Art Prints!

So far we have highlighted the Kickstarter rewards for donation pledges from the $1 through the $25 level. Today we will be diving into the bigger and flashier (though still affordable) rewards. Now it's all about the art prints.

The Prints

For a donation of $30 or more, you can choose one of three prints as part of your thank you gift. Each 11" x 17" limited edition print features a character from the comic, drawn in very distinct styles. You are bound to find one that would look great on your wall.

Print Number One

If you chose reward Print Number One, you receive-

• An 11" by 17" print featuring character Sophie LeCoise by artist Rebecca Silver. You may recognize this as the same art used on our Variant Edition cover.
• A printed copy of the comic, with the official cover by Kelsea Jewell
• Your comic will be signed by author T. Perran Mitchell
• A PDF copy of the comic
• The (now mildly infamous) High-Five code
• Our sincere gratitude expressed in a public forum (or privately, if you prefer)
• BONUS! Three button pins

Print Number Two

By choosing the reward Print Number Two you will get-

• An 11" by 17" print featuring Sophie LeCoise by artist Kat LoGrande
• A printed copy of the comic with Kelsea Jewell's official cover art
• Your comic will be signed by author T. Perran Mitchell
• A PDF copy of the comic
• The High-Five code
• A public (or private) expression of gratitude
• BONUS! Three button pins

Print Number Three

The Print Number Three reward includes-

• An 11" by 17" print featuring character Kat Zang by artist Johnny Destructo
• A print copy of the comic with covert art by Kelsea Jewell
• Your comic will be signed by author T. Perran Mitchell
• A PDF copy of the comic
• Our heart-felt thanks
• The High-Five code
• BONUS! Three button pins

That's some pretty nice stuff to chose from for your donation of thirty dollars. But what if you can't decide which print you want? We have a solution for that called...

The Three Prints Pack

For a donation of $75 you will receive a thank you package that includes-

• One copy of each of the art prints (3 prints total)
• A print copy of the comic with Kelsea Jewell's official cover art
• Your comic will be signed by author T. Perran Mitchell
• A PDF of the comic
• The High-Five code
• Our deepest, most sincere thanks, expressed in a public (or private) manner
• BONUS! Three button pins

Now, these prints are only available during this Kickstarter fundraiser. Once it's over (on Monday!) they'll be gone for good. Please don't wait! Head over to www.tal-nor.com/ks

As of right this second, we have only $1,921 left to go to meet our goal. Thank you to everyone who pledged already. You are awesome.

-Ed.

 

Now in Color

When I checked my email this morning I was delighted to find that Kelsea had finished the first three pages of the comic.  She also let me know that she is hard at work on the next set of pages.  With watercolors as amazing as hers, it takes several passes to get these effects and you need to let the paper dry between passes.

I was floored when I saw how good they came out.  This book is going to be fantastic.  Kelsea is really taking the story I wrote to the next level and I couldn't be happier.  In fact I don't think my words really do justice to my reaction to each amazing page Kelsea turns in.  I think only Sophie can really sum up my reaction.

That's a little preview of the last panel of page 3.  I can't wait to show you what Sophie is looking at.  This is why we're running a special offer, anyone who signs up to the mailing list by the end of Free Comic Book Day (5/3/2015) will receive a five-page preview edition of the comic.  That's right; you will get to see the first 5 pages of the book before anyone else.

Hope you have a great Free Comic Book Day.

T.

Dangers of the Road Page 8

Here it is, the final page of The Dangers of the Road.  Please check out the rest of the story in the comic section.  It was a blast learning how to color and I think I was just starting to get the hang of it.  But like all good things this experiment has come to an end.  Just in time as it would turn out.  Things are really starting to heat up on the Chronicles of the Tal Nor issue 1 front.  Kelsea has finished up the pencils and is working hard on the inks as I type.  Also I have been able to line up some awesome incentives for the IndieGoGo campaign.  I’m excited to share them with you, but for that you will have to wait.  Or….

You could come out and visit me at the Smudge Comic Art Expo this Saturday.  Go to the event page for more details.  I hope to see you there.

T.

Dangers of the road page 7 - just flat

Page 7, the penultimate page of my Danger of the Road colorization project is complete.  I’ve learned a lot about how digital coloring works and how much I still don’t know about how to do it well.  With this project I’ve only scratched the surface of what can be done via Photoshop.  I’ve found the whole process to be quite relaxing and enjoyable.  I don’t think I will ever be as good at it as I am at lettering, nor do I think I will ever pursue it professionally.  I do think after I finish up page 8 next week I might take some of the pencils that Kelsea has sent me for issue one and have as change of pace project when I get stuck writing or need a break lettering.  I doubt that I will ever share any of those; Kelsea's so good with water color, I don’t think my tiny ego could take the comparison.

The new page of this project is now posted in the comic section of the site and as a special treat below you can see what the colors look by themselves without the line work.

T.

Dangers of the Road part 4

It’s Wednesday and we have another page in my Color Flat experiments.  I’m taking the first Tal Nor story, Dangers of the Road, and adding the color flats to the original black and white art.  I’m also touching up the lettering a bit.  You can find all of the pages that have been posted so far in the comic section of our site.  I’ll be adding a new page every Wednesday.  Enjoy and drop us line to let us know what you think. 

T.

Dangers of the Road page2

It's Wednesday and as all good comic book fans know that means new comics day!  Not only is that true at your local comic shop, but its true here at the chronicles of the Tal Nor.  While Kelsea, Rose and I are hard at work crafting the next issue, I've been sneaking off now and again to do a little coloring flatting and re-lettering of the first Tal Nor story, Dangers of the Road.  Every Wednesday I'll be posting up a newly colored page.  Today we have page two.  You will notice that from page one to page two that the color of the grass and shrubs has changed.  This improvement is due to some fabulous advice I received from Chronicles of the Tal Nor issue 1 and I Hate When They Run artist Kelsea Jewell.  She really knows her stuff; be glad she is the one coloring issue 1 and not me!

Click HERE to check out page two of Dangers of the Road.

Before I sign off, I wanted to mention how lucky Rose and I are to have a fantastic local comic shop called Uncanny! in the King of Prussia mall.  If you are ever in the King of Prussia area of Pennsylvania, do yourself a favor and visit the store.  Tell them T. sent you.  They have a new location just above the food court.  Unfortunately, there is a shoe store that is interested in this location and may cause our favorite comic shop to have to change location once more.  I go into more details on this in my personal blog, which you can read HERE; but because Uncanny! has always been so supportive of my comics, I wanted to return the favor and share the letter I wrote to Villa, the shoe store in question.  I hope your local shop is as awesome as mine and you love it just as much!

T.

Dear Villia Management:

I'm writing you today because I heard some distressing news.  It's my understanding that you are thinking of opening a store in the King of Prussia Mall in the location currently occupied by Uncanny.  I urge you to choose a different location in the King of Prussa mall.  Over the last year Uncanny (formally called Comics and More) has had to move twice and as you can imagine this has put a real strain on them as it would any business.  I know it put a major strain on their employees as I was there to help them move, because Uncanny is more than just a store for me.

I have been a dedicated customer of the store for nearly 30 years.  I even worked there for a few years while I was finishing up college and looking for a job in my field.  I have seen every location they have ever had and this current location is by far the best.  They have just finished setting up the back room for gaming and events.  It looks fantastic.  They have incredible art on the walls and front window.  It is clear to see how much time and effort that the employees and customer volunteers have put into the store.  As the operators of a store you know how rare it is to have employees and a customer base that cares that much about a store.

That's because Uncanny is more than a store and employees; it's a place for old friends to meet and new friendships to be formed.  Every Wednesday I come in to pick up my comic books.  Not only do they have the books that I have asked for, but they will set aside things that they know I would be interested in.  It is rare in this day and age to find such customer service.  As much as I love the people that worked there when I was an employee back in the early 2000's this current group are some of the best people I have seen running a comic shop.

I have become a comic book professional in no small part to due to the influence this store has had on my life.  It the first place to ever carry any of my works and it the first place I look to when I want to premier any of my new titles.

This store is also responsible for me meeting one of my best friends in the world.  Over a decade ago I was finishing up one of my last shifts at the comic shop when a young lady came in asking for a comic book recommendation.  Over her next two visits we had such a good time talking we decide to meet up for coffee after I was no longer working at the shop.  From that meeting we formed a lasting friendship that included me being a bridesman in her wedding.  I still see her nearly every week.

This is the kind of place that you could put in jeopardy if decided to have the King of Prussia Mall management make them move once more.  I ask you again to investigate and choose a different location in the mall.  While I have never shopped in your store before, if you choose to pursue Uncanny's current location I assure you I never will and will be vocal about my reasons.  However, if you choose a different location in one of the largest malls in the world, I will most assuredly come and check your store out.  I cannot promise to buy anything, but there is a good chance that I will. As you can imagine from this letter I tend to be a vocal supporter of the places I like.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

Regards,

T. Perran Mitchell
Creator of Chronicles of the Tal Nor

Flat World Theory

To deepen my understanding of the comic creation process and to hopefully add another tool to my tool box, I'm trying my hand at creating color flats.  For those unfamiliar with flats, they are the first step in digital coloring of comic books.  This is where each section or object is painted one color, in it's own layer using Photoshop (or art program of your choice).  Once the flats are created the colorist adds the shading and lighting effects.  This is a vast simplification of the process.

The creation of flats is often outsourced by the colorist because it can be rather time consuming and a little bit tedious.  After trying it myself I found it to be a rather Zen-like and quite relaxing.  To hone my skills at creating flats I have been coloring the pages from Dangers of the Road, the first Tal Nor short I ever published.  I thought it would be a fun to share this comic and some behind the scenes of making comics.  This will also give me a chance to re-letter the comic now that I have a few hundred more pages lettered under my belt.

The cover, credits page and the first colored page have been post to the comics section of the site.  Each additional colored page will be posted here every Wednesday; please come back check on my progress.  I'm hoping that the last page will show improvement from the one posted today.  If you have any tips, questions or just want to say hi, please leave a comment below or email us at TalNorComic@gmail.com

T.