Officially Official - SLG Press Release!

Neat-O! Thanks to a tweet by my pal Chris Butcher (@Comics212 on Twitter) I found out SLG sent out a press release announcing Amity Blamity Book One.  It's my first time having a press release sent out about my work so I was pretty stoked :)

Here's a link to the sweet Canadians who broke the story:
http://www.hypergeek.ca/2011/01/slg-announces-new-graphic-novel-series-amity-blamity.html

or you can read it here:

Pot Bellies, Pigtails And Flying Garlic Invade The Family Farm
New SLG graphic novel series Amity Blamity A Fun For All-Ages Farmland Adventure.

SAN JOSE, CA – 1/28/2011 – Starting a new job is an adventure for anyone, but when you are a four-year old girl working in the barnyard offices of a pot-bellied pig adventure becomes more than a euphemism. So goes Amity Blamity, the new graphic novel series by cartoonist Mike White coming in April from SLG Publishing. Amity Blamity is a man (girl) vs. environment story that embraces the philosophy that you don’t need to be “the chosen one” or have a grand destiny to change the world for the better. The story follows Gretchen (a shy 4year old with pigtails) Chester(a talking potbellied pig) and Downey (a pig of an uncle) as they get swept up on a journey incited by strange forest critters  inundating the outskirts of the family farm. Amity Blamity creator Mike White enjoyed trying to see the world through a child’s eyes for this family-friendly adventure series. “I used to look at the world through candy glasses and was always shocked by what the “real” world is like. ” said White  I’ve always had the world in my brain -how things seem to me- that is completely different from the world that actually IS.” White cites has diverse interests as influences in his development of Amity Blamity “Bloom County, Andy Capp, Cheers, South Park, Leave it to Beaver, A Family Affair are some of my most favorite shows and comics.  If you jam  all the characters and relationships from those shows into the empty tin can of my brain, shake it up, then dump it out, what you get is the cast of Amity Blamity.” While Amity Blamity is White’s debut project he has been no stranger to comics and has attracted a fair amount of attention to himself. Amity Blamity itself comes from White’s online comic Pigtails and Potbellies.  Mike has been featured in Boards magazine, hailed as one of ‘Top 10 Emerging Talents from Toronto’ 2007 and won the Canadian Film Centre New Media Award for the Resfest 2006 Cancon Selection for directing the MSTRKRFT “Work On You” Music Video. Amity Blamity volume one is the first in a biannual series of books following the adventures of the innocent gretchen and her pig Chester.  Set for an April 2011 release, Amity Blamity volume one will be 160 pages at 10.95 isbn number 978-1-59362-209-1 and will be available at finer bookstores, comics stores via Amazon.com and through the publishers own website at www.slgcomic.com. A preview of the book can be downloaded at the same website. An online interview with Mike White can be read at the publishers website at this link

Established in 1986 and celebrating its 25th anniverary, SLG Publishing is a San Jose, California-based publisher of comic books, graphic novels and related merchandise. Some of SLG’s more notable comics and creators have included Johnny the Homicidal Maniacby Jhonen Vasquez, Milk and Cheese by Evan Dorkin and Zombies Calling by Faith Erin Hicks.www.slgcomic.com

Amity Blamity Book One Official Trailer

Check it out! 

A sweet little peek at Book One, with music by the wonderful and talented Dustin Vado and the SLG Publishing/Music empire!

Exclusive First Peek from SLG Publishing

SLG Publishing did an interview with me last week and posted it to their website.
 Here's the link:

The book was also made available for pre-order over on Amazon!  Pre-order a copy today and help me climb the ranking!  

(as of this post I'm # 227,854 on the "Best Seller" list) 

I'm in the process of figuring out a good gift to give to folks that pre-order, so get a copy and keep a copy of the receipt so you can send it in for some Amity Blamity Awesomeness!  Time to figure out how to make "swag"...

POP Mock Ups

Here's a mock up for a a nice 2-sided poster I'm doing for retailers to put in window or near their point-of-purchase displays.  I'm not sure of the exact price of the book or the exact text but this is what I've been playing around with - it all might change tomorrow ;)

New Poster. Simple, Elegant, Refined...it just needs some iPod earphones :D

Here's a preview of another poster designed for the Amity Blamity 2011 marketing campaign.  

Starting in January we're going to be trying to promote awareness for Amity Blamity Book One hitting the stores in April and available in Previews in February!

Speculation on "Social" Behavior

I was invited to be a Special Guest Writer for one of my favorite comics Lethargic Lad.  I wrote the above comic(based on actual events) which was drawn by my good pal Greg.  Click on the image to visit his site for hilarious comics spoofing Superheroes & Pop Culture.  Don't forget to follow him on Facebook and Twitter!

Amity Blamity Digital Release Covers

With Book One eagerly waiting to be printed and its release in stores everywhere, Amity Blamity will also be available for download through various Digital Comics providers so you can get them on your iDevice or your computer.  I'm not sure when they will be available, but will also make them available here on the blog too :)

New Cover Mock Up

Here's yet another revised mock up for the Book One cover. 

 My good friend Lisa has been helping me out and we're still revising, but this version is closer.  The process got slowed down by some freelance work that came my way, but hopefully we'll have book one locked and loaded by the end of the week :)

Cover Concept v2

Here's another cover mock up that got nixed.  Getting closer though :)

Cover Sketch

Here's a sketch I did for the cover of Book One.  

I'm going to take another stab at it cuz this composition is a bit crammed and probably not a good choice for a cover. 

I like the drawing and it's got a good expressiveness so I figured I'd post it. :)

APE 2010 Round Up

This past weekend I was over at the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco.  All-in-all it was a good time, while sales weren't that great(I heard the same from a lot of the attendees, so I don't feel too bad) the people who did stop by to check things out seemed genuinely interested in the book and it's upcoming release. I got to meet a lot of really cool folks and hang out with my pals Jonathan, Vincent & Jana (all Image central employees coincidentally enough) and all their comics pals who stopped by to check things out :)

I also got to go over more details about AmityBlamity Book One with Dan from SLG...exciting news coming shortly!  As well as meet the amazingly talented Philippa Rice who does one of my favorite comics called "My Cardboard Life"  - if you haven't checked it out here's a link http://mycardboardlife.com/  it's pretty brilliant.  She was all the way over from London England for the weekend!

Finally, I want to give some shout outs to Dave & Nikita who bought early copies of Pigtails and Potbellies back in 2008, their pal Alek, Laurne Davis who is putting out a book called "The Comic Book Guide to the Mission" in which there will be 3 pages by yours truly, and Leef the owner of Mission Comics & Art who I featured in my pages for Laurens book :)  Also, big thanks to all the good people who picked up a copy of Amity Blamity and who shared their stuff with me.  I didn't get to do any shopping so I was thrilled to be able to trade with people for great books!

Well, back to work - as soon as I solidify my exciting news I will post the details :D

Poster Art

Just finished up inking this poster I'm hoping to use at APE this weekend and other upcoming conventions.

Next step...color!

Hoo-RAY! Book One...Done.

Well...kinda.  I just finished the artwork.  It still has to be scanned, lettered and prepped for printing, so there's still quite a bit of work 'til the book is actually "done."  However, the drawing part is pretty much complete and I gotta say it feels pretty good -160 pages, scripted, penciled & inked in 18 weeks. I'm pretty proud to get to the end(kinda). I'm not sure if a lot of people get the opportunity to start a project and get to finish what they start without having to sacrifice it for something more practical so I'm pretty thankful and it's a really nice milestone to hit.  I imagine this is what it's like wrapping principal photography on a movie. 

Here's a shot of the pile of pages...now onward to post-production!

POTD: Background Inks

Here's what a final inked page looks like before it gets scanned.  I do the Lettering and Tone on the computer and drop out the gray from the pencils and then a page is pretty much done!  If i had the time and money, I would print out the text and paste it down and get actual Letratone and apply it to the physical page.  I love seeing old original art that is a photo ready piece, but I don't plan on selling the pages so I guess I can let it slide...unless someone drives a dump truck full of money up to my place ;)

For inking the backgrounds I use pens, just for speed and economy.  Below are the pens of choice for my bg art.  The Pentel Brush pen is probably the nicest brush pen I've ever used.  The ink is nice and the tip feels most like a brush and it saves time from dipping and blotting. I use this mostly for organic type stuff in the bg like leaves or stuff with a soft texture.  The micron pens are: 005(for fine details like woodgrain or hatching) 02(for midgrounds) andthe 05(for bolder lines to bring an edge to the front).  These are typically used on anything hard, like walls, floors furniture etc.

POTD: Inking

At this stage of inking, I'm going through and doing all the characters.  I find that you get into a kind of flow and don't want to stop and switch gears to do the backgrounds so I'll pile up a chunk of pages and when my hand gets tired I can take a break and do the bgs.  Later, I'll do the bgs and props with a pen or brush pen (my subtle little trick to distinguish the characters from the bgs) so I can take them to a coffee shop or something and get out of the house.   Doing bgs and objects is kind of boring to me so it helps to be doing something else at the same time.  The characters are where the life and story is, which is another reason I like to do them separately and nicely with a brush and ink.  

Below are my current inking tools.  Windsor Newton India Ink($5) and a #2 Blick Scholastic Wonder White Round($1.50).  Right now I'm inking up Chapter 6&7 with these and did the rest of the book with different brushes and ink - mostly what I could find at stores close to my place and what was the cheapest.  I think the most I ever paid for a brush was $4 but can't really tell the difference.  Once I bought cheap ink(Sumi Drawing Ink) and I could tell the difference, that stuff was watery and turned out kind of gray.  I like the Windsor Newton and will likely stick with it, it does a nice black and goes on smooth. I'm looking forward to comparing pages and trying to see if a difference in materials made any difference in the art.  Though, my hypothesis is: it's not the materials, but how tired or focused I was at the time!

Photo of the Day: Pre Inking

Finally finished the pencils for Book One! It's kind of like wrapping principal photography on a movie though, there's still a bit of work that needs to be done.  But it's a nice milestone to hit.  I still have to ink the final 2 chapters(about 30 pages) and I usually do it in stages, like my own little assembly line, doing parts at a time.  The first stage is inking all the boxes and speech bubbles.  I usually do these with a Micron pen and whip through a bunch before getting out the brush and india ink.  

The next stage will be inking the characters! 

Photo of the Day: The New Studio

I recently just moved and have a new studio set up and the house.  I also just got that drawing table - prior to this month I was using a portable drawing table with the handle and ruler (you can see it there behind the chair).  Anyhoo, I'm always curious to see the workspace of other artists so I figured I would post this.

Also, for those interested in art materials, here's what I used for penciling. the 2ply Bristol paper is 9x12 but I use a letter sized drawing space because I have a small all-in-one type scanner.  The pencil is a drafting pencil with 4H leads which keep the pencils light so I can drop out the gray after it's inked.  On the far left there, I have my script and do the page layout/compositions in the margin.   

As fot the actual paper, I've used 3 different kinds making Book One.  I can't really tell the difference in quality, so I just go for the cheapest one.  The pad I'm currently using only cost $4.  In the words of an old detergent commercial from way back when : "I can't tell a difference, can you tell the difference?...PRICE is the difference!"

When I get to the inking I'll post more materials related stuff then :)

Photo From The Desk. Page 1 of 4 Penciled Today.

p.40 Landing a new client...

p.39 Quality Assurance is Key

p.38 Envisioning Potential

p.37 Think of the Possibilities!

Speaking of possibilities... i always liked this video, you've probably already seen it - but it's worth watching again :)

This one is also offers up some pretty interesting thoughts

p.36 It's a "Hideout" not a "Spa" ...or IS it?

p.35 Cue "Good Ol Boys" by Waylon Jennings...

p.34 Uncle Downey's aspirations of being Uncle Jesse

p.33 "Have you been rootin' through my trash again?"

p.32 No one in here but us cows..."Moo"

p.31 Thankfully it was a moonshine factory.

p.30 The Leading Cause of Job Related Stress

p.29 Haven't I taught you ANYthing?!

p.28 "Avoiding Strenuous Activity"

The FIRST AmityBlamity Sale Ever!

Monday afternoon a box arrives at my door containing 100 Amity Blamity Sample Books.  The team investigates for bombs and/or treats.

48 hours later the first ever sale of an Amity Blamity product is made :)

Congrats to Mr. Ray Long for being the first (but hopefully not the last!) to purchase the preview edition of AmityBlamity.

It contains the first 3 chapters of the book and is a limited print run of only 100 copies  which I will be taking with me to Chicago this month and to APE in the fall.  They'll all be signed and numbered and more than likely I'll do you a sketch or something on the first page so come on out and say "hello."

p.27 The shortest, most undramatic chase scene (ever) ensues.

p.26 Good Morning Sunshine

p.25 Continuous Deployment / Don't Try This At Home Kids

p.24 Waking Up Is Hard To Do

p.23 Cue "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The WHO (aka the CSI Miami theme) Feat. Chester as David Caruso

p.22 A compelling argument for homeland security