The Spectrum 17 Call For Entries is officially open! This year’s poster art and design is by Paolo Rivera. You can download the poster image and entry form at the Spectrum website here.
The five-member jury for Spectrum 17 has been officially announced. I am extremely honored to be among them. In addition, Kerry Callen, Bill Carman, Rebecca Guay, and Ian McCaig make up the remaining four. I am thrilled to be a part of this talented group, and to be a part of the Spectrum annual collection.
If you are unfamiliar with Spectrum, there is a very informative FAQ page on their website here, and an “About” page here.
By the way, Spectrum 16 is almost available. It should be hitting the stores soon. You can order your copy from Bud’s Art Books here.
Also, there’s an article by James Gurney covering ten tips for drawings realistic dinosaurs. This alone makes this issue a special one. You can find out more about Prehistoric Times at Mike’s website here.
I am honored and pleased to announce that Mark Schultz and I have been invited as guests at the Stripbeurs Breda show running on March 6 & 7, 2010. This will be our first visit to the Netherlands. We are both excited for the show! Mike Mignola will also be a guest!
Currently, the Stripbeurs Breda website gives you an early glimpse at the guest list. The site is under development and more information will be posted as the show approaches.
I would like to point out a special thanks to Mark Thelosen and De Stripspecialist for making this happen!
Besides having plenty of Flesk books with us, Mark and I have started working on a special show sketchbook. It will be in English and Dutch. I’ll have more details in the coming months. More soon!
In case you missed it, a new two-part Monstermen story by Gary Gianni has just recently come out. It is serialized as a back-up story in Hellboy: The Wild Hunt #5 and #6, published by Dark Horse. The Monstermen story is a welcome return of Gianni’s pulpish adventure comic, and the Hellboy story written by Mike Mignola with art by Duncan Fegredo is cool, too! Both comics are available at your local comic book shop.
I just got an email from filmmaker Paul Jilbert about his latest project. He has the uncut Robert McGinnis painting segments coming out on DVD in summer 2010 titled, Sessions with Robert McGinnis. Paul has reshot many of McGinnis’ paintings from recently discovered originals. This will be an important and fun film recording the process and personality of one of my favorite illustrators.
Paul’s previous films include the James Bama documentary that was included with our James Bama: American Realist book, and Robert McGinnis: Painting the Last Rose of Summer. His focus is on producing premium documentaries on illustration legends and contemporary masters. Paul inflicts his passion into each of his films, so we can all expect great things from everything he does.
Check out Paul’s website here for clips, ordering information and news on all of his films. You can also pick up the current McGinnis film at Bud’s Art Books here.
Manuel Auad of Auad Publishing has just updated his website with news of two new items that he will have available soon. He has also had some revisions made to his website. It’s worth a look, as there is some new art and information worth checking out.
The first new item is the portfolio, Frank Brangwyn, R.A.: The Way of the Cross. It reproduces 20 plates in an oversized box. I’ve seen the plates and they look stunning. For full details and to order, you can visit his website here.
Then, Manuel has a new book coming out in spring 2010 on Robert Fawcett. The title is Robert Fawcett: The Illustrator’s Illustrator and includes an introduction by Walt Reed. There is some promotional text on his website here.
Be sure to click on the book covers on his site to view sample art from the interior of the Brangwyn portfolio and upcoming Fawcett book.
Manuel also has three other terrific books available: Jordi Bernet, Franklin Booth: American Illustrator, and The Art of Alex Nino.
I set up at the Alternative Press Expo (APE) last weekend for the first time. Considering my relatively close proximity to the show, and how much I enjoyed myself, I felt like I’ve been missing out on the previous events. I’ve only attended APE twice before, first in 1997, and then in 2001. The show didn’t seem interesting to me back then, and I never felt compelled to check it out again until now. I’m glad I did, since it was a cool show.
I flew in William Stout for the day on Saturday. He spent time at our Flesk booth signing books and talking to people. It was great to have him there. (Thanks, Bill!) We had galley samples of our upcoming Dinosaur Discoveries and New Dinosaur Discoveries A-Z books by Bill. The show gave us a chance to promote the forthcoming books and get some direct early feedback from people.
I found the show patrons to be hip, smart, and the majority of them to be young. It was a cool crowd. I managed to walk the show on Sunday, thanks to my buddy James Walker who watched the booth for me. I’ve known James since 1994 when we worked at Lee’s Comics together. He helps me out at all shows we exhibit at.
The artists exhibiting were a talented bunch. There was an exciting blend of different types of creative people all sharing their personal works. Many people had these neat hand made comics and/or prints. A few artists I had not been aware of totally blew me away. Ape is a great venue for non-mainstream people, allowing them to have a relatively inexpensive opportunity to show off their items. The environment was mellow and didn’t have that crazy crowd factor of the San Diego Comic-Con show. Stuart Ng, Manuel Auad and Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. at Ape
My friends Jim Vadeboncoeur Jr. of JVJ pubs and Manuel Auad of Auad Publishing stopped by. It was great to see them, as always. Both of these guys have helped me tremendously over the years and continue to inspire and push me with their own projects and accomplishments. Jim publishes the ongoing Images magazine and Black and White Images collections. Manuel published those great Alex Toth, Jordi Bernet, Franklin Booth, and Alex Nino books. He has a few new projects in the works. You can check out his website here for details. William Stout and Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. at Ape
This picture (above) is of Bill Stout and Jim Vadeboncoeur Jr. looking over one of the volumes containing Edwin Austin Abbey tearsheets from Bill’s collection. He brought them to the show for me to borrow, as I am starting a new pen and ink collection of his work. Thanks to Bill, and Jim Silke, I have a massive amount of material to go through.
Again, the show was fun and I’m definitely going to set up again next year. Thanks to everyone who stopped by. See you next year.
The latest Flesk spring 2010 catalog has been posted as a downloadable PDF file (3.6 MB) on the home page of our Flesk website. You can view and download it by clicking here.
The new catalog includes full details and sample art for our upcoming books, and our backlist. New titles featured are: Dinosaur Discoveries and New Dinosaur Discoveries A-Z by William Stout, James Bama Sketchbook: A Seventy Year Journey, Traveling from the Far East to the Old West, and Harvey Dunn: Illustrator and Painter of the Pioneer West by Walt Reed.
I am very proud to have this opportunity to publish these fine books. The two Stout books will be available this December, and the new James Bama and Harvey Dunn books will be available in spring 2010.
I was thrilled to receive the new Bud’s Art Books catalog in the mail featuring our Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon book on the cover. I was a nice surprise. This is the first time one of our books has been on the cover of their main catalog.
I consider Bud’s Art Books to be the best resource for obtaining art books that meet my interests. You can view their entire stock online, or request a catalog by visiting their website here.
For all those Mark Schultz fans out there, he drew a new cover for the October 2009 issue of Comics Revue. The greatest strips of yesteryear are collected and celebrated in this great magazine devoted to the early days of sequential art. This issue features a complete Flash Gordon story by Dan Barry and Harry Harrison, and begins the serial of the first Mandrake the Magician story, “the Cobra”, reprinted for the first time since 1934 in English along with color strips featuring the Phantom, Casey Ruggles and more.
