Not quite Bun Toons Day

So many possibilities for Bun Toons this week…but so little time. On top of working on some more Batman 66, I’m at CANSCAIP’s Packaging Your Imagination conference today, talking about writing comics (for children and young adults).

Bun Toons should be up tomorrow…

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Remember back in the summer, in those innocent days when we didn’t think the Rob Ford scandal could actually get any worse? When the crack video scandal first erupted, my son Kellam Templeton-Smith imagined a reality where Rob Ford was just a dedicated public servant investigating the ability to buy crack so he could best figure out how to save his city from it. Kellam (at George Brown College in their Game Development Program) tested out his skills for a quickie digital painting. This is the result and your bonus Rob Ford comic moment of the week:

There’s No Place Like Holmes (part 2)

We’re back with part two of our annual festival of comic goodness we call HOLMES INCORPORATED.   Today’s cover is brought to you by the letters “Daniel” and “Wong”, who turned in an action packed image that gives our family something to do on a slow Tuesday.  YIKES!

Yesterday we sneak peaked you into the first of TWO all new volumes for this summer, showing off FIVE (5) amazing new tales of the Holmes family in all their generations. Today, we bring you the second (2nd) of TWO (2) issues this year, with yet ANOTHER five fantastic features, and it’s also, officially, a doozy!

If you need to read the other slam-packed issues of Holmes Inc. , they’re all up online for FREE here!

Onwards to the new stuff!  WOO HOO!

Starting off the issue with a bang (literally) we have newcomer Dave Franciosa showing off his splash page skills over a roller coaster ride of a script by Sam Noir.  Blow out the hero’s knee with a gun blast from a mysterious monster at the door, and set the scales at life or death…. THAT’S how  you start a story!  I’ll bet you want to read more, right?

There’s that Franciosa fellow again, doing layouts this time, with Jason Roussel and Matthew Tavares finishing the pencils, and Christopher Yao inking, over top of character and prop designs from Rachael Wells.   This issue features a couple of jam stories by the whole Holmes Inc. Bullpen  (we were over-abundant with eager writers to the tune of two) and had to create art-teams to give life to a couple of our instant classic scripts.

Well, when James Cooper wrote a tale that absolutely everyone in the group wanted to work on, that’s what happened.  And it turns out that there’s some advantage in splitting up the layout/pencils and inks because the pages look better than the sum of their parts.  Who knew?

First time contributor Taran Chadha didn’t work on the jam story because he was busy showing off his multi-level skills on a story he wrote, drew and grey toned all by his own self.  And WOW is the only word we can use.    Only the really good ones make it look so easy.

With an utterly charming script from Holmes Inc. super-veteran Mike Marano (who doubled as assistant editor for this star turn…ye editor is SO proud), we see our next jam story.  This time laid out by the inimitable Rachael Wells and, penciled and inked by the whole gang (including some special guest stars from previous issues!) this story introduces us to another of Mike’s fantastic guest star characters!  Is she a new love interest for Edgar Holmes….or will she DESTROY HIM?!?

Ye editor pitched in with an art job of his own this year, with a story by second time Holmes Inc. author, Oliver Ho, that I had to get my hands on.  It’s spooky meets science-y, wrapped up in a mystery, and I got to draw Chinese Water Dragons, so everybody wins.

If you’re in Toronto, come on down to the FanExpo convention, meet the creators, and pick up your own copy (while supplies last, I suspect we might sell out of these mini-masterpieces).

ALSO:  Come on down to the FanExpo to hear me give out FREE lectures on creating comics for fun and profit.  Today’s lecture (which is, I think going on in the early afternoon 6:45pm Room 705) is called “How to Write a Plot in Under an Hour!”  There’s room for lots of people, so bring a friend!

Ty the Guy OUT!

For your Bonus Moment?  A map of Hall E

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY Bun Toons! YAY!

It’s FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!  Hoo-hah!  This is like Christmas and Hallowe’en rolled into one jelly donut, and mainlined into your fan-brain.  I am joining in for the big day by spending my waking hours at STADIUM COMICS in Toronto, (499 Main Street South, Shoppers World Mall in Brampton) along with Ken Lashley, Marcus To, Adam Gorham, Agnes Garbowska and plenty more makers of super-heroes, cartoons and funnybooks… and I hope to see you all down there for sketches, delightful stories, and big grins on the faces of all the peoples.

Because I am out of the house early this morning, there’s no time for me to Bun Toon!  But rather than JUST running a repeat from yesteryear (which I do at the end of today’s post, scroll down below), I have a brand new, never before seen tale by my eldest son, Kellam, to keep you demanding net-surfers satisfied.  Who says this isn’t the golden age of Bun Toon nepotism?

No more ado.

Art Land presents “HELPING” by Kellam Templeton-Smith:

Because getting your kids to draw your comic strip is a tradition Bill Keane is far too dead to participate in any more.

This story was created in under twelve hours by my son at the most recent Comic Book Marathon, back in April.  The story and the art was completed in one sitting (except for bathroom breaks) while surrounded by dozens of equally devoted creators wrestling with their own muses.  I can barely write my own name when I’m in public, but Kellam soldiered on tirelessly for the duration and created this chilling tale, ad libbed on paper in one swell foop.

Whee.

Ty the Proud Guy OUT!

Since it’s FREE COMIC BOOK DAY, you get more than one bonus moment.

The two paintings above are by today’s fill-in Bun Tooner, my boy Kellam.  I think they’re both self-portraits, but admittedly, the bottom one – with the glasses – looks more like him.  Yes, he has big metal bolt-things sticking out of his ears sometimes.  They all do, these kids today.

(Kellam’s deviantart gallery:  Spartan Ideal)

Here’s LAST  YEAR’S FREE COMIC BOOK DAY BUN TOON:  The rules still apply, but the odds of a John Carter reference meaning anything in the future  dims with each passing hour.

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See you at Stadium Comics at SHOPPERS WORLD, Brampton.

Iron Man 3 has already come out, and my pre-cognitive-review was 100 % accurate! Click on last week’s Bun Toon and see how well my OTHER predictions do…

For the Bun Toon archive (always Free Comic Book Day around here), click the gratis rabbit

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.

Unseen Spider-Man, and my LARGEST DRAWING EVER!!

A free sketch from a convention a few months back.

I’ve been a bad blogger this week, and haven’t posted anything since last  weekend.  It’s because I’ve been too busy MAKING comics to spend any time yakking about them for the last few days.  Finishing up my little Great Lakes Avengers  short story for an upcoming special and putting the final production together for the Holmes Inc. comic #2 (that went to the printers yesterday, and took WAY more time to get camera ready than anyone expected – follow this link to download #1 for free!) and starting my new semester of teaching at the Cartoonists Workshop, has taking me away from saying hello.  (Plus some secret Hoverboy stuff that will someday be revealed).

BUT, I came across a few unseen Spider-Man things while cleaning up the studio this week, and I got the itch to share ’em.

First up:  Some unseen Spider-Man Unlimited stuff!  YIKES!

This was promotional material from that not-well-remembered SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED animated series from a decade ago.  This was supposed to be a Wizard cover, but even Wizard couldn’t promote that series with a straight face and the art was shrunk down and used at postage stamp size on an interior page instead of the cover.

I still have the rejected cover sketches, and rather like one or two of the other ones.

I find it interesting that the 4th cover looks very much like the composition I used years later for my HERO 100 Spider-Man entry.

It’s not the same drawing, but the idea of crawling onto the ground from a wall is the same.  I probably did it subconsciously…

Here’s something else kind of cool I found when cleaning up a bit of the studio.  (If you wonder why I’m always “cleaning up” and finding things…I’m a hoarder, and my studio spaces are giant piles of photos, paper and mess).  It’s the largest piece of artwork I’ve ever been a part of…THREE STORIES HIGH!

The 10 year old boy making a face in front of the billboard is my son Kellam, who is now taller than I am.    There were a few of these giant billboards in different cities in Canada at the turn of the century, with only two in my town of Toronto.  Oddly enough, the building this one was attached to was literally next door to the building my studio was in, at the time, though  I couldn’t see it from my window as it was on the other side.   The Spider-Man figure was made of eight huge pieces of plastic, and I very much wanted to see if YTV was willing to let me have them after the promotion was finished, but my wife talked me out of it, saying “They’d end up in our garage taking up space for no reason.”

The art is grabbed from a much more crowded piece of art, originally done for a TV guide spot ad:

Over the years I’ve been in this biz, I’ve done far more Batman, Justice League, Avengers that Spider-Man, but because of that billboard, Spider-Man was always the BIGGEST project I ever worked on!

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your BONUS Spider-Man moment…a little one page story I did with Dan Slott last year:

I always like the colours for this story, one of four one-pagers Dan and I did for the mini-series, AGE OF HEROES

Saturday Doctor Funnies and INKING BOY!

It’s the weekend.  I know this because I own a calendar, and because Jon Stewart wasn’t on last night.

Admit it. The first Saturday I don't have a new webtoon up, you'll be mad at me.

As a bacon eating Canuck,  it’s fun to sit outside the States and see what they’re up to.  And though we get all our health care for free up here, no questions asked, I can still see…

It’s funny because it’s preposterously reductive.

Now, besides being the weekend, it’s ALSO my eldest son’s birthday.  Kellam Templeton-Smith is an actual ADULT nowadays, which is a bizarre thought.  But with his adulthood came some impressive talents, and now that I have your attention, I thought I’d show off my boy’s skill as a comic book inker.  (And if any editors are here and want to hire the lad, I doubt he’d object!)  These are inked over blue-line reproductions of the pencils, given to my boy by various pencilers here and there.  Enjoy the range of the inking skill…(proud papa cannot shut up.)

First up:  Kellam inks over Ed McGuinness pencils – in the Batcave.

And now, Kellam over top of Joe Madureira

and Kellam over some pages of Witchblade pencils.  (Can’t recall the penciler’s name because I have a brain like a sieve).

I wish I was this skilled with a brush when I was 22!

Happy Birthday Kellam.  See you for dinner later tonight!

TY THE GUY OUT!

Here now, your COMIC BOOK moment of ZEN (I think I actually drew some of this comic!)

To share post:

Nepotism Thursday

Good lord, Nepotism Thursday falls on a Thursday this month.  Alert the coast guard!!

Years ago, Ty was approached by Brandon Kruse for an interesting project he was involved with.  Kruse had drawn some issues of Batman and Robin Adventures which Ty had written (issues 9, 12-16, 18-20, 22 and 23) so he was part of Ty’s work “family”.  The project involved doing covers and a couple of interior pages for a superhero character which would be used on a website for that character.

Ty, at the time, was up to his neck teaching at Max the Mutt Animation School, and thought of offering up some of his students to do the work.  For someone who will happily take the opportunity to write, draw, ink, colour and letter his own stuff, Ty actually loves to collaborate–and to pass work on to those he considers deserving. But Kruse was hoping to work more with Ty.

At the time, Ty was teaching our eldest how to ink, so he sent along some samples by Kellam (Templeton-Smith at the time, now using Templeton as his work name), and some colouring and lettering by me (and yes, I can spell when I letter–it’s just that we Canadians like to stick “u”s in our words for something to do–a favourite of ours which I know our neighbours to the south don’t even when they’re out and about.) The samples passed muster and the pages arrived…

All the pages were pencilled by Brandon Kruse. Ty and Kellam divided the inking evenly.  I coloured all but one of the pages (the cover for the trapped Crimson Arrow, as seen immediately above) and lettered ’em all. Ty came up with the aging techniques.

The project went by fairly quickly–but was revisited several times.  I had to make a few changes to the pages a couple of times; once because when the costume was created for the live-action video, a yellow stripe was added to the glove which hadn’t been in the original design.  And other changes came about because…well let’s just say that there used to be extra material on the top of the head of the character and leave it at that.  Basically–thank god for PhotoShop!

You can see how the finished work was used over at

The Crimson Arrow

(I didn’t do the lettering which is used on the opening home page for click-throughs.  That was in place of the dialogue lettering I had done.)

(And, for those of you who might be wondering and speculating…let’s just say that this project came well after Ty signed on as one of the three curators* of The Hoverboy Museum. )

Keiren

*Ty and Rick Green both signed on to help original curator Marcus Moore who had been struggling valiantly for years to build the museum up.

TY HERE: Ten special bonus points for whomever can tell which two covers my son inked, and which two covers I inked.  ALSO:  I coloured one of ’em, and my wife coloured the other three…for THIRTY points, which cover was my colour work.  The clock is ticking, people.  And, as always, the points are redeemable as airmiles.  All winners will receive miles and miles of air, theirs to breathe for  years to come.   By the way, the things atop the Crimson Arrow’s head were, in fact, clearly actionable pointy bat-ears.  I’m not sure why the producers thought the bat-ears were originally acceptable, and I’ll look for one of the un-altered covers to put up in a bit…it was like a neon sign blinking “SUE US!  SUE US!  SUE US!”.   But the whole things was wonderful fun, and my son’s first professional inking paycheck.  So WOO HOO Nepotism Thursdays!

Ty the Guy

New Comics Day!

After being trapped in my studio for months, working on the new Dexter: Early Cuts animated webisode, and some Simpsons stories, I’m finally free enough to go to a comic store for New Comics Day…something I’ve not done since November of last year.    They still have comics on Wednesdays, right?

For those of us in the biz in Toronto, heading to my local comic stores (the Silver Snail in Toronto, and Altered States out here in the suburbs where I live) It’s a little like going to CHEERS and having everybody shout “Norm” when you walk into the room.  It recharges the batteries and reminds me that I actually LOVE this job…and it inspires a competitive attitude in me to see all the great work coming out week after week.

Imagine:  We have Bryan Hitch, Michael Lark, Howard Chaykin, Alex Ross, Butch Guice, Ed Brubaker, Art Adams, Alan Davis, Kyle Baker, David Finch, Stuart Immomen, Leinil Yu, Danny Slott, Mark Waid, and HUNDREDS of other top flight creators making comics art for us RIGHT NOW.  Not at some nebulous, nostalgic time where everything was better…but right NOW.  Covers, scripts, full issues…all flowing from an overwhelming group of creators, and I’m only scraping the surface of Marvel and DC type folks.  When you look at the panoply of available comix  out there in the indies, the self publishers, IDW, Dark Horse,  the online stuff…why don’t people call THIS the golden age?

My friend and co-conspirator in the Toronto Comics Workshop, Walter Dickenson, was with me at the last convention I attended, and he saw me heading over to the tables where they sell comics for a dollar, usually something from the last decade a dealer has overstocked.  When Walter saw me returning with about a hundred “dollar comics” he asked me why I bought them and I pointed out copies of Greg Land Ultimate FF comics, Jackson Guice issues of RUSE,  Busiek ASTRO CITY DARK AGE stories, Jerry Ordway’s RED MENACE, Warren Ellis Cliffhanger miniseries….all for a DOLLAR?   He asked me “What are you going to do with all those comics, Ty?” and I got confused by the question.

“I’m going to read ’em, Walter….and have a great time in doing so.”  Apparently, I’m like the last working pro who STILL can’t get enough of these funny books.  Does that make me sick?

Ty the Guy.  Smiling with anticipation at what glories the day might bring…

(Ty challenged me to hyper-link the bejeesus out of his entry…I hope you’re happy, Guy!  And I’m aware that Ty’s episode of Dexter: The Early Cuts is online…for various reasons, we are not linking to it at this time, but will at a later point).

(you never know who you’ll run into at your local comics store…like Jimmy Olsen.  Yes, that’s our son, Kellam–he’s a member of the clan, god help him.)