24 HOUR COMIC CHALLENGE

 

 

THIS Saturday, January 5 2013, more than thirty creators are going to gather at the home of The Comic Book Lounge & Gallery and Guerilla Printing for an event hosted by my Comic Book Bootcamp, and my studio-mates, Comic Book Embassy. It’s our first ever 24 Hour Comic Challenge Marathon!

Obviously, it’s a take off on Scott McCloud’s 24 Hour Comic Day, which was back on October 20. At the time, we were still getting our workshop space organised, and I think it was the weekend between a couple of comic conventions…all in all, everyone we knew said they were too busy to think of participating.

So, we decided to wait until now, and run one as a way to jump start everyone’s creativity for the year. For those who have always wanted to do a comic book but have been putting it off–jump in feet first and just do it! For some of my students who have been working hard on their skills for the last year, this is a chance to show them off and give them a good workout.

All of Comic Book Embassy will be there participating in the Challenge. Keiren and I will be there as hosts, although I’m thinking that eventually I’ll feel like I have to pick up a pencil and do some drawing myself. Might end doing a bit of live Bun-Tooning during the night.

The participants’ list is now closed, but we’re hoping that if you’re in the neighbourhood, you’ll drop by to say hello, check out the various creators and see how they’re doing with this completely arbitrary and self-imposed schedule! 24 pages in 24 hours! Can they do it? Come down to 587A College Street West, Second Floor, Toronto, Saturday January 5 10:00am to Sunday January 6 10:00 am, and find out!

Ty the Guy OUT!

And for your bonus comic moment:

*

FAN EXPO CANADA 2012: Thursday

And…it’s here!

Starting at 4pm today, it’s Fan Expo. I’ll be there the whole weekend, today Thursday August 23 to Sunday August 26. Today will be a quiet day–I’ll be sketching, signing and telling stories. I’ll have a couple sketchbooks, some Bigg Times, and some copies of Bill the Boy Wonder:  The Secret Co-Creator of Batman.  And I’ll have a stack of my original art to sell as well.

 AND don’t forget–if you’re interested in taking any of my classes at COMIC BOOK BOOTCAMP, you can ask me or Keiren Smith about them, at P30A/B. Come by and pick up a flyer.

Ty the Guy OUT!!

Holmes for the Holidays! Well, Labour Day, anyway!

It’s that time of year again!  When the stunningly skilled graduating class of my Comic Book Bootcamp courses show off their scriptin’ and drawin’ Bona Fides  in another ALL NEW 80 page GIANT issue of mystery-solving Holmsian magnificence.

Ya gotta love that cover by Mississauga neighbour, and bouncing Bootcamp Alumni Adam Gorham (artist for Big Sexy Comics’ TEUTON series, when not knocking a Holmes cover out of the park for the team!).

Like Game of Thrones, only better.

But back to these characters:

art by Daniel Wong, colour by K.T. Smith

Issue three is heading to the printers as we speak, and I’ll be showing off some pages from the delightful contributors in the next few days.  Check back often and be the first on your interweb to see these new creators before anyone else finds ‘em and hires them away to run Marvel Comics.

And if you’re interested in joining the all-scriptin’, all-drawin’ elite team of artists and writers,  classes continue in September.  All ages, genders, orientations and and sizes are welcome, but we allow only one attitude past the door:  You must be willing to participate.

Click on the magic logo, and find about the next courses being taught at the school! We’d love to have you join.

Who knows, maybe next ish, you’ll have a story in the fourth book of the series?  We’ve already helped launch a career or two around here.   Stay tuned for the next batch of stars.

Holmes Inc. art by Gibson Quarter, colours by Keiren Smith.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your BONUS Holmes Incorporated Moment:

Last Year’s striking cover by Marvel X-Factor artist Leonard Kirk!

Eternal Love Bun Toons! YAY!

Whatever you say, dear.

Maybe this will explain things.   I’m not sure what else will…

I’m just happy the magistrate didn’t order me to stop drinking or gambling, or I’d have nothing left to bring me joy.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your LOVE and MARRIAGE Comic Book Bonus:

Does anyone enter marriage with their eyes open?

———————————————————————————————-

For last week's controversial Trayvon Martin Bun Toon, click above.

For every Bun Toon ever, click the controversial rabbit.

Nepotism Friday! Keiren Smith edition!

I always talk about how busy I am around here, creating fine comic book based entertainment for the masses with all those crazy knucklehead characters I get to write and draw….

Like my wildly hysterical script for Avenging Spider-Man #8, (cover by Shane Davis, interiors by Matt Clark), due in stores in just eleven weeks! Silver Sable and Doc Strange Guest Star! Order yours today!

…but my wife has been doing so much colouring work around the funnybook biz lately that this month, she’s got more to read out there than I do.

So, because you should love her as much as I, I’m showing off some pages from her most recent work, with links to where you can read it online.  Who says my home in Toronto isn’t the House of Ideas?  Oh, this Cease and Desist order from Marvel  does.    Well, OTHER than this legal restraint?  Who?  Who?

First up:  A few teaser pages from a HEROES OF THE NORTH story about their characters Nordik and Eightball, available as an online comic book before the print edition comes out later (from Ardden Entertainment; the first omnibus collection sold out, so grab the second one as soon as you see it!-kts).  Read it while it’s free, fans, it just went online a few days ago.

I LOVE the blues she chose.  The pencil and ink artwork is by my friend David J. Cutler, who did the fun-but-hard-to-find-a-copy-of Johnny Canuck and the Northern Guard comic book with me last year.  I just can’t seem to quit David J., but one look at these pages and you can see why I’m a fan.

The lesson of this tale seems to be:  Ladies, dress warmly for cold weather.  Either that or it’s a thrilling murder mystery with cool action sequences and gunfights and stuff, like a good comic book should be.   All in glorious colour for LESS than a dime!  Beat that!

I dig the first panel on this page!

So click on over and read this story and show our Canadian comic book creators a little love.  It’s even better with the word balloons, though it covers up the pretty drawings and the pretty colours.

Keiren also just finished colouring a project called “Taking Flight” for writer Stephen Sutherland and artist Garry McLaughlin, who hail from Glasgow, a town with even more foreboding weather than Toronto.

If you're getting a "Frank Quitely" vibe, you're not alone.

This is the just the first three pages.  It’s available for pre-order at Laser Age Comics, but it won’t be printed up until April 9, so you’ll have to pace and bite at your nails until then.  I really like the colour work my one-and-only did on these pages.  The sense of quiet and peace as this character learns what it’s like to fly is really brought across by the palette she chose.

Here’s a page from a YMCA comic book project Keiren finished a few weeks ago…

The Adventures of Y Guy, written by another Holmes Inc. alumnus Kathleen Gallagher

Pencil art by Christopher Yao this time around…an alumnus of the Holmes Incorporated comic books I put out every year with the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop.  You can read the story here, and pick up the comics at local YMCAs in the Toronto area.

Just so you don’t think I’m a completely lazy sod, I have an issue or two of Ultimate Spider-Man Adventures coming up that I’ve done script and art chores for a story, as well as an issue of the Simpsons I wrote and drew, due in stores any time.  And my OWN Heroes of the North 12 pager in the pipeline for early summer.  Oh, and don’t forget tasty, tasty BACON!! (more on this as it crisps and develops).

But you guys get enough of me around here.

Check out the work of my own personal comic book colourist (her deviantART site), and let her know she’s pretty good at this gig.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your Keiren Templeton-Smith Bun Toon Bonus Moment:

One of Keiren's first appearances as a bunny in a Bun Toon from the early 90s!

Signal Weak…

…but will soon strengthen.

After a long couple of weeks, Ty’s finding himself a little more buried under his workload than usual (especially after spending four days away in Montreal, two of those at the wonderful Montreal Comicon)…so he asked me to post a quickie message to say,

“Today’s Bun Toon is delayed–but will be up later today!”

Have faith, Faithful Bun Toon Readers…and maybe read some past Bun Toons to fill the void. (Personally, I recommend, “The Honest-to-God True Life Adventures of the Freelancer’s Wife”)

Keiren

FanExpo Saturday!!

Today is a busy day for Ty at Fan Expo Canada 2011.  For sketches, signatures and stories check his table at P-O57A. If he’s not there, I should be and can give you a sense of when he’ll be back (or I’ll just tell some stories of my own!).

From 12-1pm, you can find Ty in Room 717, teaching a mini Comic Book Bootcamp. (Just a taste of what you get if you sign up for the workshop Ty teaches through Toronto Cartoonists Workshop. Next class starts September 12; spaces are limited).

The magic begins at 4pm in Room 717. For those of you wondering just how Ty and Dan Slott come up with characters for their stories, make sure to check out Superhero Stew:  Create a Character with Dan Slott and Ty Templeton. (**Not sure yet who is replacing Dan for this workshop, if anyone)

(and, it has nothing to do with Ty–or Dan Slott!–but I will be moderating Watercolour Masterclass with Jill Thompson, 6-7pm, in Room 717.)

Keiren

Happy Birthday to my favorite comics professional! YAY!

This post is unforgiveably late in the day, but better late than never.

Script: Mike Marano. Art: Alex Greychuck. Letters: K.T. Smith. You think it was easy fitting all those word balloons on that page and not cover up a single figure?!?

Today is the birthday of my favorite comics pro: a letter and a colorist named K. T. Smith, who has done more for Canadian comics and cartoonists in the last few years than most of the trees in Quebec. (That’s not even counting her Marvel and DC credits!)

Script: James Cooper. Art: Daniel Wong. Letters: K.T. Smith

It’s one of the unknown truths that bad lettering can make a good comic look amateurish, and great lettering can make a second rate comic look professional.  And sometimes the letterer has one of the most crucial jobs on the page.  This is entertainment that has to be read, and if you can’t read it, you can’t be entertained by it.  Smith has pulled off some of the most impressive rescues I’ve seen, finding every single space possible for word balloons, and making crowded pages looks smooth and easy.  And it’s something NOT easy to do.

Script: George Olenick. Art: Sam Agro. Colours and Letters: K.T. Smith

Here’s a gig for a comic series called “BLUE REMOTE” where the editor asked her to make every page predominantly blue in the colour scheme (to remind you of the title, I suppose) and it comes across as natural, without calling attention to itself.  That’s not easy to do.

Art: Gibson Quarter. Colours: K.T. Smith

And when she’s allowed to pick the palette herself, I LOVE the colours she chooses.   Dig that polluted sky in Mega-City 1.

Script: Ty Templeton. Art: David J. Cutler. Colours and Letters: K.T. Smith

There’s a reason I’ve hired her for a couple of jobs myself.  Her bold choices remind me a little of the bright styles of old-school comics, while still making those subtle effects common in modern comic shine.

Script: Ty Templeton. Art: David J. Cutler. Colours and Letters: K.T. Smith

There’s more going on in these pages that the reader knows.  Any fool can put colours on the page with photoshop, but it takes skill to move the eye in the right direction, to keep from overwhelming the pencils with meaningless spots of contrast.  She’s good at the subtle stuff.

Art: Leonard Kirk. Colours: K. T. Smith

All right.  That’s enough gushing.  I just wanted to show off why I’m so fond of Smith’s work, and wish her a happy birthday.   I’d tell her myself, but she’s upstairs colouring and lettering a pile of pages for “HEROES OF THE NORTH” (the multi-media Canadian super-hero project I was blogging about on Tuesday) that are amongst the best pages she’s ever done.   I’d post them here, but it’s not my project, and I can’t exactly give out sneak peeks without the editor’s permission.  But I’ll let you know when it’s done, ’cause you guys will love it.

Happy Birthday, Keiren.  I’d have married you even if you WEREN’T a skilled professional, but it sure helps when I have deadlines.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your BONUS Keiren Templeton-Smith moment:

Yeah, she’s THAT gorgeous, too.

The Previews Continue! Yay!

I promised ‘em, and here they come:  more sneak peaks at the new TORONTO CARTOONISTS WORKSHOP comic that EVERYONE’S talking about in reverent awe.

As if the last blog entry wasn’t enough to send everyone into fidgety anticipation of Friday’s launch of the newest issue, I’m back again to give out the free samples of what awaits our legion of readers when the book gets published on Friday.  I’ve seen the whole book, so I know how wonderful it is, but I envy you people getting to see it for the first time.

Our next preview pages are from the delightful team of Mighty Mike Marano scripting, Gorgeous Grant Howarth layouts and grey tones, and introducing Killer Kellam Templeton-Smith on inks.   

There's nothing worse that having a computer come to murder you, just because of your name!

I wonder what that guy is going to look like when he crawls out of the computer core…I suspect it looks really cool.   I suspect the story is equally gripping! We never give you readers less than the best.

Next, the first of TWO entries by Racin’ Rob Pincombe, our assistant editor, and easily the hardest working man in comics, no matter what you hear about Tom Brevoort.

The MIND SPIDERS OF MADAGASCAR…written by Rob and beautifully illustrated by Dapper Dawnson Chen.   Warning: If you have a phobia about Mind-Spiders, you might want to look away, and latecomers will not be seated during the fight sequence with the SPIDER-QUEEN!

Wait…we’re stopping it there?  But…what  happens next?  What’s so extraordinarily BAD?

We’d like to tell you, but we have to move on to another thrill-a-minute mystery.  The script for this oceanic opus was written by the Amazing Yolanda Cheung, who intended to draw the tale herself, but was called away by a higher duty.  Racin’ Rob and Killer Kellam stepped in on the art chores at the last minute, and I’ll be darned if they didn’t knock it out of the park!  You heard me right- the writer of the last story, stepped in and drew this next one, and the inker for OLD WOUNDS, stepped in an inked another one.  This is the sort of dedication that you readers deserve.

Who doesn’t love an old man kicking ass in a transforming aquatic wheelchair?  Can I get a witness?

And wait until you witness THIS western tale.  Written by “Calamity” Kathleen Gallagher, with art by Dynamite Danny Setna!  Kathleen’s had a few stories under her belt, and we’ve come to expect genius from her (which she never fails to deliver), but this is Danny’s first time in print anywhere, and yeehaw, that boy surprised us editin’ hombres with his detailed line-work!

Is there anything more wonderful than a crime spree that just MIGHT involve non-farting cows?  I told you Kathleen writes a fun script.

Don’t forget, you can still download issue #1 (with stories by Rob Pincombe, Kathleen Gallagher, Mike Marano, and a host of other clever writers, teamed up with artists as impressively skilled as you’re seeing up above) all for free at a bunch of digital comix websites you can find HERE at the Holmes Inc Hompage on the Web.

Wait, did you say “FREE”?

Yes I did.  And issue #2 will be free in just a matter of days as well.  We want you to see these amazing, soon-to-be-stars before Marvel, DC, IDW and Dark Horse snatch them away from us and pay ‘em what they’re worth.  (Note to Marvel, DC, IDW and Dark Horse editors:  Please snatch these guys away from us and pay ‘em what they’re worth!)

And if you’re in the Toronto area THIS Friday evening, drop by to the TORONTO CARTOONISTS WORKSHOP,  587A College Street (at Clinton), and meet the creative team that made this issue great.   We might even find you a copy of the book in print form, and I’m fairly sure we’ll get you something to  snack on.

Don’t worry, the previews are still coming.  Tune in tomorrow for even more Holmes Incorporated sneak peaks.   We’re not even close to running out of talent!

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your BONUS Holmes Incorporated Comics Moment:

Artwork by Daniel Wong with colours by Keiren Smith.  Where do we FIND these artistic wunderkinds?   It must be something in the water in Toronto.

Holmes #2 is HERE! YAY!

It’s the home stretch, and we’re down to less than a hundred hours before you can have and read your OWN copy of Holmes Incorporated #2!  It’s coming out soon as a digital download, and actual paper and print copies will be arriving at our office to see, touch and hold on Friday, available as a mail order, or off the shelves in select comic stores in the Toronto Area.

Pencils and Inks, the lovely and talented Leonard Kirk, and coloured by the talented and lovely K.T. Smith.

So all this week, we’re handing out free previews of every story appearing in the second issue to whet the appetite of even the most jaded comic fan.  And yes, I know this is San Diego week, and I’m terribly sorry to be taking so much attention away from the goings on down there in California, but if we turn out to be more popular and talked about than some silly old convention, it’s not my fault they couldn’t keep up with us.

Yes, that’s the rotting corpse of the Great Detective.  We like to offend as many as possible on the very first page.  Script by future master, James Cooper, art by future superstar, Daniel Wong.

Next up, a delightful entry from Dino Caruso and Pierce Derochers-O’Sullivan, two towering talents with perhaps the coolest names in comics.

Poor little dead sea monster From Canada – You can find out what  happens in the full story on Friday!  Next, sway to the delicious rhythms of the dance, as we move to steamy South America with too-skilled-to-be-newcomers, Christopher Yao and Darius Fox.  (Okay, those are some kick-ass cool names too.)

Down boys, Sherlock’s great granddaughter is still a teenager.

Uh-oh.  Nefarious hands are reaching for our “Watson”.  That can’t be good, but it CAN be read and enjoyed on Friday.  I don’t believe in the soft sell, do I?

Our last preview pages for today (plenty more coming in the next few days though), comes your way, courtesy of the mind-bogglingly well-named Rain Infinity.  (Yup, his real name!).  Dig that crazy-good artwork, and wait til you read the rest of his story!  Wait, he’s a writer AND an artist, and he’s already great at both?

If you like the look of “Poker-Face”, you’re going to LOVE his bodyguard!

I haven’t even begun to show off the talent that’s contributing this giant sized issue of Holmes Incorporated, but I’ll continue doing so over the next few days.  The digital download will be FREE, just as it is with Holmes Incorporated #1–keep an eye on the Holmes Incorporated website to find out when it becomes available. You’ve got no darned excuse for not checking out the next generation of super-star writers and artists as they crash this party we call the comics industry.

See you tomorrow with more goodies and previews.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your BONUS Holmes Incorporated Moment, courtesy of the magnificently named Gibson Quarter (who ain’t no slouch when it comes to artwork!  Coloured by my other half of the sky, Keiren  Smith).

Don’t forget, you can digitally download the first issue already at GRAPHICLY, and it’s also free, because we love you guys and want you to read this stuff.

And check out the Holmes Incorporated Blog, where the contributors and their editor give you the DVD extras, with layouts, scripts, and behind the scenes goodies.

And of course, the fount of all this fun, the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop is always looking for new converts to the madness.  If you live in Ontario, drop by and learn yerself how to make funnybooks.

(for bios/contact info/deviantART sites etc of all of our creators, check out the Holmes Incorporated website.)