See you at Supanova - A027 in artists alley!!

Hi all.

Supanova sydney starts tomorrow!!!!!

Due to family committments I can only make it for the saturday, but I am super excited to be there. Rest assured the Bolt Comics team will be there all weekend with a ready supply of all things Bolt Comics including both issues of 'A Brigand's Tale'.

This year I will also be selling some original, hand crafted pen and ink artworks as well:

I will also be taking commissions if you would like something else done for you in my unique artistic style.

We will be in artists alley at table  A027. Come on up and say hi!

Here's a link to a special preview of 'A Brigand's Tale' number 2 :

http://issuu.com/home/statistics/publications/abt2_preview

If you make it to Supanova but would like to commission me, please send an email to info@boltcomics.net and we can get rolling!

Feel free to comment below.

Wrapping up ABT #2

Another week down, and another week closer to COMIC GONG.

Last year COMIC GONG was massive, this year it's looking to be even Bigger!

So the race is on for issue 2 of 'A Brigand's Tale' to get wrapped up for launch in my old home town of Wollongong!

At present I can confirm that we are about 85% complete. 

Issue 2 has been a bit of a mad science experiment. A nice way of saying a dogs breakfast.

Some pages have been completely digital. Some pages have been a bit of both. As usual many panels have been redrawn multiple times.

I have tried some different approaches to production, not all of them successful... production on this book has been shelved or stalled over the last year for a variety of reasons but I am finally on track to wrap this bad boy up.

The Good news is that from issue 2 you will start to see some of the pieces of the puzzle come together regarding the past, and is it possible that those we thought were friends are really enemies?

And who is this guy?

Or this guy for that matter?

So much adventure (and feels) crammed into this thing I can't wait for you all to get your hands on it!

Feel free to post your comments below!

Follow my tweets: twitter.com/TheDanTribe






A Brigand's Tale, Brigand, Shadowthief, Zippy and all distinctive likenesses thereof are trademark and copyright Daniel Tribe 2015. All rights reserved.

Fast comics?

As longsuffering fans of A Brigand's Tale can attest, Dan is one heck of a slow artist.

Probably because he is slacking off learning how to colour using his favourite new toy - Adobe Photoshop.

taking panels from this:

To this:

There is some argument to the quality of the colouring, but hey, we all need to start somewhere, right?

BUT - Dan has been researching ways to get things done faster.

He stumbled upon this gem and it's well worth a share:

https://medium.com/artist-advice/speed-comicking-c4ef2eb4c29b

Who knows, Dan may even follow some of this advice and get faster himself...

Is he right?

Is he wrong? 

Is Dan a rubbish colourist?

Feel free to comment below to discuss.

A Brigands Tale, Brigand, Broadside and all distinctive likenesses thereof are trademark & copyright Daniel Tribe 2015. All rights reserved.

Competition Winner Announcement!

Hi Again,

It was a tough job, but after much deliberation I have arrived at a winner for the Brigand Pin Up competition!!!

Here's the winning piece:

This inspired depiction of everyone's favourite Hunter striking a pose (typical Brigand!) was penned by the uber talented Evan Newby!

Evan is a Wollongong based master of all things graphical. He runs drawing workshops if you are around his neck of the woods that would be well worth checking out. More info here: www.facebook.com/pages/e-for-animation-Drawing-Class/138116549614469

Congratulations Evan! Your pin up will feature in 'A Brigand's Tale #2' due to be launched at

Comic Gong in May this year.

Thanks to all the other entrants, the quality of the entries made for a tough contest!

If you would like to send us your Brigand fan art, feel free and we will post it up on the blog and facebook! 

Email a copy of your Bolt Comics fan art to info@boltcomics.net!

A Brigands Tale, Brigand and all distinctive likenesses thereof are copyright and Trademark Dan Tribe 2015. All rights Reserved.

New stuff coming soon featuring Brigand!

Convention season starts early this year with local (for me) Geek Culture Event NOWCON making it's return after a 2 year hiatus in sunny downtown Nowra, New South Wales.

As one of the initial instigators/organisers of NOWCON way back in the day it nice to see it continuing on without any real direct input from myself.

This will be the first time I get to table the full suite of Bolt Comics stuff in my local area so I'm super excited to introduce the Bolt Comics goodness to some more locals.

I've even started dabbling into prints.

Anyone familiar with Bolt Comics or A Brigand's Tale would be well aware pin up style images and powerful cover images are the speciality of Bolt Comics CEO (and The Adventurers creator) Andrew Tribe.

I mean,just look at those Adventurers covers, gorgeous stuff! Although the back up story in issue 2 I drew is pretty rad I must admit.

As the artist for A Brigand's Tale I'm not too proud to say I struggle with the epic imagery that such things need to convey,

But you don't improve by not doing a thing so I thought I would make a print and stretch my artistic muscles.

I came up with an image I think is pretty cool and have decided to do a Limited edition print run of 25 copies to celebrate getting back to my roots at Nowcon.

Here's a sneak peek:

These will be available for sale from Nowcon onwards for $10 a piece. Any left overs will be available to purchase at Comic Gong in May this year where (the long overdue) A Brigand's Tale #2 will also be launched.

For more info on Nowcon go here: www.facebook.com/Nowconinfo

Follow all the latest Bolt Comics news here: www.boltcomics.net

And you can always keep in touch with all things Brigand right here or follow me on the twitters: twitter.com/TheDanTribe


All artwork on this page is copyright their respective creators. All rights reserved.
Brigand and A Brigand's Tale and distinctive likenesses thereof are TM and copyright 2015 Daniel Tribe. All rights reserved.
The Adventurers and distinctive likenesses thereof are TM and copyright 2015 AndrewTribe. All rights reserved.

STOP PRESS: A Brigand's Tale goes international!

Hey all.

I've been super busy in my day job as it is tax time in Australia so apologies for the lack of posting.

But I finally figured out to get a reasonably sized PDF of everybody's favourite Hunter out into the whole wide world this morning while driving to work so I thought I would give it a try!

Yep, Brigand and the gang are now international.

For less than one lousy US dollar you can now get your Brigand fix of swash buckling anthropomorphic adventure from anywhere in the world DRM free (mostly because I can't figure out how to do any of that stuff!)

 Well, I'm not totally sure but let's give it a go...

You can follow this here link to access all the digital goodness: https://sellfy.com/p/KIe0/ 

Feel free to share the news because it's a fun filled book people of any age can enjoy!

So until next time, make mine Brigand!

 Tweet me!: twitter.com/TheDanTribe

All artwork on this post and A Brigand's Tale is copyright Dan Tribe 2014. All rights reserved. 

Practice makes perfect

hey folks,

For about a year now I have been subscribed to this great blog, written by the creator of Dinotopia, Mr James Gurney.

His blog covers all types of art and is riddled with inspiration.

You can view it here: http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com

Also any guy who can sell a million copies of his book is a guy I want to be gleaning as much info as possible off!!

He regularly draws/paints out in the open, known as Plein-air painting, but the thing that rocked me was this - he is constantly drawing.

This really got me going, because I spend most of my free time trying to get something-anything done on 'A Brigand's Tale' that I don't spend as much time actually getting better at drawing things.

So I'm resolved to do more drawing to get my skills up, which should make 'A Brigand's Tale' an ever better product.

Won't you all join me in  doing a sketch a day?

I will post them to my twitter which is twitter.com/TheDanTribe

Til next time, find a way or find an excuse!

Dinotopia is Copyright James Gurney 2014. All rights Reserved.

Another Supanova Wrap up..

Yes, its that time of year when we navel gaze about being in Artist's alley(hereafter referred to as 'the Alley' because it sounds edgy...) at Supanova...

...but everyone else has already been in raptures or in tears about how well or poorly they did. 

So I'll just talk about how Bolt Comics dealt with the highs and lows of 3 big days in 'the Alley'

Our Goal - Have fun. 

Mission Accomplished.

We figured the way to be attractive to passers by is to be having fun.

To our good fortune the folks on either side stall were super cool and we had a blast with them...

Art prodigy and anime man fan John Hanna from Midnight Runners rocked our world with this super cool A Brigand's Tale  pin up I commissioned!

I busted out the electronic crayons and coloured it in!

If you don't know who these characters are pick up a copy of A Brigand's Tale at our online store here: http://boltcomics.bigcartel.com/product/a-brigand-s-tale

I also got the chance to hang with some totally rad dudes and childhood (and manhood) heroes...

Rollin' with my Green peeps

Finally I also managed to test my true grit of a Street Fighter against not one but 2 of the Earths Mightiest Heroes, Cap & Hawkeye!

I bet the Cap and Hawkeye didn't even see me coming with at 'em with my patented 'Dance-fighting' style...


We also sold some comics and gave away a TON of free sketches to any one nice enough to give our work a try.

I even got to match real people's faces to Twitter handles!!

Wowsers, just as well I have a few more months to recover before doing it all again at OzComiccon in September!

All in all, I just wanted to get back to the board and start smashing out A Brigand's Tale #2 out there for people to enjoy...

Feel free to comment below or hit me up on the twitters: www.twitter.com/theDanTribe 

A Brigand's Tale, Brigand, Warper, SneakThief, Malice, Cheeks and Broadside are copyright Dan Tribe 2014. All rights reserved.

Readers thoughts on A Brigand's Tale Issue 1...

Hey peeps!

Even though A Brigand's Tale has only been out a few weeks now I have already received fan mail!

Additionally, other readers have taken the time to respond and give me their thoughts on Bolt Comics' latest title.

The most exciting one was from primary schooler Tia who told me: "It was great...I bet the next one will be way better and cooler than the first".

Exciting because:

1) I got a HAND WRITTEN letter from a fan!

2) If I had made the book darker, or mature readers content Tia may never have had the chance fro me to help her fall in love with Brigand and Co, and comics in general.

3) She liked it.

Below is sample of some other feedback I have received from other valued readers:

"Really dug the art in it"

"I thought it was bloody fantastic!"

"It was great. Nice done-in-one tale"

"So great, you left me hanging for the next issue"

If you have'nt had the chance to pick up your copy yet, fear not!

The Bolt Comics gang will be at Supanova Sydney all weekend from Friday June 13th to Sunday June 15!

Track us down in artist's alley we are at booth A092.

I have it on good authority we will be giving out FREE hi-fives all weekend long.

If you can't make it to Supanova we have now got all the Bolt Comics titles available over on our web store here:

http://boltcomics.bigcartel.com/

On a different note, I have found that creators appreciate getting feedback on their work, and I am now much more mindful of letting them know my thoughts on their stuff.

So tell me what you think is worth reading in the comments below:

or Tweet me: twitter.com/TheDanTribe

Refining the Comic making process

I'm currently working on the initial stages of A Brigand's Tale number 2. 

I have just released number 1 last weekend at ComicGong, if you did not pick up a copy there, fear not! We will be at Supanova in Sydney on June 13, 14 & 15!! 

If you just can't wait, email us on info@boltcomics.net and we can mail you a copy!!

Anyway, back to the process.

I thought I would go through some of the changes in my philosophy now that I have some more pages under my belt.

Goals for each issue

In issue one of A Brigand's Tale my 2 main goals were:

• Characters should look as "un-wooden" as possible in their movements
• Readers should be able to know exactly what is happening on the page with no ambiguity

for example:

 Broadside schooling some bandits!

To a large degree (in my opinion) it was a success under those guidelines. In the example above, its pretty clear what is going on, and the movements of the figures are fluid.

So for issue 2 I'm taking great pains to continue that trend but add some other requirements.

I'm not going to go through the 2nd issue goals, however here is an example of upholding the high  self imposed standards at Bolt Comics. 

Here's the first panel of Number 2 as initially inked.

As you can see I'm trying to establish the location and the characters, while leaving ample room for the dialogue balloons.

But I just wasn't happy with it.

So here we are with a newer version, that to me at least shows the 3 characters in the forest, and still leaving ample room for the dialogue.

 I then added some blacks to add some more shadows, shape etc.

I think it helps to tell the story a bit better.

What do you think? Did I make the wrong decision?

 

Leave a comment below or tweet me here: twitter.com/TheDanTribe 

As ever I welcome your thoughts and feedback!

A Brigands tale and all artwork shown copyright Daniel Tribe 2014. All rights reserved.