Ted Happle

Sketchbook sketch. Rushing right now to get as much work done as possible before we leave for Halifax in about 3 weeks! Plus dealing with stress brought about about by no checks or contracts because of the postal strike. Freelancing is tough!

I've been writing some more Maddy Kettle as well. I think I have about 5 books figured out. My drawing is going faster but I keep pausing to make sure the quality doesn't lag. It's a constant balancing act.

Also checking out Google+, Google's new social networking site. Interesting.... It'd be nice if there was no games.

Bo!

Publish Post

A drawing I did of Bo Diddley with a brushpen and coloured in Photoshop. I love Bo Diddley! And he seems like a really cool guy. If you don't know his stuff listen here.

Julie's finally finished up report card at the school she's teaching at, which frees up time for me! It's been frustrating balancing things with her so busy. But things are getting back to normal in that regard.

We're actually all leaving on a road-trip in a few weeks, back to Halifax for the Summer. I have a studio there so I'm hoping the disruption will be pretty minimal.

The Seadragon

A little sketch for a future project I'm writing in some quiet moments. Something that explores things like science, cold war intrigue, Canadian geography... All in a adventure story. Maybe not something I can get to any time soon but when you have an idea you have to run with it for a bit to see what it's all about.

Currently working on Maddy Kettle pencils, the process is starting to speed up a bit but I want to make sure the whole book is high quality so I'm trying to be careful...

Self Portrait, With Some Herge And Toth Mixed In (Also, A note On Simplicity)

A bit repetitive if you've already seen my new banner but here's the original brush drawing. I initially wanted to try a self portrait in the style of Alex Toth but it started to veer toward Herge/Tintin territory so I went with it. In fact the colours in the banner are lifted directly from a Tintin book cover.No matter how detailed I draw the true pleasure is always in simplifying for me. It's an amazing process.

What I'm Reading

 Tintin And The Secret Of The Unicorn by Herge

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne

20, 000 Leagues Under The Sea And Some Brush Talk

I've been rereading one of my all time favorite books, and one of the best adventure stories ever 20, 000 Leagues Under The Sea and was inspired to sketch a couple of the characters. At top is the narrator Professor Aronnax and on the bottom is Ned Land, the Canadian. It's such a great read. You can get it free here on Project Gutenberg.

I did these drawings with a brushpen from Deleter, a Japanese company. I would really love to work more with a brush, there something so great about the lines. And it's like I can use all my oil painting knowledge in a sense. Working with brushes is actually a bit harder than using a pen, to me. Maybe my next project after Maddy Kettle.

New On Twitter!! 10 O'clock Art!!

Great ideas are hatched on Twitter sometimes and Russel Dickerson had a prize worthy one yesterday. A fun new idea, at 10 AM your time (whatever time zone you're in) post to Twitter whatever is on your artboard, computer screen etc. at the moment. It's just a fun way to have new art rolling in all day. Do you follow me on Twitter? If not you can start right here.

My drawing is a warm up drawing of Professor Aronnax from Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues under the sea done in brushpens and white ink in my sketchbook. I'll be doing another 20,000 Leagues related post tomorrow.

On The Drawing Table Today.

Some sketchbook sketches and something else. The buildings are the neighbors house and the house behind. It's a little piece of the neighborhood I've drawn over and over again. It's just a nice and unusual grouping of shapes. Also a doodle of Henry.

Today I'm going back and forth between two projects, lettering for a comic and roughs for a book cover. Quite a bit of work but not too bad. The cover is very fun to draw. More on that later.

I really enjoy this kind of post, a quick snapshot of what's happening right now in my work space.

Sudden Bustle

After a relative calm things have suddenly gotten busy again with Maddy Kettle, a British book cover and edits on another comic. Phew! I think things'll go back to normal next week but I'm not counting on it.

Pencil Train

I'm working on the next lot of Maddy Kettle pencils right now. Also waiting to hear back on two other projects. And of course, amidst all this work I had a great idea for a new adventure series. I'm starting to not believe in writers block. I think the opposite is the problem, more stories than I have time for. I'm not complaining though!

Currently reading 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. I read it years ago but I didn't remember how amazing it is. One of the best adventure stories I've read. I can't recommend it highly enough. A great mix of high adventure, humour, science and a little bit of world building. It's free on Project Gutenberg, so go grab it! I think this summer is going to be about reading all the adventure stories I missed.

Happy Father's Day Part Two, This Time With Batman And Monsters!

Because you asked... Henry and I spent some time drawing Batman and monsters together to celebrate father's day. Here's a picture!

A Very Happty Father's Day To All

From about the age of two on I didn't have have a father, he died before I could get to know him at all. Father's Day at school was a bit sad. They'd get me to make card's for uncles. Ugh. Not the same. I can't tell you how great it's been to actually celebrate Father's Day. Even if it is a silly holiday.

What I'm Reading

 Krazy And Ignatz 1919 to 1920 by George Herriman

 King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard

A Smithsonian Book Of Comic Book Comics 

 Starting to put together my summer reading list. This summer looks to be about adventure! I'm thinking of reading through all of H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quatermain books over the summer. Plus any other ripping adventures that come along. If you have a favorite adventure book let me know and I'll add it to my reading list.

Meanwhile In Pencil Land....

Above is another early panel from the Harry & Silvio minicomics. I'm deep into penciling Maddy Kettle right now and I'll post some soon. My process right now is to pencil 10 pages and then ink 10 pages. I find this keeps me engaged and stops my pencils from getting too unfinished.

Putting together reading lists and playlists for the summer. Looking at the books I'm reading made me wonder what kind of story Maddy Kettle is. Is it a fantasy story? An adventure story? I think it's both. For the last few years I've probably read more adventure stuff than fantasy. I love fantasy, especially world building but it seems it's a great adventure that makes a story meaningful to me.

Comic Book Tools And Materials Part Seven: Photoshop And The Cintiq

Initially I had bought a Cintiq thinking I might ink all of Maddy Kettle digitally, thinking it might speed things up a bit. What I've discovered is that drawing digitally is no faster than drawing by hand. At least not the way I draw. It is very good at developing sketches, I ended up redoing all my thumbnail pages on the Cintiq and the quality of them was far better than the first ones I had done in marker. You can move quickly, drawing and erasing with ease. Fantastic for fast sketches. The Cintiq is also great at colouring, but I'm not there yet.

At the moment I'm using it for revisions and corrections, which is amazing, simply drawing over the inks on an another layer. Though the drawings are at a level of finish that they don't need a lot of correction.

I had also intended to hand letter it using the Cintiq, but so far my lettering hasn't kept up to my drawing. I honestly thought it would automatically get better but I still struggle with lettering. I may end up using a font. Still not sure. I'm so jealous of all you great letterers. I'm still pretty new to the Cintiq, so I'll report more as I go along but so far it's found it's way into my comic book work but is more useful in my illustration work.

The Mouse

Just finished the first Fanatagraphics collection of Floyd Gottfredson Mickey Mouse adventure stories and I'm bowled over. I just love them. Great drawings, great stories and a rollicking cartoon adventure. It's so great to read fun comic books. Even if they are 80 odd years old. Grab this book for yourself!

I drew this with a Japanese brushpen and a Cintiq.

Some Early Thoughts On eReaders

I've had an amazon Kindle about 2 weeks or so know so I feel confident saying a few things about it. I've actually gotten a lot of traction out of it. It's easier to handle than a 300 plus page novel or collection of political essays. It's very light. I did buy a holder for it which makes it slightly heavier, but it's still much lighter than a book. Maybe the weight of a thin paperback of maybe 200 or less pages. I'm pretty much won over by it. Most of the drawbacks have to do with the way books are formatted, which is the job of the publisher, I think.

I mainly just wanted to mention there is a lot of potential here for comics. Maybe not in this device but ePaper is very easy on the eyes and I'd love to see more experimenting in this direction. Rather than back-lit devices like most Apple devices. Of course, I doubt things will go that way.

Just a couple of initial thoughts.....

What I'm Reading

                                    Micky Mouse Race To Death Valley by Floyd Gottfredson

 

                                                The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Gone Fishun'

Hello! Having a bit of a mini vacation today. Reading mostly. I'm all sore from a long stretch of long days coupled with a heavy low pressure system that is making me bow over like a reed in the wind. No idea if that's scientific or not. Who cares? Right? So far today I've walked the dog, taken Henry out for an ice cream and read Mickey Mouse comics.

Above is a very early Silvio drawing, from the first mini, maybe 5 or 6 years ago.

Almost There

Just about finished 5 pages of Maddy Kettle. That doesn't seem like much but the rest is in varying stages of completion. I want to have the first 5 done to send off to the publisher for review. Today I'm doing some final touches in Photoshop.

The Sweltering Second Story Studio

I don't usually like to devote a post to complaining about the weather, but boy is it hot! Yeesh. Thankfully, the heat seems to be breaking this morning with the promise of rain. But the last few days have been gross. Especially in my top floor studio.

Today I'm completing work on the first lot of completed Maddy Maddy Kettle pages. I've been doing revisions on a Tor.com book for the last two weeks and after the Maddy pages I had intended to take a couple of days off. But I just got an offer for a cover contract that sounds way too cool to turn down. So my mini vacation has been pushed back a couple of weeks. Which is fine. I'd be drawing anyway.

Elderly Rat Pirate

Another old minicomic image. Not much to report today. Almost done the first lot of inks on the Maddy Kettle book. Looking forward to a couple of days off. The heat here is wild, we've been dropped into mid summer!

I Predict A Very Busy Year

This is an image from an old Harry & Silvio comic that I quickly colourd. I think I'll be posting a lot of refurbished old images as life keeps getting busier, especially with Maddy Kettle going full swing and working on the odd illustration job. I just don't see me producing a lot of new art outside of this. I'll carry my sketchbook everywhere, like I always do, so there will be some. Just not as much as before.

Comic Book Tools And Materials Part Six: Inks

Another art supply that has been on my shelf for a long time is Daler Rowney's FW Acrylic Artists Inks. The black India ink is still my favorite black ink, very rich and very dark. If I spot blacks with FW inks and also with a marker on a page the FW blacks will be much, much darker. It is very smooth and clogs infrequently. It's acrylic based, which I think gives it a certain thick consistency without gumming up too badly. It's also the most water resistant ink I've used so far, drying quickly and staying on the paper when I apply watercolour over top. I use the India ink for outlining characters and spotting blacks. In an illustration I may use all dip pens and FW India ink.

I also use the FW white ink, which is pretty good but not perfect. It usually will cover black ink but it's opacity is inconsistent. At least in my experience. Sometimes the ink will go on watery , barely covering the black ink. This usually requires me to stir the ink up again. The white ink has pigment that seems to detach itself from the liquid and settle at the bottom. This can be pretty frustrating. I simply haven't found anything better, so FW white will have to do. I've tried a number of other white inks but all of them lack the opacity of FW, and cover the black ink with a pale see through wash. I've also tried white acrylic paint, gouache and a number of corrective fluids, none of which do the trick. I actually like the opacity of white out but it's so gummy that it's impossible to use on delicate lines, which is what I need it to do. I have found FW white ink works better when using a brush, rather than a pen. So, sometimes I'll use a very thin brush, like a 0 or smaller to apply these lines. If you've discovered any magical white ink let me know!

I should mention that I got my start in choosing the various materials I use from a thick how to comic book by Cerebus artist Dave Sim. I tried to find it online but it's not there, as far as I can tell. A great comic where he goes through all the practical things you need to know about making comics, right down to the brands he uses, which was very helpful.

What I'm Reading

Pluto Volume 5 by Naoki Urasawa, Tintin and the Picaros by Herge, The Mennyms by Sylvia Waugh.

A Very Quick Gorilla Oriented Post

My wife is away for 2 days so I'm here with the 2 year old, managing to get things like Maddy Kettle and blogging down in quick 10 minute snatches here and there. A bit stressful. I'm honestly concerned he's drawing over my Maddy pages with marker or crayons right now.

Above is a gorilla drawing done at the Toronto Zoo and touched up in Photoshop.

Gotta run!

Comic Book Tools And Materials Part Five: The Little Brown Pen And The Million And One Lines On Paper

                                   
                                  ( Another peek at page one of the first Maddy Kettle Book)

The one tool that has been with me without change since I think before high school, is the Sakura Micron Pigma marker.  I remember using these pens when I was 16 or 17 and doing my first small press comics. They are just very, very easy pens to use. They do exactly what you expect, which is a great feature when you're on a deadline. The one drawback to these pens is that they are disposable, and run out of ink after a time. And sometimes the tips bend. So, they're not perfect but I've found nothing better yet. The only pen I've found that are comparable for drawing detail and for reliability are very fine tipped dip pen nibs. For the amount of detail I do I find that a dip pen can be a bit too time consuming. Not just stopping for the dipping but cleaning clogs periodically, which often involves slowly and laboriously scraping off dried ink that has accumulated in the nib. I love dip pens but for some time-tight jobs they aren't very practical.Also, Microns are one of the most waterfast pens I've used. They ink is almost immediately ready to be painted over with a water medium like watercolour or gouache. And they never smudge, in my experience. So if you absentmindedly drag your hand across a freshly drawn page nothing will happen. Unlike brush or dip pen which requires you to be more conscious of the wet ink areas.

I use the 005 sized black Micron. They are available in art stores in most cities I've been to in North America. That's another benefit to these pens, they are common as well as useful.

Two Weeks In The Revisions Chamber

A panel from Jeff Vandermeer's The Situation comic book which I just finished revising after 2 weeks of 12 hour day revisions. I'm starting to feel like I could work on a project for 50 years and still not be completely satisfied. But it is being uploaded to Tor.com 's servers as I type this so this project is pretty much wrapped up. I believe the release will be at the San Diego Comic Con this summer.

Now I'm spending the next few days wrapping up inks for the first lot of Maddy Kettle pages so I can send them to Top shelf. And then a day off. I think....

In unrelated news I just got a Kindle! And it's already loaded with free classics. What a great device. I'll blog about it soon, after I've had some time to really get to know it. The UPS people dropped it off as I was just completing the last3 pages of the Situation and it was very distracting. I persevered though, and got the book done.