Thursday, February 28, 2013

Emerald City bound!


Hey there sports fans Al here with the latest:


Emerald City ComiCon 2013!
ECCC floor layout 2013 and our
location.
  I can't believe that it is here already and of course as with anything I  am excited about going.  I wish I had the money to have a huge amount of stuff to sell at the show but this year was not the case with the comics as I would have liked to have had happen.  CTS #2 is still in the editorial phase and issues 3 and 4 have still to be inked and I know why.
SCRATCHBOARD.  With every show that comes up I like to have new pieces of original artwork to sell and this year I do and beyond what I did last year.  All of these pieces are awesome and varnished and priced.  But because of the time with them and the gallery shows that I have been pursuing, I have had almost not time to really finish off the story line that I started off about one year ago to the day.
Again this year there are grand hopes for a scratchboard graphic novel but that is still in the works but I want to get this latest Corrax book off the ground first.
At times I feel as if I am addicted to creativity. Just to many ideas bubbling out of my head.
Anyway that being said there are new things being invented for CTS.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that my phone doesn't run out of juice before I can use my square app for the weekend.

CORRAX THE SEEKER NEWS:
Well friends Corrax is in the final phases of finally being done then off to Jason to edit.  There will always be a few twiks here and there but the second issue is coming around nicely.
Yea!
Corrax the Seeker #3 Cover
NEW ART!
THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON now adorns the Black Box Comix Table.  I thought that I was done with scratchboard but such is not the case.  In the other conversations with Devon and Dan and George from the small Illustration Club that I attended two weeks ago, Devon is convinced that the scratchboard of the classic movie monsters would be the way to go to get people interested in the work.
I have also started compiling work that includes the Martian Manhunter and Sio & Kuma from Afro Samurai.  I don't usually draw or illustrate comic superheroes or Manga style characters but this year I wanted to show that I could step out my normal illustrative style.  Hellboy would be the next one I would do.
I still have the Bride of Frankenstein, the Invisible Man (which has been a lot of jokes in the artists collective) and the Mummy.
Other comicbook characters I would love to do are Killraven and the Manwolf.
"The Morning After"


DREAMS OF ELYSIUM:
The collection of boards continues on as each pay day rolls around.  Soon (I hope) I will have all the boards ready to go and scratch like hell to get the book done.

POOR CHOICE OF WORDS:
When I was writing an entry on my Facebook page stating that I was "Feeding the four legged beasts that watch over the house AND having some coffee planning my big change from comics to art work."
Of course this is written early morning before going to work at one of the two 9 to 5 jobs that I have.  On this point John Orlando who is the curator of the New  Underground Comix Publishers, Artist and Writers Alliance chimed in and asked "And comics aren't art?"
OF COURSE IT IS, Duh!
What I should have said was  "a change of venue."   Of course I was still waking up and hadn't finished my coffee but that really no excuse like accepting a alcoholic that they are a alcoholic but not their actions.
BUT it did bring up a good point- how to market your work.  Do you still make physical copies of your work or do you go full digital for the 21st century?
I've had this conversation before with Adam of Darkslinger Comics and several others to a lesser degree.
In order for comics to be a successful and profitable commodity, you can still do both but lessen your cost on the product and spread your net out as far as you can.  Places like Marvel (in my opinion) kinda shot themselves in the foot when they bought their own printer in Canada before the big buy out by Disney.
When Disney came in they found that the big event books were doing really well for Marvel so when Marvel said that were done doing big event crossovers- they lied.  Anyway I've gotten off topic here, sorry.
But I am  surprised that no one in the indy field has put together a comprehensive listing for comics creators to go and sell their work on the web with pros and cons of each of the companies out there.
Comic shows and festivals should not cost you a ton of money worrying about how much product you have to push at a show.  It's supposed be fun.

GALLERY SHOWS:
I still have two art shows going on currently but will be taking down the Hawthorne Hideaway work down this month and still have Love of Portland show going on currenlty.  Good times.

COMMISSIONS:
I do commissions depending size, complexity of the piece, varnished and framed.  Usually half down half on completion of project.  Easiest way for payments is through Paypal  using my email address blackboxcomix@yahoo.com.

AND...
Old blog for Black Box Comix entries can be found here at http://blackboxcomix.blogspot.com/
And this kid is outta here.