C2E2

I'll be in Chicago at C2E2 this weekend so come on by my table and say hi. I'll be doing sketches, selling some originals (probably Spider-man stuff), and giving out nuggets of wisdom. Table L-12 in artist alley. Also, check out my charity piece a couple of posts down if you're interested in helping people.

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HAPPY EASTER!

Happy Easter from Zombie Bunny. He waits for unsuspecting hands in the tall grass.

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C2E2 charity piece

I posted this and it's process on twitter yesterday and I wanted to repost it here for anyone who missed it. It's for the charity auction at C2E2 so if you like it you can bid on it. It's about 10.5 inches by 15.5 inches on 14 by 17 paper if that helps. Of course it's Daredevil as I'm uncreative and don't care about licensing issues. Please help out the nice guys at C2E2 raise some money. See you there.

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Been a while...

I recently went to a life drawing session and it's been a while. I felt pretty rusty and I'm not sure if anything really good came out of it. Still fun and I'll be doing more when possible. Alot of great comics coming out lately and I can't wait to get the final issue of Graveyard of Empires out there. It's been a long and bumpy process but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. At least until we start working on the collected edition. So here are a couple of snippets of life drawing and the last issue. More soon....

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Quick link

Robot 6 put up a little about a short story I'm doing for 12 Gauge's The Ride. Check it out HERE.
I'll be posting some more behind the scenes as i gets closer. More soon.

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Doodles...

I've been trying to make my doodling around a bit more substantial. I'm always impressed when other artist have sketchbooks with practically finished drawings. People like Eric Canete or Chris Samnee ho somehow manage to fit in these terrific sketches in between actual work. I've been posting these on twitter and hopefully it'll lead to more drawing which means better drawing in the end. Hopefully.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Just a quick Happy New Year with a small panel from The Ride short I'm working on. More soon....

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Merry Christmas!

It's been tough to get things done around the Holidays this year but I've been plugging away. Graveyard of Empires #3 has been done and I just got my comps in the mail. It looks great and I can't wait for it to finally be in stores. Because of the holidays that won't be till January but it's done and Mark and I are onto the next one.

Also, I've been getting a cover together for the incomparable Sam Humphries. If you don't know who he is you're missing some interesting comics. His last self published book was about dog love. Strange dog love. You'll have to read it. http://ourloveisrealcomic.com/ Now he's working on a great adventure book involving the Aztec Empire and time-travel and all sorts of neat ideas. http://samhumphries.com/sacrifice-comic-book/ I've seen the first two issue or so and it looks great. My variant will be for the 3rd issue I believe.

Lastly, I ran out of time for a proper Christmas card but I did a quick sketch. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to Mark Sable and his people. Happy New Year too!

Monkey off my back...

With issue 3 of Graveyard off and done I feel much relieved. I feel bad it's taken as long as it has but I hope it's worth it to our readers.

On the other hand I've had some breathing room. Being that work has been coloring and other odds and ends I was doing, I spent my actual drawing time doing some sketches of the people that will inhabit my next projects. I'm relly excited about them. Especially, my own story that I will write and draw. I envy those artist that can be the full package in this industry. I hope to put out at least one of my own books a year (Starting in 2012). One book that's all me.

Commissions anyone?

With issue 3 behind us we can move onto the last issue of the series. I've always said it was a story that started calm and gets crazier as it goes. I can't wait to draw some of the last scenes in the book even though they may be the hardest ones.

With that I wanted to try and accept some commissions. So if anyone in the States has any requests feel free to email me. I'll be taking only a few as I don't want people to wait forever for them. You can contact me through the email below and we can talk specifics:

paul@azaceta.com

Also, if you want to just send me (and Mark) some feedback feel free.

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Crowded....

Been working hard on getting this latest issue done of Graveyard of Empires. I realize these issues have been taking longer than usual and I believe I've pinpointed why, it's alot of drawing. Between the zombies, the soldiers, the villagers and the research, it's alot that goes into each page. I just feel bad I couldn't foresee this better and I hope our readers have some patience as we try to get the best possible book in their hands. Here's an example of some of the crowded panels that fill our book. Hopefully, it makes for a great final product.

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Just a quick sketch for Halloween. Inspired by one of my favorite movies, which also happens to fit in well with the horror theme, John Carpenter's The Thing. It's the kind of horror I love and who doesn't love Kurt Russell? Great movie that still holds up.

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MASH-UP

Here's a panel mash-up from issue 3 of Graveyard of Empires (soon to be done and sent to the printer). NYCC passed and it was a crazy weekend but I thank all those who stopped by and picked up copies of the book and got sketches or just strolled by with a compliment. Even though I still have another issue to go I've been thinking alot about what's next and I'm really excited. Of course I can't say anything yet because it's way early but I posted a quick sketch as a tease on Twitter (here). I'm really looking forward to doing some personal work in the future and really wring all I can out if the medium. Art is supposed to be about expression and I'm not sure I've tapped even a quarter of what I should be. Anyway, more on that soon enough but I leave you now with the wondefullness that is "dot eyes"... Jason Latour knows what I mean.

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NYCC table S16!!!!

I always like to see step by step shots or behind the scene type stuff. So in that vein here is a step by step of a couple of panels from Graveyard of Empires #3.

Also, I'll be at New York Comic Con this weekend with Mark Sable and Sam Humphries. We'll be at table S16 in Artist Alley with copies of Graveyard #1 and #2. I'll be doing commission sketches (as many as I can) and selling some original art (probably from Spider-man) so come on by!

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Keep it simple....

When I first set out to do the covers for Graveyard of Empires I knew I wanted simple graphic covers. I had that image of the first cover hazily in my head back when the book was still just an idea in Mark's head. When it was decided that we were going to break it up into issues, I immediately started to figure out how to continue the theme the first one set on through the next covers. Hopefully they stand out. It is the main point of a cover at the end of the day and I thought if I sat down and draw the heck out of them they would just get lost in the mix. It was a fun experiment. I'm not a "pretty picture" kind of artist and covers always seem to go against what my goals are inside the books, but I always approach them as a chance to try something else. One of these days I might even paint a few.

Life as we know it...

I finally had a little time to go to a figure drawing session. It's such a relaxing and freeing way to spend an evening. I promised myself when I started to make time for life drawing that I would try something different each time. I posted some other sketches I did in ink and I have some in pencil, so this time I thought I'd give charcoal a shot (at least for longer poses. the shorter ones above are still with pencil). I never use charcoal so I'm not sure I was bringing out the best aspects of the medium. But I had fun learning as I went and I may have to use it again next time so get more into the technique of it. Doing something out of your comfort zone is always rewarding in the end even if it is a failure. Now if only I can make some time to paint.

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Breathe

I thought this page was innocuous enough where my editor wouldn't mind. Also, I think it's a great example of one of the themes that ran through the first arc of the "Icelandic Trilogy" in Northlanders. One of the things that I felt Brian did so well in the scripts was give space to show the landscape that is Iceland. As much as the story is about a family and their struggles with making a life for themselves, it's also about this harsh land that didn't want to be occupied. It kind of reminds me of a Terrence Malick movie where the slow pans and wide countryside shots give you a real sense of immersion into their world. Hopefully, I was able to capture some of that in the issues. Space is always something that I'm concerned with when laying out comics. It's the main problem I run into when I read a script and I'm sure it's a headache to the writers. I find myself more and more just trying to divide the page in a way that gives the important moments there due rather then composing each panel within that page. I think Brian Wood was pretty great at having those moments in the script and I had fun trying to keep that impact on the page.

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Issue 2 Tomorrow!!

Seeing as issue #2 of Graveyard is coming out tomorrow I thought now would be a good time for an update. Now that Mark and I are looking more towards the end of the story rather than the beginning I'm really anxious to get to some very cool scenes we've set up. I always described the book as a ride that gets crazier as it goes and so what I get to draw now is off the wall fun. Look for the cover above and here's a couple of previews folks were nice enough to put up:

Newsarama Preview

CBR preview

Also, I can't say enough cool things about the other book I'm working on, Northlanders. It's a shame it's not continuing because that means I won't be able to draw things like this anymore.

So back to work.

Moving forward....

So I'm back from lots running around on planes and such. San Diego was great and the response Mark and I got from people (including some Military) was awesome. So glad they think we did them justice in Graveyard of Empires. It was a big concern of ours and a bit of a weight off my shoulders that I'm doing okay with the ref I have. Issue 2 will be out soon and it looks great. I actually already have my comps and I'll update everyone about the in-store date. Also, Northlanders #42 is out there and #43 is coming so I have a bunch of things out for people to see. I posted some pages from #1 since that's out and when #43 comes out I'll post some pages from there. I'm really into adding the grey layer now and I'm really starting to think about pages with that in mind. Without jinxing it I think it's the next step in my art and I'm excited I'm moving forward. Being stagnant with you own art can be the worst thing and I hope to never get stuck in my own style.

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Getting ready....

These are a group of panels from the second issue of Northlanders (issue 43). Issue 42 came out and from what I saw it received some nice press. I'll say it again that Brian is pulling out all the stops here on the last huge arc and it's a pleasure to work on these scripts. Here's a link to one of the reviews: Northlanders #42 review.

Also, I'm going to making my way to San Diego this week so swing on by. I'll be with Image comics and Mark Sable at booth #2729. We'll have some Graveyard of Empires copies for sale and I'll be taking commissions. I'm going to bring some Spidey pages too so if you're looking for some original art feel free to check them out.

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