GHOST ZERO BLOG

I had to redo the woman’s head.)

As I was plotting through the short story I’m working on, I browsed over to Chris Weston’s blog and read about how he had modeled a car in a 3D program to help him with perspective shots.  I thought that was a pretty cool idea, so I downloaded and installed Google Sketchup on my machine.  I watched a few tutorials (and had worked with some 3D programs before) and worked up a scale model of a WWII Japanese Koryu mini-submarine.  I have actually enjoyed working on it so much that I probably spent more time on it than I should, but it’s been pretty successful.  I’ve downloaded some of the models available for Sketchup and constructed a scene to place the model in that should be darned helpful and I’m really looking forward to seeing how well it works.

In other pulp news, Francesco Francavilla, a great artist and pulp devotee, has been doing some interesting interpretations of classic Dick Tracy characters on his Pulp Sunday blog!

-Dave

Or, the curious tale of how a small artist came to Chicago.

I had no intention of going to the Wizard World Con at Chicago this year.  That is, until artist Doug Klauba read his copy of “Ghost Zero: Ghosts with Guns!” and decided that I had to come.  Doug is a prince of a fella.  No kidding.  I was constantly amazed that he had clothes on, because he would literally give you the shirt off his back, if needed.  Anyway, Doug thought that I needed to show GZ around to some publishers and get professionally published, so up I went.

The maps on Google and Yahoo will tell you that Chicago is a little over a 7 hour drive from where I live in Kentucky.  Those maps know nothing about Chicago traffic, or construction detours, which actually make the trip a butt-bruising 9-hour trek.  Needless to say, when I rolled into Rosemont, just outside of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, my brain (and butt) was mush.  I closed my eyes for a few minutes in the hotel room, and after calling Doug, walked down to the convention center and into Wizard World itself.

Now, I hadn’t been to a major Con since GenCon in 1993, and I was totally unprepared at how big the con was, how noisy, colorful, and chaotic it would be.  It was like falling into a box of cracker jacks…a bit overwhelming at first, but sooo sweet.  After the shock of seeing that everyone..EVERYONE..had a t-shirt with an image on the front, (in all fairness, I did too, the first day) I felt completely at home.

The experience of going from pretty much total isolation as a comic creator to being plunged into a mix of hundreds was very similar to the experience that Harry Potter must have had when we arrived at Hogwarts for the first time (thus the clever title of this post).  I honestly felt in my element and could go up to anyone to strike up a conversation.  I met some fantastic guys..Mike, Jason, Adam, Aaron, David….most of whom were hanging out in artist row behind the Tranfuzion and General Jack Cosmo booth….and I finally got to meet Doug Klauba himself.

(This pic catches Doug in mid-punch to my mid-section)

Everyone at the con was very corteous and friendly, and I actually had the really cool experience of having a couple of people walk up to me and say “Hey!  You’re the guy that writes Ghost Zero?”, which was phenomenally cool.  Everyone who saw the GZ poster and comic was really blown away.

And, of course, there were the publishers.  The big change for me with this Con as opposed to previous ones is that I really felt more like an insider and less like a fanboy on the prowl for a sympathetic publisher, which is great.  I had serious discussions with a couple of publishers, Moonstone books and Ape Entertainment, both of whom publish some great, pulp material, and both of them bringing different things to the table as publishers.  I’ll have more conversations with each of them this week as I make my way to a decision about which place would be a good home for Ghost Zero.  Either way I go, I really can’t make major moves until I have the “Vigilante Crypt” story arc complete…which will be sometime next year.  I mean, no matter how cool your concept is, it all comes down to the goods….which comes down to the discipline of working every day.  After taking a break doing coloring work, I plunged back into the comic pages last night, and it felt good.  Seeing all of the fantastic art at the Con was just what I needed to pump up the inspiration batteries.

So, now that the Con is over, what’s different?  Well, I can tell you that I’ll definitely be doing more large Cons.  Meeting with the people is fantastic, and I honestly had a hard time saying goodbye to some of them.  I think it’s good for me as an artist to see others and be seen.  Also, I’ll continue conversations with the publishers until something is settled.  A relationship with a publisher is like any kind of relationship…both parts have to be comfortable with each other.  I also have to reconsider serializing on the web.  If I’m going into print, I should focus on that.  Not to say that I won’t be giving regular peeks at what’s going on with the books.  And, of course, the constant is work on the comic.  The Ghost Zero story is literally huge…there’s so much to tell….and none of it happens without sitting down every night to draw out another page.

So, that’s how Wizard World was to me. 

-Dave

Forgive my Star Trek-isms, but I just wanted to post an update to the Wizard World Con I’ll be attending this coming Saturday in Chicago.

The last big convention I attended was GenCon in the early 90’s, so you can imagine that I’m pretty excited.  I’ll be talking to some people about publishing Ghost Zero, and I’m really looking forward to seeing some great art.

If you’re going to be there, and you’d be interested, I’d love to meet you!  I’ve been offered a temporary home at friend and artist Douglas Klauba’s tables.  We’ll be in Artist Alley around tables 4600 - 4616 all Saturday.

-Dave

Folks,
I had the urge this week to do a full-page piece instead of the sequentials…partly because of spending more time with my wife, and partly because I was inspired by artwork my friend Doug Klauba had done on his Phantom covers.
Anyway, this is….part of the result. This is the b/w/greytone version that turned into an underpainting that I digitally painted over to create my first ever successful (in my opinion) colored piece.
So, where’s the colored piece?
Well, that’s something I’m keeping under my hat for now. You see, I’ve been talking to a publisher about a home for GZ, and I’m heading up to Wizard World in Chicago this month to visit and talk. I’ll have some prints of the colored version with me to show them. Rest assured, when that’s done, I’ll be posting a pic of the colored piece on the web, along with (hopefully) news about a publisher for GZ. For now, I thought you all might want to see this part. It took me 3 evenings to get this far…probably 6 to 8 hours.
I am curious, though…do you think GZ is taking the mask off…or putting it on?)
-Take care,
Dave