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In a few days I'll be doing a signing in TRYON, North Carolina, a lovely mountain town situated on the South Carolina border. I'm very excited about it. Why, you may ask? Well, for a few reasons.
1. I genuinely LOVE Tryon. It's the most amazing little town.
2. Tryon was essential to the completion of Crogan's Loyalty. I walked around a lot there, sketching trees and rocks and the like, in order to get the best sense of mountain foliage. I also spent a lot of time sketching at nearby Pearson's Falls in order to get a sense of the environment for the book's climax:
3. I'm doing the signing with my dad.
My parents moved to Tryon a couple of years ago, and it's through them that I became familiar with the place. My dad is mystery novelist Mark Schweizer, the author of the Liturgical Mysteries, a series of funny and engaging stories in which the police chief protagonist is also the part-time church organist and choral director. Most of the murders are church politics-related. They've won mystery awards and are staples at most mystery and Episopal bookstores.
Seeing as we operate in two fairly different literary spheres, I never really thought a joint signing would happen. But it IS happening! Both of our new books came out this week ( Loyalty for me, The Treble wore Trouble for my dad), and the town's local bookstore (The Book Shelf) decided to have us both together.
I hope that, should you live somewhere in the area, you'll consider coming by. I do a big, pretty drawing in each book sold, so I'll make it worth your while...
HeroesCon is a little over a week away! This is, without doubt, my favorite show, and I hope you'll get a chance to come out. Think you might have trouble finding me? Not with this lil' map:
(click for full-sized version)
That's right. We don't even need table numbers. 'Cause we're the BEST BLOCK. Anybody else think their table block is better? Well, you'd better be ready for a dance off/knife fight. 'Cause that's how the early-mid-400s roll.
In addition to getting new books, artwork, and goodies at the table, you can also see me at the following panels/workshops:
Friday at 5pm:
COMICS CANON
We discuss what comics should and shouldn't be included in a comics canon. Be prepared to be shocked at what formerly esteemed comics I throw under the bus, and my reasons for doing so! Leave convinced!
Sunday at 11am:
INCREDIBLE ALL-AGES PANEL
Jill Thompson, Roger Langdridge, Skottie Young, and Me (apparently, I'm hosting) talk about all-ages comics.
Sunday at 2:30pm:
PITCHING GRAPHIC NOVELS
"Getting a publisher interested in your graphic novel is no easy task, but with the right information you'll be in a better position to do so. Chris Schweizer "The Crogan Adventures) will go over the principles of finding the right publisher, preparing a submission packet, and avoiding the problems that cause promising books to be overlooked."
Also, Crogan stuff in the news this week:
• REALLY long and in-depth interview with COMICS REPORTER. As Jeff Parker says in a very nice post, "Set aside an hour and read it."
• Audio Interview on WAR ROCKET AJAX, the Comics Alliance podcast
• EYE ON COMICS reviews Crogan's Loyalty
• COMIC BOOKED review Crogan's Loyalty
• KLEEFELD ON COMICS reviews Crogan's Loyalty
• BACK TO BOOKS reviews Crogan's Loyalty
• Hopkinsville New Era newspaper article: Former Hopkinsville resident returns for book signing, workshop
• TV feature on a workshop I did in Indiana (NBC 14)
I also did a radio interview (WKMS), but I don't think it's been posted online. If I'm wrong, someone let me know, and I'll put up a link!
Hey, everyone! Crogan's Loyalty is already available in comic shops and from Amazon (the distributor warehouse shipped it early!), so I figured that I'd go ahead and put the figures from that story up a few days ahead of schedule.
I'm currently working on the Crogan Adventure Society AGENTS page. There, Society agents will be able to access the older newsletters as well as download some AGENT EXCLUSIVE paper figures from the first three books! This is the last week of school. and I'm pretty swamped, but soon I'll be in full summer mode, working hard and getting things out, so keep an eye open for next week!
Around the web:
• iFanboy has some nice things to say about Crogan's Loyalty
• I talk to CREATIVE LOAFING, Atlanta's free alt-weekly newspaper
• A review of Crogan's Loyalty on GEEK SHOW INK
Well! I've been absent for a little while because I've been working to set up THE CROGAN ADVENTURES website!
It's got a lot of features, including:
• The chance to read ALL of Crogan's March for FREE for the next month
• Paper Figure sets (14 characters available so far) that you can print out and assemble
• A teaching guide for the new book
• An UPDATED appearances page
• Links to interviews (both print and audio/video)
and more! Go and check it out. Bookmark it! I'll still be using the curiousoldlibrary blog to post non-Crogan-related art, but will be shifting a lot of my attention to the new site. Hope you like it!
I was up in Toronto last month for the recording of four of the six CROGAN ADVENTURES episodes (based on my graphic novel series) that Decoder Ring Theatre is putting together for their 2013 Summer Showcase, and while I was there Gregg (the show's director, producer, and, in all cases save the Summer Showcases, writer) mentioned how he'd like to collaborate on making some paper figures for the Red Panda Adventures (possibly my favorite franchise, and certainly the one in which I'm the most emotionally invested - think the Shadow as if it were seamlessly integrated into a Tracy/Hepburn zinger romance) done the same way as my Sherlock Holmes figure series. I thought it was a great idea. He sent me a list of the characters he wanted to see, along with short descriptions of each (descriptions that were both concise and funny; even with Gregg has an audience of one, he never fails to deliver). Based on those, my own thoughts on the characters, and my limited knowledge of the voice actors' physical appearances (with the exception of Harry Kelly and Dr. Chronopolis, who I doubt look anything like their real-world counterparts), I worked up this batch. Hope you like 'em! I believe Gregg plans to make these available in the not-too-distant future. Check the news page of Decoder Ring Theatre to keep up with any such developments, and be sure to give it a listen! And don't forget to tune in next summer for THE CROGAN ADVENTURES Summer Showcase!
I
know that there are some people who want to collect one page from every
Crogan story published. Well, I’m going to be doing a story for the
Graphic Textbook, a collection of comics that teachers will be able to
use to tie the stories into the national core curriculums for a number
of disciplines.
Mine is going to be called THE BLACK BRIGADE, and
will feature Charles Crogan and his interactions with a veteran 24-man
commando unit during the revolution war comprised of Black Loyalists,
most if not all of whom were escaped slaves. The story will take place
during a battle, and will, I hope, carry the same mix of action and
historical feel that defines the other stories in the series. It will
also get comics into schools and into the hands of kids, helping to
ensure a new generation of readers and fans, a necessity to the future
of the industry.
Now, if you are of a mind to collect a page from
each story, as I know some are, I highly recommend that you contribute
to the project’s KICKSTARTER campaign. A lot of money has to be raised –
65,000 – for the sheer volume of copies being printed and to pay us
artists a fair page rate. Getting this page rate means that I don’t have
to sell the originals to make the whole project financially feasible; I
can donate the pages to make the project happen. I am donating six of
the ten. The other four will NOT be for sale, at least not in the next
few years. When I’m old, who knows. But for the foreseeable future,
these six pages will be it.
For $125 dollars – just $25 more than
I’ve BEEN charging for pages – you get one of these pages, and a copy
of the book (plus a digital copy). It’s a great way of helping a
worthwhile project, and a way of getting a new Crogan story that will
OTHERWISE NOT EXIST. So. Six pages available. Actually, five – one’s
been secured already.
Please follow the link below if you’re
interested. I’ll even send you a small sketch sized to be put in the
textbook when you get it. You can find out all about the project, and make donations at different levels with different incentives, here.
Below are some costume and character designs for the story. Enjoy!
(Click the image for a full-sized version)
I talk a lot on here about how much I love Decoder Ring Theatre, and at least one of my readers listened (the rest of you should, too!). Maka Takahara and his two daughters commissioned a drawing of the show's flagship characters, the Red Panda and the Flying Squirrel. I recently got to meet Gregg and Clarissa, the voices of the characters, and tried to incorporate their features (albeit through the haze of memory and cartooniness) a little into the designs.
Here’s the other half of the Hat Creek Cattle Co. (though, if you take into account Pea Eye, Deets, and Next, he’s really only a fifth, and if you count the drive hands then the fraction becomes even more confusing), Gus McCrae, one of (if not THE) finest characters ever to emerge from the western genre. To be fair, I haven't yet read Monte Walsh, which I hear is quite deserving of the title.
I'm working my way through McMurty's Lonesome Dove again for the second time since November, and am about halfway through. I started reading it to get a fixed description of Captain Call - whose only physical characteristic, as far as I've found, is that he's "barely middle-sized" - and just kept on going. It's tempting to just draw white-bearded Tommy Lee Jones, but as most any character with facial hair is described as having it, I decided to leave my Call clean-shaven. He's riding his roughly-monikered mare and carrying his Henry.
If you haven't read it, or seen the movie, I recommend both.
After being good about posting nearly every day for quite a while (what, 3 months)? I have let an entire month slip past with no updates. I traveled for about two weeks straight, and since then have been too heavy with research and projects to get any public-ready art completed. My apologies!
Anyway, I'm going to try and be better about posting regularly again. I've done a lot of drawings in advance... I've just been too busy to post 'em! Here's this week's Wizarding Wednesday, to get me back on the wagon... Draco Malfoy!
Newlywed HeroesCon staffers Heather and Seth Peaglar commissioned me to do a 30 Rock piece for them (Heather's gotten a couple of TV-based commissions from me now; she's the one who asked for a Community piece last year), and I just finished it. So here it is - 30 Rock/Star Wars! 
Feel free to print these out and make your own popsicle-stick puppets!       If you're a fan of both, maybe you can figure out who everyone is supposed to be. If you can't, that's probably a fault in my drawing. Whoops! Apologies for any characters that you'd like to have seen (Jonathon/Greedo, Don Geiss/the Emperor, etc) that I didn't end up doing.
Anyway, I love 30 Rock, but don't feel the need to proselytize about it the way I do Community, because, well, everyone already watches (and loves) 30 Rock. If you're in the minority that doesn't, well, get on board, man!
My commission plate is now free, and as I'm taking a trip to Toronto this weekend for the recording of the Crogan Adventures episodes for Decoder Ring Theatre's Summer Showcase (2013) and don't want to go too far in the hole with all those swanky Motel 6s (do they have those in Canada?) I figured that now might be a good time to offer up some commission openings! I'll take ten spots, ink and gray marker, 8 x 10", up to two characters per drawing, sixty bucks apiece. That includes shipping. Click below to do it, and DON'T FORGET TO INCLUDE WHAT YOU WANT IN THE NOTES SECTION! Thanks, and use the button below if you want one.
Hanging out with Cara (ihavebeensherlocked), Jackie (jackiemakescomics), and Calista this weekend made me want to do nothing but draw Sherlock fan art. Did two today. Here's the first. Redbubbled for your convenience
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