While we were in Huntsville we decided to see if there were any comic shops in town and there was…

The Deep!

It’s kind of your typical looking comic shop, but very organized with a good product mix.

They have a large selection of current comics, back issues, toys, tees, and more.

No individual Hero-Clix, but lots of other gaming figures and cards to be had- and played.

They have a large gaming area in the back right corner behind the graphic novel and gaming book section.

They have a kids/all ages friendly section.

Lots of cool sketches.

A few of the DC lead figures came home with us.

As well as some back issues and a Blackest Night Wonder Woman figure.

It was Mama Howe’s first time in a comic shop so Nicki showed her how to find some treasures by digging through back issue long boxes and the $1 bins.

I found a few good ones, too!

Stargods #2 (alternate cover) and Stargods Visions.

And a copy of Bushi Tales #2 (regular cover)- all at cover price or just slightly higher!

We had a great time visiting The Deep and will stop by whenever we’re in Huntsville. If you’re out that way I reccommend stopping in.

Here’s how our Mikah temple print started off.

It was a bit “sketchy” at first…

Then Dave tightened up the figure and added the background.

Then came the inks. Dave then sent me the b/w digital file over the internet.

I opened it up in Photoshop and dropped flat colors in. I mostly used the select and fill tools at this stage and colored in channels- this helped keep the file size down.

Then I used the airbrush and gradient tools to do the shading and effects. I also added snow and some blurring effects on a separate layer.

There are lots of great books out there on coloring comics and working in Photoshop. A couple I’ve used are Hi-Fi Color for comics by Brian and Kristy Miller and The DC Comics Guide to Coloring and Lettering. Both are available on-line and in most comic shops and book stores.

I’ll be posting more how-to’s over in our Bushi Tales forums. If you have a tutorial you’d like to share please do!

Hope to see you there-

Lin

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/03/dave-beaty/

Thanks to Jenny Williams for the opportunity. Also, DC Comics released the first Adventure Comics cover that Scott Clark, Hi Fi Colour Design, and I did together. It’s the cover to Adventure Comics #12. Check it out:

Don’t forget about the Art of Bushi Tales book. It’s available now from Indy Planet. 100 pages of full color BT goodness. You check out preview pages here:

http://www.indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3397

More comic news soon.  So stay tooned.

The wait is over! You can preview & purchase your copy of the Art of Bushi Tales from Indy Planet today. Lin and I have been working on this book for quite some time and are proud to finally be able to offer it for sale. So click the link below and check it out:

http://www.indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3397

Also don’t forget that Titans #23 will be in stores tomorrow.

So be sure to check that out at your local Comic Shop. Lots of comic goodness this week from the Bushi Tales crew. More comic news next week. And Brightest Day is just around the corner so stay tooned.

JLA: Cry for Justice #7 (of 7)

Written by James Robinson; Art by Mauro Cascioli with Scott Clark & Dave Beaty!

This is the big one! After the catastrophes seen in issues #5 and #6, a hero loses control, leading to an unexpected ending that will fundamentally change the lives of the World’s Greatest Heroes forever. This issue launches a major storyline in the DC Universe and is not to be missed! Available at Comic Book Stores nationwide today.

It’s finished and will be available for order from Indy Planet in a matter of days!

The Art of Bushi Tales vol 1

By Dave Beaty, Lin Workman, Micah Stewart & Freinds.

Dave Beaty, Lin Workman, and Micah Stewart take you behind the scenes in the Art of Bushi Tales. See the scripted page come alive from pencil sketches to painted art.Includes a special guest artist gallery featuring art by Bret Blevins, Scott Clark, Greg Cravens, Andrew Charipar, Martheus Antone Wade, and more! A must have for art lovers and Bushi Tales lovers.

100 pages & full color! $19.95 US

Lin and I are also contributing sketch cards for several upcoming Collectible Card Sets. More info and preview images available as soon we can post them. Also I will be inking Scott’s  pages for Brightest Day (DC Comics). We will be getting back to BT this year and lots of great stories are in production. So stay tuned.

I’ve been invited to participate in a book signing at the M.R. Davis Public Library in Southaven, MS on Sunday, January 31st from 2:30-4:30pm.

I’ll be singing/selling copies of my comic series “Bushi Tales“.

Other authors in attendance will include  Mark Grisham (John Grisham’s brother) and Daivd Donaldson- authors of “Bedlam South“, and Suzanna Maddox one of 150 teachers who contributed to “Teaching Hope: Stories from the Freedom Writer Teachers“.

The library is located at 8554 Northwest Drive, Southaven, MS 38671, and you can get directions here. Phone number is (662) 342-0102.

Hope to see you there!

Lin

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead

Monday, January 11th is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. To participate, we formed the Comic Creator’s Alliance–a group of over eighty comic book creators (both web and print) who volunteered our artistic talents to raise money and awareness for this cause. You may not know it, but there are currently 27 million enslaved people worldwide- more than double the number of enslaved Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. UNICEF estimates that 1.2 million children every year are sold into slavery, most of it sexual. The US Department of Justice estimates 16,000 victims of human trafficking are brought into the United States every year. Unlike slavery in the 19th century, what is happening today is happening in secret. So it won’t end until awareness is raised, and people like you and me take a stand. So here’s what we did: each creator contributed an original drawing of one of our own female characters, and combined them into a single wallpaper image. The wallpaper features characters from The Phoenix Requiem, Girls with Slingshots, Earthsong, Looking for Group, Shadowgirls, Marsh Rocket, The Uniques and three IDW Publishing titles: Fallen Angel, The Dreamland Chronicles and The Dreamer, and lots, lots more! Donate today to download this unique, once-in-a-lifetime wallpaper. The Donations Drive will last for two weeks, from January 11th – 24th. All proceeds will be split evenly between Love146 and Gracehaven House- two organizations working on rehabilitation of victims and prevention of this crime. To learn more about the Comic Creator’s Alliance visit www.comicalliance.weebly.com. To learn more about the problem, visit http://love146.org/slavery. (Note: contains adult themes and actual accounts of sex slavery.)

_________________________________

BushiTales.com has donated art to this wallpaper, too. 

Lin

The second part of the interview Wonton and I did with Shawn Pryor and Jon Carroll for The Black Box podcast is now available. We talk more about digital comics, distribution, web comics, Jetta, Bushi Tales, my B/W art show and Comic Whore site.

http://thepkdblackbox.podbean.com/

The MSCA site has been optimized for iPhone users.  The website will display in an iPhone-app manner, so that it’s easier for iPhone users to navigate.  I borrowed a friend’s iPhone to check it out, and it’s pretty neat. 

- Nicki

The MSCA website, the ComicWhore.com site, and my LinWorkman.com site are all iPhone friendly  now. How cool is that! Thanks, Nicki- you’re awesome.

I wonder if that means I now need to buy an iPhone..?

Buy from me!

Speaking of buying things, Nicki also added a featured product on my Linworkman.com home page. You can buy a copy of the featured product by clicking on the “Purchase” link under the item, or check out more of work for sale buy following the store link at the top web menu or by clicking here.

Lin

Starting next Sunday- The NEW free webcomic Ausur: Protector of the New World. The comic is set firmly in the world of New Terra and Ausur was first introduced in the back-up story “the Monster” from Bushi Tales #1. You will be able to access the webcomic two ways. First, by clicking on it in that Sunday’s posting or by clicking on the Webcomic: Ausur link in the site nav. This  feature will be written by new BT Team writer Ronnie Shenks Jr. and illustrated by Dave Beaty.

Also, production on the the Art of Bushi Tales book will be finished  this week and will be available for order much sooner than expected. We will be uploading preview pages and letting you know where you can order this exciting new release from Pencil Neck Studios.  So be back here next Wednesday for another Sketchbook Wednesdays update and then come back Sunday for the debut of Ausur: Protector of the New World.