Book Expo America

Last weekend I attended the Book Expo America in Los Angeles. It was a great opportunity to meet and great folks involved in publishing and selling books and graphic novels. As an illustrator I looked for opportunities to talk with artists, buyers and publishers. One nice thing about this year's event was it's focus on Graphic Novels.

I started the event by attending the Graphic Novel breakfast hosted by Diamond and with panel members Jeff Smith creator of Bone, Art Spiegelman creator of the Pulitzer-Prize winning Maus, Mike Mignola creator of Hellboy, and Jeph Loeb who has many hollywood and graphic novel credits, including the TV show Lost. It was great fun to listen to them discuss their careers and comment on the industry. In that regard I was most surprised by Spiegelman who turned out to be a truly interesting artist, with a very funny presentation and clever comments throughout.

At the end, I took a chance and went to introduce myself to Jeff Smith. To my surprise there weren't that many people lined up to talk with him so it was fairly easy. He was very gracious and friendly and I appreciate the time he took to look at my work and talk about self-publishing.

Another surprise came when I literally, almost ran into R.A. Salvatore in the Wizards of the Coast booth. I've been reading his fantasy novels for a few years, and as luck would have it, I picked up one of his graphic novels from the Devil's Due booth earlier in the day. I had no idea he was signing at the show and must have looked really silly when I exclaimed "It's you!" after I saw him. Incredibly I had the graphic novel for him to sign and I happened to have a tearsheet with my fantasy illustration work on it. I don't know if he understood me completely but I showed him that two of the four paintings were actually inspired by characters in his books. For example Catterbrie and Bruenor.

So after all, the show turned out to be fun for me as an artist and as a fan.

Keep this Dragon!

I'm happy to report that a new paperback edition has been released of Janet Lee Carey's fantasy novel "Dragon's Keep". They re-used the cover illustration I created for the hardcover edition but this time the color and contrast are much, much better. I am very pleased, visit Amazon to take a look. - Patrick Scullin

Aesop's Fabled Fable

Howdy – I recently finished a sample children's book based on Aesop's Fable the Lion and the Mouse. The illustrations were done in pen and ink. Feel free to download a pdf version of the 8 page book. I'd love to hear what you think. - Patrick Scullin

Wizard Wrap

Wizard World is over. It was a fun and exciting weekend. First of all THANK YOU to everyone that visited my booth. It was great to meet everyone and talk shop. This was my first year at WW so I wasn't sure what to expect. It was definitely much smaller than Comic-Con which affected product sales but the smaller crowds made it easier to chat with other professionals. Here are some highlights:

My booth mate was pop artist Mike Bennett. He's an animation industry veteran who channels Jack Kirby in his dynamic poster art (He even knew Kirby which is cool). He is so prolific that he only sells originals because he's able to produce 2 or 3 unique posters a day. We had a good time shooting the breeze and talking about the biz.

I had the opportunity to meet and talk with cover artist Michael Golden. He was a special guest of the show and happened to have a booth not too far from mine. He came by and complimented my illustration. He was very friendly and very encouraging. We had a good discussion about art and technique and I believe he proves that in spite of fame, you can still be a good guy. At this show and others I've meet plenty of artists who are not so giving which makes Golden a class act.

I also took a chance and introduced myself to Dan DiDio, Senior Vice President and Executive editor at DC. He was making the rounds and was stopping to talk with some of the big DC artists near my booth. I got his attention and we talked for a few minutes. He reminded me that he wasn't there to review anything but I was able to give him a Super Siblings promo card. Can't get much better then handing it off to the main guy, here's to taking a chance. Anyways, Dan was also very nice to me and I appreciated that.

I had the opportunity to meet with a few other celebrities but hey, who else can claim that R2D2 is a fan? He just kept coming back to my booth. Another surprise at the show came when I ran into Devin Parker. That was a real blast from the past, he and I were friends and you might even say artistic rivals in middle school and high school. It's fun to see that both of us are still out their working it to make some artistic dreams come true. I wish him the best of luck!

Well, that's it, if I think of anything else important I'll put it up later. - Patrick Scullin

Wizard World LA

Wizard World Los Angeles 2008. Can you see me through the horde of adoring fans?

Wizard This!

Wizard World Los Angeles is here, March 14th - 16th at the Los Angeles Conventions Center. Order your tickets today and visit with yours truly in Artist's Alley. That's me Patrick Scullin and I will be at booth number 2240. Don't be confused by the Wizard World listing, since the time that exhibitors were listed on their website, artist David Malki and I have switched booths. If you wind up at his or at mine by accident we will kindly direct you to the correct booth. I look forward to seeing and greeting anyone that comes by to check out the fantasy art I've got to sell and the comics I'm promoting.

Save the Date!

Wizard World LA is coming in March! Don't miss it – March 14-16, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Aside from all of the wonderful celebrities appearing this year, there will also be a host of non-celebrities like me. So when you come to the Con, don't forget to stop by and meet non-celebrity artist Patrick Scullin in Artist's Alley. Exact times and booth numbers will be posted here when the info becomes available.

Let it Snow!

This is what I get for living in the mountains.

Spider-Man "Brand New Day"

Marvel has done it again. They've gone and messed with tradition and... I love it. I've mentioned in previous posts some of the things that have happened with Captain America and now it's Peter Parker's turn. This time, instead of some one dying, it's the fact that someone "lived" that changes everything. I'm not going to discuss all the details but I found an interesting interview of Joe Quesada at AICN. Quesada points out that the things we all remember and love about comics, those things that become the "water shed" moments, all have one thing in common - change. I think it's easy to say that fans fear change but I suspect that most feel like me because I don't fear change, I fear change that serves no purpose or is just done for publicity's sake. I think these changes in Spider-man serve a purpose and I can see the creative skill and intent behind them. While the boy inside me who still reads comic books hates for things to change, it's the adult inside me that appreciates the art form who needs it.

Sorceress

Here is another illustration from the series I recently completed. Again I've included the sketch from my sketchbook and the finished digital painting created in Painter.

Medieval Wench

Here is another illustration from the series I recently completed. Again I've included the sketch from my sketchbook and the finished digital painting created in Painter.

Elf Queen

Here is one of a series of digital fantasy paintings I completed this year. More will follow. These paintings are done in Corel Painter after starting with a scanned drawing from my sketchbook.

Create Magazine Award

I'm proud to announce that "See" Monster has won a Create Magazine Gold Award. My poster design won in the student category for graphic communication. As a graduate student at CSUF I originally designed the poster for the 2007 Hollywood Reporter Student Key Art Awards, but didn't win. The concept I came up with was to create a treasure map out of the movie poster. So if you follow the riddle and fold the poster you get a secondary image. Pretty cool. I'm glad it's being recognized by the create awards. The November/December 2007 Create Magazine Awards issue is on-sale now. - Patrick Scullin

Make My Logo Bigger!

A friend forwarded this link to me. These amazing products do the trick when dealing with those pesky amateur clients! Enjoy!! makemylogobiggercream.com

Cathedral

Here is a rough sketch I did this week with my students. I was teaching them some digital painting techniques in Painter.

Portrait

Here is another painting done with my students in Digital Illustration. This is my favorite day in the course when we paint a picture together. There is something very relaxing to me about painting and I love it. It's done completely in painter and I follow a traditional technique. I find it's best to approach digital painting the same way you approach traditional media. Out of habit I like to start with a blue pencil drawing, followed by vine charcoal. I then do a sepia value painting with digital watercolor, followed by opaque color added with wet acrylic and air brush. It's still rough and unfinished but I like it. - Patrick Scullin

Inferno

The studio has been closed for the past 10 days due to the terrible slide fire in the San Bernardino Mountains. The mountain communities have been affected like never before. We know many folks who lost their homes, including my parents, and our hearts go out to everyone. We would like to thank all of our friends and family for their concern and prayers. Thankfully my parents place wasn't completely burned and as they've returned home they've discovered that they will be able to salvage many things. The brood has been couped up in a house with cousins and extended family for two weeks and everyone is anxious to get back to normal. Finally the evacuation for Running Springs has ended today so we're headed home. - Patrick Scullin

P.S. The picture is a view of the fire from Running Springs.

Captain America Returns!

Marvel has announced that Captain America will return next year. CBR News has an article about it repleat with new costume designs by Alex Ross and story details by Ed Brubaker. I'm going to patiently wait and withhold judgement until I see how this turns out when the new Cap finally appears in issue #34. Ed does confirm in the article however that it's not going to be Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, who picks up the cowl and shield. The revelation that someone else will take over as America's greatest hero for me is bitter sweet. I want my favorite character to return, but I'm hesitant to accept someone other than Rogers, the heroic World War II veteran, as Cap. We'll just have to wait and see, don't fail me Brubaker. - Patrick Scullin

Elf Queen

It's been a while since I've been able to post. Here's a new sketch from my sketchbook. I'm turning it into a digital painting. I'll post that when it's finished too. - Patrick

Quirl Burt Myers

I got the news that this past week one of my mentors had passed away. This painting is one his that hangs in my home. I have two of his paintings that he gave me and I will always cherish them. Each day I pass by them and observe his brush work and marvel at his talent. I am grateful to have these paintings to study. His style has had a great influence on my artistic sensibilities. Burt was a private man and a very deep and thoughtful artist. I grew up with him and he was a grandpa figure in my life. I can't put into words all the things that he meant to me as an individual and as an artist but, suffice it to say, I will miss him. I quote a favorite hymn of mine and Burt's by W. W. Phelps "There is no end to glory; There is no end to love; There is no end to being; There is no death above. There is no end to glory; There is no end to love; There is no end to being; There is no death above." Burt, until we meet again - Patrick.