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



My 2012 Appearance Schedule

Hey gang:

I'm putting the finishing touches on my initial 2012 travel/appearance schedule.  One or two of these may drop off and there will most definately be a couple more added as we move into the new year.  But this gives you a good idea of where I'll be planting my flag in 2012!

Jan. 6th-8th    Amazing Arizona Comic Con (Mesa, AZ)

Jan. 28th-29th   Wizard New Orleans Comic Con

Feb. 11th-12th    Sci-Fi Expo (Irving, TX)

Feb. 17th-19th    MegaCon (Orlando, FL)

March 16th-18th   Wondercon (Anahiem, CA)

March 23rd-25th   Aggiecon (College Station, TX)

April 13th-15th    C2E2 (Chicago, IL)


April 20-22nd     CapeCon '12  (Cape Girardeau, MO)

May 18th-21st    Dallas Comic Con (Iriving, TX)

May 25th-27th    Comicpalooza (Houston, TX)

June 1st-3rd    Con Carolinas (Charlotte, NC) *Artist Guest of Honor and program cover artist!

June 9th-10th    Albuquerque Comic Expo

June 15th-17th   Denver Comic Con  (Denver, CO)

June 22nd-24   Texas Comic Con (San Antonio, TX)

June 29th-July 1st     Florida Supercon (Miami, FL)

July 11th-15th     Comic Con International (San Diego, CA)

Aug. 9th-12th     Wizard Chicago Comic Con

Sept. 8th-9th    Baltimore Comic Con

Sept. 14th-16th    El Paso Comic Con

Sept. 29th-30th    Wizard Mid-Ohio Con (Columbus, OH)

Oct. 11th-14th    New York Comic Con

Oct. 19th-21st   Fan Days Dallas (Irving, TX)

Oct. 26th-28th  Austin Comic Con (Austin, TX)

Nov. 9th-11th Memphis Comic Con


Nov. 30th-Dec. 1st   Wizard Nola-Con (New Orleans, LA)

Also....Wizard's Big Apple Con dates TBA. Other events will be added as they are scheduled.

Hope to see alot of old and new friends out there this year!

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

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/

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/

Bringing Ghostbuster's to Life (part 3)

Here's the third and final stage of the construction of the Ghostbuster's print...

The illustration of Bill Murray, which was refined in stage 2, is now paired with the Ghostbuster's logo and the I WANT YOU headline with the Illustrator program.  And shazam ...a new print design is created!

Like my other character designs, this one will be available at my convention appearances and soon on the BobTheArtist website.

R.J. Luedke

Bringing Ghostbuster's to Life (part 2)

Here is the second step in my creating a Ghostbuster's inspired print/poster.

I've taken the base pencil illustrations (did in part one) scanned it into my PC and refined it in photshop.  Here, I'll add to the contrast, deepen the blacks and add highlights.

Now the image is ready for the next step...

Next: Designing the finished look of the print.

Bringing Ghostbuster's To Life

Hey gang,

I received such good feedback on my showing the steps here to creating my Superman/Doomsday print, I decided to do it again.

After 3 con appearances in May, (Nola Con, Dallas Comic Con and Comicpalooza) it became clear to me that there is still a tremendous amount of interest in all things related to Ghostbusters out there!  I do believe at all three events there were fan tables set up there for groups that support and revel in Ghostbuster memorabilia, cosplay and collecting.  So I figured who best to support that interest but the leader of the Ghostbusters, Bill Murray?!

Here's the base illustration in what will become my first Ghostbuster inspired print:



















I utilized the icon Murray image from his movie Stripes (which is basically used in the classic "I Want You" for the US Army recruiting poster...seen below) and made it more in step with his look in Ghosterbusters.  Rendered in pencil by Robert Luedke.

Next up: Stage Two, where I take this into photoshop for enhancement.

Busy Weekend in DFW

Hey gang

I'm going to be out and about and pretty busy this weekend around the DFW area.

Beginning Saturday morning (though Sunday) I'll be exhibiting my Eye Witness graphic novel series and my all-new collection of iconic comic and pop culture art prints, at the Bigger-Better Dallas Comic Con (at the state of the art Irving Convention Center).

Saturday night, I'll be one of the featured local artists creating an original piece of artork for auction to benefit Heroes for Heroes.

Come on by and score a one of the kind piece of original art...and help entertain our troops through your efforts!

Hope to see many of my friends and fans sometime this weekend!

R.J. Luedke
http://www.bobtheartist.com/

6/11/11....Just wanted to share with ya'll, the finished piece of art I rendered for this event:

Creating a Print (Part 3)

Part 3:  Bringing the Composition to Life

In this final stage of this tutorial, we'll take the flat colored version of our Superman/Doomsday design (part 2) and bring it to life and add depth of field by adding highlights and shadows.



You can see how the reflected light from the fires on the characters, along with the shadows on the side facing away from the flames, serves to give them a feeling of weight and 3 dimensions (verses the flat colors).

Another long time colorist tool is the intensity of color.  Notice the colors and outlines in foreground debris stands out from the characters, adding depth to the scene.  Along those same lines, on the debris behind the characters I went with even lighter colors and outlines less intense, to pull those items back in the scene from the characters...adding even more depth of field.  So in essence, what I've tried to do is create a foreground, middle ground and background through the intensity of color.

So there you have it!  I hope this is helpful information.

For those of you interested, this print design and so many others, are now available for purchase at my new website:  BobTheArtist.com    ....which should go live sometime today (if you get directed to headpress.info, try again later, as that means bugs are still being worked out).

R.J. Luedke

Creating A Print (Part 2)

Part 2: Shoring up the Design and adding the Base Color Scheme

Okay now that we've created the foundation of our pen/brush and ink design (see part 1), we're ready to scan it into the computer and go to work in photoshop, rounding out the design elements and laying down the base color scheme for the entire design.

FYI...I usually work in 400dpi on these so I can get the most detail possible with my colors and because the piece will eventually be blown up to 11 x 17 (from it's approx. 8.5 x 11" size now).

stage two of Superman/Doomsday print design

As you can see I added a few elements to the original design.  But I just felt that the original design was a bit to thin to base a print design from and wanted to really have a bit of fun by adding elements that would elevate the level of carnage of the scene.   For those of you who recall this original battle between these two in the final couple books in the storyline (Superman: Man of Steel # 19 and Superman #75) it was basically a knock-down, drag-out battle with them trashing the city as well as each other.  So I wanted to convey that level of destruction in the design.  In addition, I took away a couple elements....the Superman logo in the background and 60th Anniversary Lettering.  Since the original design was for a Sup's 60th Anniversary spread both seemed appropriate, while here they would serve to draw away from the drama.

Making these kind of additions once the design in scanned is somewhat unusual for me, since I've never really gotten comfortable drawing in photoshop or illustrator.   These are things I'll usually fix or add on the drawing table, but since none of them involved a whole lot of precision I took a shot.

This is the first step of how I do my coloring (in photoshop).  Like you see here I lay down the foundational colors for ALL the elements of the design.  The only one that I did a bit more with, was converting the line work on the flames to orange instead of it's original black.  It's kind of funny, looking back on the Superman series when this story was published (cira: 1993...before the era of digital) this stage represents how most comic coloring looked (very flat).  But as they say..."all you know is what you know" and artists did the best they could with the limits the paper and printing technology had to offer at the time.

My next step is I'll select each color and then go to work adding my shadows and highlights, one by one.  Like almost all of my designs this one has a very obvious and dramatic light source (the burning debris behind the figures) which allows for the colorist (in this case me) to really have a blast bringing the composition to life and adding depth....

...But that will all be covered in the next step:  Bringing the Composition to life!

R.J. Luedke
BobTheArtist.com

Creating A Print Design (Part 1)

Hey gang,

While in the process of creating my next print design, it occurred to me that I really should share a few of the steps involved in arriving at the finished product, for those who might have an interest in such things.   So, here we go....

This particular design has a bit of history behind it. 

I originally designed this illustration for the 1998 Comic-Con International (probably known as San Diego Comic-Con back then) souvenir program book.  If you've attended that show before you know that each year in that publication they celebrate a character or character's anniversary, by presenting a whole bunch of renditions that will fall all across the spectrum of styles.  Now, I've got to be frank here...I can't recall if they ended up using my design the in finished product or not (but I'm sure there must be someone out there in comic-dom who collects these gems and can confirm that fact). 

But, that year the theme was Superman's 60th anniversary and since the death of Superman Saga and Doomsday were still pretty fresh in every one's mind, I thought that might make for a dynamic design.

I've always loved this piece, but had forgotten I even still had it till rummaging through an old portfolio looking for another piece of art.  So I decided to put it to good use and use it as the foundation of a print.

Next up:  Shoring up the design and the base color scheme.

till then....

R.J. Luedke

BobtheArtist.com

Ready For Con Season (Updated)

Hey gang,

Been working feverishly to get my act ready for another convention season...which for me will kick off next week at the C2E2 Convention in Chicago.

Besides continuing to promote the award-winning Eye Witness graphic novel series (and the signed and numbered slipcase collection), I been working hard, (and having a blast, I might add), creating an ALL-NEW portfolio of original art and limited edition prints.  And in the spirit of the times, here's the final addition to the initial offerings...which will be premiering next week:

So if you hail from the Chicago land area (or the Midwest) come find me in the artist alley area (I'm at table J7) at C2E2 at the McCormick Place in Downtown Chicago.

.......AND HERE'S AN UPDATE, 3/24/11*******

Totally sold out of the "Winning Duh" print in Chicago and had lots of requests for the image on a T-shirt ('cause I was wearing one that I made as a promotional tool).  So coming up at this weekend's Megacon Convention (in Orlando....Orange Co. Convention Center/West Concourse), I'll have an EXTRA LARGE supply of the prints and about 20 of the T-shirts (so don't wait too long in the week to come find my table).

R.J. Luedke

http://www.bobtheartist.com/

Kicking Off the '11 Con Season in Style

Looking forward to meeing all my midwestern friends and fans during my first visit to the C2E2 2011convention, (which is one of the nations fastest growing pop culture events) on the shores of lake Michigan in Downtown Chicago, March 18th-20th.
 

I'll of course have plenty of the limited signed/numbered editions of the Eye Witness slipcase collection and a whole selection of never before seen prints (and original art) of some of the most beloved (and sometimes quirky) pop comic and pop culture characters.

To view more of my commission/print artwork, visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eye_witness/

...and if you are interested in commissoning me to do a piece of original art based upon a particular character or actor for you, (to pickup at the show), please email me at: headpress1@gmail.com, and we'll discuss what you're looking for and pricing.

To find out more about the C2E2 show, visit:
http://c2e211.mapyourshow.com/3_0/exhibitor_details.cfm?exhid=326739

Hope to see many of my midwest friends and fans there!

R.J. Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/

Working a Graphic Novel System

I have a lot of people who have asked me over the years why it takes so long for books in the Eye Witness series to be published, (about 24 months). The answer is quite simple...because I perform most of the work myself.

For those of you not familiar with the way larger comic/graphic novel publishing companies work, think of companies like Marvel and DC like an auto assembly line...where each person on the line has their job to do and does it in order. This creates a very efficient system if your goal is to publish books from concept to shelve as quickly as possible and is critical for juggling multiple sequential titles and keeping them on schedule.

Example: The writer writes an outline or fully developed script; that goes to the penciler, who does the pencil illustrations from the script; that goes to an inker (or for you fans of Kevin Smith...a tracer) who inks over the pencils; that goes to the colorist who takes the black and white line art and makes it pop in full color; that goes to the letterist, who now adds the dialog, narration, thought balloons and any special sound effects; that goes to the editor, (or multiple layers of editors) who does all the things editors do...who then may refer it back to any of the previous people in the chain to make corrections and/or additions; and then it goes to the printer. Granted this is just a basic outline of the structure and depending on what company you will work for, it will deviate...but you get the idea.

This kind of process guarantees that everyone in the chain can be working on something simultaneously to insure the book is produced in the most time efficient way possible.

Indy publishers, like myself, are more equated to the old world concept of "hand made automakers," where each car is meticulously worked on till it's totally constructed and another one is not started till the first one is completed. There are many reasons why this second type of system is used in publishing, but most I'd guess deal with either lack of production capital or just a desire to be a part of every facet of a book's production. For me, it's a little of both. But needless to say, I can only be working on one aspect of the book at a time before going on to the next.

Neither system is "the right" way to create comics or graphic novels, but they are just systems used to achieve a common goal and utilized based upon the needs and goals of the particular creators or publisher. Just like in the film industry there are "studio" pictures (with large budgets and hundreds if not thousands of people working on them) and there are "indy" films (which are the vision of one man...or a handful of dedicated professionals that are driven by their creative juices rather than a paycheck). Think about for a moment the number of people needed to produce a movie like Watchman, versed the number needed to produce a film like Juno or Good Will Hunting. Neither is the right way to make a movie (though I'm sure you'd get a lot of heated discussion on that point) but both are used based upon the size of the project, it's projected budget, it's level of financing and it's potential for box office.

Here's a outline of what it takes for me (time wise) to construct one of the Eye Witness graphic novels (of approximately 100 pages):

1. Construction of original draft of the script (developed from out outline)...1-2 months.

2. Illustrations (that is, the penciled and inked images...which in a 100 page book will number approximately 600 individual frames. During this process on many pages I will be revising the script based upon the space I am creating on the pages)...10-13 months

3. Coloring (assuming I'm doing all that work myself...done with Photoshop on my computer)...1-2 months.

4. Lettering (where I basically will do a third draft of the script....done with Illustrator)...1 month.

5. Editing and pre-press production (creation of the final cover, back cover and non-story related pages)...1 month

6. Advanced marketing of the book to distributors, retailers and the media...2 months

So as you can see in this breakdown, to get the books to the shelves of your local comic or book store (and in the warehouse of online retailers) takes anywhere from 16-20 months...and that's not counting any of the marketing and personal appearances that then take place once the book is released (which I've typically dedicated 6 months to)...and assuming I can keep to a regular full time production schedule with no disruptions due to personal or family reasons...which has never happened yet!

Could I speed up this process by bringing in people to help pencil, ink, color or letter the book? Absolutely! But this series for me is very personal...kind of my personal quest if you will...and though it is both physically and mentally taxing, I enjoy and prefer to stay on top of all areas of it's projection...a sentiment you will see quite often among indy film-makers also. This is my baby!

R. J. Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/