The Silly Season

The "Silly Season" is here. The madness in the checkout line will rear its ugly head. The lunacy of the Holidays will spread like a virus and infect all the jolly ho-ho's. I don't buy into it but, I still hope everyone takes a deep breath and plays nice with each other. It's not that hard to do. Anyway, I thought that I'd share some of my "goings on" with you all.
If you look to your right I have some samples of a few projects I've been working on for the past few months.

First there's a new `Tween story titled, for now, "Redstorm." This one is taking us way back before the Bad Mojo and showing how my favorite wizard, Ehron Redstorm came to be. At the moment, this will be a full color graphic novel but, this could change to maybe a 3-4 issue pamphlet. It's still too early in the process to worry about that.

Second is a project that has been in the works for quite a while and seemed to be my summer project. It's called, "Becky's Alien" and this looks like it is going to eventually be a webcomic. The story is written by Jenni gregory with art by yours truly. We still have some work to do on this so I don't have a firm date on this one either.

That's it.
Play Nice.

Doodles from Zyn Dweomer land

I'm hip-deep (no...neck-deep) in drawing Zyn Dweomer issue #1 and I'm bloody-minded about finishing the whole thing before I post much of it. But I do have tons of doodles and drawings associated with the whole project. Here are a couple of characters from the setting, though not specifically from the story itself.

Hope everyone is doing fine as frog hair!

Atland #259 - "We're Alive?!"

Total plot mover here, guys. But I thought it would be important not to gloss over the fact that Lily had no idea that Bruce was dead.

And now you know why the bottom of the cave isn't filled with broken skeletons.

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving and there will be NO NEW ATLAND. Just a reminder.

In two weeks ATLAND returns and our heroes finally have a moment to themselves before leaving the lair of the Nameless One behind them...

~N

Free comics to free kids!

Hey everybody!

If you didn't see the Colbert Report last night, let me direct you to this clip where he talks to the co-founder of a Canadian organization called Free The Children, which is dedicated to ending child labor around the world.

here

This got me thinking about what I could do to help. Well here's something; From now on, if you donate $10 or more to Free The Children http://www.freethechildren.com/donate/index.php I'll send you a free copy of my book! Just fire me an e-mail at stevelec (at) hotmail.com or a Facebook message with your mailing address and I'll mail you a copy. Also, if you aren't comfortable with using your credit card to donate, you can twitter or blog about what I'm doing or about the organization or set up your own fundraising page and I'll consider it a fair trade. Now, most of you Wizards already have a copy of my book, but if you want to spread the word about this project, I'd appreciate it and hey, the books make great gifts if you tell me who to dedicate them to!

I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do for the kids!

Thanks guys!

Steve

Wizards Sketches

Back in the day, when I first saw Ralph Bakshi's Wizards, it really linked together a lot of paths I was going down as a writer and artist. Along with the work of Vaughn Bode' and Moebius, this sort of completed the triad of influences that I'm sure you can still see in my work today. My comic `Tween was something of an unapologetic love letter to this influential flick. I was psyched to see these sketches and thus, I share. :)

Play Nice.

Maghella

I did this real quickly (I think its unfinished, honestly) as a sort of tribute to that old 70s European erotic comic "Maghella", drawn by Dino Leonetti. Not sure why...I just saw some pages and thought it would be nice to draw the character. So bam.

page 60

I am amazed how time flies and now there are 60 pages up to the story.

anyways i am almost done with issue 3 and pretty soon it will be on to 4 - i will post the cover soon-

trav

you can read the tale here

Birthday Wishes!

Happy Birthday wishes to Wizard Nate! I hope your day is filled with ale, corsets and wenches! Sadly, for us, the chances are pretty good knowing Nate. Happy birthday man!

Artz and Intertainmentz

Been quiet lately, but not idle. No, I'm in the midst of a firestorm of creative passion on Zyn Dweomer, which is getting a major overhaul and moving more decidedly to a web-to-print plan. More on that later. Here's some fun pin-up art I've been doing for giggles...

James Cameron Reveals His Quest to Build More Perfect CGI Boobs

This one just about says it all really:

In a decade since the launch of Titanic, the eyes of humanity have focused on the James Cameron laboratory wondering what leap forward would emerge, what gifts he would bestow on our species?

Having built and sunk and ocean liner, were there any mountains left or had humanity been already given all the tools it needed to ensure its eternal contentment?

As we stand on the cusp of revelation, media speculation has focused on the innovations in filmmaking Avatar will bring our suffering world; new digital tools that revolutionize 3D photography, like a "Fusion Camera System" that will perhaps make 3D the multiplex standard for decades to come.

But in an interview with Playboy, Cameron revealed that all this Fusion Systeming and "Facial Performance Replacement" has really been just the nuts and bolts and that the real mission of the Avatar team has always been creating the perfect computer-generated screen boobs for the character Neytiri, a motion-captured rendition of actress Zoe Saldana; a problem so complex and difficult that it apparently took a team of hundreds a decade to solve it to Cameron's exacting standards.

Discussing the film, the interview focused on the mytho-historical place of cartoon women in our society before turning to the matter of Avatar's technological breakthrough:

PLAYBOY: We seem to need fantasy icons like Lara Croft and Wonder Woman, despite knowing they mess with our heads.
CAMERON: Most of men's problems with women probably have to do with realizing women are real and most of them don't look or act like Vampirella. A big recalibration happens when we're forced to deal with real women, and there's a certain geek population that would much rather deal with fantasy women than real women. Let's face it: Real women are complicated. You can try your whole life and not understand them.

PLAYBOY: How much did you get into calibrating your movie heroine's hotness?
CAMERON: Right from the beginning I said, "She's got to have tits," even though that makes no sense because her race, the Na'vi, aren't placental mammals. I designed her costumes based on a taparrabo, a loincloth thing worn by Mayan Indians. We go to another planet in this movie, so it would be stupid if she ran around in a Brazilian thong or a fur bikini like Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C.

PLAYBOY: Are her breasts on view?
CAMERON: I came up with this free-floating, lion's-mane-like array of feathers, and we strategically lit and angled shots to not draw attention to her breasts, but they're right there. The animation uses a physics-based sim that takes into consideration gravity, air movement and the momentum of her hair, her top. We had a shot in which Neytiri falls into a specific position, and because she is lit by orange firelight, it lights up the nipples. That was good, except we're going for a PG-13 rating, so we wound up having to fix it. We'll have to put it on the special edition DVD; it will be a collector's item. A Neytiri Playboy Centerfold would have been a good idea.

PLAYBOY: So you're okay with arousing PG-13 chubbies?
CAMERON: If such a thing should happen and I'm not saying it will, that would be fine.

As ever in society, the real innovators will go unheralded. Generations of schoolchildren will gaze upon Neytiri's bosom without ever knowing the names of the heroic scientists who gave ten years of their lives to make the dream of those breasts a reality.

Source: http://gawker.com/5403302/james-cameron-reveals-his-quest-to-build-more-perfect-cgi-boobs

How To Train Your Dragon Trailer

looks one ones for the fans of URdom!

This letter could have been written by Bish

This was forwarded to me by Pewfell reader Terry Smith, as he pointed out, all you have to do is change God to Hornbag:


To my good friends ye Postmasters

As a result of the Great Fire in 1666, it is believed that 70,000 of London's 80,000 inhabitants were left homeless and approximately 13,000 homes burnt to the ground. As Cloak Lane Post Office - the city's first - surrendered to the flames, London Postmaster James Hicks quickly salvaged as much of the city's correspondence as physically possible and fled with his family to Barnet. From there he sent the following letter to his fellow Postmasters, informing them of the catastrophe unfolding. With the city's relatively new postal system destroyed, very little information about the fire escaped for days and rumours circulated of a foreign invasion.




Transcript

To my good friends ye Postmasters betwixt London & Chester & Holly Head

Gentlemen,

it hath pleased Almighty God to visit this famous city of London with most raging fire which began on Sunday morning last about 2 a clock in Pudding Lane in a baker’s house behind the Kings Head tavern in New Fish Street & though all the means possible was used yet it could not be obstructed but before night it had burnt most part of ye City with St Magnus Church & part of ye Bridge to Q Hith to the water side, Canon Street, Dowgate, & upon Monday struck up Gratious Street, Lombard Street, Cornhill, Poultry, Bartholomew Lane, Throgmorton Street, Lothbury, & the last night & this day rages through all parts of the city as far as Temple Bar, Holborn Bridge, Smithfield & by all conjecture is not by any means to be stopped from further ruin except God in his infinite wisdom prevent it. I am at ye Red Lyon in Barnet with my family, & God in reasonable good health, notwithstanding great loss and sufferings by the distraction of our office yet I am commanded to let you know yet what little come to your hands from any ministers of State yet again give you all quick and speedy dispatch to me hither yet I may convey you home to Court or such places as I may receive directions for, & I am also to intimate to you which letters are sent to you from Court & shall see them sent forwards from here to you with speedy care & conveyance & so soone as pleasith God to put an end to ye violence of this fire some place will be picked on for ye general correspondence as formerly of which you shall God willing have advice at present this is all

Your sorrowfull friend

James Hicks

Barnet Sep. 4. 11 at night

Link to Original Post: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/11/to-my-good-friends-ye-postmasters.html

Atland #258 - Avalanche of the Dead

OK, the first person who correctly counts ALL the skeletons in this episode wins a...

...just kidding. If I did that, it would mean *I* would have to count them -- and there's no way I'm gonna do that. But rest assured, I did not cut corners on this episode. I drew skeletons until my eyes felt like they were going to bleed. Here's a zoomed-in view:



And I tweaked the coloring on this episode for 2 weeks. In fact, I was still adding background skeletons yesterday. Ugh.

I think it came out pretty cool, though.

Next week, the aftermath...and Lily gets the news about Bruce...

~N

Hobbit info.

As if I could get anymore excited about this flick, here's a great interview with director Guillermo delToro about the upcoming Hobbit films. He doesn't give much away but, I'm very excited with the direction he is taking alongside LOTR mastermind, Peter Jackson. Excited is probably an understatement. I'm beside myself with anticipation and joy.

Sharing is caring.

Play Nice.

new page up

new page is up at the site
read here

after 58 pages the plot finally thickens

Legitimacy nearly done

Illustration work is complete, playtesting has been extensive - everything is looking very kick-ass. PDF release due soon.


see more at: http://www.legitimacygame.com

Atland #257 - He's Coming Apart

I tell ya, I thought long and hard about how the Nameless One could make a dramatic exit. And I came up with zilch until the very MORNING I sat down to draw this one. It finally hit me...what would be cooler than an avalanche of corpses?

Not too damn much, that's what.

I gotta say, I'm sooooooo looking forward to drawing sexy ladies and trees again in Season 2. No more snow scenes or cave scenes for a while once we're done here.

In other news, in case you missed it, ATLAND will finally be available in indie-friendly comic shops sometime soon. I've struck a deal with ComiXpress since they're launching a new business plan as a distributor of indie books, like..oh...Dave Sim's CEREBUS. So I'm in good company! More on that as I can reveal it!

~N

new page up

ok page 57-

yet i am almost done with issue 3, I have 10 pages left to illustrate there.

I cannot believe I have broken the 100 page mark of the comic series. It has been a long time since I have been this inspired.

trav

new page up -

New page up- Page 56
back underground.

Another update Wed-
You can read it here

Enjoy- more to come-
trav

Much the Miller's Son book3 page13

>I'm finally back! Sorry for the long hiatus. I'm working on multiple paying projects right now which are playing hell with my webcomicking schedule. Something's got to give! I'll update whenever I can until life gets back to normal.