Free Comic Book Day 2009

Hi everyone. Sorry I've been away so long again. Once again, it's due to my wife's illness. I'll detail things a bit more in my next post. In the meantime, I need to let all of you know about Free Comic Book Day. For those unfamiliar, tomorrow, Saturday, May 2nd is FCBD. Many comic book shops around the United States will be participating. The event is designed to bring new readers into the hobby of comic books. To this end, many publishers print up FCBD versions of some of their books to give away at the event.

This year, like in previous ones, I'll be at my pal Joe Murray's store, Captain Blue Hen Comics, in Newark, Delaware, along with my friends Jamar (Detective Boogaloo, Grosse Adventures) Nicholas, Franco (Tiny Titans) Aureliani, Scott (Scooby Doo) Neely, Neil (Superman Adventures, MANY others!)Vokes, and a few others. Joe's store is a beautiful family friendly place, and the event usually brings in a LOT of kids! It's always a fun time, and I'll be there sketching for kids all day. In years past, we've done Buzzboy, Roboy Red, and NASCAR Comics for FCBD, but the economy being what it currently is, we have no new books for this year's event. However, I will be bringing my own personal copies of past years' books to have on hand. I'll give those away for as long as I have copies.

In addition, I'll have many of my comic books for sale, including Buzzboy, NASCAR Comics, Impulse, Bug, and a bunch more of my DC and Marvel Comics work. I'll also have my Roboy Red and Drama Queen t-shirts for sale. Pictures of the shirt designs below:




Last, I'm going to dig out some posters I've had from previous conventions and FCBD events. I'll give those away as long as I have them too.

I hope you'll come by to see me and the others this Saturday! Click here for all the Captain Blue Hen FCBD news. Should be a fun day!

I'll be back soon with new art, and some other news soon.

Best,
Rich

Election Day: Go Vote!

OK, it's the moment we've all been waiting for: Election Day. I really don't do politics, but I don't see this as a political thing. Any of us who are eligible in the U.S. should be going out and doing what is our privilege and our responsibility. I believe this is the most important election in my lifetime, so I'm just using this forum (MY forum, actually) to encourage people do go out and elect a new president!

And yeah, I know it's an art blog, and so in keeping with the spirit, the above image is one I created to run as the backdrop for the cover to the retail edition of NASCAR Heroes #4. Here's how it looked on the actual cover:



Alright, well I'll see you on the other side of this momentous time for our country.

Best,
Rich

The Art of Sequential - Following Up

Last month I posted about this juried exhibition in which I was invited to participate. As you'll see from the previous post, I entered the sequence of pages I drew for NASCAR Heroes. The exhibition was co-curated by my friends Rich Harrington and Jamar Nicholas, and the juror was another good friend of mine, Mike Manley. Mike wrote up his observations about the afternoon here, so I'm going to just give the highlights of my time there.

Despite the fact that this show was judged by a buddy, and curated by two other friends, I really didn't expect to win anything. Mike is a discerning art critic, and is not easily impressed. After 15 years of friendship with him, I know this intimately. That being said, he is one of the first people I trust with critique about my own work. He's a phenomenal artist, and I completely respect his opinions.

Which is why I'm so humbled by the fact that he selected my work for an Honorable Mention! That award really means a lot to me, particularly as I know Mike's standards. In reality, the award should also be credited to my partner-in-art, John Gallagher. John provided the rough layouts, and while I did the drawings, he did a lot of the really hard work, making sure the story was being told in an interesting way.

Jamar and Rich really made the event fun, and I want to publicly thank both for their invitation to participate. I can't wait for the next show!

Ok, I also have pictures to share from the day, so here they are:


Jamar, Rich, and Mike announce the awards.


Rich, Mike and Jamar looking smooth!


The guys ham it up, after they've handed me the certificate.


The award, and my artwork.



Jamar and me posing with the pages.

It was a fun time, and I hope I'll have the honor of participating in the next show!

Check back soon for my overdue report about Heroes Con.

Best,
Rich

Independence Day

Ok, I know you've all been just clamoring to know where I've been the past two weeks, right? Um... hello...? Is anyone still there..?

Just kidding. Sometimes I wonder if anyone beyond a few people actually read this thing. I think my Mom does. Maybe my Dad too. Oh well. I guess I'm just feeling a little dependent today, which is ironic, since it's Independence Day!

Anyway, my family and I just returned from a two week vacation tour of the south, seeing friends in Raleigh, North Carolina, moving on to HeroesCon in Charlotte, then onto Baton Rouge, LA and Hammond, LA to see some of my wife's wonderful family, a couple of side trips to New Orleans, where appropriately enough, my son threw up (not for the usual reasons people barf in NOLA), and then to a town near Nashville, TN, where we stayed with our friends, Scott and Donna Sava, he of the terrific Dreamland Chronicles. From there, it was home, through western Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and finally back to Pennsylvania. Whew! That's 3000 miles of driving, and I'm still exhausted, even after two days of being home.

So, all that to say that I'll be posting more frequently soon, including the follow up to the Philadelphia Sketch Club event, as well as a report on HeroesCon with pictures. I hope to get to that this weekend, but please forgive me if I catch up on sleep instead. My intentions are good. One thing that will be up in the next few minutes in a new Portfolio Showcase. I had extremely limited internet access while away, so I wasn't able to post my regular Friday offering. I should be back to doing that each week now, and for the foreseeable future.

For now, I'll leave you with this flag image I created for the background of the cover of NASCAR Heroes #4, out in stores now:



The image was created completely digitally, using the pen tool in Photoshop.

Hope you have a great holiday weekend!

Best,
Rich

Juried Exhibition Alert!

In my previous posts, I've neglected to mention that my sequential work for the NASCAR Heroes comic book has been accepted in the Philadelphia Sketch Club's Annual Juried Exhibition of Sequential Art, "The Art of Sequential." This is the second PSC exhibition in which my work has been accepted, and the last time I won in my category! I'm not sure lightning will strike twice, but it'll be fun to find out. The reception is this Sunday, June 15 (yes, it's Father's Day). If you're in the Philadelphia area this weekend, please stop by. You can find directions to the Sketch Club on their website, http://www.sketchclub.org.

Oh, and here's one of the pages that made the show:



I hope to see you tomorrow at the Sketch Club!

Best,
Rich

NASCAR Heroes - Free Comic Book Day Cover Art (UPDATED)

There seems to be an automotive theme here lately! In keeping with two of my interests, cars and comics, I've been fortunate enough to be able to combine the two in my career. Here's the latest example:



This will be the cover to the Free Comic Book Day edition of NASCAR Heroes (follow the link for info about this comic series). Design, roughs, and layout by John Gallagher, finishing inks and colors on the figures by me, and the cars were rendered by Smiley Guys Studio.

I'll post some other new art soon, maybe even some non-automotive stuff! ;-) Also, more info soon on this year's Free Comic Book Day event. Watch this space! Thanks for keeping up with my work!

***UPDATE!***
I just received my copies of NASCAR Heroes #3, the issue that features the pencil art of the cars in the previous post. It's now out in stores, and you can get your copy by going to your local comic shop! If you're not sure where that is, click here: Comic Shop Locator. Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention about those illustrations: I drew them in pencil (an "F" pencil, if you're curious), and colorized them digitally in Adobe Photoshop. Here's an example of what the original pencils look like:



And just for fun, here's a preview of the page as it appears in the comic:



I hope you'll pick up both comics. I can tell you, from my copies of issue #3, the quality of the printing is excellent, and I'm really proud of the work. Thanks!

Best,
Rich