Illustration Friday: "Enough"

Maybe ... enough is enough? I'm not sure.

I've been promoting Ticket (see right sidebar for more info) for an entire week. Maybe it's been enough of constant posting and writing about it. I'm not sure. But maybe enough is enough. I'll leave that to you to decide.


Ticket didn't take off (...that ...might be an unintentional pun) until this piece. When I brought up this picture for Ticket, it was the first one I feel that I really had to knuckle down and improve on to do. The simplest things stump me. I went through half a dozen or more thumbnails for this one. It'd been several nights in a row and I'd made it through the first 4 spreads. I drew everything at about 14x20. This piece has managed to be my favorite one out of the bunch. (I think, it's hard for me to know and harder to pick one) I think it might be though, there's something in it that completes a little half inch by half inch thumbnail I did and tacked up on my desk maybe two years ago.


I don't know. There's always been something that struck me in it. I'd had the idea for sort of Grecian architecture, giant birds landing, they had more Greek architecture on their backs and something. Lights at night, a party. In the end having such regal birds carry something on their backs felt like they were just big winged donkeys and felt demeaning.

There maybe a way to yet make it work. I'm sure I'll be back.

Who knows for sure, but it's nice to think that some ideas are good enough to be mined again for fresh pieces. I love drawing birds. And little flying boats and clock towers. Enough? I don't know, maybe, for a little while.

. . .

No, it's never enough.

Seegmiller

I know many, many artists who consider Don Seegmiller to be the father of digital painting. His Digital Character Design and Painting was one of the most influential books for me personally as well as countless others.

Today in the mail I received my copy of d'Artiste : digital painting 2.

I'm honored to have been included in the "Don Seegmiller Invited Artist Gallery."





Mr. Seegmiller, if you read this, thank you, and let me buy you lunch sometime.

Pipe Organ Melody

I've been working on a few unrelated pieces. Here's the rough pencil for one of them.


This is an idea, a simple one, that I've had it in me to do for a long time. And I just got around to (having the power) to do it. The other two I'll post eventually. The one is nearly painted and finished the other is just as rough as this dragon one.

Enjoy!

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.

new blog

No, not my blog, but Portland Studios, the company I work for has released a new version of the blog. Ka-pow! Blog!

sketchbook

Last night Erin and I went through lots and lots of drawing and nominated a select few for a sketchbook for Comic-Con. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but this year Portland will have a booth at Comic-Con in San Diego. Here's one page from it:


Most of the hard work for Comic-Con is done and what remains is the fantastic ramp up to the actual date of the convention.

Anybody heading out to San Diego this year?

Illustration Friday: "Fierce"

Fierce winds; high seas.

Yet another piece from Ticket, my forthcoming zine. They all should be printed and ready to order in a week or so.


Ticket is a 32 page paperback picture book. Black and white interior, full color wraparound cover.

To see most of the previous posts concerning Ticket as well as a couple other pieces, click the top banner to go to my blog and scroll down a little.

Enjoy!

Ticket: title page

I was pretty certain with the cover for Ticket, but I'm a little less sure about the title page.

The light text or the darker text? Thoughts?

*Oh, and there's a tiny gray strip across the top of the one on the right. That's not really there, it's a little glitch in the screen cap.

Ticket cover: the early years.

Ticket: cover

Here's the work in progress of the cover for Ticket.

I put this together this afternoon. Any thoughts?

Ticket: another piece

Here is a finished piece of interior art for Ticket. If I were eloquent I'd do what I can to persuade you to buy this book when it becomes available in the coming weeks but I am not that eloquent so this two page spread, spread number six, will have to speak for me.

I'm not sure what else to say (or show) that could convince you any further. I am proud of this piece.

Ticket, spread number 7, page 2

Here's one of the more different (more different?) pages from Ticket. It has since been painted.

* * *

I got locked out of the office a couple months ago. I left my keys on my desk and wandered downstairs to get some soup and when I came back everyone had gone. And locked the door.

I went back into the store, bought a pad of paper and a pen and sat down by the door. While I sat squinting in the reflected sun off the white paper I made a list of everything I like to draw. This was right around the time I found out that I'd be doing a "zine" and was putting together ideas for it. Would it be one of older stories? Should I try to adapt some more "established" story of mine? Or should I try to make up something new. I decided to take an "established" character, Lily von Silvie Lenore, and write a new story around her. I liked the idea and began scrawling down ideas.

Oh, and eventually an intern arrived with a key.

I was able to fit about half of the list into Ticket. We'll see if we get a sequel.

In any case I could not be more pleased with the way this project has shaped up and I can't wait to see it printed.

"Oh, Luke we have a malfunction in fire control... I'll have to cut in the auxillary."

"Just hang on... Hang on Dak! Get ready to fire that tow-cable!"

And so to you, dear reader, I echo these words from Luke Skywalker:

"Just hang on..."

Ticket is nearing completion. The truth be told, I have slept very little these past several days but I feel like the baddest man alive. I get a huge rush when I hit a major milestone in a project (provided the project is going well) and Ticket is going very, very well. Last night I finished the paintings and this afternoon I've scanned everything and am presently going over it.

Just one more day. I've been snapping pictures during the process of Ticket and I'll post them all in the next few days.

Thanks for waiting,

Cory

Man!

Where the heck have I been? Man, one whole week. Well, the long story short is that this has been one of the busiest weeks I've worked. So many projects, so little time.

Well, here's a piece from one of my animation projects, a commercial for a hospital. Scroll a little lower for more of the first two commercials.

Later this weekend I'll post some work in progress of Ticket.

Here's to a busy weekend! Woo!

Illustration Friday: "Punchline"

"HAW HAW! GET IT?"

This is an old doodle from around two years ago but the idea still gets me.

Tift, backgrounds

Here's a collection of a few of the backgrounds for the upcoming "Tift 3"

They don't really give anything way, in fact in this first one I pulled out a few of the objects of the box so you could get a better look at them.

Tift 3 has shaped up to be the most ambitious of the commercials. 1 and 2 definitely get marks for being challenging but 3 has some of the most refined, thoughtful animation yet. In addition to that, I've poured a lot of time and effort into making the backgrounds.

I'm not sure when Tift 2 will be out, I'll be sure and post it when it is, but Tift 3 is what I'm really looking forward to seeing completed.

Tift Regional Medical Center 1

Here's the first of three commercials for Tift that we've done.

I made the backgrounds and most of the key frame animation. Zach did some key frames and all of the in between animation. Matt S. wrote and recorded the music, Aaron worked on audio, and Matt F. complied everything into AfterEffects.

This is our first foray into traditional hand drawn animation. While it's not quite 24 frames a second (wink, wink) we've learned an invaluable amount and it's safe to say the second and third have reaped the benefits of our learning, the third most of all.

Enjoy.

ka-pow! billboard!

From the first commercial for Tift Regional Medical Center.

Illustration Friday: "Forgotten"

Forgotten? Hey! How about for starters where are the heck are you? The infant on the left is floating in sea of emptiness like... so many bodies of water... with no fish in them.

The confidant child on the right is walking proudly, supreme ruler of his space. Because he actually has space. And dimension. And stuff on the floor.

This is for the second of three animated commercials for a hospital I've been doing at work. I did this first one with out any stuff, just ... well ... did I forget? No, and that's the bad part. Somehow I thought it was going to look good. Well it didn't. Now I can say I forgot. But I'm not sure that sounds any better, really.

So I made some stuff for baby to have around him. Disaster averted.

_______________________________

If I come across any more "forgotten" type things during the day I'll update this post. Have a good Friday. Think of Frīge, wife of Odin.

The name Friday comes from the Old English frigedæg, meaning the day of Frige the Anglo-Saxon form of Frigg, a West Germanic translation of Latin dies Veneris, "day (of the planet) Venus." However, in most Germanic languages the day is named after Freyja—such as Frīatag in Old High German, Freitag in Modern German, Freyjudagr in Old Norse,Föstudagur in Icelandic, Vrijdag in Dutch, Fredag in Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish—but Freyja and Frigg are frequently