Free Comic Book Day, 2010

Hey everyone. This Saturday, May 1, I'll be at Captain Blue Hen Comics in Newark Delaware for FCBD from 12 noon until 5pm. I'll be there to help my buddy Joe Murray and his crack staff to promote comics for kids and do a little self-promotion as well. On hand, I'll have my comics, t-shirts (here and here), and maybe some original art for sale too! At past events, I've been known to do free sketches for kids, as well! From 2:45-3:15pm, my pal, hip hop cartoonist Jamar Nicholas and I will be teaming up to do a live Artist Workshop for the store and the Newark Arts Alliance. Details to be announced at the appearance. I hope that if you're in the area, you'll stop by to come and see me!

Coming soon: An ACTUAL art post!

Best,
Rich

Six Months?!?

Wow.

Man, where does the time go? In looking at my buddy Matt Wieringo's blog recently, I noticed his sidebar details the amount of time that has passed since the last posting on his linked blogs. The link for mine said six months...! Again, wow. I can't believe I've been incommunicado for that long.

Once upon a time, this used to be an art blog, but life sort of took over. I've obviously had a lot of time to reflect on things, and have realized that there's a lot more I want to do than I have in the past; with life, in my career, and in my home life. While that is a big part of what I currently think about, I don't think it's entirely relevant to what I'm trying to do here on my blog. However, it is what's been on my mind as I've been attempting to rebuild my life.

So, in light of all that, I am considering this my unofficial blog relaunch. In the coming weeks and months, I'm going to get back to posting art on a regular basis. You'll again be seeing my Portfolio Showcase feature, showing past work, and I'll also be posting current work on my desk. I'd also like to begin showing a bit more of my work flow, for all of you process junkies out there. I'm not sure yet how I'll present that, but I'll try to be interesting and creative about it.

So, what have I been up to? Well, the short answer is trying to figure out what my life is now. That's a pretty complicated thing though, so I'll just say this: since Traci died, my focus has been purely on raising my three and a half year old son, and making sure he is happy and secure. Work has been completely secondary, and maybe not even that high on my priority list. However, I do have some projects coming across my desk, so I'll have new art to show soon, as well as a few smaller jobs I managed to fit in within the past few months.

In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to post this "placemat art" I did for my boy at dinner yesterday. Lately, I've been drawing fun stuff to amuse him while we wait for the food to come in restaurants. Nothing fancy or good, but it entertains him, so it accomplishes the goal. Remember, this was art directed by a three and a half year old, so I was at the mercy of his whims, as well as the limited diner crayon palette! I hope you like:



See? Told you it wasn't great!

Overall, life has been good to me lately. While it's still difficult getting through certain times each day, I have to say I have the most incredible support a person could ask for, so I'm managing. At this point, I should take a moment to thank all of you who have been so patient waiting for me to post again. I'm certain that all three of you are kind and generous, and probably go out of your way to avoid stepping on ants. Seriously, I really do appreciate all of the words of encouragement from everyone over this past year. I'd also like to thank you for indulging me in my stream of consciousness in processing all that has gone on since last year. Sincere thanks to you all for being here for me, and for taking the time to post in the comments section(which is still open, hint, hint!). I hope you'll remain, and that I can offer some small amount of entertainment for you over the course of the coming weeks, months, and perhaps even years.

I'll leave you with this recent picture of me, taken a week ago, while on vacation in New York; my first vacation since before Traci was ill, almost two years ago. You can see the that I look like I'm at ease, and let me tell you, it had been a long time since I felt that serene. Here's me:



Have a great week, everyone! See you soon!

Best,
Rich

Baltimore Comic-Con

Hi everyone. Been awhile, I know. I want to thank everyone for the incredible outpouring of support and the condolences over the past month... well, really, over the past several months. As anyone who's been reading knows, this has not been an easy year. However, with all of your thoughts and encouragement, it has made it all that much more bearable. Thank you all. Now it's time to move forward.

With that in mind, I'm exhibiting at the Baltimore Comic-Con this weekend. I wish I could have posted about this sooner, but life has been a bit crazy for me lately, as I'm sure you can imagine. Anyway, I'll be with the usual gang of Kids Love Comics creators at booth 2409. You can't miss it... this year it's the KLC Carnival, and we have a big tent! It should be tons of fun... which I really need now. I'll have my usual array of original comics art, t-shirts, prints, and comic books, so come on out to the show, and stop by to see me.

Also, the Harvey Awards dinner is tonight, where the winners will be announced. As a nominee, I'll be attending, and while I don't expect to win, I do know it will be a lot of fun to spend time with my friends. Please feel free to wish me luck anyway! I guess you never know...

I'm looking forward to today and tomorrow, so I hope you'll come by to say hello if you're in town. It's a great show, and the people are terrific. It should be a lot of fun.

And oh yeah... today's my birthday! In case you wanted to bring me a cupcake or something... ;-)

I'll be back posting soon. I have some new projects on the table, and I'll be able to show some new artwork in the near future. Thanks again for all of the interest and support. I'll talk to you all again soon!

Best,
Rich

A Moving Tribute To Traci

Hi everyone. I'd like to thank all of you who have been sending along your kind thoughts. I really appreciate all of the sentiments.

I also would like to call your attention to a tribute to Traci that my good friend Steve Goldman wrote about her in his column on Monday. Here is the link: http://pinstripedbible.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/09/people_and_records_gone_but_no.html I'd urge you to go read it. He has some wonderful things to say about Traci, and equates her with my hero, Lou Gehrig. Very insightful, particularly since he only met Traci once. Thank you very much, Steve. You've earned my utmost gratitude for your kindness and friendship.

Traci's funeral is today. Her clergy call the service a celebration of her life, and I know that's what Traci would want. Please think of our family today, and make sure you give those you love a little extra attention today. Thanks.

Best,
Rich

Traci Wagner - May 23, 1967 - September 10, 2009

Hi everyone. I know many of you have been wondering how we've been faring here at home, so I wanted you all to know that my wife Traci died peacefully at home this morning at around 10:45AM. The past few days had been extremely difficult, filled with pain and discomfort, so this is a blessing we have been waiting for.

Thanks to all of you who have been calling and writing. It's meant so much to me to know how much you all care. I know a lot of you out there didn't know Traci personally, so I thought it might be nice for you to see a couple of pictures of her.



I'll be taking some family time for a little while, and then figure out the rest of my life from here. I'll be back at some point in the near future with some art again. This has been a really long, difficult year, and I need to get back to the reason I started this blog: showing my artwork.

I hope my delving into the personal hasn't been too much here, but there's been very little work to speak of, and my fulltime job over this past year has essentially been taking care of Traci and our son. I appreciate your indulgence during this difficult time.

I'll talk to you all soon.

Best,
Rich

Please Help John Ostrander

Back in 1998, I worked on a comic book called Quicksilver, for Marvel Comics. One of the writers on the book was a man named John Ostrander. John is a fantastic guy, and always treated me with respect. He's a terribly nice man, and deserves nothing but the best. Unfortunately, he's now going through some difficult times. John has glaucoma, which is an awful eye disease. My own grandfather had it, and as a result of it (and a few other complications) lost his eyesight. He was fortunate to regain it in one of his eyes, but the damage was permanent in his left eye (incidentally, this was the same grandfather who died of melanoma, the same disease my wife has. Sad coincidence).

In order to save John's eyesight, something that is necessary for him to maintain and continue his career as a comic book writer, he will need an operation. John's insurance will only cover a small percentage of the cost of the operation, so some of his industry friends are trying to raise money to help defray the cost. My family are no strangers to the high cost of medical bills, and we've received a lot of help from people and organizations within the industry. It's only right for me to try to help someone else in difficult circumstances too. To that end, I'm going to be donating some of my original art to try to help the cause. I'd like to ask anyone reading this to give a little something too, if possible. I'm sure any donation would help. For more information, you can click here. Heidi MacDonald also linked to this, but I thought you might like to see the comments section on her post on The Beat, to see what other industry people have to say about John.

So many of you have been so generous to us. I hope you'll do the same for John Ostrander. Thanks.

Best,
Rich

Bittersweet Harvey Nominee

Earlier today (or technically, yesterday, as I'm writing this somewhat after midnight), the Harvey Awards, one of two of the more prestigious awards in the comics industry, announced this year's nominees. Shockingly, I was among them, in the Best Inker category, for my work on Buzzboy: Sidekicks Rule. I've been working in this industry for over fifteen years, and this is the first time I've ever been in the running for any award, much less one of the most respected in the business. One would think that today would have been a particularly proud one for me, and any other year it would have been. However, as I sit here in my bed typing this on my laptop, my wife Traci is beside me, in a hospital bed. She signed herself out of hospice yesterday, in one last ditch effort to prolong her life.

Many of you who know me, or who have been reading my posts here, know that Traci is battling metastatic melanoma. It is well documented on this blog, as well as other places online, how tough a disease this is to beat. Traci was diagnosed in August of last year, in fact, a year later, to the very day that I discovered my good friend Mike Wieringo had died. Less than a year later, the doctors have told us that she needs to prepare for the end of her life. We don't know how much longer that might be, but time is certainly short.

So, dear friends, while it is indeed a great honor to be nominated, this is not something I can enjoy or savor. Not right now anyway. I hold no illusions that I might win, with such distinguished talent in my category. However, I do recognize how incredible it is to be in such esteemed company. I would like to wish all the luck in the world to all the nominees. I would also like to thank all of you have written or called to congratulate me.

For my part though, I don't deserve any award. That honor belongs to my wife. If anyone should get an award it is Traci, for her tenacity, courage, and grace in the face of the disease that will soon take her life. For that reason, I'd like to do something completely unconventional. I know many people who win awards dedicate them to someone, but even if I were to win, I'm not certain if Traci will be here to see it. So, I'd like to dedicate this nomination to my beautiful, brave bride. Nobody should have to go through what she's dealing with, and the least I can do is allow her one more moment in the spotlight.

Trace, I love you with all my heart, and this one goes out to you, PMK.

All my love,
Rich

The Right Formula (1) - Yes, More Cars

Hey, I'm back, and it hasn't even been a month! How about that? Seriously, I hate that it takes me so long between posts now. What's going on here at home is so exhausting that it takes me a while to be able to clear my head enough to post something coherent.

In any event, thank you all for the messages and the notes of support. As I said in a recent post, cancer sucks, but it's much easier knowing how many of you are out there thinking of us.

As my title states, I'm still working, albeit infrequently. A recent job called for me to draw cars, yet again. As it's something I love to do, it's always a fun time for me when I can. This particular job was pretty challenging though. The client is actually a colleague of mine who was working with a major Formula One sponsor on a comic book featuring the new F1 car design. This particular design is not something that is intuitive to draw. It's unlike any cars I've drawn before. The lines on the car are very curvy, almost abstract, and it took a while for me to be able to master the flow of the design. I see a few flaws in it myself, but my colleague and the client were happy. I wouldn't mind doing more of this type of work. Anyway, here are the images:


This image was used for the comic book cover.


This one was the double page spread.

I think I might post some of the rough versions of these at a later time to give some insight into my process.

I'll have to get to that later though. For now, I hope you all have a great weekend! I'll be back here soon.

Best,
Rich

For Mike (And Todd. And Matt. And Suzanne...)

Thanks to everyone who has written with encouraging words about my wife's cancer. We both appreciate all of the sentiments. Quick update on Traci, and then I'll move on to the latest piece. She's now begun a new clinical trial at the University of Pennsylvania, and we're hopeful that the success they've had with this combination of chemo and another drug will also apply to her. Although her cancer has advanced quite a bit since the time I mentioned it here, she's hanging in, and with the support of family and friends, we're managing to keep things afloat, and stay relatively sane throughout this difficult time.

As to the aforementioned friends, Matt and Suzanne Wieringo are a couple of very good ones. Many of you know about my friendship with Matt's brother Mike. Since Mike died, Matt and Suzanne and Traci and I have become good friends. They are actually a part of our (ever-growing) network of support, and have been incredibly kind to us in the face of Traci's illness. They recently came to see us for a visit, as detailed on Matt's blog, and we had a wonderful time seeing them. They also did a lot to help out around here, even though they were only with us for a little over a day. I'd had a little surprise waiting for them for a few months, and was so glad I could give it to them in person.

First, the background. Last summer, I attended Heroes Con in Charlotte for the first time. I'd brought copies of my NASCAR Heroes comics, and gave one to my good pal, Todd Dezago, who also happens to have been Mike's best friend. Todd was flipping through it at my table, and asked me something that I still feel honored by to this day. Looking at the portraits of the drivers I had done for the comic, he asked me if I'd be willing to do a portrait of Mike for him. I was floored, as I had actually intended to do just that for him as a birthday present (we share a birthday, October 10th) that fall. It's nothing new for Todd and I to be thinking of something at the same time. It's happened many times before. We attribute it to the common birthday, but really, it's probably just that we have the crazy gene in common! Anyway, this was one time that I was actually surprised by what he asked me, and of course, I told him I'd be honored to do the illustration for him.

Todd sent me a bunch of reference photos of Mike, and I went to work. I finished up the following piece in November, and now have permission to share it here:



Todd told me I could mention where he's using it, so it's for the upcoming Mike Wieringo Tellos tribute book. That's all I know about it at the moment, but Todd will be issuing a press release at the appropriate time. As for Matt and Suzanne, when they visited, I gave them two card stock copies of the portrait, one for them, and one for Matt's parents. It's probably one of the most meaningful pieces of art that I've ever had the privilege to create, and Matt told me it's now hanging in a particularly appropriate place of pride for me, the guest room where Mike stayed when he visited Matt and Suzanne. I can't think of a more touching place, and I'm so pleased that it means so much to them, my very good friends. Thanks guys!

I'll be back soon with more new art. In the meantime, in light of the previous, hug your loved ones, and make sure they know what they mean to you.

Best,
Rich

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

Back To Work

Wow, it's been nearly two months since I last posted! I'd feel guilty about that, if I didn't have good reason. Many of you know that my wife Traci is in the battle of her life, fighting metastatic melanoma. Stage 4. Sucks. Truly. However, she's a battler, and although the odds are stacked, she and I are maintaining a positive attitude. She's mostly stable for now, and stable in this type of cancer is a good thing. We continue to fight, hope, pray, whatever works.

Immediately following the New York Comic-Con, Traci was admitted to the hospital for a scheduled treatment. I won't go into the details, but it was to be a very intense and difficult one, and she was scheduled to be there for 5 days. Unfortunately, there were some major complications, and it was very dicey for a while. She wound up being in the hospital for a total of 13 days, and nearly 4 of them were spent in the Medical Intensive Care Unit. You can imagine how scary that was. Once she was released, it was a long road back to relative good health. She's still working on it, actually, so I've been heavily involved with my family for the better part of the past two months. Work has been a low priority, and in fact, I haven't even thought about it much since January. Taking care of my wife and son has been my full time job, of late.

However, before all of that, I did have a few projects that I completed, and it's my intention to show them here in the next few weeks. Also, I plan to gear up for a new work push beginning next week. As my wife is recovering, I'm trying to get back to my normal routine, as much as I can. So hopefully (or tragically, depending on your point of view!), you'll be hearing more from me again on a regular basis.

So, to get the ball rolling, here is an illustration I recently completed:



It's the second assignment I've had from WWE Kids Magazine, and as with the first, working on it was an absolute pleasure. The Art Director I work with there is fantastic, and I hope to continue working with him. Anyway, the gist is that it's a quiz, and the kids are supposed to guess who the wrestlers are, based on their boots. I thought it was kind of a funny thing, with the bathroom stalls, and the interesting designs. It was certainly a challenge to not only get each of the designs for the boots down, but to make them all distinctive, as well as recognizable. No easy feat (no pun intended) when so many of them are black! The issue is on the stands now. For more info, you can check the WWE website, here.

One other note: I've sold a number of my illustration prints, but I still have quite a few available, if you're interested. Just scroll down to the post below this one for pictures of what's available, as well as for details, and info about how you can order. As a bonus, just to show me you're a loyal reader, if you contact me with the subject line, "Print Sale," I'll give you my convention deal pricing, plus shipping! Have to pay for those medical bills somehow! I will be creating a specific section of my website soon, where all of my for sale items will be available, but for now, I'm doing this the low-tech way. Contacting me from my website via email is the best way to do this right now, so please bear with me, as I get everything set up. Thanks.

I'll be back soon with more art. I hope you'll be here with me!

Best,
Rich

New York Comic-Con 2009

Hi everyone. Sorry it's been so long since my last post. work has been keeping me busy, but more importantly, life has too. My wife Traci has had a few medical issues since last time, all of which have been mostly resolved (sort of), but when dealing with cancer, it's never simple. Anyway, she's doing relatively ok, under the circumstances, and is embarking on a new course of treatment next week. Thanks to all of you who have been writing and commenting. I appreciate all of the moral support.

Now, as for the title of the post, the NYCC is this coming weekend, from February 6-8th, and I will be there. Thanks to the generosity of my colleagues at Kids Love Comics, I will have a table with them at booth #1930, and will be selling all of my various wares, to help raise money for my wife's medical bills, as well as a lot of other related expenses we've been incurring. My hope is to come up with enough to keep things stable for another month or two, and I'm hoping you guys that will be there can help. Below are pics of most of the things I'll have for sale. I hope you'll drop by to see me, and maybe pick up a little something. In addition to what I'm showing here, I'll have 15 years of original comics art for sale, including Green Lantern, Steel, Titans, and many others. I will also probably be doing some character head shot sketches, for those interested. The main goal is to raise money, so I'll be there for the entire weekend, and try to stay at the table as much as possible, so I am able meet as many of you as I can. Please stop by to say hi. Thanks!

Now, here are the images (they've all been posted before, but never in one place!):



The above are each 8 1/2" x 11" prints, signed and numbered. I'll have them on sale for $30 each, or any two for $50.




The two baseball prints above are 11" x 14" prints, also signed and numbered, and will be $50 each, or both for $80.




I'll have the two t-shirts above for $15 each ($17 for 2XL), and I have virtually every size. The Drama Queen shirt also comes in a periwinkle color as well as the dark purple shown. The periwinkle version is just in a few limited sizes, for the same price. All of my shirts also come in kids sizes.

In addition, I'll be selling signed copies of a lot of my past DC and Marvel Comics, and since it's Kids Love Comics, it'll only be the all ages material, but that includes, The Bug One Shot, Legends of the DCU #40-41, which I co-wrote with my buddy Todd Dezago, featuring The Atom (Ray Palmer version), JSA: Sins Of Youth, featuring the Junior JSA, and a couple of copies of Impulse. All of these will be $3 each, or any two for $5.

Sorry for this detailed shilling, but I thought it would be best if you knew ahead of time what to expect. I'll have more for sale at this show than I ever have had in the past, so I want to make sure there's something for everyone. Again, I want to raise as much money for our cancer-related expenses as possible. Thanks, as always for all of the support! I hope to see you in New York!

Once I return, I'll begin establishing a way to purchase my stuff from here on the blog, as well as my website. Thanks for your patience.

Best,
Rich

Someday, My Prints Will Come

Or rather, yours will. But not quite yet. I know I promised to have ordering info for my new prints (see here and here) this week, but work got in the way. Which is good for business, but meant a slight delay in me figuring out how to create the Paypal ordering buttons. I'll have them both here and on my website soon, once I'm out from under my deadlines. In the meantime, I do actually have the prints in my possession, so if you just can't wait, and you absolutely have to have one, or better still, all of them, NOW, please feel free to email me (my email is in the above links), or leave me a comment with your email address, and I'll get back to you. Either way, they are available now, just not quite "officially" yet.

Now, I'll leave you for the weekend with a baseball tie-in. The below image was part of a series of ads I did a couple of years ago, featuring this little mouse as the main character in various scenarios. I'll share more at some point, but with spring training only a month away, here's the little guy swinging away!


(pencils by John Gallagher, inks and colors by me)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Best,
Rich

Happy New Year!

(pencils by John Gallagher, inks and colors by me)

What a strange year it's been. I can't help but feel this was the worst year we've ever had (my family, that is). However, I also have to appreciate the wonderful things that have happened to us this year too. I've come to appreciate how incredible people can be, and have learned how lucky we are to have supportive and encouraging family, friends, and colleagues. Despite all of the bad stuff we've gone through this year, my wife Traci and I both feel extremely fortunate. We never expected our lives to turn out the way they now are, but life is funny like that. It'll continue to throw us curves, and we'll continue to try to make things better.

We're still living two months at a time, and next week is Traci's off week from chemo. She had her treatment this week, and it was probably the easiest she's had. No nausea, and she's been feeling pretty decent since then, so it's good for now. In two weeks, we'll find out the status of her cancer, with some new scans. In the meantime, we're going to just try to relax, and hope for a great new year. We're trying to remain optimistic.

So, again forgive me for "going personal," and thanks to all of you. Thank you for being here, and reading this. Thank you for stopping by to look at my art, and for taking the time to say hi (and I'll say it again, please DO use the "comments" feature. I want to hear from YOU too!). Thanks in advance for continuing to check in throughout 2009 (and beyond!).

May it be a terrific, happy, and HEALTHY New Year for all of us.

It'll sure beat 2008...

Best,
Rich

PS: The prints are in! I'll share ordering info next week!

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

Prints Preview (Part 1)

Before I get to today's post, I need to alert you all to something that a bunch of very nice people are doing for my family. Spearheaded by Drew Geraci, an inker I've known for many years, a number of very talented comics artists have contributed artwork they've done to help pay some expenses towards my wife Traci's illness. Drew's friend Mark Hay has placed several of those pages of art on eBay. Click here to view the entire auction.

Thanks to Drew, Mark, Andy Owens, Paco Diaz, George Tuska, Tim Bradstreet, Ethan Van Sciver, Paolo Rivera, and my old pal, Andy Kuhn for donating the art. Special thanks to Heidi MacDonald for the initial post publicizing the auction, and to all of those who have and will bid on the items.

As for my own work, in yet another effort to raise money, I've previously mentioned that I've decided to create limited edition prints of some of my work. My printer informs me that most of them have been sent to press as I write this, so I should have them available shortly. The first four prints I'm having done are of some of my classic subjects; black and white graphic portraits I've created over the past few years. Here's a preview of what they'll look like:



For ease of uploading, I've included them here as one image, but each portrait will be printed separately, and sold individually. I will probably do some kind of deal for those that buy more than one, however. I'll have more details here, once the prints arrive. I'll also be doing another set of prints as well, featuring a couple of my baseball subjects. I'll show a preview of those early next week. Please check back then to get the full scoop!

If anyone out there reading has a suggestion for the best and easiest way to create a click-to-order system for either here, or from my website (or ideally, both), please feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments for me. I'm looking for ways to keep the process streamlined for everyone. Thanks!

Also, this is as good a time as any to mention that I enjoy getting feedback, so please feel free to comment on any of my posts. Few people take advantage of that feature, but I do love hearing from people, so please say hello if you're reading. Thank you!

Thanks, as always for visiting.

Best,
Rich

Reading Heroes Cover Art

Hey, it's some new art! But before we get to that, for those that have been asking via email, yes, I am having prints made of some of my illustration work. I'm in the process of having the samples printed for review, and once I go forward, I'll have all of the pertinent info right here, including pricing, and how to order. Look for that, plus images of the available prints, in an upcoming post (probably within the next week). In the meantime, I'd like to remind everyone, including those coming in late, that I still have plenty of comics art for sale, and now have a list available. You can email me for that list, and I'll be happy to send it along. Last, there are also still quite a number of t-shirts left, so if you need a holiday gift, it's your lucky day! T-shirts make awesome gifts! You can read all about this stuff, as well as the reason for the big sale (for those unaware), in my previous post, here.

OK, so I promised new art! I've been very fortunate in my career to be able to work on a variety of things, and many of those intersect strongly with my personal interests. As many of you know, I'm a comics guy, and have been lucky to work on comic books for most of the major publishers. I am a car buff, and am one of the artists on NASCAR Comics, as well as having been able to draw cars for various other clients. I also love drawing likenesses, and have had a number of clients hire me to do portrait work. A few of those things (although no cars this time!) came into play on my most recent project. I'm going to be working on a comic book for the University of South Carolina. Former Olympic and WNBA basketball player, Dawn Staley, is now the coach of the USC team, and like me, has an interest in getting kids to read. While Kids Love Comics is my venue, Ms Staley does it through her own Dawn Staley Foundation. The University has contracted my client, Starbridge Media Group, to create a comic book about Ms Staley's efforts to promote literacy, called "Reading Heroes." Here's the cover:



I was given the rough layout by my editor, John Gallagher (who also provided the drawings on the rough), and I did the finished pencils, inks and colors. John did the design work and lettering. This project is really cool, and I'm looking forward to working on the interior of the book soon. I'll be posting that artwork as well.

In the meantime, if you'd like to learn more about Dawn Staley or her Foundation, you can click here. I love the fact that I can work on stuff that helps promote reading, so this should be a great project!

Coming soon, I'll be posting some work from a few years ago that was inspired by The Incredibles! I seem to have a lot of Pixar connections lately!

Thanks for checking in, and I'll talk to you as again soon!

Best,
Rich

Back To Business - WWE/Cars

But quickly, before that, I want thank all of you who have visited here in the past two weeks, and especially all of you who have reached out to me via email. I appreciate all of your kind thoughts, encouragement, and of course, the many requests for art. Thank you all. It all helps tremendously. I'm still looking for buyers for a lot of my art, taking orders for shirts, and accepting requests for commissions (although it may take a bit of time to get to some of that... bear with me, please), so please don't hesitate to write me. Last, thanks to Tom Spurgeon, who was kind enough to link back here about my wife's medical situation.

Now, as my title implied, I have some new work to show! A couple of months ago, I was contacted by World Wrestling and Entertainment (WWE) for a freelance project. It turns out that they have a kids magazine called (appropriately enough) the WWE Kids Magazine, and needed an illustrator who could draw cars, was familiar with NASCAR and has done comics. Apparently they did a web search, and found me! Which is great, because the art director I worked with on this project was probably the most professional AD I've worked with, and it was an OUTSTANDING experience! I'm hoping to get more work with them soon!

As for the actual project, I was asked to draw the wrestlers as cars, similar to the Pixar movie "Cars" (as you might have guessed), and place them in a racing setting (hence, the NASCAR connection). I hinted at this several posts back with a visual of the eyes of one of the characters (can you spot which one...?). So, here's what I came up with:



As I said above, this was so much fun to work on, and it was really right up my alley, in terms of combining cars and a comic style. I hwas very happy with the way it turned out, as was the client, but it was quite a challenge. It was a real learning experience, but one I enjoyed thoroughly. And if you're interested in seeing the work in the magazine, it's on stands RIGHT NOW, so hurry out to your nearest newsstand! You can see the cover (with a small inset of some of the characters I drew) at the WWE link above.

Please check back soon for some more new artwork. I have another sports-themed project on tap, and I've been authorized to post the image here soon! Stay tuned!

Best,
Rich

So Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Just a quick list of the things I'm thankful for: My wife and our beautiful son; our families, and many, many friends; Traci's outstanding doctors and nurses; our health (Traci's cancer is currently stable!); our home; our careers, mine in particular right now; and all of the spectacular people who have reached out to me over the past several days. Thank you to all of you! I also need to thank the following folks, who have brought our situation to your attention: Steven Goldman, Johanna Draper Carlson, Heidi MacDonald, Rich Watson, Glenn Hauman, JK Parkin, and especially "The Roomies" (you know who you are).

I'll be posting some new art next week, so I hope you'll all return to see it! Thanks! I hope all of you have had a wonderful holiday!

Best,
Rich

Personal Matters (or, Cancer Really Stinks!)

Hi there. Due to the kindness of a good friend of mine, Steven Goldman, I'm guessing that some of you might be new here, so welcome! As a brief introduction, my name is Rich Faber, and I've been working as an Illustrator since 1993. I'm probably best known for my work as a comic book artist, having worked on such titles as (in no particular order) Green Lantern, Buzzboy, Titans, Steel, Adventures of Superman, X-Men, and many others. I also do the majority of my freelance work these days illustrating projects for a variety of clients, including the WWE, NASCAR, USA Networks, Scholastic, and New Line Cinema, among others. Normally, I showcase my work here, but today, I'm going to do something a little different; something a bit more personal.

Those of you who have visited here before might be aware that my wife has been ill. I've mentioned it here in previous posts, somewhat vaguely, because I'm not great at talking about my private life; especially in a place like this, where I've specifically established it to promote my work. However, now seems like a good time to break from that mentality a bit.

Back in August, my wife Traci was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma. Yeah, it's a tough one, and while the diagnosis stinks, we're not the sort of people who give up, despite what statistics say. We hate statistics (well, except in baseball, where they're pretty useful!), and anyone who knows both of us will tell you that we're both really stubborn. I mean REALLY stubborn! Challenging diagnosis? Yeah, well, we'll see about that!

Traci's attitude is tremendously positive about all of this, and I'm trying to use my sense of humor to keep her amused... you know, when I'm not annoying her with all of the little insanities my life tends to bring. So we're not exactly laughing about all of this (well, maybe sometimes), but we're also not doing the "woe is me" dance either. We have a huge network of support, both family and friends, and that helps us get through each day too. Traci's been doing chemotherapy since September, and so far, she's tolerating the treatments very well. We're hopeful that we'll get some good news about the most recent scans.

So, mostly, we're good, in light of everything, but lately things have gotten a little hairy, financially. While we have health insurance, it's not covering everything. Medical bills and co-pays can truly be a drag. It's been tough for us to maintain our regular work schedules between treatments (and Traci's ensuing fatigue), doctor visits, and caring for our two year old son. So, as a result, our bank account is beginning to say, "Um, hey? Guys? What the HECK is going on!?" So we're looking for ways to generate more income, in order to keep afloat.

We're not in the habit of asking for money (or anything, for that matter), so I came up with a game plan (another baseball analogy. I'm sensing a theme) to ask for your help, and you'll get something cool in return. Everyone wins!

Here's what I have in mind: I have a backlog of 15 years worth of comic book art that I'd like to make available to finance some of the expenses. In addition, while I do have work on my desk, I'm looking to take on a little extra commission work (illustration, comics, etc.), and even more ideally, new illustration projects for clients. Ongoing work would be especially cool, but I hear we might have a little problem with our economy right now, so I'll understand if that's not feasible at the moment.

I can make it easy for anyone to make payments for either art or work, through my Paypal account. All you need to do is email me at rich(underscore)faber(at)comcast(dot)net (sorry about the format. Just trying to avoid "spambots," and I know you're all smart folks who will figure out my email address), and we can get the ball rolling. If you're interested in buying art, I can give you a general idea of what I have, and we can take it from there. I also have t-shirts available, which you can check out in this post. They're $20.00 each ($22.00 for XXL), which includes shipping. Orders to the USA only, please.

Oh yeah, I also came up with one last option too, just to make it even more accessible: for anyone who's not interested in buying or commissioning art, I'll also send out a signed comic book for any amount you'd like to contribute. I have a lot of my comic book work from over the years, and I can probably even do requests for specific signed copies, if I have them available. If you're interested in that deal, please use the above email address to Paypal any amount of your choice. I'll do this as long as I still have comic books with my work available.

The last piece of business I need to address is that my friend Steve, mentioned above, is also a survivor of malignant melanoma, and is an incredible inspiration to us. His kindness has included emotional support, and in an act of great charity, he's chosen to write about Traci and me in his latest edition of the Pinstriped Bible, a column he writes for the New York Yankees on their Yes Network's website. Here's a link to that column: Pinstriped Bible. Whether you're a Yankees fan or not, Steve's column is always entertaining, and a great read. He's a comics fan, a history buff, and always has an eclectic mix of humor, facts, stats where appropriate, and insight. It's never boring! Please take a few minutes to check it out, and give some traffic back to this good pal of mine.

Wow, that was a long post! If you're still here, I applaud your ability to stay awake. Thanks for bearing with me through it though. I hope you won't take my lame attempts at humor as meaning I don't take things seriously. It's just that in order to get through such a rough time, this is my way of coping. Also, if this post was too serious, it would have been waaaaay more boring than it already is! I know, because my first draft was exactly that, and even I had trouble getting through it! Anyway, as I said, yeah, the situation kinda sucks, but we're making the best of it. We're trying to laugh as much as we can, and stay positive. In any event, our goofy two year old boy won't allow us to get too down; he's just too funny! We know Traci is in extremely capable hands with the crack medical team working her case. We have every ounce of support we can get from family and friends, and are extremely blessed to have such an astounding show of good will and love from them. So, in short (not really), we have every reason to believe we'll get through this family crisis relatively intact.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this personal post. I promise to get back to art posting again soon, but for now, you have my sincere thanks for taking this all in, and hopefully, throwing some more good thoughts our way!

Best,
Rich