Portfolio Showcase: Power Couple

This will be a quick one today. Due to an injury to my son (he's okay. It's a separated shoulder, but with a few weeks in a brace/harness, he'll be fine), I wasn't able to post the Free Comic Book Day info this week, but I'll be updating that info next week.

Anyway, another Friday, another event (this time it's a car show; Cars at Carlisle), so briefly, I did this piece as a gift for my cousin's wedding:



I like the way it came out, and she and her husband liked it too. It also works as a character design for my website, so that doesn't hurt either!

I'll be back next week with more art and information.

Best,
Rich

Portfolio Showcase: Orpheus Club Caricature

Ha! I'll bet you thought that my being in New York today would preclude me from keeping my Friday appointment here. Well, through the magic of a new feature on Blogger called "Blogger in Draft," I can create a new post, store it, and have it uploaded to my blog whenever I'd like.

So, here I am with a brand new Portfolio Showcase!

First I need to say that caricatures are difficult. I give all due respect to those who do it for a living, including my friends Stephen Silver, Ted Tucker, and Keelan Parham. I don't know him, but Tom Richmond, of Mad Magazine fame, is also a master. These guys REALLY know what they're doing. I'm a novice. that being said, I was hired a few years ago by Philadelphia's Orpheus Club, a prestigious and historical singing organization, to create a caricature of one of their members, as a tribute. This piece went through several revisions to get it right. the client wanted something along the lines of an Al Hirschfeld (speaking of MASTERS)design. I did my best, and I think I was able to capture the style a bit, as well as the essence of the subject, a man named Syd. I'll let others be the judge, but here is the illustration:



This isn't the actual final version, but I like this one just a little better than what was displayed. by the way, I'm told the image was displayed on a huge banner flanked by two enormous Maxfield Parrish pieces! A friend of mine has pictures, which I still haven't seen, but if he ever gets them to me, I'll be sure to post them. Parrish is a favorite of mine, so that was a real honor!

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

Best,
Rich

More Roboy Preview Pages!

As promised, here are some lettered pages from the 2008 Free Comic Book Day story:





I don't want to spoil the ending, so I'm keeping the last two pages to myself for now. Also, I know the colors look a little garish here, but the print colors will look more like what I posted on Monday. I'll have a printout of the full story at the New York Comic-Con this Friday through Sunday, so please be sure to stop by Kids Love Comics booth #2242 this weekend for a peek! I'll spill some more details about FCBD, where I'm appearing, and some other tidbits next week.

See you in New York!

Best,
Rich

New York Comic-Con April 18-20

As promised, just a quick announcement to let you all (both...?) know that I'll be exhibiting as part of Kids Love Comics at the New York Comic-Con this weekend. The booth number is #2242. For further details, check out the KLC Blog.

And since this is a visual arena, here's a quick tease for our upcoming Roboy Red story for Free Comic Book Day:





If I can, I'll post more from the story tomorrow, or Wednesday. After that, it's off to New York! I hope to see you there!

Best,
Rich

Portfolio Showcase: Baseball Nostalgia - Gehrig and Mantle

My apologies for not posting the comic book work I promised last week. I'm waiting for some files from someone, and that's delayed my ability to post the work. However, I'll definitely be posting some new work, in advance of the New York Comic-Con next week. More on that on Monday.

For today's Portfolio Showcase, I wanted to highlight some work I did a few years ago that's close to my heart. I'm a big baseball fan, and my roots are deep. I'm a third generation Yankees fan (no apologies, folks, I'm from New York), and back in 2002, I was looking to submit some work to a Yankees-related trade magazine. I did a number of samples, both to get myself back into the illustration game after ten years of doing comics exclusively, and with the greater goal of getting work.

The first piece is a favorite because Lou Gehrig is a personal hero of mine, and has been since I read a biography of him as a young boy. By all accounts, he was a good person, and having to battle a tragic disease which sapped him of his legendary vitality, strength, and athleticism makes his story all the more compelling. His disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis was so devastating that it ended his career prematurely, and his life even more prematurely. Never did a man go out in as dignified manner as Gehrig though, with his famous speech at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939. Here's my tribute to Lou Gehrig:



Mickey Mantle was also a hero to many, including my Dad, who has a roomful of memorabilia devoted to The Mick. When trying to decide who my second subject for an illustration would be, there really was no doubt. I'd have to do one of Mickey, both for his iconic swing, as it makes for such a dynamic study, as well as for the fact that I knew my Dad would love to have a copy of the piece for his office wall. This is the illustration:



If you like these, and want to see more similar work, you can go to my website, www.richfaber.com and click on the "Baseball Illustrations" button (or you can just click the previous link here).

Thanks for taking the time to look, and I hope you have a nice weekend. I'll be back next week with more art and news.

Best,
Rich

Portfolio Showcase: Sketchy creatures

Another week already, wow! I'll have some new work to post next week, as I've completed the newest Roboy Red story, and I'm also working on another comic book right now. More on that in a future post, but while I'm on the subject, I realized I post a lot of comic book work, as well as finished illustrations, but I don't think I've posted any of my sketches. Sketching is an important part of the process for me, and while I certainly don't do it as much as I'd like, I do have a lot of sketch work that most people never see. To that end, below are a few "creatures" I've sketched. My favorite is the Frankenstein monster:



I also enjoy sketching my cat. He's usually sleeping, so he makes for an easy subject:





Below is the preliminary sketch I did of a polar bear, trying to get the feel right for the Golden Compass job.



Next week, look for some new comics stuff, and then I'll be back Friday with a new Portfolio Showcase. Have a great weekend!

Best,
Rich

Portfolio Showcase: Logo-motive Train

Wow, a week already! Ok, so I'm on schedule, at least this week! Here's Friday's Portfolio Showcase:



This piece was a logo illustration I drew for a local client. It was used as a logo for a new housing development. I'm not sure what the connection was to trains, but I'm guessing the site was probably railroad-related in some way. Anyway, it's one I hadn't posted here before, so I thought it might be nice to show it. If you're wondering, the train was drawn in pen and ink, with a little brushwork here and there. Although I drew this around 5" x 7", it was used primarily on letterhead, about an inch or so high! That's small!

Speaking of logos, here's a little bonus for today: I had to create a logo for the t-shirt one of the characters is wearing in our new Roboy Red story. The little girl in the story is something of a drama queen, so I came up with this:



I'm thinking of having some t-shirts made with the logo, so if you're out there thinking, boy, I (or my wife, girlfriend, etc) might like to have this, please let me know in the comments. I'm trying to decide if it's feasible to do it. And just so you'll know what it might look like on a shirt (if you looked like a comic book character, that is!) here it is in context, on the girl's shirt:



Pencils by John Gallagher, inks and colors by me. I'll be posting some actual pages from the story soon.

Have a nice weekend!

Best,
Rich

Portfolio Showcase - Storyboards

So, it's been nearly a month again...

In an attempt to begin posting on a semi-regular basis, regardless of whether I have new work to show or not, I've decided that I'm going to use the time between illustration jobs to show some of my earlier work. I'd like to make this a regular feature, so for now, Fridays will be "Portfolio Showcase" day. Each week, I'll post a piece of work I've done in the past, in order to highlight some of the work you might not have seen before.

To that end, here are some storyboards I drew a few years ago:




These were for a pharmaceutical client, and are heavily edited to take out the product info, which I believe might have been proprietary.

In any event, the boards were drawn in support of a sales meeting for the pharma reps, in which they learned how to properly market and promote the product. The guy on the jet ski is the narrator, and as he shoots in and out of the frames, he's talking about the product. The idea was that this particular product would allow all sorts of outdoor activities that were previously difficult for people with the specific symptoms of the ailment that this product helps alleviate (how's that for vague...? ;-) )

I have some other new work I'll post sometime soon, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this episode of "Portfolio Showcase!"

More to come, next week!

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

Cars

Well, my work schedule has been non-stop in the past month, and appropriately enough, befitting my pace lately, I've been drawing cars. Fast cars.

A colleague of mine recently hired me to draw a 1969 Chevy Chevelle for him. He had an assignment to do a movie poster, to be featured within an actual movie, and it required a car drawing. Now, my friend is an incredible artist, but really hates drawing cars. Anyone who knows me, knows that not only is drawing cars a specialty of mine, it's also one of the things I love doing. I was thrilled to work on this project, and am very happy with the result:



Immediately following this project, I was hired by Starbridge Media,the company doing NASCAR comic books to draw a short backup story about the inaugural Daytona 500. This was really cool on a few fronts. First, this is the 50th anniversary of the Daytona 500, and this comic will be available at the actual race. Second, the race itself was unbelievable, ending with an incredible photo finish! I won't reveal the results here, but it was one of the most exciting finishes in all of NASCAR's history. Third, not only was I able to draw the actual cars involved, but the story also required me to draw the drivers as well, so I got to do something else that is both a passion and a specialty, portrait illustrations. Last, as I was finishing the story it occurred to me that in my fifteen years working in comics, this was the first story I'd actually drawn (from layouts by John Gallagher), rather than inked. So, now that you've read this far, here are some of the images:













There's a pretty good chance that there will be more of these "History of NASCAR" stories, so hopefully, I'll have another opportunity for this type of work soon!

As always, I'll try to post some new art soon! Thanks for reading!

Best,
Rich

New Year, New Work, New Website!

I know I'm coming in late on this (what else is new?), but it's 2008 already? Where did the last two months go? Well, for me, it mostly went into a lot of design work, some illustration, and finally redesigning my website, a task that was LONG overdue. I'm trying to make this year my biggest ever. I've expanded into doing some design work to go along with illustration, and I'm attempting to branch out into a few different new fields. My latest work reflects that. So without further ado, here's some of what I've been working on:

First, some of my design work. I've been working on a number of projects for the Washington Speakers' Bureau's Impact Channel. Most of this work is for some very interesting people; financial gurus, and motivational speakers who specialize in creating a more efficient workplace. Among them are luminaries such as Tom Peters, Chip Bell, and Mike Abrashoff (if you haven't heard of them,try looking them up online. You'll find a lot of info). Here are a couple of graphics I provided for Mike Abrashoff's section of the Impact Channel:





Next, while I did this last year, it's timely in that it's work based on the movie "The Golden Compass." I was hired to do some style guide art for Scholastic, based on the movie, and these are two of the images I drew:





Last, but not least, here's a screenshot of my newly designed website (I mentioned a few months ago that I'd post it here):



To see the whole thing in action, just go to www.thinkinkstudios.com. I have the navigation of my site categorized a lot differently now. I've added about ten new categories to look through, including "Portraits," for all of the likenesses I draw, "Sketches," for anyone who's interested in seeing the raw material, and some insight into my process, and for those who just want to get to the meat of it in a nice neat (although large) package, you can simply click on the buttons for "Black and White Work" and "Color Work." Additionally, you can now go to a section entitled "Recent Work" to see some of what I've been doing lately. I'll be updating that one pretty regularly, so feel free to check back often.

For those of you who have stuck with my long posts, and sometimes even longer gaps in times posting, thank you. I plan to post more frequently this year, so I hope you'll continue visiting my blog. I look forward to sharing much more work here this year. I hope you have a truly happy, healthy, and productive 2008!

Best,
Rich

Me, My self(-portrait), and I...

So, it's been pointed out to me (Hi Brian!) that it's been over a month and a half since my last post, so I thought I'd do a quick one today, while my son naps.

It's been a really crazy month or so. My wife and I both freelance out of our home offices, so when one of us is working, the other is doing the childcare. When both of us are working, well, things become somewhat problematic, and that's when all free time flies out the window. As we've both been really busy of late, the juggling act has been constant, and between her work travel, and my teaching, there hasn't been too much time for extra activities of any kind. Hence the delay here.

However, we did manage to sneak away for a weekend a couple of weeks ago, just for some quiet relaxation. We went to a place called Shelter Island, which is between the North and South Forks of Long Island, where I grew up. While we were there, we happened upon a small gallery called Wish Rock Studio which is owned by a guy named Peter Waldner, and his wife Sandy. Peter is a syndicated cartoonist, and does a very funny strip called Flight Deck, found in a number of major newspapers. He's also a heck of a nice guy. He and I talked about the possibility of having me show some of my work in his gallery next year. That would be pretty cool.

That night, I also did something I hadn't done in a while. I drew just for the sake of drawing. It's very hard to find time these days to draw just for pleasure. Most of the time, when I finish work I'm really not in the mood to do more drawing, as it feels like a continuation of my work day. About a year ago I was doing a demo of ink wash techniques for my students at DCAD, and started a self-portrait in class, which I always intended to finish but never did. Well, on this trip I spent a couple of hours finishing the piece, below, and also working on another portrait, which I'll post at a later date. Here's the self-portrait:



This piece will be the new homepage image for my website. That's another reason I've been slow to post lately. Any free time I've had has been spent on doing a much-needed revamp to my website. I'll be posting the update on that soon as well.

I'll try to check in again soon with new art. Thanks for stopping by!

Best,
Rich

Groucho on my Birthday!

"Before I speak, I have something important to say."

"I must confess, I was born at a very early age."

Yes, it is my birthday, and no, I'm not going to continually quote Groucho Marx for the rest of the year...

However, here's a piece I did recently as an in-class brush and ink demo, featuring the great Groucho:



Now, before I go eat some cake, I'm going to end with two more appropriate Groucho quotes:

"Getting older is no problem. You just have to live long enough."

And on a more serious note: "I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it. "

Best,
Rich

PS: "Go, and never darken my towels again." Ok, ok, I'll stop now...

Kids Love Comics! Baltimore Comic-con Wrap

I just realized that I never posted the wrap of the Baltimore Comic-Con that I promised. Actually, it WAS in fact posted. Just not here. You see, for those that don't know, I'm a charter member of a group called Kids Love Comics! KLC is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting all-ages comics, and advocating literacy through the medium of comics and graphic novels. Click the above link to find out more about us!

Anyway, I happen to be one of the two people (the other being my cohort, John Gallagher) responsible for updating the KLC Blog. So, if you're interested in learning what we were up to in Baltimore, you can read all about it here!

Here's a picture from the show:



I'll be posting some more new art soon, so please check back often!

Best,
Rich

Philadelphia Dragonboats!

I want to let people know about a cool event with which I've been fortunate to be associated. But first, a little background: Almost two years ago, I had a bad case of tendinitis in my left elbow, and my wife urged me to go see an orthopedic surgeon she had profiled in her career as a television producer. It turns out that Dr. Nick DiNubile is the Orthopaedic Consultant to the Philadelphia 76ers Basketball Team and Pennsylvania Ballet, so you'd figure he's a pretty good doctor (and you'd be right)! Well, as I do a lot of sports illustration work, and ever the enterprising businessman, I figured I would bring my portfolio to show him after my appointment, if he had time to look. Hey, one never knows where one's next client work might come from, and in this case, it was from a most unexpected source...

After he diagnosed the tendinitis, and ordered me to rehab for my elbow (a story for another time), Dr. Nick took a look at my work, and gave me a few contacts that he knew. And since he was so nice to me, I feel I owe it to him to mention Dr. Nick's book, "Framework," as it will give you a brand new perspective on taking care of yourself and your body through exercise.

So, while Nick and his staff were looking through my portfolio, unbeknownst to me, there in the waiting room was a very nice lady who was not only a patient and friend of Dr. Nick, but who also happens to be the director of the Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival. And as luck would have it, she was looking for an Illustrator! So, when I arrived home from my doctor's visit, I was pleasantly surprised to find a message on my voicemail from Carol Lee Lindner, the Executive Director and Founder of the festival. Well, Carol Lee, my new client (and now friend), was looking for someone who could bring a new vision to the Festival and thought I'd be right for the job, based on Dr. Nick's enthusiasm for my work! She hired me to do the artwork for the Festival, and here it is:


It was a very ambitious project. The piece was done in pencil, and then colored digitally. All told, it took me about 120 hours to complete, easily the most time I've put into any one project in my career! All that hard work was worth it though, as I feel the end result really captures Carol Lee's vision. You'll soon see it available on the Festival's website for purchase. I'll follow up with info on that, as it becomes available.

The Philadelphia International Dragonboat Festival is this Saturday, October 6th, and takes place along Philadelphia's beautiful Boathouse Row (depicted in the illustration). If you're in the area, be sure to come by for this terrific event!

Best,
Rich

Philadelphia Sketch Club - The Award!

As mentioned in my previous post, I recently entered and won first prize (Sequential Category) in the Philadelphia Sketch Club's "Phillustration '07" juried exhibition. Well, the opening was a lot of fun, and it was great to have my wife, and a few of my friends there. The range of work was very exciting, and it was cool to see my work displayed among so many talented Illustrators' work. Thanks go out to my colleague Rich Harrington, who invited me to be a part of the exhibition he organized, as well as to Bill Brown, the exhibition's juror, who selected my work. I thought the award certificate itself was pretty interesting, as it features an illustration of King Kong, by the very talented Joe DeVito. The work was included in the show, and it is actually the cover for a new King Kong comic book from Markosia Enterprises. Here's a scan of the award with the art:



And here are a few pictures from the event:


Me, along with my illustration of Salvador Dali.


Rich Harrington presenting me with the award.


The Roboy Red sequence that won. I was also able to put out copies of the actual "Buzz and the 'Bot" comic for people to take. There were a number of kids who were there and took copies, so that was a real highlight for me!


My Philly Phriends! Left to right: Echo, Mike Manley, Jamar Nicholas, and me!

This was a lot of fun, and I hope to enter next year's show too!

Special thanks to my lovely wife Traci, who took all the photos.

Best,
Rich

First Prize!

It's been a very hectic week since returning from Baltimore, so I'm attempting to keep this brief. I'll write about the Baltimore Comic-Con sometime in the next few days, but in the meantime, I wanted to write a quick one about something cool that happened while I was away at the show.

A few weeks ago, my friend and colleague, Rich Harrington, a fellow adjunct at Moore College of Art and Design, where I teach Illustration, invited me to submit some of my work for a juried exhibition, called Phillustration '07, presented by the Philadelphia Sketch Club. As you'll read by clicking the links, the Philadelphia Sketch Club was founded in 1860, and has had some very prominent members, including two of my favorite Illustrators, N.C. Wyeth and Maxfield Parrish!

I submitted three pieces of my work in two categories last Friday, and when I returned from Baltimore, I learned that not only was each accepted, but that I'd won first prize in the Sequential Art category! Well, truthfully, I share the win, as I submitted two pages from Roboy Red, the comic book on which I collaborate with my buddy John Gallagher. So now, Roboy Red is an actual award-winning comic book! Here's one of the pages that won:



I also submitted this Illustration in the Self-Promotion/Non-Commissioned category:



If anyone is in the Philly area, and would like to come by, the reception is from 2-5pm on Sunday, September 16th, and the Exhibition runs until September 30th. All pertinent details are in the above link. I hope to see you there!

Best,
Rich

Baltimore Comic-Con Welcomes KLC at the Comic Book Diner!

Well, just two more days until the 2007 Baltimore Comic-Con! This is my favorite convention of all, and this year, I'm part of something really cool... The Kids Love Comics Comic Book Diner! I'm posting the News Release we sent out this morning, so all the info you need is just below. I hope I'll see you at the show!

Best,
Rich


News Release: Kids Love Comics hosts the Comic Book Diner in Baltimore!
Sept 8-9, Baltimore Comic-Con Welcomes All-Ages Comics Pavilion, featuring Kids' Comics Creators.


Baltimore Comic-Con is recognized as a star-studded, family-friendly show; one of the few major conventions still focused primarily on comics. Kids Love Comics is a non-profit organization made up of comic creators, publishers, fans, educators and journalists, as well as those involved in the marketing, promotion, distribution, and retail end of the comic book medium. Together the Baltimore Comic-Con and KLC have formed the Comic Book Diner, an all-ages comics pavilion, offering up comics that are cool for all kids, from age 6 to sixty!


All-ages creators will be on hand in "The Diner" include Steve Conley (Star Trek, Astounding Space Thrills), Jimmy Gownley (Amelia Rules!), John Gallagher and Rich Faber (Buzzboy, Roboy Red), Art Baltazar and Franco Aurleani (Patrick the Wolfboy, Tiny Titans), Scott Neely (Scooby Doo), Josh Elder (Mail Order Ninja), Dean Trippe (Butterfly), Mark McKenna (Banana Tail, DC Countdown), Scott Cohn (Krypto, Ben 10), and Jamie Cosley (Fearnots). Also, Disney artist Ted Tucker will be on hand to draw super hero caricatures all weekend!


KLC will be presenting panels on the subject of the kids comics industry, as well as a special Sunday HowYaGonna comics tutorial session, with cool stations designed for kids and parents to learn how to create comic books. Comic Book Diner creators will be on hand to give personalized instruction in the process of creating a comic book, from initial ideas through completion. Also, a unique Comic Book Diner print featuring all of the Comic Book Diner creators' characters will be available for fans to have signed. Baltimore Comic-Con promoter Marc Nathan has been working with local libraries, as well as the Baltimore County Boy Scouts to make sure the Sunday panel is well attended, even offering up free admission to kids with a paying adult (Sunday Only).

"This is a great way to showcase the large variety of kids comics available," said Comic Book Diner organizer John Gallagher, whose own Buzzboy will be a part of the Comic Book Diner. "Marc Nathan has always supported kids comics, and when he offered us the opportunity to create an entire section at the Baltimore Comic-Con specifically devoted to kids, we jumped at the chance! Oh, and I almost forgot... we'll have an actual diner booth set up too!

There are plans for the Comic Book Diner to hit many of next year's comic shows, including the New York Comic Con, Charlotte's Heroes Con, San Diego's Comic-Con International, and of course, back to Baltimore for next year's Baltimore Comic-Con. But first, we'll save a seat for you this weekend, at the 'Diner!!

One More For 'Ringo

Ok, I said I was going to get to my own work again, and this qualifies, but also ties into stuff related to Mike. For those not in the know, the Baltimore Comic-Con is this weekend, Saturday, September 8th-Sunday, September 9th), and I'll be attending again, as usual (I missed last year due to the birth of my son, but this year, he'll be there with me!). It'll be fun, but also a sad occasion, as this was to also be the first time I would have seen Mike Wieringo in two years, since the last Baltimore show we did.

As a tribute to our friend Mike, John Gallagher, through Sky-Dog Press, has decided to reprint a poster featuring the art we all worked on together for the cover to the Buzzboy: Sidekicks Rule trade paperback. It also features a dedication to Mike's memory, depicting his character, Flyboy. Mike had sent this art to John, along with some other beautiful work from his blog/sketchbook, with the intention that he'd be doing a kids' drawing tutorial for us in our Roboy Red comic. Obviously, that won't be happening now, but we wanted to do something to honor Mike at the show, and this is the poster:



Here's a detail of the tribute image:



And this, from the Sky-Dog press release:

In memory of the late, great Mike Wieringo, Sky-Dog Press will be offering fans at the Baltimore Comic-Con a limited memorial edition of the Buzzboy: Sidekicks Rule poster, as illustrated by Mike Wieringo in 2006-- with any donations given going to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "Mike Wieringo was a good friend, and in many ways, an inspiration for the fun comics we do at Sky-Dog," said Buzzboy creator John Gallagher, adding, "Mike was generous enough to do the cover to our Buzzboy comic for free-- this is just a way for us to share Mike's generosity with his fans, and help out some cuddly critters as well."


Sky-Dog will be giving out the posters for free, but asks fans to contribute what they can-- a quarter, a dollar, five-- with all proceeds going to the ASPCA, as Mike's family has indicated as a fitting charity in his honor (Hero Initiative being another Wieringo family pick). On top of printing these posters, Sky-Dog is donating $500 in Wieringo's honor, on top of any donations received. A previous version of this poster was handed out at conventions across the country last year-- the new one is bordered in black-- with a tiny tribute box at the bottom, and utilizing one of Mike's favorite unrealized concepts-- Flyboy. "When I see that drawing, it has the same happy smile Mike always offered up," said Gallagher, "I have to think that Mike is up there, flying, with that same silly grin."


The Buzzboy poster depicts art drawn by Wieringo, inked by Rich Faber and colored by Gallagher, originally for the cover of Buzzboy: Sidekicks Rule #1. Gallagher and Faber will be on hand to sign copies at the show. Fans can find the posters at the Sky-Dog table in the Kids Love Comics All Ages Pavilion at the Baltimore Comic-Con on September 8 and 9, 2007.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's well-known that Mike loved animals, and I think he'd appreciate that donations for the ASPCA will be taken in his memory. I hope everyone will come by, take a poster, and donate in memory of our friend.

I'll see you in Baltimore!

Best,
Rich

Hurricane Katrina - Still Drawing Strength, 2 years later

I haven't felt up to posting anything new, as I didn't want to knock the memorial post I did for Mike down, but I realized there was one thing I could post that would both help people, something Mike was well known for, and also add to the tribute, in a way.

Yesterday marked two years since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and since my last post mentioned it, I thought it would be a nice way to honor my friend Mike's generous spirit to remind everyone that the sketchbook we did with 'Ringo's cover is still available. You can find out more about the book, and order it here: http://skydogcomics.com/drawingstrength/

Oh, and ending on a bright note, I nearly forgot to mention that you should check out Mike's very talented brother Matt Wieringo's blog for some cool art too. Specifically, he just posted something called Torg, which is a comic he did a while back. I had no idea he could draw as well as his brother, and if you like fun comic books, you need to check it out! Seriously, this guy knows how to draw and lay out a comics page.

I'll get back to posting my art again soon, so I hope you'll come by again. In the meantime, stay well, and be good.

Best,
Rich