David Petersen

A cool interview with David about his work on Mouse Guard, movies, and artists who have influenced his art. David is so enthusiastic about his work and the medium that it is hard not to be excited about making comics after reading his answers:

David Petersen

And it is now official:

Nominations

New Pencils

ForeWord- Book Of The Year Award (!!)

Robotika has been selected as one of the finalist for the ForeWord Book Of The Year Awards! I am not sure what the chances of winning are (check out the other finalists!), but it is an honor for me to be included:

ForeWord

Random Panels

I am penciling on this smaller size boards and the pages seem to be moving much faster...a coincidence?
Some random panels from the last few pages:

New Links

I just wanted to take a moment to mention that I have added a few more links.

I was introduced to Brian Churilla via Leif when Leif moved to Portland. I have already mentioned Brian in an earlier post. Brian is not only a very talented artist, but is also a very charming individual. He has contributed a short Robotika story and a pin-up that will appear in the second series. Brian is also working on a creator owned series titled "The Engineer". I was so impressed with the artwork and the storyline that I recommended the property to Archaia Studios Press and I hope to see "The Engineer" as part of their line-up some time soon.

Brian in turn exposed me to the work of Joe Suitor and Joseph Cross. Mr. Suitor is working on a series "Monoluminant" that will be published by APE Entertainment and Mr. Cross is developing a storyline titled "Kyogen". I am very excited to see both of these series develop and if everything works out to be able to feature some of their work in Robotika :)

Old School

Archaia Studios has been getting lots of nice press lately. Here is a sample of what folks are writing:

ComicReaders

ForeWordMagazine

A few weeks ago I got together with Ryan for lunch. We showed each other the pages we were working on and just had a great time talking and hanging out. At one point during the art "show and tell", Ryan casually mentioned that my originals are "giant". I was kind of surprised at that, "I work in standard size" I replied. Ryan gave me a sidelong glance and said, "Standard in the 70's maybe." I looked at his originals for the Wildstorm story he is working on and sure enough they were smaller...I went home and looked at the Dark Horse pages that Brian sent me...sure enough the space is only about 9x13.25 (as compared to 10x15 that I have been using), that is a huge (!) difference.

I just finished cutting a new batch of bristol to the new specifications...I am really looking forward to trying this new format.

A review of HC at IGN.com

A very thorough review by Dan Wrobel at IGN.com:

IGN.com

Here are also the pencils for the newest Robotika pin-up. It is a reworking of a pose from an older page (the opening of "The World of Robotika" from issue #1) that I have always wanted to re-draw.

JPKComics and PopCultureShock reviews

A very nice review by of the hardcover collection by Jonathan Kuehlein (scroll down to January 15th reviews):

JPK Comics

and another review of ASP as a publisher with a nice Robotika write-up:

PopCultureShock

Page 1

This is page one of the first issue in the new mini series. I wanted to do something to pay tribute to Robert Altman and thus I am starting out with 3 panels (that I feel go together compositionally) and even though they appear totally unrelated, fit into each other like puzzle's pieces as the story progresses.

The captions are taken from a speech by one of the main characters from the middle of the book and I think fits in nicely with the images.

Script is by David Moran.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly....

A very cool review:

Fist Full of Comics

Robotika Hardcover Review

Monday, Robotika hardcover got reviewed over at Loadpoet.com and I wanted to share the write-up:

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

I have also just completed my first pin-up for a Dark Horse book (!) called "Samurai: Heaven & Earth". I wanted to design the illustration keeping the title of the book in mind. The woman represent "heaven" and thus is placed in a vertical shaft of light and the graveyard/shrines represent "earth". My hope is that the woman's face is the focal point and her robes lead the eye down to the sword, across the samurai's back and down into the ground. Then the eye comes across from left to right and goes up the shaft of light back-up to the face.

Best Of 2006...the rest :)

It is so cool that Robotika got mentioned in the wrap-up of the year over at Comic BooK Resource website. ASP got nominated for the Best Publisher of comics and I got the "The Nuke Laloosh Award" (by the way it is very much an honor for me to be associated with anything that relates to "Bull Durham"!).

ComicBookResources

Also I wanteded to share a Robotika piece recently completed by Mahmud Asrar:

How cool is that?!

I was very pleased to learn that Leif Jones, a friend of many years and an awesome artist, will be illustrating an issue of a comic book published by Zenescope Entertainment based on David Fincher's SE7EN.

Leif's issue will be part of a seven issue series, each issue being devoted to one of the deadly sins (with each issue done by a different creative team), and although it covers the same events as the movie, the comics will show the events from John Doe's point of view. The issue Leif will be illustrating is the sixth and most tantalizing: ENVY.

The writer on that issue is David Mack, who is known as the creator of Kabuki and who recently did a successful run on Marvel's Daredevil.

I am very excited about seeing how Leif is going to approach this project and as a fan of his artwork I can't wait to see a full book of Mr. Jone's "goodness". I know I will be checking Leif's blog (and so should everybody) frequently for any updates he might post.

Infuze Magazine Review

A new review of Robotika #1-4:

Infuze Magazine

Norman Felchle, Brian Churilla and Mahmud Asrar

I have always dreamed of being an editor. Not the kind of an editor who worries about the deadlines, or about what will sell and what won't sell, but the kind of an editor who matches up cool stories to talented artists with awesome comics being the result.

Working on Robotika gave me a chance to do that a little bit. In the first series I was fortunate enough to recruite Leif Jones and Travis Sengaus to do 6 page back-ups and I also was very pleased to offer pin-ups by Frank Cirocco, Jeremy Mohler, Benoit Springer, Norman Felchle, Jim Williams III, Ryan Sook, and Tony Salmons.

Working on the second Robotika series is proving to be an even better experience. In part this is due to the fact that I am now working with David Moran, who is a real writer and who has been delivering excellent scripts. I have already mentioned that Brian Churilla is working on a 6 page back-up called "Once Upon The Time..." and I am now very pleased to announce that Norman Felchle has agreed to illustrate a 6 page Dr. Agon origin story called "Dr. Agon or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Cyber-Robotic Enchancements".

Norman started out working in comics on such titles as "The Griffin", "S.T.A.R Corps", "Legends of the Dark Night" and "Spider-Man". Recently he has been applying his talents designing video games and in fact gained a following for his work on the "Alice" game for Electronic Arts. He has a great Sketchbook available that showcases his abilities and features lots of unpublished design artwork. I am very pleased that Norman has agreed to make a "return" to comics with Robotika and I am very much looking forward to seeing his interpretation of David's script.

I am also working with Mahmud Asrar, a very talented artist from Turkey. I was first introduced to Mahmud's work at Digital Webbing and have been following his postings on his website. Mahmud just recently got signed-up to draw "Dynamo 5", a new series from Image. I hope to be able to feature a few pin-up and maybe a short Robotika back-up story by him in the upcomming Robotika sequel.

Hardcover review

Here are some very kind words of support for the hardcover edition from Randy Lander over at his Inside Joke Theater.

Randy Lander

Library Journal Review (!)

Robotika collection was just reviewed in the Library Journal...and there is no mention of vertical text anywhere to be found! It is a very kind review and I am excited that someone is already wondering what the second series will be like.

The review is in the "Graphic Novel" section and you will need to scroll down a bit to find it:

Library Journal

Year-end awards at Pop Thought and new pages

Alex Ness, over at Pop Thought, just paid me a huge compliment by putting my name in the same sentence as Tim Truman's. I have been a fan of Mr. Truman's work ever since I picked up the first issue of his "Scout" series. He was one of the first guys to focus on building a career with creator owned series (Grim Jack, Scout, Killer...) instead of working for the "big two" and I have always respected that (and was always delighted when he tried his hand at Hawkman and Conan). Below is the link for the full article.

Year-End Awards 2006

Also I just finished penciling a whole batch of new pages and now it is time...to start inking again! I hope to have some fully finished pages to share soon :)

Publishers Weekly and Amazon.com

The hardcover Robotika collection is not only listed at Amazon.com, but it also has a great editorial review printed from Publishers Weekly. At the moment it is occupying 280,000 ranking in popularity/sales...I am sure that is a good start.

Robotika at Amazon.com

Fight!

I was never very good at drawing fight scenes with a bunch of people in them. I like to focus on a little part of a scene and exaggerate that, instead of focusing on everything. However, with the second series I am trying to push myself a bit so I am trying some different things...and it's turning out to be lots of fun. Here is a sketch of the background for one of the panels (Niko will be calmly sitting and eating his lunch in the foreground).

I think this is pretty primative depiction of a bar brawl: there is not much depth to the scene, all the figures are on the same plane, and there is not much interaction between the fighters (everybody is pretty much split up into pairs), but this was fun and I am looking forward to expanding on this idea.

Random Pages

Progress on the second Robotika mini continues...

Working, working, working....

Last week I got a proof copy of the first Robotika collection. Mark and Aki put a lot of thought and work into this project and the result is a beautiful hardcover book that showcases my first mini-series. It is very inspiring for me to think that next year I will be able to add volume 2 to this series!

The work on the addition continues...and continues!



Jason Copland, a fellow artist and an all around nice guy, has a new book out from Silent Devil called "Empty Chambers". I have seen some material from it and I think it is great, everybody should go out and get a copy (or two)!

Brian Churilla

A few months ago Leif introduced me to Brian Churilla who is a talented young artist. Brian has an awesome style, it is very animated and has a lot of "Pop" to it. When I saw his panel-to-panel pages, I was blown away by his storytelling abilities.

Originally, I planned to do all the Robotika back-ups in the new series by myself, but after seeing his work...I changed my mind. I am very happy to say that Brian will be contributing artwork to a 6 page story written by David Moran titled "Once Upon a Time...". It is a very cool little vignette focusing on The Queen. Here is a sample of good things to come :)


For more of Brian Churilla goodness go to his wesite

Remodel

Work on Robotika is progressing right along, but I have also added another project to my commitments...adding a family room to our house. My wife and I started working on it September 18th. Here is what it looked like after one week:

and here is what it looks like now:

Reviews: Robotika #1-4

The review by Randy Lander at:

Comic Pants

by Dave Ferraro

Comics and More (August 8th)

by Brian Cronin

Comics Should be Good

and by Jim Bush

Static Multimedia

When I am not drawing....

...I am taking out bushes.

Robotika Hardcover Edition

I am currently working on the layout for the sketchbook section in the back of the first Robotika collection. I am trying to unearth character designs and sketches that show my thinking process as I was drawing the first mini-series. Here is a sample of one of the pages that I am working on right now:

Fan Art

I met Luis Rivera at the Oakland convention and we had a very nice chat about drawing and publishing comics. Imagine my surprise when I got a beautiful piece of Robotika artwork from Luis! More of Luis' artwork can be seen at his deviantart.com site at:

Luis Rivera at Deviant

San Diego pictures (II)

Another picture courtesy of Julia. David and Jeremy after the show at a sketchbook session:

San Diego Pictures

Here are some pictures courtesy David and Julia Petersen:
ASP Booth with Mark, me , David, and Aki:

Mike Mignola talking to David and looking at "Mouse Guard" originals:

Someone brought Moonstruck #1 (1987!) to get signed (wow!):

Robotika Review

Robotika #4 review:

Pop Thought

Post San Diego

Here is an interesting article about San Diego and how the independent publishers fit into the scheme of things. It features a piece of art from Robotika (Thanks Ryan!) and Mark talking about the show (at the very bottom):

Publishers Weekly

San Diego

I will be in San Diego July 19-23 promoting Robotika and talking to ASP about the follow-up series. Here are some pencils from the new pages that I am taking with me:

Does anyone speak French?

Here are some folks talking about Robotika...in French. If anyone can help me out and translate what is being said, I would be very thankful :)

Buzz Comics

Robotika #3 and #4 review at Paperback Reader

The newest review of the last half of the first "Robotika" mini series:

Paperback Reader

Robotika #4 (and #3) reviews

The reviews are starting to come in for the forth issue. I think that the reviews copies are just starting to arrive, so I hope to be able to post more reviews very soon.

Robotika #4 at Silver Bullet Comics

Robotika #3 at Comics Should Be Good at CBR

Sketching

Robotika #4 is out!

The final issue of the Robotika mini series is out! This has been a great experience for me and I want to thank everyone who has ever picked up a copy of the book for their time and their support.

This is the first review of issue #4 that I found on the web. I thought it was very reflective and well written:

Comics Should Be Good at Comic Book Resources

Robotika #3 Reviews (part II)

Two very different reviews of the same book:

Robotika #3 at PopThought

Robotika #3 at Comic Avalanche

Robotika #4 Preview

A couple of sites have previews of color pages from Robotika #4:

Broken Frontier

and

Newsarama

Robotika #3 Review (part I)

A couple of new reviews:

Robotika #3 at Comics and More

Robotika #2 Silver Comic Books

Comic Book Resources

David Moran interviewed me over at Comic Book Resources. David did a great job at making me sound like a coherent person, and I got an opportunity to publicly thank Barbara, Ryan, Michelle, and Leif for all of there support and encouragement. I also got to talk about some of my favorite artists and writers:

Comic Book Resources

Robotika #3

Robotika 3 is in the comic shops. It features my first attempt at a "real" cover. Joel did a beautiful job coloring the cover and the interiors.

Mouse Guard 2 is also out and David Peterson is continuing to fascinate me with his artwork and story.

In June: Robotika #4, Mouse Guard #3, and a new installment in Artesia series!

May: Robotika #3, Hijinx Comics and Super-Con

Robotika #3 will be out May 3rd.

I will be hanging out at Hijinx Comics May 6th from 1 to 4 pm. It happens to be "Free Comic Book Day" so stop by and say "Hi".

Also I will be sharing a table with Norman Felchle at Super-Con May 20 and May 21. It sounds like a great show with Adam Hughes, Charles Vess and Ryan Sook (!) attending.

Robotika #2 (Reviews VI)

Robotika #1-2 got a write-up in a new feature over at Buzzscope by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez:

Pull List Propaganda

A random panel...

...from Robotika #4.

My Origin

'nuff said

NYC Convention, ASP, and Robotika

Here is a report from the New York City Comic Book convention. Archaia Studios Press gets a nice write-up and Mark gets his picture taken and...what is that in the background? A huge Robotika banner in ASP booth and copies of Robotika for sale! How cool is that?

Paperback Reader

Robotika #2 (reviews V) and an interview

The second interview in a series of articles about Archaia Studios Press on the Variety web site is about Robotika. I get to talk about Leif and Ryan and of course Mucha!

Variety

Also Robotika #2 gets a review over at Broken Frontier by Fletch Adams:

Broken Frontier

by Brian Cronin at Good Comics:

Comics Should be Good

by Bill Baker:

BloodInThe Gutters

and also by Steven Grant at Comic Book Resources:

Permanent Damage

A series ends, but Niko's journey is just beginning...

April 2006 Diamond Previews is out and it contains the solicitation for Robotika #4.

It is actually a big Archaia Studios Press month. On page 229, Mark smylie's "Artesia Besieged" #1 is solicited. Pages 230-231 are ads for "Mouse Guard" #3, "Robotika" #4, and "Artesia Besieged" #1. On page 232 are the actual solicitations for Mouse Guard and Robotika (with Robotika #1 being offered again).

The order codes are:
Artesia Besieged #1... APR06 2923
Mouse Guard #3........ APR06 2928
Robotika #4........... APR06 2929
Robotika #1........... APR06 2930

I also saw a solicitation of an all new Richard Corben adaptation of Poe from Marvel!

ASP Variety Interview

Mark and Aki are interviewed over at Variety website. and they got some very kind words to say about "Robotika"...it is a pleasure working with these guys.

Robotika #2 (reviews IV)

Three new "Robotika" #2 reviews:

Jasma

Should It Be a Movie?

Komikwerks

King Arthur, Dracula, and...Robotika #2 (reviews III)

A Robotika write-up from Dan Head of Proletariat Comics:

Comics You Should Be Reading

Niko is proud to share the stage with Vlad.

From layout to inked panel

Recently I read through Jason Copland's Blog. Jason is a very talented artist working on a graphic novel with Davis Lewis (the mastermind behind ASP's "The Lone and Level Sands"). I very much enjoyed Jason's posts showing progression of his pages and I want to try something similar here. Here is a panel from a story that I wrote and laid out called "Cherokee Song". The layout is mine, the pencils are by Travis Sengaus, and the final inked version is by me. The panel represents a scene in which a samurai discovers that his son has committed suicide.

Robotika #3 Preview

A preview of the third issue is up at the Newsarama site:

Newsarama

Work on issue #4 is almost complete, just two more pages to finish and...what is next?

Robotika #2 (reviews II)

A review that recommends Robotika, but also mentions vertical text as a distraction:

Joplin Independent

A second review of Robotika #2. The cool thing here is that the vertical text get a "nod" in this one:

ComicReaders.Com

Mouse Guard #1 Sells Out!

I just read that a fellow Archaia Studios Press creator, David Peterson, has sold out the initial run of Mouse Guard #1! 8,000 copies! Mouse Guard #1 is going back to press for a second printing.
This is awesome news and it makes me even more excited to be a part of ASP line-up.

Not every review is 5 stars...or even 4 stars...or even 3 stars...

Here is a review of Robotika #1 by Tony Isabella...he did not like it.

Tony's Online Tips

Robotika #2, Review #1 (!)

This is the first review of the second issue over at the Silver Bullet website:

SilverBulletComics

Well, I never....

Yesterday, thank you to Barbara, I got a block of almost 8 hours (!) of inking in. It was pretty awesome and I got a page and a half inked. Here is one of my favorite Cherokee Geisha poses from the last page: "Well, I never..."

I, Monster...Valentines Day Special

Page#10, Panel#1 from Robotika #4...The Lord of a Thousand Whispers!


Everybody loves a good monster!

Post WonderCon

Yesterday I got a call from Ryan. He called to wish my son a happy birthday (2!) and also to let me know that the baby blanket, that I forgot at the convention, got passed along to Mick so I should be able to pick that up anytime. And then we just talked about comics and drawing and all sorts of stuff. Talking to Ryan always lifts my spirit and helps me see things from a different perspective. He has an unbound enthusiasm for life and I am very fortunate to have him and Michelle as friends. It was great time. He has some very exciting things happening with his career and I can't wait to see his next assignment!

Today I got an e-mail from Tony Salmons telling me that he did indeed finish the pin-up for Robotika. If only, I came back to the convention on Sunday, I could of had it in my hot little hands now. Instead he is going to send it to me. I very much look forward to that.

I have been very fortunate in being able to have some of my all-time art heroes make a contributin to the Robotika project. I tried to include a special guest artist treat in every issue:
#1 has the (of course) beautiful cover by Ryan Sook,
#2 has a 6-page story illustrated (brilliantly) by Leif Jones (who also contributes a wonderful back cover),
#3 has (heroic) Frank Cirocco, (Zen-like) Benoit Springer, (hilarious) Norman Felchle, and (royal) JH Williams III pin-ups, and
#4...will also have a few nice surprises :)

Currently, I working with Jeremy Mohler and Jason Felix to see if they will be able to contribute some of their innovative art to the series.

WonderCon 2006

I attended WonderCon last Friday.

The two biggest highlights of my attendance were meeting Tony Salmons and talking to Rafael Navarro and Mike Wellman at the Comic Bug booth.

Tony Salmons was someone whose art I have admired for years. I have followed his comic book work across the spectrum of comic book companies (Marvel, Dark Horse, DC...). My favorite work of his has been the Conan and Doctor Strange pages at Marvel and "The Mark" over at Dark Horse. Also his recently completed Batman "Legends of the Dark Knight" and "Black & White" were some of the freshest takes on Batman in recent years. I got to ask him some questions about his career and I also got to show him a copy of Robotika. He thought Ryan's cover was outstanding and he was also very kind about the interior pages. I even got up the nerve to ask him to do a Robotika pin-up. He agreed and I hope we will be able to work it out.

Later on in the day I walked by the Comic Bug and re-introduced myself to Rafael Navarro. I met Rafael a few years ago at an earlier WonderCon when he was just starting out his comic book series Sonambulo based on crime noir and Mexican wrestlers. He in turn introduced me to Mike Wellman the manager at Comic Bug, who has actually heard of "Robotika" and wanted to get a few copies for his store. While we were talking, James Sime of the The Isotope walked up and he also remembered who I was (after some reminding) and told me to keep up the good work. It really made me feel pretty good that "Robotika" is getting some attention.

I also walked by some original art dealer tables and was blown away by seeing the Michael Golden original comic book pages and covers. What ever happened to his art book that was palnned by Image last year?

I have also made a few new "discoveries". Enrique Fernandez is an artist creating comics in Spain and France. Just recently he completed an adaptation of "The Wizard of Oz". Beautiful work, very strong character designs, and innovative page construction.

The convention can be a very hectic environment so I did not really get a chance to conect with any of my friends, but I am fortunate in that I can catch-up with them "off-convention" at any time. So that was fine and it was great to see fans line up to see Ryan and Mick at their tables. I did get to talk to Michelle for a bit (about bats!) and Ryan was kind enough to take some time out to sign some art work that I got from him a while back (one piece is a penciled page of Liz as a little girl that never made it into the BPRD and another was an ad that Ryan penciled and I got to ink for Wizards of the Coast). I also ran into Jim and Wendy at the convention center lobby and for a few minutes we said "hi".

It was a beautiful day in San Francisco with the sun warm and the sky clear. I very much enjoyed walking out to the Gardens and watching the crowd on the Green. The evening was also warm and the downtown bright with lights.

Interview at Silver Bullet

My latest interview just got posted at:

Silver Bullet Comics

This was a very enjoyable experience and an opportunity to expand on some of my storytelling ideas used in "Robotika". David Moran and Jenny Goguen did a great job putting the whole things together. At the end of the article there is also a link to order issues #1-3.

Reviews (VIII)

A couple of more reviews of Rootika #1.

PaperbackReader

SBComicBooks

Reviews (VII)

The newest Robotika #1 review (5 out of 5!):

SilverBulletComics

Review (VI)

The good, the bad and...the not so bad.

Six more reviews of Robotika #1:

BagsAndBoards

ColumbusAlive

ComicWorldNews

ShouldThisBeAMovie?

AintItCool

That'sEntertainment

Ad for ASP Comics in February's Diamond Previews

Mark put together this ad for Diamond Previews that will solicit Robotika #3 and Mouse Guard #2. I loved how he worked in the vertical title and the credits for me and Joel.

Review (V)

Got another very thorough review at:

ComicCritique

I am loving the fact that some folks really take their time to read the book and think about it. This is exactly why I did it in the first place!!

Too Awesome

Alex Ness was kind enough to include Robotika in his "wrap-up" for 2005. I think that is pretty awesome:

PopThought

Another awesome news is that Ryan's "X-Factor" #1 is sold out and is going in for a second printing! I read the issue a few weeks back and I thought that the story and the art were right on...the cover alone is "to die for"!

Review (IV)

Today I got a link to another new review of the first issue:

Jazma

Yesterday I started inking a drawing and was reminded that if I don't ink for a few weeks I "loose" it. I am trying to create an econimic line with certain vigor to it...hard to do when my skills are reduced to a baby level.

Reviews (III)

Three more reviews:

Comics Should Be Good

and here is another:

Randomville

Steven Grant reviews:

PermanentDamage#222

This is an earlier review of Robotika photocopies that I sent it before the book was colored/published. It is pretty much the same as the full review in #222, but I wanted to put this one up to have a complete listing of all the articles:

PermanentDamage#215

Reviews (II) and a drawing

I just read a two very nice reviews for the first issue. Here is one:

Ichiban

and here is another:

PopImage

I also just finished another idea for a Robotika drawing. I am trying to capture all the elements of the storyline in one illustration.

Reviews

Here are two reviews of the first issue:

Broken Frontier

Pop Thought

These are very kind reviews, I hope they will inspire some folks to give the book a look.

Vertical Text

After the release of the first issue I have recieved a letter from someone who purchased Robotika and after reading it decided to write in and share his impression of the issue. It was a very articulate letter that contained some very kind words about the art work, storytelling, and story ideas...but one thing stood out as a "sore thumb": Cherokee Geisha's vertical text. In his opinion, the text slowed down the reading experience and made him leave the story.

I was thrilled to get the letter. It was awesome to hear from someone who read the book and felt inspired to write about it. That was very much appreciated. The vertical text is an interesting point and I wanted to say a few words about it.

English is my second language and I still remember the experience of trying to communicate with someone and how frustrating it was when I could not. I also remember how rewarding it was when finally I started "getting it", a whole new world opened up for me. Since than I have developed a huge appreciation of English (and it's American "cousin") as a beautiful language.

With Cherokee Geisha I wanted to create a character that other characters either could or could not understand (but somehow the reader would always be
able to understand). I wanted the reader to realize that they are taking a very wonderful thing, English language and ability to communicate, for granted. "Yes", I did want the reader to work hard. "Yes", I did want the reader to have to "re-learn" how to read...because I wanted them to feel achievement at the end of that experience and an appreciation for something that they usually take for granted.

This was my first opportunity to verbalize my thoughts about the matter (other than talking to friends or to Mark about it), and I hope readers will understand what I am trying to do.

Interview(s) Part III

There is a new interview and a preview for Robotika #2 at Broken Frontier:

Broken Frontier

This was one the first time "in print" that I was able to thank Barbara, Leif, and Ryan for all the support and care that they have given me and Robotika.

Robotika#1

Robotika #1 went on sale last week on the East coast and this week it will be on sale through out the rest of the country. I just got the promotional copies that I need to sign (and get Ryan, who contributed the cover to issue #1, to co-sign)...it is pretty cool to see the book printed...in fact it is pretty amazing.

Interview(s) Part II

There are two more interviews up about Robotika. One at ComicReaders.com:

ComicReaders.com

and another one at Jazma:

Jazma

There is also a write-up based on some questions that I answered at Comicon.com:

Comicon

Also the second issue of Robotika (!) is solicited through Diamond Previews this month. Robotika #2 got a "Certified Cool" sticker with a half-page color ad and a write-up on page 222.

The same Previews issue is also soliciting another new title by Archaia Studios Press, "Mouse Guard" #1 by David Peterson. "Mouse Guard" got a Featured Item description on page 205, a two page interview with David on pages 220-221, and a write-up on page 223. The book looks beautiful and I can't wait to read it.

It's not always all about drawing...

Lots of things got done over the weekend. First the fireplace is finaly done!
Before:

After:

And I got to work on a ChainGang putting up a retaining wall for Frank's driveway.
Here we all are (except Miss Lela, who is taking the photo):

Sketches/Ideas

Cover to issue #3

My color guide to Joel for issue #3 cover.



This image was inspired by the image on my DVD cover of "Seven Samurai". The DVD image was just a group shot of the samurai looking into the distance. When I was sketching ideas for the issue #3 cover, I kept coming back to "group" shot...I have never done anything like this before, so this was an experiment.