PIXU is upon us.

PIXU
2 part mini series
by Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Lolos, Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá.
special edition, 1000 copies, numbered and signed.

part one will be released on the San Diego Comic Con International. Part two will be out in September.

This is not going to be distributed by Diamond. If you're not going to San Diego and you want to save your copy of PIXU, it will only be available through KHEPRI.COM. They are already taking pre-orders.

Harvey Awards 2008!

We just got 3 nominations for the Harvey Awards 2008.

BEST ARTIST
Gabriel Bá, Umbrella Academy, Dark Horse Comics

BEST CONTINUING OR LIMITED SERIES
Umbrella Academy, Dark Horse Comics

BEST NEW SERIES
Umbrella Academy, Dark Horse Comics

You can see the full list on http://www.harveyawards.org/. Winners will be announced at the Baltimore Comic-con, September 27.

Special shout for our own Vasilis Lolos for his nomination as Best new Talent and Best Cartoonist!!

Front

TOMBO

Warm up for the day. Pencil with TOMBO brush pens. When we discovered TOMBO pens, we were fascinated by the brush pen, and all the different colors. We bought a bunch of pens years ago. Then we realized they are not waterproof, and if you draw with your hand touching the paper, you're going to make a big mess of your drawing.

We don't use these pens for any professional job anymore (maybe for some quick storyboards), but we still have a bunch and doing early warm up sketches is all I can think of so we don't waste them and throw them away.

Life drawings

PIXU is coming.

PIXU, our new self-published comic, will be ready for San Diego Comic Con, special 1000 copies numbered and signed. The PIXU crew is Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Lolos, Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá.

It's gonna be a 2 part mini-series and the second one will be out in september.
If you're going to MOCCA this weekend, find Becky at table A69 and find more about our new project.

And If you're not going to San Diego or if you already want to save your copy of PIXU, you can pre-order it at KHEPRI.COM.

Will you still miss me when I'm 64?

A self-other-self portrait done by Bá this week, which I colored, to celebrate our joint 64th birthday today. We have a lot to celebrate this year, and heavy celebration will occur soon, but for now we must focus on the work, the new work, the different work, and all the variants in between.

iGoogle

Everyone knows Google, but not that many know iGoogle, their enterprise on the "Web 2.0" world, with everything you want on one single page, full of gadgets that let you read news in RSS, the weather, Orkut, Myspace, Gmail, sports, Google Maps, whatever you think of.

As a marketing maneuver to spread the world about iGoogle, they've invited several artists from different fields from all around the world to create themes for this page, that the user can pick and have on their own personal pages. Bands (like Coldplay and Beastie Boys), fashion designers (Dolce&Gabbana e Oscar de la Renta), athletes (Lance Armstrong), cartoonists (Osamu Tezuka e Robert Mankoff), among many others.



The invited us to create our theme and we're very glad to be part of such a incredible project.

If you don't know iGoogle yet, just go to Google, click on the top right on iGoogle and give it a try.

Fragile

The last drops of ink on CASANOVA

Here's a video that shows Bá and myself inking the last pieces we did for Casanova.
I'm inking the last page and he's working over the image on the back cover.
I'm left handed and ink with a brush, Bá's right handed and uses pens.

Hope you enjoy it.

Casanova is now.

this was the first drawing of Casanova I did when we decided I was going to draw the second album.

Check out a preview of Casanova 14. This is the issue I'm most proud of, the end of the second album, the "go out with a bang" issue, the farewell, the issue to answer your questions.

I was drawing the last pages of issue 9, and reading the first pages of issue 10, and I asked Matt "is this what I think it is?" and he, in his "I'm the writer and I know stuff before any of you" pose, said "yes, but don't tell anyone".

Bá learned a lot working on Casanova, and so did I. This was never an easy comic to draw, and I tried to make it look simple (to do) and complex and rich as a world.


This was the second drawing, two days later, when I think I got it right.

Best CASANOVA EVER written.

"Towards the end of the book there is a real stand out tableau where two characters appear reflected by glass -- and they look like a painted blue Sin City scene. That is the image I would isolate to sell people on the power of the Moon. "

"Even if you have never read a single issue of this title, go get Casanova 14. Volume two may be better than volume one, and issue 14 is better than any Casanova issue before -- and there ARE no bad or even middling issues of Casanova out there."

From Geoff Klock's Blog, about CASANOVA 14, which may be out as early as next week.

Interview! Eisner! Voting!

There's a new interview with Bá about his work on Umbrella Academy. It has been on the Dark Horse site for over a month, but we just noticed it now. Check out for some insights on Bá's impressions on the series.



Also, the voting for the Eisner Awards have begun, so if you're a professional in the industry elligible to vote, and you might have liked Umbrella Academy as best mini series, Sugarshock as best online comic or 5 as best anthology, go ahead and place your vote at http://eisnervote.com/.

Pixu thumbnails

In an independent project like PIXU, you have to establish your own deadlines, and than break these deadlines into smaller deadlines. This way, you won't get behind on your self-imposed schedule and you'll be able to balance doing it at the same time as your other projects.

Since we did 5 last year, we have been talking about what to do next, and we seriously decided to do another ensemble comic around january.

We'll be set up at the Image big booth in San Diego, just like last year. As soon as we decided to do another book, we knew we would need a booth, because our strong independent sales were always done directly with the reader, so we needed a place to tell the reader "this is where you'll find us and buy our book".

We spent at least two months working out the script part, talking in the internet with each other, some times from three different continents. The fact that a project like this is only possible because of the internet is an understatement.

Right now, we're doing the thumbnails. Becky is always the fastest one and, since Bá is already drawing more Umbrella Academy pages, I'm second on the thumbnail count.

Here are two pages from my thumbnails:

Choosing the time.

If the day was longer, we could do so much more. The way that is is, we have to choose the projects we'll do and hope to do others later. The choosing is tricky when you have lousy options, as you have to see which one you think you can salvage or reinvent, but it's even more difficult when your options are all good.

The opposite applies then: look at the projects you can't leave for later, the ones that are exploding in your brain and need to be put on paper, look at the people you most want to work with, and really see what you want to do right now. These are the projects you must do, and you do them to keep the fire burning so you'll shine when you do every other thing.

nominations for the Eisner Awards

Today is a really special day. They've just released the list of Eisner Awards nominees and Fábio and I have been nominated for a couple of awards.

Best Limited Series - Umbrella Academy (Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá)
Best Online Comic - Sugar Shock (Joss Whedon and Fábio Moon)
Best Anthology - 5 (Becky Cloonan, Fábio Moon, Gabriel Bá, Grampá and Vasilis Lolos)



If you haven't seen 5 yet, you can order it online from Khepri, or look for Becky and Vasilis at the upcoming NYCC.
Congratulations for all the other nominees, including Ivan Brandon and his 24seven (also running for best anthology), Dave Stewart for best coloring, Matt Fraction and the crew of The Immortal Iron Fist (best new series) and Sensational Spider-Man Annual (best single issue), Brian Wood (best writer) and Chuck BB (special recognition).

Also on the nomination news, Umbrella Academy has just been nominated for 2 Eagle Awards, as Favourite new comic and Favourite Cover (for issue #1).

Réveillon

Yesterday's work felt good, and it felt right, and soon enough it was over. Plans for different kinds of celebration were held, and the day went as any other. However, I like to believe yesterday was a special day.

It feels like the year ended, and in some ways it has, a little late, like everything here in Brazil that waits Carnaval is over for the year to really start. I feel like Carnaval is finally over. I lighted a candle during dinner as we should do in the last day of the year, and I wished for the best. I spent a year working in Casanova, helping create and shape a world, and now this year is coming to an end. A new year approaches and a very different journey is about to begin.

Happy new year.

Beautiful day

"Today is a beautiful day to finish a story", I thought as I walked to the bakery in the morning to buy some bread. Yesterday, as I went to bed, I knew today I would have only one page left to finish my last issue of Casanova, and so today was to be a special day.

Today is suit day.

The sun, the birds singing and the breeze coming from the open window of the studio only make this day a more pleasant, more peaceful and more special one.

As I turn this page, one story ends. It's time to start another.

Doesn't say much, I know. But...

That's all I can say... for now.

Another day, another page

Casanova 13 is out in the open, and I'm basically all that stands between the reader and Casanova 14, since I'm still drawing our double-sized last issue. When all is said and done, I hope people forget the issues that came out late and focus on the quality of the work, which should be the only concern.

I wonder if peole will notice the change of styles midway through the last issue, but I rather think the story will keep the reader busy enough that nobody will even pay attention to the art.

I'm on page 22, by the way, so it shouldn't be long now.

Panel 2, page 19

Panel 2

On Ruby B. and Seychelle. Ruby gesticulates, concerned. Seychelle checks the data on a floating computer.

Ruby B: Are you sure it's him? Have we found him?

Seychelle: Just give me one moment.


. . .

New style

For the past four months, I can't find the brush I use to buy anywhere in the city. It's sold out. I've been treating my brush real nice and it's lasting a lot of time, but there's just so much I can take. The time has come for DESPERATE measures!

I'm changing my style, and from now on I'll only draw like this:

Inking with a brush

Bá caught me inking one of the most recent pages in video. We were talking to a young brazilian cartoonist who was here at the studio, and he's the one dong most of the talking at the beginning of the video, then there's the silence I fall into every time I ink, and then there are the small talk Bá and I exchange when we're drawing, which can be very confusing to the outsiders in its half finished sentences and inside references.

But the inking is nice, I guess, and maybe we could do these video things more often. Maybe when I'm not drawing the last issue with a lot of surprises, we could show me inking a more interesting portion of a page.

Page 16 today.

Matt has some preview art of Casanova 14 on his Flickr. Check it out if your into the whole teaser thing.


I just finished a page. If issue 14 of Casanova was a regular issue, with 16 pages, I would have finished it today. It's not, so I barely passed halfway point. Bá is loving the pages, so I guess this is a good sign. Matt seems to like it too, but he says little praise. He saves the praise for little Henry, who I'm yet to meet. I wonder if he will visit San Diego for the first time in July, or if Kelly Sue will skip this year, or if Matt will stay at home during the summer.

Today was a beautiful day, and I spent most of it working in the shade, in the studio. I also got my Sugarshock/MySpace poster framed after all these months, and I already hung it on my wall.

Putting art in general on the wall makes you want to do more art.

And so I did.

Drinking it strong.

I'm currently listening to a 14 track album while I draw the 14th Casanova issue. I'm making an effort to keep listening to this album repeatedly as long as this issue lasts, it only seems fitting that I do that since Matt sent me this album, which is actually a "mix-tape".

I refill my coffee mug and notice that there's actually an extra song in the mix. I'd call it a bonus track since I grew so found of the "14 issues and 14 songs" connection.

The bonus track is called "Casanova".

I drink my coffee, which is very good.

Improving

A doctor has to always be studying, updating his technique, his knowledge. He's gotta be at the top of is game. On that same basis, an artist has to look to other techniques that might enrich hi work somehow.

I'm taking watercolor classes. Not that I see myself making painted albums like the Europeans do (those crazy bastards), nor even do I want to change my "I LOVE BLACK AND WHITE" style. I just always loved watercolors and I think it's the technique I'd like to use if I were to do something hand painted.

After lots of exercises and getting to know the colors a little bit, I decided to dare making a real drawing.



I didn't really like the results, but it showed me all the things I still get to improve and that it's not as simple as it looks. But I'm not in a hurry. One thing I learned already, watercolor is for those who can wait till it's time to do it right.

Yes, she does.

Becky went on a trip for two weeks. Not, however, without spilling something about the future. If you wonder what the future holds, Becky knows.

Figure drawing - Ugo

I love figure drawing. Keeps me relaxed and widen my horizons creatively. There's something into drawing one minute poses that I don't get drawing comics.

I did this last night. The guy was an actor and a puppeteer, a mimic, and even holding still, it felt like he was moving.

In two weeks, there will be a pregnant women posing. That should be interesting.

Music and Comics.

Gerard came to Brazil with My Chemical Romance as part of their tour. When he was in town, we hung out a whole day talking about music, comics and what the future awaits for us. And that's a bright future, I might say.

Our encounter did wonders for both of us and we learned a lot with one another. He took me to one of his shows and it was really thrilling when he dedicated Teenagers to me in front of five thousand people. They have all treated me really nice and I had to do something in return. And I did what I know best.

Talking about style back in the day.

I've done these series of drawings to use on a class about inking and style. They were all done based on a photograph, so none of them show what my style really is, but they show 4 different ways to draw the same scene.



Your style is the way you chose to show things or to say things. It's all you've chosen to put in and all you left out.



If you're looking at a photograph, you see all that's there to see, all that was captured by the lenses and when you want to draw that, you have to chose what is important for the drawing and what is useless information. All those things you find important, all the details that make it into the picture, they are defined by your style.



When you're not looking at a picture to draw something, you'll have to make all the decisions of what goes in and what stays out in your mind. For something like that to really work, you must know very well the subject you're gonna draw. And that's when live drawing comes very handy. The more live drawing sketches you make, the more studies you do, more "visual vocabulary" you get to enable you to draw anything you want in your own style.



There's no right or wrong, better or worse. I can't say a clean sharp style like Mignola's is better than a very scratchy dirty "detailed" art like McFarlane's, a cartoony style like Jeff Smith's or the very photo-realistic cinematic style of Bryan Hitch. You all know I'm teasing you and all I could say would be a matter of personal taste, but what really matters in the end is that all the choices you make work in favor of the story. Your art should help you tell the story and not distract the eyes of the reader.

There are endless bits of information in every single panel you make and it's up to you to chose what will help you tell your story and what's useless lines in a piece of paper.

Wonder Twins, ACTIVATE!

Our story at the February edition of the My Space Dark Horse Presents anthology was conceived as an outlet to discover the fun behind the process of making comics.

As we were starting out and were trying to find some job at the american market, we have tried to get something going with Marvel and DC just like many other artists. We grew up reading super heroes and we thought the natural step as we became artists would be to draw them. In order to do that, we made what people call "submission pages", those sequences without a script or a story in which the artist would show what he can do with the characters he wants to draw. We made Batman pages, X-Men pages, Green Arrow pages, Authority pages, Planetary pages and so on. As much as we enjoyed those characters, the "working without a story" bit didn't quite work for us. We didn't feel like we were telling any story and the artwork was very uninspired because of that. We were discovering at the same time that we worked best with our own stories mostly because the story was the starting point, and not the art or the attempt at a job. If we wanted to do our best work, we needed to tell a story through pictures, and not just draw pretty pictures. That's where the idea behind Wonder Twins came from, and once we came up with a story interesting enough for us to tell using the super hero genre, it was easy. Bá sat and drew the story really fast, and we loved every page, and the story expanded from the original idea because we were having fun and we really believed that story also told the reader about the authors and not just about the characters, which I believe is what we get to know as the author's style. If we were to draw a story, we needed to make it our own, and have it be seen through our eyes, and through our style. Once we did this with this story, it was easy, and it was great.

And then Scott told us we needed an extra page.

He speaks!

As most of you may already have noticed, Fábio does most of the talking – writing – around here. Not that he's the bright one or he's the one who knows how to speak in english, but the fact is that he's been trying harder to enchant the american public with our ideas than I have.

I think I've been too busy drawing comics – monthly comics for that matter – that I didn't feel the need to write so often. Also, for being so busy drawing, I didn't have lots to say other than what I was putting on paper, which was, on most cases, a secret until it went to press. So as much as I wanted to talk about what I was working on, I felt I could not.

But now that last year is gone and most of The Umbrella Academy has been published already, I can talk a little about some of my ideas and my worries and what I care about when it comes to comicbooks.

I think it's fair to start with Umbrella, since it has called so much attention and it took so much of my time last year (and, yes, it will take some of my time this year also). I gave up super-hero comics for a while now because I thought it was all too worn off and it was just a part of the big machine of selling comics, toys, T-shirts and making movies and it was not about the stories anymore. So from the first script of Umbrella when the kids are fighting the Eiffel Tower and "flying towards camera" and stuff like that, I had cold feet and feared to have had made the wrong choice about taking on The Umbrella Academy. When I got to issue #3 I was very worried, because it's almost all action. The parts I enjoyed the most were when Vanya appeared, because they were the pages with more emotion and depth.




But you know what? Since I was one of the skeptics of this series (maybe the most skeptical of all), I'm now also one of its biggest admirers, because I have to give it to Gerard that he told a great story, created some instant-liking characters and gave this worn-off genre a very fresh tale.

I'm kinda sad to confess this, but i've made the best pages of my life for The Umbrella Academy. It's just sad because I'm a storyteller and I like – and I WANT – to tell stories of my own and I wish I was drawing my own stories right now, or at least more of that and not only stories someone else has written, even if it's a good story. The fact that I liked the Umbrella story helped me a big deal when coming up with the pages, because as the story was taking shape in front of me, first on the layouts and then on the actual pages, I instantly knew I was doing something good, worth reading, something that was not like all other super-hero comics on the stands. And that's the main reason I want to work on new comics, just to make something different from everything else.



But you know, we have lots of new stuff cooking and in 2008 I'll be able to fulfill my need to tell stories, as well as drawing and working with other authors. Too bad we can't talk about any of these things right now. But that's the fun of it, right?



Changing the subject a little, or entirely, I'd like to say why I don't really write as much here as, let's say, on our blog in portuguese we keep for our readers in Brazil. Yes, as you may know, we are from Brazil and we've been making comics in Brazil a little longer than in the U.S. We have almost 10 books published and lots of independent work, some awards and some recognition, but the market in Brazil is much different from the american one, much smaller, so I feel the need to speak to the audience at large and tell them why comics are so great, why we must be taken seriously and what is possible with comicbooks. It's a never ending struggle to pass it along to the newcomers, readers and the majority who doesn't even read comics thinking it's silly things just for kids.



Four years ago, we have created this blog (in english) in order to do the same thing with our american readers (or anyone in the world who could read in english actually), because no one knew us then. But we have been working so much, specially on monthly series, that this audience can see our work on a regular basis and get acquaintanced with it a lot easier than our brazilian audience, who gets a new book year year or so. Books that are kinda hard to find, also, as in the U.S. the public already know where to get his favorite comic every month.

So I really whish i could have a mix of the two markets, produce as much as I do for the U.S., with big print runs, and still be able to write in portuguese, the most beautiful language in the world. Well, that's what I have to aim for and keep reaching, right?

All my friends say I work too much, I don't have time to go out. They ask me if I wanna change the world. Well, I do. And I believe it can be done with comicbooks and that's what I'm gonna keep doing: telling stories that can change the world of someone who's lucky enough to read it.

The end of the world as we know it?

Travels and work.

We have been traveling, doing some research. We're also drawing and writing a lot. There are lots of possibilities for our next projects, and research is necessary for most of them. Some research can be done without leaving your chair, as all of us start writing from our own experiences, from what we know. Later, we might include opinions from people we know that might be similar to ours, or the complete opposite, or that should fall somewhere inbetween. Then, we might want to tell a story that needs more than just the familiar, the near by information, the visible at eye sight. That's when we need to go outside ourselves and discover more, learn more so we can tell more than we already told.



I'm still drawing Casanova, and I expect to keep working on it at leat until the end of March, so that should keep me busy for these two months, and somewhat away from the internet. I'll try to post more sketches, as I see Becky doing on her blog, and as we have done much more here in ours. We're doing more sketches now, as is customary when you're trying to come up with new stories, and we should have a lot to show because of that.

On my next post, I'll tell the story behind the story we did for the MySpace DHP February issue, online now.

Luxuria

If you were waiting for the soft cover trade, the wait is over.