Archive for ‘Blog’

27 results.

Moving to FRIDAYS…

by JLD on June 6, 2012 at 7:47 pm

First of all, YES I overdid it by drawing all the technology needed for a simple ID scan. Andy said that this contraption had a Jack Kirby kind of vibe and I’ll just go ahead and take that as a compliment! This is a COMIC BOOK after all, so why can’t we have a little “ultra tech” here and there for no discernible reason? (I’m laying claim to the term “ultra tech” BTW.)

Second, I wanted to give a heart-felt thank you to those that have patiently stuck with us during the hick-ups in our posting schedule. In a world of dropping the old UN-reliable web-comic for those other shiny web series that have their schtick going like clockwork, we appreciate your understanding while we work around some obstacles.

In an effort to get us on a better schedule, we will be moving our posting day to FRIDAY. I tend to get the majority of my work done during the week, which leaves the weekends open for more family time and house projects. I’ve been kind of struggling to get each page finished on time and with the recent family loss of my Gramps it has been more of a struggle that usual to meet our deadline. I’m sure that’s probably more personal info than you bargained for in this blog column, so let that be the end of it!

Without further ado, please enjoy the last BoV Wednesday posting! (For now anyway…)

JLD

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Bereavement

by JLD on May 23, 2012 at 9:15 pm

Hey All–

Sorry for the lack of posting last week. Unfortunately, the patriarch of our rather large and tightly-knit family has passed away. This put me in a funk and kept my motivation on the comic at an all-time low. Once I climbed back in the saddle I realized just how crazy this page was to tackle, and my decision-making just seemed to take extra long this time. I’ve definitely put the most time into this single page so far… Still trying to get the hang of the coloring process. Thank you for your patience.

See y’all next week.

JLD

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Is It Worth It?

by JLD on May 10, 2012 at 7:55 pm

For those of you keeping score, Guardian just took out THREE of The Rebirth in about 10 seconds, with one confirmed kill thus far. These are SUPER-villains though so expect them to start putting up a better fight!

IS IT WORTH IT?

Any of you creative types out there must have asked yourself this question no less than a thousand times by now. You and your damned foolishly idealistic ideas, sacrificing your time, money, sleep, respect, social life and seven-kinds-of-what-have-you just to explore your dream. So tell me, is it worth it? If you haven’t asked yourself this then you’re either lying or you’ve already “made it” and then congratulations! (Truly I am happy for you… even though I might hate you just a little bit.) So I guess the real question here isn’t ‘IS it worth it’, but rather ‘AT WHAT POINT is it NOT worth it’ to continue along on this current road you now travel? At what point are you willing to concede your failure (or “lack of success”) and do some course-correcting in your life so that you can take that dream vacation or get that house or finally woo that woman of your dreams? At what point does one decide for oneself that enough is enough?

“A man’s got to know his limitations.” – “Dirty Harry” Calahan (Magnum Force)

The Pros always say that you need to constantly keep creating. If you’re not practicing your craft EACH AND EVERY SINGLE DAY then you’ll never make it! If you haven’t maxed out at least one credit card and are living off of Ramen to make your dream a reality then you’re nowhere near success! If you aren’t willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING for your passion then you need to give up and call it a day. I’ve seen enough episodes of Shark Tank to see somebody fooling themselves that they’ve got what it takes to make a successful business, only for the reality to come crashing down upon them. You can see it on their faces– That “oh shizz” moment when they realize that they’re done. Like good and done. (Perhaps we ought to call that “reality check TV”?) So when is that going to be YOU?

Or possibly ME?

At what point in this crazy world where millions are trying to cash in on their dreams, yet only the select few thousand  will succeed (I don’t have the stats. Just run with me here.) does one decide to stop throwing themselves head-first into that brick wall? I don’t ask this question to de-motivate y’all or bum you out or anything… I only want to put the idea into your head so that it percolates. Life is short. Don’t waste it on a bad idea that isn’t truly worth your time. Some might feel that way about Birth of Venus and to be honest, we’ve both questioned it more than enough times to know that even if it is an utter FAILURE, then at the very least we can be proud of the finished product at the end of the day. At least we’re putting everything that we’ve got (at this point in time) into this project to push it as far as we possibly can and if that simply isn’t good enough… then so be it. What I don’t want to have happen is to resent the sacrifices that I’m making to get my projects made. I think once that happens, I’m pretty much DONE.

I just finished coloring duties on Page 5 WELL PAST our Wednesday AM deadline– whittling away at it while tending to my sick infant daughter’s needs and pushing myself into the wee hours of the night YET AGAIN. And just like every time before, once I’ve saved the final file and loaded it onto our shared server to get lettered, my brain immediately starts preparing for the next page. And you know what? I’m genuinely EXCITED to get to it.

So, yeah… I don’t think I’m walking away from this any time soon!

JLD

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DIDJA SEE THAT?!

by JLD on May 2, 2012 at 4:22 pm

“Yeah, I saw it. I did it!” ~ John McClane (Live Free Or Die Hard)

Even if you THINK you know where we’re taking this story, I’m guessing that you’re now questioning what you’re questioning. I mean, we’re only on Page 4 and already The Rebirth’s second-in-command has been dispatched. (Let’s give him a hand, shall we? Hyuck!) Guardian isn’t holding back this time, what with his rep being on the line (being previously unable to locate these baddies) and now his emotions are getting the better of him. Just how far do you think he’ll go?

Perhaps now is a good time to mention that Issue #3 will be super-sized, clocking in at 40 PAGES total. Yeah, I’ve got a LOT of work ahead of me. I best not spend too much of it blogging, eh?

REMINDER!!!

This Saturday is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!!! Stop on by your Local Comic Book store and grab some FREE COMICS!!! Or better yet, hit up one of the following SoCal locations and swoop up your very own print copies of Birth of Venus issues #1 & #2!!!

MELTDOWN COMICS (L.A.)

GOLDEN APPLE COMICS (L.A.)

THE COMIC BUG (Manhattan Beach)

COMICS UNLIMITED (Westminster)

NUCLEAR COMICS & SKATE (Laguna Niguel)

Excelsior!!!

JLD


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SUPER FRIENDS!!!

by JLD on April 25, 2012 at 6:13 pm

Guardian VS. The Rebirth: Let the fight begin!

Will Mara show up for some super tag-team action? And where is that chick anyway? How long does it take to fly from the hospital to Vanguard Command, I mean really? I guess y’all will just have to wait and see…

 

SUPER FRIENDS!!!

This week we’ve got some VERY exciting news to share with you Birth of Venus fans in the SoCal area (that’s Southern California to those not in the know) as we have gained some powerful allies in the Comic Book Retail world! That’s right, Birth of Venus is now officially in stores and available for purchase at the following EXCELLENT establishments…

 

MELTDOWN COMICS ~ 7522 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90046 (323) 851-7223

Quite possibly the LARGEST comic store I think I’ve been inside of, Meltdown offers to many different kinds of comics that I could easily spend an entire weekend just browsing. This being my first visit inside the shop, I was a bit blown away. If we hadn’t been on a tight schedule that day I would have spent most of it there… and made my wife angry with me for spending too much money! When we asked if they would carry our comics, not only did they happily accept but they put us on display RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE REGISTER in their “Recommended Reads” section!!! Now THAT is super-cool…

 

GOLDEN APPLE  ~  7018 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038 (323) 658-6047

Between both of these top two locations, we’ve got L.A. covered with a one-two punch. Saying which is the better store is impossible as they both have much to offer in the way of events and celebrity signings… however, Golden Apple boasts a full-sized R2-D2 replica signed by every special guest that they’ve had in there. Perhaps one day we might lend our John Hancocks to the most beloved of astromech droids? We shall see.

 

THE COMIC BUG  ~  1807 Manhattan Beach Boulevard, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 (310) 372-6704

I’ve spent many a lunch-break at The Comic Bug chatting with manager and fellow comic creator Mike Wellman about all things geek. He turned me on to Paul Pope, and for that I owe a debt of gratitude that shall never be paid! This is a great shop and I would love to call it my LCS, only I’m not so local and I rarely get up into them parts these days. We hope to pester them a lot more in the coming weeks as we are working on planning a signing there! Details to come…

 

COMICS UNLIMITED  ~  16344 Beach Boulevard, Westminster, CA 92683 (714) 841-6646

The first comic book store I ever stepped foot inside of, and my most regularly visited location. Having stood the tests of time (and the unpredictable wax and wane of the industry itself) Comics Unlimited is definitely doing something right! Friendly staff? Check. Good selection of new comics, back issues and graphic novels? Check! Collectibles and memorabilia? You betcha! Whenever I just gotta’ drop some cash on some comics this is the place to go! We also hope to do a signing event here very soon!

 

NUCLEAR COMICS & SKATE SHOP  ~  28985 Golden Lantern, Laguna Niguel, CA. 92677 (949) 363-1263

What’s that? A comic store AND a skate shop all rolled into one? That’s exactly what I thought when my cousin first told me about this store, but after visiting this shop I honestly don’t recall seeing all the much in the way of skate equipment. Not because it isn’t there, but because I was simply OVERWHELMED by how many comics were packed (and nicely organized) into this relatively small shop! I also instantly recognized the store owner Kenny Jacobs as a staple retailer at the local Cons. Again, this is a shop that I was just itching to start digging through bins for hours… but just couldn’t allow myself  to at the time. (Another day JLD, and you can take all the time in the world for your precious comics.)

 

So that’s about it for now. We might try and work our way into some more shops soon but for now I think we’ll try to build a relationship with these key locations. We’ll definitely try our best to get some signings set up at ALL locations just as soon as we are able, so stay tuned!!!

 

BUT WAIT, THAT’S NOT ALL…

We were also INTERVIEWED this week by Andy Goldman at his blog and review site LITHICBEE! Andy did a great job and gave us some very insightful questions, having thoroughly read through the Birth of Venus archives… and enjoying them!

READ HERE:

http://lithicbee.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/webcomics-wednesday-birth-of-venus/

And that, dear readers, brings you to the end of this week’s blog-post!

 

JLD

 

 

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A Great Responsibility

by JLD on April 18, 2012 at 4:46 pm

The familiar adage from Spiderman (one of Stan Lee’s greatest) states– “With great power comes great responsibility.” We all know it and we all use it here and there to the point that it’s impact is hardly felt these days. But it really got me thinking as I sat down to do up a blog about today’s page. (And there’s not much to blog about today folks, so forgive my embellishing.) But what I came away from today was that look of determination on Mara’s face. Yes, she is planning to go and get her some serious payback, but its a lot more than just that. This courageous character knows that she’s about to face certain death, yet she might perhaps be one of the only people who can put a stop to the mayhem caused by The Rebirth. In other words, its one thing to know you can do something but another entirely to be uncertain of an outcome and yet  give it your all regardless. To feel a true sense of responsibility with the power that you possess.

Perhaps that is what I love most about comics. I see these stories being put out there with raw talent and blind ambition from so many creators these days that it gets me even more excited to do it myself. And maybe that’s why so many love the Superhero genre in itself because at their core, most of these heroes have been given their powers by no choice of their own and they must use them to achieve the impossible. These two things are one and the same and whether we know it or not, we look up to these superheroes while we try to achieve our own impossible dreams. As a comic creator, being a superhero means doing comics as a profession instead of a hobby. Yes, this seems quite impossible right now, but by gum– I’m going to give it my all! Despite the stumbling blocks that can keep me from achieving these goals, I will keep at it until I just can’t do it any more. Up until a few months ago, I never would have attempted to color Birth of Venus on my own. I just didn’t think I would have the chops for it and I knew it would take me twice as long to get each page across the finish line. But you know what? Seeing pages turn out as good as these ones have, by my own hand no less, has proven to myself that I really CAN do it which has instilled me with an even greater sense of power than before! (Granted, I’ve had to refer to what our previous colorist Rory Walsh has done before me, but I’m getting the hang of it.)

My time is limited on this here planet Earth. I have a wife, two children and a mortgage and I do not willingly give up my free time for things that I feel are a waste of this, my most precious of resources. This dream is worth putting that time into. Whether or not Birth of Venus is as successful as I would like it to be, I take great comfort in knowing that I used my powers as responsibly as I could.

Let me close with this passage from the writer/artist of Vagabond, Takehiko Inoue:

“When I was in high school I was advised that it’s difficult to have an occupation doing something you like, and that it’s good to do something you somewhat like. I went against this advice, and now I’m glad that I did. If I only somewhat liked this work, I’m sure I would have quit by now. Doing what you like equals yourself, and you must not quit yourself.”

JLD

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We’re Back: A Webcomicker’s Tale

by JLD on April 11, 2012 at 10:22 pm

That’s right folks– Birth of Venus is back, better and bolder than ever! Due to the parting of ways from our previous colorist, we’ve tightened our process down to just the two of us which means that coloring duties now fall squarely on my own shoulders! Its a bit of a learning process for me but I’m getting better and (more importantly) faster at it with each page. And I’m far enough ahead on inking pages that I can really focus more of my attention to this leg of the journey. So fear not loyal followers, your regularly-scheduled installments shall prevail and we thank you for your patience while we’ve gotten ourselves up to this point…

We’d also like to thank those of you that were able to meet up with us in-person at Wonder Con in Anaheim some weeks back, and in fact, some of you picked up copies of  our first two issues and blogged about it!

Check out the following favorable reviews from the Comic Bastards!

Read the blog here: http://www.comicbastards.com/homepage/2012/3/24/review-birth-of-venus-1.html and then listen to their podcast review here (at the 23:30 mark): http://www.comicbastards.com/homepage/tag/the-birth-of-venus  Thanks, ya bastards!

 

JLD

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Issue #3

by JLD on April 4, 2012 at 5:07 pm

Hello and welcome back to our regularly-scheduled web-comic…

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you folks how long and arduous a journey it is to get your passion project off the ground and out there for the world to see. It has been a very bumpy ride so far for us at Birth of Venus, but it’s only been about a year so far and we’re truly just getting started! Unfortunately we did lose our colorist of the series, but fear not for I will take up those reigns from here on out! If you doubt my abilities then just look at this glorious cover! I think I even impressed myself with this one! The entire third issue is scripted and I have about 10 more pages to draw so I’ll be toggling between that and coloring duties so that we can maintain our weekly page quota for all you folks out there…

Have I mentioned that this particular issue will be a bit more violent than the previous two? Well, if that cover isn’t telling enough then just be warned that we plan to amp up the brutality a few notches here in the coming weeks…

Thanks for sticking with us. It will be worth your time, I promise.

 

JLD

 

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Mercury & Clay Page 12 Blog

by JLD on March 28, 2012 at 9:16 pm

And there you have it! That concludes this here 12-page Retro Special flashback spectacular. Now you’ll have a little more insight into what makes made Madge & McCoy’s relationship work, and perhaps had a fun ride with us along the way these past 12 weeks? Hopefully the style that we decided upon hasn’t turned too many folks off and also keep in mind that these pages were the VERY FIRST Venus pages that I ever inked, so this really is a throwback in more ways than one. (I’ve actually had to touch up a few of the more cringe-inducing bits throughout!) I’m sure now you’ll all agree that things have gotten a bit more… dynamic.

See y’all back here next week when we begin Chapter 3 of our regularly scheduled Birth of Venus installments…

 

JLD

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WONDER CON 2012: A Memoir

by JLD on March 21, 2012 at 6:29 pm

That Madison Mercury is one tough dame! Look at her take on that terrorist thug all by her lonesome! Why, it’s enough to make Inspector McCoy’s heart skip a beat. And there’s Guardian showing up just a tad too late, as per usual. (Sigh!) Now if only they could just find a way to brush him off…

 

WONDER CON 2012: A Memoir

Hey All!

We just got back from exhibiting for the first time ever at Wonder Con in Anaheim, CA. We pushed “Birth of Venus” hard on folks and while sales weren’t quite what we were expecting, we were still able to chat it up with many folks who passed by our booth in Artists Alley. And it was a blast! Just being in that element, amongst our peers and pros of the industry to spread our love of graphic storytelling was a true honor and an experience we hope to soon be replicating!

Hopefully, if you’re reading this, that means you spoke with either Andy or myself and have decided to check out our free webcomic about a “pregnant superhero”. Don’t be confused by the current page of the comic now on display– We are currently posting a 12-page prequel “Retro Special” which just means that the look of THIS comic is a bit different than the rest of the series. Just click on the “First” button (the left-most directional button at the top of the page) and that will take you to the very beginning of the series. We’ll start posting Issue #3 in TWO WEEKS!!!

Since this was our very first time exhibiting at a Con, I really had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that we had to just get out there and do this crazy thing because otherwise we just weren’t going to know what it was like to sit on the other side of those tables. Even though I had done a few signings before to promote “Helen Killer” (my first published series with television writer Andrew Kreisberg) at San Diego Comic Con, this experience was vastly different. This time around we had to get everything prepped and ready by our own hands and wallets! We printed copies of our first two issues (to sell) and bookmarks (to hand out for free) and kept at shilling our wares for 3 full days at our little table in Artists Alley…

 

A dream MANY years in the making…

 

Along with the plain-clothed “regular folk” that we talked to, we also had many other special guests pass us by…

 

Roby comes in contact with an old acquaintance!

 

Did you know Wookiees are part Irish?

 

 

 

You know that you know who this is but you don’t remember do you?

 

And these were just the ones that I was quick enough on the draw to snap a photo of! I wish that I would have gotten one of the elderly Asian Xena! And there were some pretty boisterous Mario Brothers (with Princess Peach) in full character, but they moved by too quickly!

I also spent a lot of my free time working on inked sketches, just for fun…

 

“Anaheim Or Bust”

 

Double-Teamed!

 

Guardian Vs. Old Man Robot and his Legion of Robo-Troopers!

 

I also did plenty of sketches for customers who bought both our comics (our “$9 Special”) and for anybody who just asked me to! I also tried to make an effort to talk with other folks in our general area. Some were friendly, some not so much, but ultimately I wanted to try and make some lasting connections with other folks out there doing pretty similar things as we are. These are some of the more noteworthy folks I spoke with:

The guys at Big & Tall Tales, Inc. (Justin Peniston and William Orr) are first-year web-comickers and are putting out a pretty beautiful little tale called Hunter Black which they describe as “Lord of the Rings” meets “Chinatown”. Looks great, sounds great and I’m most definitely IN!

Jeff and Tricia Pina are a husband-and-wife team that have been doing web-comics, selling copies and making some nice prints of many recognizable properties out of Phoenix, AZ as Sideways 8 Studios. I traded a copy of our comics to them for an issue of their “Dr. Oblivion’s Guide to Teenage Dating” (great title, right?) and “Imaginatives” series. Very nice and enthusiastic folks and they seem to be doing something right because folks didn’t seem to leave them alone the whole weekend! Good for them!

I also visited the creator of one of my recent favorite web-comics Bearmageddon, Ethan Nicolle (also the co-creator of Axe Cop)! I didn’t really spend too much time chatting with Ethan but I dropped off a copy of BOV with him and purchased the first volume of Axe Cop and got a nice sketch from him inside. Not too shabby.

Lastly, I simply HAD TO go over and say hello to recent comics superstar Fiona Staples who is the artist behind “Saga” with Brian K. Vaughan out of Image Comics. That book is blowing up right now, and for good reason! It’s pretty damn great! I also dropped off a copy of BOV with her because I feel that both “Saga” and “Birth of Venus” cover similar themes about motherhood, childbirth and tragedy all intertwined. Hopefully she’ll read and enjoy…

And that about wraps up my experience at this year’s Wonder Con. I hope to replicate it again as soon as possible. Due to budget constraints, we’ll probably have to stay more local so that means the Long Beach Con(s), possibly San Diego or one in the Bay Area and perhaps if something pops up in L.A. we’ll try to hit that one too.

We also plan to add some more content to the website and figure out a way for y’all to purchase print copies of the comic too! So stay tuned…

 

JLD

 

 

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