Confidence Man

New Year's resolutions aren't something I normally make. Come December 31st, they tend to be reminders of the things that you failed to do that year. But, after reading David Hopkins' and Jason Rodriguez's resolution posts, I felt like it's something that needs to be done this time around. So without further ado, Jason Copland's 2009 New Year Resolutions!

1. Get more comic work published than 2008.
This one is not going to be hard to achieve, actually. 2008 was pretty dismal in the work published category and I already have 2 things I did art for that should see publication. I'd love for one of my co-created projects (Kill All Monsters! and Braids of the Gorgon) to get a green light but the comic book industry doesn't seem to be taking many chances these days. I'm just a little fish in a huge sea of pros looking to land a creator owned gig. Which brings me to resolution #2...

2. More exposure.
This one goes hand in hand with #1. The publication of more of my work will increase my exposure to new comic people. I'm looking to also increase my exposure on the web, too. I've been trying hard to make sure I have new content for this blog 3 times a week. I've been doing that for just over 3 months and I think it is working. I plan on posting more "work in progress" type stuff here and on sites like Digital Webbing, too.

3. Produce more work.
As a few of my friends will attest to, I am very hard on my self, especially when it comes to my comic work. They say every artist is their worst critic. For me, that holds 100% true. I do believe that that critical voice has made me a better artist but I do feel that it has also kept me from producing work at a faster pace. I tend to worry too much about little things that no one else will ever pick up on. At a certain point, I need to let stuff go and just move on to the next panel/page/whatever.

4. Have more confidence in my work.
Confidence in my work is something that I lack, generally. It is always a surprise when I get someone asking to work with me or wanting to buy art. I can't believe that someone actually thinks I do somewhat notable work. I'm naturally self deprecating so it's hard to know when to be proud of something I've done.

5. Finish reading BONE.
I've tried twice to read the huge Bone book that my wife gave me for Christmas last year. I'm currently working through it. I'm just over half way. It's good but I find myself going off and reading other books when I should be hunkering down and finishing it. I guess it's just a little to "light" for my reading tastes. It's wonderfully written and drawn but it has a little too much... cuteness...? I intend on finishing it, though.

6. Lose weight and maintain it.
Yeah, you knew this one was coming. I've lost about 10lbs since the summer and I have about 5lbs more I'd like to shed. Playing more hockey is helping but it all comes down to the snacking. Jackie and I fell off the snacking wagon a few months ago. Time to get back on it, me thinks.

Well, that's about it. Only time will tell if I can achieve one, some or all of these resolutions but getting them down on paper is one step closer, I guess.

Only Time Will Tell

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Well, that was a nice break! I had a great week away from drawing/inking/colouring comic pages. Lots of quality time with family was had. Much food and drink was consumed. Many pages of comic books were read. Jackie and I even got in a few games of Rock Band, me on the bass and Jack on the guitar (ask us how we kick out the jams on the NIN tune "The Hand That Feeds")! Good times, indeed!

But, now that the New Year is here, it's time to start putting the axe to the grindstone (or mouse to the mouse pad), again. The Braids of the Gorgon pages are slowly making their way towards completion. I have 2 more pages to colour and then it's off to the letterer. Then it's just putting the finishing touches on the pitch package illustrations and off it goes. And after that? Time will tell...

Hope you all had a great Holiday Season!

Happy Holidays!

I'm breaking the No Quarter protocol and not titling this post with a song title.

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Holiday and safe and joyous New Year! Here's hoping 2009 is a rewarding year for all of us!

See you all soon!

Jason

Any Colour You Like

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Still trying to get my head around the whole colouring comics thing. There are so many hues to choose from that it can be hard coming up with final colour choices.

One such example of my inability to come up with a definitive color scheme is that of the Gorgon, Euryale, one of the main characters of Braids. Right from day 1, way back in 2001 when Ken and I had our first start working on Braids, I've always visualized her as green. In my brain, Euryale was green. Well, she was until I started colouring the first panel she showed up on. Suddenly, green didn't seem to fit her, it was too obvious. She needed to stand out, be different from the majority of "monsters". But not too different. She also had to be visually interesting when interacting with the other main characters. Sigh.

The above image is part of my attempt to find the right colour for her. I've narrowed it down to more of the blue/purple range, as red, yellow and orange don't really work when she is with certain other characters. Ken and I think we know the one we want. We still have to hear from James to see if we are all in agreement.

In the meantime, I'd love to know which one of the 4 hues shown above would you good people choose for our Gorgon. No answer is wrong so please leave a comment below, if you are so inclined.

Ritual (Nous Sommes Du Soleil)

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Here is a fully coloured Braids of the Gorgon page! This is the first page of the pitch Ken, James and I are putting together.

Colouring my comic art is relatively new to me, the only other colouring I've done was on my 5 page Dear Santa story, "Whatever It Takes" and the 14 page Trickster tale I drew. So, yeah, colouring is still pretty much a "learn as I go" experience. I posted an earlier version of the colours for this page up at Digital Webbing and got a few great critiques, especially the amazing post from pro colorist Nick Filardi, which helped me improve the page. I think it's "done" now, but I never can really tell when something is done.

I'm now almost finished colouring the third page of the pitch. The colouring is getting a little faster, but not any easier.

The Joker

"Tachy! Tachy! Tachy! You talk in yer sleep, stranger! Drivn' me crazy!" - Packrat, from RONIN.

This is one of the earliest sketckbook sketches I did. Not my best (hey I did this one at work in about 15 minutes!) but this was done as a necessary response to this "gift" (below) my friend Ian from work sent me through the internal mail system...
WHAT???! It turns out that Ian, who is a huge comic fan, doesn't dig the best frickin' comic book ever created! Something about not being able to understand it or something like that. Anyways, since he so obviously needed to be educated about the pure genius that is Frank Miller's RONIN, I whipped up this sketch in hopes that it may spark an interest in something that isn't wrapped in spandex. He says he likes the sketch so maybe there is hope for him!

Hey Ian, have you started reading that copy of RONIN I gave you, yet?

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

Coloring on the Braids of the Gorgon pages has begun. Ken, James and I decided that I should give the coloring a try, so I've been doing that, mostly. I'll post a finished page once I get the thumbs up from the crew.

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In the meantime, I did manage to do a few more sketchbook sketches. I'm almost all caught up on them, now! Here's one I did for my friend, Dino. Thanks for your patience, it's in the mail!

Just Like U Said It Would B

This is the back cover of Perhapanauts #5.
'Nuff Said!

Speaking In Tongues

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I was hoping to have the trade dressed final Perhapanauts cover image for you today, but Todd has been so swamped with stuff that he hasn't been able to send one my way. That's cool. I've got something else to share with you good people!

The above image is a sketch I did in a convention sketchbook for Robotika creator and friend, Alex Sheikman. It's a drawing of Cherokee Geisha (CG), one of Alex's Robotika characters. I'm a huge fan of his book and thought I'd do a drawing concerning the "controversy" over the way CG's word balloons were drawn (in a vertical manner). I thought it was a brilliant way to convey the difficulty people have understanding others who speak with an accent. The reading public? Not so enthusiastic. So in the second Robotika series, Alex "corrected" how she spoke and all was well again in the comic blogosphere. Sigh.

"For A Few Rubles More", the second Robotika mini series will be starting to come out again very soon. Make sure to try and track it down. It's good stuff!

Friday I'm In Love

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Here's the Perhapanauts cover inked. The figure looks a little lost in all that black but it will be balanced once the logo and issue number and such are added. I should be receiving a file of that soon. I'll post it on Friday.

5 Days In May

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This past weekend was mostly spent at home drawing and inking a Perhapanauts cover for the upcoming 5th issue. That's the issue that will have the 7 page backup story I illustrated, so don't forget to ask your Local Comic Book retailer to get you one. Todd and Craig offered me the chance to do the flip cover for that issue, I opportunity that I couldn't pass up! The catch was that they offered it to me on Wednesday and needed it done by noon today!

As some of you fine people know, I'm not the fastest comic book drawer guy the world has ever seen, so this looked to be a huge challenge... to come up with a fully inked and coloured Perhapanauts/Image Comic worthy cover in all of 5 days. But as luck(?) would have it, I managed to get the whole thing done by Sunday afternoon! The fact there was almost no colouring needed for it helped a lot. My wife said that it reminded her of Frank Miller's Sin City covers, which is cool.

The above image is my rough sketch, with cover dress added to get the sense of scale and placement. On Wednesday, I'll post up the inked cover, so come on back!

Fully Completely

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The inking of the Braids of the Gorgon pitch pages is almost complete! Only one more page to go! Here's a panel from one of those inked pages.

Also, I have some Perhapanauts news that I may be able to share with you tomorrow, so don't forget to check on back here for that, ya hear!

Love Calling

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Another Convention Sketchbook sketch. This one is for an old high school friend and fellow music lover. Hope you dig it, Jason.

Leave That Thing Alone

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The inking of the Braids of the Gorgon pages is going well. I'm trying to find a good balance of loose and tight inking. I think I could get a little looser but it's difficult for me to leave things alone, sometimes. Anyway, here's that panel I showed in a previous post, this time in its inked form.