Dave Dorman News & An Opportunity to Help A PTSD Survivor

Dear Friends,

My art (including Captain Nemo!) is on display at HEVANSTON GALLERY in Evanston, Illinois, curated by Charlie Athanas. I am joined by artists Aaron B. Miller and Douglas Klauba, so if you are in the area, please check it out. It’s really a wonderful gallery show.

I’m off to see Captain America today, which I’m really eager to see, but I wanted to give you the heads up about an important project that I think deserves some attention, so please share this with all of your military and philanthropic friends. Iraq veteran Melissa Thurber, the daughter of my good friends Steve and Karen Baker, served our country honorably in Iraq, but like way too many, she returned home with PTSD. She is enormously brave, and a talented photographer, so she is putting together this wonderful photography book sharing the stories of fellow veterans with PTSD, who are trusting her alone to tell their stories. I am wondering if any you out there can find her a grant to fund her project? Perhaps Starbucks‘ Howard Schultz could include Melissa’s project in his $30 million to research PTSD, since these brave veterans are baring their souls in telling their sides of the PTSD story. Here is Melissa Thurber’s description of her important project, and a link to her GoFundMe.com page:

Iraq Veteran and PTSD Survivor Melissa Thurber Needs Help Funding Her Book

I am an Iraq war veteran with PTSD. I have been a photographer for as long as I can remember. Photography is my release. It is my healing tool. I have been wanting to start working on a photographic book about PTSD. I want to reach out to other veterans and try to help them heal the same way I am through the powerful images I can create. 

I know first hand how very hard it is to talk about why I have PTSD. I always just tell people it is from my deployment. My goal is to reach out to other veterans with PTSD and through my photography tell their stories and hopefully help them heal some along the way

I already have many Veterans with PTSD that I have spoken to that are 100% willing to participate as they trust that another Veteran with PTSD will be honest and real with their stories. 

Funding this project will bring light to an unspoken problem with today’s veterans, including myself, and hopefully will reach other veterans not in participation to see that it is ok to share our stories, no matter how it’s told!!

Thanks, everyone, for reading. I am hopeful you’ll join Denise and me in helping Melissa Thurber reach her modest goal to produce this PTSD book.

Dave.

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

A Press Release Regarding A New Member of My Team

Dear Friends,

I ‘ve recently hired Young Social Media from Hollywood, California to handle my online reputation management, social media and branding. I am embedding that press release below, just to make it official here on my blog.  My wife will still be handling my media relations work supplemental to the work Jacob is doing for us. For the record, my wife wrote this release, so please don’t think that I’m this full of myself. Okay, here’s the release:

Comic Book Legend Dave Dorman Names Hollywood’s

Jacob Young Social Media His Agency of Record

Chicago, IL and Hollywood, CA – September 26, 2010 – Dave Dorman, the Eisner Award-winning artist voted the #1 Star Wars Artist of All Time by the fans and world renowned for his dynamic cover art for Indiana Jones, Batman, G.I. Joe and every licensed character in pop culture, is pleased to name Hollywood, California-based Jacob Young Social Media as his social media and branding agency of record.

“Young Social Media has a proven track record of online reputation management and SEO strategy that aligns with my business needs,” Dorman explained. “My team is very excited to apply the energy, enthusiasm and fresh ideas from Jacob to our business success.”  Said Jacob K. Young, “Dave Dorman is more than an award-winning artist, more than one of the founding fathers of modern pop culture. He is the very definition of an American Icon. You’d be a fool to say no if asked to work with him.  If you love what you’ve seen him do so far, then get ready to fall in love all over again.”

Dorman’s 2010 string of successes have ranged from being named a VIP guest at San Diego Comic-Con and winning the prestigious Inkpot Award to launching his critically acclaimed new book, ROLLING THUNDER: THE ART OF DAVE DORMAN (IDW Publishing/Desperado Publishing), now available in book retailers nationwide. During the August 2010 Star Wars Celebration 5, Dark Horse Comics named Dorman the cover artist for the final chapter in their Star Wars “Crimson Empire” series, which was news long awaited by the fans. Dorman is also being heavily courted by numerous publishers and videogame developers over his own intellectual property, a motorcycle western action adventure called The Wasted Lands.

Dorman is equally excited about his new charitable art project “52,” which he discussed on a recent episode of The Dennis Miller Radio Show. Dorman is painting 52 individual military pieces of art honoring the men and women in uniform who defend our country. These paintings will be published in a new book with proceeds going to USACares.org. Said Dorman, “I grew up in a military family, so it is my honor and privilege to give something back to our military families.”

For more information on Dorman, please visit DaveDorman.com, WastedLands.com, his blog https://davedorman.wordpress.com and his podcast on pop culture and the comics industry, http://www.itscomicbookday.com.

Media Contact:
Jacob K. Young
Phone: (512) 522-6230
Email: Jacob@davedorman.com

-30-

My Art from the Granada, Spain Exhibit

Dear Friends,

Fed Ex just rang the doorbell and bestowed upon me the art I submitted for Joe Kubert’s esteemed exhibit in Granada, Spain. The pieces I submitted were (lower left) Star Wars (2nd to left) Alien v. Predator (3rd to left) Alien v. Predator and (lower right) King Kong. I hope you like them. I always welcome your comments.

Dave Dorman Art from Granada, Spain Exhibit, 2010

While you’re here, I thought you’d like to see some upcoming guests for my podcast, “It’s Comic Book Day,” which is free to you on iTunes:

Steve Niles, Bernie Wrightson (they’ve collaborated a lot) and John vanFleet.

Dave Dorman Friend Steve Niles, HeroesCon 2010

Dave Dorman's Friend, Bernie Wrightson, HeroesCon 2010

We will be recording episodes with all of these great folks in July 2010, as well as artists Tim Bradstreet and Dave DeVries…plus some surprise guests we plan to do as field recordings at San Diego Comic-Con International this year.

I picked up a really surprising find last week, a CD called 4TROOPS. This band was on Good Morning America one morning, and the voice of the lead singer just grabbed me. Even better, 50 cents of each sale goes to 3 separate funds helping U.S. military veterans. As you know, I’m all about it, since I come from a military family and I’m a solid supporter of comedian Dennis Miller’s fund, USACares.org.

Thanks for reading,

Dave.

Obama: Too Busy to Give Thanks

Dear Friends,

Memorial Day is the one day out of our year that Congress has given us specifically honoring the people, both military and non, who have given their lives in support and protection of this great country. We are honoring those who have allowed us the freedoms granted by the Constitution and our Founding Fathers. I suppose these freedoms also allow our Commander in Chief to take a “vacation” during Memorial Day Weekend. And lest anyone forget, these are the freedoms that have allowed many to advance beyond their perceived handicaps to achieve a stature that all of us call “The American Dream.”

I hope that you, like me and my family, find it in your hearts to take the time, no matter what your job is, to honor and thank those who have given their lives on behalf of our country. It’s a shame that President Obama, who also enjoys our freedoms, feels he does not need to show his respect and his thanks to those who have fallen in service to our country.

While Obama’s enjoying his picnic in Hyde Park with his progressive friends and jailbird cronies, I may take a trip to Arlington National Cemetary with a full-sized photographic cut-out of our Commander-in-Chief, stand him up amongst the fallen dead and pretend that he actually cares about them and this country.

Dave

Proud Son of USAF Lieutenant Colonel John N. Dorman and Proud Brother-in-Law to USAF Retired Gulf War Veteran David Thurmond