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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

2010 Missile Mouse Giveaway

I love the end of the year. It's always very introspective for me. I like looking back at old posts and reading old journal entries from the last 12 months. Seeing where I've been and all. 2010 was a busy year. And to carry on with the tradition started last year and in honor of Missile Mouse: Rescue On Tankium3 coming out it's I'm having another Missile Mouse Giveaway!

The 2010 Missile Mouse Giveaway

The Prize:

1) The original inked art for the back cover to Missile Mouse: Rescue On Tankium3 (11 x 17in).

2) A signed hardcover copy of Missile Mouse: Rescue On Tankium3.

3) A signed hardcover copy of Missile Mouse: the Star Crusher.

4) A signed copy of Flight Explorer.

Just like last year there are multiple chances to win and you can enter up to SIX times. Here’s how:

1) Comment on this post. Make sure to include your email in the “email” field (will not be published) and let me know what your favorite post of 2010 was. I’m also interested in knowing what you’d like to see more of for 2011. This counts for ONE entry.

2) If you have a blog, mention this contest with a link to this post. This counts for ONE entry.

3) If you have a Twitter account follow me on Twitter and retweet my tweet about this contest, or mention this contest with a link to this post. This counts for ONE entry.

4) Want to get the edge? Order something from my online shop. This counts for THREE entries.

That’s it! Good luck. Contest ends in one week. On the night of Wednesday, January 5th 2011 I’ll randomly select the winner and announce it on Thursday. Cool?

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Missile Mouse: Rescue On Tankium3 Flip Through

The release of Missile Mouse: Rescue On Tankium3 is just weeks away! Last week I got a finished copy in the mail from my editor and I was blown away with how well it turned out. I'm really proud of this one.

Here's a couple shots of it:
Missile Mouse: Rescue on Tankium3

Missile Mouse: Rescue on Tankium3

Here's a quick video of me flipping through it (P.S. My iphone filmed this sideways and I don't have any video editing software so you get a sideways video. Fun!):


One of my favorite things about this book was I had some space in the back to fill. So I made a guide to the Missile Mouse universe and drew some cutaways and diagrams of some of the vehicles and characters in the book. Here's a sample:

YA-33 Foxrunner

Friday, October 22, 2010

Missile Mouse Book 2

First off, thanks for all the warm wishes in the last post. I'm feeling much better.

My next Missile Mouse book is available for pre-order on Amazon (available Jan 1). It's called Missile Mouse: Rescue on Tankium3, and I couldn't be happier with it. I thought I'd share some cover illustrations for it.

Below is the final illustration, cropped with the title and type treatments, just as it will look on the printed version:Missile Mouse Book 2 Cover Final

This is the raw cover illustration. Wanted to leave plenty of room for trimming:Missile Mouse Book 2 Cover Color

And this is the initial sketch I sent for approval:Missile Mouse Book 2 Cover Pencils

Related posts:

Missile Mouse Book 2 is finished!

Missile Mouse book 2 Inks: FINISHED

This post was brought to you by the good people at Draw Force:

Draw Force

Friday, April 30, 2010

Missile Mouse Book 2 is finished!

I uploaded the files last week and aside from a few odds and ends (back cover illo, title page illo, etc) it is done. If you recall back in February I posted a few inked pages. Here they are in color:

MM: Book 2 page 001

MM: Book 2 page 002

MM: Book 2 page 003

And here's the rest of the book in thumbnail form.

Missile Mouse Book 2 Colored Pages

Like the last book, major props go out to all those who helped me on this book. Specifically, Anthony Wu, and Jason Caffoe who assisted me on coloring the thing and Katie Smith who corrected all my spelling errors. Also, my wife was hugely instrumental in helping me to get this done. Her support and whip-crackery kept me going. She gets the Wife of the Year Award.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Missile Mouse book 2 Inks: FINISHED

Last night I finished inking my second graphic novel which also happens to be my second Missile Mouse book. At 146 pages it's a good 26 pages less than my first book, but it was no less daunting. I tried to push the action, explore the environments, and expand the characters more than in the first one. And so far I'm extremely happy with it. I can't wait to dig into coloring this thing. Deadline is in March so there's a lot of work to do fast.

Missile Mouse book 2 Inks


And these are the casualties of the war in graphic novel making. Each of these brave little soldiers fought valiantly for the cause giving all that they could give. Being all they could be. They actually still have a little ink left in them, it's just the tips wear out before the ink does. Maybe I'm pushing too hard.

Casualties of War


And here's a little sneak peak at the first three pages:

MM02 - 001

MM02 - 002

MM02 - 003

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Fixing It Old School

How to fix an inking mistake with out using Photoshop (aka how comics use to be made).

You guys asked for more how to/process stuff so here you go. While working on Missile Mouse Book 2 on Saturday the perfect opportunity presented itself to make a nice "how to."

Ok, this has to have been one of the most hair-pullingly-frustrating pages I've done...ever. Although there are several names I've thought to call this little devil it is simply known in the Parker house as "Page 86." One reason the experience was so frustrating was it should have been a painlessly easy page to draw.

Get in, draw it, get out, on to the next page.

But I ended up spending a whole afternoon on it! Right now I'm averaging about 1.15 hours to ink a page, a little fast for my taste, but the deadline is looming. It is important to note this whole thing could have been avoided if I was working at a more thoughtful leisurely pace. Right now the pace is "highly motivated to meet my deadline." So, I've been using a little more white out than usual.

All right, lets get on to it.

The Set Up:

I started with my roughs. After seeing MM's robot partner destroyed by the cave monster he positions himself in front of the large pipe of explosive fuel. The monster charges, MM rockets out of the way and BOOM! the monster is toast.

Here's the roughs. Pages 84-87:
084-085
086-087
I had a last minute impression to show Missile Mouse in the same shot with the explosion. I thought it might be cool to show him getting thrown off balance by the force of the explosion. So I inked it up, and upon finishing realized the whole sense of scale was off. The explosion looked like happened right under him. That, and MM just looked funny in that pose. Like his head was dislocated.
0102
I hate scrapping a finished page, but I couldn't stand to look at this one. The errors were too glaring. And I wasn't going to let page 86 bring the book down. So I started over.

Here's the new page. This time I made a better boom, and made it look like he was rocketing away from the splosion. Canned the idea of him getting thrown off, and kept him in control of the situation. And using perspective (which I learned in the seventh grade, but apparently it fell out of my head while drawing the last page) I made it look like the explosion was far behind him instead of in his lap. Ah, much better. Smooth sailing from here on out, right?

03


Wrong. You noticed the page isn't finished though. That's because right around now I realized I had forgotten to draw his blaster in his hand. Gah! Closer look:

04

No blaster.

Also, I showed my wife and she asked what was going on with the smoke exhaust from MM's rocket. I said he's winding away from the explosion. She said it looked stupid. Ok. She's right.

At this point I'm contemplating packing up up and going home. But no, I realize if I do that the page wins. I'm going to bring this battle to the page and fight it on his turf.

Side note: Due to space constraints in my home right now, my computer is up on the second floor in my bedroom. My drafting table and art space is down in the dank dusty unfinished basement. Nestled between the water meter and the furnace. I like it this way because the computer can be a huge distraction. And being down there where no kids like to set foot allows me to get into the "zone" easier. It also has motivated me to keep things old school and fix it right on the page instead of saving it for Photoshop. I like doing it this way because at the end of the day I have a finished inked page, and not some random bits of drawings that need to be scanned in and pieced together.

The Process:

Ok, now to the process boys and girls. This is how your grandfather fixed a mistake on a comic page:

Step 1: Draw!

Make a new layer...I mean, place a new sheet of paper over your drawing and, using a light box for proper placement and proportion, draw the hand holding the blaster how it should have been drawn in the first place.

Step 2: Cut!

Once it's drawn you'll use a thing called an X-Acto knife to cut it out. It's like the lasso tool, but real. (You notice the correction tape on the circle area. I'm even screwing up the drawing I'm fixing my drawing with.)

05

Step 3: Placement!

You'll want to make sure it's going to fit right on the page. At this point mark where you're going to put it so you know what other parts of the drawing to white out.
06

Like this. I use the Tombo correctional tape for all my mistakes. Inking mistakes I mean. Glides on smooth and dry.

07

Step 4: Paste!

My wife had the perfect tool for this. The Martha Stewart glue pen. Worked like a charm! Thanks honey.
08
09

Pasted! But not done yet.

10

Step 5: Seamlesstify!

Ink around the edges of the paper and over the whited out areas to make the addition fit seamlessly with the rest of the drawing.
12

Also took care of the stupid looking smoke trail. Thanks honey!

Ink the rest and stick a fork in it 'cause it's done!

13

Final note: After looking at it again, and rereading the roughs I think the original rough for 86 is right. I should have just stuck to the original idea to have a huge explosion with no Missile Mouse. I'll come back to it after the whole book is inked and see how it flows with the rest of the book.