The Comics Experience Blog

Last chance for Intro to Comic Book Art, Coloring — Writing & Lettering already sold out!

ComicsExperience-LOGOTime is running out if you want in to one of our Intro courses —

Intro to Comic Book Art starts this week, 1/29, and only has two slots open!

Intro to Coloring is down to only one slot open.

And Intro to Writing and Lettering and Production are already sold out!

These are our intro courses that will help you build your skills and reach your comic book goals, whether that’s breaking in or doing creator-owned work.

The classes still open are described below, but don’t wait!

PLEASE NOTE: The Intro classes are required prerequisites for our Advanced Classes in writing, art, and coloring. This is your opportunity to be ready for the next wave of our Advanced courses!

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atkins-bioINTRODUCTION TO COMIC BOOK ART

Introduction to Comic Book Art will be taught by Robert Atkins, a professional comic book artist who has worked on G.I. Joe, Snake Eyes, Amazing Spider-Man, Heroes for Hire, Ultimatum Fantastic Four: Requiem and many others.

In this online course, you’ll learn how to improve your storytelling, what the professional standards are, how to avoid common pitfalls, how to build a great cover, and strategies to break into the business.

atkins-art-class-screenshotYou’ll be asked to complete five pages of sequential comics pages under the guidance of your instructor and you’ll get all the behind the scenes tips Robert can pack into si, weeks.

You can read what one of Robert’s former students had to say about his teaching skills right here. Or check out Robert’s art and get a sense of his teaching philosophy in this Guest Blog about the Intro class.

Introduction to Comic Book Art with Robert Atkins
Begins January 29, 2014!

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soto-bioINTRODUCTION TO COMIC BOOK COLORING

Intro to Comic Book Coloring will be taught by Chris Sotomayor (aka Soto), professional colorist on countless Marvel titles (Spider-Man, X-Men, The Avengers, etc.).

In this six-week intensive class for colorists, you’ll learn all the necessary tools and tricks for not only coloring with Photoshop, but also how to tell great stories through color.

Cap36You’ll get access to all the tools of the trade, tips on how to break in, and you’ll be working with Chris on the pages you color for the class.

You can read Soto’s own thoughts on the class right here…OR read why the class is even better than marriage right here!

Intro to Comic Book Coloring with Soto
Begins February 3, 2014!

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Our courses are offered LIVE, streaming online, and you can attend from wherever you live. You’ll be able to see your instructor and his desktop, interact with your classmates, and discuss your classwork in real time. Recordings are available during the duration of the course if you miss one, and you’ll be able to communicate with your classmates all week long in a special, dedicated online forum for just you and your class.

We hope to see you in our courses or as part of our Creators Workshop community. Sign up now!

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If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you’ll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

CE alum Amy Chu’s story to be featured in new Vertigo anthology!

vertigo-CMYKAs announced on Nerdist.com, Comics Experience alum Amy Chu will be writing a story in the upcoming Vertigo anthology CMYK.

Amy is a graduate of the Comics Experience Intro to Writing and Advanced Writing courses, as well as our Art, Coloring and Editing comic book courses.

Amy is the co-founder of Alpha Girl Comics, where she has published her work in titles such as Girls Night Out, Girls Night Out: Tales of New York and, most recently, The VIP Room. She also had a story published in Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology published by New Press.

According to DC/Vertigo, “Starting with stunningly simple, bold covers, CMYK will defy all conventions of traditional comic book anthologies. The unifying color may suggest a mood, a plot point, a coloring technique–limited only by the imagination of the incredible talent involved.”

The CMYK series will be published quarterly, with the first issue in the Spring of 2014.

Along with Amy, some of the other talent involved includes Jock, Fabio Moon, James Tynion IV, Martin Morazzo, Robert Rodi and Javier Fernandez, Joe Keatinge, Cris Peter, Shaun Simon and Tony Akins.

We’re excited to see her story! Congrats to Amy on this great opportunity!

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If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you’ll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

Episode #59 of the Comics Experience “MAKE COMICS” Podcast posted!

MakeComicsPodcastA new episode of the Comics Experience Make Comics podcast has been posted! Each episode provides ~15 minutes of advice on all aspects of creating comics and breaking in to the industry.

Join Comics Experience founder and former Marvel and IDW Editor Andy Schmidt and his co-host Joey Groah as they discuss making comics!

Subscribe to our podcast via iTunes! Or check out the latest episode below or on our Podcast page!

Episode #59, “Setting Goals for the New Year”
It’s a new year and a new chance to reach your comics-making goals. Do you have a plan? Milestones? Or is the procrastination ALREADY setting in? Andy and Joey talk goal-setting!

List of All Episodes

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If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you’ll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

CE alum Paul Allor writes G.I. Joe, TMNT, Strange Nation…and more!

GIJOE13CE alum, Creators Workshop member and staffer Paul Allor has been all over the comic book stands and solicitations lately.

Paul came up through our comic book courses and Workshop community, and that makes it especially fun to see his career taking off!

Let’s review a couple of his current projects.

Paul is writing a FOUR-part story arc of G.I. Joe, focused on Cobra and Cobra’s newest agent, Siren. In the first two issues, #12 and #13, Siren reveals never-before-told secrets of the previous Cobra Commanders that have existed throughout history.

Paul teams up with a host of great artists on these issues, with each artist telling a different story. Artists include Alex Cal, S.L. Gallant, Atilio Rojo, Nicole Virella, Chris Evenhuis, and even CE Art Instructor Robert Atkins.

The CE team-up of Allor and Atkins tackles a Cobra Commander story set in mid-nineteenth century Japan, involving the early roots of the Yakuza.

Then, in G.I. Joe #’s 14-15 the G.I. Joe team goes toe-to-toe with Siren herself!

Utrom02You can get even more details about Paul’s take on G.I. Joe in a recent interview he did with USA Today right here.

Issue #12 is already on stands now!

Meanwhile, Paul has also been hard at work on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, with a new three-issue mini-series called Utrom Empire.

On this mini-series, Paul is teamed up with artist Andy Kuhn.

The mini-series focuses on Burnow Island, and the characters of Krang, Baxter Stockman and the Fugitoid. It also charts the rise and fall of the Utrom Empire, under the leadership of Krang and his father Quanin.

On his tumblr, Paul wrote, “It’s a big, wild, epic story, and I really hope Turtles fans dig it.”

For more on this mini-series, you can check out Paul’s interview over on Comic Vine right here.

Utrom Empire #1 will be in stores on January 22, 2014.

Strange-Nation-02And if you want to check out one of Paul’s projects without even leaving your chair, Strange Nation, his collaboration with artist Juan Romera, is available via comiXology.

This digital-first series is published by Monkeybrain Comics.

The series follows journalist Norma Park as she relentlessly investigates a conspiracy involving bigfoots, flying saucers, and other phenomenona from the pages of the tabloids.

Paul was interviewed over on Multiversity on this project, so you can read more and see preview pages right here.

The first four issues of Strange Nation are available right now on comiXology!

In his “spare” time, Paul is also the Editor on the hit Image Comics series Sheltered by Ed Brisson and Johnnie Christmas.

AND he’s got a new project coming from Th3rd World, which will be debuting as part of Free Comic Book Day! We’ll have more on that project soon.

Bottom line, we couldn’t be more proud of our alum! Congrats, Paul!!

CE alum Jon Conrad’s comic book debuts at Sundance Film Festival

A-Girl-Walks-Home-Alone-At-Night-Comic-BookCE alum and Creators Workshop member Jon Conrad has just released a comic based on a film…and both the comic and film will be debuting at the Sundance Film Festival!

The comic, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, is based on the film by the same name.

An Iranian vampire Western, the film is a joyful mash-up of spaghetti westerns, graphic novels, horror films, and the Iranian New Wave.

Here’s a description of the story that gives a bit of the flavor:

Strange things are afoot in Bad City. The Iranian ghost town, home to prostitutes, junkies, pimps and other sordid souls, is a bastion of depravity and hopelessness where a lonely vampire stalks its most unsavory inhabitants. But when boy meets girl, an unusual love story begins to blossom… blood red.

The film’s director, Ana Lily Amirpour, is also the writer of the comic book adaptation. The film is executive produced by Elijah Wood, Daniel Noah, Josh Waller, and others.

A-Girl-Walks-Home-Alone-At-Night-Comic-Book-InteriorThe upcoming premiere of the film and comic book at Sundance was recently covered by Ain’t It Cool News right here.

Jon Conrad, an alum of our Introduction to Comic Book Writing course, is the Editor on the comic book and the Publisher of Radco Press, which produced the comic book.

The comic book will be distributed to Sundance Film Festival attendees and will later be available via the Radco Press website.

Congrats to Jon and all the creators involved in the release of the comic!

Now if we could only attend Sundance to see the film and pick up the book…

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If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you’ll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

 

Comic Book Script Archive adds new scripts from Justin Jordan

scriptarchivecoverNew scripts have been added to the Comic Book Script Archive, presented by Comics Experience.

The archive, founded by Tim Simmons, is an educational resource showcasing more than 100 comic book scripts written by some of the biggest names in the comics industry.

We are happy to announce that we’ve added two new scripts by writer Justin Jordan.
The new scripts are:

* The Strange Talent of Luther Strode #1
* The Legend of Luther Strode #1

When he sent along the scripts, Justin noted that anyone comparing the first issues of the two mini-series will be able to see “what happens when you work with the same people for a bunch of issues. The scripts get leaner.”

In addition to his creator-owned books from Image (including the recently released Dead Body Road), Justin has written titles for DC Comics (Green Lantern: New Guardians; Superboy), Valiant (Shadowman) and Marvel (A+X).

Our thanks to Justin for providing these scripts!

Comics Experience and Tim Simmons are working together to continue building this free resource. If you are a pro writer for one of the top comics publishers and you’d like to donate a script, please contact Tim at citizentim@gmail.com or Comics Experience at info@comicsexperience.com.

The Comic Book Script Archive may be accessed right here or via the new “Scripts” menu item on ComicsExperience.com.

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If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you’ll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!