here I tried to keep the general squishiness and life from the pencils, but even out and clean up the curves and make each character distinct. I also spent a lot of time dividing the image into separate layers for reasons that might become apparent at a later date. Doing this also makes doing the next step MUCH easier.

STEP THREE: Flat Colors

This step is probably the most “normal” step in the process: flatting colors. So, when I draw the art in illustrator (step 2), this makes each item a separate shape. So, this step is all about assigning colors to individual shapes, making them jive together within the character and with the whole image. I’m trying to sell the setting and characters as belonging in that setting and the colors are what help me do that.

STEP FOUR: Off to Photoshop/Art Corrections

Basically this step is me making sure that everything works. I noticed that there was a visibility issue in the lower left corner where the foreground character and bg character kind of melted into one. So, I had to adjust that a bit before continuing on.

STEP FIVE: Texturizing.

In this step, I attempt to better separate the important characters from the background characters, as well as give a sense of depth by applying a light texture over everything except the two foreground characters. I used a gradient set to dissolve on a multiply layer. (Was that too inside baseball? It was, wasn’t it? Sorry.)

STEP SIX: Shaping up.

Well, now things are starting to take shape! The nice thing about the flat colors is that I can use the wand tool in photoshop to select areas I want to apply shading to without it affecting anything else, which allows me to keep my art clean and neat. TECH STUFF: For the most part, I worked on a multiplied layer using a soft brush set to dissolve at a mid-low opacity. I used it kind of like an airbrush letting color build up by sweeping over it lightly. It’s a pain to get the technique, but I like the results.

STEP SEVEN: Shedding some light.

The last step for me is adding the lights/highlights to the image. I used basically the same technique on this step as I did for step 6 above, except instead of a multiplied layer, I used a screen layer and a brush with a light cream color. Aside note: I rarely use white or black to shade images. For shading, I try to use the color I’m darkening or a blue shade on an multiplied layer. For the lights, I try to use the lightest color that exists in the image, this way the bright spots don’t seem too out of place.

And that’s it! Fun, huh? Now you can go out and make art just like me! (please don’t, I’d never forgive myself for ruining your life)

So, I guess that’s about it, this week! Reminder: Don’t forget to order your copy of Captain Dan vs. The Kraken! There are still some free sketches available to the first 30 orders. Get yours today! Here are a couple of samples from some books that have already gone out the door: A cute commission of The DoubleClicks (who have a CD coming out that I did the artwork for) as Time Lords and a very proud Captain Dan (when you look as good as old Dan here, you can preen a bit, too). Anyway, so that’s it this week. Bye!

Hello again, Minions!

I apologize for the lack of an update last week, but I was previously occupied having a great time meeting a bunch of you at Emerald City Comicon! It was awesome, and I can’t go too much into detail about the really awesome thing that happened there, yet but when I can, trust me, you’ll know.

I can, however, use this time to tell you that the moment you’ve all been waiting for is FINALLY HERE! Captain Dan vs. The Kraken is finally available to buy! Oh, happy day! And to prove to you that I love you and want you to be happy, for the first 30 copies I sell through my website or etsy, I will do individual 6″x6″ commission greyscaled sketches for free. FREE! Whatever character you want me to draw; my own characters or your favorites. It’s gonna be awesome! So go buy now!

I also want to let you know abut out newly expanded line of Geeky Greeting Cards! We’re working on getting cards for every POSSIBLE occasion, so if you have an idea that I haven’t come up with let me know!

Last week I was in Anaheim, CA for Wondercon and let me just start off my saying: WHOA! I came to Wondercon with a blank slate, not having ever done the show before and knowing that it was moving to a different city than it usually was in, I didn’t know if I could base any assumptions on other people’s experience. So, let’s just suffice to say that it was AWESOME! Anaheim minions came out in full force and really brought it, even through the rains. In a weekend chock-full of highlights and general coolness one moment really stands out. Let me share with you:

I FINALLY MET WIL WHEATON! In person, and everything! People who have been following me for a while know that I have a bit of a history with Mr. Wheaton, yet had never met the man. Allow me to elucidate: At Phoenix Comicon 2007, he walked by my table and gave me a quick nod as he headed to his table; at SDCC 2010 he came to our table and purchased a few items, but I wasn’t at my table at that point because I had stupidly decided to wander the floor, leaving my friend Mari to watch the table for about 1/2 an hour so I missed him there; last year, he retweeted some of my artwork and paid me one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever gotten from a celebrity. And that brings us up to date. Until last Saturday, that is. I was at my table (as I do). It was getting late in the day, and I sat down behind my display briefly to check something on the iPad. I knew there was a small group of ladies at my table digging through buttons and such when I sat, leaving Ashlie to take care of them. That’s when I heard a commotion from out in front of my table: I heard a man’s voice say, “Excuse me! Pardon, I just need to get through here…” Thinking that there was some dude being a jerk and that Iwas gonna have to dress some dude down, I look up just in time to see Wil freaking Wheaton hip bumping this group of stunned young ladies out of the way and being really freaking charming the whole time. Everyone at my table just went silent when we realized that Nerd Royalty was present. It was like a cone of silence descended around my table and all we could hear was Wil’s voice. I was dumbfounded, but I was trying to play it cool. My heart was beating like I’d just run to the front doors and back. Then Wil broke the silence with these words, “I love everything you do.” It was like I had been slapped in the face with a salmon full of gold doubloons. How do you RESPOND to that?! I said the only thing I could manage to get out without stuttering: “Ditto, sir.” I was informed later by one of the ladies that was there when he showed up that she had to give me credit for trying to act cool but I apparently was failing at it. Oh well. He stood there for a moment and his eyes fell on our display of Crocheted Creatures and our Mythbusters ones in particular. “Have they seen this?! This is AWESOME! Anne come over here!” He shows his wife (who was quite charming in her own right) the MB’s and picks up a ninja and tells me that his cat and dog joined forces to destroy his last one (that he bought at SDCC 2010) and that he was still sad about that. He then introduces me to Anne as “The guy who drew the poster I have in my office!” (the Starfleet Academy print).  Just as he was getting ready to leave he said “Hey, do you have a card? I want to be able to tell people where they can find your stuff.”

HOW COOL IS THAT, I ask you.

So, next weekend is EMERALD CITY COMICON (which you know if you’ve read our convention schedule). We’re going to have all of our nerdity on display at Booth 407! ECCC 2012 will see the DEBUT of Captain Dan vs. The Kraken!! YAY!

So, I talk a LOT about convention season on here (it’s either looming, coming up, going on, just about over or done all over this blog), so I thought I might take a moment and tell you all the shows we have planned for this year.

March 16-18, 2012 – WonderCon – Anaheim Convention Center – Anaheim, CA

March 30 – April 1, 2012 – Emerald City Comicon – Washington State Convention Center – Seattle, WA

April 6 – 8, 2012 – Sakuracon – Washington State Convention Center – Seattle, WA

April 28 – 29, 2012 – Stumptown Comics Fest – Oregon Convention Center – Portland, OR

May 19 – 20, 2012 – Big Wow Comics Fest – San Jose Convention Center, Hall 2 – San Jose, CA

May 24 – 27, 2012 – Phoenix Comicon – Phoenix Convention Center – Phoenix, AZ

July 11 – 15, 2012 – San Diego Comic Con International – San Diego Convention Center – San Diego, CA

Sept. 1 – 3, 2012 – Kumoricon – Vancouver Red Lion at the Quay – Vancouver, WA

Sept. 8 – 9, 2012 – Baltimore Comicon – Balitmore, MD

Sept. 22 – Jet City Comic Show – Seattle Center Exhibition Hall – Seattle, WA

TBD – Portland Comic Book Show – Memorial Coliseum – Portland, OR

So, yeah. That’s it so far. Don’t forget that this year, Captain Dan vs. The Kraken will be available beginning at Emerald City Comicon, in addition to Captain Dan Takes a Day Off and all the rest of our awesome nerdity.

As you probably know, if you’ve been following me here or on twitter, the past few weeks have been completely taken over by work on my next book, Captain Dan vs. The Kraken. Well, good news on that front: I’m done! (with the artwork, at any rate) YAY! So, let me regale you with a new preview image from the book. Be sure to let me know what you think over on twitter or on facebook.

Today, I’d like to announce my candidacy for Pres… Oh wait. I’m getting ahead of myself. I can’t do that for a minimum of 5 more years. No, what I’d really like to talk to you all about is THIS:

Yep. This is the cover of our newest book, Captain Dan vs. The Kraken! It’s set to be debuted at Emerald City Comicon at the end of March. I’m just about done with the final art and then I gotta do the final text edits, but we’re close! I’m so excited! This book is going to be great! It has everything that you loved about the FIRST Capt. Dan book, plus MORE! We’re also going to have pinups by some of the illustration world’s greatest (and my friends), including Spencer Brinkerhof III, Robin Robinson and Rebecca Hicks!

So yeah. Stay tuned for more info (and maybe some more preview art, if you’re nice)

The Hobbit warmups I did for the past week or so combined into one big piece.

The Sauron piece is a new Valentine’s Day Card that is available RIGHT NOW

I am sad to report that I do not have much to report this week. I know, I know – I’m sad, too. This week was a week of playing catch up, trying to get ahead on this book we’re working on, in addition to other projects. This week, I did finish up a T-Shirt design that you can check out here and here, if you’re into that kind of thing.

This week also saw me do some more warmup sketches. However, unlike weeks past, these I did digitally. I may turn these into a print or something at a later date, but you can check them out individually right here.

Also, I wanted to remind you guys and gals that this is the season of lovin’! In that vein, we here at MMP want to faciltate the nerd-love and are offering a GREAT DEAL on our Zombie Valentine’s Cards! They’re available here and here, so go get them before time runs out!

So, I don’t have much to say this week, to be honest. I am severely behind on the next Capt. Dan book (shocking, I know) because I spent a lot of my time out and about working on something really big that I can’t share yet. Murph.

So, instead let me share with you this:

HOBBITSES! I’ve recently been re-reading the Hobbit at night before I go to bed and for my warmups this week I decided (inspired by my friend, Robin) to draw some scenes from my favorite kid’s book. Yeah, I said kid’s book. I know a lot of people want to see great big Boris Vallejo pictures based on this book, but it was initially meant as a children’s book. So, I wanted to do some Hobbit sketches with my kid’s book style. I’ve re-read the Hobbit every year since I was 10. I freakin’ love this book. I might work these up digitally once I get caught up on the next Capt. Dan book, just for fun. Is this something you’d like to see? Let me know in the comments.

Well, that’s all I have for you this week, minions. Go outside and have an adventure this week. Keep in mind that you can get a hold of me on Twitter or Facebook or buy stuff from me at my Store! (Don’t forget the Zombie Valentines Card sale going on RIGHT NOW!)