33

They say 33 is a special age. I feel pretty special today, and I hope my brother knows how special he is too.

We feel like celebrating, and we will, but we also feel more like making awesome comics, which is what we've been doing most of the time instead of talking about our love for comics on the internet. I wish I had more time to scan and show sketches, talk about creation, fun stuff, but I rather make comics. They can tell you how awesome they are, and how fun, and how creative.

I can't stand not sharing something, so here is the step-by-step of our Buffy- Tales of the Vampires cover, which came out this week and has an amazing story by our best buddies Becky Cloonan and Vasilis Lolos.

1-The initial sketch: we considered doing one single image, but we ended up deciding the split image was cooler, moodier and easier to divide the chores between the both of us.



2- Bá studies his part of the cover: Both of us could do this part of the cover, or even the other one. But we felt the other one was simpler and it would gain some personality with my brush inking, so Bá went after the characters in the love-triangle (it's all about love for us here). It looks awesome as it is, right?


3-Black and white ink is GOD: We love inking, period. We love black and white.

4-Colors. Ta-DAM! We have been watching our pal Dave Stewart do his magic on our books and we've been dying to get a chance to do some color work to see what can we do with colors in our post-Dave period. I have to say I'm pretty happy with the results.


Well, that's it, back to work, see you some day, thanks for reading.

Happy 33rd birthday, brother.

The next big thing: JEFFERSON COSTA!

Great thing about comics is that you can do anything you want, there's room for all kind of different styles, genres and formats. But with so many stuff out there, it's hard to keep up with everything and even harder to really catch those few gems lost among the independent, less promoted comics. Independent creators have not only to bust their asses to do a great job, but also they have to make the extra effort to promote their own work, even though no one will listen to what that unknown wannabe has to say. I know I had to scream and shout in every way I could for years until someone would look at me.



So there's a new comic just about to be released and that can't go unnoticed, Terra Major's new graphic novel, an adaptation of Kiss Me, Judas, the first book of the critically acclaimed neo-noir trilogy Phineas Poe, by author Will Christopher Baer.

But the reason this book needs your attention is it's artist, a Brazilian artist called Jefferson Costa. He may have past with no big ado with his 30 page story on the western anthology Gunned Down in 2005, but there's no way he can go ignored with this massive stand-out 272 page graphic novel.



Jefferson's compositions are expressive and hold great knowledge of the use of black and white, tremendous balance and deep emotion.



If you haven't noticed yet, there's been a great deal of outstanding Brazilian artists working on all kinds of comics in the last 2 decades, from mainstream superstars like Mike Deodato, Roger Cruz and Ivan Reis or up-and-coming creators like Rafael Albuquerque and Rafael Grampá. And there's a bunch more where those guys came from.

So you might want to take more attention to the talents hailing from our shores and the best way to start doing that is checking Jefferson's work on Kiss Me Judas.



This book is available online only and has a limited print run, so reserve your copy
today! You won't regret it.

ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY @ http://terramajor.myshopify.com

Like this it came.

Some times, it happens like that: We have a limitation, which in this case was page length. 2 pages. No problem, I say to Bá, 'cause we've been doing one page stories every month. I suggest a character which has more graphic possibilities, even if the other one was Bá's original choice and he will actually draw the 2 pages. Then, because of what I suggested, Bá remembers an old picture we found that could be used in the story. It makes sense, I think, and in the sense it made in my head, I tell him how we could include the old picture inspiration into the original character idea. The idea instantly gets better. It was the missing link, and we suddenly have not only an idea, but a story.

I wish all stories came like that.

The Twins on the Comics Journal

There's gonna be a big, long and extensive interview with us on the next issue of The Comics Journal and we were asked to provide a new image, never before seen or published, to use on THE COVER. We did try to get something from our beloved and secret Daytripper allowed by Vertigo, but secret things are meant to stay hidden and safe. So we had no choice but to make a brand new drawing.



It will be available in June and you can pre-order it here.

Here's a nice video the guys at Fantagraphics have made:

Umbrella Academy: DALLAS TP

Soon in a store next to you.
colors by awesome Dave Stewart

Figure Drawing.

Fresh Start.

New days are refreshing. New issues are refreshing. We're all starting new issues here at the studio (by studio, it's just me and my brother), and it's good to start anything as it gives us that energy of the new. It might be even better than that great feeling of job well done when you finish an issue, or a story (as put beautifully here by Becky).

We've been crazy busy, as always. Which is good, it's the best kind of busy we could possibly hope for, and we're making sure we come out of the busy period with stuff we're proud to have done.

We're thinking about the Daytripper covers, and they should be wonderfully different, that's what we think, but thinking this "different" has been giving us a hard time. We don't like anything easy, so we're getting ready for battle.

To battle!

Eisner Award nominations!!

I've been nominated for 3 Eisner Awards this year:

- Best penciler/inker
- Best cover artist(!!!!!)
- Best reprint for the big fat Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite Special Edition.

So that makes 3!


Shouts for Matt Fraction (New series), Josh Dysart (New series), James Jean (my nemesis on the covers), Dave Stewart (colors), Jill Thompson (painter), Scott and Sierra (best Anthology, inside which Fábio and I have one story each). Yeah, you too, Rantz (Anthology and Publication Design).

Mignola got 3 nominations!

Long live Cyril Pedrosa (best graphic album-new; and best writer/artist), he's soooo gooooood!


The sky will fall, for Todd Klein has not been nominated for best lettering. How long has it been?

Thanks everyone for this. I'm gonna work even harder now! I love comics!
FODA!

We love CASANOVA

We'd like to thank all of you who, unfortunately, fell for our April fool's joke about Casanova. Don't get me wrong, we're not sadistic heartless pricks, it's just that with that false post, we had the notion of how much love people have for Casanova, since it increased our blog visit a lot. People believed in it and hate us when they realized it wasn't true, just because they really wanted it to be true.

Just the way you all do, we love Casanova. I can speak for Matt, Fábio and myself when I say we are doing all we can to bring Casanova back the best way it deserves to come back.

And I can tell you this: It WILL come back.

Once again, thanks.

Tomorrow is now!

Finally, some comics!

Yes, we have been quiet at the blog, but only because we're so busy drawing comics. That's what is expected of us, right? So we're doing our share, and we keep the drawing board and the paper and the pages away from the computer so that, when we're drawing, everything else disappears and we can create.

So, we have created. And it's time to start showing.



New Casanova is coming. Starting tomorrow, out of the blue, we'll be starting the new story arc. IN COLOR. Yes, you read correctly. And it's going to be online, FOR FREE.

Where?

Here at the blog.

We wanted to do it over at Casanova.com, but that was taken. And, hey, it's the internet, so it's just a click away, no matter the url.

Matt is back, I'm back and, in time, Bá will be back too. It's going to be different and exciting. Where will you be tomorrow when it hits?

WHERE?

Fabio, by Kako

Kako is a illustrator friend of mine from way back, and you should all check out his work. We worked together on the Rockn'Roll one-shot (published by Image Comics), and he had the best story on the Comic Book Tattoo anthology last year. When we were all 13 years old and wanted to draw like Jim Lee, he was the one that, at that time, was closest to reaching that goal.

Bar sketch

Sketch from a bar we usually go. This bar sells comics as well, we have parties to release new books there, or to celebrate, or just to get drunk. That's the bar we took Ivan Brandon the first day he arrived in São Paulo, and where we took Michel Gondry's son, and maybe you'll notice one comic in particular from a friend of mine that is proeminently in display at the bar.

Twin sketch

The italian De:TALES

Now in our hands.
Published by Comma 22, our books keep speaking more languages than we ourselves have learned.

It's a wonderful feeling, like having a bastard foreign baby.

PIXU interview and preview.

We're focusing on drawing some pages,which is what we need to do right now. We want to work a little faster, and a little longer, and we want it to look its best, so we'll keep quiet for some days (or weeks). All for the sake of comics.

Two links related to our beloved group project, PIXU:

An interview with the four creators about working together and creating a complex horror story

A 17-page preview of PIXU, so you know what's in store when you have this beauty in your hands.

We just saw the design of the hardcover, and it will be awesome. It already is. We're so very proud of this story and we're thrilled it will be collected and in hardcover. Nothing says horror book more than a hardcover. Only maybe a dusty hardcover, but that will happen in time when you have your copy of PIXU in your shelf, and the years pass and you never open the book because you'll be scared of what is inside.

TOYS, sweet toys.

Guess

Guess what came in the mail today?

ballpen sketches

Gang sketch

Rocker girl.

From the sketchbook, done on a very busy weekend. The starting point for something cool that's starting next week in São Paulo.

inbetween

Umbrella Academy: DALLAS #4!

There's a preview of the fourth issue of Umbrella Academy: Dallas at the Comic Book Resources. You can check it out clicking HERE.
Below is the cover (DUH!).



Bá is making the best pages of his life and he's just begun drawing the last issue (as well as BPRD:1947 and God knows what else).

We've been very busy and very late here, but things have never seen better. We look ahead and I gotta say this: Looks good.

grape juice visit.

Yesterday at the end of the day I went to Rafa and Grampá's studio to see their current work and to meet filmaker Michel Gondry and his cartoonist son Paul, also there to visit.

Talking about comics is good, but what I really enjoyed last night was talking about art in general, from street art to animation to painting to art school. It's more of a talk of what catches your attention and what makes you think than just of what you do or are planning.

I drank grape juice and did this sketch.

Opinions of a doodle

Are you doing anything new?

FAT.

If you thought drawing the strong Spaceboy was hard, try to make the fat one. It's even harder to make it look as cool as the way Bá draws it.

Script/Layout

I had this one-page story to do and I usually draw a thumbnail and think just on the key sentences and dialogues. But I realized this one would have so much text that I needed the full text in order to see how much space I'd have left for the art.

So first I wrote all the text for the story. After that, I divided it in small blocks that would end up being the captions and balloons (that column on the left).

Then I started laying them down on the page. At first I wanted to do big panels, some "narrative panels" only with text (just like in Casanova), but I decided it would be best for the story if I did lots of small panels, even if a little art just to make it a real comicbook, you know?

I drew some panels there for guidance and now I'm gonna print this and draw on the remaining space.
I really don't do it like this very often, but sometimes you gotta go with what you get.

I gotta finish it by tomorrow. I'll miss the All-Star game to do it.

PIXU, Buffy, and the fight.

We love comics, but they can be brutal. Working against the clock, racing deadlines, juggling everything we're currently doing, nothing is easy separately and together they're particularly difficult.

But that's the fight. That's the life. You can't expect everything to be easy, specially when you won't settle for the ordinary, for the most common road. You can't expect the bumpy road to come without bumps.

Our dear friend Becky Cloonan was interviewed at CBR during the NYCC weekend, and she talks about two very exciting news regarding Buffy and, most importantly, our PIXU story being collected in hardcover by Dark Horse. We do our independents projects because our love for the comics world not always fits with what the publishers might want or need at the time, and we believe every good story can become a good comic. It's nice to see that sometimes our love projects can be appreciated and understood by bigger publishers, and it's great that these projects get the support and the chance to be found by a much bigger audience.

Like the entire comics, the new PIXU cover was a collaboration, this time between Becky, Vasilis and me.



The two individual issues of our independent limited run are still available through Khepri.com, and they contain material that won't be collected (plus they are rare, limited and the first issue is signed), and Becky will be around during the convention season selling it as well, so for those who like the specialness of our original PIXUs, you're not too late to catch on the PIXU train.

Now, let's go back for another round. Our comics are looking at us fiercely.

I think they want blood.

Gemelli di Meraviglia

De:TALES in Italian, published by Comma 22.
But I want it in my hands. This doesn't feel real enough.

Casanova cover doodle

I today ran into the script I had for the first Casanova issue I did the artwork, and on its cover page, I found this first cover doodle for the idea Bá and I were talking about.

Neil Gaiman loves Umbrella Academy

Neil Gaiman, who needs no introduction, was being interviewed on NPR yesterday and said his favorite comic at the moment is Umbrella Academy, from Dark Horse comics.

Here's the link to the interview. Go to time marked 10 minutes and 25 seconds.

Quote: "I loved Umbrella Academy, which I enjoyed [to] no end."
- Neil Gaiman

This is pretty awesome.

Dallas #3!

While I'm deep in the jungles of issue #5 (yeah, I'm kinda late), Umbrella #3 comes out this week.
There's a preview here.
this is the cover. It's one of the covers I like.

Fight sketch

2009

Let the season begin.

Let us all find more time to work on what we love, to spend time with our friends, family and lovers, let us read more and learn every day something new. Let us all start the new year in a new way. Let's just make something we're proud of.

Let us all do something that matters.

Let's hunt our dreams with our art, let's put down our fear with our love for challenges. Let's challenge ourselves. Let's grow.

Dallas 2 preview, and the guest.

There's a preview of Umbrella Academy - Dallas, issue 2 at CBR. Here's the link. Check out one of Bá's great sequences in terms of character acting, "carema placement" and page layout. All that enhanced by Dave's suberb coloring and Nate's sharp lettering.



In other news, I've been invited to be a guest at next year's San Diego Comic-Con, which will happen from July 22nd to July 26th. You can view the current guest list at this link. I was asked to provide a picture of myself or a self portrait to include in adversiting programs and sites and such, and I couldn't resist the opportunity to do a new drawing so, even swamped in work, I did this watercolor to send them. I even liked this one, and I like it much more than any picture I have here. Once I have more news about that, I'll post them in here.

Back to work, and thanks for reading.

BOOM!

Counting down and looking ahead.

This past weekend, surrounded by the dearest of friends in the comic world, we talked about our work and what drives us forward. Our little circle was surrounded by a bigger circle, of interested fans, and during two hours we were in a bubble of greatness.

I left certain I'm on the right path, and that I'm not alone in believing in what I do.

This year's countdown has begun, and soon we shall celebrate another year well spent, working hard and opening doors. We've been working more and more, as we should, and the work never felt more gratifying. If this is what my life will be, working in comics 24/7, writing and drawing and creating and putting out great stuff, than I look forward to the future. If the future is like now, it will be glorious, but we should always aim a little higher, so I expect the future to be even brighter. And so should you.

It seems like ages ago since the last issue of Casanova hit the stands (even more since I finished drawing it). It also seems like forever since we finished PIXU. Bá finished the first Umbrella series almost one year ago, and the new series just started one weeks ago. This notion of never-ending work leaves little room in our lives for our work to breathe and exist, as we very fast have to turn to the next project. And then, when we're working on several projects at once, the ones recently finished have to vanish from our routine as fast as we have to keep producing pages. Some projects come back to mind every once in a while, and those are the ones I think are not over yet. Those are the stories I think are still incomplete, and sometime in the future these stories shall continue.

We are still searching for our place in this medium, telling our stories and drawing other's, and our quest has taken us to very interesting places. The future points to new and exciting ones, and some familiar ground.

Back to work, and thanks for reading.

Wizard names PIXU Best Self Published comic of 2008

The indie collective of Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Lolos, Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon upped the ante on the self-publishing end with this minicomic chronicling the lives and deaths of the residents of a haunted house. With each horrific chapter created by a different artist, PIXU (Pee-shoo) holds together incredibly well and has us salivating for the second volume.

-Wizard #207

PIXU is still available at Khepri.com, so get'em while they're still around!

New Umbrella Academy series starts TODAY!

The first issue of the new Umbrella Academy series hits the stands today.
I've been working on it since May and it will finally be seen. There's a lot of crazy stuff on this series, much more than the first one.
Go grab your copy NOW.



And take a look at the most amazing thing Paper Action Figure Man sent me:



And while you're at it, what about pre-ordering the PVC Figure Set, due to hit the stores on April 2009?