NYCC 2010

I was at NYCC again this year and as always I had a blast.  I met and spoke to a ton of great people, and of course did a few sketches.  I had a panel on Sunday for The Sons Of Liberty along with the rest of the creative team, where we talked about what went into making the book.  Afterwards we all signed copies of the book at the Random House booth.
     Holly came up with me and I was grateful to have her there.  She facilitated my meeting with Carla Speed Mcneil, creator of the SF graphic novel series Finder.  If you've never read it go to her website and order volumes 1 and 2 right now.  It's one of those books that everyone needs to read.  I could go on and on about how amazing the convention was, but instead here's a peak at some of the sketches I was asked to do last weekend:
  

The Swordsman

Cyclops

Batman


 

Thanks to everyone who came around the table and showed there support.  I had a great time and can't wait till next year!

Fables of the flying city episode 10 is up

The newest episode of Fables of The Flying City is live!  This episode features one of my favorite characters to date, Bug!  Jared crafted this episode around Bug because of my love of the character, and it's been great to watch him grow from a tertiary appearance to getting the center stage.  The episode is fun for a bunch of different reasons other than Bug.  Here we delve a little bit further into the growing conflict (read:certain backstabbery and all out war) between Ashe and Cerranah.  How you ask?  give a listen, because I won't ruin it for you.

http://www.fablesoftheflyingcity.com/

You can listen to the current episode or any previous episode, and show us some love and leave a comment.


I will be posting to this more frequently from now on.   Deadlines for The Sons Of Liberty Book 2 have been keeping me tied to the drawing table.  I recently got the blad for book 2 and it looks fantastic.

Work also continues on the Battle for Blood and Ink, the graphic novel of which Fables Of The Flying city is the prequel to. The first 10 pages are nearly complete and I'm having a blast working on them.  Airships are a nice change of pace from tri-corn hats. 

Fables of the Flying City is Live!

Fables of the Flying City, a podcast created by myself and Jared Axelrod went live at Balticon and I'm super excited about it!  Fables of The Flying City is the prequel story to my upcoming graphic novel from Tor Books, The Battle for Blood And Ink, by myself and Jared Axelrod and will give unique insight into characters and situations that appear in the book.  The podcast follows Ashe, a young street urchin living on the floating city of Amperstam and her adventures as she joins the Amperstam Aerial Guard.  Each Podcast is read by Jared Axelrod of The Voice of Free Planet X, and the website features tons of other goodies.  Here is the link:

www.fablesoftheflyingcity.com 

keep checking back here and at fables of the flying city for updates on the book, new artwork, and whatever other trouble I may find myself in.

The Sons of Liberty In Stores!

The Sons of Liberty was released on Tuesday, so yesterday I threw a release party with the help of the guys at Locust Moon Comics.  The party was a smash!  I signed and sketched all night!  Here are a few of the fine people who came by.

And finally yours truly.

Thanks to everyone who came out to show their support.  You guys are fantastic!

The Sons Of Liberty

My first graphic novel, The Sons Of Liberty is available for pre-order from amazon.  Here's what the cover looks like:

 

 The Sons of Liberty is a story of historic fiction and adventure.  A tale about two runaway slaves named Graham and Brody who gain extraordinary powers and the people who want that power for themselves, set during an era of great social uprising that culminated in the founding of a nation.

If you would like to order a copy just click on the link below!

http://www.amazon.com/Sons-Liberty-1-Alexander-Lagos/dp/0375856706/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267460822&sr=1-1

Inking

So, last time we talked about penciling and what you may expect when you get a page from a penciller.  Now onto the fun part, the inking.  When you begin to ink the first thing you should do is prep your inking supplies.  I like to use a #2 sable brush, Sumi ink, non-reproductive white or white gauche for corrections, a micron tech pen, a ruler, and a cup of water to clean my brushes with.  Tools vary from person to person.  Some people prefer crow-quill pens to brushes, while others ink with rapidiograph tech pens.  the choice of tools as always is up to the individual.

Next get your brush wet and start inking.  I tend to start anywhere I feel comfortable on the image.  For the Thor piece I began on the leg. by holding the brush at about a 45 degree angle I can vary the thickness of the line that I am putting down.  This is called line weight and can ad a lot of depth to the image that the pencils may not have had.  Line weight works to pop certain elements off the image.  As I am inking I am constantly turning my drawing.  This is to provide ease of working and maintain a sense of flow throughout the image.

                                                         Next I began to work on the face.

And that is it for now.  Next time more on inking and What happens when mistakes are made.

Thor!

 Thor.

I've been on a Thor kick for a while now.  This evolved from a throw away sketch I did one night.  I decided to turn it into an inking tutorial for my students.  Figure I can do something like that here as well.

So, we have a fully penciled piece of artwork.  Before you begin to ink it, there are several things to consider.  The first is what tools you will be inking with.  This will very much determine the final look of the piece.  For instance, a brush will give the drawing a very natural organic look.  A tech pen will make the piece very angular and will not allow for very much line weight variation.  On this piece, I will use a combination of both.  Next you have to consider where to place your blacks.  Here I've indicated where my blacks should be, though this may not always be the case.  As the inker, it may be up to you to determine where to place the blacks on an image to allow for good composition.  Remember, too much black can muddy an image while too little will not have enough depth. 

Next:  Inking

Welcome!

Let's start this off right shall we?  News!  I am currently working on a host of different things at the moment.  I am in the middle of art chores on both the Sons Of Liberty book 2 as well as an adaptation of the 3 Musketeers.  My other project, created with the very talented Jared Axelrod is showing real promise and appears to have some legs.  teaching is going well and I would dare to say I have some of the best students I have ever had.  And as always there are more things on the horizon, more fun work that is to come.  The adventure awaits!  Welcome and Hello, my name is Steve Walker.  I make comics.