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Dear Friends,

 

Me at Discovery Museum Last Year Lecturing On How I Create STAR WARS Art

This next weekend on Saturday October 4th from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., I will be appearing at the Discovery World Museum in Milwaukee for STAR WARS DAY. Last year it was an amazing event supported by the 501st Legion of Star Wars Cosplayers (of which Denise and I are honorary members) and I know it will be again this year. I will be doing two presentations, explaining my approach to creating my STAR WARS art in the theater there, and I hope you can attend one if you’re there. (No, Denise will not be with me this year – she has client obligations in Northwest Florida).

I want to thank all of you out there who stepped up and supported Denise and me this past week during the whole crazy online controversy. You who respectfully spoke up mean a lot to us both. A lot of good came out of this controversy. It ignited back channel conversations between me and my colleagues, me and Con organizers, and of course, the meaningful viewpoints from you, the fans. If you’re scratching your heads with no idea what I’m referencing, here’s a link to Denise’s interview with Comic Vine journalist Mat Elfring, which ended up on Yahoo! News: 

 

http://bit.ly/DD_on_YahooNews

Only a few writers showed true journalistic integrity and research this past week, and I applaud those who did. Rob Salkowitz of iCv2, Mat Elfring of Comic Vine and Heidi McDonald of The Beat are three that come to mind. I also appreciated the talented Gail Simone’s professionalism in her mea culpa, and her willingness to revisit the real story. In the end, I worry for the future of social media, the future of  journalism, and I worry for the future of many readers out there who seem blinded to critical thinking. As our close friend, sometimes business partner and fellow artist Charlie Athanas said, “Oh, hive mind. We should all watch Forbidden Planet and learn that this collective id thing can be really dangerous. Then shut down our computers and go have a drink with some friends.” Well said, Charlie. Denise plans to share the best ideas and suggestions she’s received about how we as creatives and exhibitors can improve sales and our Con experiences from the many who commented on her blog, ComicBookWife.com, so watch for that.

On Wednesday Denise and I will be guests of Chicago comics advocate and podcaster Wendi Freeman and her podcast Double Page Spread. I will post a link here when it’s up, but here’s a link to Wendi’s past podcasts – check them out: 

http://bitly.com/DoublePageSpreadPodcast

Many of you know I’m a big #MMO #SWTOR gamer. I did a really fun Ootinicast Twitch TV interview this week about my Star Wars: The Old Republic gaming and my STAR WARS art with co-host Ander (aka Redna), so here is a link to that interview for you:

 

http://bitly.com/DD_on_TwitchTV

I hope to see everyone soon. As always, thanks for reading,

Dave.

Cyber Monday Special: Dave Dorman Art Poker Cards! And #SWTOR News!

Cards and Games!! These are my topics for a Happy Cyber Monday, Everybody!

I am throwing this quick blog together since you’re on the computer anyway ordering your Holiday gifts. I have two pieces of news to mention this time around:

Many of you know that I play the online game Star Wars: The Old Republic (aka SWTOR) nightly. It’s a wonderful adventure/fighting game with a great feel for the Star Wars universe. You can be a Sith Warrior, a Republic Commando, and even a Jedi! I really enjoy my hours spent in the world of “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away!” (And a quick shout-out to my guildmates in PURGE on the “Bastion” server!)

So here’s what happened: SWTOR has a robust array of costuming and armor supplies for your character. I opened the game a few weeks ago and noticed new armors added to the game. And there was one set that looked very familiar. It was Ulic Qel-Droma from “Tales of the Jedi,” which was a character I designed for Dark Horse and painted on quite a few TOTJ Comic and graphic novel covers. Below you will see one of my paintings (TOTJ #1) with Ulic Qel-Droma, and dropped in, you will see the character screen shots from the game. Nice job and a huge honor, SWTOR designers!! (And SWTOR design team, if you ever need more costume, creature, or character designs I’m just an email away!)

My second piece of news is also game-related!  DRIVE THRU CARDS is now offering exclusive Dave Dorman art standard Poker deck cards! Talk about the perfect stocking stuffers! The first set is available now for just $7.99 per deck (plus postage), featuring my cover art from the Wastedlands RAIL Graphic Novel!

You can order directly from Drive Thru Cards here.  I will be adding new card decks with my artwork in the next few weeks, so keep watching here for me to post the news. I have the proof set in my hands, and the quality is superb.

Make sure to soak your fingers in Palmolive after all your Cybershopping activity today! Thanks all, be well!

Dave.

Connect w/Me on My Social Networks Here:

http://facebook.com/davedormanwastedlands

http://facebook.com/davedormansstudio

http://twitter.com/davedorman

http://linkedin.com/in/thedavedorman (I’m an Open Networker)

Book Me for Appearances & Conventions Here: 

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Happy Holidays from Dave Dorman & Some Cool Gifts to Share

Dear Friends,

If your household is like mine, Lucasfilm, Amazon and Apple retailers got the majority of your greenbacks this year. Santa was good to me this year and here’s a highlight of my favorite gifts and holiday cards:

I got The Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic, by Chronicle Books, a fine art book that also has lengthy descriptions on the creation of the game itself, not just the preproduction artwork. My son and I have been playing and are on Level 15 so far. It’s a wonderful game.

Me with my new Star Wars: The Old Republic art book

I also received Genius Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth, by IDW Publishing, which is the best book I’ve received all year. It is a beautifully made compilation of Toth’s early formative years as an artist, and it’s the first of three books to cover Toth’s career. It’s an exciting start to the series and I’m really looking forward to the subsequent volumes. The production on this hardcover book was just amazing and the material that the authors dug through and found to represent in this book was truly astounding, covering Toth’s formative work, both in comics and illustration. I highly recommend it. If you are an Alex Toth fan, you should also pick up my friend John Hitchcock’s book, which chronicles his correspondence and friendship with Toth in the later years of his life. It’s a real treasure. John is a master storyteller and if you’re ever lucky enough to hang out with him, you will see what I mean by that.

My Favorite Book in 2011: The Life and Art of Alex Toth

I was also happy to receive this Christmas card, postcard and trading card from our friend Kevin-Kim, TK-1023 in the German Garrison of the 501st. That was a nice surprise. (My son is in his new Star Wars pajamas from Santa).

My Gifts from 501st German Garrison Kevin-Kim, TK-1023

In other news, we’ve been working hard on updating my Facebook fan page. With the rate at which I’m getting friend requests on Facebook, I will have to split my time between my Facebook Fan Page and my Facebook personal page as I fear I will run out of spaces to add friends on my personal page. I do plan to maintain both, but please “Like” my Facebook Fan Page; we are working hard to get that page up to speed this year with decent graphics, contests, fan exclusives and more. We will be doing a Fan Page for my own creator-owned series The Wasted Lands and I will announce that here shortly.

In other news, I am very pleased with the traction my artist friend Dave DeVries is getting with his own creator-owned concept, The Monster Engine. His site went viral again this month overseas and people all over Asia and Europe are discovering him. This project is really deserving of a TV series, a movie and a videogame and I hope we see it happen in 2012.

Thanks, as always, for reading my post. I’m @DaveDorman on Twitter and I do respond to direct Tweets, and I’m an open networker on LinkedIn, so please connect with me there as well. I am happy to review your products online (tech, movie, books, comics, music, nerd and geek products are my sweet spot) and to do so, please write to WriteBrain Media, Attn: Denise Dorman, P.O. Box 417, Carpentersville, IL 60110 and put “Dave Dorman Blog Review” in the subject. If you need marketing, social media or PR advice, follow Denise @writebrainmedia on Twitter or “Like” her fan page at Facebook.com/WriteBrainMedia.

Dave.