Perpetual Flights Studios

Stop SOPA

2012-01-18T01:44:00.001-08:00

This is going to pertain more to our US readers, but what this bill would do affects all internet users across the globe. We don't usually include topics of a political nature, but we feel that this is an issue that affects us all.

You may notice that there is a little black ribbon in the corner of our blog today. As people who generate creative content and intellectual property, we have pretty strong views on taking other people's work. However, the way the SOPA and PIPA bills are being put forth in the House of Representatives and Senate won't stop on-line piracy. What they will do is severely limit what has been an open exchange of ideas on the web. Online piracy will find a way to work around these bills, but your average user will not.

From Wikipedia (which is going dark for 24 hours in protest):

SOPA and PIPA are badly drafted legislation that won't be effective in their main goal (to stop copyright infringement), and will cause serious damage to the free and open Internet. They put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Small sites won't have sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright isn't being infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won't show up in major search engines. And, SOPA and PIPA build a framework for future restrictions and suppression.

We urge you to protect the free and open web. Call your representative and take tell them this bill means bad business.

This Moment's Inspiration: Well-Read

2012-01-16T01:17:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012 everybody! We are hoping that this year is going to be a great one for everyone! It’s going to be an extremely well read one for Guin and I as we hauled quite a few good reads from friends and family. Books are a terrible addiction, as we are surrounded by bookcases in every room. Not to mention books on the floor, books on the table, books on every horizontal surface... But the one who dies with the most books wins! (More books, I’m guessing).

So among the books we got were: two graphic novels (Palookaville, and the Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Artists, both by Seth), two books on paper cutting and paper art (gee, I wonder who was the recipient of those books), a knitting book entitled: "Not Tonight Darling, I'm Knitting" (ditto with the wondering), two hockey books on Kerry Frasier and the Preston Rivulettes, an all-woman hockey team (I feel so Canadian), a retrospective on Saul Bass, and three other art books including the Art of Pixar and the Art of Up and the Disney Animation archive book.

Quite the haul. Except that somehow, we had to drag about 60 pounds of book with our carry-on baggage (since a mere 50 pound check-in limit is completely unfair for bibliophiles). But we couldn't leave a book behind.

So this got us thinking: What is the single art book that we cannot live without? We have many books that we treasure: First editions of adventure books illustrated by Howard Pyle, Rockwell Kent and NC Wyeth, first editions of drawing books including Andrew Loomis and the Famous Artists School, inscribed books by Scott Hampton, George Pratt, Paul Rand and Walt Reed, and on and on and on. But if there was a fire in the studio, Guin and I agree that the book we would salvage would be our Art of Disney catalogue book published by the The Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo.

Though this book is almost completely written in Japanese, this is the book that introduced us to Mary Blair and Eyvind Earle (art, after all, is universal). It was like hearing music for the first time. I mean, SURE we are surrounded by sounds, but after this book, we were surrounded by music. I remember when Stuart Ng showed me this book at San Diego ComiCon. The book hit me so hard in the eyes that I simply sighed and handed him my credit card.

Stuart is an evil man. I love him, but I'm pretty sure he takes great joy in opening artist's eyes (and artist's wallets!).

So if you see this book in a bargain bin or thrift pile (good luck with that), buy a couple of them. You won't be sorry.

What is the art book you can't live without?

This Moment's Inspiration: Keeping Cozy

2011-12-19T16:21:00.000-08:00

The holidays can be a source of stress. But in the most positive way, this stress can lead to accomplishment. As a studio, we create, print and then send our holiday greetings. Not an easy task with finals, freelance and festivities to contend with. So with this annual task in front of us, finding the right idea is the hardest part (beyond angels, snowmen and reindeer).

We always have more ideas than time. But it's interesting how these cards come into reality. Sometimes, it's a process complete with roughs, refinements, dead ends, back and forths and finally a card. However this time, it was magic.

We always keep Moleskine notebooks lying around for ideas and inspirations. Even though we mostly use them to create and refine story ideas and notes, sometimes they are used to journal both words and pictures.

On a particularly cold and wet Vancouver day, Guin drew this self-portrait for fun:

She's been playing around with patterns and ink lately, and I thought it was perfect for this year's card. Sometimes the best inspiration is the stuff that's effortless... Pain does not have to equal quality!

We un-zen tangled the scarves to make a better foundation and Guin redrew the patterns. As soon as the linework came together, we did simple computer coloring to color both the shapes and lines/patterns. Then we added a zip tone to create some winter time energy. The result of this is simple:

To everyone we know and love, happy holidays and keep cozy in 2012!

Durwin + Guin

Collaboration

2011-11-20T22:44:00.000-08:00

"Little Big Creatures" 2011, by Guin and Durwin

This past weekend, the Illustration Club at ECUAD (ILL’N Club) put on a skatedeck show. 125 boards later, an amazing show is hung at The Fall Gallery. To participate in this show, Guin and I pulled together a joint deck (there weren’t enough boards to go around so we repurposed one). Sufficed to say, drawing and painting monsters made for a great weekend.

And so, we got to thinking of the merits of collaboration. All of these students got together to put on one helluva show. Guin and I collaborate all the time in art and in teaching. So what's the common theme?

For me it's about vision. As long as the vision is strong, even if people are working at different ends of the creative spectrum, then it's unified. These 125 students come from different points of creative view. Painting and drawing were a big part of the show. But so were sprinkles (the stuff found on ice cream sundaes), carving and pyrography (burning images onto the wooden boards). For creative folks, this was exciting.

For Guin and I, we always get the question: how do you guys work together without killing each other? Unless I am a ghost typing on this computer, then we never resorted to murder to get our work out there. We understand that collaboration isn't about sharing an idea, it's about both of us making the most of an idea. The final vision is greater than our individual vision. Creativity does not have to be a lonely journey to create art. If an idea is a great idea, it can encompass hundreds of people giving their best. Art is, after all, about realizing ideas, making ideas manifest.

But for the record, Guin concepted, penciled, and painted flats. I painted the details and inked the board. We both ate the Mentos.

If you are in the Vancouver area, visit the show (it'll be up until January)! The Fall Gallery (and Tattoo), 644 Seymour Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 3K4

The show opening, Nov. 19th, 2011 (Photo by Seth Rutledge)

We were also able to "hang out" with Jaime Anderson's board. Hers is the one with the fox. (Photos by Roberta Chang)

Inspiration: Studio Songs

2011-11-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

Art and music go hand in hand. A couple of weeks ago, Portishead visited Vancouver. Since they don’t step outside of Europe often, this was a must see event! To do the series “Bonds,” Portishead was playing on CD, vinyl and ipod nonstop during the creation of this comic (it was the aural equivalent of the art). Beth Gibbons even shows up in the dedication for Issue 2!

Together, we compiled a list of artists that always seem to be on repeat in our studio:

1. Portishead
2. Tom Petty
3. Neutral Milk Hotel
4. Sufjan Stevens
5. Cake
6. Be Good Tanyas
7. Wailing Jennys
8. Belle and Sebastian
9. Dire Straits
10. Tegan and Sara

There are many more that are not included here, but these seem to be the most played. Our tastes tend to overlap a lot (Portishead, NMH, Be Good Tanyas, Cake), and can be at odds with each other (Dire Straits, Belle and Sebastian) but it's mostly harmonious around the studio. (Pun intended.) And why Rush and Beck don't appear on this list is beyond us.

So we got thinking... What are the artists that stay on repeat on the iPod in your studio?

This Moment's Inspiration: Nature

2011-10-15T17:57:00.000-07:00

We love nature. From sea to mountains, we try to take in as much outdoor fun as we can. In the past three months, we trudged through Boone NC, Nashville IN, Santa Monica CA, and Whistler BC. Inspiration fuels the long hours at the desk. And I think that the sunny days, beach spray and mountain snow somehow shows up in our worlds!

This is a little park in Indianapolis that we love to get back to whenever we can. It's a special place to both of us, and is an unexpected find right off a very busy road. It's the perfect place to skip some stones. I remember finishing my very last exam in college and driving directly here to celebrate a little by myself.

Speaking of Indiana, one of our favorite places ever is Yellow Wood Forest, which is near Nashville, IN. It's very close to Brown County State Park, but free and much less crowded. It's just as beautiful, we think. This time we did a trail that went straight up the side of a very steep hill that was pretty intense, especially for flatland such as Indiana. Still beautiful!
We were able to take a few days in California after SDCC this year and got to spend the day at Santa Monica Pier. Durwin is definitely a mountain guy but I love to spend the day listening to the crashing waves and laying in the sun. Unfortunately, my lobster-red legs did not love it so much. Still, I can't get over the novelty of the ocean.

Maybe the most epic trip we've had (at least for me!) was our trip to Whistler. It was one of the more spectacular things I have seen. It was very inspirational and certainly wonderful to get some snow and sun! It won't be our last trip, I can tell you that.

Do you find inspiration from nature? If you post your natural inspiration, leave a link in the comments. What inspires you?

Back to School

2011-09-09T10:17:00.000-07:00

We made it safe and sound to Vancouver. We're glad to be home, in our apartment with all of our stuff. Immediately upon getting home, the Faculty Show at ECUAD went up, so we made our little corner of illustration.

(Hooray for terrible iphone photos!)

We hung next to Jaime Anderson, who is a visiting artist for this year. She's excellent, check her out!

We wanted to show a cohesive body of work in the show. So, we chose the cover and one interior page of the book. It was hard to choose a page to showcase but we went with one that showed nearly all the characters. It was a little bit of an ordeal to get them printed and framed, we had to do nearly all of it long-distance so the frames would be ready the day after we got into town. Luckily, it all worked out and we hung them in the nick of time.

The final piece is the playset. I don't think I've blogged about it before. We really wanted to do something exciting to promote the book, and I've been experimenting with 3D art a lot as of late. The playset came out of wanting to do something interactive, that people could tell their own stories with after they were done reading ours. We showed it at SDCC and it got a great reaction, especially from the kids. It was right about eye level for a little kid and they would stop their parents to come over and see it. One little girl cried because she couldn't take the princess home. It was so sweet! It seems to be a big hit in the faculty show, too. I saw a student put his own little character in the background and snap a picture. Pretty funny. (This will hopefully be a promo item or sold as a limited edition once we get closer to the book's release date!)

I was really happy that we were able to participate in the show. The students don't get an opportunity to see their professors' work very often, and it's important that they know about our practices. Last year, our work was being moved up here with the rest of our things and it took almost a month to get it, so we weren't able to show. Hopefully we'll have even more of a representation from the illustration faculty next year!

(If you are in the Vancouver area, the show runs until September 19th in the Concourse Gallery.)

Explanations and Weddings Part 6

2011-08-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

Previously: Explanations and Weddings Part 5
Explanations and Weddings Part 4
Explanations and Weddings Part 3
Explanations and Weddings Part 2
Explanations and Weddings Part 1

So, it was time to party! Immediately afterwards, we had a cocktail hour for our guests and signed our license, making it officially official.

Officially official.

Then, while our guests mingled and the tables were set up, we headed upstairs for some bowling!

Yes, that's right. I said bowling. This is one of the main reasons we chose the space. We were going back and forth about it, and then Durwin said, "BUT if we do it there, then there can be BOWLING after the ceremoney!" and so it was sold. We had to do some serious finagling with the alley, since they are not usually open on Sundays, but it was so worth it.

The light up there was gorgeous! And gorgeously captured by Janet Guertin, one of my awesome ladies who takes amazing photographs.

This also happened:

Click to enlarge and see the excellent acting skills of our party.

The photographers put us in some strange positions. But I guess that's just what you do? I think this one was actually suggested by the guy who was running the place. We liked it because the ladies got to rule. The guys liked it because they got to practice their pouting.

We headed back down after that and had our entrance, waving our yay flags the whole time. Which I forgot to mention! We didn't want to have rice or whatever to throw, and we didn't know what to do for favors (most people throw them out, I think) so we decided to create "yay flags" that people could use throughout the night to wave.

We set them out in a bowl by the entrance before the ceremony and included a line in the program about what they were for. They turned out great! People waved them like crazy when we were exiting down the aisle and at various periods throughout the night. They ended up in people's hats, pockets, and stuck in the cake.

I made them in red, gold, and tan. I followed this tutorial to get the general idea of how to make them, but forewent the sewing. They were printed out on heavy paper that I bought from a craft supply store (the tutorial recommended construction paper, but the color fades so quickly that I went ahead and used better paper), 3/16" dowel rods and lots of hot glue. There were "YAY" "WOOT" and "HOORAY" flags to choose from. I made about a hundred for the wedding, and they were one of everyone's favorite elements!

My beautiful cousin Katie, showing her YAY! (Also, she's only 16. Back off.)

There were toasts.

Hilarious and touching, from Dave Guertin and TJ Rutherford.)

There. Was. CAKE.

Instead of just ONE cake, we had a cake on every table. My aunt, who is amazing, made all the cakes you see here and more. Including a regular-sized wedding cake! It was a great icebreaker for all the guests, and I saw people venturing to other tables to barter/beg/steal a piece of theirs. Bringing people together over the power of delicious cake. Mmmm. (And if you're ever in Indianapolis, go check out Roll With It Bakery for some of her treats. You will not be disappointed.)

The tables looked like this:

See those napkins? My mom and I went to a bridal show (shudder) and saw how they had beautiful napkins arranged on the table for some color. They were also about two dollars apiece to rent. We thought, hey! We can make those for less than that, and then keep them. Between the two of us we cut and hemmed 150 cloth napkins from about 10 different patterns. They turned out great, but they were so time-consuming. I would suggest not doing this unless you really, really like to sew and have helpers. Which, I did, so it worked out. My plan is to make a quilt from the napkins. We also made the candle holders from drinking glasses from IKEA (I think they are these), vellum, and the leaf hole punch we used on the invites. I think the total cost (not including labor or the cake) of each centerpiece was about $10. Not too bad!

We also made table numbers using stand-up frames from IKEA and they looked like this:

Cutie pants.

There was dancing!

About a year and a half before the wedding, we went to an old time barn dance and had a blast. Our favorite (and easiest to follow!) was one called "Lucky Seven," which is a pretty simple circle dance that allows you to dance with pretty much everyone in the room. We thought it would be a great icebreaker and allow us to dance with many people at once. We were a little worried that no one would try it, but a huge group of people did!

We had our first dance, and then opened it up to the DJ and let the party go. This was the only part that I was a little disappointed with. We had been culling music for the reception for the better part of a year and were going to do an iPod wedding, but then thought it might be a good idea to have someone to make announcements, and make sure the music didn't stop. The DJ ignored much of what we wanted, and just played what he felt like (I should have known he was trouble when he offered to bring props for the Locomotion, after I specifically said I didn't want any line dances...). It was very frustrating, but people still had a great time and danced their butts off. So, it didn't matter in the end, and no one noticed except for me!

We cut the cake...

Which had this on top:

Made by The Small Object. I highly recommend her, she was an absolute dream to work with and we were able to customize everything about it. It sits on our bookcase now and it makes me smile every time I see it.

Up close with our rings!

Durwin's ring comes from this seller on Etsy and the ring is gorgeous, but I had some communication troubles with him. I love the fingerprint idea, though. It's a great piece.

We danced until they basically shut us down. At the end of the night, Durwin's brother gave us the funniest wedding gift ever.

We had to wear them immediately.

Probably the most popular thing we did was the movie posters. Since the theater was an actual working theater at one time, there were huge movie poster frames outside the entrance. We had to do something awesome, of course. So, Durwin decided to surprise me with something epic. (I asked if he wanted me to do it and got a "NO, GO 'WAY" in response. So I let him take charge, and I was so happy I did.)

Here is the epicness!

I could cry, it's so awesome.

And in it's natural habitat:

People FREAKED OUT. It was fantastic. It was really the cherry on top of the whole thing! (Other than, you know, ending up married and whatever.)

Just a perfect day, tape to tape. And thus concludes this wedding series! Now let's get back to real life, shall we?

Vendors and Suppliers:
Venue and Catering: Fountain Square Theater (in-house catering)
Photographer: Let's Do Shotz Photography (with additional amazing photos by Janet Guertin)
Dress: Vera Wang, purchased at BleuBelle Bridal in Savannah, GA (sample sale, y'all!)
Jacket: Custom by Wai Ching (If you live in or near to the pacific northwest, GO TO THERE.)
Headpiece: Heknowsmyname on Etsy
Rings: Chris Parry on Etsy, Tiffany & Co. (my band), Diva Diamonds (for my ring, via Amazon)
Makeup: MAC, done by my friend Joy Katkic
Hair: Done by Cary Neeley of Mary & Friends
Shoes: Originally these completely beautiful ones, but then random last-minute silver sandals from Baker's (oh well...)
Tuxes: Men's Wearhouse
Bridesmaids' Dresses: Various. I let them buy their own, because they are grown-ass women that already know how to purchase a dress themselves that looks good. I recommend you do this.
Cakes: Marie Moody of Roll With It Bakery
Topper: The Small Object
Flowers: Bought wholesale and done by my step-sister-in-law Erica Bournstein
Invitations: Designed by us, printed by Overnightprints.com

Explanations and Weddings Part 5

2011-08-20T11:48:00.000-07:00

Previously: Explanations and Weddings Part 4
Explanations and Weddings Part 3
Explanations and Weddings Part 2
Explanations and Weddings Part 1

We headed to the theater and split up to wait for the ceremony to begin. They had a great waiting space there for the bride (and one for the guys, too, I am assuming!) and so I waited and tried very hard not to throw up.

I was very nervous!

The kids got their last minute briefing:

We decided not to have one flower girl, or one ring bearer, as to not hurt anyone's feelings (left to right: Rosie, Mya, George, and Sage). Instead, we played a song and had them all dance up the aisle before the ceremony. They were a little nervous, so they mostly marched up stone-faced, but it was still cute.

Oh, and the FLOWERS. Erica, who is Mya and Sage's mom, is a florist and offered to put the flowers together. I told her a vague idea of what I wanted ("Color! Awesome! Things!") and she took my terrible instructions and delivered fantastic results.

Monkey tails! Totally beautiful flowers! Love them.

TJ, my Lady of Awesome, keeping our rings safe on her thumb and pinky.

Then, before I knew it, it was TIME.

Durwin coming down the red carpet, with me getting ready in the back!

The ceremony was a little bit of a blur to me. I was so focused on not totally crying that it went by so quickly. And I didn't even notice that the mic we had paid extra for was never hooked up! So probably no one heard us. It didn't matter, though. We heard everything and that's what counts!

Things we did:

• Unity Candle Ceremony: You know, like you do. We just did a quick one with two white candles. We found an awesome candle holder that we still use at home.
• Filipino Wedding Traditions: We wanted to include these as a nod to Durwin's heritage. We did the exchange of arras, which are 13 gold coins passed from Durwin to me. We used this to symbolize the commitment of both of us to contribute to our new family and a promise to provide for one another. We also did a veiling ceremony, where a veil was placed over both of us to symbolize us being "clothed as one."

• Ring Blessing: Instead of having just two of our bridal party members be in charge of the rings, we had them start at the end and be passed down the line, as each person touched them and gave them their blessing. It was a great way to have everyone put a little energy into them.

We each chose a reading and surprised the other. I had my good friend and Mayor of Dance Beth Post read "I Like You" by Sandol Stoddard Warburg. It's a very sweet little book, with great illustrations. I suggest you buy it for someone you like. The part that really got me was:

On the 4th of July I like you because it's the 4th of July
On the fifth of July, I like you too
If you and I had some drums and some horns and some horses
If we had some hats and some flags and some fire engines
We could be a HOLIDAY
We could be a CELEBRATION
We could be a WHOLE PARADE
See what I mean?
Even if it was the 999th of July
Even if it was August
Even if it was way down at the bottom of November
Even if it was no place particular in January
I would go on choosing you
And you would go on choosing me...

Durwin had our friend James come up and read what was probably the best reading ever. I was literally in tears over what he had chosen. If you know me, you know that I have memorized nearly the entirety of the Simpsons (at least seasons 1-10) and have a deep abiding love for it. So, he chose the best lines from the show about love and marriage. It was AMAZING. As follows:

Excerpts from the Book of Homer on Matrimony and Love:

Now what is a wedding? Well, Webster's dictionary describes a wedding as: the process of removing weeds from one's garden.

You know something, folks, as ridiculous as this sounds, I would rather feel the sweet breath of my beautiful wife on the back of my neck as I sleep, than stuff dollar bills into some stranger's G-string.

Love isn't hopeless. Look, maybe I'm no expert on the subject, but there was one time I got it right.

For you see, marriage is a lot like an orange. First, you have the skin... then the sweet, sweet innards...mmmm...innards...

From now on I'll never leave the room without saying how much I love you and... this takes a long time. Maybe a pat on your butt will do...that's it.

I've got a problem. Once you stop this car, I'm going to hug you, and kiss you, and then I'll never be able to let you go... And I never have.

And a bonus reading from the Book of Ralph:
I choo choo choose you.

And that is why we got married. Pretty much.

We exchanged our vows, which we wrote ourselves. Then, our officiant called it, we kissed, and that was it! We were MARRIED!

And how did we feel about that?

Woot indeed!

Next, we PARTY!

Expanations and Weddings (Part 4)

2011-08-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

Previously: Expanations and Weddings (Part 3)
Expanations and Weddings (Part 2)
Expanations and Weddings (Part 1)

The big day arrived on Sunday. My girls and I headed over to Mary & Friends, a fantastic area salon where our officiant, Cary Neeley, cuts amazing hair. He cut my hair since high school and still does practically every woman in my family. He is amazing! I highly recommend him to do your hair and then marry you off.

They bought me food but I didn't really eat anything all day. The mimosas, though, they really helped out with the jitters!

While we were getting beautified, the men were off getting dressed and Beth, our Mayor of Dancing (her official title) gave haircuts to those who needed them.

The men were doing odd things with their shoes, mostly.

After we were all beautified, we headed back to my mom's to get dressed. I came downstairs and was very happy to be ready to go!

The pink background is the color of her dining room walls. Isn't that awesome?

It was about 900 degrees that day, so the precious little red jacket I had made to match my shoes didn't get worn at all. But, my feet were all swollen from the heat so the shoes didn't fit, so it didn't matter anyway!

(It was an awesome jacket.)

We then headed to the Indianapolis Art Museum to take photos. We considered this venue at first, but it was very much out of our budget. What I wanted the most was to capture the grounds in the fall, in the cool setting, so we got to do that for free!

We decided to do a "first look" photo since we were going to see each other before the wedding. When it was party time, we didn't want to be caught up in a million photos that would delay the dancing, so we got most of them out of the way before hand. Durwin and the men got there before we did, so I had to hide behind some bushes so he wouldn't see me before it was time. People kept walking by me hiding like a bridal ninja, and they wished me a confused "congratulations" before walking off. I liked to be the bride ninja.

The photographers positioned Durwin in front of the famous LOVE sculpture and I snuck up behind him. When we saw me for the first time, it was like magic.

It was definitely a very emotional moment as we realized that this was the day we would really be starting our lives together as a family. I'm actually really glad we got to capture and savor this moment. I didn't know it would be so great!

After I didn't have to hide in shrubbery anymore, we took some photos inside...

And we took some outside...

This has to be my favorite picture EVER.

I love our bridal party. They are really our closest friends, and such fun and creative people. It was the greatest to be surrounded by them that weekend. And I love that Joy chose to rock a tux. She looked hot! (I don't think I could have convinced my friend Evan to don a bridesmaids dress, though.)

Finally, it was time to head to the theater. I was getting more nervous by the minute. We piled back into the van and headed off to get married!

Expanations and Weddings (Part 3)

2011-08-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

Previously: Explanations and Weddings (Part 2)
Explanations and Weddings (Part 1)

Fast forwarding to the actual weekend of the wedding!

The Friday before the wedding, we had our rehearsal and dinner. It was a little silly.

(The whole party, including our wonderful cat herder, I mean planner.)

We had the dinner at a great deli across from the theater that has sadly closed down since then. It was a great place to have it, casual and funky, not too expensive and accommodating to our large group. Man, I wish they were still around! It was a great low-key way to start off the weekend in earnest with our friends.

Saturday, my girls and I went to get our nails done. It was a welcome treat. I chose blue (for my something blue!).

(Clockwise from upper left: Joy Katkic, me, Janet Guertin, Katie Grantham,
TJ Rutherford, and Chava Light)

It was unexpectedly hot, reaching 90 degrees the day of the wedding. I had no flip flops, so I ended up buying the same silver shoes as Joy at the mall so I didn't ruin my pedicure. And it was a good thing, because the next day, my wonderful wedding shoes were too tight and so I ended up wearing the impulse silver sandals for the wedding!

(My toes matched Katie's!)

Saturday night, we started out with a dinner at Buca Di Beppo's (great for huge groups like ours) and then we went duckpin bowling at the restored 1950s alley in the basement of the theater (that theater has TWO duckpin alleys!).

Hot color combo! Drool.

There may have been moustaches. For the ladies.

(Pink ones!)

They may have all ended up on Durwin's head in a moustache mohawk.

(Yeah they did.)

After the bowling, the dudes and ladies split up and went our separate ways. We went back to my mom's house and I was surprised by my wonderful bridesmaid Janet with Team Guin t-shirts!

They each have the girl's color made of yarn and knitting needles, and
they say "Team Guin." She is so very talented and sweet!

My mom and TJ made a tower of cupcakes with this fantastic skeleton bride and groom on the top. So badass.

Halloweeeeen!

They threw me a surprise lingerie shower. I was definitely surprised, it was so unexpected, but really wonderful! We chatted and laughed for a while, and then I went to fold the escort cards and try to get some sleep before the big day.

(Oh, the men played board games and charades. Because they are secretly 12 years old. Nothing that couldn't have a photo on the internet, but I don't have any!)

Expanations and Weddings (Part 2)

2011-08-08T19:40:00.000-07:00

Previously: Explanations and Wedding (Part 1)

Once we decided on the date, we had to choose a venue, and FAST. We knew that our date would fill up very quickly, and so we had to select one over the winter holidays. We chose Indianapolis as our location, because most of my family and a lot of our friends are there. It seemed relatively central to most people we knew. And there are some great places in this city to throw a shindig!

After looking at a few places, we decided on the Fountain Square Theater, a beautiful renovated 1920's theater that is now rented out for special events. I actually used to go there in high school and college to their Swing Dance Nights. I have many fond memories of that theater and eating sour cream fries at Peppy's afterward (not as much recommended). It was funky and fun, just what we wanted. And, being a renovated theater, we got to do this:

This was the theater marquee on the day of our wedding. It was so awesome to drive up and see it!

Our invitations were the next big hurdle to accomplish (of course, I bought a dress, chose bridesmaids, flowers, and all that other wedding stuff, but you came here to see the art!). I have to say it was the only thing we butted heads over throughout the wedding planning. We're both pretty particular, and we both had a set idea of our ideal. We eventually reached a compromise, and the set ended up looking fantastic.

The colors we decided on were red, deep purple, gold, and orange. Fall is our favorite time of year, and so we wanted lovely autumn colors on everything. (One bridal store I went into asked my colors as I tried on dresses, and then when I listed them, the woman turned to my mom and said "Well, looks like somebody hasn't decided yet!" Looks more like somebody didn't make a sale that day!) Everything, from the invitations to the flowers to the dresses, was an explosion of color.

For the invites, we wanted a long format, and so we designed them to fit in #10 envelopes, which we bought in our colors, and addressed with silver or gold pens. Paper Source was my best friend during this time, and later, Arvey Paper in Indianapolis. We used Overnight Prints for the printing and they were great.

We did a vellum overlay on top of the postcard with the design, and this is what we came up with:

(Click to embiggen)

I love how Durwin made a monkey look so graceful! Because in real life, I am not.

So, this is what you would see when you opened up your envelope:

(Click to embiggen)

We had orange bands on the real invites, with the leaf punch, but I think we ran out by the end.

The set:

(Click to embiggen)

There's a reply card (purple), a map to the theater and hotel information (red) and the invite itself. The most fun was the song request line we included on the reply card. Not everyone did it, but we got some really fun (and hilarious) song requests, which we tried to include in the playlist (which the DJ pretty much ignored, but that's for another day). We printed the invitation wording on laser-jet vellum and put it together with a silver grommet (if you do not have a crop-a-dile, or whatever those things are called, please go buy yourself one if you plan on doing anything of this quantity. 150 invites later and my hands would have been dead without it!). The leaf punch was an accident at first, but we liked how it looked, so we kept it.

And the invite itself up close:

(Click to embiggen)

I love how they turned out.

Expanations and Weddings (Part 1)

2011-08-08T19:12:00.000-07:00

So, I said I would explain why we've been neglecting our poor corner of the internet for so long, and I shall! This year has been a crazy one. In fact, just this summer alone, we have traveled to 8 different cities in just over 2 months! I don't think we've stopped moving, prepping, or making huge life-changing steps once since this time last year.

The thing that was the most wonderful and probably the most time-sucking (yes, that includes my last year of grad school!) was our wedding. We got married in October, shortly after our huge move and starting new jobs. The experts (experts of...what?) say that you should only do one huge life-changing thing in a year, but we thought we'd take care of oh, FOUR of them in a few short months. No biggie.

So, I'm going to go through our huge, out-of-state, extremely fun and art-filled wedding in a series of blog posts. If you are exhausted by all things wedding, I promise we will get back to our regularly scheduled (well, sort of regular) programming afterward.

Our first large hurdle was to set a date. We picked 10.10.10 because, well, obviously it is the best possible date. Ever. We had no idea what life had in store for us when we picked it the winter before, but hey, who ever does? The second was to, of course, start drawing.

We're both illustrators, so there is no way we could pass up an opportunity to illustrate and design our own wedding invitations, save the dates, and anything else we could stick a drawing to. We're very much alike, we work together on most projects anyway, and we love the same things, so it should have been the easiest part, right? Well, we did butt heads over many elements, but considering what kind of pressure we were under (to pack up our whole lives and start them somewhere else!) I am shocked we didn't rip each others faces off. And I take it as an excellent sign that we didn't!

The first project we undertook was the save the dates. We mailed them out about 6 months before the wedding. Our nicknames for each other are monkey and panda (yup, this series is going to be full of gag-inducing cuteness, but it's a WEDDING SERIES so it's to be expected) and so we went with that as a loose theme. Here's the front:

Durwin had a much-beloved scooter in Savannah, and it was far too dinky for both of us to really ride it at once, so we got to do it on here instead! Like we usually do, it was a collaborative effort. The printed postcards had rounded corners and lots of info on the back. I definitely loved going to people's houses and seeing it up on their refrigerators. It set up the whole wedding as a fun party because really, it was not going to be a stodgy affair with us!

Comic Con!

2011-07-20T06:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, I know this blog has been woefully updated. It's been a busy, busy year for us, which we will go into detail very soon. BUT! If you want to catch up with Perpetual Flights, Durwin will be at the SDCC this week in Artist's Alley. Go by and say hi, and see all the great things we are doing right now! And stay tuned, more is to come soon...

Oops

2010-09-08T09:35:00.000-07:00

It's been far too long since this blog was updated. Here it is, September, and the last post was in June. Yikes, guys.

We've been very busy over here at PFS, mostly with Big Life Stuff, but also with Big Art Stuff. We have finished all of the art for issue 1 of Beautiful Scars, which is very exciting. I am working on a surprise to be included in the issue as well (it's really great). Now that life has settled down a little, we can start working on issue 2. We will finish up posting the pages soon, so check back for those!

Life is great, if not very hectic right now. Take care!

Page 17 - Falling In Love

2010-06-09T22:24:00.000-07:00

Ah... young love.

Top storyline: Ridley literally falls heads over heels (bum over noggin?) in love after seeing Emma for the first time. How else is he going to impress the girls? By falling out of a tree after being smitten?

Bottom storyline: The Princess is ripped out of the Young Woodsman's life. Being both brave and stalwart, he will face the danger to save his Princess--no matter the cost.

Over all, a real fun panel to put together.

Guin and I wanted to say thanks to all of the folks we saw over Heroes Con in Charlotte last weekend. We had a blast. A shout out to our booth mates: Bernie Wrightson, Dave Guertin and Greg Baldwin, Chris Moeller, John Van Fleet, Dave Dorman, Matt Wilson and the ever-moist Scott Hampton. It was three days of comics, nerdiness and overall FUN. We'll definitely give Heroes Con a go next year! A special thanks for all of the kind words of encouragement from those who perused Beautiful Scars--your positive mojo is crucial to getting this thing done! Until next page...

Heroes Con this weekend!

2010-06-02T16:52:00.001-07:00

Hey all! Durwin and Guin will be at Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC this weekend. We'll be there starting on Friday! If you're there, please stop by and say hello. Durwin will be promoting the trade paperback of Bonds, due out this July, and we'll have some artwork and new stuff to show as well. We'll be sitting near our pals Dave Guertin and Greg Baldwin of Creature Box, Scott Hampton, Chris Moeller, Dave Dorman and more! Come by and say hi to all of us.

The Final Hurrah

2010-05-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

As you may know, Bonds is being compiled into a trade paperback. This means fixing typos, adding sketches and even creating three more pages of storytelling to fill out the narrative (more on that later).

All of this on top of my teaching load at SCAD, which mercifully ends this week (more on that later as well!).

But I'm now in the mental space to worry about the blog, and for the next couple of weeks, I will post Bonds progress as it completes. However, no worries, Scars will continue to be posted as well. For now, enjoy this pencil sketch and mark July 7 on your calendars when the Bonds trade hits the shelves!

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/image-july-2010-solicitations-100428.html

Page 16 - Look Out!

2010-04-27T13:25:00.001-07:00

We're chugging along! Soooo close to being done with the first issue. I can't wait to hit the last page. And then get cracking on issue 2!

We get our first glimpse of the love of Ridley's life, the precocious and adorable Emma. Ridley was waiting to catch a sight of the first car he'd ever seen, but didn't count on setting eyes on Emma as well. We used a Panhard & Levassor model for our antique car - it would have been around in England about that time. That was probably the trickiest research that we had to do for the whole book. There aren't many reference shots around for this particular model, but we did find one that someone had restored, which was very lucky. They look like kind of a pain to drive. But Emma and her dad don't seem to mind.

And! Drama! No wonder the woodsman was so upset on the last page. Snatching the poor princess off her feet like that, HOW RUDE. Will the woodsman turn into a Man of Action? Is that dark silhouetted Scars really behind all this? Find out next time...on page 17!

Page 15 - First Glimpse of Scars!

2010-04-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

See, we still do comics! :)

Lots has been happening over here at Chez Perpetual Flights. But, we're still plugging away on Beautiful Scars. Only a few pages left to show you! Wow!

I like this page a lot. Lots of action happening! We've got Ridley the daredevil on the lookout for whatever is coming over that hill, and our first glimpse of Scars in Maddie's imagination. Looks pretty frightening, doesn't he? Well, something is exciting the Woodsman, but you'll have to wait til the next page to see what's got him so upset...

Grad School

2010-03-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted! Thanks to my lovely partner for taking over while I buried myself in grad school work.

I was in Dallas/Ft. Worth last week with the Hartford Art School and it was a blast. We met a lot of fantastic illustrators, and it's so nice to immerse yourself in a group that thinks the same way you do. 100% illustration 24/7, man. It's the good life.

We had an assignment where we had to execute an illustration based on our experience in Pasadena (the last contact period we had). Well, let me tell you - that trip was a life-changing experience for me, not in small part due to the trip to the Disney Archives and seeing Mary Blair's concept work for Alice in Wonderland in person. And Eyvind Earle's backgrounds from Sleeping Beauty, just lying on a table. Just right in front of me. People, it was like a religious experience for me. I briefly contemplated making a break for the door with them under my coat, but decided a life of crime was not for me.

I felt like I needed to pay homage to that part of the trip with my piece. I feel sometimes that California is one big movie set, with all kinds of characters. So, I decided to do my own "adventures in Wonderland". I wanted to do something more interactive than just one flat piece, so I made it three-dimensional. I made myself as Alice, my program head as the White Rabbit, and then a couple other characters to interact with each other. I wanted to do something semi-sequential, so I did three panels that become a sort of triangle that stands up and forms a sort of "playset". Each side has an overhang which characters on strings can hang from.

Unfortunately, I shipped the piece back to myself before getting on the plane, and never got a good shot of it set up, so I'll have to wait til the Fed Ex guy shows up to show you the final setup, but I can show you the backgrounds. When it makes its way back to me, I'll take some photos of the finished piece.

This is my first panel, representing Pasadena with the rose gardens. I put in a Kenton Nelson-inspired lady in the background since we visited his studio. And an In-n-Out burger sign. Because they are delicious.

This is my second panel, based on a trip we took to Hollywood (and a ridiculous tequila bar). I love a place with good Mexican food, and Pasadena had it in spades. Yummers.

My third and final image. I think this one is my favorite. I took a little liberty with the Hollywood Hills and put in a beach (the one thing I didn't go to, but wanted to!). I have the castle in the back as a little nod to my Disneyland trip.

I loved the patterns and the repetition in this whole piece, it got very addictive. I had so much fun with this, I can't even tell you. Stay tuned for the whole shebang assembled with characters!

ETA: I uploaded the wrong versions, duh... so, these are the seriously final versions. There's not much difference but there is to me!

Page 14 - Danger Lurks Ahead

2010-03-17T13:40:00.001-07:00

Welcome to North Carolina. I'm on break from SCAD and Guin is in Dallas showing off her latest illustration (more on that next week). But even though I'm off from teaching (at least for this week), I get to relax by working on comics.

On this page, we finally get to introduce Scars the Troll into the story. Here, you can tell that he is a pretty tough customer. We can also see young Ridley climbing a look-out tree in a monkey like manner...

More importantly, you get to sense how we are using two storylines against each other. The emotions on the top tier–determination and apprehension–are meant to set a mood on the storyline beneath it. Guin and I are trying to have the grandfather's narrative affect the granddaughter's imagination. Since we are not relying on balloons for the B story (Maddie's Fantasy story), the acting has to be spot on. The Princess, and the Young and Old Woodsman are nonetheless oblivious to the danger that lies ahead.

Next post... the danger that lies ahead!

Bonds Trade Cover

2010-03-08T00:31:00.001-08:00

The folks over at Image Comics have decided to collect the three issues of Bonds into a trade paperback. The good news for me is that I got to create a new cover for the event. The bad news for me is that I had to do this the weekend before finals week. Well, art is about energy and focus. So I looked at this as an opportunity to see what I could do in 48 hours...
So, it always starts off with a sketch. A dozen to be more precise. As potentially the last illustration I would create for Bonds, I had to think about what I wanted to say. If you can say it in words, you have a shot to illustrate it. For me, Faith's path of vengeance meant that she collected souls. The tattoos represent every soul she killed, but for the cover I wanted to somehow show the people who were also important to her story...we are, after all, who we let into our lives.
Originally, I wanted to riff off of the Coles Phillips fade-away technique. But I decided that I wanted portraits of her family and foes to emerge from the shadows. I also wanted to have the Wolf Spirit's head turn into fire. These two elements, shadows and fire, seem to best represent Faith's life and death.

For the final trade which should be in the stores in early July 2010, I also plan to create a new prologue to the story. But this will have to wait until Scars 1 is completed... And I thought that I received an illustration degree, not an MFA in Juggling!

Cover Up! Final Cover

2010-02-24T09:02:00.001-08:00

Tah dah! The Final cover. We still need to add cover indicia (publisher's logo, chapter number, etc.), but you'll see all of this when it hits the stands. All and all, this was a fun (yet necessary) diversion. Back to interiors next week!

Cover Up! Part 3

2010-02-24T08:55:00.001-08:00

In Photoshop, we tend to use subtle effects to push our design to the next level. Because all of the hard work is done with graphic shapes and line, it's simply a matter of creating focus. We'll use gradient effects with a dissolve to push trees backwards and forwards.

We'll modulate value and color in the holding lines.

Overall, we'll use Photoshop to soften some of the harder effects a vector program creates.

Cover Up! Part 2

2010-02-19T10:10:00.001-08:00

Once the shapes in the sketch have been determined, it's time to create holding lines. For this cover, our concept was to hearken back to the fairy tale styles of Kay Neilsen and Edmund Dulac with a bit of art nouveau line found in the works of Aubrey Beardsley and Will Bradley. No pressure, eh? We went to a vector program to control the line precision.

After our lines were created, we colored the lines and added flat shapes of color. There's something jarring about black line in "classic" illustration work. Using brown line is a great way to soften the overall piece. As we create the layers of background needed to complete this piece, we'll move to lighter and lighter shades linework, finally using gold for the castle.

Using into a flat perspective, the next layer to solve is the city before the castle. Thinking deco, we used repeating patterns and colors instead of traditional perspective. The buildings in the back are smaller than the building in the front.

Now it's time to design the final elements. The castle, clouds and cherry blossoms. Next up, Photoshop!

Cover Up! Part I

2010-02-15T07:06:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Scars is a book with a lot of planning behind it. Though we are producing artwork for the project in earnest this year, this project has been percolating with Guin and I for a while. It's been almost 4 years since we first outlined Beautiful Scars at a Dennys at 2 in the morning (but that's a blog for another time).

To pitch this idea to Mark Smylie at Archaia Studio Press, we put together a page of art, a synopsis and a rather sparse cover.

As we near completion of issue 1, we decided it was time to create a new cover. This new image + the pages you see in this blog will be solicited together for review. It's time to gussy up the cover image. Here are our starting pencils:

As you can see, we are just designing our shapes, rhythm and flow. As soon as we are done with our rough sketch, it's time to refine our composition. The original sketch is lightened and darker marks refine the characters, details and size relations. Next post, we'll go to color!

Page 13 - The Game is Afoot!

2010-01-18T22:03:00.001-08:00

A Story–Tier 1: Ridley is cajoled by his mates to climb the infamous oak.
B Story–Tier 2: The Princess and the Old Woodsman trade stories. The Young Woodsman stands back.

As visual storytellers, Guin and I are trying to set up idyllic scenes in two different worlds on the same page. In Ridley's world, the colours are pastel and the sun is out. In the Princess' world, we play with warmer colours with the figures, but cooler colors in the forest.

As writers, this page is designed to mark the warmth and safety in both worlds. On the top tier, the kids are being kids–they feel indestructible (a common concept among kids). On the bottom tier, our players are obviously close. On the entire page, no one has a care in the world. Until the next page, that is.

Page 12 - New Year Resolutions

2010-01-07T11:18:00.001-08:00

Welcome to the new year. The break has been eventful... travel through North Carolina (Hi Scott, Dave, Janet), travel through Indiana for Christmas, back to Savannah for the New Year (and new school year). Moreover, back to the grindstone.

It's always an interesting balancing act with things you have to do and things you want to do in life. Beautiful Scars is a thing we HAVE to do in life, and so welcome to the first page of 2010. And the theme of this page is Old Acquaintances (Happy New Year, all!)

Storywise, Ridley meets up with his mischievous chums by the Old Oak Tree. There is only one road leading into town, and these friends are going to be waiting for a new discovery that will be heading down the road. In the B story, the Princess recognizes the Old Woodsman and his apprentice. Obviously there is a lot of love here.

We use a graphic device to help separate the stories and in this page, I feel it really comes through... The black field separates the B story (bottom) from the A story (top). Until next time!

Merry merry!

2009-12-25T17:20:00.000-08:00

A very happy holiday season to all of our readers. Thank you all so much for reading our blog and following our journey! See you all next year! There's mulled wine calling my name...

OUTLET Magazine

2009-12-18T08:18:00.001-08:00

Whew, it's been a while since we've posted! I do apologize. We've been running around between multiple states, landing in Indiana to visit friends and family. We spent some time in the triangle in North Carolina with friends, ran off to a mini-vacation in Boone (frigid hiking!), and are now in the chilly midwest. Snow is predicted tomorrow. I am thrilled!

I wanted to mention that Durwin and I are featured in the premiere issue of OUTLET Magazine, a brand new publication in Savannah showcasing local artistic talent. We talked about Beautiful Scars, and there are some favorite pages showcased.

About them:

Founded by graphic designer Britt Scott and writer and editor Laura Clark, Outlet magazine is a not-for- profit publication offering Savannah’s creative community an open forum through which to view and display art of all makes and media. As a submission-based magazine, Outlet’s goals are to encourage creation, connect local artists and assist in the emergence of creative careers.

We're very excited to be featured alongside some fantastic local talent! Thanks, OUTLET!

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming!

Page 11 - With an adorable dog, even.

2009-11-30T08:52:00.001-08:00

Hello all you lovely people! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was spent quite well, in the relative warmth of Florida, and it was a nice trip. Too much food, of course.

This week in the studio, we're trying to get a lot of work finished before the craziness of holiday travel is upon us, and I think we'll be able to do that.

This should be a familiar page as well. The bottom panel is the first panel that we completed, I believe. It was such a struggle to get our style down, and to be cohesive, but it's been much easier since then, now that we know what we're doing. Heh. The top panel was much easier to create, since we took the tree form from the bottom and have a pretty good morgue of foliage going. We had to create that frickin' adorable beagle, though. Norman Rockwell would be proud.

Page 10 - Halfway and then some!

2009-11-23T22:05:00.001-08:00

Wow! I was so looking forward to reporting our halfway mark, and now it's a spot in our rearview mirror. We're pretty far ahead, so hopefully we can stop working long enough to catch the blog up to where we are.

You might remember the top panel from this post, but here is the completed page. I love seeing the two panels side by side. It's a pretty darn good-looking page, if I say so myself. I love the close-up of the princess, especially with that dramatic far-away scene.

I don't have so much to say right now. It's been a lot of working over here, and my brain is a little fried. Last week was spent in Pasadena, with the Hartford Art School, and I got some great inspiration, especially with a visit to the Disney Archives. Original Eyvind Earle and Mary Blair pieces, right in front of me! So amazing. How could you not want to come back and work, honestly?

My dear counterpart just finished the quarter for the holiday break, so we're having some quality dual working time lately, and I'm taking advantage of it while I can! We'll be updating soon, though, so stay on the lookout!

Page 9 – A New Chapter

2009-11-12T20:56:00.000-08:00

This page begins the story behind Ridley's scars. We wanted the book design to reflect both comics and children's books with these chapter breaks: the Knee, the Elbow, the Hand, the Forearm and the Forehead. A block of narrative text will connect the spot illustration to the panels underneath.

We started with the knee because EVERYONE we know has a scar on the knee. It's the price of growing up. The staging of the actors on this page is important, because we intentionally place grandfather and granddaughter apart from each other. They are cordial, but not overly affectionate. As we progress in the chapters, they will interact more.

Art-wise, I personally like their head shots–they both show a lot of personality. Maddie is cute as a button and when Ridley smiles it's like the sun peaking out of the clouds...

Page 8 - Beginning of a story

2009-11-02T18:14:00.001-08:00

This is really the page we were working on in North Carolina...it just seemed more appropriate to talk about on the last page, given the subject matter!

I love how Ridley's face goes through the same processing as Maddie's did when she hurt her knee. And when he realizes he can turn around his hurt feelings into a special moment with his granddaughter. Again, a fairly simple page to do, but the characters are beginning to connect with one another, so we like it!

Looking at it, it seems like the ground might be a little too sparse in the middle panel. Maybe we need to add some flowers or a few more bunches of grass there. Other than that, I like it. And we get to start on the two-tier storytelling pages after page 9, which will be SO MUCH FUN. I can't wait to start drawing forests again!

Also, you can see that we've started watermarking our images. When I have more time, I'll go back and watermark the ones that are already up. The issue of watermarking has been nagging me lately and it was brought to our attention last weekend that we really should be doing it. It's the trouble with posting work online – I'm not so afraid that someone would steal it (low-res and a poor file format for printing anyway) but we'd like people to know where it came from if it shows up somewhere else. So, we're gonna try this out.

So close to halfway I can almost taste it!

Page 7 - Finding a Connection

2009-10-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

We just keep rolling along... three more pages and we are at the halfway mark!

This page shows the first real interaction between Maddie and her grandfather. She's upset about her knee because she doesn't want to end up scarred like her grandfather. Being a child, she doesn't know what kind of impact her words have on him. However, he notices her book and sees that she is a storyteller, like him.

This was a simple page to do, but it's one of our favorites. The interaction between the two, the quiet moment of hurt that Ridley has, the flow of the page, we are really happy with how it all turned out. I think we love it so much because this is the beginning of them finding their connection. This past weekend, we spent in North Carolina reconnecting with our "art family". It was much needed, two days of talking art and comics and board games and even a little work thrown in. Life is all about connection, it's what it comes down to. So, we're loving to see our characters start to connect as they come to life.

We did have a scary moment where we thought we had lost the entire page, though. (We're using dropbox to share files between us now, but we need a better solution, any suggestions? I was thinking about a shared hard drive but if you have something better, let me know!) Fortunately, it magically appeared on one computer and not the other. That was a heart attack and a half! We seriously need a better solution, I'm wondering what all of you use...

We're really excited to start working on the "fun" part of the book soon...with princesses and trolls and whatnot. Looking forward to that immensely!

Page 6 - Run away, run away!

2009-10-22T10:07:00.000-07:00

In this page, Maddie runs terrified from her well-meaning grandfather, trips in her haste to escape, and scrapes her knee. I really love how she checks out the damage before crying. So kid-like. Her face in the center bottom panel is pretty priceless. Maddie is none too happy about that scrape on her knee, which you'll learn about in the next page.

This was a nice, simple page to get done. It's very character-driven, so the background detail is at a minimum - just enough to suggest their setting. So glad we could use that willow tree again, though. I really like it!

In studio news, we spoke to our publisher at Archaia and it looks like we are going to have an April release. Even though we'll be done with this issue in about a month (if we can keep our current schedule going), he wants to make sure it is marketed properly before it comes out. Which is great! Also, both of our birthdays are in April, so it's fitting that this project's birthday will be in April, too. It seems like a long time, but we'll be bringing you LOTS of good stuff before then! And this blog serves as a great tool to keep on target.

Page 5 - The Granddaddy of all Dragons

2009-10-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

Maddie, deep in her sketchbook, narrates a thrilling tale of evils dragons, eviller ogres and the fair princess and noble woodsman. And then her grandfather says hello.

This page sets up the relationship between granddaughter and grandfather. And this relationship isn't as warm as Maddie's relationship with her grandmother.

I like how dapper Ridley is, and how the sun shines behind him. Also, the children's drawings are kind of adorable--I wish I could draw like that! The sun should never be sad...

Page 4 - Notice a pattern here?

2009-10-12T17:08:00.000-07:00

Or two, or three...on the walls, on the aprons...

I love vintage patterns, linens, prints, aprons... I think I stressed out more over the pattern for grandma's apron than I did over any of the characters' designs. It's important to keep the appropriate tone of the time period for our characters, so a lot of research went into making sure the patterns and furnishings are believable. I found this great vintage 50s apron (which I absolutely covet) and used the pattern for grandma. Mom got a little more fun design with a random geometric pattern. I love that wallpaper, taken from a 1940s print. I figured that the grandparents would probably be slower to update their trends. The little touches like the cuckoo clock and china cabinet just make it feel more lived-in to me. I want to go there and make cookies.

The willow tree in the garden is probably my favorite tree to date. The ivy was a lot of fun to create, more playing around with patterning and layering of custom brushes in photoshop.

I love how we get to see Maddie's playfulness and curiosity begin to come out in this page as well. Outside with you, girlie!

Now, I have the strange hankering to go tie on an apron and put my hands in flour. Side effects of comics? Hmm.

Page 3 - Maddie's Sketchbook

2009-10-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

Maddie's sketching is the conduit into our fantasy storyline. Within this red notebook's pages are dragons, princesses, heroes and ogres. A creative mind, Maddie can always be found sketching and these drawings set the tone for this fanciful backdrop.

In this page, Maddie pulls into Albersfield Station to meet up with her grandmother. It's early morning when they arrive but it's never too early for hugs. By the way, you can never have too many fedoras in a scene.

On a creative note, it was hilarious to watch Guin draw the top two panels... Watching her draw with her opposite hand clutching a China Marker on bristol board is one of those memories that will live in infamy. The things we do to tell stories!

Page 2 - Train Ride to Albersfield

2009-09-30T23:50:00.000-07:00

It's been an interesting challenge working a full-time job (me), working on grad school (Guin), finding balance in our lives, and creating a comic book on top of everything. But we will try to post pages in consecutive order in various stages so that you have an idea how the story unfolds.

The first panel is a pick up from the last panel on page 1. Maddie is a child accompanying her mum to the country. You can tell that she's not particularly happy about visiting her grandfather, but her mother is having none of it.

Flashbacks must be planned. For our flashback, we simply repeat the pose from the preceding page and use the leaves in the sky to connect the narrative moments. I love the third panel–where Maddie is fuming. In illustration you can take chances like this to heighten a moment. This panel still has about 10% left to go: an eagle drawn by Maddie in the last panel will connect this page to the next page.

Page 1 - Finished

2009-09-18T18:25:00.000-07:00

And here we have the final image!

There weren't a ton of effects to deal with on this page. Just some leaves and clouds, and the shadows. We decided that autumn would be the most appropriate season for this part of the story, so the color palate is bluer and more subdued outside. The orange and gold leaves give it some depth and a little bit of movement. It's amazing what a little bit of added spice can do for a page!

Phew, page 1 is done! Now only...a lot more to go. Aw man!

ETA: Just adjusted a few things. The leaves and such. NOW it's done!

The Page is Flat

2009-09-18T18:15:00.000-07:00

Page 1 with flat color–it cleans up nice and pretty.

This is an important stage for us as we get to establish scene and mood. For the interior shot, we were thinking 60's and 70's color theory... you remember, avocado or mint green walls (though we also played with goldenrod and rose) contrasting against a lot of maple. Contrasting the warmth of the shot, we see Maddie walk to her car (a 1964 Volvo 122s) and the skies are cool grey outside her flat (a typical row house in the city).

At this point, with everything set, it's time to add our shadows and effects.

Onward!

A Naked Page

2009-09-16T16:52:00.000-07:00

Oh, not like that. Come on now.

Last post showed the first panel of this page, with Maddie's typewriter. Here, you can see the whole first page, with just inks.

It looks kinda, well, bare without the color. But, there's some charm and movement in the inks that I really enjoy. The grownup Maddie went through several costume changes, as it were. It is the 70's after all...we had a lot of interesting options as far as her hair and outfit. She even started out with a pseudo-Farrah hairstyle, but we both decided that it was too fussy for our girl. Besides, how can you go wrong with Dorothy Hamill?

The backgrounds on this page are going to be done with color and pattern work. Sometimes it's nice to see the naked image, without all the fuss and fanciness. At least this gives you an idea of what we start with, and you'll see soon where we end up. When it's finished (and I hope that's really, really soon, that deadline looms!), we'll share it here.

Environments - Maddie's Desk

2009-09-11T09:24:00.001-07:00

Sometimes you don't need a ton of color or special effects to tell a story. So here are the inks, as simple as they can be.

In case you are wondering, we are jumping around a little bit when creating the art for Beautiful Scars, but this is the opening panel to the series.

A simple panel, really. Just establishing where an adult Maddie spends her time. She's surrounded by her typewriter, her books, and her notes. It's the photo of her grandfather that I especially like–it's like he is in the studio with her every day. There's a nice vibe to this panel and we thought it would be good to share unpolished artwork as well.

The main theme of Beautiful Scars is to connect to people you love. This weekend we are shutting down the studio to spend some time with my brother in Orlando... Happy Birthday Rob! Especially in lieu of today's date, we are glad to be hanging out with family and friends.

See you next week!

Environments - Albersfield

2009-09-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

Environments. The stage where your characters come alive.

For us, this panels sets up a couple main storytelling details (and a small one)... Ridley journals, much like Maddie does at the same age. They are also both left-handed (re: creative) which also ties parallels to each others' lives. Ridley would have to be pretty stubborn because most school teachers would try to force left-handed students to write with the "correct" hand. We like stubborn. (Oh, and Scars the Troll also sports a ponytail and ribbon like the two school girls).

Ridley is raised in an imaginary hamlet called Albersfield. The concept is inspired by Westerham, a small town in England. It boasts a small clock tower, an abbey, Winston Churchill's family home, and an air field, the Biggin Hill Aerodrome. We needed to create a small country town in the middle of nowhere because they will need land and workers to build an aerodrome to train pilots in World War I. The clock tower is an important storytelling detail and is based on a clock tower found in Aberystwyth, Wales.

We also set out to create a lush woods and rolling hills. The turn of the century was a pretty innocent time, and we chose to portray a town unspoiled by the industrial revolution. When we open the scene, the town is about to welcome its first mechanic. So in other words, we wanted to set up two sides... a developing town and nature still in it's glory.

We wanted to draw idyllic. So here you go!

Paying homage

2009-09-03T21:53:00.000-07:00

Shadow, 1993(?)-2009

Once upon a time, there was a cat.

Well, perhaps I should back up a bit.

One of the best things about makin' comics is the fact that we can put the people we love into the work. Take Bonds. Practically every character in there is someone special. Comics are a great way to use our friends as inspiration. Even if they are far away or no longer with us, we can stay close and pay homage.

Our friends Glen and Elizabeth lost their dear cat this week. It really broke them up, as you can imagine. Losing a pet is like losing a member of the family. Shadow was an excellent cat. She lived a long and good life with her people, and I know she meant the world to them. She had real personality, and fought a good fight through some tough health problems. She hung on for a long time. And now she's gone.

We wanted to pay homage to the kitty, and to our friends who loved her. We decided to put her in the book, even if it's just for a few panels.

Shadow, this is for you.

Good kitty.

Bonds – D-Day +1

2009-09-03T00:12:00.000-07:00

(Durwin in front of Home Run, Savannah GA, Sept. 2, 2009)

Today was my personal D-Day. The release of the last issue of my first creator-owned project.

I've had my drawings printed on all sorts of projects for years, but this is so much more satisfying. This was my own characters in my own story in print. It's in a form where my friends can pick it up as far out as San Jose (thanks Jen!), Atlanta (thanks Markus!), and Frederick (thanks Abbie!)–I don't have to make special preview copies on my tired Epson printer just for people to read it.

Production was completed so long ago (May). And the artwork and story was finished earlier than that (April). It's weird that I finally get to see it with staples and an SKU barcode. It took three tries to finally get the book in my hand (thanks to the good folks at Home Run in Savannah), and I don't think I breathed once while I scanned the pages for color problems or typos. But now I'm exhaling. I may be even exhilarated!

Thanks to everyone for your words of encouragement. I think the panels Guin and I are working on reflect all of your positive energy. And more importantly, thanks for being patient!

So without further pomp and circumspection, on to the next post: more Beautiful Scars work–I promise!

First panel!

2009-08-31T09:38:00.000-07:00

Well, not technically the first panel in the book, but the first panel that we've completed to its entirety with the new background techniques. This is the first panel of Maddie's fairytale story.

We're really, really excited about it. We had to concentrate on creating elements that we really loved, and everything is reusable in one manner or another. (Like I have mentioned previously, there are a LOT of backgrounds in this book. If we want to get it done in our lifetimes, we're going to have to be economical.) We have a pretty decent morgue going right now, so hopefully future panels will be more about designing than creating from scratch every element.

You can see where I've made use of the bush technique I showed in the last tutorial. However, the low bushes didn't make it into the page - it was too crowded and you couldn't see the trees clearly enough. I did use the same technique for the trees that go off into the distance, though (economical!). I had been searching for a good sponge brush for Photoshop for what seemed like forever, and then Durwin had the brilliant idea of, you know, sponging a piece of paper and scanning it instead of frustrating myself trying to find one that doesn't exist. Thus, we made the awesome brush that we used on the road. The texture is perfect.

I think my favorite thing about doing this page was the big tree trunks. They went through several iterations before finally turning into these. The trunks themselves are created in Freehand so that they're resizable and reusable (of course) and then brought into Photoshop as smart objects. For the bark, a bark pattern is created in Freehand, brought into Photoshop, and used as a selection template. I select the bark, go to another layer, and "paint" with a sponge brush. It gives me a lot of control but still looks rough and painterly. Each color is on a seperate layer so I can control everything untiil the very end.

This is the first time that our characters have been in color. It's really exciting to see them fully fleshed out. We're also playing around with colored line instead of the traditional black (also, colored line means no trapping!) and we're liking the effect of it. You can see the subtle dark rust of the Princess's holding line above. All the character's shadows are painted in Sketchbook after the inking stage and brought in after the colors are finished. It's ridiculously fast. And we like fast.

Personally, I frickin' LOVE it.

Cast of Characters - Ridley Age 6

2009-08-26T10:29:00.001-07:00

In Beautiful Scars, we are playing around with multiple storylines. The main storyline is Ridley's past as he tells it to his granddaughter. His first story involves seeing a car (a Panhard 1902) and Emma for the first time. At the time of the story, Ridley is Maddie's age.

Ridley is a normal kid growing up in the English countryside at the turn of last century. An important character design feature is Ridley's hair style–it will prove to be a nice storytelling detail in the final issue. Knowing how characters evolve in a story inform character design.

Process: Silhouettes

2009-08-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

To give you some insight to our character design process for Beautiful Scars, I pulled a panel that would work out beautifully as an example (it also happens to be the panel I'm working on). In this panel, the Princess sees her friend the Woodsman. She's about to give him a big ol' hug.

To me, the moment is about the action. And after channeling my inner Princess and posing the pose myself, I chose the moment where she would gather herself up to give her hug. In other words, she's not walking out like a robot, arms in the air in a hug-like motion.

First step is to go through an old Warner Brothers exercise and develop lines of action. ASIFA has a great handout I use in my classes pulled from the great Preston Blair book on animation. In essence, I use the fattest digital brush I have and lay down a core mark thinking about movement running through the character. I'll cheat and add smaller marks to suggest shape.
Second step is to use this gesture drawing as a base to sketch onto using layers. Making the lines of action a bit more transparent, I draw directly on the base sketch. I'm thinking about construction, silhouette and anatomy, but I'm constantly reminded about movement. To make a stronger character silhouette, I adjusted the rose to point down, but the energy still feels right. David Guertin always preaches clear silhouettes (and now I do too!), and all of the important details are an easy read at this stage even if I deleted all of the internal information.
The last step is to ink. Sometimes, the penciling stage will get tighter if I'm nervous about details. But I feel if you over pencil, then you lose all your energy on the inks stage. Taking a cue from Bruce Timm, I try to push my line as far as I can. Inking almost becomes a game... Can I define an entire arm in one stroke? Inks = Energy!

The process for this book is pretty loose, but I think the effects are worth it. Having gone through a book where everything was SOOOOO TIGHT (Bonds), it's nice to relax and enjoy the act of drawing again. Guin is constantly pushing me to be looser and looser and I hope it shows in this book. More later!

Bonds #3

2009-08-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

Funny how warped time can be. I've been so focused on Beautiful Scars, that I almost forgot I have another comic book coming out!

On September 2, Bonds #3 wraps up through Image Comics. This was a book written and illustrated by me (though Guin was a stalwart on separations and my buddy Scott Hampton edited my ramblings).

There was so much emotion involved with this comic, but like being rushed by endorphins after a pregnancy (I imagine), I barely remember the trials and tribulations. For now, my focus is on Scars and the work makes me content.

If you pick up Bonds, I simply hope you enjoy the ride.

Cast of Characters - Emma Sargeant

2009-08-20T09:08:00.001-07:00

We're nearly at the end of our character introductions! This is the last major character. Introducing Emma Sargeant!

Emma is the lifelong love of Ridley. This is obviously her little girl self, but her character grows alongside Ridley's to adulthood. She is a wise little girl that sees Ridley for who he is and loves him for it. Eventually, she becomes Maddie's grandmother.

Her design is classic. She looks like a porcelain doll to me. Her design is definitely more old-fashioned than the little girl look of Maddie, but this reflects her personality and helps to establish her story setting. I think she's just beautiful!

That about wraps up our introductions. We still have some minor characters to go, but now you are acquainted with the "who's who" of Beautiful Scars. Be on the lookout for more design notes and another tutorial soon!

Cast of Characters - Ridley Bourne

2009-08-19T15:55:00.001-07:00

Ridley is the heart of the Beautiful Scars. A man born in 1890, he has been able to experience the first cars, the first planes and the first World War. When he sits down with Maddie in his garden, he is already in his 60's. On his forehead is a scar that makes Maddie nervous.

But every scar tells a story.

In telling the tales of his scars, Ridley shares his experiences of falling in love with Maddie's grandmother. He also shares his experiences in World War I. Maddie, in turn, is inspired enough to create a fairy tale land where the brave Woodsman tries to protect the Princess and accumulates the exact scars her grandfather has.

Ridley's character design is an interesting one. He is Maddie's age when he first meets Maddie's grandmother. And he is a pilot in the War. Research on fashions is key! Ridley has a little bit of the swashbuckler in him, but he's also pretty humble. We'll be sure to share his design evolution with you.

Games and Workshops

2009-08-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note: Guin and I are in Indianapolis attending GenCon this weekend.

Beside comics, Perpetual Flights also creates boardgames. We will be testing out a naval battle game this weekend and making notes and adjustments. Stay tuned for more details on this venture!

Also we'll be hanging out with our buddy Chris Moeller. Not only will we be gaming, but we are going to discuss a series of comic book workshops that we will be holding next summer with a few of our cohorts! These workshops will teach digital and traditional media with an emphasis on comic book storytelling. It'll be professionals teaching their methods and storytelling to people looking to break into comics. Again, stay tuned!

Next week, more Beautiful Scars process. Talk to you then!

Process: Bushes

2009-08-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I was going to wait until another day to put this up, but I'm on a roll here! So let's do this thing!

Like I mentioned in the last post, we've been doing some awesome backgrounds inspired by old-school Disney. We have been looking especially at concept work by Mary Blair and Eyvind Earle for inspiration. We really want our characters to inhabit an awesome, unique world. I think this is a fine way to achieve that goal. I think I have nailed down a style that I really enjoy, so I'd like to share the process with you all.

First and most importantly, I started by figuring out my palette. Usually I'll pull some from a photo or go hunting for inspiration on Colour Lovers for a good starting point. (I overload on colour choices way too readily, so limiting myself at the beginning is a definite necessity for me.) This is what I decided on:

(The colours are a little wonky, converting from CMKY to RGB, but you get the basic idea.)

For this exercise, I am creating a bush that will be used somewhere in the foreground, so the colours are stronger and have more contrast among each other than I would choose for trees in the distance, for example. But, this works for my purpose, so forward we go!

I'm working in Photoshop on a Cintiq so you have a point of reference. I want to be able to use and re-use these bushes (did I mention how many frickin' forests and outdoor scenes there are in this book?) so I created a file that is 6" x 6", at 300 dpi. I don't think I'll have an instance where I have a full page shrubbery so this should be more than enough.

Then, I make a shape, using my darkest colour, like so:
Very hard, right? :) I keep each component to this sucker on its own layer, that way it's very easy to change things around if you need to. This is just a basic rectangle for a low bush. I rounded the corners with the eraser, mostly because I dislike hard corners. The corners don't really show in the final product.

My next step is to make it look like a bush. I have a lot of leaf brushes in my arsenal, but it's very easy to make your own customized ones. Just draw your leaf shape in black on a white background, then go to Edit>Define Brush. It'll show up at the end of whatever brush palette you happen to be on at the moment. Easy peasy. This is my basic fern sort of brush:
See how it's the same on both ends? It's important because I set the brush to "scatter" and also I turn "angle jitter" on, so the brush gets flipped around randomly as I draw with it. I didn't want a bunch of stems sticking out (although sometimes it's a neat effect) so some kind of symmetry was important.

So, I select my nifty brush and go around the edges of my rectangle with it, careful not to let too much or too little show. I'm still using the darkest colour at this point.

I don't really like how all of these guys ended up scattering around the edges, but I'm not going to worry about it right now. It might be good later when I get the other layers on. I'll also turn off scattering and jitter occasionally to pinpoint an area that needs it.

Okay, my basic layer is done, so I'll select the next darkest color and hit it again with the same brush:
Here you can really see the scatter effect of the brush. I have my pen pressure determine the amount of scattering, I'd definitely take advantage of this if you're working on a tablet.

For the next layer, I'll choose a different brush to mix it up a little. I went with a sort of wispy frond brush, and sized it bigger than the one previous. Choose the next darkest colour and...

Oh yeah, I like that! I'm just going for good pattern and shape here, definitely not realism. Some of these little leaves and stems are really bugging me, so I'll take my eraser and clean up what I don't like.

For the last step, I want to choose a fun brush that will be, well, fun. It's a fun little decorative element that makes it have personality. I went with a nice berry-like brush for my lightest colour. I didn't want too much, though, or else it would look too over-done. If they're on different layers, though, you can go back and tweak as much as you like.

And here is the final product!
Hooray! It's a bush. I like it!

Here's a sneaky peek at the same process applied to trees:

Fun shapes extend to the trunks. You can also see there is a lot less contrast in the palette for the leaves.

Next time: more characters!

Cast of Characters - Maddie Bourne

2009-08-10T11:37:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce you to our spunky young heroine, Maddie! (Apparently, we like the spunky.)

Maddie is the granddaughter of Ridley and Emma Bourne. She is a precocious 6 year old with a big imagination, always creating fantastical worlds and characters in her notebook, three of which have already been introduced. She is a dreamer and a very curious child. At the beginning of our story, Maddie is afraid of her scarred grandfather, but then learns to love the stories behind the scars. Their mutual love of storytelling brings them close together, and she eventually grows up to be a writer.

Maddie's character design is fairly straightforward. She is growing up in England in the 50s, but we wanted her clothing design to be of the period but also a little more timeless. She wears a very simple dress with a peter pan collar and little mary janes, which could work in other time periods. Her short bob reflects her adventerous spirit, instead of dealing with a more fussy long style. She's a very expressive child, and very cute! I really fell in love with her, and I think Durwin has as well.

In other PFS news, we've been working on developing a style for our backgrounds. We've been looking at old Disney for illustration, and a recent trip to Disneyland was very inspirational. We've been looking at things like Sleeping Beauty and the work of Mary Blair (my most favorite illustrator ever), and have been working on tree and background designs based more on shape and pattern than realism. It's coming along really great. Actually, I'm a little bit in love with it as well (there's a lot of love in this studio!). I'm going to create a process demo soon to show you how it's done. In the meantime, stay tuned for more character introductions!

Cast of Characters - The Woodsman

2009-08-07T21:29:00.000-07:00

In Maddie's imagination, the Woodsman exists to protect the Princess. He has a brave soul and a courageous heart (which is captured by the Princess). He's a man of action capable of taking on dragons and trolls alike. In the end, his derring do will allow him to slay dragons, but his decency will also allow him to create unexpected friends.

His costuming is pretty simple: tunic, cloak, and axe. It reflects his humble occupation. However, he will eventually elevate his rank, and inherit an elaborate suit of armor. We tried to keep his facial features angular and his hair a bit shaggy (dare I say Beck-tastic?). Since he appears in many scenes with Scars, Guin and I wanted the Woodsman's angularity to counterpoint the Troll's broad silhouette.

This wraps up the major players for the fairy tale. Next up, Maddie's family!

Cast of Characters - The Princess

2009-08-05T18:03:00.000-07:00

Here's another introduction – we're slowly making our way down the list.

Let me introduce you to the Princess. She's the dear friend of Scars, and lives in the land of Maddie's imagination (whom you'll meet later!). Beautiful, kind and resourceful, she is the target of an evil presence in the enchanted forest, and must rely on the help of her friends. For character design notes, she's got some interesting features to her hair and costume design that make for really great silhouettes. Her hair starts out in braids which come undone as her trials escalate, and an interesting dress design inspired by tulips. She makes me think of a tulip: vibrant, beautiful, but not overly delicate or in need of special gloves to handle.

I really enjoy this character. I really wanted to make sure our princess character wasn't just some damsel in distress, but is her own person. I remember reading a fantastic series of princess stories growing up where the princesses were resourceful, sassy, kind, and funny, and they were infinitely more interesting than the ones who laid around waiting for a prince to show up. Even though she isn't the main focus of the story, I really hope some of that spunk made it into ours!

Cast of Characters - Scars the Troll

2009-08-03T16:44:00.000-07:00

So as you may have heard, Guin and I are working on an all-ages comic for Archaia Studio Press entitled Beautiful Scars. We will be using this Blog to invite everyone out there to join in the fun us as this project gets finished.

But for now, it's my job to introduce you to the characters.

Scars the Troll is the title character. He's a rough and tumble character with a heart of gold. As far his character design notes: he's a big character with spikey bits to make him seem more ferocious. However, he does wear ribbons in his hair, so he's kind of a softie! BTW, I feel that sideburns are like a character design good luck charm... it worked for Wolverine.

It is Scars' job to protect the Princess in Maddie's imagination. More to follow!

2009 SDCC Portrait Challenge

2009-08-02T13:33:00.000-07:00

Guin and I have this game where we'll draw shapes and the other artist will turn it into something. It's a lot of fun if you've never tried and especially great in restaurants where the table cloth is paper and the crayons are plentiful.

At San Diego Comic Con this year, people walked up to me to check out A.) My Cintiq tablet, B.) Sketchbook Pro and finally C.) BEAUTIFUL SCARS which I was working on. To explain A and B, it seemed demos made the most sense, so I accepted the Portrait Challenge:

Rules–The observer drew a shape on the Cintiq. The wilder the better. I then created a layer in Sketchbook Pro and turned it into a portrait. I gave myself no more than 3 minutes to complete the image. Think con sketches but digital.

This made the weekend go by a little quicker with a little more fun! Next year, I plan to do the same. Enjoy!

Hello World!

2009-07-31T10:59:00.000-07:00

Well, Durwin and I are back from San Diego Comic Con, and it was a blast. Durwin had a booth with the Iron Fish group (formerly known as Rolling Thunder), and although there was some snafu-ishness with the program listing (listed as "For Mercy" instead of "Formerly", heh), lots of people still stopped by to check out the last issue of BONDS and to see him working hard on BEAUTIFUL SCARS at the booth. It's nice to be working on Cintiqs and laptops, it makes it very portable (as long as you have electricity!) and it seemed to draw people in to see what the heck we were doing.

Archaia had a great presence there, their booth was very impressive and hosted a lot of fantastic people. It was great to meet whom I've been talking to over email for so long face-to-face! I can't wait until next year's con when we'll actually have something to sign over there! Our book has a tentative release date of December, but if things go awry, we'll push it to February (as January is apparently a crap release month). I'm hoping all goes according to plan, though!

Speaking of BEAUTIFUL SCARS, we are going to be posting as we progress on the story. Watch for artwork, sketches, and process pieces as we go along! We'll also keep you all updated on the releases and news of all of our books.

Thanks for reading and embarking on our adventure with us!

-G and D