Dave Dorman Cover Art Graces New STAR WARS: COMICS Book by Abrams Publishing

Dear Friends,

Since Robot6 announced this today, it’s safe for me to share the news. My artwork graces the cover of the new STAR WARS: COMICS book by Abrams Publishing. Additionally, the Limited Edition version of this amazing book will include a selection of signature pages by your favorite artists, including me!  If you’re coming to Wizard World Chicago today, tomorrow or Sunday, do stop by my Table #3850 in Artist’s Alley & say hello!

To order the new STAR WARS: COMICS book, please click here: http://amzn.to/nIG9aZ

A special thanks to all of the fans over the years who were kind enough to vote me #1 Star Wars Artist of All Time. It is an enormous honor and I love meeting the fans from all over the world at every Star Wars Celebration event. I will be exhibiting at Star Wars Celebration VI next year in Orlando, so I hope to meet many of you in person there.

Here’s the cover artwork so you can see it:

Dave Dorman Cover on STAR WARS: COMICS book by Abrams Publishing

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

 

Dave Dorman Announcement: FINAL CHAPTER IN CRIMSON EMPIRE is a GO!

Dear Friends,

For some of you, the moment you’ve been patiently awaiting has arrived – I will be doing CRIMSON EMPIRE for Dark Horse, finishing out the series, with 6 covers. I discovered this at Star Wars Celebration 5, as I was surprised by “Pith Lord” Randy Stradley, who sneaked up on me (literally) and surprised me with this wonderful news. I can’t tell you how eager I am to do this project. I’ve been asked about finishing Crimson Empire thousands of times, and I’m so glad I finally have good news to share.

Before I forget, big news: I’m on CNN.com right now. Here’s the link: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-482375

My friend Josh Estrin (who wrote the CNN piece) runs Celebbuzz (smack-free interviews with celebs) and I like his stance, as there’s just too much negativity in this world and he keeps his interviews devoid of it. Check him out. He also writes for Examiner.com.

In other PR news, Sirius Satellite Radio had a channel dedicated solely to Star Wars Celebration 5 for 4 days. I believe it was Channel 180. I was interviewed on Saturday morning, but I didn’t get to hear it, so if anyone has a link or feedback for me on the interview, I’d love to hear it.

I want to thank Chris Spice and his crew for lending me some muscle in setting up my booth this year. They are the best people and fellow 501st members (and Chris runs a certain Web site…). I also thank all of you who purchased prints from me this year at Star Wars Celebration, as well as prelims.

One of my customer couples soon became  my wife’s & my closest friends – funny how you just click with certain people that way.  So for Gary & Rhonda Price, I thank you for ALL that you did for us over the 5 days, which was a LOT. For those of you with product, please let me connect you with Gary, who is very involved in the Make-a-Wish Foundation in Hollywood, FL. It’s a worthwhile cause and I support it as well and will be sending plenty of product to Gary.

I thank all of the 501st members from all over the world who signed my personal print from Star Wars Celebration 5, which I will hang with my other 2 signed prints.  I really treasure those.

I thank The Collector for all that he did to support me and promote me at the show, and my old Pensacola friend  Pat Augustine, whom I hadn’t seen in way too many years. It was so good to catch up. He brought me the fan comics he & I used to create & Xerox over at the Pensacola newspaper (one of our friends’ dads was an editor there at the time), so he really saw my evolution in my work up close and personal. If anyone wants to see this work, I can scan it in & post it on my blog. Let me know if  you want to see it.

Before I forget, please be sure to post reviews of my new book “ROLLING THUNDER: THE ART OF DAVE DORMAN” on Amazon.com. That really helps me out a lot, and I appreciate it. The books should be available in retail outlets soon, or you can order them directly through me for $100 and I will include a full-page sketch on the inside cover of the book.

Okay, I’m heading back to Chicago soon, but I wanted to check in and fill you all in on all of the news. I will post pictures from my personal photos of SWC5 on this blog this week as well.

Thanks for reading,

Dave.

The Pensacola Film Festival Painting I Did

Dear Friends,

Many of you probably recall that I lived in  Shalimar, Florida for 25+ years, which is sort of in between Destin, Florida and Pensacola, Florida. Shalimar is almost like of a suburb of Fort Walton Beach.  It was the only “home” I’ve ever known for that length of time, growing up as a military kid. As you can imagine, I am watching the oil spill situation with a heavy heart, as those sugar beaches — literally bright white, powdery sand–are about to be hit by the ugliness of the oil spill.

My friend Tom Roush started the Pensacola TV and Film Festival, along with the help of Pensacola’s former film commissioner and a great supporter of the arts, Denise Daughtry. (A special thanks to the 501st Garrison down there for ushering me into the film festival that year…) For Tom and Denise, I created this piece, which they used as their promo poster a few years back. This shows the real color of the water on the “Emerald Coast,” which is how it gets its name.  Again, this is a rarely-seen look at some art that I created that didn’t really get released beyond our local film festival. It will be in my new book, “Rolling Thunder: The Art of Dave Dorman” (IDW Publishing/Desperado Publishing) as well. You can pre-order my new book here:http://www.amazon.com/Rolling-Thunder-Art-Dave-Dorman/dp/1600108229

Let me know what you think of this piece. For those who have often suggested/insisted  my wife Denise was the inspiration for this piece (Steve Baker), yes, it’s true.

Pensacola TV and Film Festival Poster by Dave Dorman

For the Buckaroo Banzai fans reading this, I will be doing some more Buckaroo Banzai work in the next few months, and I will keep you posted on that. I will have my original Buckaroo Banzai paintings with me this weekend at HeroesCon in Charlotte, NC.

Thanks for reading & please pray for the animals, beaches, people & their livelihoods on the coastal region,

Dave.

Two Paintings from the Private Collection of Dave Dorman

Dear Friends,

While I, like many artists,  feel an attachment to every piece of art that I do, there are two signature pieces that have stayed with me over the years because of their personal meaning. As some of you may know, I lost my mother to breast cancer many years ago. The painting I did at her request, so that she had “something nice to hang in the living room,” remains a personal favorite. It is my interpretation of Meryl Streep as “The French Lieutenant’s Woman.” Mom really loved that painting, which now hangs in my sister Nancy Thurmond’s dining room in Alexandria, LA.  The Steampunk community often requests it, so here it is:

Dave Dorman's Interpretation of French Lieutenant's Woman

Many of my wife’s friends have requested prints of this because the subject matter is interior design friendly, and they like the textural quality of the piece.  I offer giclees of this piece, so if this piece is on your “must have” list, let Denise know at denise@writebrainmedia.com and she’ll get you a size and a cost.

This next piece was a surprise gift for my wife Denise on our wedding day, August 9, 2003. She was beyond excited and so surprised, so for once, one of my surprises really paid off. I did this painting of the two of us, which now sits on the piano in our living room. My longtime friend “Uncle Al” Caplan of InkWorks! was kind enough to offer to print these for me on a gang run with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” chromium cards. Only 250 were made, and we gave them out as wedding remembrances to our guests.  My old friend, “The Collector” got wind of the cards and was soon hot on the trail. The Collector now has over 17,000 autographed cards, which must be some sort of a record, no? Naturally, we made sure he had one of these. Both Denise and I signed it for him.

Denise & Dave Dorman Wedding Trading Card

There will be more pieces from my private collection in the new book, “Rolling Thunder: The Art of Dave Dorman,“ so if you are interested in them, be sure to order the book from IDW Publishing’s imprint Desperado Publishing, or pick one up at San Diego Comic-Con International if you’re attending. I’ll have my typical end cap booth there, under the “Rolling Thunder” banner, if you’re looking me up in the show booklet. I don’t know the booth number yet, but as soon as I do, I’ll post it here.

As many of you know, I’ll be in Charlotte, NC this forthcoming weekend for one of the best shows for comics, HeroesCon. If you want me to bring a specific painting, preliminary or piece of art, please let me know before I start packing.  Many of you have asked if I’m doing sketches at the show. I am, and they are $100 each.  As always, autographs are free.

Thanks for reading,

Dave.

Dave Dorman Updates: May the Fourth Be With You

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all took advantage of FREE COMIC BOOK DAY this past weekend. I took my 5-year-old son to a comic book store in Geneva, Illinois where he excitedly picked up  Iron Man and Transformers comics – I picked up the latest B.P.R.D. comic, which never disappoints.

I don’t have a lot of news to report, except to say that I have completed the 7-page comic for Magic: The Gathering’s online sequential art series, and I am hard at work on some art for publisher Howard Feltman.  I am also working on the graphic novel project for SoGoPro, still in its early stages.

This past weekend, my wife and I finalized copy on the new book from IDW/Desperado Publishing on my art career, “Rolling Thunder: The Art of Dave Dorman.” It was a lot of work, but a labor of love. I hope you all enjoy seeing the work in my private collection, much of which has never before been seen by the public. This book is about as “insider” as it gets. You can pre-order it Amazon via this link: http://www.amazon.com/Rolling-Thunder-Art-Dave-Dorman/dp/1600106730/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272921491&sr=8

For those of you who didn’t know my background before reading this new book, much of my art will begin to make sense in a new way like  it never has before.

As for our new “Wednesday is Comic Book Day” podcast, we have 3 episodes “in the can,” according to producer Michael Mennenga. Summer Brooks is hard at work pulling together the special Web site just for the podcast, which will be available as a free download via iTunes. If anyone has questions or comments about our podcast, or guest suggestions, please call the podcast hotline at 206.350.6326 or email my wife at denise@writebrainmedia.com.

I offer up a special thanks to fan, attorney Mickey K. Thompson, who created a FaceBook page “Fans of Dave Dorman Art.” I really appreciate his kindness. I also appreciate the kindnesses shown to me by attorney Zane Zielinski and Kalamazoo, Michigan comic book store owner Tom Fleming. It was great to reconnect with these guys again at C2E2. Tom ended up buying an iconic piece from me, and if I can’t own it, I’m glad it’s owned by someone who really loves it as much as I do.

As always, thank you for reading. Your interest in my work is what keeps me going.

May the Fourth Be With You…

Dave.

P.S. Follow me on Twitter: @DaveDorman, friend me on FaceBook, link with me on LinkedIn, or join Fans of Dave Dorman Art on FaceBook.