I am in Ottawa Bun Toon…

….And cannot come to the web.

Last weekend I was in Regina, Saskatchewan, and this weekend I’m in Ottawa, Ontario/Quebec for another convention.  Canada  has conventions TOO!

Here’s what happened to me the LAST time I went up to Ottawa for the weekend.

That last part is a fib.  I did, in fact, yell a warning at Chris Claremont about the bus.  I felt it was my civic duty.  It’s not my fault he ignored me.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Next week, after two conventions in a row absent from this desk, I will return to the Bun Toon LIVE show, with new adventures, fun stories, recipes, puzzles for the kids and advice for the lovelorn.

I give and I give.  And what do I get for it?

Fame and fortune, I suppose.

FanExpo Canada: SUNDAY

And so begins the end… Last Day! Today will run 10am to 5pm and it will be BUSY! I’ve got a few things scheduled and it’s my last chance to scour all the dollar bins and make sure I haven’t missed anything magical.

At 1:00pm, I will be part of GrokSpock, a live reading of Star Trek:  Wrath of Khan. We have our usual GrokSpock crew with a surprise guest:  actor/screenwriter/voice actor David Hayter (my kid who goes by the nickname “Snake” for his standup gigs, is very excited about this!). Will post the room number as soon as I find it…

At 2:15, I will run to Room 715 for COMIC BOOK BOOTCAMP:  How to write a story someone will want to read. (If you can’t make the workshop or would like to take my entire course  called HOW TO WRITE COMICS, there are still a few spaces open. Info is HERE.)

Then, I’m back to P57. Come find me there…  Keiren will be keeping my sketch list, and selling my sketchcovers and copies of The World of Star Trek and The Trouble with Tribbles, both by David Gerrold with covers by me.

In honour of today’s GrokSpock reading, a memory of the very first one we did:

And, of course…don’t forget the Kickstarter for Oh, The Places You’ll Boldy Go! Click on the Enterprise-like ship to go to the link:

Ty the Guy OUT!!

Are We Still Talking About This Bun Toons?!?

Everything Old Is Nuisance Again!

Sigh…

This is, of course, a portrait of no one individual in particular.  Unless you recognize yourself, and then it’s you.

Of course, our hero is the only one in colour.  He’s the only one in the real world.

Ty the Guy OUT!

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Just in case there was some confusion as to when cosplay started, and how recent a trend it is.

No one would dress like the dude in the blue outfit during any decade but the 70s.

This didn’t happen recently.  Who cosplays as T’Pring?

1975: the amazing Captain Sticky with someone similarly tactile.

Wendy Pini cosplaying as Red Sonja on the Mike Douglas show…with JAMIE FARR!

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For last week’s Star Wars themed Bun Toon, click the Jedi Bunny

For the Bun Toons archives, click here

Reno Convention Bun Toons!

I’m in the sunshine, all you snow covered Canadians, you!

Hey there internet family.  I’m not at my desk today…I’m not within a thousand miles, or even my own country at the moment, as I’m in RENO, NEVADA for the Wizard World Convention this weekend, signing the comics and meeting the peoples.

Normally, I don’t put up a Bun Toon on convention weekends, and I run an old one, but today, we’re doing a slight variation on that.

See, I was asked to give the Wizard folks an image to do up as a poster for the convention, and the one that was decided upon was my Bun Toon about Batman without Bill Finger.

The original art for that was pretty low-rez and sloppy as it was for a Bun Toon, not a poster.  So I did up a proper, put-some-effort-into-the-artwork version of this year’s most popular Bun Toon and this is the result…available as a poster in Reno!

I think if you click on that it gets bigger in your browser…try it and see!

Ty the Guy OUT!

ALSO exclusively available in Reno is my alt cover variant for Superior Iron Man #1

But…since you guys are so good and deserve it, here’s the cover without the trade dress, only available RIGHT HERE at Bun Toon Central!

My wife Keiren did most of the colour work on this one.  Knocked it out of the park, she did.

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For last week’s original, not a re-run Bun Toon, click here.

For the Bun Toons archives, click here

 

Tons of Fun Re-Runs! YAY!

For the first time all year, the internet is not broadcasting live.

Hey and hi, fellow internet travellers.  I’m off at the Toronto ComiCon this fine Saturday Morning, and as is tradition, it’s the one or two times a year that I run a re-run Toon of Bun.  I cannot possibly draw you something this Saturday while I’m sitting in a convention centre without scanner or laptop, much as I would love to, and the rules are clear, BUN TOONING cannot be done ahead of time to have inventory.

So, this time around, I asked my beloved wife which of the many past Toons De Bun she thought I should go with, and her answer will surprise no one who knows her.

But wait!  There’s more!

And the answer to the what-did-my-wife-say riddle is:

“Anything with Elizabeth Bennet in it.”

These were the only two strips I had.  I’ll have to work Miss Bennet into more Bun Toons in the future.  I’d have picked re-runs with monkeys.

Ty the Guy Out!

Since I didn’t give you a new Bun Toon, I’m giving you TWO bonus moments.  That’s the sort of generous, kick-Ayn-Rand-in-the-teeth sort of fellow I am.

First, because I’m off at a convention doing draw-erings for the fans, I thought I’d share a couple of recent comics sketch covers I’ve done to show you what I’m probably doing at the moment you read this.

That FF cover above was harder to do that I thought it was going to be, because the area for the artwork was completely a different shape.  No fun swiping if I have to make decisions!

(To get your own sketches or sketchcover, find me at Toronto ComiCon at P18. At noon today, I’ll be doing a workshop, HOW TO WRITE A GRAPHIC NOVEL IN ONE HOUR. The rest of the time I’ll be signing books, doing sketches, selling pages and telling stories.)

HERE NOW, your SECOND BONUS MOMENT:

I just got finished reading this new graphic novel ON THE ROPES, and I’m going to spend a few words raving about it.

It’s not a re-run, like the Bun Toons this week, but a sequel to a lovely series from the 90s called KINGS IN DISGUISE.  But this is the rarest of sequels that is so, so much better than the original, that it’s in a different league.

This is, by far, the best graphic novel I’ve read in a while, perhaps years.  I cannot recommend it enough, especially if you love stories about one-legged circus children who join the communist party during the depression.  That’s my second favorite genre, and Vance and Burr do an insanely good job of telling this literate, thoughtful, tense, playful and brilliant story.

See you on the convention floor, folks!

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To read last week’s Bun Toon (an original, not a stinking, lazy re-run), click the tragic Batman above.

For the Bun Toon Archive, including the Bun Toons above (go find em!), click the rabbit.

Happy 1st Anniversary to The Comic Book Lounge & Gallery

Ty has been superbusy with workworkwork and occasionally talking to his children, but he managed to squeeze in some time on the weekend to join in on celebrations for The Comic Book Lounge & Gallery. Rising out of the ashes and some of the stock from Dragon Lady Comics, the store started up last February 8. At the time, Ty was still teaching in the space so he would see Joe, Kevin  several times a week.

While Ty moved into his own space for Comic Book Bootcamp in the fall, The Lounge is still one of his Local Comic Shops. He drops in at least once a week to pick up comics, and check out what Joe and Kevin have to say about our little industry.

On Saturday, The Lounge celebrated it’s first year anniversary by running a mini-artists con with local artists like Ty, David J. Cutler, Scott Chantler, Agnes Garbowska, Richard Pace and more. Ty had a Bun Toon to get out so we didn’t get there until the late afternoon but he did a number of sketches (Batman sketch comic covers were most-requested).

David Cutler and Richard Pace in The Lounge’s Artists Alley (photo by Debra Shelly)

There was a contest for cosplayers, hosted by the One and Only Sean Ward, then it was time for ON THE COUCH WITH TY TEMPLETON. Guests Jim Zubkavich, Richard Pace and Rob Walton discussed their views on Collaboration versus Control. I don’t think they came to an actual consensus as to which they preferred–working as part of a creative team, or working on their own–but it was a lively conversation. The show was recorded and when edited will end up online (probably at Tdot Comics, thanks to the inimitable Alice Quinn!).

In the “Green Room” waiting for ON THE COUCH, Richard Pace, Keiren Smith, Ty Templeton, Jim Zubkavich (photo by Debra Shelly)

The night finished with an Industry Night Party, but we headed out before midnight as Ty had to return the next day for a day of demos to promote AutoDesk Sketchbook Pro. We got there in time to watch Agnes Garbowska create a piece in Sketchbook and talk about her technique, then Ty got to try out the program himself. It was his first time using a Cintiq for any sustained period of time, and first time using SketchbookPro. An interesting program–Ty said he could immediately see some shortcomings (given his long familiarity with PhotoShop) but also some definite advantages. Ty said he’s looking forward to working with it some more, when he has free time in his schedule.

Recording ON THE COUCH (photo by Tyrone McCarthy)

Ty tries out Sketchbook Pro 6 (photo by Tyrone McCarthy)

 

Keiren

ON THE COUCH with Jim Zubkavich, Richard Pace, Rob Walton and host Ty Templeton (photo by Tyrone McCarthy)

For your bonus moment, here’s the cartoon Ty did to commemorate the end of Dragon Lady Comics which had been a part of his (and my) life for all of it’s thirty-plus years:

It’s Tuesday…

which means it’s only four more days until Toronto ComiCon:   Fan Appreciation Event, where Ty will be signing, sketching and telling tales. (Lots of ’em–some of them even true.)

Keiren