Bramble Vine Comics

Live at Baltimore Comic Con

2008-09-27T09:37:00.001-05:00

I'm sitting at my Artist Alley table here at the Baltimore Comic Con. The doors just opened and already there are crowds of people here. It's going to be a busy con!

Working on my next project

2008-05-12T16:17:00.000-05:00

I spent my lunch break the same way I usually spend it, working on my next comic in the back of my local coffee shop. Here you can see the pages I am currently inking, taken with my camera phone. I'm about half way through this current short story. A few more lunches and I should be done.

Sketchbook Page

2008-05-06T08:20:00.003-05:00

This page from my sketchbook just shows some random cartoony doodles. I had a few ideas for the pole jumper in a cartoon about the upcoming Olympics. I like the skinny legs and arms look, I'll have to use that more.

Cape 4 Update

2008-05-03T19:01:00.001-05:00

Well, Cape 4 has wrapped up now. A bunch of us headed off for some well earned dinner and beers.

Things went really well for me and thanks to everyone who came by to say hi and pick up some of my books. Despite all the wind it was a great show. Thanks to Zeus Comics, Scott Kurtz and Pop Syndicate for such a great time!

Cape 4 Update

2008-05-03T17:01:00.001-05:00

Here I am manning my table. The day is winding down near the end here.

Cape 4 Update

2008-05-03T16:23:00.001-05:00

The Caped Crusader and his little buddy stop by to pose for photo ops with fans.

Cape 4 Update

2008-05-03T15:11:00.001-05:00

Here is one of our generous hosts, the skilled Scott Kurtz, drawing some sketches for eager fans.

Cape 4 Update

2008-05-03T12:38:00.001-05:00

Fans are lining up to get sketches and sigs.

Cape 4 Update

2008-05-03T11:57:00.001-05:00

A view from inside one of the tents here at Cape. The crowds are starting to flow in.

Cape 4 Update

2008-05-03T10:24:00.001-05:00

Only 20 minutes in and the .25 cent boxes are already swarmed.

Cape 4 Post

2008-05-03T09:58:00.001-05:00

I'm live at Cape 4 here in Dallas. Things are just getting started and everyone is still getting set up. So far the day is sunny and nice, but the wind is a difficult enemy.

Cape 4 and Free Comic Book Day this Saturday in Dallas

2008-05-01T10:08:00.005-05:00

This weekend the big event here in Dallas, TX is CAPE! 4. It coincides with national Free Comic Book Day and so it will be a completely free event. It's an amazing outdoor comic book convention with over 100 creators there to sell their work and give out sketches. I have a table there and I hope to see a lot of locals coming by to pick up my latest books. I'll also have some free books to give away. If you're in the Dallas area this weekend you have to be here.

Also, I'll be live blogging from the event with photos from my mobile phone. If you can't make it (loser!) at least you can live vicariously through my experience here on my site.

Sketchbook Page

2008-04-29T14:18:00.003-05:00

The sketch in the middle with the guy pushing a little table with a spaceship model on it is a rough from a short story I'm currently working on. I hope to have that done within the next week or so. The other stuff is just mindless doodling. That character on the bottom bugs me since I put the thumb on his right hand on the wrong side. I hate it when I do that.

Inking a page on my lunch break

2008-04-29T12:06:00.000-05:00

Here you can see a page from a current project that I'm in the middle of inking. I am working on it at a local coffee shop during my lunch break, which is really how I get most of my comics done. Here you can see that I have penciled the page using non-photo blue lead and now I am iniking over top of that with a set of Micron pens. I should have this page done by the time I need to head back to my office.

Appearance Announcement - JMV Comic Book Show in Houston

2008-04-19T08:14:00.003-05:00

I've been invited to attend a comic book show in Houston. I will be at the JMV Comic Book Show on Sunday, May 25 at the Crowne Plaza - Northwest in Houston. More details and directions to the show can be found on their web site, jmventertainment.com. I'm looking forward to it since I haven't gotten out to Houston yet to sell my books and this will be a great opportunity to check out the Houston comics scene.

Sketchbook Page

2008-04-16T12:03:00.002-05:00

This is another page I was working on this past weekend at the local sketch group and another photo out of the excellent Facial Expressions for Artists book. I like the wry, sideways grin she has on her face. Although, I will say I find it harder to draw pretty people. I tend to want to just fill my drawings with hatch work from my pen and that doesn't lend itself too well to a smooth face. Something I need to work on I guess.

Sketchbook Page

2008-04-14T11:41:00.003-05:00

This sketchbook page I did while at my local sketch group over the weekend. I was drawing out of this amazing book I picked up called Facial Expressions for Artists, by Mark Simon. It's page after page of photos of people's faces in interesting expressions. The models vary widely in body type and the expressions they come up with are especially useful for cartooning and illustration. Can't recommend it enough. It's just a lot of fun to draw from.

Dallas Comic Con 2008

2008-04-08T09:24:00.007-05:00

This past weekend I was selling my comics at the Dallas Comic Con and had a great time. I premiered my latest book, Gadgeteria, and was well received. I almost sold all the books I had and now I need to get another print run ordered in time for CAPE! next month.

While at the con I saw a lot of fun costumes. People came dressed as Boba Fetts, some Jedi, Ghostbusters and even a Speed Racer. My buddy and table mate Grant Sutherland did well selling his books for his first convention appearance, so congrats to him.

You can see a few photos I took of my table by clicking the image here, but to be honest I didn't get away from my table all that often, so I have very few pictures. My friend Luu from Space-Gun however took a ton of photos from the con, so check those out too.

I also want to thank a bunch of the other exhibitors that made the con such a blast:

Greetings from Wonderland

Space-Gun

Dorm Dorks

How it Should Have Ended

Bobby Blakey

Sketchbook Page

2008-04-04T13:39:00.003-05:00

The idea on this sketchbook page of the cigarette pack and feisty cigarette characters has popped up under my pen before. I really need to get this formalized and into a short story or cartoon and just get it our of my head. There's a good idea there somewhere I just need to crystallize it. This page also has some early sketched out concepts for the City Park comic I finished up earlier. Lastly there's a little thumbnail down at the bottom of another full page comic I'm still working on.

City Park Comic

2008-04-03T21:00:00.003-05:00

Here's a new one page comic I was working on this week. I did this to print up as a flyer to hand out during this weekend's comic book convention, so if you're in Dallas on Saturday and Sunday stop by my table and pick one up. I had them printed by Kinkos on yellow paper and they came out pretty good. I went with a looser style here and tried to play around with page layout.

My Pal Grant: Nervous Nelly

2008-04-01T09:10:00.002-05:00

My friend and fellow Dallas area cartoonist, Grant, has related to me his nervousness about selling his work in person at comic book conventions. I've convinced him to come to the Dallas Comic Con this weekend to sell his stuff. So, naturally I created a cartoon to mock and ridicule his insecurities. What else are friends for?

New book, Gadgeteria, now for sale online

2008-03-31T11:49:00.002-05:00

I got word last night that my latest book, Gadgeteria, has now been added to the IndyPlanet.com catalog, which means now everyone can buy it online. I have updated my online store with the Gadgeteria order box, so please check it out.

I'll have copies for sale at the Dallas Comic Con and CAPE!. I've also made a few deals that will put this book on some Texas area comic book shops.

Sketchbook Page

2008-03-30T21:27:00.002-05:00

Another recent page from my sketchbook. What you see here are some sketches from a short story I'm currently working on. It involves a scientist with super powers and his hubris in dealing with an alien culture. This is the look if the scientist and the aliens. Since scientists are usually shown as nebbish scrawny characters it's a little tricky showing one that is also a Superman type. I like the designs of the aliens though.

My Pal Grant

2008-03-29T07:45:00.003-05:00

My friend, Grant Sutherland, is a really skilled cartoonist. I met him through the Dallas Sketch Group and his work is incredibly polished and expressive. I'm always impressed with his stuff.

I convinced him to come with me to the Dallas Comic Con and share my table. He's putting together a mini comic to sell while we're there and his book is all about him and me selling comics at the convention. Apparently, in my "tough love" encouragement at the sketch group meetings to try and get him to finish his projects I've often called him names, most commonly I've referred to him as a "douche". So, at the end of every one of Grant's comic trips in his mini I call him that. In response to seeing some of these strips, which are really funny by the way, I did this comic and handed it to him. When cartoonists make fun of each other everybody wins.

2008 Planned Appearances

2008-03-26T11:35:00.005-05:00

This year's comic book convention season is fully underway and I do have plans for the year. So Far in 2008 I've been to the Dallas Comic Con here in Dallas and to STAPLE! down in Austin. For the time being I am focusing on Texas based conventions, but that may change later.

As of today I'll be appearing with an artist's table at the next Dallas Comic Con on April 5 & 6. I also have an artist's table at CAPE '08 on May 3. The next one i currently have planned is Wizard World Texas held November 7-9.

That's all I have currently planned. If anything else comes up I'll be sure to mention it here. If you'd like to tell me about or invite me to an event feel free to contact me about it. I haven't hit Houston yet, anything going on in Houston? Anyway, come find me at one of these fine events and pick up some of my books, posters and original sketches!

Cartoon Faces Poster

2008-03-26T11:29:00.003-05:00

I have a new poster design finished. I just picked up a batch of these from the printer and I'm really happy with how they turned out. I essentially just took my favorite thing to draw in my sketchbook and turned it into a large poster, random cartoon faces. All but one are just random designs of nobody in particular. One of them is my buddy Grant. I will have these with me at all future comic book convention appearances, so be sure to find me and pick one up!

Sketchbook Page

2008-03-22T09:34:00.002-05:00

Here is a recent page from my sketchbook. There are few things going on here, Grant is another Dallas area cartoonist and a friend of mine. He's just getting started with the whole convention scene and we've been making some comic strips for each other as some inside jokes. I'll post a few of them later.

I'm also working on a new poster that I will hopefully have ready for the next Dallas Comic Con next month. Some of the cartoon faces you see here will be a part of that project.

Gadgeteria Full Color Cover

2008-03-14T12:07:00.004-05:00

My latest project, Gadgeteria #1, is now sent off to the printers. I've been working hard to get this complete and I hope everyone enjoys it. For the cover I hired a local Dallas area illustrator and comic artist to color it for me, Matthew Warlick. I met him through the local sketch group and he was another contributor to the Synesthetic Anthology. His color work is just stunning and I feel very honored to have him on my cover. He sent over the final image for the book and it just blew me away. It's far beyond what I was hoping for and I can't thank Matthew enough! You can click on the image here and check it out for yourself.

So, the book is being printed and I have ordered a few poster prints of the cover as well that I will have with me at future conventions. Hopefully Ka-Blam will come through for me (they haven't failed me yet) and get the books and posters to me in time for my next comic con appearance, the Dallas Comic Con 11 on April 5 & 6.

STAPLE! 2008 Comic Convention

2008-03-03T19:49:00.002-06:00

: STAPLE! '08 photo gallery :

I spent this past weekend down in Austin, Texas selling my comics at the independent comic convention STAPLE! and it was a blast. The folks in Austin really came willing to buy. I sold a ton of books and met a lot of really cool artists while I was down there.

I was happy to see that the preview book I had printed up for my upcoming series, Gadgeteria, was going over well. I pushed the mini comic into a lot of hands and people seemed really interested in the premise. Matthew Warlick is this amazing local artist who is coloring the cover of Gadgeteria #1 for me and he was there too with the whole Space-Gun Studios crew. With us, Scott Kurtz and Chris Straub Dallas was definitely representing at the show.

I had something new on hand during the con that haven't tried before, vinyl figures. I've been seeing more and more of these amazing independently produced vinyl toys and always thought the whole scene was cool, so when I saw that my local comic shop was selling blank versions of them I decided to try something different. I took a few blank Munny toys and a sharpie pen and went to work creating these "Bramblekins Sketch Toys". The effect was very cool. You can see more photos of the toys in my STAPLE! '08 photo gallery. The sketch toys generated a lot of attention for me, so I'm going to keep bringing them to future cons.

All in all it was a great show. I'll certainly be back next year, although next time I won't try to drive down and back in the same day. The trip back to Dallas after an exhausting day of selling comics was brutal. Many gallons of coffee got me through it, but just barley. Next year I'm getting a hotel room.

Gadgeteria Preview

2008-02-19T21:43:00.005-06:00

I'm in the final stretch in completing my latest book, Gadgeteria #1. I have a preview up in the comics gallery now, so have a peek and feel free to let me know what you think.

The image here is the ink work I did for the cover. I've got an amazing guest artist to color the cover for me. I'll post more details about that further in the project, but I'm very excited about how this is going to look.

The current plan is to have the finished book sent off to the printer by the end of next week and so far I'm on track to do that. However, that means I won't have it in hand for STAPLE next weekend. So, I've spent some time finishing off the first half of the book, which includes two complete stories, into a mini comic. It'll be like a preview issue and I'll have those at my table in Austin for STAPLE. Please stop by and have a look. I'm really looking forward to launching this new series and seeing how people like it!

Preview Pages

2008-02-03T23:22:00.000-06:00

Here's a quick shot I took this evening of some of the pages I have done for my next project. I'm planning on having it finished and sent off to the printer by the end of February. However, I won't have this book in hand in time for STAPLE on March 1st. So, what I plan to do is to take half the book and print it out into a mini-comic and have that at the show as a sort of preview copy. If you're interested be sure to find my table. I'll have the originals there too for people to look through if they so desire.

My Sketches Live at Starbucks

2008-01-19T08:49:00.000-06:00

Almost every day on my lunch break I head over to a specific Starbucks near my office to draw. I actually get a lot of work done there. One of the guys that works there asked if I had anything they could put up on the wall, so I brought in this series of sketches I have. These are part of a larger collection and were done in various coffee shops throughout Philadelphia about 12 years ago. I took an ink brush and watercolor sketchbook into the shops and tried to use a few brief strokes to capture the likeness of the people I saw. The coffee theme was perfect for this setting. Now my work is up for all the Starbucks drinkers to see.

Dallas Comic Con a Big Success

2008-01-14T08:16:00.000-06:00

The Dallas Comic Con was this past weekend and I had a table there. This is the first time I've taken my work to a 'mainstream' comic book convention. I usually target the indie crowd, but this con was so close to where I live and I knew a lot of the other cartoonists going, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Boy was I surprised. By the end of the first day I had almost completely sold out of my books. I got a much bigger reaction than I was even hoping for. Thanks to everyone that stopped by my table to say hi and who picked up my books.

Pictures from the con:

Here's a photo of me at my table on the second day. Notice how paltry my supply of books are by now? This photo was taken by local artist Vinh-Luan Luu. You can see more photos he took at the DCC on his Flickr site.

While at the DCC I met Chris Straub at his table. He was a great guy to talk to and I picked up one of his books while there.

Cartoonist Kris Straub not only signed my copy of his book he also drew this awesome sketch inside the cover for me.

The amazing cartoonist Scott Kurtz, who draws PVP Online, was also at the Dallas Comic Con. Since I already have all his books I picked up one of his Skull plushies for my son. Scott was great to talk to and is almost as funny in person as he is in his comics.

Sketchbook Page

2008-01-12T08:37:00.000-06:00

More doodles from my sketchbook. There are some here inspired by the style of Ivan Brunetti since I was reading a book recently with some of his work in it.

Today starts the Dallas Comic Con (the DCC for those in the know) and I'll be at one of the artist alley tables sellin' my wares. I'm looking forward to it and I'll be sure to get some pics up here from the event.

My Banana

2007-12-28T09:56:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm back from Christmas vacation and back at my desk job too. It's pretty dead where I work today since most people are still on vacation. To keep me company I brought my banana to life and sat him in front of me. It'll do until lunch.

Now that the holidays are just about over it's time to buckle down at the old drawing board. I have plans for this year to get more books finished and into print and more comic book conventions to attend to try and sell my work. I'm currently planning the upcoming con season to see where I should go. I already have a table at the Dallas Comic Con on Jan 12 and 13, so if you're in the area come by and say hello. The guys putting out the Synesthetic Anthology will also be there, hopefully with an early version of the book to show off.

I've also secured a table at STAPLE, an independent comics show in Austin, TX, on March 1st. This show is a lot like SPX in the type of comics that will be on display, so I'm hopeful that I will do well there too.

I'm still looking at other shows as possible targets. Wizard World Dallas is a likely one and I want to return to SPX in the Fall. I'll just see how things go and post my plans here.

A page from my latest comic

2007-12-19T10:33:00.000-06:00

I'm working hard on my latest project, but efforts are slower than they would be if it weren't Christmas coming up. I'm heading off on vacation shortly and thinking about that is more than a little distracting.

Anywho, here's a page I just finished inking still sitting on my drawing board. The story has to do with virtual reality and online worlds. I love the topic, but there are several issues I need to overcome. First and foremost I want to avoid having it be perceived as a "gamer comic". Video games are a well tread topic in comics on the web, so I want this to avoid any conventions from that genre. Secondly, it's a complex concept to have to get across in a comic book. I need to be careful in my writing to not fly beyond the reader by using overly nerdy terms. It's a fun challenge so far. I'll post the finished pages once I have the first story complete.

Site Design Complete / Sketchbook Page

2007-12-03T20:24:00.001-06:00

Well, it looks like everything has fallen into place on the new site design. I've been meaning to get around to putting some real design work into the site for a while now. I've seen the "desktop" type of design on other artists sites and wanted to give it a shot myself. Everything here are photos of my actual tools and workspace. I spent some time taking digital photos of my various pens and paper and stuff and turned them into image elements. The background is a photo of the actual board I draw on, so it's all pretty true to the feel of the actual environment I make my cartoons in. There are still a few more places I'll be adding some more images here and there, but it seems more like "home" now than the other Blogger template design I had going on.

Also, here's another page from my sketchbook. A bunch of character doodles I love to do so much.

New Site Design

2007-12-02T10:54:00.000-06:00

I'm working on a whole new look for my web site. Be on the lookout for weird mistakes, because I'm updating the site as I go along. I'll make another post once I'm complete, but if you see any issues I may have overlooked feel free to let me know.

TV Ruins White Christmas

2007-11-28T12:22:00.000-06:00

I know this doesn't have anything to do with cartooning, but I just had to vent. The other night I found the movie White Christmas playing on TV, ABC Family channel. It's a great classic movie from the 50's that still holds up really well today, I think. My four year old son was entranced with the film and he liked the singing, so I let him stay up a little late to finish watching it.

It's been a while since I've watched TV without my DVR so I was surprised by what watching live TV is like these days. It is criminal what these TV networks are doing to completely ruin the experience if watching anything on them! There were so many incessant commercials during White Christmas I could hardly bare it. At one point they actually interrupted a musical number for an ad. In the middle of a song they went to commercial! Then the constant irritating animated icons at the bottom of the screen kept popping up and distracted us from the movie. Commercials DURING the shows now. Ugh! I wanted to the throw the damn thing out the window.

I read often about these TV execs complaining about their thinning audience with new competition for people's attention with cable, on demand shows, video games, the internet, and whatever else, but based on what I saw it's their own damn fault for making the experience so horrible and annoying. Who can stand to watch regular TV anymore?

The day after this happened I went out to the video store and bought a bunch of DVDs for my son, all the Christmas specials I grew up loving. I got Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the Peanuts Christmas special and few others. I just couldn't stand thinking that my son's first exposure to these classics would be a similar kind of terrible experience we suffered through on TV.

Well, there you go. TV sucks.

No Shoes for Tuesday

2007-11-13T12:42:00.000-06:00

The guys over at HalfPixel.com have been recording a truly great podcast called Webcomics Weekly. Brad Guigar, Dave Kellett, Scott Kurtz and Kristofer Straub do a huge service to aspiring cartoonists everywhere by talking about tips, techniques and lessons learned in the cartooning biz. I've found the show immensely useful and have a learned a lot. It's like a free college course in cartooning.

On one of their recent shows Scott and Dave joked around about the fictional comic strip they keep referring to in their examples and named it 'No Shoes for Tuesday' about a cat that tries to get shoes. They mentioned it almost off-hand, but I thought it would be funny to actually give the comic strip a shot and made this. I posted it to the Webcomic Weekly online forums and other cartoonists have since joined in and started posting their own takes on the idea. You can see them in the forum thread. It's a funny little exercise and I'm enjoying seeing other people's ideas about it.

Sketchbook Page

2007-11-13T12:36:00.000-06:00

Now that all my technical issues are out of the way I'm able to get my work scanned in again. I have a few comics pages I'm working on, but I thought I'd throw up a sketchbook page for now. You can see me going a little nuts with the hatching, which I just love to do. These are just some random character faces.

Bramble Vine Comics on Store Shelves

2007-11-07T13:41:00.000-06:00

The latest place you can pick up some copies of my books is Titan Comics in Dallas, TX. They are located off Northwest Highway, just north of Love Field airport. You can also look for this awesome van parked in their shopping center. I should get my card painted like that!

Cartooning is back on track

2007-11-05T16:20:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine has really saved my butt. He found a great discounted deal on a new version of PS. It should be arriving in the mail soon. Huzzah!

So, in the mean time I'm still working on my new project, The Wushu Brothers. I should be able to start posting pages from that soon. It looks like everything is getting back on track.

Dead in the water

2007-10-31T09:39:00.001-05:00

This past Friday I picked up a copy of Apple's new OS, Leopard. Unfortunately I ran into a whole bunch of technical issues during the upgrade that may have something to do with my slightly older hardware. Luckily the Apple using community are a smart bunch and after several trips to the Apple support forums and one visit to my local Apple Genius bar I am up and running just fine. Well, almost.

Leopard has broken the version of PhotoShop I use! I can't really fault Apple for that since it isn't their software and admittedly my version is over 5 years old, but still ... crap. Since all my comic work goes through PhotoShop to get it scanned in, add the text and to get it ready for print and online posting I'm sort of dead in the water here. Getting a new version is hardly an option since it costs over $600.00. How can an entire operating system that runs everything in the computer cost just over $100, but this one program costs six times that? I don't get it.

Anyway, I'm looking at my options now on how to proceed. I'll need to figure something out if I want to continue my cartooning endeavor here. And I do!

Early look at my next project

2007-10-22T13:50:00.001-05:00

I am hard at work developing my next cartooning project, the Wushu Brothers. I should be able to upload the first few pages of the first issue sometime this week. I'm excited about this one and I have big plans for it. I want to get out three comic books using these characters and then collect them into a graphic novel. If I can finish the books by August I'll have them in time for SPX 2008. Can I do it? Stay tuned!

Sketchbook Page

2007-10-20T13:31:00.001-05:00

Here's the latest page out of my little doodle book. I did most of this on the plane on my way back from Maryland. Not too much coherent stuff here, just random thoughts I guess.

SPX 2007, Final Thanks

2007-10-20T12:52:00.000-05:00

One last post on this year's Small Press Expo. There were a lot of people I met while attending this most excellent convention and I just want to take some time here to thank some folks who helped make the whole experience so memorable for me.

First and foremost, thanks to everyone who came by my table and picked up some books. It's always a great feeling to watch someone flip through my stuff and laugh. Thanks for taking a chance on a rookie like me.

Thanks to Karen Flage who ran the whole SPX show this year. I think she did a fantastic job. By all accounts, my own included, this year's Small Press Expo was a huge success. I hope Karen keeps things rolling next year too.

Thanks to Michael LaRiccia, who was at the table next to me. His work is amazing and he gave me all kinds of great advice about selling books. Although, the best advice he gave me was about using the downstairs bathroom at the con. It was luxurious.

Thanks to Jason Rodriguez, who was at the table on the other side of me selling his wonderful anthology, Postcards. He was very nice and friendly to me and I have to say I feel very lucky to have had such great booth-mates for this show. I've heard horror stories from people about the exhibitors some people get stuck next to and I am thankful I had such a great experience in that regard.

A big thank you to Dave Kellett for not thinking I was a pushy fanboy, or at least not letting on that he thought I was a pushy fanboy. I went over to his table at one point because I am a huge fan of his comic Sheldon. I handed him copies of my books and he accepted them graciously. He even gave me an original sketch, a photo of which you can see on his site here. I tried not to seem too overly excited, but it was a real thrill for me to shake his hand to be sure.

Also thanks to Kristofer Straub, who does the funny sci-fi comic Starslip Crisis. He was there as part of Blank Label Comics and had a table next to Dave. He chatted with me while I stood there hovering over Dave while Dave drew the sketch for me. Kris was a really nice guy and took the photo of me and Dave.

And finally thanks to everyone I know from my Digital Strips days who stopped by my table to check out the new Digital Strips: Year 1 comic book. Steve Napierski from The Outer Circle, T. Campbell, McKenzee from Sinister Bedfellows, Clay and Hampton Yount from Rob and Elliot, and the handful of podcast listeners who recognized the DS cover on my table. There was also the guy who heard me talking from a few tables over and recognized my voice. That was kind of weird, but thanks to you too.

Alright then, that's that. On to new projects and planning for future shows!

SPX 2007 - Success!

2007-10-14T13:56:00.000-05:00

The Small Press Expo 2007 in Bethesda MD has now come to a close and what a convention it was. Yesterday was a vastly different day at the show compared to Friday. It seems that people came to browse on Friday, but everyone brought their wallets on Saturday! I'm heading home with considerably less books than I brought with me. It was a very good day.

If you click on the photo in this post you'll see all my pics from SPX. While at the show, to my left was the amazing cartoonist Michael LaRiccia who does the book Black Mane. He was very encouraging and gave me a lot of great tips on selling my stuff. To my right was Jason Rodriguez who was there selling his awesome anthology Postcards. Check these guys out because I really thought their stuff was incredible and I was honored to be rubbing shoulders with them.

Maybe it was the crowds or maybe it was a better table layout and sales pitch, but I was doing brisk business up to and even beyond the close of the day. I made my last sale five minutes after the show had "officially" closed. I then got some great after market trades with some of the other creators as we were all packing up. It was just an amazing experience and very informative. I'm leaving the show inspired to produce even more work.

Update from the Small Press Expo (SPX)

2007-10-12T21:44:00.000-05:00

Day one of the Small Press Expo is now complete. I think things went pretty well for my first time. I got to meet some awesome cartoonists and got some good feedback on my books. I sold a few books and a bunch of pins, so things are looking good. It's a great feeling to have people flipping through my work and hearing them laugh out loud at my cartoons. It's been an amazing experience so far. Tomorrow is the big day with a full 9 hours of show floor time.

After working the SPX show floor for a few hours I got some better ideas on laying out my books and promo material on the table. I notice that people are more likely to flip through the books if they are laid out on the table near the front instead of having them just on the racks in the back. Tomorrow I'll redesign the layout and see if that helps to get more people taking a look. I had a lot of people glancing at the covers, but not as many picked them up to have a look. But, almost everyone that did flip through bought something. I need to up the flipping ratio tomorrow.

Setting up my table at SPX

2007-10-12T12:59:00.001-05:00

I'm here right now setting up my tbale at the Small Press Expo. Things are going well so far. The doors will open to the public soon and the funn will begin.

I'm at the Small Press Expo this weekend

2007-10-09T15:17:00.000-05:00

This weekend I will be in Bethesda, Maryland for the Small Press Expo (SPX). I will have copies of my books Bramble Vine Comics, Normal, Flights of Fancy Funnies and Digital Strips Year One available for sale along with some cool pins, promotional postcards and fliers to hand out. I am really looking forward to this and can't wait to talk to people face to face about comics and cartooning.

I'll try and do some live blogging from the show floor. Eventually I will also have tons of photos and video footage from SPX here on the site. The show goes on all day Friday the 12th and Saturday the 13th at the Marriott Bethesda North Hotel & Conference Center. So, please come by my table and say hello!

The Comics Journal Previews SPX

2007-10-08T08:38:00.000-05:00

There's an interesting preview of the Small Press Expo up on the The Comics Journal. SPX is this weekend and the Journal site has a run down of many of the exhibitors debuting titles at the show. They point to several cartoonist's sites and detail some of the books that will be on sale.

Sketchbook Page

2007-10-06T10:30:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty happy with that little monkey at the bottom of the page there. I'll have to find a place to use him later. Another Wushu Brother is lurking around my sketchbook, as you can see.

Speaking of which, I'm deep into the production of the first Wushu Brothers comic book. I have the full 24 pages scripted out and written. I've inked the first two pages and have a third penciled. I should be able to start posting pages from my newest project soon in the comics gallery. My plan is to have the first book complete and ready for sale by the time the 2008 convention season is under way.

This weekend I've added a new page to the site, the online book store. Now everyone can purchase my books directly from the site if they've missed me at a convention. So, check it out!

Comic Book Convention Promotional Material

2007-09-29T16:19:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos of the promotional material I created for the various comic book conventions I'll be attending to try and sell my books. The first convention will be the Small Press Expo (SPX) in Bethesda next month. I have everything ready at this point.

The paper flyers were pretty easy. I just got a couple of my single page comics, added a little blurb and my site's URL at the bottom and then printed them out on colored copy paper on my home printer. I used a paper cutter to cut them down to hand-out size.

The postcards came out very slick. They have a glossy coating on stiff card stock, just like any other postcard you may have seen. I had 100 printed up of each of the two designs you see in the photos and it was pretty cheap. I used iPrint.com for those.

The pins came out way better than I thought. These are glossy on the front and regular metal clip pins on the back. They look very professional and the place that printed them up, rockbuttons.com, did a fantastic job. I ordered a batch of 250 from them with the two images you see in the photos. I then went out to Hobby Lobby and picked up a bag of small zip-lock bags and stuffed in the pins. I then printed out several sheets of the label on regular red copy paper and stapled them onto the bags. I think the packaged presentation really adds a lot to the look of the pins as collectible items. These I'll sell for $0.50 each at the conventions.

Daily Sketch

2007-09-29T15:18:00.000-05:00

Here's another recent page out of my sketchbook. The Wushu Brothers are still popping up here and there. A Felix the Cat rip-off is here too. I like the idea of an all black character and I just wanted to see what it could be like.

There's also a weird looking fish kid ... thing.

My comics are here from the printer!

2007-09-17T22:16:00.000-05:00

All my books arrived from the printer today. I took a few photos of the books and uploaded to them to share. I had these printed through Ka-Blam and I gotta say, they look fantastic. The print quality is right on the same level of anything I'd find on a shelf in the comic book shop. It's such an amazing feeling to see all my work put into a tangible product I can actually flip through.

I needed to get these books done and ready for the Small Press Expo next month and they came in plenty of time. I'll be selling these at SPX 07 and we'll see what happens. Hopefully people will like my work.

Sketchbook page 16

2007-09-17T12:56:00.000-05:00

Here are some more sketches where I'm working through my idea for the Kung Fu Brothers. Actually, after a quick Google search I see that there is already an organization that uses the name "Kung Fu Brothers", so I'm going to change the name to "The Wushu Brothers". According to Wikipedia "Wushu" and "Kung Fu" mean essentially the same thing. Plus, it sounds pretty cool, like the title of a kung fu movie, which is really the point anyway.

This past weekend there was another meeting with Jake and Lu, the editors of the Synesthetic Anthology book. They wanted to get together with everyone involved with the book so that they could go over how things went last week. Jake and Lu were showing the book around the Baltimore Comic Con. It sounds like people were universally impressed with the production quality. It really helps that the mock-up looks totally professional and isn't just some stapled together photocopy. Next steps will be getting more mock-ups printed and sent off to editors and publishers and keeping our fingers crossed.

Sketchbook Page 15

2007-09-13T23:48:00.000-05:00

Here's my latest sketchbook page. I'm working through an idea for a new comic about these two brothers out of a bad kung fu movie hanging out in every day life. Spontaneous fights and proclamations of lost honor or some such things are sure to follow. Here are a few sketches along those lines. I haven't settled on the character designs yet, but I think there's an idea in here somewhere.

The Synesthetic Anthology

2007-08-19T22:53:00.001-05:00

Some of my comics pages

Here's a photo of some of my pages out of the Synesthetic Anthology comic book. A few months ago I heard through a sketch group I'm a part of that some cartoonists were putting together a comics anthology of work by writers and artists in the Texas area and that they were looking for submissions. I sent in some work and got added to the project. I worked on my short story, Normal, and turned it in by the deadline. Last week the editors of the book, Jake and Luan, headed to Wizard World Chicago to start shopping the book around to potential publishers.

Today they held a meeting with a bunch of the cartoonists involved to show us the proof copy of the book they made in order to shop it around. After all the meetings and all the work we've done on this project it was really cool to actually see it put together. The colors that Luu added to my work turned out great. It's just so great to actually be able to flip through the whole thing.

Jake and Luu got some great feedback and a few good leads in Chicago. Their next stop is a comic convention in Baltimore next month to keep trying to find a publisher. Personally, I don't see how anyone could turn this down. The whole thing looks amazing!

Sketchbook Page 14

2007-08-15T22:07:00.000-05:00

More pencil scribbling from my sketchbook. I'm trying out a some new character designs here. I need to get these into a comic and see what happens.

Jake and Luann are back from the Chicago Comic Con where they were shopping around the Synesthetic Anthology. They called a meeting with all the cartoonists involved in the book for this weekend where I'll get to see the finished book and hear about how things went with all the pitches they made. I hope things went well.

Sketchbook Page 13

2007-08-11T20:15:00.001-05:00

Here's another little monster doodle that ended up in my sketchbook. Just one more page out of my sketchbook.

So, I've updated my comics gallery with a lot more comics. All the work I'm getting printed for the Small Press Expo is online now. I have one book printed and ready to go and three more at the printers. I'm currently trying to get some promotional material designed. I have ordered a few postcard designs and printed out some flyers. Once I have everything together I'll take a photo and post it up here. I'm actually starting to fell ready for this convention.

Sketchbook Page 12

2007-08-07T22:53:00.001-05:00

I've been drawing a lot of monsters lately for some reason. Not sure why. This furry guy in particular has been popping up on my notepads at work. I may need to write him into something. Anyway, here's a new page out of my sketchbook that I was working on in the coffee shop from my last post.

Sketching with coffee

2007-08-07T08:24:00.001-05:00

Here I am sketching out some cartoon ideas while sitting in a coffee shop. I actually get a lot done while hanging out in places like this. Not sure what it is, but having other people around in a relaxed atmosphere makes me productive. I've tried to sit alone in my house to work, but it drives me nuts doing this without anyone around for some reason. Only if my family is there too can I get anything done there. On the couch with my wife, in front of the TV, with an art board in my lap is probably my ideal cartooning position.

Cartooning when and where I can

2007-08-01T14:54:00.001-05:00

Since I have a full time day job as a programmer my time for cartooning is very limited. I get most of my work done in the evenings, but I also squeeze in some work during my lunch hour.

Here you can see my setup as I get some work done on a mini comic I'm working on while in my company's cafeteria. I carry around a virtual cartooning studio in my bag everywhere so I can set up and be productive at a moment's notice.

Slick City Pete artwork complete

2007-07-26T08:54:00.000-05:00

I've just finished the last bit of artwork for one of the short stories in my next comic book. You can see the pages in this photo. Now I need to scan them into the computer and add the text. Once that is finished and the pages are ready to be sent off to the printer I'll post them to site.

The book I'm working on is nearly finished. The only thing left, now that this short story is just about done, is the cover. This book will be Bramble Vine Comics #1 and it'll feel real good to get it sent off to the printer.

With this book I should have four full comic books ready for selling at the Small Press Expo this year. So far everything is on track.

Sketchbook page 11

2007-07-03T10:42:00.000-05:00

I've been busy lately working on getting my next comic book finished. At this point I have about a third of it totally complete with inks and text and files ready for print. Another two thirds I have pencilled and the rest is written out. I'm trying to get this book done and sent off to the printers by the end of July. That should give me enough time to get everything ready for the Small Press Expo, my big debut into selling comics. I think I have plenty of time, but I still need to keep plugging away.

This image is the main character in a short story I'm currently in the middle of for my comic book. He's kind of like a Mutt and Jeff character scamming around in the modern world. I'm happy with it so far, but I still have a more pages to go before it's complete and I still need to write the ending for it.

Oh, I also had a moment of inspiration for a cartoon about the iPhone. When that happens I just need to drop my other work and just get it out of my head. Otherwise I lose it forever. You can check out my one shot cartoon about the iPhone in the gallery.

Comics Gallery Section: Bramble Vine One Shots

2007-06-22T22:49:00.000-05:00

I've added a new section to my comics gallery page. The Bramble Vine One Shots now contains all the single panel cartoons and comic illustrations I do. I don't really do a whole lot of these on a regular basis, mostly just when the mood strikes me. But, I've got enough of these done now that I think I should have them on display.

Sketchbook Page 9 and 10

2007-06-20T21:27:00.001-05:00

Whew! I finally finished. I've spent the last month and a half working on a project for a collaboration book. It's a pretty cool project, an anthology of short stories from various comic artists and cartoonists in the Texas area. The editors of the book got in touch with me through the DFW Sketch Group, I sent them some samples and I got in. I've been working on my short story for the book ever since, but now the artwork is complete and submitted to the editors. All my work on this site and my own books was put on hold until I finished with the anthology story. I'll post more details on it and add my work to the gallery shortly.

Now I can get back to getting my books in order before SPX '07. I'll probably have the short story from the anthology in mini-comic form printed up too.

Anyway, here are a few recent pages from my sketchbook.

Scary Bus Ad

2007-05-16T22:11:00.000-05:00

This doesn't really have anything to do with cartooning, but I thought it was funny and strange enough to post here anyway. I was sitting in traffic on my way home from work and a bus pulled up next to me. When I turned my head this image is what was filling my passenger side window. So, I snapped a pic with my phone. Like sitting in traffic isn't bad enough now I have ads screaming at me? Yikes. I don't know what this ad was selling, but I don't think I want any of it.

Working On A New Project

2007-05-16T09:19:00.000-05:00

I've been working with a group of cartoonists on a new project. I don't want to give anything away until it's finished, but this image is a hint of what's to come. It's a concept sketch I did for my part in a comics anthology.

I answered an email that was sent out to everyone involved with the DFW Sketch Group about taking part in creating a book of comics from cartoonists in Texas. I submitted some ideas and was brought on board. I've been to meetings almost every week with the other contributors and the editors of the book to go over our progress.

Each cartoonist involved is contributing a short story for the book. At this point I have my script done and I've started pencilling my pages. It's great to be a part of a project like this. I'm meeting a lot of really great cartoonists in doing this too. Who knew that the Dallas area had so much cartooning talent?

I'll post more details as the project continues.

Heading for the Small Press Expo

2007-05-02T22:20:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm taking the next step. I've made plans to be an exhibitor at the Small Press Expo this year. SPX is a yearly comic book convention that focuses on independent comic book creators and smaller comic publishers. It's a perfect place for me to debut my work for sale in print. Here's a photo of the envelope with my application inside. They just updated their exhibitor list and you can find my name and web site on the list.

Now that I have a hard and fast deadline I have my work cut out for me. I'm excited and nervous about it at the same time. I can't wait!

Sketchbook Page 8

2007-04-15T18:35:00.001-05:00

Very often I'll draw from photos in the newspaper or a magazine as an exercise. This one in particular I did just before I started inking another page in my comic book as a way to loosen up. I just picked a random photo out of Time Magazine and found this one of Robert Socolow. He's a professor at Princeton University and the article this photo was used for is about what he and another scientist are coming up with in solving global warming.

Anyway, I like to do a heavy ink portrait like this to get the cartoon juices flowing. I think I was a little too heavy on the left side of the drawing, but oh well.

Sketchbook Page 7

2007-04-15T18:31:00.001-05:00

This is a more recent page out of my sketchbook. As you can see, I'm working on some more cartoony characters. I'm in the middle of writing a story that I want to look more comic strip-ish. I've been looking at some comics from the 30's and 40's for design inspiration on this one.

Sketchbook Page 6

2007-04-06T21:26:00.001-05:00

Here's another older page from my sketchbooks. This one is about a year old. I'm not sure what was going on in my head when I did these, some sort of aggressive cigarette character. I like the forced smoking effect, very disturbing for some reason. The guy on the left was just a random photo in a magazine I had lying around. I don't remember who it is.

My Handwriting is Atrocious

2007-04-03T09:37:00.000-05:00

I just posted another page in the comics gallery, however I need to make some changes there. I'm trying to do everything I can by hand. After finishing my Flights of Fancy Funnies book I regretted relying on the computer so much. But, my lettering is just terrible in the word balloons. I'm going to replace it with a font I think. I'm going to hunt through Blam-Bot to find one that comes close to the size and layout of my handwriting and see if I can replace my words with the new font. If that goes well I go back and fix the Spartan Love page in the same way.

Sketchbook Page 5

2007-04-02T20:35:00.001-05:00

This past weekend I attended a meeting of the DFW Sketch Group. This is a group of artists and writers who get together in the Dallas Fort Worth area and draw and talk comics. I had a great time and really enjoyed being able to talk about drawing and cartooning with people who really know what they are talking about. Several of the guys there were incredibly talented. One guy had work that I was especially impressed with, David DeGrand. His sketchbook is just amazing.

My sketchbook post today is directly inspired by Dave's work. I tried to draw the same type of characters he was. I'm not sure I succeeded, but a big thanks to Dave for the inspiration.

Sketchbook Page 4

2007-03-31T21:25:00.001-05:00

This page is from an older sketchbook, about two years ago. You can see some characters from my other web site I did for the webcomics telethon. You can sort of see my process with this page. I sketch out the drawing with a non-photo blue pencil and then ink over it with pen. It makes it easy to scan in the artwork without having to erase since the blue doesn't show up in the scan.

Sketchbook Page 3

2007-03-29T18:36:00.001-05:00

This page is actually about 2 years old, but I like that cigarette box character and I'm thinking if doing a comic page with him.

Sketchbook Page 2

2007-03-27T23:46:00.001-05:00

Here is another page from my sketchbook. Working on the inking of faces and trying to get more character in there.

First Sketchbook Entry

2007-03-23T08:09:00.001-05:00

Here is a page out of my sketchbook that I was doodling in today.

I'm going to try and keep updating the blog with pages out of my sketchbook, which I try to keep around me as much as possible. This will hopefully inspire me to fill the pages more.

Note the splat and the ink drip on the right. I used those on my front page for link bullets.

The Launch of Bramble Vine Comics

2007-03-22T21:21:00.000-05:00

This is the first post for the Bramble Vine Comics blog. I've gotten most of the site designed, but it'll still take a few more days to get everything put in place. I have the first gallery of comics uploaded, so It's a good start!

This blog will serve mainly as a way for me to make not of recent additions to the comics gallery and to post pages from my sketchbook. I better get started ...