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.

ABT 2 off to the printers!

It's done. Gone to the printers.

And I'll admit it, it's done a little later than I had scheduled *coughDecember2014cough* but hey, that's how the cookie crumbles.

And while the slowness is down to me, I can't take all the credit for the finished product.

In my humble opinion, A Brigand's Tale Number 2 is in every respect superior to number 1.

Some of that may be from me, but it is largely due to the assistance from 2 other collaborators.

First off is Mike Stoneburner, not only did he write the 4 page back up story in this issue loaded with the feels, but he really helped refine a lot of the dialogue in the scenes in the book, and helped 'fantasy it up a notch' with his prose exposition skills. He also added some great jokes!

Then, while I think I did an OK job on the art chores, John, the man behind Midnight Runners publishing stepped in at the last minute and executed screentones on the art that just takes the whole thing to another level!

Not gonna lie, those 2 make me look good, but most importantly you, the reader will enjoy it moreover because of the effort and talent these guys put into the book.

So to celebrate, and because due to various family commitments, I will be unable to launch the book a ComicGong, but still go to that one, there will be a brand new issue of The Adventurers launched there that wraps up the first story arc for those cuddly critters! 

or even attend, this bad boy will now be officially launched at Supanova Sydney - yeee harrrrr!

To make up for this, from next week I will begin posting a page a week from ABT #2 replete with annotations.

Until then, stay tuned!

Brigand is trademak and Copyright Daniel Tribe. All rights reserved.

Keep up with all the Bolt Comics news by liking our Facebook page here:

www.facebook.com/BoltComics

Tips and tricks part 2

If you work digitally, this may not be of interest to you. 

This post is pretty much about if you wanna make a mess and literally get your fingers dirty.

I don't begrudge people who work digitally. I get it. It's faster. Your lines are straight, you can copy and paste backgrounds, instant resizing, blah,blah,blah. 

Don't get me wrong, some of my best friends are exclusively digital. 

And that is all good. 

But for me personally, nothing is actually more FUN than splashing ink on paper. 

and ultimately I make comics because it is fun. 

The more fun the better.

I am a relative beginner so see below for some great resources I swiped from pros who are actually awesome and make this stuff look easy:

Artist extraordinaire Tom Richard on inking:

http://www.tomrichmond.com/blog/2006/08/21/inking-tutorial-part-i/

http://www.tomrichmond.com/blog/2006/08/22/inking-tutorial-part-ii/

Inking demo vides with one of my art heroes Sean G Murphy, I love the bit where he just pushes the ink with his fingers...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jelTniKtlZY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpOelUJqLA4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oO2J2ponho

Enjoy!

Think I'm wrong? Let me know in the comments below:

Tips & tricks part 1

I wouldn't go so far as to call it a 'pro-tip', but hey I found a neat little trick that works for me.

Here it is. You ready for this?

Sometimes all the art work for a page isn't done on the same page...whoa man, that's crazy talk. 

Is it?

I first discovered this looking at Justin Randall's development blog for his award winning 'Changing Ways' series. I also noticed that dry brushing master Greg Ruth used a similar technique in his phenomenal art work on CONAN volume 0: Born on the Battlefield. (Buy it, read it. Easily one of the best Conan stories ever, and I have read A LOT of Conan stories.)

Get this - Justin only uses one whole page PER PANEL for his work.

The advantages are obvious when you think about it. Working large gives you the advantages of simultaneously having more detail and being less fussy about every little stroke.

It's a classic win-win.

Here's an example from a Spoiler free page from the upcoming 'A Brigand's Tale' #2.

As you can see from above, panels 2 and 5 are incomplete.
From memory, I wasn't happy with those panels for one reason or another.
But not having those panels on the page meant that I could make panel 3 & 4 slightly bigger and less cramped for the inking of it. 

So what about the other panels I hear you ask?

Well, there is a whole other blank side of the paper, so I just use that side to do the other panels...

As you can see, I have A LOT more real estate for only 2 panels. Trust me when I tell you that traditional inking is much more forgiving the bigger the size your working at. Quite simply because all the big (and little) mistakes are less obvious!

Using this method I actually feel that these 2 panel pages above are actually some of the best inking I've done in terms of realising what I was going for right from the beginning.

So what now?

With the magic of Photoshop, I scan the 2 pages, resize/scale the panels as required, chuck on some panel borders and lettering and boom, the final piece...

A possible downside is selling the original art may be a bit harder, but I'm not currently being swamped by offers at the moment, and the trade off is worth it for a better quality finished product.

Am I wrong?

Let me know in the comments below!

Follow me on twitter for more sneak peeks, or get all the info on facebook here.

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

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.

NOWCON wrap up

Hi again peeps.

I can confirm that at NOWCON-reborn a great day was had by all.

I got to meet some new friends and catch up with some old ones.

I also seen quite possibly the best homemade  Deathstroke cosplay ever built.

Always a fan of original art I got around to asking some of the other artists there to contribute to an 'A Brigand's Tale'  jam piece.

The brief was simple. Just draw your take on any character from  'A Brigand's Tale'.

The result is below:

On the left we have a Robotic version of Malice - by the talented and mysterious man known only as 'Judd'.

Then we have a high booted version of Cheeks by Tinman Johnson, creator of the madcap Harvey the 29th series.

Next up is a buffer version of Sneakthief by Nowra's very own Heroic Master of Pens.

And lastly, a balletic Brigand (in some kind of homage to Jo Jo's bizarre adventure) by the one and only John Hanna from Midnight Runners.

There is some space on the right hand side for me to add my own touch to the piece.

What are your thoughts?

Should I make it a 5 character piece or leave it as a very classy piece of fan-art?

Let me know in the comments below...!

Brigand, Sneakthief,Malice, Cheeks, and distinctive likenesses thereof are  TM and copyright 2015 Daniel Tribe. 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.

Brigand makes a splash at Kinokuniya!

Last November I had to good fortune to feature one of my art works in the 22 panels exhibit.
It was held at  Kinokuniya in Sydney for around 3 weeks. Here's a quote from the curator of the exhibit, Tim McEwen:
 "Books Kinokuniya informed me that as far as they're concerned this was one of their more successful exhibitions"

High praise indeed for the comic book art form.

If you don't know about the 22 panels that always work. See the pics below.
The first is the original. The second an homage to the greatness of Wally Wood.

I'm pretty sure Wally Wood was also the guy who coined the phrase "if in doubt, black it out" so the great man is clearly a font of wisdom.

Here's my entry. Good ol' fashioned ink on Bristol!

I'll leave it to the reader to guess which of the 22 mine was.

Another plus was that just this week I found out this piece was sold (obviously to a patron of some good taste) during the course of the event!

I'm very glad that Brigand's backside is gracing someone's wall somewhere.

If you also appreciate fine art and would like to commission me to draw something for you drop us a line on the email: info@boltcomics.net 

DON'T FORGET, there is still time to enter our PIN UP CONTEST

You can also stay in touch on the twitters:
twitter.com/TheDanTribe  and twitter.com/BoltComics 
or Like us on facebook: www.facebook.com/BoltComics

All artwork on this page is copyright their respective creators. All rights reserved.
Brigand and distinctive likenesses thereof are  TM and copyright 2015 Daniel Tribe. All rights reserved.

A Brigand's Tale Pin up contest!

Hi Again,

I am in the process of finishing up the artwork for issue #2 of A Brigand's Tale and realised I have a spare page in my page count.

So I thought I would give my readers and Brigand fans alike the opportunity to have a pin-up printed in the book! 

Announcing the Brigand's Tale Pin up contest!!

Here's all the deets.

1. Artwork must only contain Bolt Comics characters. Please bear in mind this is an all ages book so keep it awesome and G rated.
2. Artwork submitted needs to be Black & White or greyscale.
3. Artwork size to be no larger than A4 in size, at a minimum of 300dpi if digital. Tiff files  preferred.
4. Any physical artwork supplied will not be returned. 
5. You grant Bolt Comics the right to reproduce the image in the book, and in the case of non wining submissions, the artwork may be posted on Bolt Comics (and its affiliates) website or social media platforms for promotional purposes.
6. The winning artist will receive  a copy of 'A Brigand's Tale' #2 signed by the artist and co-writer.As well as art credits in the credits section of the book.
7. Please email all entries to info@boltcomics.net with the subject line: 'ABT pinup contest'. If using mail, please post to:

BOLT COMICS, 

c/o 107 East St, NOWRA NSW, 2541. The closing date for entries is Sunday 22 February. Prize is not transferable for cash.

What, you haven't read it yet?

Remedy that grievous oversight immediately by getting a copy here:

http://boltcomics.bigcartel.com/product/a-brigand-s-tale

Or digitally here:

https://sellfy.com/p/KIe0/

Hopefully y'all know what the characters look like, but here's a sample if you don't.

Totally looking forward to see what you guys come up with!

Dan

Don't forget you can follow me on these as well:

twitter.com/TheDanTribe

www.facebook.com/BoltComics

Brigand, Sneakthief, Warper, Malice, Cheeks, Broadside and distinctive likenesses thereof are  TM and copyright 2015 Daniel Tribe. All rights reserved.

Hello 2015!

Hi all!

Well, it's been a while and though progress has been slow on many fronts, there has as least been progress.

I'm well and truly pumped for a big 2015.

BUT here's a quick recap of 2014.

May

A Brigand's Tale #1 launched at ComicGong. Missed out? No worries go here to catch up:

June
Bolt Comics tabled at Supanova Sydney. We got a chance to catch up with and meet some cool creators.
With the help of writer Michael Stoneburner we finalised the script for A Brigand's Tale #2 and it's a step up in terms of character development from the all out action of #1.

August
I was accepted as a member of the Australian Cartoonists Association.

September
Bolt Comics tabled at Oz Comic Con Sydney, got to meet even more cool local creators.
My work was included in the ACA yearbook along with the cream of Australian cartooning talent.



November
Brigand was featured in a piece for the 22 panels exhibition held a Kinokuniya Sydney.

December
Almost completed all the artwork for A Brigand's Tale #2

2015 is off to a bang with Brigand fan art being posted by none other than Aus comics royalty, Mr Tim McEwen of Greener Pastures fame...

 

Brigand fan art by Tim McEwen

2015 convention season kicks off for us in March with NOWCON in my adopted hometown of Nowra.
I'm hoping to get A Brigands Tale #2 out by then if I can pull my finger out.
As far as I know there are still places available at artist alley, and it is free to table there!

Hit up nowconinfo@gmail.com for details if interested.

I'm committing to blogging weekly for the rest of the year as I will have some cool stuff to share so stay tuned!


Dan

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. 

Sneak peek at A Brigands Tale #2

Hey peeps,

In my last post  I mentioned that I have some welcome assistance in the writing department with the help of one Mike Stoneburner.

Please see below herewith some snaps from the upcoming back up story that that Mike has written for 'A Brigands Tale' featuring our titular hero and a little guy having a bad day...

As you can hopefully see there's some emotion here in this little story...and that's before we include the hand crafted words of Mike to add even more feels (because emotion sounds, well, emo...)

In this short I am using my new Windsor & Newton Series 7 no.2 brush, which by all accounts is the pro artists weapon of choice. 

I admit I'm still battling with it a bit but am loving some of the texture I'm getting out if as well as some super cartoony roundness....

Please note this artwork is not final and is still in progress.

Let me know what you think in the comments section.

Til next time, keep up the true grit of a Street Fighter, even if your energy is only 1 pixel, don't give up and keep fighting!

Tweet me: twitter.com/theDanTribe

All artwork Trademark and copyright Dan Tribe 2014. All rights reserved,

More A Brigands Tale Process...making comics a Team Sport?

You may not know that A Brigands Tale is actually produced by a team of people, not just me.

I mean, sure, I do a lot of it but there are helpers in the wings who are helping me make A Brigand's Tale much better with their help than if I 'did it all'.

If you somehow missed the inaugural issue you can grab a copy here:
http://boltcomics.bigcartel.com/

A Brigand's Tale is intended to be a long form tale told in a series of single issue stories.

Usually I have a vague plot that I outline into a rough page count, and then script it.

That was the old process, now I have this great guy called Mike  who not only corrects all the spelling and grammar in my drafts, but helps flesh out the dialogue and characterisation and the feel of the world.

That's right from issue 2 the adventures of Brigand and the gang will have a co-writer.

Suffice to say this is really gonna lift the book in my opinion.
Additionally Issue 2 will feature a back up story written by entirely by Mike and drawn by me...

Here's a bit about Mike:
Michael Stoneburner is a writer from Western Sydney. He's also a writer from Lake Odessa, Michigan whose origin story was conceived in Phoenix Arizona. He could have said he was just from America, but nothing is simple in Michael's world. He's working on his debut novel and in the meantime helping create a world just as dramatic, entertaining and complicated as his own in A Brigand's Tale. His evil wannabe rants can be followed @evilgeniustobe

Then I have my very own invisible man, Troy Thompson, In the first issue of A Brigand's Tale he created every panel border and crafted every speech bubble. He is also real good at lots of other computer stuff which really helps... Issue 1 of A Brigand's Tale this was his first attempt at being part of a comic and I am very impressed with his adventurous and ambitious lettering ideas where mine always tend to be a bit bland.

Here's a bit more about Troy in his own words:

Born in Melbourne and attended school in the small Victorian town of Elmore. I loved Science fiction from a young age but did not really get in to comics till my late twenties.

My favourites are The Punisher, Daredevil and Batman. I like my superheroes (or anti-heroes) to rely on their wit and skill rather than some mystic power (no, Daredevil does not count).

I am currently Letterer and production assists with Bolt comics. I love getting feedback from our fans that I can pass on to the writers and artists. My job is to make the reader “feel” the words and “hear” the sound effects. If my job is done really well you should not even notice it, it will just amplify the great story and the amazing characters.

That's why he is the invisible man...Troy will be slightly more visible down the track as he is contributing to the writing of a back up story slated for issue #4.

Lastly, every story needs a bad guy and for me that is my editor, he goes over the details of each page and has many a time made me redraw entire pages. But it has always been to  get a better result and produce a better product, only a few times was it just because he is mean!

My editor is my big brother @Andventures, he is also the chief instigator and founder of Bolt Comics, and when he is not busy giving constructive criticism, he can be found writing and drawing Bolt Comics stablemate The Adventurers

So there you have it, it takes a lot to make a comic and these guys really help lighten the load and make my work better.

Welp, better get back to it, this comic isn't going to draw itself!!!

As always feel free to post comments/questions below:

Go make some comics and meet me back here in a week!! 

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.