New Stuff

Here at last is the second of the pieces I created for the Nelson Education's illustrated dictionary. I won't walk you through the whole process on this one, because it really changed very little from concept to rough to final art. They seemed to feel like I got it pretty much right the first time. Enjoy.

NWP on Attack of the Show

I'm on TV again! Well, not me, personally. But Northwest Passage got a nice mention/review last night in Blair Butler's "Fresh Ink" segment on G4's Attack of the Show. Click the image for the video (though you'll have to listen to a minute and a half of stuff about Secret Invasion first):


Thanks for the coverage, Attack of the Show people!

Northwest Passage Nominated for an Eisner Award!

On the heels of last week's announcement about being nominated for a Joe Shuster Award, comes this week's news that The Annotated Northwest Passage has been nominated for a Will Eisner Comic Industry Award in the new category of Best Publication for Teens. This is the big one, the "Oscars" for cartoonists. And Mr. Eisner himself was a hero of mine, so it's a most surprising honour to be among the many exceptional nominees.

The Beat has a full list of the nominated books and creators, which are an impressively diverse bunch this year. The winners are announced at a ceremony on July 25th in San Diego. Again, wish me luck!

Joe Shuster Award Nominations Announced

The 2008 nominees for the Joe Shuster Awards were announced today...and, well, I wouldn't be mentioning it if I hadn't been nominated for one, now would I? I've been nominated in the new category of Outstanding Cover, for my work on The Annotated Northwest Passage, an honour I really ought to share with designer Keith Wood, who really nailed the "Robert Louis Stevenson" look that I wanted. As in previous years, I'm up against some amazing competition. But win or lose, the Shusters are always a good time, so I'm looking forward to the big ceremony on June 14th. Wish me luck!

I Sure Wouldn't Want Anything Nailed Through MY Five-Hole

It's been a few weeks since I last updated with new illustration work. Mostly it's because there hasn't been any. I've been up to my neck in researching and scripting Two Generals, which is coming along nicely (thank you for asking) but which hasn't really given me much to show as of late.

That changed in the last couple of weeks, though, as I briefly changed gears to participate in a project that the fine folks at Nelson Education have been putting together, an illustrated dictionary for kids that features comics by a virtual who's-who of Toronto-area comics artists.

The page I was asked to do illustrates the word "jargon". Here's each stage of the process:

First, a quick rough based on Nelson's script:

You'll note that I showed all the players on the ice in the first panel. This was because the script made clear that it was important to demonstrate that one of the teams was short-handed (down a player). They liked the rough, but felt that panel one was too crowded with so many characters in it. I suggested that we show the scoring team as being short-handed by putting one of the players in a penalty box, which they agreed was a good solution. I made the change in the tight pencil version:

That got approved, so it was on to inks:

Then, finally, colours and lettering:

I'd always intended to put some kind of brand name on the goalie's stick in panel 2, but when it came down to it the client found it distracted from the dialogue in that panel. I agreed, and replaced it with stripes that don't draw the eye as much.

The client was happy enough with this one that they asked me to a second one for the same project. I'll save that for later in the week, just so that it won't be another month and a half between posts!

Original Art Auctions on eBay

I just put a couple of original art pieces up on eBay: page 7 from the just-released Hawaiian Dick #3, and page 18 from the third volume of Northwest Passage.

These auctions end March 3rd, so get in there and get bidding! And don't forget that a large selection of my original comic art is always available in my art store over at ComicSpace.

Hawaiian Dick #3 on Sale Now!

New month, new issue of Hawaiian Dick! Issue #3 hits the stands today, so go pay your three dollars and buckle up for yet another colourful blast of investigative Pacific island mayhem!

Recent Illustration Work

Here are some images I've cooked up recently, the first for an article on "green homes" in Seattle Magazine, the other for a Design Edge Canada article about the unintentionally insulting language that clients sometimes use with designers and other creative freelancers. Enjoy!

Hawaiian Dick #2 on Sale Today

After a brief delay at the printer, Hawaiian Dick #2 is in stores today...go get one!

"Two Generals" Lands at Tundra

It's now official: my next creator-owned comics project will be the graphic novel Two Generals, which will be published in November 2009 by Tundra Books.

Two Generals will be my first time trying my hand at non-fiction. Based on my grandfather's 1943 diary, it depicts his time in England with his best friend training for the invasion of Normandy as officers in Canada's Highland Light Infantry. While not entirely accurate to describe it as a "war book" (my grandfather didn't see action until D-Day in '44) it will detail the intensely personal experience of going to war, the humour of young men abroad for the first time, and the preparation, both mental and physical, for what they know will happen next.

I'm looking forward to my collaboration with Tundra Books (who have published some Canadian classics, including The Hockey Sweater, a favourite of mine and my son) who so far have been nothing but enthusiastic about the project. I'll post updates throughout the process of the book's creation so that fans can see how it's shaping up...and don't forget to circle Rembrance Day '09 on your calendars!

2008 Off to a Good Start

A couple of nice surprises in this first week of the year:

First, twelve pages of Hawaiian Dick #1 have been reprinted in the comics section of New York Magazine. I have no idea what the circulation of New York Magazine is, but it's got to be, you know, big. A nice piece of mainstream media exposure for our little indie-comic-that-could.

And as if that weren't enough, The Annotated Northwest Passage has just been named one of Comics Worth Reading's Best Books of 2007. An honour, indeed.

Hopefully these are a sign of things to come in the year ahead!

Original Art Store Updated

It's been some time since I updated my art store over at ComicSpace, but I've finally added not only a bunch of pages from Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen #1, but also the entire 16 pages from the newly-released Hawaiian Dick #1. So go do some Christmas shopping for the comics fan or art lover in your family!

HAWAIIAN DICK #1 Sells Out

Good news...HAWAIIAN DICK #1 has sold out at the distributor level. If you're looking for it and haven't been able to find it, a second printing (with a snazzy new cover by Jason Latour) is on its way. Many thanks to the retailers and fans who had faith in the book's relaunch. And be sure to keep your eyes open for issue #2, which is even better than the first!

HAWAIIAN DICK #1...On Sale Now!

Hot off the presses! Byrd, Kahami, Mo, The Thinker...the whole gang is back for the new series, along with a half-dozen new characters, just for good measure. So get thee to a comics store, or anywhere else smart enough to stock Image books...you won't be disappointed!

More New Illustration

While I wait for a couple of new comics projects to gear up, I've been taking a lot of magazine illustration gigs that have come up recently. Here's a couple of favourites, including a holiday-themed piece for Baltimore Magazine:

...and a few retro-style spots for the popular Canadian children's magazine, OWL:

Yes, I Draw Motorcycles...

Sometimes good illustrations come from the most unlikely concepts. Carpenter Magazine recently asked me to come up with an illustration for an article about union negotiations with the new Harley-Davidson museum that resulted in the high-end mill-cabinet work being done by a UBC signatory.

Clearly the most interesting thing about that rather dry business concept is the fact that it was for the Harley-Davidson museum...so I took it as a perfect excuse to draw a motorcycle! The resulting illustration is one of my recent favourites, and was a good way to add some much-needed drama to the story.