RJ Luedke Guest Artist @ ConCarolinas in 2012

Hey gang, just wanted to make you aware that I've been honored by the fine people at ConCarolinas Convention, by being named their Artist Guest of Honor at this year's show!  The show runs from June 1st from the 3rd and is being held at the Charlotte Hilton University Place.

ConCarolinas is a general multi-genre multi-media convention. They called themselves a sci-fi convention but in truth they cover all speculative fiction - science fiction, fantasy, horror and comics. They host a variety of fandom related events and guests, including gaming, discussion panels, costume events, music events like Klingon Karaoke, charity auction, SCA events, fan groups like the 501st Stormtroopers, Starfleet, and Klingon Assault Group, and something different every year.

Part of my duties as the guest artist, was to design the artwork on their program cover.  It turned out so well, that I'm also making the art available, as a limited edition 11 x 17" print.

If you cannot make the convention, or would like to order your copy in advance, go to (Order Now).

Also, the original artwork for this piece will be available for purchase during the con's charity auction!

I Look forward to seeing all my Southeastern friends and fans!

RJ Luedke

www.bobtheartist.com & www.headpress.info



2011: Year in Review

Hey gang,

Now that I've finally processed the pounds of turkey and pumpkin pie in my system from our Thanksgiving feast, I thought I'd take a pause to reflect on 2011 from my perspective.

This time last year I was considering whether I wanted to take my talents and experience toward doing public speaking to church and christian youth oriented groups about Eye Witness and my decade long journey with it, or focus more on creating new artwork and working primarily on the comic/pop culture convention circuit...which would still allow me to promote and sell EW to those it was designed for (mainly the unchurched and skeptical comic fan out there).  After much deliberation on this, I went with the latter!

So...what this the right decision for me?  Hmmmmm....

I speak with a lot of young aspiring writers, artists and self-publisher's at my appearances and through my various pages on the web and get a lot of questions in regards to the financial viability of creating your own comics and graphic novels.  Truth be told, like any indy creative endeavor (film making, music recording, fine art, novel writing etc....) creating and publishing comics/gn's is a risky endeavor where there is no guarantee of financial bounty...or for that matter, breaking even.  If one decides to go down this creative path, it must be with a clear understanding that this is something you feel compelled to do, a project you feel passionate about and that you have funding in place you can afford to do without (kind of like how my Dad always told me to approach going to Las Vegas..."don't gamble what you can't afford to lose").  In other words, it should something you'd do 24/7, even if no one ever paid you for doing it!

In most cases if you're approaching the comic/gn publishing industry from an indy perspective with the belief that your creative properties going to make you rich, (or just maybe financially independent) then you're setting yourself up for a rude awakening.  Is there precedent to the contrary?  Sure... Jeff Smith (Bone), Todd MacFarlane (Spawn), Dave Sim (Cerebus) to name a few...but when you look at the shear number of indy comics that have come and gone each and every year for the last couple decades, these are truly close to "one-in-a-million" scenarios! Am I sharing this because I'm trying to keep young talent from even trying?  Absolutely not!  I'm merely sharing what is (from a financial perspective) the reality of what you're taking on when you go down the self-publishing route. 

If you have a burning desire to tell a story in comic/gn form, then sometimes self publishing is your only, and best, option (especially with the rise of digital publishing...but that's another topic all together).  But just go into it with a firm grasp on what your goals are.  For me with Eye Witness, it wasn't about the financial return I might make (though everyone who heard about the concept I was undertaking or saw the advance artwork assured me I was going to sell millions of copies....I kid you not).  It was about my fulfilling what I saw as a divine directive for my creative talents.  I was extremely passionate about this project and set down the path to create the book (then the series) no matter how much it costs me, or how much I received in return.  My main payoff was determined by how many people I would touch with the story!

I was fortunate that the Lord was at the helm of this particular endeavor and more times than I'd like to admit, He helped keep food on my table and money in our bank account.  But for the better part of a decade I slaved feverishly to complete what became something of an epic (400+ fully illustrated pages) while basically earning enough for the publishing to pay for itself.

Getting back to my original point (in a real round about fashion)...I decided I needed to create a model where I could continue to share Eye Witness with people (since most people still are unaware of it, despite my efforts) while earning extra income from other creative work I was producing.  And since, my target audience for Eye Witness was mainly the unchurched it just made more sense that I should continue to have a presence at comic/pop culture events, rather than "preach to choir", so to speak, by limiting my self to only Christian events and churches.

So yes, this was the right decision for me!  In 2011, it has allowed me to create a decent income from sales of my prints/posters and landing of commissions and contract assignments, while still being able to not only sell Eye Witness, but also continue to inspire and counsel other writers and artists I meet that likewise feel compelled to use their talents in the service of the Lord, but just don't know how to do it.

Will I one day travel down the other path and begin to speak with young believers about my mission with Eye Witness?  That's always possible and like I've operated pretty much for the last decade...I'm leaving that in God's hands.  He'll let me know when it's time to change gears!

Hope to see many of you all again in 2012.  I've have a bunch new comic and pulp culture inspired prints and posters to share (like this one):

RJ Luedke
http://www.bobtheartist.com/

Eye Witness Now Available to Even More Digital Readers!

Hey Gang,

I just heard, that my Eye Witness series is now available to users of the New AMAZON KINDLE FIRE, through the Graphicly app on the Head Press website, as well as the BARNES & NOBLE NOOK TABLET...also through Graphicly!

The versions of the books on Graphicly, contain previously unreleased behind the scenes commentary and artwork, from your's truly...exclusive to that app.  For more info, visit:

http://graphicly.com/head-press-publishing/eye-witness
 
RJ Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/
http://www.bobtheartist.com/

Coming To ComiKaze Expo

Hey gang,

Just added a new event to my appearance schedule...the Comikaze Expo, which is going to be held the weekend of November 5th and 6th at the L.A. Convention Center.

Stan (The Man) Lee's going to be in the house, along with a whole bunch of movie and TV stars, not to mention some top flight comic artists and writers.

I've been commissioned to create this promotional poster for the event (see below) which I believe will be given out to certain VIP ticket holders and available for purchase for others (but I'll update that as more info becomes available).  But either way, there will be only limited quantities of the design available, so make sure to bring your copy by my table in artist alley to have me autograph and personalize it for you!

I look forward to meeting all my friends from the west coast! For more information or tickets, see: http://www.comikazeexpo.com/

RJ Luedke
http://www.bobtheartist.com/

A New Tradition in Memphis!?

I'll be one of the featured artists at the second year of this event....

Hope to see 'ya there!

RJ Luedke
http://www.bobtheartist.com/

Odds and Ends...

Hey gang,

Just wanted to share a couple things that have been going on in my world here in the last couple weeks.

A.  After naming the Eye Witness Slipcase collection the top graphic novel for 2010, Family Fiction Magazine has recently published a Q & A with me.  If you've always wanted to understand a bit more about what makes me tick, check it out.

B. It was just brought to my attention, that Eye Witness: Unknown God....was named a finalist for the 2011 Indie Book Awards (in the category of Novella's).   Unknown God has already been a Winner in the category of graphic novels in the 2010 Best Book Awards, sponsored by USABooknews.com and the Eye Witness series, as a whole, has now captured 5 indy book awards and been named a finalist for 6 others!

C. I've been very busy creating an eclectic collection of character prints that I'm selling like crazy at my con appearances.  They are also available for purchase on the ever growing BobTheArtist website.

I look forward to seeing all my west coast fans and a lot of old friends at next week's Comic Con International, in San Diego and then next month at the Wizard-Chicago Comic Con!

RJ Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/ & http://www.bobtheartist.com/

Eye Witness Arrives on The Nook!

Hey gang,

In our continued attempts to make our Eye Witness available to more and more readers, we announce that the entire award-winning graphic novel series is now available for users of the various Barnes & Noble Nook platforms!

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Eye-Witness/Robert-James-Luedke/e/2940012801296

The benefit of this new partnership, is that not only does it make the story available to those with Nook readers, but also to anyone using the Nook reader software on their mobile devices...including: iPad, iPhone, PC, Android and Android tablets.

And as with all our digital versions, purchasing-reading in this format is a great bargin at $5.99 each!

RJ Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/ 

The Unknown God, Summer of Festivals Roundup

Hey gang,

I wanted to give you all an update on the other big event that went on last weekend (July 21st-24th) besides Comic Con International, 2010. I'm referring to the Creation Northwest Music Festival, which bills itself as the nation's largest. Now, since I've also attended Cornerstone and Sonshine Music festivals over the past month, I'm not sure I would agree with that bit of hyperbol. But what I can tell you is this, that as someone who was an exhibitor at these three events, Creation did indeed blow the others two events away in terms of sales for us!

I tried to corner the promoter into giving me final attendence numbers, but he wouldn't share that info (said it was still be compiled). But according to one of the other people running the show, it looked liked it was going to be a bit under 20,000 (but that estimate was made on Friday morning...with two more day's walk up traffic to be counted).

Out of the three events Cornerstone had the most exhibtor space (one large tent and one smaller one), but the downside was you had to brave the heat and considerable dust and the smaller tent got considerably less traffic then the main tent (which was were I was unfortunately positioned). We had heard from many attendees of past events that they didn't even know there was a second tent!

Sonshine had their exhibitor area in a converted hockey arena, so the elements were a bit more controlled, but still a bit toasty, as the main doors were open to the outside, so if there was AC you couldn't feel it.

Likewise, Creation has their exhibitor area inside a building with doors open to the outside. But since the outside temp for most of the weekend was in the mid-80's with not a whole lot of humidity, it was very pleasant.

Out of the three, Creation had the least amount of space for exhibitors and also the least amount of stages for bands and as a result the people in attendence seemed to hang out in the exhibitor areas quite a bit more each and every day. Customers cruising the exhibitor areas seem to wane a bit each day the other two events went forward. Not so at Creation, as traffic stayed consistent right up to the late afternoon the final day...when some exhibitors began tearing down.

But for us, when all was said and done, we did about the same volume of sales at Creation, that I did the last time I exhibited at Comic Con Interantional (in 2008). So, I was quite pleased. Cornerstone came in second (about $300 behind) and Sonshine was a distant third. That's even more impressive when you consider that we did that volume at Creation with basically about a fifth of the potential audience (20k verses 120k at CCI)!

A constant theme I heard from people of all ages is, "I love the idea of Christian based comics and graphic novels and didn't know there were any out there!"...and these were Christians! So I think this type of venue is ripe for more publishers of Christian based properties to share their books next season, 'cause there is a whole group of people looking for this type of material, but not finding it in their local bookstores (or comic shops).

Food for thought, for sure!

R.J. Luedke
www.headpress.info

Project Comic Con, Posts Interview

The promoters of the upcoming Project Comic Con 2, (in suburban St. Louis, MO), have graciously posted an interview they did with me a couple months back. The piece does a very nice job in covering my brief history in the medium.

http://projectcomiccon.com/?p=1258

Enjoy and share with a friend...I think this event is shaping up to be a very nice convention, since it is firmly focused on comics rather than movies and TV. It has a pretty strong lineup of creative types, but promises to be intimate enough to get some real quality time with your favorite artist, writer or indy publisher.

R.J. Luedke
www.headpress.info

A Heroes Con Overview

Hey gang,

The first stop in the Unknown God tour is now behind me.

I started the trip out on a dubious note by having my laptop die on me the first night on the road. But truth be told, it was a 10 year old Compaq who had served both me, my wife and my daughter faithfully...so I think you could say it just died of old age.

Our first stop, Heroes Con in Charlotte, was wonderful on a couple levels. First of all I got a chance to reacquaint with a lot of old friends in the comic industry (Brian Stelfreeze, Gary Fredrich and Bernard Chang to name a few). Secondly, I was pleasantly surprised by how many of my Facebook friends stopped by to say hello (and pick up a copy of Eye Witness).

The show was a bit slow on Friday and Sunday, but Saturday had a pretty strong turnout...as you can see from the pics I've included in this post.

This show is defined by it's old-school style in that it is a comic convention that actually still focuses on comics and comic creators. There was many, many talented creators and their indy creations on hand, but at shows like this...when I'm on my own...I just didn't get much of a chance to visit many tables. But I must say if you want to relish in all things comic related, I'd add this convention to your schedule next year!

Coming up next....Philadelphia Comic con

R. J. Luedke

http://www.headpress.info/

Things I'm Thankful For (2009)

Hey Gang:

I just wanted to give you an update on my progress with Unknown God and share a few things I'm thankful for on the very special Thursday morning.

As of yesterday, I started the home stretch on this largest of all the Eye Witness GN's. I began work on the final 20 pages, which will wrap up almost 8 years and 400 pages of storyline.....YEA! Please say a prayer for me that I can do this justice as it requires me to really stretch my talents to their limits to bring this project across the finish line in a complete and satisfying fashion.

Some things I'm thankful for...

-My loving wife (Sandy) of now over 26 years, who provides me the environment that has allowed me to pursue the EW project.

-That God has graced my children with health.

-That the Cowboys play each thanksgiving day.

-That 8 years ago God revealed his plan for, what up till then I thought, was a pretty wasted life.

-That God continues to bless this wonderful bastion of freedom we know as the USA. And even though we are currently going through some tremendous trials and growing pains as a country and people, that all these experiences will serve to make us stronger and more thankful...as it did our forefathers (and mothers) who weathered the storm of the great depression.

-recipes passed down through generations, like creme cheese based potato topping and liver turkey stuffing (it's on old-world German thang)...yum!

-and finally...that when all else seems dark in our lives that we still have the ability to laugh!

Happy Turkey day all...and be on the lookout for more sample artwork from Unknown God soon, as well as a pretty exciting announcement!

R.J. Luedke

http://www.headpress.info/

Advance Artwork for Eye Witness Book 4

Here's a taste of some of the advance artwork from the Eye Witness: Unknown God...the fourth and final chapter in the graphic novel series.

As I write this I am in the early stages of the illustration for the book, which will be somewhere in the area of 125 pages and is tentatively planned for a summer 2010 release.

The final piece is the color guide for what will eventually be the fully painted cover, (done by painter, David Rodriguez).

R. J. Luedke

http://www.headpress.info/

James Bond & the Spiritual Condition: A Book Review

I recently finished reading the book, Ian Fleming's Seven Deadlier Sins and 007's Moral Compass by Ben Pratt (see Amazon listing) and want to complement the author, on successfully achieving the monumental task of sharing moral and spiritual truths in a new, fresh and insightful package.

Who, besides possibly the most dedicated Ian Fleming fans, knew he was slipping truths about morality, the human condition and the gospel within the tales of Bond...James Bond. As someone who really enjoys reading works that reveal previously unknown history of events and people...I found this book fascinating on a number of different levels. There seemingly was much more to Fleming than most casual Bond fans could ever have imagined and (according to this book) he could very well go down as one of the giants of 20th century literature, along side his contemporaries, Tolkien and C.S. Lewis...when all is said and done.

As someone who is also constantly looking for new insights into our emotional and spiritual condition, the book opened doors to afflictions of the 21st century man, that I had not previously considered. Most of us are familiar with many of the 7 deadly sins: Pride, Envy, Anger, Covetousness, Gluttony and Lust...but it's that seventh one, Sloth (which was known in the middle ages as Accidie), which ends up being the focus and real payoff of Pratt's book (and why I'd guess, it's chapter 007)!

After reading this chapter, it seems possible that much of the depression in our 21 century society might be explained in spiritual terms, rather than physiological ones. Pratt explains, Accidie comes from the Greek akedos, which refers to those who didn't care enough to bury the dead on the battlefield. In a more modern context, Accidie is when we lose our passion and joy for life. Pratt quotes a description from St. John of Damascus, "a sorrowfulness so weighing down the mind that there is no good it likes to do. It has attached to it as its inseparable comrade, a distress and weariness of soul and a sluggishness in all good works which plunge the whole person into a lazy languor of bitterness." Pratt goes on to even describe the kind of people who fall prey to this "sin"..."dreamers, romantics and idealists. The Sin of those who believe hard, work hard and live hard. It is often the sin of those of us who believe that we can make a difference in this world."

In a personal note, this chapter helped me come to gripes with an emotional and spiritual cloud I had felt over my life the past year, as my following the path to create the Eye Witness series (under divine direction) has indeed been anything but easy and many obstacles which had been placed in my path these past 6 years...not just from a publishing and creative standpoint, but in my personal life as well... had succeeded in breaking down not only my passion for my mission, but for life itself! Pratt's explanation of this condition and better yet...his answers on how to deal with this "spiritual condition", (not to be confused with depression as a result of physical or mental illness), was a breath of fresh air into my own psyche, which I had not previously considered. At first I was a bit annoyed at the inference that what I might be feeling is a "sin", but trust me, his explanation is more than sufficient, understandable and condemning...if you can set your pride aside (but you'll have to find out about it for yourself...I don't want to give away too much meat here).

Even if you have never read any of Bond tales in their original novel form, this book should appeal to lovers of the movie Bond, (as Pratt supplies quite a bit of cross referencing to both). If fact it's made me now want to go out and rediscover Flemings work for the first time in its original form...just to better understand and appreciate some of Pratt's contentions.

I highly recommend this book for: Lovers of James Bond; fans of 20th century literature; and anyone who may be struggling with a sadness and lack of passion for life and just can't discover the root of their feelings, and/or don't want to go the way of pharmaceuticals to find answers.

R. J. Luedke

Author/Illustrator

Headpress.info