Monday, March 9, 2009

Projects I can finally talk about:


Star Wars Galaxies 4:
I was asked by Topps to do a card for Galaxies 4. Being a huge fan of Star Wars, I was THRILLED to be asked. I was told I could do anything Star Wars I wanted, but that seemed too broad for me to pick from, so I self-imposed the restriction of something from Empire Strikes Back (my favorite of the 6). Wanting to see more of the bounty hunters myself, I opted to have the three most visually interesting in a shootout of some sort. The Galaxies 4 packs are out in stores currently. Happy Hunting!!


Muppets!
Another of those life long geek fantasies came true when I was offered the cover assignments for the Muppet Robin Hood series! (at one point in my life, I had thought about trying to become a puppet builder at either the NY or London Henson shops). I have 3 of the 4 done currently, but I can only share cover #1 for now. It was a huge pleasure and I look forward to drawing more muppets and sharing the results with you guys.


Strathmore:
Fans of Katie Cook's blog knows she was one of the artists asked to do cover illustrations and a bio comic for Strathmore paper's new comic-art line of paper sizes and products. I did the artwork that appears on the 300 series. It features a Scottish Grasshopper and Ladybug amongst the thistle (Strathmore was founded in Scotland and their logo is the thistle).



So that should cover it for a bit. Thanks for all the feedback from the month of Old Time Radio! I'm glad people enjoyed it and hope people unfamiliar gave it a try.








Feb. ,Mar. , & April....
Last month was crazy because of all the traveling we did. New York, back to Michigan, Fairbanks, back to Michigan, San Francisco, and back to Michigan. They were all great trips that I enjoyed, but now I have a mountain of deadlines staring me down for all of March and spilling into April.

So while I'm back home again, I may be slow to respond to e-mails, requests, comments, etc.




Alaska:
I was invited to Alaska by Greg Hill, who is the director of the Fairbanks Public Library. He started a program a few years ago called 'Guys Read' aimed at improving the attitude boys have about reading right at the age where their reading comprehension scores drop in the 4th grade. Adult males volunteer to go to the public schools and read the first chapter of a graphically packed book aloud (with the images from the book) projected behind them. The schools then receive several copies of those books so the boys can check out the rest of the story. The reading goes on for a number of weeks until there is a party at the public library for the boys who participated. I was invited up to be the special guest at the party, and read Mouse Guard Fall 1152 aloud (and in character voices) to the boys.


I was also invited to give a lecture/presentation at the University of Alaska Fairbanks as well as teach a workshop there on comic storytelling. The workshop went well. I feel I lingered too long on talking about the process when I should have had them just start on the process, but live and learn. The students all seemed happy with the workshop and I feel we covered some great ground.



And special thanks to Greg, Clare, Jamie, and Diane for making our trip so comfortable.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

All kinds of awesome!

I'd love to see you do more than just cards and covers in the Star Wars and Muppet universes.

If there was ever a radio series of Mouse Guard it should be done in the style of Old Time Radio. It would fit perfectly and be fun to listen to.

On the subject of Mouse Guard, why no mention of issue #5 being released? I was surprised to pick up my copy from my LCS as no mention usually means a delay.

That last one wasn't a complaint by the way!

Bring on May (not April) and the last issue to an absolutely brilliant series. I feel almost sad that the third series won't be dealing with the mice we've come to know and love. Celanawe's history however is something I'm dying to read about. If only for a return of Conrad maybe?

Keep up the good work ;)

Morgen (my name and not just a random word in German)

Kat said...

That is very cool that you went to Alaska for that reading program. Wish more places hosted programs like that. :)

-Kat

nicole falk said...

David that Muppet comic looks great - beautiful covers!! Can't wait to pick those up.

Congrats on everything else as well!

Ill be getting one of your SW cards in my box :) And that 'guys read' program is really a fantastic idea.

Mayhem said...

Love the commissions... but Watchmen and V for Vendetta? Drat, I was considering them for an ask myself at San Diego (you are still coming I hope David?)... I'll have to think of something different and original myself hah hah. All in good time, and hurry to reach the stand on opening ;)

TwiceBorn said...

I was really put out not to be able to make it to any of the events while you were up here. (I live a little ways from fairbanks)
I was seriously bummed, but none of them worked in with my school and work and all that. My friend says he thinks he saw you walk by as he was going into our worthless comic shop that rarely carries copys of Mouse Guard.
Everything looks briliant, those commission peices are real cool. Keep it all up.
Oh, btw, I'm loveing The new Mouse Guard RPG.

Joelle said...

Longtime lurker! First time posting!

All the art you posted is just fantastic! I really love the Mouse Guard/comic book cross overs! Especially the Sandman Mice!

Your work is always an inspiration! May your pen nibs never dry!




Ps: Quick question! Any word on the Black and White limited edition?
I reserved a copy through forbiddenplanet.co.uk but they've had the "reserve a copy" message up for quite a while now.

DPetersen said...

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for all the great posts! Thanks for all the compliments too. With regards to the question on the Black and White edition of Mouse Guard Fall 1152 I've been told its due to be released sometime this March. When I have an exact date I'll post it to my site and blog.

-David

Anonymous said...

Another great post - especially the Star Wars and Muppets works. And the Watchmice! Love it. Also, it's wonderful that you do literacy programs for kids - that is so important. I really want to visit the Chena Hot Springs, but I did wonder - did your lips get stuck to those ice goblets?

Mayhem said...

Hi Walnetto, I've pre-ordered mine through FB too, so waiting also on when/if they get copies. They've not let me down in the past regarding certain "hard to find" items.

Unknown said...

Beautiful work! I love all your commisions, and that star wars card is awesome. and that muppet illustration is great!

it was great getting to meet you at nycc!

Brandon said...

I always get ridiculously happy seeing your con sketches. First of all I love the square page size of Mouse Guard and also your con sketches. It's kind of a funny thing to like but I just do because it's different. But mostly I just love seeing more Mouse Guard and what's most fun about the con sketches is seeing the mice in other universes or interacting with other characters, like this time Hellboy, Watchmen, etc.

Anonymous said...

So you mentioned that you still had a couple sketches to do in this here blog post. I knew one of them must have been mine. Now picture the happy smile on my face when I opened the package today and looked at what was inside. Ok, You got that picture? What's in your head isn't even close to happy happy I am with this.

Best WonderCon Ever. Archer and swordmice are awesometaculariffic. So well done I had to make up a word to describe it. Just fantastically solid stuff man. Fantastically beautiful

Hunter said...

David,

The wait was soooooo worth it. The package/sketch arrived at my doorstep, and my jaw hit the floor when opening it. Kermit/Fozzie Bear goodness!! This single image tells such a wonderful story.

It is going right up on the wall next to my Katie Cook Fozzie.

Thank you so much for the hardwork, and beautiful piece of art.

The wait gave me a chance to catch up on Mouse Guard, and I cannot wait to see you in San Diego and thank you again.

Best,
Hunter

vicious_pretty said...

i love the watchmice! how adorable. i'm so excited to see you at emerald city comic con this weekend. my husband managed to get your autograph for me at gen-con last year, but i was sad i couldn't go myself. will you have any merchandise for the show??

Scott said...

Maybe you've addressed this elsewhere and I've simply overlooked it but I'd like to read more from you about comic storytelling.

I'm also looking forward to seeing you in Charlotte. In fact I'm looking around my office right now deciding where I could put a commission.

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