Yes, Dave Dorman WILL Be at Star Wars Celebration 5

Dear Friends,

I’ve gotten a lot of questions via FaceBook over the last week about whether I’ll be exhibiting at Star Wars Celebration 5 in Orlando this coming August 12-15th. Yes, I will be there, but not in Artists’ Alley. I will be in my own booth next to artist and friend Jason Palmer. 

I will also have a brand new print for sale. It will be in the same letterbox format as my previous Star Wars Celebration prints. My wife Denise will be photographically documenting the progression of my new painting, so once the show is over, I can share that with all of you on my blog.

I will also have with me at Star Wars Celebration 5 my new book, ROLLING THUNDER: The Art of Dave Dorman, which Denise co-authored. It’s 312 pages of my memoir, artwork and never-before-seen work and stories. I hope you all like it – it was a LOT of work, digging in my Indiana Jones-like warehouse of archives to compile it all. It is published by IDW Publishing in conjunction with Desperado Publishing, and it’s a gorgeous book. There’s a regular version for $49.99 and a signed, limited edition version with a separate cover for $79.99. I’m donating 10% of our earnings for USACares.org as I’m a former military brat who supports NFPs that support our military families.

I thank you all for your interest. It means a lot to me.

Dave.

Dave Dorman Doing Live Painting @SDCC

Steampunk Girl Created at Reverie '09 in Dallas, TX

Dear Friends, 

When I’m at San Diego Comic-Con, I tend to get anxious because I’m not painting while I’m there. Painting is an addiction for me, and fortunately, I’m able to make a living doing it. So this year, I’ve decided I’m going to paint. I will do a live painting over the course of the 5 days that I’m there. Please let me know what you’d like to see me paint, and whatever the majority of people request will influence my final decision on what I’ll be painting. (Of course, if someone wants a commissioned piece, that will take priority, and I will be happy to work in my favorite size — 24 x 36– and ship it directly to the new owner at show’s end.) So, let me know if you want a hot Heavy Metal-style babe, G.I. Joe, Batman, Alien, Captain America, Buckaroo Banzai, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, or something from my Wasted Land series, or even a brand new concept art design. 

For those not attending SDCC, Denise will be there to photograph the piece in phases and will post it here on my blog for you. The painting up above is what I created live during Reverie ’09 in Dallas, which was put on by Massive Black and ConceptArt.org. 

Dave Dorman Raising Funds for the Gulf Coast BP Oil Victims

I will know shortly if my friend Bill Paetzold can supply the giclees I want to sell to help raise money for the BP Oil victims along the Gulf Coast. I will post a link here once I can make it happen. I will send all money beyond printing and shipping costs to the financially challenged folks on the Gulf. As you  know, the Fort Walton Beach/Shalimar area in Okaloosa County, Florida was my home for more than 25 years, so I’m watching the situation with a heavy heart. Here’s an image of Navarre Beach, which was near my home, as of today: http://www.nwfdailynews.com. My longtime friend and the author I hired to write all of my Wasted Lands series, as well as our Bram Stoker Award-winning zombie book Dead Heat (Mojo Press), Del Stone Jr., is the Associate Editor of the Northwest Florida Daily News, and he handles the paper’s popular online edition.

Where in the World is Dave Dorman? My Summer Schedule:

Sometime in July – I’ll be on Dennis Miller’s radio show, raising awareness that my new book, Rolling Thunder: The Art of Dave Dorman (IDW Publishing/Desperado Publishing) raises funds for USACares.org, an organization that helps financially challenged military families. (As a former military brat, I can tell you unless someone is a trust fund baby, they’re ALL financially challenged). I am donating 10% of my earnings from this book directly to USACares.org.

July 10, 2010 – Signing all day at Gail Borden Public Library for Elgin, IL Comic-Con. Click here for details on the event. (A special thanks to Darlene Nauman for letting me know this local show was happening.)

July 22- 25, 2010 – I’m a “special guest” this year at San Diego Comic-Con. Look for me at my “Rolling Thunder” booth – that’s how we’re listed in the show guide.

August 12 -15, 2010 – Star Wars Celebration 5 in Orlando, FL.

You can always find me on my pop culture, comics & art podcast, “It’s Comic Book Day”, free on iTunes, and on Twitter, I’m @DaveDorman. Please follow me there, too, for breaking news.

As always, thanks for reading. I hope to see you all this summer.

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.

PROGRESS MADE ON MY HORROR PAINTING

I hope everyone’s having a good Monday night. Did you all enjoy the Oscars? I could really have done without the people standing on stage waxing poetic about each nominee, the entire dance segment and the fact that no film clips were shown during one of my favorite awards – “Best Cinematography.” Maybe that’s the artist in me, and no one else cares, but for me, the cinematography makes the film. Of course, my choice for “Best Film” was “District 9,” and we sort of knew it wasn’t going to win, but we still held on to some hope of it until the fat lady sang.

As some of you may recall, I started a painting during a charity event for WildClaw Theatre, my favorite horror theater group in Chicago. They held an event called “Dance of the Demented” with a live deejay, live models, a burlesque show and more. For the artists who attended along with me, it was a lot of fun. So I started this painting, and I’m making progress and I just wanted to show you where I am since you last saw it, so here it is:

And here is a closer shot of the main character:

Dave Dorman's Demented Painting,XCU

I hope you all were able to check out the course I’m teaching in San Diego this summer, Comix Academy, along with my friends Scott Hampton, Christopher Moeller, John vanFleet and Durwin Talon, with a special guest appearance from Mike Mignola. If you can join us, sign up now because seating is limited and the price goes up April 30th.

This weekend I will be at MegaCon in Orlando, and for my Florida friends, fans and colleagues, I look forward to reconnecting with all of you there. If there’s anything in particular you see for sale on my site that you would like me to bring along so you can see it in person, please let me know.

I hope you all have a great week. I will post more art as I make more progress.

Thanks for reading,

Dave.