The spring sale going on now at the North Light Shop. Get an additional 10% off any books you order now through April 4th. Just enter the code SPRING2011 at checkout.

Check out some of the IMPACT’s new and upcoming releases:

I read about these adorable cross-stitch samplers on IO9 the other day and I can’t stop thinking about how cute they’d look hanging in my hallway. And with a variety of superheroes and sci-fi, there’s something for everyone in there, ranging from Harry Potter to the Doctors–all 11 of them, which inspired the title of this post–to Firefly/Serenity and Scooby Doo. And since most of them are no more than $5 a pop, the price is most definitely right. I’m particularly fond of the Ghostbusters one. Bill Murray always has me in stitches when I watch; now it can be the other way around.

Plus, it supports an independent artist, and who doesn’t love that? If you’re trying to sell your work, check out 2011 Artist’s and Graphic Designer’s Market! With over 1,000 listings, you’ll be selling your work in no time.

Did you know you can subscribe to our RSS feed?

Looking for new ways to market your comic or fantasy art? Artist’s Market Online is giving away a copy of the 2011 Artist’s & Graphic Designer’s Market on the AMO facebook page. Just become a fan of AMO and invite your friends to do the same for a chance to win.

Have a great weekend!

Mary

Superman, schmuperman. This real-life superhero doesn’t need a fancy uniform; just some scuba diving gear, some plastic, and a bicycle to save lives.

When the earthquake hit, Hideaki Akaiwa was at work, but when his entire town got hit by the tsunami, he grabbed some scuba gear (because doesn’t everyone just have that lying around?) and dove into the water, dodging cars and debris to get to his home and save his wife. Eat your heart out, Lois Lane!

And he succeeded, too. He got her out of their home to safety in a manner that conjures up fabulous movie scenes– or even better, would look great laid out comic-style in panels. But he wasn’t done, yet. He rescued his mother, too!

And he hasn’t stopped there. Every day, he goes out multiple times a day, looking for survivors. Talk about taking action! This is one guy who needs to be immortalized in manga! I just have one question: where did he find the scuba gear?

Check out this free demo and get a sneak peak of IMPACT author and graff writer Scape Martinez’s new book, Graff 2, now available for pre-order in the NL Shop.

The original book, Graff, put you in touch with your creative style. Graff 2 is here to help you find your creative soul. Delving deeper into the elements covered in his first book, Scape brings you into his world, sharing his approach to letters, color and design. From working it out with paper and pens to working large (and legally) on walls, Graff 2 reveals the nuts and bolts of graffiti style along with ideas and techniques for bringing those styles to life.

Follow along with Scape to learn how to draw your own graffiti character…

Materials
Acid-free art paper
Black Sharpie
Eraser
Pencils (light and heavy)
Prismacolor colored pencils
Prismacolor markers

1. Sketch the Piece
Sketch the basic oval shape of the face with a light-leaded pencil. Use light pencil strokes and very loose lines. Don’t worry about what it looks like at this stage, just let it develop.

2. Flesh Out the Character
Do a second sketch, more fully rendered. Add the eyes, nose and mouth. Flesh out the baseball cap and ears. Add a ponytail following the flow of the lines. Be careful not to make the sketch too dark—it should still be fairly light, just slightly darker than in the previous step.

3. Erase Into Abstract
This is where your character begins to turn abstract. Erase portions of the head. Study your character and look for where you can omit certain areas that would actually strengthen your composition. Erase the entire face so the character becomes anonymous and adds a sense of mystery to the work.

4. Add Ink and Stylizations
With a black marker, go over the lines you want to keep. You can also begin adding stylizations to the character at this point. For example, make the sideburns a bit more geometric in shape and add a bit to it. Reduce the baseball cap to a few simple lines showing the front of the cap and its sides.

5. Add Color and Finish the Piece
Add color to the character using watercolor markers and colored pencils. Choose colors that are high in contrast, but also complement each other. To elevate the mystery element, add strong shadows and heavy black around the hat, underneath the bill, and behind the head. Let some of the color from inside the character flow outside—think of the broken lines as cracks in a vase where color can flow out. With practice, you will be able to develop your own color patterns and abstract styles to create your own visual masterpiece!

Check out Brian Chan’s video tutorial for making an origami version of Jedi Master Yoda. Chan also has video tutorials for making Boba Fett,  the TIE Fighter, the Millennium Falcon and a host of other Star Wars characters and ships.  Thanks to Comic Alliance for bringing these awesome videos to our attention!

It’s difficult to even find the wording to express our sorrow over what has and continues to occur in Japan and indeed, our hearts are still with those suffering in New Zealand as well. Anything we can do to help is needed, whether it’s giving our dollars, our time, or our skills.

This blog at Comics Alliance is being updated to show all the artists who are donating work in various ways toward relief efforts in Japan. You can buy prints and posters, t-shirts, and the artists are donating those funds. And the work is beautiful! It’s a great opportunity to purchase some amazing art and help others at the same time.

And if you know of any sources that aren’t already included in that blog, please include them in the comments or post them on our Facebook page.

Speaking of Facebook, we’ll be doing a giveaway of one of our Impact books once we reach 600 followers, so go “Like” us over there if you don’t already. See our Facebook by clicking on the log below for details. And if you’re on Twitter, you should follow us there, too!

The folks at deviantART are going to be at the SXSW music and film festival this weekend. They’re setting up a lounge called the deviantART Sandbox to showcase real-world and digital art galleries, a deviantART muro classroom, laptops to browse the site and participate in a community-wide SXSW chat, art tables and a reading corner featuring books from deviantART members. Find out more about the deviantART Sandbox at SXSW here. And if you’re lucky enough to be at SXSW, don’t forget to stop by and say hi!

Have a great weekend!

Mary

Over on our Facebook page, Graff and Graff 2 author Scape Martinez said, “I would like to see someone articulate how comics and street art are connected.”

Well, that’s a fabulous idea, and it really got me thinking about the origins and ancestry of these forms–things like cave art and hieroglyphs. People have been using pictures on walls to communicate for a looooong time. But it made me want to find artists whose work could be considered directly influenced or cross over. A quick search online and my first hit brought me to what might be one of my new favorite artists: Phlegm. As his site states, he makes comics and paints on walls.

But what about other connections and artists? I certainly don’t think Phlegm is the only one who crosses over. There’s also Rob Larsen and several others. And of course, plenty of graffiti features superheroes, but are there any superheroes with graffiti as their superpower? And if not, someone should get on that, stat!

Theodor Seuss Geisel would have turned 107 yesterday.

Love this image from The Butter Battle Book (1984) — the allegorical Seuss creation responsible for teaching legions of American school children the basics of the Cold War.

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