A #ComicBook #Artist #Illustrator and #Marine Friend in Need: Clifford Van Meter

Dear Friends,

It’s time to rally the troops and help a fallen soldier and comic book artist friend of mine. I want to make you aware of Clifford Van Meter, a Marine friend in Michigan, who is also a comic book artist/writer and non-fiction writer, as well as a galleried wildlife artist. Clifford is losing his home and, as of Friday, has just lost his job due to his medical condition(s). Like me, he also suffers from Type II Diabetes. Clifford’s write-up below was posted before he lost his job. Denise is scrambling to help him find social services and VA help, but in the meantime, please consider giving any amount — even the smallest amount to you would mean the world to him — at this page: https://www.gofundme.com/arctostor

Here is Clifford Van Meter’s story: 

I’ve been an artist and illustrator for more than 30 years now. I’ve worked extensively on games like Battle-Tech, and GURPS, as well as a number of books and comics. I worked as a writer, artist, and production manager at Valiant comics in the ’90s, and as an artist and writer with Milestone and DC. I’ve also been a galleried wildlife artist. I have samples up on my Deviant Art Page — http://quicktiming.deviantart.com/gallery/.

These days, I live on what I make as a data technician, I was demoted from marketing manager and lost about 1/4 of my income there, I also do a few private sales and commissions. We live pretty simply, but right at the level of what I make. My wife works a factory job and we live in the house her grandfather built… the house she grew up in. The loss of our home is now inevitable.

Like many of you, I don’t have a contingency fund. Frankly, I need help, as soon as possible. Every penny will go toward keeping the bills paid and keeping my insurance in case I get laid off. Prescriptions have become an issue as well. If I lose my prescriptions I’ll be dead in a month.

So…I will be doing whatever I can to help my friend Clifford, and I hope you can help him, too.

My next major show will be IlluxCon in Reading, PA in October. I hope to see you there.

Thanks for reading!

Dave

Comic Book Artist Dave Dorman 2016 Appearances

Dear Friends,

Thank you for all who came to see me at San Diego Comic-Con and the other shows I’ve done this year. It means a lot to me. Here are the upcoming shows I’m doing, so we can connect if you’re in the area where I’ll be:

 

• August 19, 20, 21 – Wizard World, Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont, IL
• August 27, 28 – Lake Count-I-Con, Lake County Fairgrounds, Illinois
• September 17, 18 Creative Con, Marina Civic Center Panama City, FL
• October 1, 2016 (My birthday!) – Sci-Fi Family Day, Discovery World Museum, Milwaukee, WI
• October 2, 2016 – Dave Dorman Day Mathnasium, Whitefish Bay, WI
• October 6-9 – New York ComicCon, Javits Center, New York City,  NY
• November 5-6, 2016 – Midwest Comicon, Des Moines, IA

The other dates I haven’t listed are still available if anyone wishes to book me. If so, please contact denise@writebrainmedia.com for booking information.

Look! My New Dave Dorman Star Wars Cover

Dear Friends,

Dave Dorman Variant Marvel cover for “Vader Down” #1

Here’s the premiere of my variant cover for Marvel’s “Vader Down” #1. This book will be shipping in November. I will be showing how I painted this in his future blog posts over the next week, so watch for those here.

This original art will also be displayed at my appearance in Joliet, IL this weekend at Heroes Expo (https://www.facebook.com/events/363719340495946/). I hope you can come out & see me if you’re in Chicagoland. I will also be appearing at New York Comic Con in October.

Dave Dorman Interview with Sandtroopers.com at Star Wars Fan Days

Dear Friends,

My good friend Chris Spice runs Sandtroopers.com and he was kind enough to interview me this past weekend at Star Wars Fan Days in Dallas and then go through some of my art. The only correction is he mentions my site at the end, which is actually DaveDorman.com, not RollingThunder.com. Without further adieu, here’s that interview. I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1AyVuPt2mQ

SPOILER ALERT: I’m Finalizing Details on the Dave Dorman Exclusive New Online Art School

I hope to have more news to share shortly about my new Dave Dorman Exclusive – a new Online Art School  in six week segments for a small group of serious, dedicated art pros.  I’m planning to teach artists how to improve their composition style, how to art direct, how to improve their pencil illustrations, oil and acrylic painting skills and “real world” art skills you won’t learn in a “traditional” art school, and much more. Every week, I will do a live demo and issue my students an assignment; each student will get a live critique of their assignment via LiveMeeting or Skype. There’s much, much more to the school, but these are the highlights.

If you are an ART GALLERY, ART MAGAZINE, or ART SUPPLIES RETAILER or MFR., please contact denise@writebrainmedia.com about the few sponsorship opportunities we still have open.

For those of you FRINGE fans (like me), it took me a minute to figure it out, but Broyles is still alive on the “other side” because Peter didn’t exist to be in the situation that killed Broyles. I hope that helps anyone else who was temporarily befuddled. The storyline is excellent but for one flaw – without Peter, I don’t believe his father would have been motivated to leave the insane asylum with Olivia. Peter was the big motivator. I’m interested to hear your ideas, so please feel welcome to join the discussion.

As always, I thank you for reading. I’m an “open networker” on LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/in/thedavedorman and I’m on Facebook.com/davedormanartist and @DaveDorman on Twitter and #DaveDorman is my hashtag. You are very welcome to join me wherever I am.

Dave

The Problem with Today’s Comics According to a 30-Year Comic Book Veteran Artist

Dear Friends,

I read a post other day on the problem with the comics industry, which triggered me to write this blog today. I wanted to share with you what I think has retarded the growth of today’s American comic book publishing industry. Those of you who have read my autobiography Rolling Thunder: The Art of Dave Dorman know my history with comics. For those who haven’t, here’s the truncated version:

I started reading comics back in the ’60s as a kid growing up in Hawaii on Hickam Air Force Base. My older brother Jeff got me hooked on them. We lived in Foster Village, and he and I would trek to the local drug store to pick up Marvel and DC self-contained stories. I loved them. Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko…those were the halcyon days. Comics, a truly American art form, was already limiting itself by offering fans mostly super hero fantasies.

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…”I stopped reading American super hero comics in the late ’80s.” — Dave Dorman, Inkpot and Eisner Award-winning comic book artist and 30-year Veteran

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You will be surprised to learn that although I’ve painted many a cover, I stopped reading American super hero comics in the late ’80s. Why? Because that was when the publishers started hyper-serializing their storytelling. Notice the synopsis in the front of any Marvel comic today and you’ll see what I mean. When I have to read 10 years’ worth of story bible to understand what’s happening in this issue, you’ve lost me as a fan.

American comic book publishers gambled on serialized story addicts. They didn’t bank on alienating older readers and the next generation(s) of readers, but that’s what happened. And before you suggest that the super hero movies create a bump in comic book sales and therefore must be enticing a new generation of fans, do your research. Study after study has proven this untrue.

Here’s what I’m spending my entertainment fund on these days (and every Wednesday):

Hellboy — by a friend, Mike Mignola — mini-serialized — no 100-issue story arc here, folks!

B.P.R.D. — again, by Mike Mignola

Lieutenant Blueberry — by Moebius/Jean Giraud

Akira—by Katsuhiro Otomo

All works by creators Francois Schuiten and Enki Bilal

The Tin Tin series —by Belgian artist Georges Rémi who wrote under the pen name of Herge’.

The Asterix series—by  Rene’ Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo (who also took over writing the series after Goscinny’s death in 1977

The Blacksad series by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido

These foreign books, while often a series, tend to be more self-contained and easily read individually without requiring the new reader to have info on previous story lines or character development. International comics are often more accessible to the general market than our American comics. We need to change what we’re doing here. I’m pleased to see indie publishers like Archaia publishing foreign books here to deliver the fans something eclectic and interesting.

Let me know what you’re reading. Tell me what I’m missing. I’m listening.

Dave.