back peck

Tonight's drawing. I need to add a prosthetic device to his arm here …

night sketch

Quick sketch before bed.

billy at kintoki-con

Here's a little piece I did while exhibiting at Kintoki-Con yesterday.

kintoki-con approaches

Here's a new local con I will be exhibiting at on Saturday, June 18th. If you have time, come on by and check it out. You can register for the event at http://kintoki-con.com/. You will find me listed in Artist Alley under the nickname Choko. Cheers!

wondercon shout out

My buddy, Mark Machmann, got a shout out in a WonderCon comic photo album by Comic Booked. Thanks, Nicole!

peck's up on comixpress

You can now purchase your very own copy of Peck at comixpress.com. Click on the image above to transport yourself thither.

issue #2 / page 1

Okay this page has been done for a while, but I wanted to start posting the successive pages of Issue #2 now that there are people who actually have Issue #1 at home. I need to get switched over to Comicpress (on top of Wordpress) to make an archive gallery. I appreciate your patience.

wondercon 2011 post mortem

Believe it or not, I sat in my Wondercon booth on Friday and thought, “What am I doing here?” One sale the entire day. Arg. But then Saturday comes along and the book starts jumping off the table. My inner voice comes back a second time, but this time says: “Heck yes!” Peck sold well in Artist Alley and it was so exhilarating to finally get this book out to the public. My table buddy, Mark Machmann, and I learned plenty at our first WC (at least the first time being on the other side of the table). All the exhibitors we spoke with were so nice and helpful. I'm definitely going to do this Con again next year. Thanks to all who came out to support us!

wondercon 2011 pics

Dave Metran, the proud new owner of a comic book.

Nicole Sixx of Comic Booked liked Peck #1. She also sports a Solo postcard from Mark Machmann.

Made some new friends like artist Ian Walker, his wife, Wrennie and son, Jaylon.

Laura O'brien of Double Fine game co was my booth neighbor. Thanks for the girl scout cookies, Laura!

Rebecca Spencer fills in at the booth whilst I wander about Artist Alley. Thanks for all your help, Rebecca!

Mark Machmann ready to take on the Saturday madness at WC. Great event, Mark!

peck in SF this weekend

If you make it out to WonderCon this weekend, please come by and visit me in Artist Alley (AA#142). I will be there on Friday and Saturday with some nice crisp issues of Peck.

peck link soon

I will be posting a link for the mass release of Peck Issue #1 as soon as I can get Comixpress to list it. Stay tuned!

peck stuff

Peck paraphernalia can now be found at http://www.zazzle.com/mestioko

buttons pas

Some samples of past buttons. I'm going to resurrect a few of the character buttons. Billy for sure!

button 1

Here's a button I'll be handing out at WonderCon. A few more designs to come.

cover art done

Seems like the details sometimes take the longest. I am feeling very good about issue 1's new cover. Phew!

color's halfway there …

I love this part of the process. You get to watch it come alive right before your eyes.

art flatted

Placeholder color flatted in. I will pull out the details of windows and other objects after I light the general scene. Should be pretty dramatic with underlighting from the right bottom corner.

grayscale done. color time.

Time to bring it all together.

cover 02

Here we are in "Peking Man" stage. As the drawing is fully fleshed out, I will downplay some of the things that are getting way too much air time (i.e., the window behind him, the drainage pipe, etc).

cover final begins

Still in cor-magnon stage, but will evolve quickly.

type tinkering

Adjusting the spacing of the logotype to accommodate blocking. Nothing like getting away from the computer and back to analog mode.

home studio

A glimpse of the bat cave.

amigurumi billy

A big thanks to Risa Knight and her mad craft skills! Here's her awesome yarn rendition of Billy. If you'd like something done by her (knitted items or amigurumi), check out her work at http://eesaray.wordpress.com/

peck bust

alley lit

Will include shadow in final sketch. Stay tuned.

almost there …

alley in progress

Whistle while you work …

analog model of alley

Beginnings of my cardboard mockup of the alley. Just need enough detail to see the foreshortening, angles and shading properly. I will be tweaking the perspective of the final ref image as I want a wide angle lens appearance. On to making more cardboard buildings …

rough cover concept

Here's a rough digital mockup of my cover concept. Going to build a cardboard model of the alley background and light it for shadow accuracy. Colors are tbd at this point.

cover musings

Initial musings on a new cover concept for issue #1.

the new bamboo

Just picked up a Wacom Bamboo Pen. This will greatly speed up my coloring efforts. I know a lot of you veterans are saying: "Wha? Where have you been?" Slowly but slowly. ;)