Wednesday, December 12, 2012

An Interview With Robert Wilson IV


Robert Wilson IV is a Texas artist. He is a talented poster artist. Many of his works are available for sale from Nakatomi Inc. He joined us last March to showcase his and Brian Winckeler's super powered comedy Knuckleheads.  Back at Staple! 2012, they had the first 22 page black and white edition. If you missed it you can still pick it up at crystalfist.com and preview the first eight pages in color at Robert's web page.
Q: What were some of your favorite encounters at Staple! 2012?
A: Last year was my first time at Staple! and I met a ton of great people. If I had to pick I'd probably say eating at food trucks and talking G.I. Joe after the live art show with Kristian Donaldson, Kagan McLeod, and Chris Moreno.
Q: Is Knuckleheads your first comic book or are there some false starts and/or mini comic skeletons in your closet?
A: Knuckleheads is the first comic that I finished. I've done other short stories, several pitches, and started a sci-fi story (which I still intend to finish).
Q: What have you learned and what have you learned to avoid from your design and poster artwork when trying to tell a story in comic book format?
A: Posters and covers force you into paying a lot of attention to composition, whereas you can get away without thinking about composition too much in sequentials. The thing is, you can never do great or even really good sequentials without intentional composition.
Q: In the [yet to be published] Convention Interviews you mentioned Kirby as an influence. What are some of your other influences? Am I wrong in detecting Mike Allred and Matt Wagner as influences?
A: Paul Pope is probably my biggest contemporary influence. Other contemporary artists like Mike Allred, Mike Mignola, Jaime Hernandez, James Jean, and Fabio Moon have impacted the way I approach my work. I've also been really getting into manga recently. Noaki Urasawa and Katsuhiro Otomo have really got me thinking about story telling and pacing in particular. I've also been thinking about how Moebius and Andrew Wyeth use space and composition. This is a question that I could drone on for hours about, so I'll cut myself off there. 
Q: What projects are you looking to role out in 2013?
A: I can't really talk about that yet, though by the time Staple! rolls around it should be public knowledge.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Launching a Staple! Tumblr

The Staple! Tumblr will be at http://staplegator.tumblr.com.  For all future updates follow us on Twitter @staple.

I pulled this from Uncle Staple’s sketchbook. Tim Doyle was kind enough to do this quick sketch of the Saplegator on a rampage back in 2010. You can find Mr. Doyle and some of his finished artwork on Twitter, at Nakatomi Inc, here on Tumblr, and at Staple! 2013.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

A Cappella Book Is Out

Hello Gang,

My A Cappella book is all done and looking great!
I've ordered a few copy for the June Denver Comiccon.


Front and back cover:


Find it on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/author/christinepointeau

Cheers!

Friday, May 11, 2012

A Cappella Soon On Amazon



Hello Gang,

Just got the proof copy for the A Cappella book -Soon to be available on Amazon!
132 pages, full color, soft cover.

You can see more inside images on my blog:



Thursday, March 1, 2012

Happy #CreatorOwnedDay!


I tried to reply to a Newsarama post, but I think my reply turned out to be too long to be posted.  Since we in the Staple! community are all about independent creators and publishers, I figure this to be an appropriate place to repost it.   Also, copies of the first issue of my new mini-series Droid Soldiers ( pictured above ) is now at Austin Books in the local creator section!  Of course I'll have them and my other work available at Staple! this weekend.

A lengthy reply to this Newsarama Post:

The creator-owned revolution back in the early nineties had a pretty strong effect on me.  I was about 12 or 13 when I bought Spawn #1 on impulse from the stack of fresh copies sitting by the register as I was purchasing whatever it was I was collecting at the time.  Being out of touch with the industry, I was completely unaware that Image was being built until I read that first issue of Spawn and found out my then favorite Spider-man artist was the man responsible for it.  I think that was when I became aware of the difference between creator-owned and work-for-hire in comic books and the divide that seemed to exist between the two.

But, it was Spawn #10 that really made an impact on my creative world-view.  Written by Dave Sim and featuring a guest appearance of his character Cerebus The Aardvark, it introduced me to both.  The whole thing put my adolescent brain through a ringer as I tried to put the characteristically Dave Sim metaphor together with the continuity of the series.  In spite of that, the last page struck a particular chord: Spawn is owned by Todd; Cerebus is owned by Dave - forever.

I think any fantasies I had about drawing comics for Marvel ( except for Batman, I wasn't into DC back then ) pretty much evaporated, and the fantasies of creating my characters and telling my own stories dominated.  Like a lot of fanboys I'd already been doing it anyway, but this "revolution" that I could feel gave it a new meaning.  Ever since then I've had little interest in either the DCU or the MU ( though I've enjoyed most of the cinematic versions ).  In almost twenty years I've only bought Wolverine: Origin, Civil War and the Prelude collected, two Iron Man hardcovers, and the Live Wires mini series ( I like robots ).

Having said that, being a self-publishing indie-creator for the past few years now, and also having done a lot of commissions for people, I have come around to understanding the work-for-hire point of view.  When I'm trying to make some extra money, I'm there to provide value for whoever is willing to pay me for it.  If they're hiring me to design a character that they are going to own the "rights" to, I know well enough that once the work is done and the check has cleared I'm going to walk away from it ( and gladly so since maintaining a character is a lot of work ). I already have my own characters and my own world, and nobody writes or draws them but me ( though I'd be flattered if any indie artist/writer decided to make their own versions ).

That's not to say that I agree with the heavy handed rights enforcement I've been seeing from Disney/Marvel, but in a world where Intellectual Property and corporations are the norm ( both concepts I have little value in, seeing them create more conflict than benefit in society - personally, if we're going to have an IP system, I'd rather all creations go into the public domain once all the original creators are dead - at the latest ), a deal is still a deal.  Sure I find it saddening to see where some of these older creators are ending up, but risk is a part of life, and if I get the short end of the stick in a deal that I made, I have no expectations from Darth Vader that he's going to alter the deal in my favor.  It's my responsibility to keep my financial affairs in order so that I don't end up in the gutter like Edgar Allen Poe.

However, considering that the Big Two manage to sell millions of copies a month, with most top-selling indies not even coming close ( The Walking Dead excepted ), the concept of a Creator Owned Day is something I see value in as a way to help bring more attention to alternative works and creators that are out there. Personally, asside from the movies, I find the MU and the DCU mostly boring except as a source of occasional nostalgia.

Now, to those who are putting their money where their mouth is by providing financial help for those older creators they value, I commend you.  If we don't like the way giant corporations are treating past contributors to their fiefdoms, we should stop giving them our money and give it to those we feel deserve it.
 
Happy #CreatorOwnedDay!

- Jenner Carnelian

http://www.enrodx.com
http://nemion.ginckmedia.com

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Jack: Adventures in Texas' Big Bend - coming back to STAPLE!

It's not so easy to make it across the state every year, and now I look up and it's been three years since I made it from Alpine, TX to Austin for STAPLE!

I'll be there this weekend with three comics (including the debut of a brand-new one) in my series on the animals of the Chihuahuan Desert. It all starts with real science, kids! And then the science goes into the toilet and I tell a ridiculous story.



I'll also have American Apparel T-Shirts, free bookmarks, a portfolio of original pages to peruse, and I'll be doing sketches at my table.

I hope you'll stop by, grab a bookmark and say hi. For a preview of my comics, have a look at jackcomics.com



Monday, February 20, 2012

Travel With Me - My New Book

My new book: Travel With Me; St. Malo and the Mont St. Michel,  (on Amazon).
I just added pictures of inside pages, visible right below the cover image.

This is the result of my participation in the Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project.
I scanned all pages before sending in the sketchbook, and compiled the images into a little book, along with personal notes.
Check it out:

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Kevin Eastman at STAPLE!

We are super-exicted to announce that Kevin Eastman will be appearing at STAPLE!

Kevin Eastman is best known as the creator (together with Peter Laird) of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Kevin and Peter first self-published TMNT in 1984, it was an almost overnight success, and quickly went onto become one of the most successful comics franchises of all time, spawning cartoons, movies, toys, games a concert tour and myriad other merchandise and tie-ins. In 2011, the beloved reptilian heroes debuted an all-new series published by IDW, with Eastman leading the creative team.

Eastman founded the creator-friendly Tundra Publishing in 1990, which put out many notable and critically acclaimed works from a variety of talented creators. He has appeared in a number of feature films and documentaries, and voiced a cartoon version of himself in the 2009 animated TV film Turtles Forever. Kevin is also the current owner, editor and publisher of the magazine Heavy Metal. We are super-stoked to have him appearing at STAPLE! The Independent Media Expo! Cowabunga!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Tables Sold Out!

Tables for STAPLE! 2012 are now sold out!

Any more registrations received at this time will be put on the waiting list in order of receipt. Please include a phone number so you can be contacted quickly in case of cancellation.

Slap Happy Comix Debut at STAPLE!



My latest book, Slap Happy Comix, will be debuting at STAPLE! 2012. This will be my fifth year in a row exhibiting at STAPLE! and each year I head down to Austin for the show I like to have something new for all the great crowds that turn out for this indie friendly event. This year I'm working in full color for the first time and I am eager to see what people think of the book. Along with all the cartoony hijinks inside the book itself I will also have several full color prints on display and for sale based on all the new artwork in the comic.


To see more details about this book or any of my previous and ongoing projects head over to NateBramble.com


Can't wait for March!