Reference Photos

Have to shoot some reference photos for Ty and we’re out of toner for all the printers in the house. Pointed out that he can just look at the reference photos on his monitor which made him complain a lot–which makes me wonder how he ever managed back in The Old Days with those itsy little ol’ Polaroids.  (To be fair, I do know that it’s because that means he’ll have to sit in his computer chair at his desk to draw, rather than lounging in his comfy drawing chair on the other side of the room.)  And how much money we’ve saved with the switch to digital cameras! (Which got balanced out by all those children so…still broke!).

Ty always goes on and on about how good I am at taking all his reference photos–probably because I was always so conscious of how much that damned Polaroid film cost, and that you only got 10 (?) shots in a package. So, we had to make every one count.

And I always preferred shooting the photos to having to ‘star’ in them…I’ve told tales of being four days postpartum and having to sit on the exercise bike in my skivvies pretending to be Wonder Woman riding a kangaroo–seriously–and the baby started crying, so I had him in one arm, and posing the whole time.  The following Batman cover I remember well.  We would look at Ty’s sketches and try to figure out how to get the reference shot in just one photo–because of those pricey Polaroids! Nowadays, it would be three or four pictures. But for that one, I remember having to pile all the sofa cushions in the corner of the sofa and balancing precariously on top of them, head completely over the edge, preparing to topple to the floor at any moment. The Batman and Robin figures would have been so easy–either I would have stood at the top of our very steep stairs shooting down at Ty…or those might have been down with him lying down on the floor reaching out toward me.

I always wonder what the neighbours would have thought if they could have seen any of what we got up to for these shots…)

(I’ve Googled and Googled, and I can’t find Ty’s pinup of Wonder Woman riding a kangaroo…wish I could remember what it was for…  It would have been done in February 1996, so it would have been published probably that summer).

Working…

It’s been a long strange summer (after a long strange spring and a long…blah blah blah) but Fan Expo Canada is this weekend which must mean it’s coming to an end! For our family, Fan Expo has always been the “official” sign that summer vacation is over and that school is around the corner. Ty would always take the eldest boy living in our house on the Friday who would ‘suss out’ the show for the younger kids (used to be Kellam, but he ended up working the show for years whilst an employee of The Silver Snail. Despite quitting the store, he’s actually helping them set up today, and will be at the booth tomorrow and Sunday).

Sunday we’d take the whole family and let the kids check everything out, usually in some costumes they’d insisted I put together THE NIGHT BEFORE…

This year, I’m going to be at the show myself for the whole four days with my own little table as well. Probably my table will end up with Ty’s art on it (given that I flat/colour/letter lots of his stuff that still counts), but there I will be. I’m sitting at PO56B, between David J. Cutler and Mr. Keiren Smith, as part of The Northern Guard art team.

Issue 2, page 9

Ty will be running a couple of workshops for the show. On Thursday, 5-6pm, he’ll be heading up Make Your Own Comic:  Assembling Holmes Incorporated #2, along with some of the creators, and assisstant editor Rob Pincombe. Toronto Cartoonists Workshop has a booth in the lobby area of FanExpo where you’ll be able to buy copies of the comic and meet creators.

Art by Leonard Kirk, colours by me, Concept/characters by Ty Templeton

On Saturday from 12-1pm, Ty will run Ty Templeton’s Comic Book Bootcamp to give people just a hint of what it’s like to take the full course with Ty. (courses available through TCW–the workshop will run Mondays or Tuesdays beginning September 12, but spaces are going fast).

Later that day, 4-5pm, Ty and his buddy Dan Slott will run Superhero Stew:  Create a Character with audience input. All the workshops will be in Room 717.

I’ll be walking in the room at 6pm to moderate Watercolour Masterclass with Jill Thompson. Not that Ms. Thompson will need any help from me–I’ll be there to help her field questions from the audience and maybe ask a few of my own.

On Sunday, from 4-5pm, I’ll be moderating a Painting Workshop with Jason Edmiston, (cover artist for The Northern Guard amongst many other things).

Heroes of the North, the Canadian superheroes webseries for whom I’ve lettered comics (and coloured their latest Hornet:  Dark Origins) will be in Booth 211. They will also be having a Meet and Greet on Friday, Room 713, from 4:30pm.

Story by Yann Brouillette, Art by MAS, colours/letters by me

And…Tights and Fights, the comedy Canadian superhero webseries will be there as well, in Booth 1000. At some point during the weekend, you might find me there…their webcomic is available online now.

Art by Christopher Yao, Story by Rob Pincombe, colours/letters by me

So…hope to see you there.

Keiren

Heroes of the North–Hornet: Dark Origins

Just finished up some work for the Heroes of the North. I’ve done lettering for them before, but this is the first time I’ve coloured…wildly intimidating following MAS colouring his work as he has an incredibly distinctive and amazing style, so I just went off in my own direction. Click through and give it a read, and make sure you check out the whole site–it’s amazing what this production company has managed to do with their own money to make this webseries and webcomic series.

Art by MAS, story by Yann Brouillette, colours/letters by me

 

The Tights and Fights: Ashes

Wow–it’s been a while, I’d almost forgot this book! More of a mini-book (I think 13 pages?). I coloured and lettered this for the webseries Tights and Fights…and now it’s available on their homepage! Art by Christopher Yao, script by Robert Pincombe. Click through and check it out:

The Tights and Fights:  Ashes comic book

 

 

 

Prometheus Bun Toons

Normally, I try and promote The Guy’s weekend ‘Toons when I can (especially if it can be self-serving and promote me as well)…but I was a bit hamstrung yesterday as he asked me not to mention N*** or Sp*** or the Sp*** Sh*****…but it seems people have been able to find it, and read it.

Check out the artwork by Jason Laudadio which is incredible. And somehow, I neglected to add my lettering credit. I think I thought it threw off the balance of the the title and the names. Sometimes it just isn’t about me!

Click on the first page to read the full story over at ART LAND!!

Holmes Incorporated #2 OUT TOMORROW!!

All the work I’ve been doing the last few weeks is going to pay off soon–for you, the reader! Tomorrow night is the official Launch Party for the new studio location of Toronto Cartoonists Workshop, and for the second issue of Holmes Incorporated.  The print issue will be available for purchase at the school tomorrow, and we’ll be announcing soon it’s availability on digital comic book download sites.

As always, check out the Holmes Incorporated website–the creators have all participated by writing tutorials based on what they used/learned working on their stories. And all the creator bios are available there with links to their own sites if you want to see more of their work.

Pencils and Inks by Leonard Kirk, colours by me

I lettered all 76 pages of art…and did the production on the whole darned issue so all the glorious mistakes can be blamed on me and me alone; none of that hunting around for who all screwed up (it’s been a long morning of file-fixes and glitches–can you tell?).

So…mark Friday on your calendar, and sit by your computer awaiting word!

The Family Name by James Cooper and Daniel Wong

The Last Tango by Darius Fox and Christopher Yao

Poker Face by Rain Infinity

Old Wounds by Mike Marano, Grant Howarth and Kellam Templeton-Smith

Eight Seconds to Mayhem by Kathleen Gallagher and Danny Setna

Polarized by Sam Ruano and Gibson Quarter

Safe by Aaron Feldman, Rachael Wells and Ty Templeton

The Old Man and the Sea Monster by Dino Caruso and Pierce Desrochers-O'Sullivan

Mind Spiders of Madagascar by Robert Pincombe and Dawnson Chen

Underwater by Yolanda Cheung, Robert Pincombe and Kellam Templeton-Smith

Enabled by Vince T., inks by Jeff Longstreet

The Green-Blooded Murder by Marshall Geddes, inks by Jeff Longstreet

Holmes Incorporated #2 pinup

by the One the Only Gibson Quarter. Haven’t had a chance to work with Gibson in a while, so this was a lot of fun. Bit disappointed though–I’d made a point of trying to bump up my colours and sex them up a bit and while I was happy when I was finished, now that I’m seeing it “out and about” on the ‘net, it’s not quite the same. So, I may have to go in and see what I can do (when I have some free time, of course).

Holmes Inc. #2–starting production

The editor has approved all the lettering I’ve done for Holmes Inc. #2 (so nice when he lives in the same house–he says “fix this” and I fix it, and it’s good to go in seconds).  So, I’ll be working like mad for the next two days to get it off to the printer’s for tomorrow afternoon.

"Eight Seconds to Mayhem" written by Kathleen Gallagher, drawn by Danny Setna, lettered by Keiren Smith

And more Holmes Inc. #1 online sites…

cover by Ty Templeton

Everywhere you look, you can download Holmes Incorporated #1 for FREE!  Okay, maybe not everywhere…but it’s in a lot of places.

You can click here:

8

or click here:

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or click here:

Check out each of the sites; wander around and see what else is available. They all have substantial reasons to recommend themselves.

Welcome to Holmes Incorporated

script by Greg Dunford/art by Christopher Yao

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Nightclubbing

script by Kathleen Gallagher/art by Eden Bachelder

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Peril in Paris

script by Mike Marano/pencils by Alex Greychuck/inks by Dean Dumont

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Flight Plan

script by Rob Pincombe/art by Gibson Quarter/inks by Ty Templeton

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Spring Loaded

script by Maddy Beaupré/pencils and letters by Rachael Wells/inks by Pierce Desrochers-O’Sullivan

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The Bobby Bomber

script by Rob Oakman/pencils by Jeff Rusland/inks by Jeff Longstreet

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The Fingerless Prince

script by Heather Emme/art by Adam Gorham

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International Incident

script/art/letters by Pierce Desrochers-O’Sullivan

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All lettering by me ‘cept for Spring-Loaded and International Incident.

HOLMES INCORPORATED #1 AVAILABLE ONLINE

According to the Holmes Inc. website, Holmes Incorporated #1 is now available online–and FOR FREE!! Plans are also afoot to have it available as a free PDF download. Currently available as a front-page promotion on Drive Thru Comics, but keep an eye on the Holmes Inc. site as they’ll be announcing ALL the other sites that will be hosting it as well.

click here for The Goodness!