Here’s some in-progress shots of me working on the cover to Vinny #1. Thus far it’s done in all watercolor on bristol with small amounts of graphite.

And yes, I’m left-handed.

I am pleased to announce that I just put the final pencil stroke on page 20 of Vinny Issue #1! I am very excited to be finished with this project, and can hardly wait for its release! The book still needs to go through post-processing, but will be completed and ready by HeroesCon in June. My editors will be taking the fully printed book with them to start getting the word out at the convention. If you’re attending, keep an eye out for those two scoundrels wandering the halls.

This was a major milestone for me: it’s the very first comic book that I have ever penciled, and the first one to ever be completed! I am very excited to see where it goes. I should have some inked, lettered, and processed pages to show in a week or so as a teaser. More information to come. Please stay tuned! Thanks to everyone for the support you’ve given me for this project over the past several months.

I know I’ve been really quiet as of late, but that’s because my life has gone into overdrive. I haven’t had anything new to show because I’ve pretty much been exclusively working on Vinny to try to get it done before my deadline.

Vinny Page One © 2009 Joie Brown, Josh Copland, and Matt Garth

I finally got some pencil scans back from my editor (because I sadly don’t have an 11″ x 17″ scanner yet), so I thought I’d share them with you. These are the final pencils for Vinny pages one through three. The pages are straight up graphite with the blue line guides still visible. I did not take them out in Photoshop thinking that they might be interesting to look at. See if you can follow the story without any dialogue!

Vinny Page Two © 2009 Joie Brown, Josh Copland, and Matt Garth

The completely polished and ready-to-send-to-the-printers pages will look very different. They will have lots more black and grey to them (plus lettering), and I’m really excited with how they’re turning out. I’m currently on page 12 of 21, which means I’ve finally passed the halfway mark! And none too soon, either. Working on this comic has been a great trial-by-fire for me in regards to learning more about comic books, time management, and deadlines. Sure it may have helped me into a quarter life crisis, but maybe it will help me out of it as well. I hope.

Vinny Page Three © 2009 Joie Brown, Josh Copland, and Matt Garth

In regards to my Snippets projects and Etsy.com storefront: I’m still trying to work out the kinks and get things set up. I hope to have more information about both of these very soon. Stay tuned, and sorry for the long delay in between posts.

As many of you know, I’ve been working on a comic book with my friends Josh and Matt over at Arguing Idiots called Vinny.

Vinny Teaser #1 – © 2009 Joie Brown, Josh Copland, and Matt Garth

Last month I posted some of the concept art for the comic, and then in a later post you could kind of see some of the pages in progress lying on the table.

Vinny Teaser #2 – © 2009 Joie Brown, Josh Copland, and Matt Garth

Some of the pages have actually been scanned at this point, so I thought I’d share some teaser images to start whetting your appetite for Vinny!

Vinny Teaser #3 – © 2009 Joie Brown, Josh Copland, and Matt Garth

This project has been difficult because it’s my first ever large (non-academic) project with a deadline, as well as being my very first comic book. So far, progress-wise I’ve finished 4 of 22 pages, and having been working on page 5 today during my long day in the studio. I will post some full teaser pages sometime in the future, so be on the lookout!

For this week’s inspirational post, I thought I’d post about one of the single biggest professional inspirations I’ve had thus far: James Jean. He is a famous illustrator, and he’s done the covers for Fables (and other comics) for years now as well as created lots of freelance work for all sorts of clients the world over. He has shown up in magazines, CD covers, on television, and even in Prada stores. He has now gone one step further, and started focusing on his art for himself, with his first big gallery show “Kindling” at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York.

Wolves – Fables Trade Paperback #8 – Acrylics on paper with Photoshop. © 2006 James Jean.

I was inspired by Mr. Jean quite some years ago when my friend John Fuller handed me the first Trade Paperback of Fables. I’m pretty sure I had been complaining that I hadn’t read any comics recently (but I always complain about that), and he let me borrow it to read. Obviously I was instantly hooked on the comic itself, but I also found the cover artist to be extremely intriguing. I remember examining each piece with great intensity, frankly amazed at what I saw.

Sigur Ros for Future Music Magazine – Graphite and white chalk on Rives with Photoshop. © 2006 James Jean.

It was some time later before I found his website, and really got a good idea about what he did. Up until that point, my artist goals had been… well, rather mutable in nature. I had never even known about the concept of a freelance illustrator that could do everything from magazine illustrations to comic covers until I surveyed his work, and realized that THAT was what I wanted to do with my art. My goal was set, and so began my own journey to find that career.

Swan – Acrylic, oil, and pastel on linen. © 2008 James Jean.

His work itself is delicious. Flowing, graceful lines, fascinating and unexpected color palettes, ethereal and sometimes downright creepy subject matters and presentation make for one awesome package to swallow. A lot of his images tend to hit the eye with a quick– SPLASH!, and then once you’ve taken a moment, it really begins to steep and soak into your brain. The movement and compositions of each piece are phenomenal, and really make sure the eye travels around the entire visual plane. Watching an artist grow, change, and really push his work into new territories over the years is a fascinating and wonderful experience. I personally hope he continues to inspire not only me, but other artists and illustrators, for quite some time.

Please make sure to check out his website, JamesJean.com, and his blog, Process Recess to see his artwork. He has also published a number of art books that you should check out, my personal favorite being Fables: Covers (of course!).