Comikaze Expo'd 2012

Converging with the three amigos of Ralph, Stephen, and myself--we formed the trifecta table of "Kawagiwa/Yan/Miranda" this year at Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo. Boothmate Stephen Yan was decked out in full Deadpool garb and attracted a good amount of attention with his red suit and mercenary skills with guns and Seaworld brand lightsaber.

Stationed at booth #333 (and #432), news filtered in during the weekend that attendee quantities were far more than expected. The stamp of Stan Lee's name was sure to ramp up the city-wide attention.
 [A chance encounter that's a little dated, but still a source of inspiration concerning "The Man", was noted in a recent post on my storyboard blog~]

It was great to meet fellow creators in person like Megan Lara, whom I'd only corresponded with online and even snail mail. Not too far also were fellow comic creators Neil Segura and Ray Mendivil ("Forever Freshman"), the talented Houghton Brothers ("Reed Gunther"), Binary Winter Press, Dave of Savage Monsters, and the fine folks of Maiden Voyage Clothing Co. Conventions still remain one of those few opportunities to really appreciate face-to-face geeking out!

Also amazing costumes and make-up like this:

The contestants and models from the SFX/make-up competion TV show "Face Off" were attendance in full bloom:

Other active events included a Zombie Apocalypse Escape obstacle course and Harry Potter Quiddich matches. Many tumbles and bludger-ings were observed. 

As an exhibitor, my only regret was not getting to see more of the floor and talk longer with the folks at the Copic and Archaia booths. However, it turned out to be one of my most successful shows and a whirlwind weekend of fun --the evidence below!:
(Don't forget there's always the more punctual Facebook page too)

Rolling out-- next stop Alternative Press Expo (San Francisco)! 

"Catalyst Strikes Back" giveaway

In a Gallery Far Far Away...

Reblog or Comment to win! These designs are NOT available in print anywhere, only as licensed Tees through WeLoveFine.com!Chance to win the alternate prints available through the other social networks.

RSVP here for the Star Wars tribute art show at Catalyst!

View Larger Map

Six Seasons and A Movie!

[EDIT/ Update!]
Pics from the show. 

Dan Harmo

Yvette Nicole Brown and Gillian Jacobs stopped by the show!

Attention all Human Beings!

This weekend is the "Community" themed art show "Six Seasons and a Movie" at the presented by PixelDrip at the Monk Gallery in L.A. More than 130 artists will be participating-- see the Facebook event page HERE.
"There will be framed and canvas pieces, prints, shirts, dioramas, custom vinyl toys, plushies, a video game demo, and more! There will be contests throughout the weekend that will give attendees numerous chances to win prizes, so make sure to come in costume on Saturday and know your trivia on Sunday...!"

Below are a couple details for my single piece "Conjoined in the Morning!" (Acrylic transfer on Wood panel + Ink). Featuring inseparable pals Abed Nadir and Troy Barnes, joined at the hip and playing to their strengths with the art of Imagination and Plumbing (though lately I guess it's more about AC Repair.)
Sideshow acts include the "Amazing Sword Swallowing Dean Pelton" and "Star Burns: The Human Explosion, too soon?".
At the top is an 11x 14" print version which will also be available at the show. Word on the street is that creatives and actors from the show may be in tow. Should be a carnival of fun!

Check out other pals who'll have pieces in the gallery!: Victor Camba (a full-color Community comic book), Stephen Yan (an Inspector Spacetime salute), Ralph Miranda (general baddassery print), Kevin Woody (great style character watercolors), n' Megan Lara (amazing Art Nouveau maven)!

Conjoined in the Morning!

(Too Soon?)

Here, don't get lost:

View Larger Map

Comics: Printing & Cons

Comics pages about comics making

Go Comics RA RA RA!

This is pretty pertinent for a lot of independent comic creators and publishers out there-- fast and reliable Print-on-Demand (POD) has increased the ease of getting your own stories out there in tangible form.
I've used several houses in my few comic-printing ventures, but my most recent runs of the
"The Sunless Circus" and "The Tell" were through RA-Comics.

Check out their variety of services and easy to navigate quote menu HERE.

I drew the very meta comics page above about comic making and the printing process. Their "Screaming Hot" option can be a real lifesaver. I think many creators tend to push the deadlines of having something ready just in time for a convention.

Speaking of which...


Get your Geek On


I've applied for these events this year but am currently awaiting confirmation:
Geeks Con
Comikaze Expo
Long Beach Comic Con
A.P.E.

I'll be at Comic-Con Int'l, but as a laid-back, non-promotional-mode patron~

Digital Circus!

$1.00

Kicking Up New Dust

Some options for mobile and digital readers out there-- I put these two stories up available for download.

A recap on some story!:
"The Sunless Circus" is a silent 8-page story about Ardee the Robot Acrobat, who wants to run away from the Circus to become an accountant. Buy the comic here or click below for the digital version.

"The Tell" is a 17-page narrated story recounting events that happen previous. It tells the tale of the Inventor who came to the Circus who built Ardee, the the heroic Ringmaster. and the wonderfully strange and also diabolical things he discovers there. Here's the classic analog version--
digital version is only one dollar pilgrims!

Download the continuing story in PDF form for absolutely FREE here !

Thor of Asgard

|Facebook Page|  |Twitter|  |Website|  |Licensed Shirts|

Mighty Mighty

A new Marvel design coming down the pipeline as a shirt. Developments and release dates to follow!

[EDIT: The official shirt released today: Find it here at WeLoveFine.com]
[EDIT II: The Loki counterpart to this design process post and shirt released here!]

Thor-ough Research
This one went through a research phase before starting. I knew I wanted to work in traditional Norse and Scandinavian art styles so I took a trip to the library. The Cerritos Library had a reference section with some really amazing books on Vikings and the Poetic Edda, an old Norse mythological poem.

I used this nifty site that can turn letters into runes, so the text incorporated into the linework is phonetically translatable to the alphabet.

The left side recounts the tale of the Midgard Snake, Jormungandr and the right side concerns the formation of the World Tree Yggradsil and the connection of the Nine Realms. Hence there are purposely 9 main spheres in the design.

Nested icons within the Serpent include (clockwise from the head) the Bifrost/Rainbow Bridge, Hiemdall, Odin, one of his Ravens, a Viking ship, the Destroyer armor, Loki, and Odin's horse Slepnir.

Around the hammer Mjolnir are the famous words in runes:

"Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, 

shall possess the power of Thor."

Here are some process pictures of a very limited edition screenprint I made for Long Beach Comic Expo last weekend. It was the fast one-day show but a great turnout. Great to meet a whole bunch of people as well see some familiar faces around this convention season. Much like the Realms, I only made 9 of these to release into the world. Fly my pretties~

Drying time

[Read More] for process pics :

PROBE: The Movie

Mad about Cows

A limited edition print for a film short: PROBE. A comedic sci-fi short about a man who has a terrible day on Earth-- then wakes up, abducted by aliens to join an eclectic host of specimens (besides the herd of disgruntled cows). Having had enough, he fights back with wrath and rage-- a cave woman joins in along the way~

Read more about it and the project page here, and act fast-- less than 9 days remain to get this print as part of the fundraising campaign.

MARY CYBRIWSKY, FRANKIE LINDQUIST, JONATHAN STEWART andKENT KUBENA are working with director CHAD KOCH to produce PROBE and help bring his vision to life. The film is being shot by cinematographer BEN PEYSER on the all new RED EPIC and stars actors ETHAN KEOGH and NYKKY IKALINA. 

Gnomenclature

Who keeps stealing my socks?

It's a Threadless submission-- it's been a while!
Browsing through some of my books for some inspiration, I happened upon one volume that is an aggregation of amazing creativity, diversity, and business savvy: this little number~

So this design is take on the term "nomenclature" (which during some 'market research', I found about 23% of people did not know the definition of). And so:

no·men·cla·ture/ˈnōmənˌklāCHər/

Noun:

The devising or choosing of names for things, esp. in a science or other discipline. The body or system of such names in a particular field: "the nomenclature of chemical compounds".

There you have it...vote and comment, raise this little guy high won't you please~? :]

Paper Pilgrim & Ms Flowers

Making the Pilgrimage

These are some shirts that will hopefully be hosted by MightyFine~ Ever expanding as they are, they have been holding some design contests as of late and I decided to participate. The theme? Scott Pilgrim!

As well as scouring for iconic moments/images in the comics, I watched the movie several times in a row (w/ multiple commentary tracks) for both inspiration and company during the drawing process. Many plates of garlic bread were had as well.... now I am fat. :P

My two cents in designs subs totaled three:

Guys and Dolls

This was my take on the many t-shirts and clothes that Scott goes through during his journey. There were a ton more, but I picked out some of my favorites like his 'X' logo'd jacket, silly hat, and pixel skull shirt.
Other accessories include his Power of Love sword, 1-UP, and of course, garlic bread.

 Ramona Fire Flowers

She's the most fiery type of power-up! A visual pun of her name and the highest achievement in 8-bits in the original Super Mario Bros. I did two versions since I couldn't decide which. The first one is a 'spent' question block if doesn't look familiar~

Vote for one, both, or all of them at WeLoveFine.com between 4/9/12 5/1/12! 
The final judges include the creator Bryan Lee O'Malley but the more that vote, the better the outcome.

To vote:
for "Paper Pilgrim" press the Directional Pad!
for "Ramona Flower Box" press A!
for "Ms Flowers" press B !


If you're looking at this on mobile, click on one of these:  vote!  vote!   vote! won'tcha please~
Sign-up takes just about half a minute (depending on typing speed~)

Darth Atlas

Anakin Shrugged

The mighty Sith Lord bears the burden of the second Death Star-- and his destiny too in DARTH ATLAS.
I wanted to play with shapes that are so recognizable to the fanboy eye and draw a string of circles and symbols. I did a bit of searching to find the right amount of struggle and strength for this mash-up of Anakin and Antiquity.

The Lucasfilm licensed shirt is ready for wearing HERE. See other similar designs on this blog with this here fancy tag: "Star Wars"

The process video below, with brooding & beaty music provided by Digitalcasm:

You might also spy a peek at my action figure collection which I have solely for.. academic purposes.


After the set of Star Wars universe humor tees, there's some more character specific designs in the works. Several to do and so little time... I shall double my efforts~

[Also many cheers to the MightyFine crew for a wonderful WonderCon 2012--
Their booth was fantastic, their giant cool bags everywhere, and the shirts they let me show off at my booth were a total hit! ]

Death Piñata

"...One in a Million."

This design is likely my personal fav for this humor set of tee designs for MightyFine. Avaiable HERE!
There were some initial technical glitches getting this up to par but hey, the Death Star wasn't built in a day...

BTW, how is a blast shield supposed to be practically helpful in any way except Jedi training and festival games?

Wonder-ing where to find these in person?

It's that time of year again--

And this time it will not be San Francisco but at the nearer Anaheim Convention Center. MightyFine themselves ("WeLoveFine.com" Booth #112) and I (Artist Alley: AA241) will be there with some of these shirts in tow.

I'll also have new Sunless Circus character pins (along with button machine and Ardee Fortune Teller!) and my Nouveau Robotica series of prints at my table too.
It's a pretty large space (that's less than half the floorplan) but you can find me near the "Bone Yard". Sounds ominous~
Hope to see folks there!

-ck