"Wasn't he supposed to update on Tuesdays and Fridays?" - Yes.
"Wasn't the 24 hour comic supposed to be done in 24 hours?" - Maybe
"Why do I keep coming back here?" - Because you love me?
"What's the progress on Coffee Bruin?" - I have concept sketches below!
"Is there any room left on the special October project?" - YES!
The 24 hour Comic Project: Hour 148!
I've continued to put together this comic. The plot is developed and, work-projects not-withstanding, should be fully penciled by the end of the month. Inking and coloring should begin middle of November.
Here are the pencil sketches of pages 15, 16, and 17
page 15 pencil
page 16 pencil
page 17 pencil
This project has been a lot of fun. It's been so much fun, that I have developed another comic book plot. This one is fully thumb-nailed out and I am working on the concept art. Not having a 24 hour deadline gives me time to build the art and edit (and edit and edit and edit and edit). What is that comic? Is it another violent and bloody homage to Quentin Tarantino and David Lynch? No, actually it's more of Aesop's fables meets Mad magazine. I'll work on it more after Appalachian Trail is finished AND I have a few more Coffee Bruin strips done.
Speaking of Coffee Bruin, here's that concept art I was talking about.
These characters are in various states of development and may or may not appear in the strip, or other projects.
Finally, if you want to do your own version of Bru, send it to me at Denis@CoffeeBruin.com with the subject "Fan Art". I'll put it up in the next update.
While we're at it don't forget, all this month if you email me at Denis@CoffeeBruin.com with the subject "Special Strip", I will include YOU in the strip. I've had several people respond, but I still have a few spots left, so hurry!
More Con art, more pencils from Appalachian Trail, and other stuff to on Tuesday. I'll see you then!
It's OVER! 24 hours have come and gone. The results? 14 pages penciled, 7 pages inked and colored. Let's do the math: 24 - 14 = 10. I was 10 pages short. Does that mean I failed? Technically I guess. But I think I learned so much, I met so many great people on line with this project, and I made something that has so much promise that it really was a win.
Commissioned by request
It really was a day full of win. I had a chance to play emcee at a large political rally. Then I got together with an old friend and his family. We all went to the Cascades, a set of waterfalls along the Blue Ridge Parkway. After a nice hike we went out to dinner. It was a day well spent.
By the time we got back to the house and I got set up it was 8:30 PM.
I'll repeat that for emphasis, eight freakin' thirty pee em! (That's right, the colon is actually pronounced "freakin" - tell your friends)
My son was a real trooper, he wanted to draw too. He kept up with me for about five hours. I'll put his stuff together in a PDF file and post it soon. He had a lot of dragons and things, decent stuff on lined paper with pen and ink.
I had spent the week trying to come up with ideas. I went through all sorts of different activities that I normally use to beat writer's block including free thinking, random association, etc. Writers block reared it's ugly head. Then it hit me! I needed to write about the hike and the Blue Ridge Parkway. That morphed into Appalachian Trail. More to come on the Trail on Friday!
Normally I put up some of the pictures from my sketchbook and I'll have more from the sketchbook on Thursday. This time I want to highlight some of the great work that was created this weekend:
Josh started from a Pictionary card. I'm pretty sure this is what Elwood Blues dreams of. Josh also gave me a lot of encouragement through the process.
This is my last one for the night. Dimitar spent a lot of time sending me encouragement on top of producing an incredible work!
That's it for tonight. I'll include a few more of my favorites on Friday along with some more updates to Appalachian Trail.
If you want to do your own version of Bru, send it to me at Denis@CoffeeBruin.com with the subject "Fan Art". I'll put it up in the next update.
While we're at it don't forget, all this month if you email me at Denis@CoffeeBruin.com with the subject "Special Strip", I will include YOU in the strip. I've had several people respond, but I still have a few spots left, so hurry!
The plan today was to start at noon. That didn't work out so well. I had a chance to get together with some great friends and go hike the Cascade Falls and then go out to dinner. So here we are... It's 8:18PM and I'm about to get started. 24 blank sheets of paper. Over the next 24 hours I will be uploading a page an hour until the project is done.
To all of the other artists around the country and around the world, GOOD LUCK!
As a webcomic, Coffee Bruin is supposed to update every Tuesday and Friday, so I'm going to start with the updates until it goes live.
This is going to be an exciting Saturday. Of course I've got the 24 hour draw (which I'll talk about in a little bit), but this next thing is really cool too:
Many of you may know that I do Voice Over work, not much but some. I'm also involved with the local Toastmasters club (Past President, CL, ACB) and I've done some work with Pendant Productions. Finally, last Christmas, I was an emergency fill in emcee at our Light Up Downtown celebration (thank you Toastmasters!)
Put it all together and that means I've been asked to emcee a local event this Saturday! For our area it will be pretty big: our local congresswoman may be there, our Gubernatorial candidate, and seven other candidates for office will be there. I will get to run the event from the stage, say a little bit about each person and then introduce each candidate. We're expecting a big crowd and news media. If it makes YouTube, I'll include a link in the next post. I have refrained from mentioning the state or political affiliation simply because I don't want to upset anyone if you and I are in the same area and are on opposite sides of the fence.
Excited! Excited! Excited! While I go calm down, watch this cute baby and puppy get excited playing:
Ok, that's much better.
Let's start playing techno marching montage music here - something heavy in violins. Sure it's self-important, but hey... I like the piece and I always have music playing in my head.
24 Hour Draw Update: Prep is continuing. I'm doing "plot exercises " to avoid write's block. I'm building my Facial Expressions notebook and collecting worksheets full of hand gestures (all stuff that I should have had anyway). Work space is being cleared and light bulbs are being replaced. Pencils are being sharpened. Shopping lists are being written for snacks (need more coffee!!!). Timer is getting fresh batteries. I'm getting pumped!
Originally, I was going to do this with a bunch of other artists at a local high school. That didn't pan out. So now I'll be spread out at the kitchen table instead of my art desk. This is so my son can take part too. He won't do the full 24 hour challenge, but if he can do 24 over a week I'd be thrilled!
When the project is finished, even if the comic book is not, I'll post the results, both mine and my son's.
WebComic Update: I have been working on character drawings and editing scripts. Here's a quick drawing of a character I call Ol' Joe. With out going into specifics, many of you who know me should recognize him INSTANTLY (except for the exaggerated nose), and yes Ol' Joe is loosely based on him, as well as bits and pieces of Jean Reno from the Professional, Kevin Kline from French Kiss, and Michael Madsen from Kill Bill Vol 2.
I draw on everything - all the time
Ol'Joe will be featured in a select set of strips to help set up certain future plot points. But I really can't say more.
Today's featured art from the sketch book comes from Stephanie Hocutt. I met Stephanie at HeroesCon 2011. She was part of a group of artists from SCAD (The Savannah College of Art and Design). This group included Jen Keith (who I profiled in my last post).
I've got a lot more prep to do to so I need to close this out for now. Remember, if you want to do your own version of Bru, send it to me at Denis@CoffeeBruin.com with the subject "Fan Art". I'll put it up in the next update.
While we're at it all this month if you email me at Denis@CoffeeBruin.com with the subject "Special Strip", I will include YOU in the strip. I've had several more people respond, but I still have a few spots left, so hurry!
Check back for more on Tuesday!
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
First, an update. Work has been very busy, but the project my team has been working on finished today! YES! So now back to whatever normal is. The 24 hour draw is this Saturday, and I'm getting ready for it. I'm more concerned about plotting out quickly right now, so I've been practicing. If this comes out good I'll publish it out here.
As I mentioned in the last post, I have been collecting sketches of the Coffee Bruin from several artists. I thought I'd share some of them with you:
Pretty damn awesome, huh? Check out more of her work at sensoria.jenerally.net. Her comic is on hiatus, but her work is awesome! Awesome? Awesome like this:
This year at HeroesCon I met several more artists, including Madeline
Here are two pictures she drew, one for me, and one for my son!
I've also done some alternate versions as well, like my polar bear:
If you want to do your own version of Bru, send it to me at Denis@CoffeeBruin.com with the subject "Fan Art". I'll put it up in the next update.
While we're at it don't forget, all this month if you email me at
Denis@CoffeeBruin.com with the subject "Special Strip", I will include YOU in the strip. I've had several people respond, but I still have a few spots left, so hurry!
I giggled, and moved on. But I kept coming back. There was something else about this character that needed to be said. I'd doodle him here and there in different shapes and configurations.
Walking around Heroes Con a few years ago I talked about him and showed the sketch around, at which point I got the bright idea to have other artists to give me their interpretations of the bear. Over the next week or so I'll share some of these sketches.
Returning to other news, on Sunday I extended a special secret offer through the end of October. I'm happy to say that several of you have taken me up on the offer and now know what the special secret is. Remember, email me at denis@coffeebruin.com with the subject "Special Strip", and I will include YOU in the strip!
One of the people in on the secret is none other than the famous Little John.
Over the next few weeks as I finish building the strip, I want to extend a secret special offer to you, my early readers. I have a special strip planned for the second week. If you email me at denis@coffeebruin.com with the subject "Special Strip", I will include YOU in the strip!
I CAN'T GIVE AWAY ANY MORE DETAILS THAN THAT!
This offer is good until the end of October or I run out of room.
Here's a quicky from the sketch book to hold you over until tomorrow:
I have such a busy life between two jobs, Toastmasters, an Aspie son, a daughter in college and being married for almost 20 years. Finding time to put this project together has been tough! However, with the support of my family, friends, and coworkers plus the encouragement of many of the people I admire in the Web Comics world, I am ready to take the plunge.
I have seen pictures of the studios of some of the cartoonists out there and frankly I am in awe. I just don't have that kind of space. But I have always tried to THINK SIDEWAYS. What you see pictured below is a little innovation my wife and I developed to allow me to have more space on my desk and get to my supplies.
I put together 6 2" PVC Wye adapters with 2" Push Caps. They are attached with a little Velcro. This gives me plenty of room for my sketching pencils, colored pencils, markers, and watercolor pencils. Then on top I can put all of my small items like erasers, paper clips pencil sharpeners, etc. Total cost, less than $17.00!
