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 July Updates

Dear Friends,

My longtime friend Stephen D. Smith of Alaxis Press is thisclose to reaching his Kickstarter goal of $30k for the first-ever approved English version of “The Leaning Girl” by one of my favorite graphic novel publishing teams, Francois Schuiten and and Benoit Peeters – here’s a link if you’re interested in supporting this book. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/51096880/the-leaning-girl-translated-graphic-novel-project

Additionally, IDW Publishing has just announced my new 1-in-10 variant President Obama cover art for their new book, “The Other Dead” about a zombified animal kingdom, by Joshua Ortega, Digger T. Mesch and Kevin Eastman. Here it is:

 

As always, thanks for reading – I will be posting more very soon. If you’re attending #SDCC this year, be sure to see me at Booth #4500 and “Like” my fan page for my creator-owned book at https://www.facebook.com/davedormanwastedlands. As for me, I’m looking forward to more “Under the Dome” this week.

Dave.

My Thoughts on Thanksgiving Weekend

Dear Friends,

I have so much to be thankful for this year, I don’t know where to begin. I’m thankful for those closest to me–my wife, my son, my best friend Steve Smith, my friend Charlie Athanas, my in-laws who have helped me out tremendously this past year, Colin Pritchard of Rocket No. 9, Kevin Sandstrom at Blick Art Supply, the 501st, (especially Chris Spice of top-rated Star Wars site Sandtroopers.com) the great art directors and editors I’ve worked with this past year, and also for all of you who take an interest in my art and are the reason I keep doing what I do. I am thankful for my U.S. military family, for USACares.org and  for The Dennis Miller Radio Show who has been kind enough to have me on to share my projects and my military art passion project, Project 52.

I especially thank all of you who have purchased my new art career retrospective and memoir book, ROLLING THUNDER: THE ART OF DAVE DORMAN, by IDW Publishing/Desperado Publishing, either for yourselves, or for a loved one as a holiday gift. Even if the book wasn’t mine, I would enjoy 4.5 pounds of art in hardcover to peruse over my mulled cider during the holidays.

Today I wanted to share another blog with you, written by my friend and fellow 501st member David Syczylo. David is the Snowtrooper who posed for me for this year’s Star Wars Celebration painting. He did an excellent job of explaining the poses, not to mention providing us all with a brilliant display he has created of my Star Wars Celebration prints:

http://www.djsyczylo.net/chronicles/DormanHoth/DormanHoth.htm

I hope you enjoy David’s blog as much as I did about how the Star Wars Celebration piece came about. The best part of this project? I have been very fortunate to get to know David over the past 6 months and he is a special person to me and my wife. You will never meet a kinder or more giving person. He drove all of the way to my home in northern Illinois from Indianapolis just to pose for me, and refused to take even  gas money. That’s the kind of guy David is. Ask him about his film career when you meet him. He has great stories.

Thanks for reading. More to come. I just did a Captain Marvel this past weekend for the very first time in my career, but I have to check with an editor first to see when I can post it.

Be safe this holiday weekend,

Dave.

P.S. I finally got to see “Walking Dead.” I’m hooked. What do you all think of it? Any of you watching? If not, check it out – let’s compare notes. My friend and fellow judge in the December 6th Chicago 10-minute horror play international competition Death Scribe 2010, Jay Bonansinga, is writing the novelization of the series and he’s an excellent writer.

Happy Birthday, Ray Harryhausen

Dear Friends,

Here’s the Ray Harryhausen tribute cover I did for MonsterScene Magazine back in the ’90s. This was a lot of fun for me, since I’m such a huge Harryhausen fan. Jeff Preston, Steve Smith and I ended up at a show with Ray, who was kind enough to autograph the matte of the framed original I gifted to Steve Smith, my best friend & Editor-in-Chief of MonsterScene. Good times…

Dave Dorman's Ray Harryhausen Tribute Painting: MonsterScene Issue 7

Thanks for reading,

Dave.