Transformers Cover sold

And new textures being used

Hello from Castrum Lusitania, my fortress in northern Portugal. Welcome to another edition of our weekly newsletter.

We remain in the trenches. And by we, I mean I. Don’t know why I phrased it like that. Point being: I overbooked myself with covers, thinking I’d be developing my new book with Remender working on designs, concepts, research, etc., therefore with a bit more time for cover work. But a three issue gig fell from the sky, landing right on top of what was then a pretty busy schedule.

HOWEVER! - I have only one scheduled cover remaining for April, then it’s back to a more manageable situation. I can handle an extra cover a month just fine, but I’ve done 4 extra covers per month this year. Not ideal, but we must lay on the bed we made.

Original art sale

Speaking of cover work - on my most recent ones has been sold. Specifically, the cover from Transformers #6.

As you know, I don’t sell most of my originals like other artists - I don’t like selling random pages. I do sell entire issues and some covers, but I don’t have it listed anywhere since it’s a more specific thing. Usually, people write me through my website or social media and inquire about the thing they want. Same for commissions.

That’s how the Transformers cover got sold. A returning costumer (owner of a commission of mine) asked for it and snatched it. In fact, I got a few messages about it, but first come, first served.

Here are some photos of me packaging the thing.

It goes carefully placed in a plastic document folder, inside a hard black cardboard folder, wrapped in bubblewrap and plastic and placed inside a large box. I added a signed copy of the printed book for good measure.

New textures

On the three issue thing, I’m going for some new tools and new textures. I want to go a bit deeper on this topic in the future, but that will imply showing more and talking about the story, so let’s have it announced first and then we’ll dive deep.

But for now, know that I’ve brought the brushes out and I’m experiencing a bit with them. I used them last on Righteous Thirst For Vengeance, but only on a limited manner. Here I’m opening up the usage slightly more. Sometimes it’s silhouettes, some other times is for some rendered shadows.

I’m learning as I go. Still a lot to explore and improve, but I’ve found out that going for it on the pages itself is the best way to experiment and learn. Here’s a video of me doing some hatching on the image above:

Also, pigs:

Finally, my latest cover (for an unrelated project) includes skulls and a large liefeldesque gun:

I’m looking forward to share more than these tiny snippets, but this is how I must play the game for now.

Recommendations

I’ve been watching VEEP mostly while inking and it’s such a good show. I know, I know, I should be giving it my 100% attention, but it’s either like this or nothing. Still, I try to watch as many episodes sitting on the couch as I can.

Despite its surreal comedic nature, there’s a slightly disturbing feeling that the events of each season are much closer to reality than they should. Especially in our post 2016 political world.

I’m also watching TOKYO VICE season 2. After two episodes, I can safely say they managed to retain the incredible quality standards from the first season, which was one of my favorite things of the past few years. I can’t wait to go through more episodes of this beauty - there’s no such thing as too much Ken Watanabe.

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See you all next week,

André