Dave Dorman Birthday Art Sale: Palpatine, Han Solo, Chewie, Luke and Iron Man

Hi Everyone,

Thank you to all who are sending me birthday wishes. While I am getting another year older and my body sure feels every year of it…I am happy I am still here to share it with you and my family. Most of all, I am feeling like I am entering a new phase of my artistic career.

I feel excited about the work I am doing now. It is truly the best work of my entire career. I am learning more about myself and new techniques my eyes have been opened to on my path of discovery. Even though it has been seriously hard to find work in the industry these days, I am grateful that I have all of you all as my fans and supporters as I move into this more creative era of my art. That in itself lights a creative fire in me to follow the work that pushes me, enlightens me and strengthens me as an artist. It helps me to be a better person.

Thank you ALL for this.

Also… 😛 I have a few new pieces available I thought I’d post for your enjoyment and interest.Here is the page with PayPal buttons if you are interested in purchasing any of the pieces I’m posting here today:
http://www.davedorman.com/Originalartsale100117.shtml

Iron Man: $800
Description: Acrylic painting on Bristol board.
Size: 11″ x 17″

Palpatine: $1,000
Description: Oil and acrylic original painting on Bristol board.
Size: 14″ x 20″

 

Han Solo and Chewbacca: $250
Description: Pencil art on Bristol board
Size: 11″ x 14″

Luke: $250
Description: Pencil art on Bristol board
Size: 11″ x 14″

Once again, thank you all for your support and enjoyment of my art. Another birthday here, but many more to come and much, much more to create!

Bless you all,

Dave

Dave Dorman Reveals Peek at New ALIENS Art and His Fall Schedule

Dear Friends,

Here’s a peek at my new ALIENS art, launching at New York Comic Con in October, my fall appearance schedule–hyperlinked for your convenience–and a brief interview for the folks attending my free Mathnasium of Whitefish Bay, WI event, where I’m appearing on October 2nd to teach art. Without further adieu, here’s the scoop:

September 17-18, 2016 – Panama City Creative Con, Panama City, FL

October 1, 2016 – Discovery World Museum, Milwaukee, WI

October 2, 2016 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. –  Mathnasium, Whitefish Bay, Whitefish Bay, WI

October 6 – 9, 2016 – New York Comic Con, Javits Convention Center, NYC

Want to book me at your convention or event? Please contact denise@writebrainmedia.com

ALIENS 30th Anniversary commemorative art work-in-progress painting by Dave Dorman for NYCC 2016 Launch

Rohita Shah Interviews #1 Star Wars Artist Dave Dorman:

RS: Can you share with our readers your connection to Mathnasium Whitefish Bay?

DD: You (owners Kal and Rohita Shah) are like family to us, and our sons have been best friends since kindergarten. In fact, Kal and I coached their football team together, which remains a very happy memory for me. I’d never been to Whitefish Bay until you moved there, and in a perfect world, outside of my home in Florida, I’d be living in Whitefish Bay. I like that it’s a community where you can walk to everything you need, and nearby Milwaukee is a great city with a great art museum.

RS: What will attendees of the Mathnasium Whitefish Bay event on October 2nd, 2016 experience?

DD: I’m going to teach drawing geometric shapes and how they can be easily transformed into your favorite STAR WARS characters. I will be doing two classes–one at 11 a.m. and one at 2 p.m. Additionally, I’ll have my prints for sale–Star Wars, Batman, Alien, you name it– and I’ll sign anything anyone brings for me to autograph. Autographs are always free.

RS: What projects have you done lately or are working on now?

DD: I’m working on STAR WARS comic book covers for Marvel Comics, superhero trading cards for Upper Deck, and a commemorative ALIENS print for the 30th anniversary of the 2nd  ALIENS film. This piece premieres at New York Comic Con on October 6th. I’m also taking in requests and doing a lot of commissioned art for fans worldwide.

RS: What advice would you give young artists?

DD: The main advice I’d give them is to draw as much as they can. The more you draw, the better you get. Draw everything, not just what you like to draw. A good artist should be able to easily draw whatever they’re being asked to draw by an art director or client.

RS: Do you recommend any art schools?

DD: That’s such a personal choice, depending on your particular focus. I’d spend time evaluating each program to find the one best fitting your direction. I had a false start at St. Mary’s College in Maryland, where I majored in art and they had me doing these large, contemporary art gallery pieces, which was not at all my interest. I switched schools my sophomore year and attended the Joe Kubert School in Dover, NJ. That school taught me comic book illustration, which is what I thought I wanted, but then I realized, I was geared more towards telling a whole story with one single illustration, which led me to doing cover art. It was only the Kubert School’s second year in operation, so Joe Kubert advised me to graduate early (he said they’d already taught me everything they could) and he encouraged me to go on my own to learn color illustration. My color work is self taught, but it all boils down to the amount time I spent in front of my drawing board. It took me until I was 25 to sell my first piece, the Heavy Metal magazine cover I did. 

 

New Ltd. Ed. Dave Dorman Art for Sale! Star Wars, Indiana Jones and More!

Dear Friends,

Punxsutawney Phil tells me Spring is just around the corner!  And with Spring comes the beginning of CONVENTION SEASON. I will be doing at least one show per month in 2016, so please keep your browser set here for updates.

And no, that goofy guy Scott Roush from the Bleeding Cool News article is NOT my rep (thanks for the heads up, Rich Johnston!), nor is he booking me at any conventions. For the record, my only booking agents are Denise McDonald Dorman of WriteBrain Media and Mike Alexandropoulos.

My first show of the year will take me to Pensacola, Florida for PENSACON, February 19th – 21st. I will have prints and books for sale, and as always my autograph is FREE!

I’ve just produced a special edition of my sketchbook series LEADWORKS. This year I will be doing a Star Wars-centric edition. This book will feature all pencil drawings.. roughs, finished art and many unpublished pieces going back 25 years to my first SW works with Dark Horse Comics right up to my current work with Marvel and some NEW never before seen drawings from SW: The Force Awakens.

LEADWORKS by Dave Dorman, Ltd. Edition

This special book will be 36 pages (previous editions were 24 pages) with a card stock cover and high quality interior pages to show off the detail in the pencil renderings. It is 5.5″ x 8.5″ same size as previous editions. For those of you who love Adult Coloring Books, here’s your chance to color my work! I’d love to see what you do with it and I hope you share it here!

Unlike the previous editions, I will be doing a LIMITED SIGNED AND NUMBERED run of this book, limited to 400 copies. This will be the only version I will be printing. However, I am not raising the price. It will remain at $20.00 (postage included, worldwide). The book will be ready to ship the 3rd week of February.

You can order your copy at this link on my website http://www.davedorman.com/leadworks3.shtml (If you would like to order more than one, the Paypal cart will let you choose how many you would like).

I have done quite a few new drawings for myself featuring charaters and elements from the new Star Wars film SW: The Force Awakens. All of these are unpublished; however, I will be showing quite a few of them in LEADWORKS.

I am putting a few of my pencils sketches up for sale right now so you can get a sneak preview of my new art… AND you can add it to your collection!

Han Solo original pencil sketch by Dave Dorman

Poe Dameron original pencil art by Dave Dorman

All of my art is pencil on 11″x 14″ on Bristol board. The art will be sent flat with a tracking #. The price includes shipping worldwide.

• HAN SOLO $200.00
• Maz Kanata $150.00
• Poe Dameron $150.00

TO ORDER any of my original pencil drawings, please click here: 

http://www.davedorman.com/originalartsale020516.shtml. You will find Paypal buttons for each one.

May the Force Be With You!

Dave.

Dave Dorman Original STAR WARS Sketch Covers for Sale

Hi Everyone!

I hope you had a great summer and that if you do have kids, the transition back to school has been smooth. This coming Saturday and Sunday, you can find me at http://counticon.com, a show in Grayslake, IL at the Lake County Fairgrounds.

 It’s time for an “End of the Summer” sale to make room for some new work I have coming up. In the next couple of weeks, I will be posting some different pieces of art for sale–mostly pencil pieces, sketch covers, and other items. You will find links below to the “Sale Page” on my website, with all the details on the art. Currently, I have two Boba Fett pieces, one Lando Calrissian piece, and one of Count Dooku. These are one-of-a-kind ORIGINAL PENCIL ILLUSTRATIONS…NOT prints. So, there is only one of each, and once each one is sold, I will remove them from the page. There is a Paypal button for each Sketch Cover on the webpage.

SKETCH COVERS SALE–PAGE LINK: http://www.davedorman.com/SWsketchcoversale082615.shtml 

Boba Fett Sketch Cover #1 by Dave Dorman

Boba Fett Sketch Cover #2 by Dave Dorman

Lando Calrissian Sketch Cover Art by Dave Dorman

Count Dooku Sketch Cover Art by Dave Dorman

A Short Anatomy of My Star Wars Painting: Lord Vader’s Persuasion

Dave Dorman’s Star Wars Painting: Lord Vader’s Persuasion of the Outer Rim

I’d like to take a moment to clear up some misconceptions and explain my thoughts on creating my painting “Lord Vader’s Persuasion…” The main reason for creating this piece was to show Vader leading his troops into battle. I wanted to actually show him in the midst of his beloved 501st Squad, being the leader he was born to be. This was not a scene we were able to see in the films themselves, and obviously, it would be a scene taking place between Episodes 3 and 4. This art has caught the imagination of Star Wars fans around the world, and has inspired me to create other scenes capturing potential story elements that were not in the screenplays, but are part of the canon of the Star Wars history.

The two most confusing elements of Lord Vader’s Persuasion are the inclusion of the Imperial Guards (the red armored figures surrounding Vader) and the fact that Vader is rising above the squad. The Imperial Guards were introduced in Episode 6 as visual elements in the background, in scenes featuring the Emperor and Lord Vader. They are not exclusively the Emperor’s private, but the elite of the Imperial forces used to protect those of the highest power. So the Imperial Guard would certainly be on hand to protect a high value target such as Vader during an invasion operation. Vader’s loyal 501st troops form a phalanx around them, always pushing forward towards Victory!

Why is Vader above the troops? He is not on a hoverboard, nor is he standing on a trooper’s shoulders! We know from the end of Episode 3 that Anakin/Vader is fearless in carrying out the Emperor’s order. Why would Vader not be fearless in leading his Troops into battle? Like any commander worthy of his troops’ respect, he will join them in battle. And as a powerful leading figure, he will not hide behind his troops, but will be where they can see him and be inspired by him. During the course of the battle, Vader uses the FORCE to levitate himself above the fray, leading and directing his troops ever forward, knowing he will become the primary target of his opponents. He is unafraid because he uses the power of The Force for protection.

I have also taken an artistic license and compacted the field of battle so that I could show a few other elements that would be involved in this type of skirmish. The officers and scouts to the far left would not so close to the battlefield in a real situation, and the ATAT/ATSTs would not be so packed together. But the art I wanted to create would show the full impact of all elements of the Imperial Forces, so I pulled a few visual tricks out of my creative hat.

Aesthetic Placement of Elements in the Art: Speaking artistically about the art, there are reasons I put elements where they are in the art. As you can see, there is an explanation for what is the battle scene from a “warfare” point of view. But to paint what I wanted, I had to have both an “Artistic” reason and a “Realism” reason. When laying out the the art, the first thing I noticed artistically was that the piece was primarily black and white. Black and greys in the Vader figure and white and greys in the trooper armor. I found working the Imperial guard into the piece not only added a focusing element, to bring your eye towards the main element–Vader–but also added that bold stroke of color I needed. That red would eventually tie in with the red of Vader’s lightsaber and the red/oranges of the explosions in the background. With that element of red, it was no longer necessary to add another bold statement of color, because the contrast of the dark figure of Vader made him the focus against the whites and the greys of the rest of the piece.

One Last Visual Element to Note: There is one last visual element that you may not see right off, but if you look closely at the art and let your eye roam, you will probably focus on Vader first, then follow the line of his arm and hand deflecting the blasterbolt. Your eye will follow the red of the ATAT explosion and smoke back over Vader, then follow the path of his Lightsaber back down to the far left of the art, now seeing the Officers and Scouts. As your eye follows where they are looking, it catches the front-most Stormtrooper with his arm raised, pointing the troopers forward. We follow that line through the bottom of the art into the field of troopers. From here, the curve upward of the red and blue blasterbolts brings the eye back up to the exploding ATAT in the background and then right back to Vader.

There was much more that went into this piece and the contribution of the 501st Midwest Garrison in helping me shoot reference for this cannot be overstated. But this should help you understand a bit of what is going through my head when creating a piece of art.

A special thanks to Jesus Diaz of the SPLOID column for Gizmodo who wrote this piece today about my Star Wars art (including Lord Vader’s Persuasion):

Thank you, Jesus Diaz!

and to writer Marlon McDonald of MoviePilot.com who wrote this article today as well:

Thank you, Marlon McDonald!

Thanks for reading!

Catch My Live Interview Tomorrow Night at 6:30 PM CST on Twitch.TV/R3DN4

Dear Friends,

If any of you follow REDNA, or Ander Kretz, he’s a host of the Ootinicast show on Twitch.TV and tomorrow night he’s interviewing me at 6:30 p.m. Central, 7:30 p.m. Eastern, 4:30 p.m. Pacific. Here’s a link to the site where you can see my Skype video interview live: http://Twitch.TV/R3DN4.

Redna’s show is dedicated to #SWTOR (Star Wars: The Old Republic) which is a game I play nightly, so if you’re a Star Wars fan, the show will cover a lot of that ground.

Thanks for reading and please spread the word as you can.

DAVE.

Connect with me on Facebook:

• http://facebook.com/DaveDormansStudio
• http://facebook.com/DaveDormanWastedLands
• On Twitter: @DaveDorman

 

Happy Father’s Day & Other Dave Dorman News

Dear Friends,

Happy Father’s Day to all of you dads out there. For me, being a dad is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done and if you’re waffling about doing it and you’re a responsible human, I highly recommend it. Here’s a recent photo of Jack and me from Pensacon, taken by our photographer friend Fred Turnbow:

A fan at Indy PopCon came up to my booth a couple of weekends ago wearing this tee:

Dave Dorman Artwork on New T-Shirt Being Sold by Disney

…and he was kind enough to send me one. It’s in Disney stores and the t-shirt maker is a company called Mad Engine. This art is a segment of my Star Wars Celebration V (5) art, from a painting called “A Slight Disturbance in the Force.”  Here is the original for your recollection:

Dave Dorman Star Wars Celebration 5 Art: “A Slight Disturbance in the Force”

A special thanks to everyone who came out to see me at Star Wars Library Day in Joliet, Illinois – the world’s largest Star Wars Library event, now in its 5th year. It was a lot of fun and gratifying to see my Midwestern Star Wars family.

Next up on my convention schedule is Capital City Con in Austin, TX July 11, 12 and 13. I hope to reconnect with our friends who are like family –the Nick & Michele Iozzo family, and cousins Dan and Sue Bailey in Austin as well as Bernie Wrightson. You can count on my wife to do her level best to “Keep Austin Weird.”

We found some old photos I took in the 1970s of Bernie Wrightson and his contemporaries, including Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Barry Windsor-Smith, Walt Simonson and more. I think you’ll enjoy seeing them as I scan them in and post them here.

Also in July, you will see me at San Diego Comic-Con, Booth #4500 July 23 – 27. I am especially excited this year to launch my new WASTED LANDS OMNIBUS book by Magnetic Press and Mike Kennedy. Click here to pre-order: http://www.magnetic-press.com/wasted-lands-omnibus/

WASTED LANDS OMNIBUS: by Magnetic Press, Launching at SDCC 2014

We will have books to sell and sign at our booth as well as the Magnetic Press Booth. I don’t have a Booth # for Magnetic Press yet, but they are located in Publisher’s Row between Taschen and Last Gasp, behind Random House.

Joining me will be my WASTED LANDS rep and producer Scott Faye, and a portion of the booth will be shared by Stephen D. Smith, who did the wonderfully successfully Kickstarter campaign for the very first English translation of the book, The Leaning Girl, and we will have one of my favorite artists, Francois Schuiten and writer Benoit Peeters in our booth.  Here is the cover art for that book:

The Leaning Girl by Alaxis Press/Stephen D. Smith, Publisher – 1st English Translation

If you are on social media, please join me here and please connect with me here & spread the word:

http://facebook.com/davedormansstudio

http://facebook.com/davedormanwastedlands

http://linkedin/com/in/thedavedorman

http://twitter.com/davedorman

I am also on Reddit and if any of you want me to do a live Q & A there or a Tweet Chat on Twitter, just let me know and I’ll get it set up.

Also, you may want to check out my wife Denise Dorman’s blog, for a rare peek behind the curtain of life in the Dorman Household: http://comicbookwife.com. She is making me homemade potato salad for Father’s Day, which is a treat for me.

Thanks for reading & have a great day!

Dave.

Dave Dorman: Last Public Appearance in 2013

Dear Friends,

I will be doing a children’s learn-to-draw teaching demo event with Barnes & Noble in West Dundee, Illinois (Spring Hill Mall) on Friday, November 22nd from 5 – 7 p.m.  This is a chance for children ages 5 – 12 to learn “How to Draw Star Wars Art.” I will be presenting this demo and coaching attendees on their drawing skills.  If you live in the Chicagoland area and are looking for a really engaged bookstore offering family-friendly events, check out this particular Barnes & Noble.

In other news, I am continuing my pre-holiday sale on my convention Giclee’ prints – just $25, since I won’t be doing any more conventions until 2014, so buy them here: http://www.davedorman.com/dormanartprints.shtml

Here’s the art demo piece I did for Blick Art Supplies last weekend – a zombie Stormtrooper (photography by Kim Evans Worley):

If you’re in the Midwest and looking for a family-friendly comic book convention, Indy PopCon in Indianapolis May 30 – June 1st will be the show to attend. This new show is run by my friend Larry Zore, of Comics Price Guide fame. If you’re an artist or vendor interested in being a part of Indy PopCon, please contact denise@writebrainmedia.com. Indianapolis is a really cool city to check out, and they have a wonderful children’s museum there.

Remember to check out the critically acclaimed horror comic “The Other Dead” Issue #2 – it’s getting really fun as the tension builds. Issue #3 will be out soon as well. The Other Dead Issue #1 is sold out and reprints are in transition. The Other Dead Synopsis: Louisiana is Ground Zero for the animal kingdom to become zombified, as a Katrina-like hurricane bears down on Louisiana.

I was pleased to hear that the Joliet Star Wars Day Library Event I’ve been participating in the last three years has grown to become the largest worldwide according to Lucasfilm, so that’s great news for the City of Joliet.

I’m in the throes of clearing out my garage this week and I rediscovered my QVC appearance, so I will be digitizing that to throw online for you to have a good laugh. I also found my WEAR-TV (Pensacola ABC affiliate) appearance on BETA, so I’ll have to find someone to reformat it. I’m still missing my SciFi Channel appearance, so if anyone out there has video of it, I’d like to see it again.

If you have a moment and you haven’t already, please “Like” my Facebook Fan Pages. They are as follows:

• http://facebook.com/davedormanwastedlands
• http://facebook.com/davedormansstudio

Have a great Sunday & thanks for reading,

Dave

DAVE DORMAN STAR WARS PRINTS SALE – 2 Prints for $100

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to announce a July sale of my Dave Dorman limited edition STAR WARS artist proofs prints – 2 prints of your choice for just $100! Here’s the link so you can start shopping:

http://www.davedorman.com/swprintsjulysale.shtml

Enjoy your shopping trip – these are great for birthdays, anniversaries, early Christmas shopping and more!

As always, I thank you for your interest in my work.

Dave.

Dave Dorman on the State of the Comics Industry and Digital Art

Dear Friends,

I thank all of you who came to see me at C2E2. It’s always good to see familiar faces at the show. It was great to reconnect with many of my friends there and some winners of the Writers & Illustrators of the Future Awards as well. One key business dinner meeting resulted in some exciting news about my own action-adventure western series The Wasted Lands and I look forward to sharing that news when I can. Suffice it to say there will be plenty of new Wasted Lands material to see at my Booth #4500 at San Diego Comic-Con this year.

Image of M. d’Cease, the sexy, bad-assed coroner of Mortal City in Dave Dorman’s Wasted Lands.

I was flattered to read today that some of the Star Wars  fans would like to see me do the next movie poster. Here’s their comments: http://bitly.com/137QU69

I did a 2-part interview at Hypno Comics in Ventura, CA a couple of weeks ago with owner George Chase, and a special thanks to Jeffrey Willerth at SliceofSciFi.com for everything he did to create the piece. In this interview, George & I discuss the state of the comics industry and what I, as a traditional artist, really think about digital art, and the deficits I see in a lot of younger artists — deficits that can be fixed if they’re aware of them. Here’s a link to that interview: http://bitly.com/17DN5qj

My next big show is Spectrum Fantasy Art Live in Kansas City May 17th, 18th and 19th, so I look forward to reconnecting with my artist friends and fans there. I will have some original art pieces there that aren’t typical of what you’ve seen from me in the past. Here is a link to information on that show: http://bitly.com/ZHfkTm

Today I deliver my painting to our close family friends, the Haleys, and their lovely daughter Lauren, who patiently posed for this piece I did for the Visions of Oz Gallery Show in Los Angeles, curated by Taylor White:

Dave Dorman’s “Dorothy Daydreams” Painting. Oil and acrylic on canvas. 24″ x 36.”

As always, I thank you for reading. If you have questions, I answer them more readily on Facebook – that link is https://facebook.com/davedormanfanpage. On Twitter I’m @DaveDorman and my wife is @WriteBrainMedia. On LinkedIn, I’m https://linkedin.com/in/thedavedorman. Feel free to connect with me on my social media sites.

Dave.