Studio Walker

2011-12-09T05:17:00.001-08:00

Busy busy busy week. I've been working on the second mini comic for fables of the flying city as well as wrapping up some commission work that had come in and finishing thumbnails on a 3 Musketeers adaptation. needless to say I've been putting in the time. So now it is Friday and I'm off to New York for what may be an extended visit. I promised a Sketch Monday post and there may be one if I can get back home. If I can't, I wanted to at least show something of what I've been up to, so here is one of the commissions I finished.

Free Comics!

2011-12-06T14:01:00.001-08:00

There wasn't a Sketch Monday this week, and I know you are all gnashing your teeth and wailing in dismay, but I am currently trying to get a bunch of stuff wrapped up by the end of the month. That sounds silly I know, but December, of all the months, seems to fly by the fastest. So Sketch Monday will be back next week, and actually on Monday rather then Tuesday. Until then, I have a slew of free comic pages for you all:

http://www.fablesoftheflyingcity.com/news/free-comics/

This is the mini-comic that Jared and I produced for New York Comic Con in October. This is the first of six planned mini comics that will lead into the release of our graphic novel The Battle Of Blood And Ink in May from Tor Books. I hope you all enjoy!

Sketch Monday

2011-11-28T08:35:00.001-08:00

This one actually started out as an example to one of my students regarding composition, and I just continued with it. I had a lot of fun losing myself in the drawing.

2011-11-04T06:24:00.000-07:00

Trisha lynn from www.geekingoutabout.com interviewed me along with a bunch of other really cool cats at NYCC this year. Go to the 20 minute mark to listen to me fumble over my words! you can listen to the interview here:

http://www.geekingoutabout.com/2011/11/04/geekly-speaking-about-voices-from-new-york-comic-con-part-1/

Sketch Monday

2011-11-01T05:23:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling the need to paint lately, but I am woefully out of practice. This is in no small part due to me having had comics work going strong for the last three years. With most of my projects wrapped up for the moment, I spent the weekend indulging that painting itch.After an aborted start on a canvas, yesterday I sat down with a sketchbook and some gouache and did this:

this is my second attempt at this character study of Ashe, the main character from The Battle of Blood and Ink. The first one quickly got away from me and was subsequently scrapped. I've still got a ways to go before I'm comfortable with painting again, but I think this is a great place to start. Oh and I know the title says Sketch Monday. The piece was done on Monday, and it is only Tuesday morning :)

The Battle of Blood and Ink Cover

2011-10-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

In case anyone was wondering this is what the cover to The Battle of Blood and Ink will look like:

The crazy man with the giant mouth will be sold separately

I'll have more goodies to post up over the next few weeks including a where to find me on the internets, a return of the Sketch Monday, as well as a few contests. Stay tuned.

New York Comic Con 2011 in photos

2011-10-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

To continue on the madness that was NYCC 2011, I present a bunch of pictures that I took at the con and at least one that I did not, but rocks. It is of the lovely Liza James, who was gracious enough to dress up as Ashe and hawk our wares for the weekend. Onto the pictures!

Our table setup with our new and improved Fables Of The Flying City Banner.

Legendary Pictures had a display, so naturally I had to shoot the Dark Knight.

Writer and founding member of Rat Ronin studios, Kieth Miller.

High Moon, Box 13, and now artist on the AMC Walking Dead Game as well as caffeine freak Steve Ellis.

pretty self explanatory.

Jared holding up the 1st second previews guide featuring the Blood and Ink sampler!

The Battle of Blood and Ink crew. Good looking clouddogs all.

The creation inevitably turns on its creator. Ashe gives me a noogie.

and finally Liza James as Ashe in her Amperstamian finest.

We all had a blast this year at comiccon and quite honestly I'm looking forward to next year when we will have the physical book in hand for everyone plus a few other fantastic goodies as well. now if only I could figure out how to get the entire cast there...:)

New York Comic Con '11

2011-10-19T06:48:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was New York Comic Con. The Con has always been big, and has just grown exponentially since it's inception. To say that it is a bit of a sensory overload would be a gross understatement. The show itself, with all of its bright colors and big displays, the celebrities and all the fans who dress up in fantastic costumes, is a remarkably fun show.

Jared and I went to promote The Battle Of Blood And Ink, and it was a resounding success. Not only did we make some new fans, The phrase of the weekend was, "I can't wait to read this", but we were approached by several fans of the podcast! What a great treat that was. Not wanting to go to the con empty handed, we prepared a special Fables Of The Flying City mini comic, and people loved it. I'll be posting up the cover here in a bit, plus we will have the entire comic available for reading and download at www.fablesoftheflyingcity.com. I will of course announce when it goes live. That will be followed by 5 more Fables Of The Flying City mini comics, which will be posted once a month until the release of the graphic novel. Now, the con didn't inspire this, but it sure as hell motivated us to get these lead ins up and running.

My favorite part of the con was the sketches. I love meeting people, talking with them about comics, and doing a piece of art that is just for them. I did a few Ashe sketches this weekend, but the ones that really stick in my mind are the Batman punching the shark I did and a Spider-man and Maryjane piece. I've got a few here for you to look at as well!

The Nightwing is for my friend Adrienne who absolutely loves Dick Grayson, almost to creepy stalker levels if he were flesh and blood. The robot pinup is something I've been doing since the first New York Comic Con. I just like drawing robots.

Overall this NYCC was a tremendous success! More pictures and artwork to come over the next few days so keep your eyes peeled!

Sketch Monday!

2011-09-05T08:31:00.000-07:00

Hey look whats back! After several months of quiet we are back up and running. I feel I should take a moment to explain my absence. I was furiously trying to meet my deadline for The Battle of Blood and Ink. Last night I finished inking the last page. Everything is sent off to the editor and now I have a bit of breathing space. I've got a few posts about Blood and Ink to put up, but for the moment I need a little breather. I figured a sketch was the best welcome back. Anyway enough with my jibber jabber, onto the drawing!

This caricature of George W. Bush was done in a bar on the fly for a potential client. I ended up not taking the job, but I really like the drawing. Next up, thoughts on completing a graphic novel.

Sketch Monday...er Wednesday

2011-05-11T06:35:00.000-07:00

due to being on a deadline I missed putting up a sketch Monday or Tuesday. Okay, there may have been lasers involved as well. Or that might have been the sleep deprivation. This is one I did over at my local comic shop, Locust Moon for free comic book day.

I did a Thor that day as well, because why wouldn't I but I gave it to the guys at the shop. I had a lot of fun with this one.

Sketch Mondays

2011-05-02T08:10:00.000-07:00

Did this one on the train on the way to sign a lease for a new place Friday.

it was a fun little sketch, and was a great way to pass the time.

2011-04-28T07:36:00.000-07:00

ever wanted to know how I got into comics or what I sound like? well listen here as Jared and I launch our first Jared and Steve Read Comics podcast!

http://www.fablesoftheflyingcity.com/interlude/jared-steve-like-comics-0/

Here for the first time ever my secret origin!

Sketch Mondays

2011-04-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

doing something a little different with this weeks Sketch Monday. I ended up drawing a piece on Saturday that had been sitting in my brain for a couple of days. The drawing came out very quickly thanks to having the idea pretty much right there in my brain so there wasn't alot of searching that needed to be done on the page. Immediately upon finishing it I started up a second one. Same composition, same elements, just moved the camera in closer. Here are the results.

I like both pieces for their differences if that makes any sense. What I'd really appreciate though is some feedback. Tell me what you like about them, what's working, and what isn't.

Sketch Monday

2011-04-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

After a very busy weekend here we are at Monday again.


Heimdall

This sketch of Heimdall the guardian of the Rainbow Bridge Bifrost was done on the train on the way to my teaching gig at the Art Student's League.

Sketch Monday

2011-04-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

The inaugural first Sketch Monday. I will be posting up a new sketch that was done sometime during the previous week every Monday. Could be something related to the new book, could be whatever. For the first Sketch Monday, I've got two recent sketches that I did that I'm really quite happy with. The first is Ashe, our main character from The Battle Of Blood And Ink.

The second is a character concept I did while teaching yesterday, though the idea came to me the night before.

Dropping the dime

2011-01-24T10:07:00.000-08:00

Well, it made it onto Publisher's Weekly, so I should talk about it a little here. My next graphic novel project is The Battle of Blood and Ink, created by myself and Jared Axelrod, written by Jared and drawn by yours truly. It will be out this fall just in time for New York Comic Con. This has been an extremely fun book to work on so far and I can't wait to show the whole thing to everyone. I will be posting a few sketches and whatnot here, and if you want to know more about the characters you can always check out www.fablesoftheflyingcity.com to hear the prequel podcasts. Here is the link to the Publishers Weekly article.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/book-news/comics/article/45865-tor-flies-high-with-comics-and-manga.html

NYCC 2010

2010-10-15T12:48:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-30T05:43:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-06-12T06:21:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-05-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-01T08:36:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-01T08:25:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-01-25T15:43:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-01-14T09:17:00.000-08:00

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.