More Comic-Con materials

Here's a couple pages from our new collective portfolio for Comic-Con.

How do you show animation in print? Short of a devastating ocular barrage of overwrought and 12 inch thick lenticulification, that is a great question and one our Chief Designer, Matt Mantooth answered brilliantly: an image sequence.

This is from the Zune Arts' piece Le Cadeau du Temps for Microsoft's Zune.

* * *

Here's some banners that'll be hanging at our booth (small press booth M10)


As well as one of our give-away post cards that'll be cluttering our booth.


If you're going to be around stop by and get some stuff!

And buy Ticket.

There, that's my pitch for the day.

Comic-Con 2008 stuff!

The last few weeks have been pretty hectic around here.

With the release of Ticket and planning and getting materials together for Comic-Con on top of real work, everyone has been going like crazy. I've done quite a bit of the promotion of Ticket myself so that's confiscated a lot of time.

But now printed stuff is rolling in and we're finally get to see some things come together.

The buttons will be part of the free, take away stuff littering our booth.


And the sketchbooks. I'm not sure how much these go for. I don't think a lot. Here's my cover as well as some sample pages. All together there are 16 pages in the sketchbook.


Ka-pow! Mythology!

* * *

I've been posting a lot about Ticket recently but that doesn't mean there's nothing else going on. There's quite a bit in the pipe line. After a few days after a big project (like Ticket) I get a surge of ideas (mostly weird ones, but a few good ones) and I've spent the last few nights putting some of those ideas down. Look for some of those in the coming days.

TICKET : HOW & WHY

Ticket is here.

Those of you who frequent this blog will likely recognize the protagonist as Lily von Silvie Lenore, someone I've had with me for the past 6 or 7 years.

Lily von Silvie Lenore
Curious Events

Curious Events is a small book I made, printed and simply bound, for my wife (then girlfriend) and is one of my most closely guarded works. Ticket is a continuation of that story.

To me, Ticket is sort of like a postlude to the Curious Events story. There are four stories in my (yet unreleased) "Library of Curious Events."

Not necessarily essential to the overall story but more of a distillation of the tone and feeling of the books. Another enjoyable visit, for me at least. Curious Events in the abstract -- if that makes sense.

From the teaser itself:

Ticket is a story in pictures and a collection of all things Cory loves to draw. From windmills flying above grassy hills to massive birds landing in Grecian vineyards, Ticket follows the story of a girl, her hat, and the curious events which transpire.

* * *

More than a year ago, I made a list of most of the stories and ideas I had going on at the time. I've kept it tacked up on my desk. Here it is:

If you notice at the top there's a doodle of little boat and an idea called "The Ticket"


That was the first idea for Ticket as it is now. But I can trace that idea to this drawing I did the summer between my junior year and senior year of college:

I've loved clock towers and boats for a long time.

* * *

When the time came to start I made a list of everything I wanted to try and include and made notes and thumbnails. I spent several days deciding what I was interested in putting in it, what sort of things I wanted to do. I spent a while. I finally condensed the thumbnails to 13 spreads.

I then took a Saturday and sat on the couch for about 10 hours and went through each thumbnail and made a bigger, more realized thumbnail.

* * *

Once the little story worked and I had everything I wanted in order, I set to work on the drawings.


They took about a two weeks to get through. I was working on a pretty tight deadline. On top of that, I could only work on it all at night. Unfortunately, there wasn't time in my work schedule to do this during the day so all production on Ticket was done at night.

I'd work like crazy at work on these three commercials at work then come home and do Ticket. It never once felt like a chore. Work did, but not Ticket. Ticket is something I've been wanting to do for a long time and I'm just thrilled I get the chance to see it in print.

* * *

Once everything was drawn and scanned,


I set to work on the painting. This is probably the part I live for. I taped all of them down on boards on the floor of my room (not floor boards, boards laying on the floor -- don't be confused) and got to work.

I made a couple all nighters in the production of Ticket. These paintings represent one of them.

* * *

The next night I scanned them all, complied them in Photoshop, and called it good.

I think I took two nights to do the post-production finishing work. I think. Things started to get fuzzy towards the end.

* * *

They put it all together and sent it off. Then the proof came back.

Check out here for my post about the proof.

A few more days of waiting and now it's all done.

* * *

Ticket's here. I'm glad. And I hope you will like it.


* * *

TICKET IS NOW AVAILABLE!
$ 12

at the Portland Studios Store (direct link)

or

https://store.portlandstudios.com/
(link to the main store -- click on the "Publishing" tab at the top)

Check out our little commercial above. It takes you through the book page by page. This is a compilation of all 28 pages of Ticket for you to see. Music written by Matt Silver.

TICKET : NOW AVAILABLE!

_____________________________________

* * *

28 pages, color cover, black and white interior.

* * *

A video tour of Ticket I put together.

Available for purchase at the Portland Studios Store here!

And thank you for all the kind words and emails I've received from so many of you today.

Ticket has been a labor of love for me and I'm happy it's been so well received. Better get your orders in soon.

Thanks again.

Cory

Illustration Friday: "Foggy"

This topic could be not be better. Well, maybe a little, but not by much and I'm not sure how. Foggy? Yes.

Ticket is a paperback picture book of my own imagining and making. Color cover, 28 pages black and white interior.

I'll be kind of constantly updating this post throughout the day. Enjoy!

* * *

* * *
TICKET IS NOW AVAILABLE!
$ 12

at the Portland Studios Store
(direct link)

or

https://store.portlandstudios.com/
(link to the main store -- click on the "Publishing" tab at the top)

* * *

Check out our little commercial above. It takes you through the book page by page.

* * *

Ticket has been a labor of love for me. I've spent the last two months worth of nights working towards this goal. Thanks for looking! I hope you like what you see.

TICKET : TOMORROW

Tomorrow, 10 AM Ticket will be available!

https://store.portlandstudios.com/

It would bring a tear of joy to my eye if you could manage to crash our web hosting with so much traffic.

Come on everyone, let's make that tear a reality and go home.

corygodbey.com

Ka-pow! -- Hope this is not one of those let down surprises.

corygodbey.com now actually has something there!

Sure, it's just two links and picture but that's better than most websites, right? Right?

Surprise.

Illustration Friday: "Sour"

I'd be a sour-faced youth, ... were it not for ... painting.

I mean, I enjoy it so.


...

That's a stretch, I know. Man, how else could I make "sour" work? I just don't know.

It'd help if I were more creative. Or better able to think up complex, abstract connections between things.

In the words of the late, great Chris Farley, "We both know that women are attracted to me ... in the same way that ... metaphors describe stuff."

* * *

These painting are for Ticket: a story in pictures. A paperback picture book the studio I work for is releasing this Friday (July 11!) I'm ridiculously excited about it and I hope you'll check back Friday to see my full post about the creation of Ticket, from start to printed finish.

Below is an excerpt:

* * *

I made a couple all nighters in the production of Ticket. These paintings represent one of them.

* * *

The next night I scanned them all, complied them in Photoshop, and called it good.

I think I took two nights to do the post-production finishing work. I think. Things started to get fuzzy towards the end.

* * *

They put it all together and sent it off. Then the proof came back.

Check out here for my post about the proof.

A few more days of waiting and now it'll be all done. July 11.

* * *

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you'll check back this Friday!

Note: This post is not the surprise I mentioned in the last post, that'll be coming right around 5 PM EST today.

Enjoy!

That's the Ticket!

Here's a fine entry on the Portland blog written by Zach concerning Ticket.

With the eminent release of Ticket (Friday! July 11) I feel it as good a time as any to re-post Zach's entry here. Enjoy!

* * *

This weekend, I got stopped by an officer of the law. He knocked on my window and asked for my license and registration. Then he said, “Mr. Franzen, the speed limit here is 45 miles per hour. You were going 57. Any reason you’re in such a hurry?” I looked at him and said, “Yes, I wanted to open up my ‘99 Taurus just to see what she could do, and I decided to push it to the limit and top things off at the blinding speed of 57 miles per hour. It’s what I’m forced to do if I’m to catch up with destiny!” Of course, I didn’t say that, and instead of getting a ticket, I got a warning.

Suppose I really wanted a ticket? Well I’ll tell you this much, I wouldn’t get one from the fine folks who serve and protect. Instead, I’d get one from Portland Studios.

Ticket by Cory Godbey goes on sale soon. (This Friday! -- editor's note)


Ticket is a passion project from Cory. He did it at night at home after the client work he did after work. Yes that sentence is accurate. It features Lily von Silvie Lenore, a character he introduced in a small book he made for his wife while they were dating. Ticket is its postlude.

Because print costs are so expensive, we only have a limited run. We should be able to sell a few before heading to Comic-Con, where we hope to sell out (In the sense of “selling out of copies” not in the sense of becoming sell-outs). If you think you might be interested in a Ticket of your own, be sure to check back soon for details.

* * *

Here we go. Semi-relatedly, I've got one more surprise before Friday as well. I'll post it shortly.

Nothing huge, huge, but it's enough. Check back periodically, if you like. Überraschung!

Tim

by Tim.

Not very long ago I struggled horrifically with art and drawing.

I saw artists that I admired and wanted to draw like but just couldn't make it work.

Tim Banks is the guy that helped me figure out how to draw. Up to that point, I'd get astronomically discouraged about drawing when I looked at other artists. But Tim's work made me feel like I could get it.

I took 2 one week summer classes from him back towards the end of high school. I also had the privilege to work with Tim for about a month at the Press.

He gave me a salt shaker when he left and I've kept it on every desk I've ever worked at.


He also left some drawings, two whales, and a note telling me I was fired. (I think the actual phrase was "extinguished from any further dealings with...") I still have the note. The whales I left to worthy inheritors. I assume they're still at the Press.

* * *

I remember in the first class Tim doodled on the board and said something like, "If you want to draw an arm like this (he scribbled some wiggly cartoon arm, it sort of looked like a wing) just go ahead."

I think my brain exploded right there. And it all started to make sense. Don't fool around trying to be something you're not, just go ahead and draw.

If that last bit sounds juvenile, starry-eyed, and something like a plot from a Disney channel original movie, that's fine and I'm prepared to deal with it. But I think everyone who loves to draw but is discouraged sooner or later comes to a point when they realize that they've either been given the grace to make it happen or cursed with good enough taste to understand, and to be under no delusions, they are not making it happen.

I ended up a few years later inheriting that class at camp and taught it for three summers. I did my best to make it happen for my students. It was fun.

That's enough. What I mean to say is Tim helped me a lot.

And here is his new blog:

http://timothybanks.blogspot.com/

Enjoy.

dragon run

Here goes one out to all of you who like dragons painted in sort of weird colors running along something that would resemble a horizon.


You know who you are.

burly.

Here's a detail of a piece from a picture book I'm working on at work right now.

I just really like this big guy. I think he looks a little like Hagrid.

He's accepting a coin, in case you were wondering.

Comic-Con sketchbook

Another peek into my sketchbook for Comic-Con.

camping

What's that? Camping! That's right. Erin and I went camping over Independence Day weekend. Here's some proof.


I'll use this last one for when I run for public office in a few years. I freaking love America.

I intended to get a little drawing done but ended up reading Huckleberry Finn instead.

Tomorrow returns with more stuff. What I'm not sure but that's what makes a blog so gosh darn fun.

but i want to be a paperback writer.

See, when we say "zine" I think we mean more like paperback picture book.

Got the proofs in today of Ticket. I am fantastically excited.

* * *

Color cover, 32 pages black and white interior. It feels as good and hefty as a paperback possibly can.




Pre-orders should be starting up next week after the July 4th holiday.

As always I'll keep you posted.

Little Red

This is an old watercolor from about seven years ago.

I love stories where heroic innocence beats something really bad. In the ones I really love there's no real danger. Nothing is going to hurt them. Max? He's the King of All Wild Things and though "they roar their terrible roars" they can't touch him.

That's not to say nothing happens, or there's nothing bad, dangerous, or perilous; whatever you'd like to call it but even in the scariest, worst place you know that something good will happen, not because you hope it will, but because it has too. The woodchopper is coming.

Whether it's Max in Where the Wild Things Are, or Little Red, there's something about the naïveite of the hero that resonates with me. Good will work out simply because it's good.

This business spills over into my own work. Ticket, The Blue Goblet, etc.

With Ticket being released soon I hope you'll see why, even more than the innocence of the hero (or heroine) , I love the woodchopper; whatever form he takes.