NEVERMINDS EVOLUTION - SANRIA

Here's another look at the evolution of one of our characters from NEVERMINDS. This time it's Sanria. When we first agreed to work on NEVERMINDS together, Jamie and I both throw out a bunch of ideas. One of which was a kind of psychic superhero team. I wasn't feeling that one, having worked on SENTINELS so long, I wanted to do something different. But Jamie had done a couple of really cool designs, one of which I really, really liked. That was Sanria. At first she kind of looked like an X-Girl (as shown below). Then as we began to develop things, we reworked her a lot and she became this entirely new character. Enjoy the sketches! More soon...

CHARLES HOLBERT JR SIGNING AT COMIC OASIS

I just got word that the very talented and all around nice guy artist, Charles Holbert Jr, who drew Harlette's story in the SENTINELS Anthology will be doing a signing for the Anthology at the Comic Oasis in Las Vegas. I can't speak highly enough about Charles's art. I really expect him to be a big comic star someday soon and feel lucky to have gotten him involved in the Anthology. If his work in the Anthology isn't enough to convince people of that, just take a look at this print he did for the signing of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.. It's so freaking sweet. I love it. If you in the Las Vegas area, stop by on July 9th, 2008 and say hello to Charles. Stop by http://comicoasis.com/ to find out more details. Of course, I'm not sure the girls in that pic with Charles will be there. But you never know. :) I hope it goes well, Charles!

NEVERMINDS EVOLUTION - ALANIS MUNROE

Here are a few sketches by Jamie Fay that show the evolution of our main character from NEVERMINDS, Alanis Munroe. You can see from the beginnning she wasn't as defined as she is now. Then you'll notice that she looks like the daughter from the TV series 24 (Elisha Cuthbert). We scraped that idea and settled on her current look. As for her dress, we were going to define it, but as we worked we though it might be interesting to have her change it a bit each time. You'll see how that's possible in the series. More soon...

HARLETTE BY REY ARZENO

I had the pleasure of meeting Rey Arzeno a while ago through Deviant Art. I really loved his style, so I dropped him a note and then got to meet him at this years NYC Comic Con. Of course, talking to people online and then meeting them in person are two totally different things. Sometimes you hit it off and become friends, sometimes you don't. Luckily for me, lol, Rey is a super cool guy and has become a good friend. Over the last few months we've talked about working together on something and hopefully we'll start soon. (Gotta lots of work to do first!).

I wanted to post this AWESOME pic Rey did of Harlette in her costume from SENTINELS Book 4. How sweet is this? Rey draws incredibly hot women and I love all the detail he put into her costume. I'm really excited that we're going to work on something together and hope everyone will enjoy his art as much as I do. Go check out his gallery at http://arzeno.deviantart.com/ .

Trust me, you'll love his work! Thanks so much for the sketch, Rey.

NEW DRUMFISH FORUMS!

For the last few years we had (and still have) a forum over on Philip Clark's Dreamchilde site. But I thought the time was right to finally get our own forums and create something specific to Drumfish Productions. In the coming year we'll be publishing a few new series and even though we have a ton of threads on the Dreamchilde forum, I think now is the time to do this.

I want to thank Philip for all the help through the years and of course for asking me to be part of the Dreamchilde forum. I really got to know a lot of great people over there and we've had a very loyal following that I really appreciate. I hope this new forum will be as successful as Philip's and just as friendly. I'll still be over there from time to time., but for the most part, this is our new home.

Go check out the site and sign up!

http://www.phpbbplanet.com/drumfish/

SENTINELS GEN 3 - WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

A few posts ago I showed Luciano's sketch for a character named Flake. She would have been a character who joined the 3rd Gen SENTINELS if we had done a series on them. But she wouldn't have been alone. Since a few of you asked what other unseen things I had in my files, I decided to show these sketches done a long time ago. Excuse the art, because they're drawn by me, lol. Usually when I'm creating or writing something, I do little sketches and show them to the artist to try to get my idea across to them.

Flake would have been part of another team of super-powered youngsters, kind of a villain team but with a twist. They were all also related to the villains who were killed in SENTINELS Book 2: Masks. The line-up consisted of:

Flake - The granddaughter of Shiver. Flake had the ability to freeze things.

Pinch - The son of Detonator. Pinch had the ability to affect people's nervous system with a snap of his fingers.

Wreck - The grandson of the Tank. Wreck had the power to turn his body into metal.

Fasttrack - The daughter of Fasttrack. She had the ability to "speed up" herself and anything around her.

Glam - The daughter of Glamora. Spoiled rich girl with the power to alter her appearance.

Growl - The son of Pitbull. Growl had feral abilities, but limited intelligence.

Simone - The daughter of Adlivon. Simone had mystical abilites and a connection to the dead.

Trick-N-Treat - The twin children of Nebulas. Each had the power to make things explode.

Wipeout - Yes, Wipeout. Scarred and depowered after his encounter at the end of SENTINELS Book 4: Hope, Wipeout would have been the leader of the group.

Of course, we (Luciano and I) both decided this wasn't the direction we wanted to take with the 3rd Gen SENTINELS. In addition to both wanting to take a break from the SENTINELS universe, we also though we were doing it, just to do it. I don't think that would have been good for anyone. BUt the characters we created were kind of fun and who knows? Maybe one day one or two of them will show up somewhere.

Hope this look at what might have been is enjoyed!

100TH POST!

Wow. It's kind of hard for me to believe that this is my 100th post here on the blog. When I started this I had no idea I had enough ramblings to get to 100. But, here we are. I figured I'd take this post to ask some things and also to let everyone know what Drumfish has planned for the next year.

First, I'm curious as to what people think of the blog here. There aren't too many people posting, but that's okay because I know it's being read. What I want to know is if people are enjoying it. What do and don't you like? More previews? More behind the scene stuff? Less? More sketches? I haven't posted any reviews or plugs in a while. Do you want to see more of those?

I ask because I'm going to be working on setting up a Drumfish website soon. I'm just waiting on the domain name now. But when I do, I want to make it good. So, let me know what you all think.

It seems like I've been talking mostly about SENTINELS on here. That's because it's the only book published by Drumfish so far. But by next year there will be a few more.

First, of course, will be NEVERMINDS by myself and Jamie Fay. I've post a bit on NEVERMINDS and can't wait to get it out there. It seems like we've been working on it forever, but hopefully the wait will be worth it. NEVERMINDS will be published in trade form and in color.

Also in development is CASPIAN CURSES. This will be a scifi/fantasy book by myself and Luciano Vecchio. We put it on the back burning for a while as I worked on NEVERMINDS and other stuff and Luciano worked on his project, CRUEL THING. But we're recently reworked the story and I think it'll really stand out now. It even has a slight connection to SENTINELS. :) I'm not completely sure if Drumfish will be publishing this, as we want to see if another company might be interested. But if they aren't, then it'll have the Drumfish logo on it for sure. CASPIAN CURSES will be published in trade form if Drumfish does it and will be in color.

Now, both of those books have been in my head for a while and work has been being done on them for a long time. But they're not the only projects I have planned.

I'd been thinking for a while about where I want Drumfish to go and what my goals were in the comic industry and after much thought (and a great conversation with Bryan J. Glass) I now know what I want to do. See, I love OGNs and think publishing in that form has been the best thing for me. It kept costs down and looked really professional. But I've been ignoring other forms of publishing. So, next year, with lots of work and a bit of luck, Drumfish will also publish some smaller pamphet sized comics. Some of which are already in development.

The first will be a kind of darker book with art by Teyo, the artist who drew Templar's story in the SENTINELS Anthology. I really love Teyo's work and look forward to working with him. I also think it'll be a book that will surprise people in terms of what I've done before.

For now, that's the only book I can mention, but keep checking here to see what else is in the works. Next year you'll see quite a few new books from Drumfish! Thanks to everyone for all the support and I hope you'll enjoy what comes next!

MORE SKETCHES FROM PHILLY CON

Here are the final two sketches I got while at the Wizard World Philly Con. Surprisingly, they're both of Harlette. It seems that a lot of artists like her. Usually, I let the artist pic who they want to draw, I think you get a better sketch that way, so I have more Harlette sketches than any of the other SENTINELS. I might ask people to do anyone but her for a while so that it gets evened out a little more.

But here are two great sketches. The first is by Rodney Ramos. Rodney is a very cool guy and was one of the first artist I had do anything for me at the con. He wanted to do more to the sketch, but I had to get the book to David Petersen. So, he asked that I bring it back later for him to tweak some things. I unfortunately, forgot. But I think his drawing looks great. I'm really happy with what he did and think the blue around Harlette really brings her out.

The second Harlette sketch is by Patrick Thomas Parnell. Patrick has his own book out called Ultrastar. I bought a copy but haven't had a chance to read it yet. It's about the same size as the SENTINELS Anthology but was $20. I thought that was a little steep, but gave it a try anyway. I really like the sketch Patrick did for me and think he draws a very interesting Harlette. The hair really adds to the feel of the pic. Check out more of Patrick's work on his blog at http://patrickthomasparnell.blogspot.com/ .

WHO IS FLAKE?

Following up on my last post, I thought I show another idea from the 3rd Gen SENTINELS that didn't come to light. Here is Flake, a character who would have and a BIG impact on all the kids. I don't want to say what her storyline would have been, because who knows, maybe I'll use it somehow or somewhere else one day. But, she would have been part of another group and she had very strong ties to the SENTINELS. She's the granddaughter of Shiver who appeared very briefly in SENTINELS Book 2: Masks. I love Luciano's design for her and think she'd have been a really great character. Cute, huh?

SENTINELS GEN 3 OLD PAGES

I realized the other day that I have these awesome pages that Luciano did a long time ago of the 3rd Gen SENTINELS that no one has really seen. Back when we were doing the SENTINELS graphic novels (right after the second trade), we toyed around with the idea of doing an on-going series featuring the 3rd Gen team. I had written about three issues of it and Luciano had drawn six pages (which are posted here). We intended to show it to Image Comics and see if they were interested in publishing it. Sadly, when I met with the guy in charge of Image, he wasn't the nicest person. That's all I'll say about that. But regardless, he didn't like our work and we went back to finishing the SENTINELS series. As we got to the end, it became clearer to us that as much as we loved the 3rd Gen, we really didn't have any specific story in mind for them. With SENTINELS we had a great epic tale and a story that, we felt, had a lot of heart and purpose. We eventually decided against doing the 3rd Gen as a series and most of what we had started ended up making it's way into the SENTINELS Anthology.

But still, I thought it'd be nice to show the pages we had done and see how things had changed. Some of the characters got tweaked a little, but for the most part you know who they are. These pages helped us define them so that when they finally saw print, we knew their personalities pretty well. Probably the biggest change was that their was no daughter for Switchfast and Agent Huggins back then. Psyched was created later and I think she rounded out the group well.

I hope everyone enjoys a look at these pages!

SENTINELS ON COMICVINE

A while back now, I was shown this awesome site by Keefer Kopco. It's called COMICVINE and is more or less a database for all different kinds of superhero characters. Keefer brought it to my attention because he set up an entire page for SENTINELS! Complete with bios, gallery art and even an entry for Squadron 7. I can't thank Keefer enough for doing this. It's really a huge undertaking and looks great! Check it out at http://www.comicvine.com/sentinels/65-48487/ .

Keefer also did a site full of SENTINELS micros. It's been on our main website for some time. But I thought since I was mentioning COMICVINE, I'd give Keefer more props for the site he had made before. Check out http://www.freewebs.com/the-sentinel-micros/ to see even more micros Keefer has done of the SENTINELS.

Thanks again, Keefer. I really appreciate it!

SENTINELS HEROCLIX BY CHRIS SCHADT

A few weeks ago I posted the super cool Rapture HeroClix that I was given at the Wizard World Philly show. It was done by Chris Schadt and he mentioned that he had done other characters from the series and he would send me some pictures. Well, here we have Electron, Splash, Templar and Firebomb. Awesome, huh? I'm really thankful to Chris for doing these and sharing them with me so I can show them off. Chris says he plans to finish the entire second generation SENTINELS team and will send me more pictures when he does.

Thanks again, Chris. I love them!

CRUSHER BY BRYAN K. TURNER

Crusher get his turn in my sketch book as done by Bryan K. Turner, aka Flash! I have to admit that this pic is one of my favorite I've gotten. Bryan really has a energetic quality to his style. I love the way he poses his characters in such dynamic positions. And as I look at his rendition of Crusher, I can't help but notice that he kind of made his costume look like a Kirby design. I love that. Check out more of Bryan's work at http://www.bturnerdesigns.com/ and his Deviant page at http://sauceboy.deviantart.com/.

MOUSE SENTINELS BY DAVID PETERSEN

I had the honor of meeting David Petersen, the creator of MOUSE GUARD, at the Wizard World Philly Con. Anyone who has read MOUSE GUARD knows that David is an extremely talented guy, but he also happens to be super nice. He was constantly busy talking with fans and other creators and did quite a few commissions while he was there. I consider myself very lucky to have gotten a sketch by him. Originally I was thinking I'd have him do a teamshot for me, but after chatting with him for a while and thinking about his work. I asked him to just draw Templar and Firebomb in their final costume looks. I think it fit with his MOUSE GUARD series about mice knights. What I didn't expect was the detail David put into this sketch. It's really incredible and SENTINELS fans might also notice that David used the CYPRUS vessel as a background to the sketch. How cool is that?

With MICE TEMPLAR and MOUSE GUARD both focusing on rodents, you'd also think that there might be some kind of feud between the creative teams. That's definitely not the case. Both are big fans of the other and so I am. I plan to try to do a review of both books soon. For anyone who hasn't checked them out, you're really missing some great work!

See more of David's work and learn more about MOUSE GUARD at http://www.mouseguard.net/ .

TINY SENTINELS BY ART BALTAZAR & FRANCO AURELIANI

I actually got these sketches at both the NYC Comic Con and the Wizard World Philly Con. At the NYC Con, my table was next to Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani. They were super nice guys and very funny. Art and Franco are the creators of DC Comic's TINY TITANS. The book is aimed at kids, but there are tons of adults who like it too. Art does the artwork on the book and he was doing quick sketches for only a dollar. Crazy, huh? So, I couldn't pass up getting him to draw the 3rd Gen SENTINELS for me. He did them so fast and I think they're great. Lots of energy in them and in color even (crayons). A few friends also got Franco to do sketches for them and I had no idea he was an artist also. I was kicking myself for not getting something by him at NYC. As luck would have it, Art and Franco were at the Philly Con and I had Franco draw the 3rd Gen SENTINELS this time. He did them as a team in my sketch book and for only a dollar each. Gotta love them!

I want to wait a little while to post these since they have the 3rd Gen kids names on the art. But now that the SENTINELS Anthology is out, I can finally share them.

Check out Art and Franco work at http://www.blindwolfstudios.com/ and http://www.artbaltazar.com/ .

SPLASH BY TAKI SOMA

Taki Soma was the first artist I had do a sketch for me at the Philly Con this past weekend. I'd tried to get a sketch from Taki at Pittsburgh last month, but I kept missing her. Taki has a really bold style and the line work on her sketches is amazing. On top of all that Taki is a super nice person. Really. I mean, how many artist go around giving out cookies at the con? lol. She always has a big smile on her face and is very considerate to all her fans. Check out more of Taki's work at http://www.takisoma.com/ and find out more about her up-coming mini-series with Michael Avon Oeming.

PHILLY CON SKETCHES

Here are the first Philly Con sketches I got over the week. These are by two recent graduates of the Joe Kubert School, George Bough and Helsa Amadi. I met George and Helsa before the show even started on Friday when there was a table mix-up at the con. It seems Wizard likes to move people around and we got moved to the table George and Helsa were originally scheduled to be at and they weren't told about the switch. After tracking down someone in charge, we got things straighten out and all was fine. But George and Helsa seemed so nice that I wanted to check out their art and chat with them. I was really impressed with both of their work.

George did a sketch of Phazer, who no one had drawn in my sketchbook yet. I think he did a great job and captured Phazer's character very well. I also was really impressed with George's portfolio and recommended him to a friend who is looking for an artist. He has some sequential pages on his site that are great. Check out George's work at http://www.georgebough.com/ or his Deviant Art page at http://plasticfrank.deviantart.com/ .

Helsa did a beautiful sketch of Gospel, another of the SENTINELS that no one had drawn in my sketchbook yet. Helsa has a really clean and elegant style that I think captured Gospel perfectly. I was also really impressed with her portfolio and also recommended her to my friend looking for artists. Check out more of Helsa's art at http://www.helsaamadi.com/ or her Deviant Art page at http://amadihelsa.deviantart.com/ .

I can see both of these artists working in comics really soon and was happy to get a sketch from them.

SENTINELS COMMISSION 5

Here is another SENTINELS commission Luciano Vecchio has done. Templar was done for Todd Latoski in part for all his help with the Anthology and also for all the work he did at the Florida Megacon. Todd's gotten quite a collect of SENTINELS commissions over the years and says he plans to eventually get all of the team.

I love seeing what Luciano comes up with whenever he does one of these. They're truly works of art. This one would make a pretty cool T-shirt, huh?

Luciano now has his own blog too! Check it out at http://lucianovecchio.wordpress.com/ . Get commissions while you can!

PHILIP CLARK SIGNING AT COMIC BUG

Writer and musician, Philip Clark will be signing copies of the SENTINELS Anthology tomorrow at The Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach, California from 5pm to 8pm. Philip is the writer of Firebomb's story in the Anthology. Philip will also have copies of his own series QUANTUM: ROCK OF AGES on hand to sign at the store as well as CDs of his music. THE STATE OF THE BLUE-EYED SOUL, Philip's first CD, has already occupied Top-10 positions on internet urban/R&B charts, and are regularly featured on MP3.com, Riffage.com, and Farmclub. I have a copy and can't recommend it enough. Great stuff!. So, if you're in the area, stop by The Comic Bug and see Philip!

WIZARD WORLD PHILLY REPORT

Back from Wizard World Philly! The Con was excellent. I was at the convention with Jamie Fay (artist on NEVERMINDS) and Bryan J.L. Glass (writer of MICE TEMPLAR). Bryan was nice enough to offer to share his table with Jamie and I. We got to hang with him and his wife, Judy, Michael Avon Oeming and Taki Soma, David Petersen, Arune Singh, Sam Vera, James Rodiquez and many other cool people. Thanks again, Bryan. I owe you!

I sold well over what I thought I would there. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and said hello and to those who took a chance and purchased SENTINELS. One of the highlights of the show was getting a heoclix statue of Rapture. As you can see in the picture with this post, it's really amazing. Of course, I was so shocked that someone was giving this to me as a gift, that I didn't remember there name when I got home. Sorry about that. I did get his e-mail though and wrote him and hopefully I can give him proper credit when I hear back from him. Thanks again!!!

Of course, I also got a lot of sketches at the convention that I'll be posting over the next few weeks. Jamie was also really busy doing sketches and you can see a commission here he did of Splash for someone. Pretty cool, huh?

Again, thanks to everyone who we had the opportunity to chat with. It was a great con and I will definitely do it again!

UPDATE!!!!

I heard back from the cool guy who did the Rapture Hero-Clix for me. It was done by none other then, Chris "Tinge" Schadt. Chris has also done HeroClix of Templar, Firebomb, Splash and Electron. He promises to send pics and when I get them I'll post them on the blog. Thanks again, Chris!

Also, check out the cool HeroClix card Chris did for Rapture. Gotta love it. :)