| Where did you buy Good Neighbors 2? |
[Nov. 9th, 2009|04:45 pm] |
Originally published at TedNaifeh.com. You can comment here or there. Time for so fan feedback! For those folks who haven’t found a copy, I’d like everyone who bought Good Neighbors vol.2 to share where they got it and how they liked it. I’m still not sure how widely it’s been distributed in comics stores, thought I assume it’s in bookstores now. Also…
Buy Good Neighbors on Amazon
Reviews are welcome. |
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| APE 2009 |
[Oct. 14th, 2009|06:41 pm] |
Originally published at TedNaifeh.com. You can comment here or there. Alternative Press Expo, San Francisco’s hippest Comics convention, is coming up this weekend. I don’t have a table this year, but I’ll be at the Isotope Comics Lounge party on Saturday night. Come by and get a signed copy of Good Neighbors Vol 2. Or even just a cocktail. |
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| Good Neighbors 2 |
[Oct. 7th, 2009|11:05 am] |
Originally published at TedNaifeh.com. You can comment here or there. Good Neighbors Vol 2 comes out today. Get it at your local comics shop or bookstore. What’s that? Didn’t get Good Neighbors Vol 1? That’s okay, it comes out in paperback for just 10 lousy bucks! As ever, I’m reluctant to have a look, because usually the first thing I do is zero in on the things I drew badly and freak out at them. Nonetheless, I might stop in at my local shop, Isotope, and take a look. |
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| Writer’s Block |
[Sep. 28th, 2009|02:09 pm] |
Originally published at TedNaifeh.com. You can comment here or there. Joanne Rowling once explained that she rewrote chapter one of the first Harry Potter book five times. The whole chapter was foreshadowing. She kept giving too much away, and would rewrite it more and more cryptically, until she settled on the present version.
I always thought book 1 chapter 1 was the weakest part of the entire Harry Potter series, and feel that Rowling might have done better to cut the entire chapter and do without it.
With the script of Princess Ugg almost finished, I’m finding myself going back and rewriting the opening scene over and over, trying to get it right. For a while, I had it to a point where nothing was wrong with it except that the whole thing was wrong. Time to start over.
In the meantime, here are some early concept sketches.
[singlepic id=153 w=400 h= float=]
[singlepic id=156 w=400 h= float=] |
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| Technology = Poop |
[Sep. 21st, 2009|01:20 pm] |
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I note that my crosspostings from my site allow no comments. I'm not sure if that's a setting I can correct or not. Anyway, if you Livejournal users are waiting for a direct post to Livejournal to comment on anything you've seen on my new website, here's the chance. Is anyone even using livejournal still, or has it gone the way of Friendster? |
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| Into the Lair of Dragon*Con |
[Aug. 31st, 2009|09:57 pm] |
Originally published at TedNaifeh.com. You can comment here or there. Yes, My friends, Dragon*Con is coming up fast. It’s time for mayhem in stormtrooper drag and chance encounters with TV celebrities of yesteryear. I will be in the Pop Artist Alley, and will be signing and sketching all weekend. Also see me in panels such as:
Illstration and Artistry in YA on Friday Night at 11:30 PM (that will be a wild one, let me tell you) in Marriot room A707 (are you writing this down? Good!)
Also:
Scary Faerie Tales, Saturday at 1:00 PM in the Hyatt’s Montreal/Vancouver room (if you can find it in the maze).
What are these panels about? It doesn’t matter! They’re fun for the whole family, and I’ll be on hand to make sure they don’t get boring.
Also, a free quick sketch for anyone who gives me the secret password, which will be “AAAAAAAAAARRR!!!”
Be sure to say it loud!
do illustrations/artwork find their way into published works? Graphic novels… changing how young adults read? Does the visual impact literature? |
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| Interview |
[Aug. 28th, 2009|01:21 pm] |
Originally published at TedNaifeh.com. You can comment here or there. Whoops, almost forgot to mention it here. Lan Pitts of Newsarama did a quick interview with me to talk about my new site, plug my latest, etc. Here it is. |
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| Polly Vol 2 |
[Aug. 25th, 2009|01:20 am] |
Originally published at TedNaifeh.com. You can comment here or there. I’m currently beavering away at Polly volume 2. It hasn’t been decided whether it shall be a six-issue miniseries, a GN, or three “prestige format” issues, as I’ve been doing with Courtney. Interestingly, as a writer artist, I understand why artists get the big bucks and writers get the big recognition. Writing is 80% inspiration; art, 80% perspiration. With Polly, once I get a good head of steam going, I can knock out an issue script in a day. But it takes weeks of outlining, thinking and rethinking, doubting, worrying about the gun on the wall in Act 1 and whether I can work its discharge into Act 3. Still, it takes a month of work and worry to write a six-issue series, and six months to draw it. On the other hand, when I don’t have inspiration to guide me, no amount of work in the world will prevent a story from being utterly mediocre, as my editors will attest.
Discuss… |
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| LAUNCH! |
[Aug. 22nd, 2009|07:10 pm] |
Originally published at TedNaifeh.com. You can comment here or there. My new website is officially launched. It’s a little bare right now, but there’s a gallery, a links page, and of course, a place here for folks to post comments and chat with me. Please don’t be shy to post your thoughts, long or short, and I’ll be checking and responding regularly.
Also, I intend to post a fan-art and con sketch gallery, but I have to go through my closet and find some of the great art you folks have sent over the years. Somewhere, I still have a photo of the first tattoo based on my work, which was a Gloomcookie cover. But if you have fan-art or con sketches you want me to put up in the gallery, send them.
In other news, the script for Polly Vol. 2 continues apace. I’ll let you know when it’s done, and post art as it becomes available. The artist for Volume 2 is the amazing Robbi Rodriquez, whose website can be found here.
Finally, I’m starting a twitter account, which is to say, I have become a twit! Look me up. |
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| New Website Launched! |
[Aug. 22nd, 2009|04:22 pm] |
My website has been resurrected into a sleeker, more modern Wordpress format. Go to tednaifeh.com to check it out. I'm still working out the bugs to link it to my livejournal.
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| Under Construction |
[Jul. 31st, 2009|07:26 am] |
Originally published at tednaifeh.com. You can comment here or there. Greetings, o internet users. I’m currently working on a new wordpress site, though in times past, I found Dreamweaver much simpler. I’m currently trying to install an acceptable gallery. Please stay tuned for the grand relaunch of tednaifeh.com! |
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| Comic-Con... again? |
[Jul. 22nd, 2009|10:01 pm] |
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Just a quick one to remind folks to come see me at the Oni Press table at Comic-Con this weekend. Also, the Oni Panel is tomorrow (Thursday the 23rd) at 2:00. See your booklet for location. Hope to see you there. Anyone who comes to my table and says "pamplemousse" gets a free sketch. |
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| See you in San Diego! |
[Jun. 30th, 2009|12:05 am] |
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at Comic-Con at the end of July. I'll be appearing daily at the Oni Press table, selling original artwork and doing sketches for $10 and up. Check back here for the schedule - I'll try to post it when I get it. I'll also be drawing sketches at the Cartoon Art Museum sketch-a-thon in exchange for donations to the museum, which is located in San Francisco and is well worth a visit. In a final bit of San Diego news, I'm resigned to losing my third Eisner nomination, this one for The Good Neighbors with Holly Black for Best Publication for Teens/Tweens, to Neil Gaiman for Coraline. I'm not interested in the prestige, but it's a very pretty award that would look rather nice in my living room. Maybe next time.
In case you're wondering what's on the drawing table right now, I'm in the home stretch of Good Neighbors volume two, finishing up the inks and looking forward to moving on to Princess Ugg and other projects.
I have been successfully peer-pressured into joining Facebook. I'm not posting much so far, but it would be fun to connect with more people there, so don't be shy to friend me. |
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| Convention season ramps up! |
[Mar. 31st, 2009|02:33 pm] |
First, thanks so much for all of the reviews, comments and suggestions you posted in response to my last entry. Unfortunately, I still haven't gotten around to revamping my website, but it's among my short-term goals.
I enjoyed nearly all of my January signing tour in France, which included stops in Paris, Tours, Annecy, Montpellier, Dijon and Lyon, all beautiful cities filled with wonderful people and amazing food. The only part I didn't enjoy was catching a stomach bug and sadly having to cancel an appearance in Grenoble.
I am currently working on the second volume of Good Neighbors, entitled Kith. I think you'll like it; the tension ratchets up, and there's even more fun and more faeries. Next up is Princess Ugg, which I'm very excited about.
I'm sorry a lot of you haven't been able to get hold of the most recent Courtney book, Prince of Nowhere. The good news is that it and its predecessor, Fire-Thief's Tale, have been combined into a single trade about her European vacation with Aloysius. It's called Courtney Crumrin's Monstrous Holiday, and it hit the shelves last week.
I wanted to let everyone know that I'll be at two - TWO - conventions this month: Emerald City ComiCon in Seattle this weekend, April 4th & 5th; and FX International Comic & Toy Show in Orlando April 17th through 19th. Look for me at the Oni Press booth. I hope to get a chance to meet some of you there.
Later this summer you'll find me at San Diego ComiCon and of course Dragon*Con, my favorite event of the year, over Labor Day weekend in Atlanta. |
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| Random Thoughts |
[Dec. 17th, 2008|06:15 am] |
Hi all. Just thought I'd check in and not leave everything for months again like I did last time. Let's see...
First, I wanted to thank everyone who picked up the new Courtney book. It's a real pleasure to read all the press about it, both good and bad (though there isn't any bad so far) and see people at festivals enjoying it so much. Now I'd like to hear from you folks. please write your reviews here.
Second, now that The Good Neighbors has been out for while, I'm curious as to how people felt about that as well. Did you like the different style? I know it came out a bit dark. Thoughts? Opinions?
Currently I'm working on the next volume of Good Neighbors, and after that, I'm starting work on Princess Ugg. As for my other projects in progress, Courtney will take a hiatus until 2010, when I'll put out the sequel to Portrait of a Warlock. Polly and the Pirates is looking for a new artist. I want to continue drawing the book myself, but I can't do it all. Once we've settled on someone, I'll post samples.
As for my web presence, I haven't had time to hunt up a new webmaster, but if anyone is interested and works cheap (I'm just an indy creator after all) I'd be please to check out your portfolio.
Also, I'm thinking of moving this bulletin board from Livejournal to either Myspace, Facebook, or some other blog site that I can update easily. Does anyone have a preference? Speak your minds, especially those of you who don't have Livejournal.
That's all for now. Hope you folks have a happy holiday season, and if you know a grumpy, angry, or just plain secretive young someone that needs a pick-me-up, remember the Courtney Crumrin makes a good stocking stuffer. |
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| 2008 update. |
[Oct. 10th, 2008|05:57 pm] |
It's been a year. Where to start?
The 64-page Courtney Crumrin and the Fire-Thief's Tale came out last year. It was great to keep Courtney's story going and feature Aloysius more. I explore his character even further in the next Courtney book. I also really got a kick out of working with some of the Old World monsters, looking into the roots of those traditions and giving them my own interpretation. You can find a review of Fire-Thief here. Here are the cover and five pages:( Read more... )
Then I took six months to draw the first of three graphic novels with Holly Black, Good Neighbors: Kin. It's been earning some positive press,* and I'm excited about getting started on the next book, Kith. Holly is easy to work with, and it's fun to put faces on her characters. Here are the front and back covers and an assortment of five pages with no text.( Read more... )
I recently finished the companion volume to Fire-Thief. It's entitled Courtney Crumrin and the Prince of Nowhere, and it continues Courtney's travels with Aloysius in Eastern Europe. It may sound arrogant, but I consider it my best work, both in storytelling and art, so far in my career. It's more of the emotional rollercoaster you expect from Courtney: sad but funny, thoughtful but with some neat fight scenes. It's due to hit the shelves in November, and I can't wait to find out what fans think of it. Fire-Thief and Prince will eventually be bound into a trade paperback called Courtney Crumrin's Monstrous Holiday. Here's the cover and page. ( See the samples... )
For a more in-depth breakdown of my recent work, check out the interview at Sequential Tart and an upcoming interview at Newsarama. Beware some spoilers for the newest Courtney book in the Newsarama piece.
Apart from that I've enjoyed meeting fans at Wondercon, San Diego Comic Con, on a fabulous signing tour in France, and at my personal favorite event of the year, DragonCon. In the next few months, I plan to attend APE and New York Comicon.
My new favorite way to waste time when I should be drawing is playing guitar. I got an acoustic Fender on Craigslist and got started with some tutorials on YouTube. I've been adding to my repertoire of Nick Cave and Magnetic Fields songs, and my girlfriend evens chimes in on backup vocals.
My website is hopelessly out of date, and now a complete mess - my webmistress retired from the biz - and will hopefully be getting a complete overhaul soon. Sorry to let it get so stale. I hope the pages I'm including here will tide you over in the meantime.
For those of you curious about what's going on with Polly, I'm working with Oni Press to find another artist to take over, but I'll continue writing it myself.
Thanks for sticking with me and continuing to buy the books. I hope to have more and even better offerings in the future.
*Please let the record show that this article contains a few typos, and that I know the difference between aesthetic and ascetic.
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| Comic-Con 2007! |
[Jul. 17th, 2007|11:33 pm] |
San Diego's Comic-Con International is nigh! I will have no booth this year, but will appear regularly at the Oni Press booth, plus that of Death Jr.'s publisher, Backbone Entertainment, and Scholastic, to promote my Goosebumps book. My signing schedule is as follows.
Thursday
Oni Press: 1:30 – 2:50
Friday
Oni Press1:30 – 2:50
Saturday
Oni Press: 12:00 – 1:20
Scholastic: 3:00 – 4:00
Sunday
Oni Press:10:30 – 11:50
Check back for more times and additional info. See you there. |
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