A Christmas Comic...well, a wedding comic

For a friend's Christmas/wedding present, I did a comic page of their ceremony.  Enjoy and Merry Christmas to all!

More Mutton Bustin' for the Mile High Sports Mag.

So, the National Western Stock Show is coming up here in Denver, CO.  It's one of the largest stockshows in the West.  This is going to be part of an advertisement for Comfort Dental in next month's Mile High Sports magazine.
This was quite a challenge for me too.  I really had to learn something about Illustrator to create this piece.  Then, due to the deadline, I gave up, live traced it and colored it with paths.

#200! Mutton Bustin'!!

So, mutton Bustin' is a rodeo sport.  Little kids ride sheep and hold on for dear life for as long as possible.  It's like bull riding for little kids...and one of the FUNNIEST SPORTS EVER!  These kids hold on for dear life while the sheep they ride runs as fast and as erratically as sheep do around a rodeo arena.  Anyway, for a stock show advertisement, I am doing an image of Toothy Mutton Bustin'...won't tell you what the art director's initial sketch idea looked like (but it wasn't appropriate).
Also, this is post #200!!  WOOHOO!  Anyone remember post #1?

Second Grade recommended Comic

Hey all!  It's the beginning of the month again, and once again Grant Thomas has been kind enough to put up another recommendation from my thesis on this website Making Visual Narratives.  Check it out by clicking the Making Visual Narratives link.  Third grade recommendation is coming soon to the site as well (and PS- it's a chapter book!).  Also, for any teachers interested, if you want the whole thing and haven't seen the grade you teach yet click this link: Jay's Thesis and download it for yourself.

The Uncut Sheets for MMD #1

These are the uncut sheets for the comic deck MMD #1.  They went on sale yesterday at xtremehandz.com and sold out nearly immediately.  These collector items were limited to less than 20 total.  It's an amazingly limited piece and if you are comic fan or a card fan, or know someone that is, this is a great present.  Like I stated, they are unavailable at xtremehandz.com, but I have 5 to sell.  If you are interested you may contact me at jpeteranetz@gmail.com or come visit me this wednesday from 5-8pm at I Want More Comics at 104th and Huron in Thornton.  I'll be there with De'vo signing and selling our comic decks and the 5 uncut sheets...if I have any left. (photos above courtesy handlordz, LLC.)

Happy Birthday, My Girl!

My wife's birthday is coming up on Sunday and I wanted to surprise her with this as ber birthday present...unfortunately, she saw this, critiqued it and so I had to fix it....oh well, Happy Birthday Girl! And yes, that is supposed to be us watching the Geese.

Migration Patterns

One of the coolest things about living along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains is the fall and the spring.  We, on a DAILY basis, see thousands of Canada Geese passing across the land to get to their winter or summer homes.  Right now They are heading south, but what an amazing sight.

NFL daily Sketch

So, I've been in a little bit of an artistic slump lately.  I have been disliking most of my current art, so I decided I'd go back to some life drawing and looking closer at people around me and images in magazines.  Then I got the NFL shop holiday magazine and saw a series of people in jerseys.  I liked the contrast of the images and the textures in the differing clothing.  So I drew one.  I liked the way it came out and decided I'd do some more (they are coming soon).

Limited Edition MMD #1

So, we've been fielding a lot of emails about the logistics of this deck.  How does it work?  How do you play it?  What exactly is a comic deck?  And so on...so De'vo the creator and writer does a short demonstration about the deck.  Again, amazing concept, and it's done on the same stock as the rest of De'vo's decks.  It's easy to shuffle, manipulate and fan.  It's a very high quality feeling deck of cards...oh and the artwork is pretty sick too.

MMD #1 release announced!

CLICKTHIS LINK: MMD #1  I am XTREME-ly XCITED (seems like an X-Men post...but it's not) to announce the release of the world's very first comic deck.  It will be officially available Saturday, so go buy it!!!! The image above is the Ace of Spades from the deck with the main character, D.

Another...DAILY SKETCH!!!!

Ok, so I know these haven't been daily...and I know I haven't been doing them daily, but we'll still call them Daily Sketches.  I am doing my best to do at least a bit of drawing daily.  So far, it's been some paid work too...those are the days I am tending to miss this daily sketch thing...oh well.

MMD #1: Official Trailer

I have talked about this before, and I'll talk about it again, mainly because this time...I have a full trailer and some amazing shots of some of the images from the deck.  This is the FIRST COMIC PRINTED ON A DECK OF PLAYING CARDS.  The first run is a limited edition box and limited run of 2000 decks.  Check out more info here: xtremehandz.com. or here: MMD Teasers

Connecting to YOUR Readers

Have you ever thought about who would be the audience for your comics?  Is there an age group for whom you are writing and drawing?  If so, then you should ask yourself, how do I connect to these ages?  The easy answer: put someone their age and gender in the comic and make them go through a challenge your readers would be going through as well.
For the Adventures of Toothy for Comfort Dental, we are introducing a pair of 6-8 year old characters. One of them is losing a tooth.  Our target age group: Elementary School kids.  Make sense?

Another Sketch

Today's daily sketch is brought to you by: forgot my drawing stuff at work.  I am working on more comics for Comfort Dental, plus a five page comic, and a one page comic.  I have a lot going on, and when I forgot my drawing materials at work last night....I was upset to say the least.  But! I got to do another daily sketch.  Honing the skills needed to increase my talent level.  This was done with a ballpoint pen before bed last night.

More Comics and Learning!

For those of you that know me...HI.  For those of you that don't, I have an MFA in sequential Art.  Grant Thomas, the administrator of Making Visual Narratives is putting up my grade level recommendations for comics up on his website on a monthly basis.  Kindergarten and First Grade are up currently, with second grade coming soon.  Please check out his site and his work.  He, like a lot of us, are very interested in changing the way school present information so there is more interaction, more entertainment and more effective and efficient learning in today's public schools.  Comics ARE a great way to do that, and that's being found all over the nation right now.
For a list of websites and more information on how to teach with comics you are more than welcome to contact me for a copy of my thesis, or to have me come to your school or library to talk about comics and learning.

Commissions for Christmas, anyone?!

This is an example of a commission I did for a friend for a friend's birthday/christmas present.  I am thinking I'd like to open a series of commissions for Christmas this year.  I know a lot of people are doing this, but it just makes sense!  Everyone would like a nice piece of artwork for their wall for the holiday.  Anyway, visit my commission page to see pricing and email me with questions.

Comics...AND learning!

So, you know those comics that teach stuff?  No?!  Well, did you know that comics can teach stuff?!  It's been proven.  One of the best ways to learn material is through the combination of text and image.  The text explains, and the image helps you connect the explanation with a visual representation of the given text, but I digress.
Anyway, I am doing one of these "comics that teach stuff."  It's for Comfort Dental (this is for you new folks, because I've talked about this before) and it's called The Adventures of Toothy and Friends.  It's a superhero adventure story that teaches good dental hygiene.  This is from the second installment with a new installment coming each month!  You can see the first installment on Comfort Dental's facebook page.

Look! I made a Laser!

This is a panel from the next Adventures of Toothy for Comfort Dental.  I made a Laser!  What do you think?

The Adventures of Toothy...part 2

So I've been contracted to do 12 monthly comic strips for Comfort Dental.  This is one of the panels from the latest of these strips.  We are introducing a series of bad guys with dental disease names, like Ginger Vitis (seen above hiding in the bushes) and others like Hal E. Tosis.  And other great villain names.  Look for the final version of this very soon at comfortdental.com or on their facebook page

The Running Man, inked

I did these inks last night and was fairly disappointed...then I looked again this morning, still a little disappointed, but I do see some good in there. I left the arms fairly high contrast, especially to let them stand out and away from his body.  That worked.  On the other hand, the hatching I did on his back and biody, didn't quite create the planes of the form correctly...need to work on that, otherwise, the energy is still there and the gesture of the running is still very much alive.  Not too bad...

Running man

This is daily sketch 4a.   The reason for the a, I didn't get to complete this sketch last night before I fell asleep with a pencil in my hand.  I am drawing a comic strip for Comfort Dental that has a chase panel and I could NOT figure out how to draw someone running, so I found a picture and started working on that...so here the under drawing, the finished piece will come tomorrow, possibly with the panel I was trying to draw with it.  Enjoy!

Can-Am Spyder

Today's sketch is of a Can-Am Spyder.  It's a three wheeled road bike by the same people that make Ski-Doo snowmobiles, and if you looked at the early models, it was like looking at a Ski-Doo Rev chassis on the pavement.  They have diverted a bit since then and made them more unique unto themselves, but I digress.  This sketch is in preparation for an upcoming post-apocalyptic story I am about to start on.  There are four rules to the story: 1) 5 pages long 2) dinosaurs 3)main character is me 4)motorcycle...and yes this counts.

Today: An Airplane, Tomorrow: The World(?)

So, With these daily sketches, I figured I'd put them up no matter what, success or failure, I am just trying to get better at the stuff I'd need to draw to be successful...today, fail.  Tomorrow, who knows!

daily Sketch #1

In an effort to really nail down my style, my anatomy, my skills and such, I have decided I am going to be doing a small 4x5 sketch every day, usually while waiting for my new baby to fall asleep. This came from the Five C's of Cinematography.  The section that talks about consistency scene during shot selection.  I am going to be doing sketches from life and from pictures and such...whether good, bad or indifferent, they will be here.  As I go along I'll also be posting other work so you can see how it's effecting my work and hopefully improving my aesthetic.  Enjoy!

World's First Comic Book on Playing Cards

So it's officially been announced on xtremehandz.com.  MMD will be released by the end of the year....what is MMD you ask?  It's a comic book on the back of a deck of poker cards.  WHAT?!  What's that you say?!  The back of a deck of cards?!  WOW!  This is the brain child of De'vo Vom Schattenreich, creator of the Xtreme Card Manipulation discipline.  You can see his work at handlordz.com as well as some of his other poker decks.  This has been 10 years in the making for him,  and it will FINALLY come to fruition this year.  If you remember I put some teasers of the process up, revisit them here:
MMD Teaser 1
MMD Teaser 2
MMD Teaser 3
MMD Teaser 4

I got to show this off at the New York Comic Con this weekend and got a LOT of great feedback about it.  I'll let you when and where it's available, but everyone I talked to thought it was a very cool idea.  Thank you for giving me the chance to work on this project, it's been a blast!  AND if you like it, BUY it!

Free Realms and another NYCC update

This is a page from Wildstorm's Free Realms.  Although I never had a chance to read the comic, I love the artwork.  This is by Red-J (Jon Sommarvia).  I made a few changes to the placements of black, especially in the last panel, to help with keeping values on the same planes.
Also, I am writing this three days before I am in NY, so I'll update on my progress with my phone as soon as today comes around.

X-Men and in New York at the Comic Convention

This is another inked page by me.  The original pencils were done in 2004 by Kelly Goodine (kego44 on Deviant Art).  It was a 7 page sequential about the X-Men in the danger room.  I picked the page with the most characters and what I felt to be the best depth.
Also, I am in New York at the Comic Con right now.  I am wandering mostly, but you can follow my twitter feed (@jpeteranetz) to keep tabs on me while I am there.  I may get the opportunity to sit with CCP Comics and Rock Comic Con.  I'll tweet it if it happens.

Red Zombie: Nuts to YOU!

Nate was very proud of himself for this page...a zombie ripping some scrotum...good for you.  I really liked the opportunity this page presented to get some major depth and to really capture the rip.  What do you think?  What a great way to end such a wonderful zombie story of revenge.
And, in two days I leave for NY.  I believe I am ready for the convention, and I am DEFINITELY ready to make my mark in the comic community...BRING IT ON COMICS WORLD!

Portfolio Inks: Red Zombie

Over the years, I have been given a lot of advice about portfolio presentations, and how to do this and that, what to include, what NOT to include.  Most of that has been advice about full artistic portfolios.  Inking portfolios are a bit different.  You want to include a series of images over different artists to show your versatility so an editor knows you can handle many types of projects.  This piece as well as the previos Red Zombie posts will be included to show my ability to ink over a sequential series, but I'll also have examples from Jason Sobol, Kelly Goodine, and Red J.

Inks for NYCC

 So, I am heading off to New York for the Comic Convention next week with two portfolios, one of my sequential work, and one of just my inking.  I think the inking portfolio is looking pretty strong, especially with entries like this one...check out the eyeball reflection on panel 5...pretty sweet huh?!  I was pleased with that panel, as well as the directional focus from panel 2.  It needed a little something something.

Legacy Action Comics: Red Zombie p.7

This is a nice tranquil scene of a zombie coming upon a house.  Look at the unsuspecting people near the house preparing, and enjoying the nice fall afternoon...

More Red Zombie

This is the sixth page of my inks over Nate Hamel's pencils.  This will be published by Legacy Action Comics (twitter: @legacyAC) in their second issue as soon as all the other artists are finished with their stories.  I was hoping to have it by the time I went to NY next weekend for the New York Comic Con, but alas, it is not to be.  Also, I'll be at the con Friday afternoon and Saturday.  Follow me on twitter: @jpeteranetz to find out where I'll be when.  I'll be wandering around mostly, and getting reviews from editors, and networking as much as I can, but I have a couple of offers to sit at a table or two for a while, so I'll let you know when and where on my twitter.

Updates and Thesis Posts

So, I know I've been away for a while, but I've been working a lot on a series of projects I can't talk about yet.  That being said, my thesis from my time at the Savannah College of Art and Design is being used online by Making Visual Narratives exactly as it was supposed to be used, to help primary and secondary teachers get a start and a grasp on comics they can use to help their students read.  The site is administered by Grant Thomas, a teacher himself who attended the Rocky Mountain Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels with me last summer.  Check out the website and the link to my first post here:
http://makingvisualnarratives.com/primary/common-core-and-comics-little-mouse-gets-ready
He also introduced me here (and he spelled my name wrong):
http://makingvisualnarratives.com/general/introducing-jay-peternetz

I have also been contracted to do a monthly comic strip for Comfort Dental.  The first strip you've seen and is above.  The rest are coming soon....KEEP CHECKING BACK FOR MORE!

MMD Teaser 4: Final Colors

This is the final teaser I'll be able to put up for this project.  It is finished and submitted, we are waiting for the official announcement now. These are the final colors and shows how the project will look in print.  Enjoy!  And stay posted for more information and future projects.

MMD Teaser 3 (final Inks)

So, it's all coming together.  As I complete phases of this project I am learning more and more about the complexity of comics and how many different formats can be used for the comic medium.  Right now I am completing the final pieces of artwork for this project and am about to start coloring the comic portion.  I am looking forward to finishing this up and seeing the final result when it's all said and done.  It should be released before Black Friday this winter.  I'll keep you updated.

MMD Process (teaser 2)

This is another scene from the MMD comic I am working on.  I really liked the depth and composition I was getting with this piece, so I thought I'd show it.  I am in the middle stage of the inking on this panel and I thought I'd show some process and put this up again when I finish it.  It will have a good amount of black in it, and some serious blood splatter!  Fun!
For this project I am using a pentel stylo pen that mimics a nib, but you don't have to keep dipping into an ink well.  I don't like it as much as a nib, but it's giving my line work a good consistency, and allowing me to play with black and white shape to create eye movement and depth.  That is something Mignola does VERY well with his Hellboy work.  Enjoy!

Hellboy Interlude

I am still thoroughly enjoying Mike Mignola's Hellboy.  I would love to work on that property, so I am drawing him a LOT.  I hope you enjoy this one.  This is step one of inks.  I'll finish him when I have time and then post the finish.

MMD Teaser 1

Nothing is more fun than chains and torture.  These are a couple more teaser panels for my latest project.  I am nearly done with the black and white and will be moving on to colors next.  I know I should be my own biggest critic, but I think I am really hitting some nice line work and compositions with this project.  I hope you agree!

Back again...and with ART!

Well, I've been absent from regular posts for a while, and I am hoping to change that this month.  I have been busy doing a LOT of work.  The biggest of my projects I can't announce yet due to the contract I have signed on it, but I am allowed to show some images.  This image is for the main villain of the story.  When this project is officially announced, it's going to BLOW YOUR MIND!  At least I hope it does...it certainly got me excited about it.  Anyway, more to come in the coming weeks.

XDDX

A couple of variants of a logo I did for a rap metal band out of Atlanta.  They hired me to do this logo (this took about 15 minutes).  And then they took a hiatus....right as I finished this sketch...fun.

Hellboy

Just a quick sketch during lunch at work.  I am gonna try to do a few more of these as the days go on...but I am pretty busy...I guess that's good.  PS- sadly I got the right hand of doom wrong and I was reading a hellboy comic right before I drew this....sad sad Jay.

Wedding Daze...

A friend of mine from work is getting married at some point this summer.  Her soon-to-be husband is a marine and is getting deployed in August...when their wedding was supposed to be.  Regardless, this picture is her wedding gift to him.  It's done in ink with a slicci, a pentel stylo, and a pentel pocket brush.  It's about 11"x14", and honestly, captured their likeness pretty well.

ThunderCats, ThunderCats, ThunderCats...HO!

YAY! MORE INKS!  This is a pin up that may be turned into a print by Jason Sobol.  Jason is one the more talented artists I've seen in the Denver area and was gracious enough to allow me the opportunity to ink some of his work...at least give it a shot.  He is very particular about his inkers and when I asked to try he was skeptical...then he saw my Red Zombie work...suddenly he was less skeptical.  Thanks for the opportunity Jason!

Interviews

I Am a Super Nerd.com did an interview with me about, well...me!  They talked to me about my current work, hopeful work, and more.  Right now I am on their front page.  check it out here: Jay's interview

Denver Comic Con and updates GALORE!

Alright!  So finally, here comes an update...  Denver Comic Con was AMAZING!  The inaugural convention had more attendees than any other convention of it's kind...save NY's Comic Con.  Not a bad showing.  Wil Wheaton, who had to cancel this year, and Stan Lee are already committed to next year's convention!   

The pictures above are the sketches I did over the weekend.  I had a GREAT convention.  The little pictures the people are holding above I am calling "postage stamps."  They are one inch by one and a half inches.  I sold about 8 or so, but forgot to get pictures of them all.  The marker sketch above is on an Oldsmobile Solera or Aurora...not sure which.  Nevertheless, all the artists in artist's alley did a sketch and they are auctioning off the vehicle for Comic Book Classroom.  If I hear where and when I'll let you know, but for now look for it driving around Denver.  

Finally, we got a lot of great responses from An American Apocalypse: The Reckoning from convention goers.  If you are interested in backing the project click here:  An American Apocalypse: The Reckoning

We are still looking for a LOT of help with the project, so please tell all your friends, family, acquaintances, etc...THANKS!  Look for more art soon.  I have about three inking offers from the convention and am working on all of them as we speak.  Keep your fingers crossed that they actually turn into jobs!