Issue 2 Panel

Stuck this chunk of a panel from early on in the second issue up on the Eclectic Micks blog yesterday, figured I'd slap it up here too and keep all of the snippets of artwork in one place.

D.I.C.E (Dublin International Comic Expo) Print

This is the inked version of an exclusive con print that's going to be given away to attendees of the Half Past Danger panel at the upcoming Dublin International Comics Expo next month. I'll stick the coloured version up when I get it back from Jordie.

Details of the con can be found here.

Teaser Inks

This is a teaser page I drew for inclusion in the upcoming Though Bubble anthology book that will be published in conjunction with the fantastic Thought Bubble comics festival in Leeds next November. You'll also hopefully see the teaser popping up here and there soon enough once the book's publisher is announced (still ironing out the fine details on that score, but there IS a publisher committed, and they are BIG. Top five in the US big.)

There's a coloured version of this page that the lovely Miss Bellaire and I collaborated on, but I'll save that for after the Thought Bubble book sees print, just so I'm not stealing the thunder on that front.

Half Past Danger is getting closer...

Pin Your Colours To The Mast

...Something had to give. More and more recently it's been dawning on me that there's no way that I can continue to produce the book at the pace I've set myself if I don't find a way to compromise somewhere along the production line. And since the entire series is already written, and there's no way I'd let anybody else actually draw any of the thing, it comes down to colours. The colouring process, while thoroughly enjoyable, has been really slowing me down. As mentioned in a different post, sometimes it's ending up taking me longer than the pencils and inks on a given page combined. Which is nutty.

So long story short: I panicked. Then I asked good friend and ridiculously-talented pro colourist Jordie Bellaire if she'd have any interest in coming aboard. Jordie had long assured me all throughout the first 8 months on HPD that if I needed any help with the colouring that she'd be there to bail me out. But I was always (A) utterly determined to do the whole thing myself, and (B) afraid that she was simply too busy to take on another project. Jordie's colouring skills are in massive demand at the minute throughout the entire American comics industry, having worked over the past 18 months for the five largest US comic labels; Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, IDW and Image.

They all want her, and I've got her.

As of the second issue, Jordie will be clambering  aboard the good ship HPD to apply her mad skillz to the colours. She's aiming to take what I did with the colours on issue 1, and give them her own twist (read: improve them no end) in issue 2, while maintaining consistency of mood and palette with  the colour direction I've already established for the project as a whole. The tone and feel of the story are right up Jordie's alley, and she seems delighted to be a part of it. Jordie loves all (well, most!) of the same movies and comics that inspired this series as I do, and we're certainly more than simpatico on the page.

This is undoubtedly a good thing for the book. Simply put, Jordie's one of the best.

Irish Comic News Article

Heres a link to an article I wrote a week or two back for the Irish Comics News website. It gives a little more insight to how the book came about, and breaks down how long I spent on each element of production so far.

LINK

Publisher Update

Two weeks ago I sent the PDF of issue 1 and the pitch material to the three most progressive publishers of creator-owned material out there (in my own opinion!). Have heard very positive noises back from the first two, and have yet to hear back from the third, although apparently these guys are known for taking their time due to enormous volume of submissions. So the book is in a good place right now. Everybody who's seen/read it has offered very favourable responses, which is certainly tremendously gratifying after all the hard work so far.

Turns out maybe this thing has legs.

I had a call with the publisher that I'd probably prefer yesterday, and it went really well. So maybe some good news very soon.

More to follow!

Issue 3 Cover Colours

...aaand finally, the colours.