FanExpo Canada: Thursday

I’ll be sitting at P16A beside the always incredible Leonard Kirk, between 4 and 9 (I think the con starts at 3pm but with traffic and lineups and having to get my passes, let’s play it safe!). I will have Star Trek books, sketchcovers, Batman 66 issues and lots more. I’ll be doing sketches (Keiren will have a list). I don’t charge for signing books but I will be asking people to donate to one of my absolute favourite charities, Hero Initiative so they can keep up all the good work they do to help out comics people in need.

I’ll be spending all my time at my table except when;

I will be part of a sketch duel against…TOM GRUMMETT at 5:45 pm in Room 716.

I will be teaching a workshop, Comic Writing/Storytelling:  How to tell a story in pictures at 7:15pm in Room 703. (If you can’t make the workshop or would like to take my entire course on Layouts, called HOW TO DRAW COMICS, there are still a few spaces open. Info is HERE.)

And don’t forget! My Kickstarter for OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL BOLDLY GO! Check it out now and see the list of great rewards (even I don’t know who the voice will be on the audiobook…although I do know who they were talking to…). Click on the angry Gorn to be taken to the link:

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!

LEARN PROFESSIONAL LAYOUT AND STORYTELLING FOR COMICS…

…from me! My next set of courses for the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop start up in just a couple of weeks.

My Comic Book Bootcamp Part One ended last Wednesday. I like to say that once students go through the first Bootcamp they’re good to go off and make comics, and some of them will. But we do offer a Part Two through TCW and many of my students return–I do introduce new ideas, expand upon the anatomy I teach in Part 1, and more. It’s really up to individual students to decide what they need. But often students find that they like the atmosphere so much at TCW, and realise how much fun it is to be in an environment surrounded by people just like them–people who are creative and interesting and want to learn and create. I love watching as friendships are made, and finding that students get together outside of class and start working on projects together, or simply meet to help each other out with a script, or to act as a sounding board. That makes my day every time!

Before the next session of classes start (on May 7), there will be a SNEAK PEEK WORKSHOP. Thursday, May 3, I will be teaching Professional Layout and Storytelling from 7-9pm. Sneak Peek Workshops are $25/hst.

Then, next Monday I will start the full class–the ‘official’ course description is:

From thumbnail layouts to finished pencils, this art focused course teaches you everything you need to know about the unique process of telling stories with pictures.  Learn to THINK like a comic artist as well as how to CREATE like one.  Essential learning for future Marvel zombies, Indy artists or Web comic creators.  While basic drawing skills are helpful, they are not necessary.

You can enrol through the TCW site; contact the school owner if you have any questions, info@cartoonistsworkshop.com.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Convention Sketches I don’t hate.

I always hate my convention sketches.

1)  I don’t draw particularly well to begin with, and

2) I’m always seated near Leonard Kirk, the KING of the con-sketch.

Both of those factors lead me to cringe at almost every convention sketch I see scanned and put up online.  But this last weekend, I actually did a handful that didn’t suck.

The above shot of Indiana Jones was done for a fan named Derek Jagt, who went around the convention asking all the artists for a drawing of Indy.  Obviously, I couldn’t draw one out of my head, but when presented with a reference photo, I did this in about fifteen minutes, with two grey markers and a Faber-Castell artist pen.  I’m not sure I completely caught Harrison Ford’s likeness as perfectly as I would have, given another hour or so, but what I like about it is the very casual line work all through the sketch.  When I do a portrait, I tend to tighten up, but this has some of that easy movement one might see in a Mort Drucker piece.  I’m not in his league, but every now and then, I can see what I’m doing to get there.

On the more whimsical side of things, here’s a sketch cover  I did for Jason Truong, a friend of the blog.  Whenever I do Wolverine, The Thing, Nick Fury or Howard the Duck, I always insist on the cigar, since they’re not allowed to smoke in the comics any more.

Even if it’s Chibi Baby Wolverine.  He’s a mutant, he’s got the healing power for when he starts coughing up the phlegm.

There were one or two others that didn’t suck from the weekend.  I did one with V for Vendetta that wasn’t awful.  But I don’t have a scan of that one.

Back to drawing in my home studio…where I get to use an eraser and white out if I don’t like how it’s going.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your BONUS Con Sketches:

I’m serious about not sitting next to Leonard Kirk at a convention if you have any pride.  Look at the sort of thing Len considers a “con sketch”.

It makes you want to break his fingers, except he’s a very nice guy.  GRRR.

NEW YEAR, NEW CLASSES!!

It’s January, and we’re counting down the days until Ty starts teaching his next set of classes at Toronto Cartoonists Workshop.

Before he does though, the one and only Leonard Kirk is teaching a SNEAK PEEK WORKSHOP on DYNAMIC PAGE COMPOSITION. That class will be THIS Saturday, January 7, 1-4pm. Click through to book a spot; it’s $25/+HST.

Next Wednesday, January 11, it’s Ty’s turn for a SNEAK PEEK WORKSHOP, FIGURE DRAWING FOR THE COMIC BOOK ARTIST. This will be a three-hour look at what is a brand spankin’ new class. There will be a live model and instruction from Ty.  The class runs 7-10pm. Click through to book a spot; $25/+HST.

Classes “officially” begin the week of January 16. First up will beWRITING FOR COMICS, LEVEL ONE. Immediately following this session, Ty will be teaching a brand new course which will be WRITING FOR COMICS, LEVEL TWO. Level One starts Monday January 16, 7-10pm. Click through to book a spot. If you’re interested in Level Two, but it’s been a while since you’ve taken Level One, talk to Sean Menard, TCW director–he’s offering an AMAZING DEAL wherein you can get a 50% discount off of the first course.

On Tuesdays, beginning January 17, 7-10pm, Ty will be teaching INKING FOR COMICS. This is a brand new course; previous versions involved four different inkers teaching their methods and ideas. This course will be taught solely by Ty, and will involve lots of in-class work so that you can get immediate feedback on your techniques. Click through to book a spot.

Starting on Wednesdays, the following week, Ty will be teaching the full version of FIGURE DRAWING FOR THE COMIC BOOK ARTIST. This class will involve a different live model each week, with ongoing instruction from Ty.

Check out the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop website for all details and for all the other courses available. There’s also a course about watercolour painting, Life Drawing with Geordie Miller, and–yayyy!! Dave Ross will be teaching a class on Designing Environments and Props for the Comic Book Artist.

Learn how to do this from artist Dave Ross

Keiren

Ty Templeton’s Sketchbook! Yay!!

Ty had this idea that he was going to have lots of free time once he finished up his last assignment–ha! He forgot that it’s “that” month. He’d started drawing up a great Bun Toon for last Saturday but he had to finish work on the sketchbook he’s having printed up, so he posted a sequel to Son of Bun Toons instead (and there’s more! Taylor had a lot of comic book ideas in him at the time…these days, he’s much more about the video games).

But the good news is that Ty finished all the work he needed to do putting together pages for the sketchbook, and I finally finished all the work I needed to do prepping it for print.

And all for what? For this Friday December 9! Toronto Cartoonists Workshop is hosting a Faculty Art Show for its very own staff members. Ty will be there, with Leonard Kirk, Dave Ross, and Eric Kim. The guys will have artwork for show and sale, and will be answering questions about their upcoming classes.

587A College Street (at Clinton), 7-11pm. $4 suggested donation ($$ go to the Toronto Public Library), and a cash bar.

(I’ll be the woman at Ty’s table–stop by and say hello!)

Keiren

WORKSHOPS!!!

Ty is up to his neck in deadlines so I’m here to let you know what classes are coming up for him…

Saturday December 3, Ty will be running a “FIGURE DRAWING FOR COMIC BOOK ARTISTS” Sneak Peek Workshop. This will be a one-day three hour class for $25/hst. This will be a Life Drawing class but with instruction/advice/divine intervention from Ty, and with a comic book slant .

(Also check out the SNEAK PEEK WORKSHOPS from some of my fellow instructors…THIS Saturday, November 26, TCW’s newest instructor Dave Ross will give you a taste of DESIGNING ENVIRONMENTS AND PROPS 

and on Saturday December 17, Mr. Leonard Kirk (New Mutants, Marvel Comics) will teaching DYNAMIC PAGE COMPOSITION.

All SNEAK PEEK WORKSHOPS are three hours, $25 + HST (hey, blame McGuinty not us!), at 587A College Street West (at Clinton). Reserve a spot online (you can just drop in, but if we don’t see online that people are interested in a course, there is a chance that it will be cancelled. Leonard has to travel in from St. Catherines to teach which is one heckuva drive. Ty has to come in from Mississauga and is at the mercy of the QEW/Gardiner conditions. The drive can take thirty minutes…or it can take ninety).

On Friday December 9, TCW will host a FACULTY ART SHOW with instructors Dave Ross, Leonard Kirk, Eric Kim and Ty Templeton. Each instructor will have some of his artwork on display, and each will have a table to show and sell art. Not sure what each will be bringing but Ty will have pages, prints and (if all goes well) sketchbooks. As with all TCW Industry Nights, it’s Pay What You Can at the door (with a suggested $4)–the money goes to charity (not completely sure for this event, but generally it goes to help with The Joe Shuster Awards). There will be a cash bar, and instructors/artists will be available to answer questions about their art and their courses.

AND…if you can imagine all the way ahead to January:

WRITING FOR COMICS Level 1:  students who have taken this course have begged (seriously–begged!) for a Part 2. To that end, Ty will teach Part 1 starting Monday January 16, 7-10 pm for seven weeks. Part 2 will be in the session immediately following. (I took this course with Ty just this past summer–the stories are completely true! Ty is an incredible teacher and it motivated me to start writing after a twenty year hiatus.)

INKING FOR COMICS, Tuesdays 7-10pm starting January 17, 2012. People know Ty as a penciller and a writer, and many know that he often inks his own work…but those who have been following him from the beginning know that he started at DC Comics as an inker (Neal Pozner once took me aside and BEGGED ME to convince Ty to return to inking–he was drawing Batman Adventures at the time–because he said, “He’s absolutely one of the best”). Ty loves inking (he often wishes aloud that he could “just spend a year inking comic books”) and wants to pass on his knowledge and skills.

pencilled by Mike Parobeck, inked by Ty Templeton

FIGURE DRAWING FOR THE COMIC BOOK ARTIST This is a completely new course beginning Wednesday January 18, 7-10pm. The course will feature a live model each week and will feature anatomy instruction as part of the session.

Keiren

I’m breaking a rule and mentioning Rob Granito, but it’s for a good cause.

A few months ago, I swore I’d never mention Granito’s name in public again, mostly as a favor to his wife, who got caught up in the mess against her will, and got vilified by fandom when she didn’t deserve it.  I was a part of that, and have personally apologized to her, because the Bunny is nothing if not willing to admit when he’s wrong.  Also:  Not mentioning Rob helped make him go away.

But today, there’s a good reason to mention the “He Who Is Nameless”, and it’s all for the HERO INITIATIVE.

At a convention a few months back, I was presented with a Granito Hockey Jersey as a gift by Kevin Boyd-convention organizer and all around good guy.  The thought was that I could do what I wanted with it, perhaps as some sort of catharsis or something, as Kevin didn’t want it any more.  My first idea was to put it in a toilet and let convention-goers pee on it for five bucks each and give the money to HERO, but that would have excluded women from participating in the fun, as I wasn’t going to fish it out of one toilet and transport it to another.

But a much better idea was offered up (I think it was my wife’s idea, or Ethan Van Sciver’s, and she’ll correct me if I’m wrong)…”why not let all the guests at this convention do sketches on the shirt, and have them, in true Granito fashion, sign EACH OTHER’S WORK?” and then auction it off on ebay.

Richard Pace. Writer and/or artist for Pitt Crew, New Warriors, and other stuff, sketches on the back and signs on the front. I signed his sketch.

So…the list of illustrations, and signings of work we didn’t do goes as follows…

Scarlet Witch by Khoi Pham (signed by Chris Sprouse)
Hulk by Ethan van Sciver (signed by Khoi Pham)
Wonder Woman by Agnes Garbowska (signed by Leonard Kirk)
Evil Ernie by Dale Keown (signed by Richard Pace)
Spider-Man by Ty Templeton (signed by Agnes Garbowska
Sandman by Richard Pace (signed by Ty Templeton)
Gorilla-Man by Leonard Kirk (signed by Ethan van Sciver)
Tom Strong by Chris Sprouse (signed by Dale Keown)
…and a hearty “Sit the @#?!!@ down!” by Ethan van Sciver (this one properly attributed!)

Ethan (Sit the #$@)(#@ down) Van Sciver does his part for charity.

The shirt was donated to HERO, and the ebay auction started up today.  There’s no better souvenir of the whole meshuga  than this shirt, and you get some pretty cool artists’ work to boot.

Even mine.

Remember, HERO is the organization that aids aging comic book creators in need.  This group helps with medical expenses for the people that made our childhood dreams come true,  and it’s one of my favorite charities, and should be yours.

Pull together and give back to the biz that gave so much to us, toss in a bid, and maybe win one of the more interesting collectibles you’ll ever find.

Ty the Guy OUT!

If you haven’t figured out the links yet…the auction is HERE.

Here now, your BONUS HERO INITIATIVE MOMENT

This hardcover collection (one of ten copies for sale of only five hundred printed) is ALSO on auction for HERO at ebay.  This collection is probably the best set of covers ever done for Hero, and well worth having.  Ignore that I’m here, you HAVE to see the Steve Epting cover, the John Byrne cover, and so many others…

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.)

 

Independence Bun Toons! YAY!

Put your hand over your hearts, you bastards!

This is always a special weekend, celebrating the independence of both Canada (July 1st)  and the United States (July 4th), with fireworks, cookouts, and drunkeness.  Speaking of inebriation, let’s visit with the fathers of our countries as they meet up for the first time.

It’s funny because it makes light of human suffering.

Have a fun weekend, and try not to set anything on fire you didn’t intend to.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your BONUS fathers of the nations moments:

They're only called "action figures" if you take them out of the box...otherwise they're just dolls.

...and no one ALIVE is taking this one out of the box.

And two more, because I couldn’t resist:

8

8

and finally THIS gem I found online, drawn by my buddy Leonard Kirk!   It involves comics and our fearless founding father!

This is, apparently, PETE DeCOURCY punching his way through history.

You can see Pete punching other people HERE.

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For every bun toon EVER, including last week's CONFLICT BUN TOONS, click on the nose of the rabbit

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