Prints Preview (Part 2), and some other thoughts

To the art in a minute...

I'm sitting here in the infusion center with Traci, waiting for her to get her chemo, and it occurs to me how truly blessed we are. Yeah, I know that seems weird to say, given that she has stage 4 cancer, but we both feel that way. There are so many people who have shown us such kindness throughout this difficult process, and I just can't help but feel ok. My grandfather, who also happened to have stage 4 metastatic melanoma (yeah, we've been through this before in my family), had a phrase he often used, and it's one that when the chips are down, my family often quotes; "It'll all work out." Simple but true. One way or another, it will, and we'll be ok.

On a somewhat similar note, my friend Stephen Silver, an accomplished artist and character designer, wrote a really nice piece that I thought was apropos of our current situation. Check out "Today"

In my last post, I mentioned the art auctions my friends put together to help us out. After I posted, another page went up (I believe the auctions are all now completed), so I also wanted to add my friends Ande Parks and Phil Hester to my "thank you" roll. Phil's a great guy, extremely talented, and very generous. Ande is one of my closest friends, and I've known him longer than almost anyone else in the comics business. Ande has done some stuff behind the scenes for which I'll never be able to thank him enough. Really, both of these guys are terrific! Click those links, and check out their sites!

Alright, enough of the personal, and on to the professional. Last time, I showed you some previews of my new prints. Today, I have previews of the final two (for now). I've had enough requests for my baseball work that I decided to have a couple of the vintage ones printed. Here they are:





The prints should be in this week, and I'll have specific ordering info here, when they're available. In the meantime, if you'd like to get a jump on them, please feel free to email me at (bear with me) rich(underscore)faber(at)comcast(dot)net.

Thanks, and in case I don't post again until later, I hope you all have a happy, healthy (please!), and safe holiday!

Best,
Rich

Portfolio Showcase: Union Station Illustration

Several years ago a friend of mine named Ande Parks, then fairly well-known as a comic book inker, began a second career as a writer. At the same time, I, being fairly well-known as a comic book inker, began a second career as an Illustrator. Ande was the first friend I'd made in comics, outside of my buddies from the School of Visual Arts who had become comics pros, and he and I talked frequently. When Ande started writing his outline for a new graphic novel, he shared it with me, and I had the pleasure of realizing that this talented guy was going to be an incredible writer. While he was busy writing, I was busy drawing, and had begun to develop what is now my photo-realistic pencil style. The graphic novel outline eventually became the book called "Union Station," which is about a massacre that occurred at Kansas City's Union Station during a prisoner transfer of Pretty Boy Floyd in 1933. The tale is historical fiction but gives some insight into the beginnings of the F.B.I. as well as a terrific story of love, betrayal, and gangsters and lawmen. When Ande had gotten a few pages drawn by a penciler he knew, he was going to submit the script and pages to some publishers to shop it around. He and I discussed the idea of me doing a pencil illustration as a cover piece for the proposal, and here is what I came up with:



Although it was intended to possibly be used as the frontispiece to the graphic novel, the idea was nixed by the book designer, so it never saw print. However, it's still one of my favorite pieces, and I plan to do at least one more companion piece to it someday. Hopefully, that'll be something for a future Portfolio Showcase.

As for "Union Station," it's a wonderful graphic novel, with beautiful art by Eduardo Barreto. If you haven't read it, do yourself a favor and pick it up. It's something I don't think you'll regret.

I'll be back next week with more. Have a nice weekend!

Best,
Rich