My Friend Clydene Nee Needs Your Help

Dear Friends,

I call Clydene Nee “The Patron Saint of Artists.” She has helped so many artists over the years–myself included–at Artists Alley in San Diego Comic Con to have a very public presence and launch their careers. A modest but accomplished talent who always preferred to remain behind the scenes, she has never asked for anything in return. Her satisfaction was always derived from selflessly help others. Today I am asking on her behalf. Clydene needs a new kidney and is undergoing dialysis. Unfortunately, the medical powers that be, who admit she MUST have a new kidney to survive, don’t deem it enough of a must to put her high on the donor list. As you can imagine, her medical bills are ratcheting up. Artist Mark Brooks and his wife took the initiative to set up an online fundraiser for Clydene, and the artist community cannot thank them enough. Here is a link so you might help her, too: http://www.gofundme.com/67bolc

Clydene Nee Fundraiser to help with her medical bills

In other news, my friend Joel Meadows let me know that Tripwire Magazine now has an iPad app available, so I’ve downloaded it and I think it’s great, so here’s a link to that for you:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/tripwire-magazine-comics%20film/id717140470?mt=8&ls=1

For those of you with iPhones or iPads, my writer friends Martin Brennan and Michael B. Jackson (of video game Hitman Absolution fame) have a horror fantasy comic called 13 COINS with Simon Bisley’s mind-blowing 3D covers and interior art, so you might want to check that out. It’s available via an app in the iTunes store for just 99 cents. Martin Brennan will be here in Chicago for C2E2, so I’ll be happy to connect him with you if you’re attending the show the end of April. Here’s a link to it: 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/13-coins-comic/id710444886?mt=8

In other news, I’ll be in Pensacola the end of February for PensaCon. Check out their guest list and you’ll see what this is a great show. I’m excited to go, since I haven’t been back there since we moved to Chicago in 2005, so it will be great to reconnect with longtime friends like author Del Stone Jr. , Mike Suchcicki, attorney Bruce McDonald, blogger Kelly Henry Keathley, author Alessandra Torre, Dave and Denise Daughtry, Tom Roush, Kris Lagerloef, Jason Kennedy, Joy and Ron Todd, the Shalimar Pointe friends and many more.

As always, I thank you for reading. Remember Clydene.

Dave.

 

Dave Dorman Star Wars Celebration VI – 30 Prints Still Available and More News

Dear Friends,

Through an agreement with Lucasfilm, I am able to sell my remaining unsold prints from SWCVI. I have approximately 30 prints available and I am happy to announce I can now offer them to those who could not attend the show in person.

Here is the order link:

http://www.davedorman.com/swc6print.shtml

Additionally, I wanted to update everyone that I will be attending Cincinnati Comic Expo in less than two weeks – from September 22-23. I want to shout out a special thanks to our friend Kevin Dugan, who made us aware of this convention. The headline to this story is that Stephen Bissette and I will reunite for the very first time since our Eisner and Bram Stoker Award-winning book, “ALIENS: TRIBES.”Stephen and I will do a panel on that book, which was revolutionary for graphic novel publishing, and still holds up today.

ALIENS: TRIBES by Stephen Bissette and Dave Dorman

Additionally, Stephen Bissette was my classmate and fellow “Kubie” at The Joe Kubert School of Comic and Graphic Art, so he and I will do a panel on our fond remembrances and appreciation of Joe Kubert. Here is the tribute art that Neal Adams did of Joe Kubert’s graduates – I was honored to be in the piece, and Stephen Bissette stands beside me. Jan Duursema and Tom Mandrake were also in our class.

Dave Dorman, Top Left, Next to Stephen Bissette in Neal Adams Tribute to Joe Kubert

I was saddened to see a lot of “trolls” disrespecting Joe Kubert, his students, and his school on Stephen’s blog, and we will address those controversial comments as well. I can assure you that Joe Kubert always thought of his students first, as was evidenced when he cut me loose during my first portfolio review; Joe felt that I had “graduated” in terms of what I could learn there. I wanted to learn to paint covers, and since I attended during their second year of operation, they weren’t set up to teach me color work. Joe could have continued to collect tuition from me, but Joe Kubert put me and my career needs first, ahead of the much-needed tuition in the early days. (I also want to mention that Stephen Bissette is also reuniting with his “Swamp Thing” collaborators for the first time during a panel at Cincinnati Comic Expo, so attendees may want to see that as well).

In other news, I’m assistant coaching my young son’s flag football team, and that has been a lot of fun. Many of you know that football was my sport at Friendly, MD high school in the late ’70s; I played defensive end in my junior year on the team that won the state championship, the first in our history. Those were heady times, fondly remembered.

On October 6th at 2 p.m., I will be signing at the Barnes & Noble in West Dundee, IL, helping the patrons celebrate STAR WARS DAY. If you live in the Chicagoland/Northern Illinois area, I hope you can come out and join us.

On October 26 – 28, I will be exhibiting at Geek Media Expo in Franklin, Tennessee and I hope that those of you who live in the area can come out and see me. While you’re there, be sure to check out my friend Leonardo Ramirez’ steampunk children’s book, “JUPITER CHRONICLES.”  Joining us will be Michael Koske, my wife Denise’s client, who is a “walker” or zombie on AMC TV’s WALKING DEAD series. Michael is in the brotherhood we know as the 501st, and we look forward to seeing him again after Star Wars Celebration VI.

That’s all the news for today. I thank you for your time, interest and support.

Dave.

Dave Dorman New Comic Book Covers for Gestalt Comics’ STALAG-X

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to announce I’ll be doing the comic book cover art for a new sci-fi graphic novel project for Australia’s largest comic book publisher, Gestalt Comics, in partnership with two writers: NY Times Bestselling Author Kevin J. Anderson and Xena: Warrior Princess co-producer and scriptwriter Steven L. Sears. I’ve done a lot of cover art over the years for books Kevin has written, including the Young Jedi Knight series and his book Dogged Persistence. Steven and I are both former Floridians and military brats.

Here is how Kevin J. Anderson describes the STALAG-X story:

“STALAG-X is the gritty story of human soldiers trying to survive in an alien concentration camp, and one mysterious prisoner who calls himself “Joe Human.” He cannot allow the vicious aliens to win . . . but because of his own dark past, he doesn’t dare allow himself to be rescued either.”

The release date hasn’t been announced yet, but we are looking at late Fall 2012 for the first issue. I will keep you posted here, and for the writing side, follow http://kjablog.com for Kevin J. Anderson’s posts.

As always, thanks for reading!

Dave.

Happy Holidays from Dave Dorman & Some Cool Gifts to Share

Dear Friends,

If your household is like mine, Lucasfilm, Amazon and Apple retailers got the majority of your greenbacks this year. Santa was good to me this year and here’s a highlight of my favorite gifts and holiday cards:

I got The Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic, by Chronicle Books, a fine art book that also has lengthy descriptions on the creation of the game itself, not just the preproduction artwork. My son and I have been playing and are on Level 15 so far. It’s a wonderful game.

Me with my new Star Wars: The Old Republic art book

I also received Genius Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth, by IDW Publishing, which is the best book I’ve received all year. It is a beautifully made compilation of Toth’s early formative years as an artist, and it’s the first of three books to cover Toth’s career. It’s an exciting start to the series and I’m really looking forward to the subsequent volumes. The production on this hardcover book was just amazing and the material that the authors dug through and found to represent in this book was truly astounding, covering Toth’s formative work, both in comics and illustration. I highly recommend it. If you are an Alex Toth fan, you should also pick up my friend John Hitchcock’s book, which chronicles his correspondence and friendship with Toth in the later years of his life. It’s a real treasure. John is a master storyteller and if you’re ever lucky enough to hang out with him, you will see what I mean by that.

My Favorite Book in 2011: The Life and Art of Alex Toth

I was also happy to receive this Christmas card, postcard and trading card from our friend Kevin-Kim, TK-1023 in the German Garrison of the 501st. That was a nice surprise. (My son is in his new Star Wars pajamas from Santa).

My Gifts from 501st German Garrison Kevin-Kim, TK-1023

In other news, we’ve been working hard on updating my Facebook fan page. With the rate at which I’m getting friend requests on Facebook, I will have to split my time between my Facebook Fan Page and my Facebook personal page as I fear I will run out of spaces to add friends on my personal page. I do plan to maintain both, but please “Like” my Facebook Fan Page; we are working hard to get that page up to speed this year with decent graphics, contests, fan exclusives and more. We will be doing a Fan Page for my own creator-owned series The Wasted Lands and I will announce that here shortly.

In other news, I am very pleased with the traction my artist friend Dave DeVries is getting with his own creator-owned concept, The Monster Engine. His site went viral again this month overseas and people all over Asia and Europe are discovering him. This project is really deserving of a TV series, a movie and a videogame and I hope we see it happen in 2012.

Thanks, as always, for reading my post. I’m @DaveDorman on Twitter and I do respond to direct Tweets, and I’m an open networker on LinkedIn, so please connect with me there as well. I am happy to review your products online (tech, movie, books, comics, music, nerd and geek products are my sweet spot) and to do so, please write to WriteBrain Media, Attn: Denise Dorman, P.O. Box 417, Carpentersville, IL 60110 and put “Dave Dorman Blog Review” in the subject. If you need marketing, social media or PR advice, follow Denise @writebrainmedia on Twitter or “Like” her fan page at Facebook.com/WriteBrainMedia.

Dave.

Which Comics Dave Dorman Bought On Comic Book Wednesday

Dear Friends,

As I write this, the TV is confirming the rumored death of Qaddafi and showing the graphic Al Jazeera footage. I congratulate the Libyan freedom fighters on this new chapter in their lives.

I feel it’s my personal responsibility as a comic book artist to help raise awareness for other amazing talent in the industry. Today I want to make you aware of Leinil Yu if you are not already. I bought  the comic “SUPERIOR” by Mark Millar and Leinil Yu yesterday (see image below) during my weekly trek to Dreamland Comics in Schaumburg, IL:

LEINIL YU ART ON COVER OF SUPERIOR COMIC

In my opinion as an artist and also an art director, I find Leinil Yu  to be one of the best comic book artists working in the industry today. His style is dynamic, he’s a great visual storyteller, and he renders every image with so much style. Other pieces he’s worked on (according to the back cover) include Secret Invasion, New Avengers and Superman: Birthright. I hope you check out his work and it brings you as much joy as it does me.

LEINIL YU COMIC - BACK SIDE

In other news, my good friend Charlie Athanas called me last night and invited me to join him for a really fun electronica concert tomorrow night – Amon Tobin – and I’m really looking forward to it. Here’s a link to Amon Tobin’s concert sampling, to give you a feel for his work: http://bit.ly/roDni4 

Below is an image from last Monday night during the fund-raiser for Chicago’s best horror theater group, WildClaw Theater, which was a lot of fun.

Charlie Athanas (artist), Doug Klauba (artist), Me, John Terendy (videographer)

And here’s a nice mini-review of my book “ROLLING THUNDER: THE ART OF DAVE DORMAN” (IDW Publishing/Desperado Publishing) by Alina Bradford: http://bit.ly/pmUNk6

If any of you reading has a young child, I recommend checking out the movie “Real Steel” with Hugh Jackman. I took my 6 year old this past weekend and we both really enjoyed it. Next up, we’re looking forward to getting the Captain America movie, coming out soon on DVD, to add to our collection because we both loved it in the theater.

Reminder: My Podcast through Michael Mennenga and Babylon 5 actor/producer Jeffrey Willerth’s Farpoint Media is http://itscomicbookday.com (there are a lot more episodes, but I’m waiting for the producer to catch up on edits) – it’s free on iTunes.

On Facebook, I’m Facebook.com/davedormanartist and on LinkedIn I’m an open networker: linkedin.com/in/thedavedorman

On Twitter I’m @DaveDorman

As always, I thank you for reading!

DAVE.

Dave Dorman Upcoming Convention Appearances & Autograph Signings

Dear Friends,

Here’s a quick look at my upcoming appearances for the next couple of months. I am embedding links to the shows for your convenience.

AUGUST:

8/12 – 8/13 —Wizard World – Chicago/Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont

SEPTEMBER:

9/24-9/25–Detroit Fan Fare

OCTOBER:

10/8 – 10/9–Star Wars Fan Days in Dallas

10/14 – 10/16 — SteamCon in Seattle

A SPECIAL THANKS:

I want to thank everyone who came by to see me at my San Diego Comic-Con Booth 4500 this year! A special thanks to our friends the Watson family from Batavia, IL for joining us this year, to the Lindgren family in Rancho Santa Fe and the Crane family in Riverside for showing us Canyon Lake…!

Dave Dorman at SDCC 2011: Photo by Debbie M. Lindgren

 

NEWS:

I discovered I’m in Morgan Spurlock’s new book Comic-Con IV: A Fan’s Hope (see me featured on Page 99) and I hope to make it into his movie, but we’ll see. They filmed my interview last year. My art is featured in Andrew Gaska’s new Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes by Archaia and I have a couple of other book surprises coming up that I cannot share yet…

This year Steven Spielberg was given an Inkpot Award at San Diego Comic-Con, so now he’s in an elite group with me (ha!). I won my last year, so this may be the one and only time in my life that I ever one-up Steven Spielberg.

My friend Andrew Charon of Acme Digital Laboratories in Minneapolis, a Webby  award-winning developer who did YearbookYourself.com and who just launched the really cool Jewish Sudoku game Judoku as an Apple iPad app, is developing my iPhone/iPad app of art staring in August, so be watching for that in the coming months. Andrew is a longtime cohort of my wife’s and together they have done some really cool and award-winning multimedia and video projects.

I have a few of my first-ever sketchbooks remaining from my one-and-only 250 print run, so if anyone wants to place an order, they are $10 plus $5 shipping and you can email me at dormanart@yahoo.com or Paypal me at dormanart@yahoo.com. A special thanks to my wife and publicist Denise Dorman of WriteBrain Media, who keeps all of these plates spinning on the cue sticks.

As always, I thank you for your support and interest in my work. Lots of fun and exciting stuff coming up this fall…stay tuned!

Dave.

Me on SOCIAL MEDIA:

Follow me on Twitter: @DaveDorman and my hashtag is #DaveDorman

Follow me on Facebook.com/DaveDorman

Connect with me on Linkedin.com/in/thedavedorman

To schedule me for media interviews, please contact my wife and publicist denise@writebrainmedia.com | facebook.com/writebrainmedia or Twitter.com/writebrainmedia

Dave Dorman Interview with Vinnie Penn on WELI in New Haven, CT

Dear Friends,

I keep forgetting to upload this to share with you, so here it finally is…my Clear Channel station radio interview with radio personality and author Vinnie Penn of WELI in New Haven, CT. If you think his name sounds familiar, that’s because I did the cover for his DJ Zom-B book cover (referenced in a previous blog where I showed you the progressives of the art), or it may be because he’s often on Howard Stern’s show. I had a total blast painting his zombie horror art cover and we’re already talking about a future collaboration. Vinnie’s taking zombies into a fun new direction. Be sure to follow him on Twitter if you’re there – he’s @VinniePenn. (I’m @DaveDorman and my hashtag is #DaveDorman.).

One point I’d like to make about these interviews is that we get into a discussion about the importance of the book cover art, and the importance of the illustrator (in this case, me) REALLY understanding the material before creating the cover art. I think there’s nothing more frustrating to a fan than to read a book and say to themselves, “Self, this has nothing to do with the cover!”

Here are the links to my radio interview. Let me know what you think.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3089239/041811%20710%20%20Dave%20Dorman%20part%201-1.mp3

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3089239/041911%20710%20%20Dave%20Dorman%20part%202-1.mp3

Thanks for taking the time to listen!

If you enjoy hearing about the creative process or hearing interviews with artists, writers, directors, producers, actors, etc., check out my podcast, It’s Comic Book Day, with producer Michael Mennenga of Farpoint Media on iTunes. Here’s the link to the podcast: 

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/its-comic-book-day/id373866909

A special thanks to Walter Mulso of Cougar Media Music in Genoa, IL who created our show’s intro/outro music for us.

Thank you, as always, for your time and support of my career.

DAVE

Buy my new career retrospective art book from IDW Publishing/Desperado Publishing for Grads and Father’s Day Gifts: http://amzn.to/li3Rrs

| Twitter.com/DaveDorman | LinkedIn.com/in/thedavedorman | Facebook.com/DaveDorman | Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Dorman | PlanetIllogica.com/DaveDorman | AboutMe.com/DaveDorman | Publicist: denise@writebrainmedia.com |

Dave Dorman Progressive ZOMBIE ART

 

http://www.VinniePenn.net

Dear Friends,

Sorry it’s been a while, but I’ve been very busy painting. Yes, I’m working on the Dark Horse Star Wars Crimson Empire cover art, plus a ‘Droid Hunt piece for the 501st Midwest Garrison, plus I recently completed this piece below, including the logo design.

Project Description: This is book cover art for my friend, New Haven, CT Clear Channel deejay/author Vinnie Penn, who wrote a really fun zombie tale that takes place in Connecticut, my mother’s home state.

Art Direction: Denise Dorman, WriteBrain Media

Logo Design: Dave Dorman

Here are my art progressives for your perusal and comments:

My Digital Prelim Rough with Comp Colors

 

Dave Dorman Pencil Art for DJZom-B

My 1st Layer of Underpainting

2nd Layer of Underpainting for DJ Zom-B Book Cover

Details Are Becoming More Defined

 

Me, Happy With the Art So Far…

More Detailing, Painting Nearly Done

Vinnie Penn Asked Me to Do a Marvel-Like Logo Design

Final Cover Art with Logo for DJZom-B

Thanks for checking out my art, and as always, for being supportive of my career. Let me know what you think. Also, a special thanks to author F. Paul Wilson for his great lecture the other night at the Cook Memorial Library in Libertyville, IL. Denise & I really enjoyed seeing you again.

DAVE

Follow me on Twitter: @DaveDorman

Dave Dorman Paints Frank Frazetta Tribute in this Step-By-Step Post

Hi there.

I hope everyone had a great holiday season this year. Freaky current events connection alert: I’ve been on that Sugar Loaf ski lift that snapped recently, with one of my best friends, Phil Burnett, whom you will read about a lot in my new art book. That news story shook me up a little. Like me, Phil is a military brat, and the main protagonist in my Wasted Lands series, Thomas, is named after Phil’s son, whom we all lost way too soon. Thomas is forever in my thoughts and I immortalized him in my story.

Quick, quirky Phil Burnett story: Phil lived in Iran for a time as a military brat, and during Star Wars Celebration 3, an Iranian TV station interviewed me on the floor while Phil was there working in my booth. Imagine their surprise to see Phil, my blond, light-eyed Caucasian friend translating for me!

So Christmas this year was really wonderful at our house despite my father-in-law being hospitalized. Thanks to all who kept him in your prayers and on your prayer lists. My wife spoiled me via Amazon this year. Here’s my fulfilled wish list: Donato Giancola’s Middle Earth, Drew Struzan’s new collection, Stephen King’s The Little Sisters of Eluria, illustrated by Michael Whelan and the book of Hammer Movie Posters. I bought three F. Paul Wilson books for my wife, which I will also enjoy just as much. My writing partner, award-winning author Del Stone Jr. was also very generous to us and if he’s reading this, his gifts are still coming. He bought me an amazing t-shirt commemorating Eglin Air Force Base, and a really cool night light for my son, which shines the planetary system on the ceiling at night. Jack is very impressed. A special thanks to Julie and Dean Feece (RPG Gift Cards) who had us over for Christmas dinner.

What was special to all of you this year? Did anyone receive my new book, ROLLING THUNDER: THE ART OF DAVE DORMAN, as a gift? If so, send me photos of you with my new book – I will post them here. Please take the time to review the book on Amazon – it makes a world of difference to me.

This past fall, I saw a call on Facebook for artists to contribute to a Frank Frazetta tribute show judged for entry. Judges include taste makers like Spectrum’s Arnie and Kathy Fenner, Brom and Simon Bisley. Since Frank Frazetta was one of my greatest art influences, I had to jump in. Below are the step-by-step images showing my progression of this painting, titled “Attack in the Snow.” Please let me know what you think.

Dave Dorman Pencil Rough of Frazetta Tribute Painting

Pencil Rough #3, More Refined

Dave Dorman Pencil Rough #4

My Color Palette

Laying Down the Background Paint

Adding Main Figures in Foreground

Adding More Detail to the Main Figures

More Detail Rendered, Nearly Completed

Final Image, Frank Frazetta Tribute Painting “Attack in the Snow”

Thanks, everyone, for checking out the progression of my art. I look forward to reading and responding to your comments. If any of you are on LinkedIn, Twitter (@DaveDorman) or Facebook, you can find me there and I’ll be happy to connect with you. Be sure to follow my wife, Denise Dorman, on Twitter, as she sometimes post things going on here that I’m in the thick of and don’t have time to post. She’s @WriteBrainMedia.

Have a great day and I’ll be back soon. The logistics of the holidays and visiting my father-in-law sort of got in the way of me posting a lot lately, but I’ll be better about it now that things have settled down somewhat. I want to thank those of you who wore Star Wars gear to celebrate the Star Wars Girl recently. That was right in the midst of the chaos here, so I didn’t post your pictures as I would have liked to in a timely manner. My apologies for that.

Take care, everyone,

Dave

 

My Thoughts on Thanksgiving Weekend

Dear Friends,

I have so much to be thankful for this year, I don’t know where to begin. I’m thankful for those closest to me–my wife, my son, my best friend Steve Smith, my friend Charlie Athanas, my in-laws who have helped me out tremendously this past year, Colin Pritchard of Rocket No. 9, Kevin Sandstrom at Blick Art Supply, the 501st, (especially Chris Spice of top-rated Star Wars site Sandtroopers.com) the great art directors and editors I’ve worked with this past year, and also for all of you who take an interest in my art and are the reason I keep doing what I do. I am thankful for my U.S. military family, for USACares.org and  for The Dennis Miller Radio Show who has been kind enough to have me on to share my projects and my military art passion project, Project 52.

I especially thank all of you who have purchased my new art career retrospective and memoir book, ROLLING THUNDER: THE ART OF DAVE DORMAN, by IDW Publishing/Desperado Publishing, either for yourselves, or for a loved one as a holiday gift. Even if the book wasn’t mine, I would enjoy 4.5 pounds of art in hardcover to peruse over my mulled cider during the holidays.

Today I wanted to share another blog with you, written by my friend and fellow 501st member David Syczylo. David is the Snowtrooper who posed for me for this year’s Star Wars Celebration painting. He did an excellent job of explaining the poses, not to mention providing us all with a brilliant display he has created of my Star Wars Celebration prints:

http://www.djsyczylo.net/chronicles/DormanHoth/DormanHoth.htm

I hope you enjoy David’s blog as much as I did about how the Star Wars Celebration piece came about. The best part of this project? I have been very fortunate to get to know David over the past 6 months and he is a special person to me and my wife. You will never meet a kinder or more giving person. He drove all of the way to my home in northern Illinois from Indianapolis just to pose for me, and refused to take even  gas money. That’s the kind of guy David is. Ask him about his film career when you meet him. He has great stories.

Thanks for reading. More to come. I just did a Captain Marvel this past weekend for the very first time in my career, but I have to check with an editor first to see when I can post it.

Be safe this holiday weekend,

Dave.

P.S. I finally got to see “Walking Dead.” I’m hooked. What do you all think of it? Any of you watching? If not, check it out – let’s compare notes. My friend and fellow judge in the December 6th Chicago 10-minute horror play international competition Death Scribe 2010, Jay Bonansinga, is writing the novelization of the series and he’s an excellent writer.