Accepting Fan Commissions

After the last 2-3 years of being so tied up with multiple book projects that I couldn't think about doing much else, I am now open to doing fan commissions for the first time in a very long while.

So, here's the deal: I'll be doing 11"x17", full-body, one character pieces in two-colour or grey tone, of the character of your choice, for $150 US, plus shipping. Additional characters will be $50 US apiece (so that shot you're thinking of with the Fantastic Four in action, for instance, would be $300).

Payment will be through PayPal only. Please email me for details.

Like I said, I haven't done this for some time, so it'll be interesting to see how it goes, and what zany characters people choose for me to draw. Can't wait!

Illustration Gallery Page Now Up

As part of my ongoing upgrading of the site, the Illustration Gallery page that I promised a couple of weeks back is now open, featuring a handy viewer that takes you through a sort of "best of" of my commercial illustration work over the years.

I'll still post illustrations here on the main blog when I've got new work to show (although my latest comics projects have been keeping me busy enough that commercial illustration gigs have been few and far between) and you can always look at ALL of the illustrations on the site by using the "Illustration" tag. But if you're essentially looking for my portfolio, the Illustration Gallery page is the place for you.

Enjoy!

Free "Tower of Treasure" Preview

In advance of the book's August 1st release, the folks at Kids Can Press have made the entire first chapter (28 pages!) of Tower of Treasure available for FREE on their website as a downloadable PDF.

It's a great way to get a preview of a sizable portion of the book before it hits shelves, so go have a read and enjoy, then come back here after and let me know what you thought. Just don't ask what happens in the rest of the story, because I ain't sayin'!

Welcome to the New & Improved ScottChantler.com!

When my new books hit the stands in the fall, I'm expecting a lot more traffic to this site...so, as you can see, I've given my online home a new coat of paint and rearranged the furniture a bit.

If you're the type who finds change confusing and scary, though, never fear! While I've taken advantage of Blogger's new "Pages" feature to put the book store on its own page, and added an Illustration Gallery and Art Store (both of which are in progress and will be up and running soon) otherwise everything is exactly where you left it. It just might be a different colour.

Hope you enjoy the new look! There'll be lots to see and read here in the coming months as the books roll out, so come back often!

"A Timeless and Pleasurable Read"

The first (sort-of) review of Tower of Treasure is in. And it's pretty darn positive. Brigid Alverson chimes in about the book over at Robot 6's "What Are You Reading?" column with her mid-read thoughts about the book (her comments are about a quarter of the way down the page).  Here's hoping she enjoys the last half as much as the first half!

"Tower of Treasure"...In Print!

It's been a good week!

Just two days after finally wrapping Two Generals, advance copies of my all-ages fantasy adventure book Tower of Treasure arrived, both the hardcover and softcover editions. And they look pretty swell:

I'll bring these bad boys with me this weekend for my appearance at the Toronto ComiCON Fan Appreciation Event, so that people can get a preview of the book, which hits stores on August 1st. See you there!

"Two Generals" Finished!

It's been an incredibly long haul, but yesterday afternoon I delivered the final art for Two Generals, the non-fiction World War II graphic novel that I'd been working on since the fall of 2007. It will be released on October 12th everywhere that people sell books (you can check the sidebar of this blog for links to its pages on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca). Check back here over the coming months for news about events, signings, media appearances, and reviews.

To celebrate, I'm posting the 9-page preview that appeared in black-in-white last month at The Toronto Comic Arts Festival in its final coloured form (as always, you can click these images for larger versions). I'll post more art as the release date approaches, if you all promise to behave yourselves. Enjoy!

Free Comic Book Day!

This Saturday (May 1st) is the ninth annual Free Comic Book Day across North America, a day when participating comics shops give away select comic books for FREE in an effort to grow appreciation (and the audience) for this great art form. Though events vary widely from location to location, it's always a family-friendly affair, with many comics publishers putting forward their best all-ages material in the free titles. Many stores invite creators to come and do signings, creating a sort of mini-convention atmosphere for the day.

All of which is to preface the announcement that I'll be at The Dragon in Guelph, Ontario on Saturday, along with the my old pal (and former collaborator) J. Torres. I'll be signing books and doing free sketches for kids from 10am-2pm, and will also have plenty of original art for display (and for sale). I'll also have a limited number of advance copies of the free 9-page "Two Generals" preview that's been prepared for TCAF...so if you want one, get there early!

I believe it's The Dragon's first Free Comic Book Day event, so come out and say hello and let's make it a special one. I've been informed there may be cupcakes!

"Tower of Treasure" is a Junior Library Guild Selection

A nice bit of early buzz for the first Three Thieves book: Tower of Treasure has been named an official selection of the Junior Library Guild. This means that the book gets a spotlight (and a short interview with yours truly) in their Spring 2010 newsletter, which goes out to libraries all over North America. 

In addition,the Guild buys a large number of copies to send out to its subscribers. So even though the book's not out until August, I can already report that it's doing well! I'll be adding Amazon links for it to this blog's sidebar, so pre-order your copy today!

"Two Generals" at TCAF

It's official. The fine folks at McClelland & Stewart are going to be giving away a free 9-page sampler of Two Generals next month at The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, which runs May 8th and 9th at the Toronto Reference Library. I've written at length on this blog about how much I love TCAF, and I couldn't be happier that pages from the book are going to be seen there in print for the first time.

Here's a sneak peak at a page from the preview. Consider it a sample of the sampler:

See you at the show!