Last week I was invited to take part in the ForceCast Roundtable discussion about the Clone Wars TV show.  I am thrilled that they would invite me to be on the podcast, and I don’t want to screw it up, so I spend some time preparing for the show.  It’s pretty tough work.  I have to watch the episode 3 or 4 times, and then look at all of the characters involved and their history.  Then I have to watch any related episodes too.  It really is a lot of hard work. 

Watching the episodes of the Clone Wars in this way can be a lot of fun, but it can also lead to quite a bit of work.  In last night’s episode (season 04, episode 14) titled “A Friend in Need” the show re-introduced us to a group called “Death Watch”.  I enjoyed the episode, but I wanted to refresh my memory about this group.  That “required” me to re-watch the episodes from season 02 when we were first introduced to them (S02E12 “The Madnalore Plot”).

In this episode, Obi-Wan Kenobi  arrives on the Planet Mandolore to investigate rumors that the Duchess Satine is secretly building her own army to fight for the Separatist cause.  Satine explains to Obi-Wan that she is not involved, and as they are walking in the gardens, there is an explosion, and the symbol of Death Watch appears claiming responsibility.  An observer from the crowd flees the scene and Obi-Wan gives chase, but the man jumps to his death.

The leader of Death Watch is seen communicating with Count Dooku and expressing his concern of the Jedi interference.  Dooku tells him not to be concerned because the people will rebel against this outside involvement and will rally to support Death Watch.

Well, apparently, Count Dooku was correct.  In the top part of image below, you can see the man who ran from the scene of the bombing.  Note the woman to his left shocked by the scene.  Well, in last night’s episode, we see some of the members of Death Watch with their helmets off, and this woman from the crowd is with them, and is now sporting a scar.  So there’s more to her story.  How did she come to join this group?  Where did her scar come from? Or maybe, the animation studio simply reached into their library of characters and they just reused an old 3D model. 

ShadowBox Comics has been on my mind for a few years now.  I’ve written a few other articles laying the groundwork for this project, but it’s moving along a bit slower than I would like it to be.  So here’s the story.

I’ve been an exhibitor at comic book conventions for 3 years now, but I’ve never worked on a comic book.  I’m am so thrilled that I’ve been able to work with Lucasfilm and make new art for Star Wars, that I figured that comics would be the next big hurdle for me to conquer.  When I looked into what it would take to be a comic book artist, I was completely overwhelmed.  There are so many talented artists and writers out there I felt like I just couldn’t compete with them.  So I decided I would have to figure out a way to stand out in the crowd.

I’ve had a good response to the ShadowBoxes that I make, so I figure that I could try and apply that attention to a comic book reader.  Most digital comics are simple image viewers and don’t really take advantage of the device to show off the comic.  So I looked back at the traditional animation technique of using a Multiplane camera to create a multiplane comic on the iPad.  Check out the video below to see a sample.

You can see another video where I explain a bit more of the history of the multiplane camera and how I came to create ShadowBox Comics here, and a demo on the iPhone here.

 The iPad application launched right before the San Diego ComicCon in July of 2010 followed by the iPhone version in November.  So far it has been well received.  Like I said earlier, there are so many talented artists out there, perhaps I can now use ShadowBox Comics as a platform to launch other comic titles.  We’re working on a new site now with an online store and hope to start launching individual comic apps within the next few months.

 Today is one of those special number days, so I thought I would celebrate.  It’s November 11th, 2011, and I post this blog entry at 11:11AM, but that’s not all.  Today is Nigel Tufnel day. He was the lead guitarist of the (fictional) rock band Spinal Tap featured in the 1984 mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap. He was played by actor Christopher Guest.  Here’s a clip explaining one of their many advantages over other bands.

To help to celebrate this momentous occasion, I started to do an illustration of one of Nigel’s signature guitar solos with the amps cranked up to ELEVEN, but then I thought that everyone else would be doing that.  So I decided to go one better (because 11 is one better than 10).

As I mentioned earlier, Nigel Tufnel was portrayed by the actor Christopher Guest.  He also portrayed the character of Count Rugen in The Princess Bride (both Spinaltap and The Princess Bride were Rob Reiner films).  A unique feature of Count Rugen was that he had SIX fingers on his right hand.  Do you know what that means?  He had ELEVEN fingers!  Here’s a quick little Photoshop image just for fun!

I’ve read Batman, Spider-Man, and X-Men comics, but I never really got into Hard Core.  I don’t have any complete sets of comics from my childhood.  I didn’t go down to the comic shop, or put every comic in a protective sleeve with a cardboard back so that it would remain in MINT condition.  I read them, but I was a lot more interested in cartoons and Atari games than I was in comics.

I got an iPod Touch in November of 2008, and I started reading comics again.  I downloaded the iVerse Media app that is now called Comics+ and there I discovered Atomic Robo.  The hook was simple, smart-mouthed Adventuring Action Scientist Robot.  The first comic of the Six part series was free, and I’ve bought them all now, digitally.  I loved the way that the iPod touch application would adapt to the reading experience.  If I was holding it vertically, I could see the whole page, but rotating it into the horizontal position would take me panel by panel.

 The company Comixology has a patented “Guided View” technology that’s pretty awesome, but I had my library in Comics+ and I couldn’t transfer it to Comixology.  There in lies one of the many problems of digital comics.  I bought it, but I really didn’t “Get” anything.

I upgraded to the iPad2 and really like the larger screen and when I updated my app on the iPad, all my comics came right in, but the Comics+ app didn’t work the same as it did on the iPod Touch.  I wasn’t able to rotate the device and get a panel by panel shot.  The term “Pan and Scan” is an apt description of my experience.  For those who may not know that term, it was used to described the process of editing a Widescreen move down to fit on our Square TVs.  You that phrase at the beginning of  the VHS tape that said “…modified to fit your screen”?  I think I lost a few of you out there on that old tech.  ANYWAYS, I was not happy with the reading experience.  THEN, I started filling up my iPad and I deleted some comics, and now it looks like I can’t get them back.

I think that Marvel has found a solution for this.  You buy the comic, and it comes with a code that you can download the digital comic at no extra cost.  The publishers are even starting to layout the panels in the comics to work better with the iPad.  So, this has been my experience with getting back into comics.  Next up I’ll tell you more about how I would improve the digital comics by becoming my own publisher.

I found out yesterday that the month of November has been renamed to Movember.  Here’s some info from the Site Movember.com.  “During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces, in the US and around the world. With their Mo’s, these men raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men.”

There seems to be two different events for the same cause.  The “No-shave” camp is all about, well, not shaving your face, while the Movember team is all about cultivating the perfect moustache.   I thought it sounded like a good excuse to not shave for a bit and helps me feel a little more Winterly.

I’ve only grown out a beard a couple of times, so we’ll see how this goes.  Moustache season is officially opened.

To complete Duct Taped Avenger costume, we decided to make the helmet/mask.  I started with a grocery bag over my sons head, but I warned all of the other children that we DON’T put bags on our heads!  I put some tape around the eyes and nose to work to define the shape of the mask.  I drew the eye holes on it (added some pupils for fun), then cut out the eyes.

I added some vertical strips of tape to the nose to define the bridge and the brow line for the mask.  I used smaller pieces of tape and around the eyes and then wrapped the extra tape through the eye hole to make a clean edge.  Then I cut the tape and angled it on to block out the shape of the ear holes and the back of the helmet.

With the head covered with the blue tape, I cut out some strips of white to make the details for the “A”.

Then we added the “Wings” on the sides, a chin strap, and then outside for some photos in the full costume

Last a little video overview and seeing the shield in action.  In the video I talked about the costume being tacked together with “glue” and I meant to say tape.  ;P

Alright, it’s Halloween, and the Duct Taped Captain America costume is done.  I’ll put two more posts up about the process starting with the belt and the ammo pouch.  I wasn’t really going to do anything more than the armor, but I realized that it’s the details that help to sell a costume.  As I was working on these, my daughter pointed out that it was a type of Duct Tape Origami.

I thought it would work best to use the dimensions of the duct tape as the dimensions of the ammo pouch.  One strip wide for the sides, and 2 strips wide for the front and back.  I started by laying out the tape and making a sheet of duct tape material.

I did a bit of folding and experimenting so that I could make a template for the boxes.  You can see the outline on the poster board in the photo.   This double strip of tape would act as the front, back and the flap of the bag.  I laid out a piece of tape for the sides on my template, and put the double piece on top of it.  I then added another piece of tape to seal it all up.

I added a strip of tape along both horizontal strips of tape and then cut along the side to prepare to fold and secure the pouch.

It takes a bit of patience, but next is the folding and stuffing portions.  I used two grocery bags to fill the ammo pouch and help it keep it’s shape.  I then cut the detail on the flap and added a strip of tape to keep the flap down.

I took another strip of tape and doubled it over and made a loop on the back to secure it to an existing belt and added a couple of smaller strips to tie my Indiana Jones holster to the belt.

Next up we’ll show off the helmet.

I’m not a big fan of Halloween, but I do love costumes.  One of my key costuming resources is cardboard and Duct Tape.  So when my 13 year old son said that he wanted to be Captain America for Halloween, I started doing a little research.  I was very pleased to find instructions on making a FLYING Captain America shield out of… (wait for it)…. CARDBOARD AND DUCT TAPE!  While our first attempt at the shield wasn’t perfect, it looks pretty good AND it flies.  Here’s a LINK to the instructions and a video from the instructions showing the flying shield in action.

So with a Halloween party on Saturday, and the actual date on Monday, I really needed to get cracking on this costume.  I started by putting a garbage bag on the boy.  I folded it in half and cut a scoop for his head and arms.  Then I cut a second bag in half and made the sleeves for the armor.  Captain America’s costume IS red white and blue, so I figured I would use the white bag increase his mobility by not having to tape around his mid-section.

Then I just wrapped him up in tape.  Well, I had some good reference photos so I wasn’t wrapping randomly, but it wasn’t completely thought out either.

 Next, I took some craft foam and wrapped it in tape to make the shoulder armor and added the Red and Grey tape details.

Can I just say how much I love that there is colored Duct tape?  Simply fantastic!  Next, I took some red tape and cut a circle, and then used that as a guide to make a star out of the white tape and added some shoulder details.

 The last bit was taking two strips of the blue tape and sticking them together and cutting them to fit as the collar.  We carefully cut him out of the armor with a single cut down the back and will be able to tape him in when he gets dressed.  We added a few belts for details and are now on the hunt for some Brown duct tape to make belt pouches.  All and all, I would say that was a good 3 or 4 hours of fun.

The other thing that’s great about Duct Tape is that it helps to keep the other kids occupied while you work.  

It is time for the great big San Diego Comic Con.  Preview night is on Wednesday the 20th, and the show continues through Sunday.  Stop by and see me at the Wildstar Tempest booth.  We’ve taken over another block and are now located at Booth 4513-4613, so we should be hard to miss.

I’ll be doing some live sketches as well as having prints and posters for sale.  I have a small gallery of the art I’ll have at the show over on Facebook.  This is also where I’ll be uploading new images from the event, so stop and by and have a look.

This new shadow box commission is on it’s way to Australia.  I had a great time putting it together and right in the middle of it’s production I came up with an idea for a NEW ShadowBox. Perhaps I’ll unveil it soon…. and as always, am thankful and grateful that there are fans of my artwork out there.  You too can commission a shadow box or some other original art work from my online store.