Month: February 2013

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Flesk Publications at Booth #105 at the Emerald City ComicCon This Weekend

Flesk Publications will be at the Emerald City ComicCon this weekend. Our booth number is 105. This will be our first time set up at this show. I visited the event last year and enjoyed myself enough to decide to sign up for this year. I like the strong focus on the artists, good vibe of the show and the beautiful city of Seattle. If it goes well you can expect to see us there more often.

I won’t be making the trip, however Jonathan Leveck will be running our space. I already know he will make me proud and represent the Flesk name and the artists we publish well. He can fill you in on the latest titles and what’s coming out in the near future. There will be a wide assortment of Flesk books, including some copies of the original large format of Bruce Timm’s Naughty and Nice as well as the signed 2012 Teaser and Big Pocket editions. Bruce Timm can be found at his table J-16, which is not too far from us.

We’ll have some freebie flyers and catalogs too. Stop on by and make sure Jonathan is working. Send me a picture of him sleeping and I’ll ship you a free book worth up to $50.00!

There will be some more artist friends of ours at the show that I would like to point out. We are all grouped in the same location. (The hip place to be, obviously.)

Brom will be at booth #203, which is just a short walk away. He can fill you in on his The Art of Brom book and share the good news about it going to the printer this week.

Terry and Rachel Dodson can be found at table J-14. They will have original art and the Bombshells 1, 5 and 6 sketchbooks available.

Richard and Wendy Pini have a table at E-09. The secret is just coming to light that I am working with Richard and Wendy on two new books, The Art of Elfquest and Wendy Pini: The Line of Beauty. Free flyers will be provided at both of our booths. These books are in the early stages of development and I am very excited to share more details in the months to come.

One of my all-time favorites, Mike Mignola, will be there. His space is L-11, all the way on the other side of the convention center.

Also, another fun guy and excellent artist, Aaron Lopresti will be close by at J-15.

I hope you all have a good time. I’ll miss being there, but by not going it lets me focus on getting “The Art of Brom off to the printer and keep it on schedule for our June release date.

Enjoy,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications
Text and photographs copyright © 2013 John Fleskes. Artwork © 2013 their respective artist. All rights reserved.

Links:
Emerald City ComicCon

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Flesk Book Updates, February 2013

I turned in the Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 2 commemorative art book to the printer last week. It feels good to have it wrapped up and on schedule to arrive with plenty of time before the event. It will premiere at the show in Kansas City, Missouri on May 17-19. It features the six special guests: Jon Foster, Peter de Sève, Tara McPherson, Charles Vess, Michael Whelan and Terryl Whitlatch.

The first volume features the five guests from 2012 and is 64 pages. Since there is on additional guest for 2013 I expanded the book to 80 pages. This also allowed me to increase the gallery of each artist from 10 to 12 pages. I’ll have the cover and all of the details posted on the Flesk website by next week. At that time you will be able to place a pre-order if you feel so inclined. This is an exclusive Flesk book that is not available to the book trade with a limitation of 2000 copies. It’s a 9 x 12 inch hardbound with jacket. The cover price is $29.95.

At the moment I’m working closely with Brom to finalize his art book. A few days ago, for instance, I printed out the book on 11 x 17 inch paper. This allows me to view the 9 x 12 inch pages at full size and have room around the edges to make notes. Then I began to read the book doing my best to approach it as if I do not have a clue who Brom is, and have no context about the artist names, companies or general references that he makes. There will be a lot of people buying this book who are familiar with Brom and his history, but there will also be those who aren’t. It’s important to not assume that everyone has a full knowledge about Brom or the topics he covers. The goal is that the book is as enlightening to those new people as well as to those who are familiar.

I continued yesterday by spending six hours looking for text errors, inconsistencies and marking any pages which I felt had a design issue that I should bring to Brom’s attention. Afterward I called Brom to go over my findings and suggestions. He has done a remarkable job; just stunning work. We spoke for an hour and a half going over all sorts of details. In an example of a talking point that we had, I pointed out two pages that I felt the design could improve. In these two cases my eye could not rest easily on the page and I didn’t know where to look. I communicated this to Brom and he went to work to adjust them. I don’t tell artists what they need to do to “fix” something, but instead I let them know why I don’t feel it is working. Then, I leave it to them to make any adjustments. I feel a good editor should leave the artists alone as much as possible—and that includes keeping your ego out of the book and not muscling your way into the book. Brom is an exceptional designer. I intend to make sure he does not compromise his vision. Brom is perhaps the only person I have ever worked with who is as particular as I am about all of the fine details.

We’re looking to have the book ready for the printer by March 1st. It’s quite exciting to be focused on the final stages of the book. I’ll be doing a second proofing pass on the book in a few days, followed by a third pass the day before it goes to the printer. I make a fourth and final pass when the printer sends a full set of proofs shortly after we turn it in. The first time I proof a book I read it from page 1 to the end. The second time I go from the last page to the first. The third time I grab random pages and read them one at a time. The fourth time, with the printer proofs, I focus mostly on the colors and reproduction, and then read random pages to double check for errors. Actually, there is an early text review that I do when the text is first supplied by the author. It then goes to Martin Timins for copy edits, then I review all of his notes before sending it back to the author. So, on average I read the text in a book five full times before it is printed. I still miss stuff, and it drives me insane when I do, but I give it my full attention and do my best.

After the Brom book goes to the printer I will be working with Mark Schultz to design his new art book. He’s wrapping up the coloring on the cover now. It should be done soon! I can’t wait to see it.

Enjoy,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications
Text and photographs copyright © 2013 John Fleskes. All rights reserved.

Links:
Pre-order The Art of Brom

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Illustrating Modern Life Exhibit at the Weisman Museum of Art. Exhibit Book Available

Exhibit Book Cover for “Illustrating Modern Life”

I visited the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art located at the Pepperdine University in Malibu, California a few days ago. I went there to see the current exhibition, “Illustrating Modern Life: The Golden Age of American Illustration” from the Kelly Collection. They have on display nearly 70 original paintings and drawings by the premier illustrators during the 1890s through the 1930s. There are pieces by Norman Rockwell, Dean Cornwell, N.C. Wyeth, Mead Schaeffer, Howard Pyle, J.C. Leyendecker, Joseph Clement Coll, among others. These originals are stunning to see in person.

Parking and admission is free. The location in beautiful Malibu couldn’t be better. The exhibit runs until March 31, 2013. I encourage you to go if you are in the area.

The current view of the Weisman Museum of Art exterior.

The originals are on loan from the personal collection of Richard Kelly. He has been building, preserving and sharing it all along. I feel grateful to Richard for his willingness to make it accessible on the West coast for these three months.

Michael Zakian, the museum director at the Wesiman, should also be thanked for making the exhibit happen. He’s put in untold hours to make for a beautiful show. His arrangement of the paintings–which includes the order in which they are displayed and placement within the museum–is impeccable. There is a natural flow as you walk from painting to painting.

Looking down from the second floor. There are three gallery sections that showcase the art. This picture shows three J.C. Leyendecker paintings, followed by a Dean Cornwell, Mead Schaeffer and an N.C. Wyeth.

Michael had contacted me last spring to gauge my interest in working with him to package the show book. I was thrilled to have the opportunity. With the advance notice I was able to make an opening in my fall schedule to put the book together with Michael’s direction. He was a pleasure to work with, and Richard was equally great with his feedback and communication.

I visited with Jim Silke and William Stout. Here they are admiring a Dean Cornwell painting. Listening in on their observations was a fun and educational experience.

The book is a hardcover with jacket at 9 x 12 inches with 112 pages in color. The cover price is $40.00. Included is an excellent essay by Michael and an interview with Richard by David Apatoff. All of the pieces in the show are reproduced one per page. There are also a few bonus pieces not in the show, plus a handful of detail shots. You can get copies directly from the museum. I have some copies which are available from my Flesk website, too. I wanted to make sure our regulars didn’t miss out if they wanted one.

Enjoy,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications
Text and photographs copyright © 2013 John Fleskes. All rights reserved.

Links:
Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art website
Weisman Museum of Art Feature about the exhibit
Kelly Collection of American Illustration Art website
Illustrating Modern Life exhibit book from Flesk

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Craig Elliott in the Studio

I dropped in on Craig Elliott this evening to see what he’s up to. Here’s a picture of Craig as I’m walking into his studio. The color preliminaries on his computer are potential candidates for finished paintings that will be on display at Arcadia Fine Arts.

Now, you’ll have to excuse me, I’m going to get back to watching him sketch.

Enjoy,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications
Text and photograph copyright © 2013 John Fleskes. All rights reserved.

Links:
Arcadia Fine Arts