Chapter 4 Update

Oct04
by on 4 October 2019

I figured enough time has passed to throw some details and information at you with regard to the eagerly anticipated next chapter in Long John’s story.

However, some things I won’t reveal quite yet are the release date, the chapter title, nor the cover––those are worth a post on their own at this point and will likely be posted before the year is done.

Chapter 4 is in production…and is making a mess.

What I can tell you is that, in terms of drawing the thing, Chapter 4 is nearly done. I have about five pages left to draw and ink. After that, it’s all about coloring, lettering, and compiling the book as a whole before sending it off to the printer. I’ve got a good headway on the coloring––I’ve been throwing down colors when I’m away from my table but still have down time and access to a laptop––but there’s still a bit of road ahead of me for that. However, once all the pages are drawn and inked, coloring is not nearly as taxing (though still quite a process) and will likely go relatively quickly.

I can also tell you that this chapter is a bit of a standalone chapter in addition to ostensibly starting the second “book” or “act” of the story; so it’s a bit of a new beginning albeit clearly building off of what happened before, especially in Chapter 3. Though the plot thickens and some new characters are introduced (some of whom have been revealed already on this very site), it’s mostly a study in the psychology of Long John himself as he gets put (or puts himself?) through an even tighter ringer than what he has been through already.

Making effects have been fun this trying out new things in this chapter. Oh, and there is a bit of violence as Long John plummets deeper into the darkness that’s been chasing him.

Continuing what started in Chapter 3, Chapter 4 has seen me pushing myself even more artistically, playing with tools in ways I’d only dabbled in before. Specifically, I’ve become more acquainted with the correction pen in a manner more than just using to fix errors I make on the page (the physical equivalent of the beloved Ctrl+z aka “undo” of digital art), instead using it to create effects that elevate the tone and focus of a panel and page. And it’s a lot of fun to make a mess.

Like I said, I’ve been having a lot of fun with the correction pen (and hatching with regular pens.

So, I am continuing to get this book done with a release––with hope––before the end of the year. If not, then it will easily be available at the beginning of 2020. But, as the guy that puts this thing together, I am only writing this post because the end is feeling very close at this point and I’m excited to get Chapter 4 to you as soon as possible.

Thank you for your patience and continued interest. To keep up-to-date with my artistic experiments, be sure to follow me on Instagram where a lot of art is posted.

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Sketch Fridays #67 – Batman Day 2019

Sep27
by on 27 September 2019
Sketch Friday #67 – Batman Day 2019

While “Batman Day”––the cultural celebration of the character’s first appearance in Detective Comics #27 in 1939––was officially last week, and ignoring the fact that I posted the pencil version of this drawing to my various social media accounts last week, I bring to Sketch Fridays another Batman drawing in honor of the event.

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Fan Art by Junior Bruce

Sep20
by on 20 September 2019
art by Junior Bruce

Fan art is basically the cover song of the art world. To me, good fan art also follows the same rules as a good cover song.

The most boring thing to do is to repeat what has been done before; trying to (in music) sound like The Beatles when covering “Daytripper” will only ever sound like someone trying to sound like The Beatles. Instead, a good cover song recasts that song through the filter of the new artist’s talent, making it sound like a song from that artist’s catalogue rather than something that stands out from it.

Fan art works best in the same way––when I see fan art, I don’t want to see an artist try to draw like another artist; I want to see what a character looks like when filtered through someone else’s hand.

I kind of don’t want to thikn about how long I’ve known Junior Bruce, another Sacramento-area artist, because it merely hammers home how long I’ve been doing this. Its’ surely been almost ten years since we kind of came up together in the Sacramento comics/art scene. What’s even more surprising is how many of those people that I met back at the start of this whole adventure are still at it, improving and expanding their talents as Junior has done, putting my meager growth to shame.

An example of the process posts published on D. Bethel’s Instagram feed.

From the start, Junior impressed me as a multi-talented individual––from making art to podcasts to stand-up comedy––and though he has kind of pulled back from extending himself across multiple media (much as I did when I started Long John), he has focused on the growth of not only his talent but his business over the last few years, and the effort shows. His Instagram feed features mostly his sketch card work and I honestly can’t understand how he maintains such a prolific output with such a consistent––and increasing––quality.

With such a busy and productive schedule, I had no idea Junior had the time to read my comic much less draw fan art for it. So, I was surprised to see his incredibly gracious post online about the comic and how I share the process (the maddening, incremental, slow, painstaking, and frustrating process) online on social media, coupled with sketches of his interpretation of Long John.

Even more to my surprise, he sent me the finished piece above a few days later, and it’s arrival was incredibly humbling.

I have talked about how comicking is a solitary process (as are most creative activities) and feedback is often rare or only really expressed as book sales at shows. To not only get an out-of-nowhere shout-out from a dude I’ve known seemingly forever but to get one so well-rendered in Junior’s inimitable style truly gives me, as a comic creator shut-in, the inspiration to keep pushing forward. It’s nice to hear a cover of your work every now and then, filtered through someone else’s talent and timbre. It drives home that, as much as I know Long John, that the comic is connecting with many other people out there, too.

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