HTSWR back on track

I'm happy to tell that the new issue of the series (#6) it's on its way to the shelves. Summer time it's very hard over here, really hot, very difficult to work under such conditions.


Slowly but surely the book it's taking shape and the pages are on their final stages. I've been also doing some more work for the blog and that also keeps me very happy.


You will see all that in the upcoming weeks. I will also keep you posted on the release date of HOW TO SURVIVE WORKING IN RETAIL #6.
More to come.

Hey Mr. DJ--put a record on--

Here is a re-post of something I did previously in Spanish. A little piece about music in my life.


And here you have a look at my studio, or as I like to call it during the summer:
"THE FURNACE". You can boil an egg with just water in there.



That'll be all for now.
More to come.

Nuevo Super post!!!!

Bueno, tal vez no tan super, -_-' pero miren que hace el esfuerzo!

Mientras los anglo parlantes se divierten en la convencion de NY me parece justo tirarle un hueso a los hispano parlantes. Con esto en mente aca les va una nueva tira y un vistazo a lo que es mi lugar de trabajo.

Les cuento que se viene el cumpleaños del blog apenas unos dias antes del mio y las preparaciones para los festejos estan avanzando a toda maquina. Si tengo suerte va a haber un par de invitados y una o dos cositas especiales, pero no se preocupen, los voy a mantener informados.

Ahora lo prometido, LA TIRA:


El backstage a mi estudio:


Y por si esto fuera poco, hay un nuevo comic disponible en la pagina de Hadron Colliderscope. Como siempre, esta en Ingles, pero aunque no lo puedan leer les recomiendo que lo vean ya que para variar comence a experimentar un poco con color.
para ver/leer solo sigan el link.


Contentisimo con el desempeño del blog y siempre apuntando por mas, los dejo, pero como siempre digo...

More to come!

June update

YAY!! ^_^
Issue three of "How to survive working in retail" it's complete and should be on its way to you in a couple of days on both formats, paper and digital, for my mates are about to print it in the states (make sure to go and buy it) and I will upload it everywhere somewhere this week.

It's very good news because I already started working on issue four, and I'm glad to say that I'm already up to page 5 in the pencil stage. I'm waiting for more paper to continue, here I leave you with a couple pics as a tease.



Also, this baby has been up for six months now. Wow, It feels like a hell of a lot more, but it sure has been fun though.

As my gift I leave you this little homage I made a very long time ago to a great movie using great characters, hope you like it.



Thanks for sticking around and let's hope for a brighter future.
More to come...

"How to survive working in retail #2"

IT´S FINALLY DONE!!!!!!

Right now you can look at it through Flickr, soon it will be available in stores such as Midtown Comics, Jim Hanley´s Universe, Forbidden Planet and more all along NJ and America.


Make sure to ask for it and buy at least two copies to support this independent effort to make comics.


I hope you enjoy it when you read it and rest assured that there is more on the way, as I finish this I´m starting work on issue 3.


Thanks to all the people that shows interest and support us through all this. And specially to the readers for their patience. I really hope you enjoy it, we make it from our hearts ^_^

P.S: Here are some pics of my new studio in transition, it´s called "La cochambre" which roughly translates as "one hell of a mess"



Thanks again, and as usual...
more to come.

Tools of the trade

One thing that as an artist I know for sure is that most of the time, when we are not asking to ourselves ‘How’ other people do their craft, we ask ‘what do they use’?
With this in mind I decided to give a little insight and show you what I’m using right now to bring ‘How to survive working in retail #2’ to fruition.

Now, since I moved recently most of my stuff hasn’t arrived to my house yet, so I needed to go out and find replacements. I took a few things with me thinking ahead, but in the rush I forgot a lot, namely; my rapidographs, my brushes, ink, squares and so on.
All these years I’ve been sort of looking for the perfect brush to ink with, and I must say that I haven’t found it yet. Every time that I can I buy a new one to give it a try and see if this one is ‘the chosen one’, to no avail I might add. I’ve read lots of stuff about inkers and their brushes, and I have to say that I’m not a fan of the sable ones, the tip is too long and I don’t have the control I want from it. I like shorter tips, with rounded heads, which gives me better control. I use a variety of mechanical pencils (0.5, 0.7, 0.9) with different leads. I also use rapidographs when inking details and straight lines with a ruler. My choice of India ink is the Speedball super black for the brush and the Staedler for the markers.

I recently had to buy a new rapidograph to cover for the missing ones, so I got a 0.4, but the nib keeps clogging up every time I use it, bringing my frustration up to new heights.
I’m hopping to recover all my stuff (including my table) by the time I have to start working on issue #3 (first draft of the script already done), and with that speed up the process so it can be out on time.
Let’s see what happens with the world as I keep looking for that perfect brush that seems to be harder to find than the perfect woman.


Traditional drawing stuff:
Staedler 9505, 0.5 mechanical pencil with HB leads
Pentel precision eraser
Sharpie fine point permanent marker (black)
Staedler mars matic 700 rapidograph 0.4 point
#2 Da Vinci series 1599 brush
Staedler rasoplast eraser
Pelikan India ink
Caballito premium paper (180 grams)
Strathmore 400 series Sketch book (89 grams)

Hardware/Software/Digital:
PNY optima attaché 2G flash drive
Adobe Photoshop CS2
Adobe Illustrator CS3
Nikon coolpix 5900 digital camera (5.1 megapixels)
HP pavilion dv8110 laptop with windows xp (512 MB, 80GB hard drive)
Canon pixma MP190 scanner/printer/copier

We support Indy Comic Book week.

For those of you who don’t know about this, the week of December 30th it’s going to be “Indy Comic Book Week”. This is organized by independent artist to help sales and fill the void that diamond will leave on such date.

Follow this link http://indycomicbookweek.blogspot.com/search/label/Previews to learn more about this and the people involved in it. Here is also what this is all about in their own words.

“Indy Comic Book Week is not only an event but a call to action. Diamond Comic Distributors announced to comic shops that Diamond will not be shipping new comics for the last week of December. We challenge writers and artists to self publish new material for this week, and offer it to their local stores. We ask for retailers to take this as an opportunity to showcase local independent talent on the new release shelves. We encourage fans to break from their buying habits and try something new.”



We completely support this initiative at 3 Guys Making Comics, and we plan to offer ‘How to survive working in retail #1’ to any store willing to carry it in the States. To contact us write to threeguysmakingcomics@yahoo.com or contact our sales rep Tony Shenton at Shenton4Sales@aol.com.

This is a great opportunity for independent creators all over the world to take their product and put it out there because diamond distributes comics all around the planet, so this emptiness will be all over. This is our time, take your books and talk with your local shops, spread the word and let’s make of this an annual event.

The Dungeon

It’s funny how most of us artists have a studio (either at home or someplace else) and we all refer to it as a dungeon.

Granted, we spend so much time in that table that it does feel like a ball and chain. Every time we are away from it all we can think is that we should be there, drawing, inking, lettering, whatever it is that we are supposed to be doing instead of having fun.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like we are miserable when we are working, we love what we do, but the irony it’s funny. I’m sure that it’s the closest thing to being married; when you are away she is nagging you to come back.

My little studio is not even that, it’s just a corner in my room (for now) where I have the whole set-up. There’s the table and the chair, my laptop, near sits the scanner and the ipod station (I can’t work without music). Then there’s my cork board, where I keep track of what I have to do and a couple of things for inspiration.

All in all it’s great to have this little place; all I’m missing is someone to pay me to stay there.