Thanks for Listening to me on Dennis Miller’s Radio Show Today

Dear Friends,

On Veteran’s Day, I thank all of the brave men and women serving in all branches of the military who sacrifice SO MUCH to ensure we continue to enjoy our freedoms. As the son of USAF Lieutenant Colonel Jack Dorman, I understand how much the military and their families sacrifice. Thank you also to all of you who were listening to me on The Dennis Miller Radio Show today. Here is the link on Dennis’ site to my interview: http://www.dennismillerradio.com/b/One-Of-A-Kind-For-Our-Military/-338762614549322936.html

Dennis and Christian were kind enough to let me come on and the share news about my military art project, Project 52, which helps to raise funds for military families who are financially challenged, given through USACares.org. Here is the link: http://www.indiegogo.com/Project-52.

Last year at this time we auctioned my Transformers painting, which was the first-ever illustrated cover art for GEEK Monthly magazine for their special Comic-Con issue, juxtaposing the “old school” Transformers character vs. the modern day version. I donated all of that money to USACares.org.

 

 

Dave Dorman and Dennis Miller with Dave's Transformers Painting We Auctioned for USACares.org

Today, I’m asking you to help me spread the word about Project 52. Please post it on your FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn accounts, and anywhere you connect with your social networks. On Twitter or Cinchcast, the hashtag reference is #Project 52. Please tell your military friends and your family about Project 52. For just $5, you or the person you designate will be mentioned in my Project 52 book, which I’m self publishing. For $1,000, you can own a Dave Dorman original oil military painting. There are tons of contribution opportunities and options between the $5 and the $1,000 range, but please contribute whatever is comfortable for you, even if it’s just words of support. The initial $52,000 we are raising will cover expenses for publishing the book, art materials, printing the limited edition signed and numbered lithographs and helping to defray costs for me taking time off of commercial work to focus on this project. Fifty percent of all earnings from the books and lithos will go to USACares.org. The remaining 50% of book and lithograph sales will go to the Make a Wish Foundation in honor of Katie Johnson (501st founder Albin Johnson’s late daughter) on behalf of the 501st Organization, for which I’m honored to be an honorary member. For those of you reading who are unfamiliar with the 501st, these are the great men and women worldwide who donate their time, wearing Star Wars costumes and marching in parades, visiting children’s hospitals and continuing to be good will ambassadors of Lucasfilm.

I thank you all for your kind words and moral support. I’m very passionate about doing Project 52 and ensuring it is done to perfection.

We are still in the throes of unpacking from our big move, and the other day I discovered the old reel-to-reel audio tape recordings of my father, from when he was serving on behalf of the United States Air Force in Viet Nam. We didn’t see my dad for an entire year, so we communicated with him solely by letters and tapes.  I’m getting these recordings made into CDs for my sister and brother, but if you  know of a military museum out there who might want some of these recordings, please let me know.

As always, I thank you for reading and following my work.

Dave

Dave Dorman’s Quick Step-By-Step of Latest Star Wars Painting

Hey Everyone,

Happy Fall. If you’re not offended by vulgar language, check out this guy’s “Gourd-geous” blog. I think my wife is going to need oxygen soon, she’s laughing so hard: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2009/10/20nissan.html This guy may replace the spot in my wife’s heart she has reserved for David Sedaris.

Okay, here is a quick step-by-step of the Star Wars Celebration 5 painting I did called “A Slight Disturbance on the Battlefield of Hoth.” Let me know what you all think of it. By the way, I’m using paint, not crayon, as many people seem to assume.

Step One:

 

Here Is My Pencil Rendering Transferred to Illustration Board

 

Step 2:

 

See? It's PAINT, folks! Not Crayons! Dispel those nasty rumors!

 

Step 3:

 

Here I am finishing up the background layer. For you CG artists: It's like a layer in PhotoShop except it's not digital!

Step 4:

 

Eek! It's Darth Vader! He's a bad, bad man. I'm breaking the rules, baby! I'm using a black marker! I'm committing artist anarchy! Woo-hoo! I feel so FREEEEEEE. Where's the art police when you need 'em?!?

 

Step 5:

 

Darth Vader needed to be finished first to set the contrast of the piece, being so monochromatic in black & white. Now I can finish the rest. Cue in music: Dum-dum-dum, Dum-da-dum, Dum-da-dummmmmmm

 

 

Step 6:

 

I start working more traditionally now, from the background forward. You'll see more detail in the ships and some of the characters behind Darth Vader being finished.

 

Final Outcome:

 

And now, like magic, it's FINITO! Oh, and see the red stripes on Luke Skywalker's burning snow speeder? That's the work of the "Next Gen Dorman" (my son Jack) adding to his daddy's painting.

 

And here’s the cute anecdote that goes along with this painting:

So my son Jack likes hanging out in my studio, practicing his light saber moves that he’s learned from LEGO STAR WARS and THE CLONE WARS cartoon. I work on the other side of the studio, and in the middle, we have a bathroom.

I took a break from painting, grabbed a book and headed into the “porcelain library.” I kept the door open to keep an eye on Jack. All of the sudden, I looked up to see Jack running past the door, making a beeline for my drawing table. Thirty seconds pass and Jack appeared in the doorway holding a brush saying, “I’m going to go paint on your painting, Daddy.” I laughed and said “Okay,” thinking I was just going along with his little joke. Another minute passed, and Jack appeared at the door again with the brush, laughing, saying, “I’m painting on your painting, Daddy!” Again, I laughed and said, “Okay, Jack…” I continue reading for a few more minutes and then Jack popped in again. “I’m still painting on your painting, Daddy!” and I said with just a hint of a warning, “You’d better not be…” and he just laughed and declared “I am! I am!” I replied in an ominous tone, “Okay…” So I finished reading and I walked into the studio.

Cue the great reveal music here: Nothing surprised me more than actually seeing Jack sitting at my drawing table, brush in hand, happily painting away… in red paint, no less! After the cartoon scenario of the steam coming out of my ears and my eyes popping out of my head, I reigned in my temper and pulled the chair away from the drawing table to study the damage. Jack looked up at me innocently, with nothing but love and excitement and said, “I wanted to finish the red line for you, Daddy!” I looked at it and understood that the definition of “line” for a 5-year-old is much different than it is for me. I smiled and took the brush out of his hand, explaining ever-so-gently, “Daddy’s art is Daddy’s art. Jack’s art is Jack’s art. No more touching Daddy’s art.” He smiled and said “Okay,” grabbed his light sabers and went back to practicing his moves. The moral to the story is, when your son tells you three times he’s breaking the rules, believe him!” And now you know the truth. If you own this limited edition print, you own a historic piece of Jack Dorman’s worldwide art premiere as well.

Tomorrow I will post the iconic Batman painting I did that is now up for sale from my private collection. It’s hard to give up, but I am working hard to raise the money to take some time off of full-time commercial work and finish my passion project, aka Project 52. FYI, 50% of the profits for books and print sales from Project 52 will go to USACares.org, and 50% will go to 501st founder Albin Johnson’s favorite charity, the  “Make a Wish Foundation,” in honor of his daughter Katie. Here’s a link to check it out if you want to be named in the book (for just a $5 donation) or if you want 2 lines to commemorate a fallen soldier (a $25 donation). The 501st who donate will be listed in a separate chapter of the book.  Project 52 = http://www.indiegogo.com/Project-52

As always, I thank all of you for reading.

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.

A Special Thanks to Dennis Miller & Christian Bladt

For those of you who listened to my Dennis Miller Radio Show interview yesterday, thank you for tuning in. For those who haven’t heard it yet, the link is as follows: http://multimedia.play.it/m/audio/26472417/dave-dorman-interview.htm Let me know what you think. It was great fun reminiscing about my father, USAF Lieutenant Colonel Jack Dorman. I speak for my entire family when I say we really miss Dad and my mother, Phyllis, who lost her battle to breast cancer.

I forgot to mention to Dennis that while I lived in Hawaii, they filmed “Tora! Tora! Tora!” The day those Japanese planes flew low over our house re-enacting the bombing in Pearl Harbor, that was beyond eerie. I’ll never forget it. Someone emailed me after hearing my radio appearance yesterday who also lived at Hickham AFB the same time I did, and he recalled the Tora filming as well. That was so cool to hear from him.

In case any of you ever wondered what Dennis Miller is really like in person, Dennis Miller is one of the coolest cats in person I’ve had the pleasure to meet. I look forward to “breaking bread” with him in San Diego. My wife tells me I’m the only person she knows who “gets” every single obscure reference and metaphor Dennis utters. What can I say? Dennis & I have similar interests. Also a cool cat: Christian Bladt. I was just as interested in meeting Christian, since I have listened to their radio show forever and feel like I know of him just as much. A special thanks to WriteBrain Media for setting up that interview yesterday – my wife’s great PR, marketing & brand management firm. Christian is now the proud owner of a The Devil’s Candy Store t-shirt, my wife’s other company with Charlie Athanas, who is @charlie_athanas on Twitter. Also, a special thanks to WIND Radio, 560 AM in Chicagoland for hosting us yesterday.

Be sure to bid on the painting I donated to USACares.org – it was the first ever painted cover for GEEK Monthly magazine, and it is of old school and modern day Optimus Prime, so if you’re a Transformers fan, you should OWN it!

For those of you who can have visited me today for my painting demo at the Make a Wish Foundation event in Wheaton, IL, thank you so much for stopping by.

Thanks for reading, everyone,

Dave