Get on it! Fiction and nonfiction meet. IMPACT Books is releasing the first-ever (that we know of…if you can find another one…let us know and we’ll send Hachi to kick its you-know-what) how-to draw, how-to paint book that follows a story line.

By the guys who gave you HELL BEASTS (that’s Jim) and WREAKING HAVOC (that’s the whole crew), we give you INK BLOOM. Follow the blog now for the best updates and sneak peaks!

Check out the Ink Bloom blog here.

Follow Hachi on Facebook here.

Follow IMPACT on Facebook here.

Happy December! (We got our first snow here at IMPACT HQ today, I’m a little giddy.)

-Mona

Andy Schmidt, director of Comics Experience, Senior Editor at IDW Publishing and author of The Insider’s Guide to Creating Comics and Graphic Novels has announced the beginning of his 2010 lineup with industry pros such as Chris Sotomayer and Mark Guggenheim.

Check it out!

–Mona

by editor, writer, teacher, Andy Schmidt

Stop by and wish Chuck Lukacs a Happy Day at his new Fantasy Genesis blog, where he talks about childhood inspiration and his upcoming IMPACT book, Fantasy Genesis, coming soon…

Found these ohsocute zodiac characters via Lindsay Cibos’s blog and DeviantArt page–be sure to check out her DeviantArt page to find out about her latest contest centering around her December 09 IMPACT book, Draw Furries. Enjoy!

Jim Pavelec and Chris Seaman’s upcoming IMPACT book Ink Bloom is featured in the current issue of Imagine FX. Check out the article and don’t forget to follow Jim and Chris’s progress on their blog. Ink Bloom will be available in April 2010.

Have a great weekend!

mary

We’re just days from sending Master Digital Color: Styles, Tools, Techniques, by Brian & Kristy Miller (of Hi-Fi Colour Design) off to the printer. Master Digital Color is the follow up to Hi-Fi Color for Comics: Digital Techniques for Professional Results, the Millers’ first book with IMPACT. 

It’s a fortuitous time for the completion of book 2, since we’re all celebrating the success of the new Echo series by Terry Moore, winner of this year’s Best New Series Harvey Award. Brian Miller colored the covers for the series, and some of Terry’s work appears in Master Digital Color.

Hmm…maybe we should change the subtitle of Hi-Fi Color to Digital Techniques for Award-Winning Results?

Master Digital Color hits shelves in February 2010. Stay tuned.

–Mona

Learn More about digital coloring: 

• Pick up your copy of Hi-Fi Color the book here.
• Click here for a downloadable video lesson with Brian Miller.
• Check out Special Effects for Digital Coloring with Brian Miller DVD.

Happy Friday everyone! We’re wrapping up the week with a fourth installment of super-awesome designer Wendy Dunning’s exploits at Mid-Ohio-Con:

With a Little Help from Your Friends
Comic Art Collaboratives and Groups
I found that Columbus has a couple of groups of folks that get together to share their art with each other. One of these is Sunday Comix, founded by Max Ink. Sunday Comix meets once a month (on a Sunday) so that members can share works in progress and get feedback. It’s open to artists, writers and readers. Their website is www.sundaycomix.blogspot.com. They are sponsoring Comix from the Crypt, a haunting art show of member’s works, now through the end of the month of October. A couple of members are pictured here.

Also in Columbus is a group called PANEL. This is a writers and artists collaborative that publishes anthologies with Ferret Press. The anthologies come out twice a year, with the current one being number 14, PANEL of Horror. I stopped to talk to Brent Bowman, who did the cover art for PANEL of Horror.

Q: How long have you been doing this?
A: So long, I can’t remember. But more in the last 4 years since I’ve been with PANEL.

Brent is working on a comic called Allied Powers (www.alliedpowerscomic.com). The writer is Craig Bogart, who has his own comic called The Ineffables (www.theineffables.com). I picked up a couple of issues of both. The Ineffables is kooky fun from the two issues I’ve read so far, and I have not yet broken into Allied Powers.

PANEL website: www.ferretpress.com/weblog
Ferret Press: www.ferretpress.com

The moral of the story: hook up with some of your comic buds to keep the comics dream alive.

Here’s a book by some comic artists that work together: Wreaking Havoc. Written by Jim Pavalec, Chris Seaman, Chuck Lukacs and Thomas Manning, this book shows you how to draw the characters and creatures that wreak havoc and their weapons of destruction. And if October has you in the mood for some horror, check out Jim Pavalec’s Hell Beasts or Steve Ellis’s Scream.

Yesterday you read about how IMPACT’s super fabulous designer, Wendy Dunning, ran into CBG editor Maggie Thompson and met Tony Isabella. The saga continues today—find out who Wendy ran next!

Next on my list was visiting P. Craig Russell to ask him to sign my copies of the Magic Flute. Russell has done a number of comic art adaptations of operas, including Strauss’ Salome and Wagner’s The Ring Of The Nibelung. Maggie introduced us and I got to talk to him for a short bit, where I discovered that we were both alumni from the University of Cincinnati. It’s a small world. If you haven’t seen any of Russell’s work, please check it out! His current work includes the graphic novel adaptation of Coreline, which won an Eisner award, and work on Hellboy and Sandman. Visit P. Craig Russell’s website: www.pcraigrussell.net

Russell’s lyrical line work reminds me of Stephanie Law’s work, check out her book Dreamscapes.

My favorite thing to do at the cons is to visit the artists in Artist’s Alley, so check back for a variety of posts on those conversations.