Google

Anyone see the Google homepage image on July 23 in honor of San Diego Comic Con? I dig how Wonder Woman is standing on an invisible jet. But where's Superman?

FINAL CRISIS REVELATIONS HARDCOVER

This came in my mail box a week ago. A comp copy of Final Crisis Revelations Hardcover. That's my inks on the cover. I believe this will be released sometime in August. Not quite sure what day. You can see a better image of the cover by clicking here.

LANCE ARMSTRONG episode 7

Episode 7 of the Tour De France gig I did is up! These are some of the images.

To watch full episode, click here.

What happened to Wolverine's claws??

Like a lot of us comic book fans, we grew up knowing Wolverine pops his claws. *SKINT* Every time that happen, it was always on the back of his hand.
When the X-men movie came out and we saw Wolverine, the Claws migrated to the knuckles as shown here.

Whups. That was the wrong picture above. Three claws on the knuckle as shown below in the X-Men movies.

Quickly after the movies, comic books started having Wolverine and his claws pop from his knuckles with the special effect, SKINT!

I was looking at some comics today and notice this image of Wolverine.

I had to do a double take. Did the artist draw Wolverine's claw incorrectly or is that how he is now? So I looked for more recent images of Wolverine and his claws and found another with the same deal.

One of the claws is popping out of his wrist!!! What's the deal with that?

That's gotta hurt. Gives a whole new meaning to wrist cutting.

WARLORD #4

Another issues of Warlord I inked is published. Warlord #4 by DC Comics. Here's the cover to the issue with art by Mike Grell.
This issues was pencilled by two different pencillers where I did inking over both. Below is a page pencilled by Joe Prado with my inks. Highly detailed rendering which Joe calls for in his pencils.

The other penciller I inked over was Chad Hardin as you can see below. Although a different style from Joe's pencils, Chad is a very detailed artist as well.

This issue was released on July 8 and you can find out more here. Go and get 'em!

Current Comics

Here's an update on the Secret Identities/John Steinbeck Library signing I posted about earlier.
Current Comics was one of the sponsors for the event. They were kind enough to send me some pictures of what they took.

Here's a picture of the library's front door. Regular business hours closes at 6pm that day. There was an hour set up before the 7pm event where they re-opened the door.

Closer picture of the door with the flyer right up front. Everybody who would have walked into the library would have see that flyer during the course of the week.

Here's a picture of Jeff Yang giving a presentation on the right while I was sketching on the left.

Another shot close up shot of us doing our thing.

Below is a picture of the same flyer that promoted the event. Pictured on the left, a 'Calendar of Events" brochure for the months of July-September which also spotlighted the event, A copy of the Secret Identities anthology book, and a exclusive Book Plate which was given out at the event which Jeff and I signed for everyone.

Picture of me the left, Current Comics Manager Chris Arrocena, and Jeff Yang.

And the three of us plugging Current Comics.

Current Comics has two locations, One located in Monterey and the other in Salinas. Chris Arrocena manages the Salinas location. Very nice guy. You can check out Current Comic's website by clicking here. They have pictures of the store on their website and it's very nicely laid out.

If you're ever in the Salinas or Monterey area, drop by and say "Hi". Tell them Walden sent ya.

San Diego Comic Con July 23-26

I'll be attending San Diego Comic Con from July 23-26. I'll be signing over at the Secret Identities booth #1735 on Sunday from 2-3 pm. You can read more about the Secret Identities signing schedule here. I was a last minute addition before the press release went out. I will also be at their booth an hour a day at the convention to so some inking for them.

"Secret Identities is also going to be doing a 'lil jam session where each creator will draw a sketch of an existing Asian Superhero or one in Secret Identities. Inker Walden Wong has been gracious enough to offer an hour of his time every day to ink this piece. We'll make it an entry to win this jam session piece with the drawing to be held on Sunday."

John Steinbeck Library signing

On July 17th, I did another signing for the Anthology Secret Identities at the John Steinbeck Library in Salinas, California. This was the very next day after the Giant Robot Signing. Here is the flyer, online ad, info about it. They did a great job advertising the event. It was a big turnout. The Drive from San Francisco to Salinas was supposed to be two hours. My drive became three hours because there was a traffic accident in the middle of the freeway added to the after work Friday afternoon rush hour. Here's a picture of the accident. Traffic was bumper to bumper up until the accident. Everybody just had to stop and rubberneck. Three car accident and police, fire truck, and ambulance was all over the scene. What was a five lane freeway became two lanes where everybody had to merge to the left.

Three hours later, I finally reached my destination. Right in front of the library, there was a sign that advertised the event. Nice touch.

Parked the car and got to the front of the John Steinbeck Library. The name John Steinbeck will be forever engraved in my head because in High School, there was a book called The Grapes of Wrath that everyone had to read. Then watched a movie of it, then dissected it.

As I approached the front door, I saw this display at the library. In it were comics, Manga, toys, and posters. Something you don't see everyday at library displays.

Here are a few pictures of what's in it close up. Of couse Naruto is there. Every Manga reader knows who Naruto is. Just like how everyone knows who Batman is if they're a comic book fan. No clue what that mask on the bottom right it.

They even had a Death of Superman issue displayed. Along with the Batmobile and Jokermobile. At least I think it's the Jokermobile with it's purple and green color.

And here you'll see Spider-Man. Poor InuYasha poster, looks like it feel out of place.

As they let me in the library, there was also a display with a bunch of flyers and ads about this event as well as other comic books and mangas. This is one of the most impressive libraries I've been to. Large, roomy, lounge area, and it feels more like a retail store than anything else. All their books were nicely displayed. I asked what's up with all the comic book displays and such and was told that July was Graphic Novel month for them.

The Secret Identities event was about four hours. Below is a picture of both Jeff Yang, who's one of the editors of the book, and myself on the left Jeff gave a presentation of what Secret Identities was about then we did a workshop were the audience participated in creating a character and I drew what they were describing. Followed by a signing of the book where I also gave free quick sketches to people. The event went buy so quick. I didn't have time to take more pictures. There were other people at the event taking pictures and video taping. I had to sign a release to allow the library to use reuse the video. If I get a hold of more pictures or video, I'll post it.

Right after the event, I was told that the local newspaper had a write up about the event and my name was mentioned in it. They gave me one of the newspaper as picture below.

Here's the article about. They even used the image that I worked on. I drew red arrows where my name was plugged as well as the artwork. You can expand the image by clicking onto it.

They made a boo-boo where they wrote "...the Eisner Award-winning Superman Red,..." It's actually Superman Red Son (as I blogged below) and was only nominated for an Eisner Award. It didn't win.

Pictures from the Giant Robot Signing

Here are some pictures from the signing. My first time visiting the Giant Robot store. Nice place. If you're ever in San Francisco, check it out. Giant Robot has a website where you can get more info about them, all their stores, and everything else. Once there, I meet up with all the other people involved. It's my first time meeting everyone. There's me behind a guy who just popped right in front of me before the picture taking. I was introduced to everyone, half an hour, I forgot every one's names. Except for Jeff Yan in the center who was the editor whom I've been in contact with since I worked on the project.

Below is a picture of one of my coolest friend, Megan Bates. She edits books for VIZ media. One of the titles she edits is Crimson Hero. She and I know that title Manga all to well when it comes to editing and corrections.
Below is a picture of one another good friend, Lovalle Davis. He owns Immortelle Studios as well as the comic book character, "Cynder". Here's a link to see some of the books that's been published. I need to get on his case about bringing Cynder back into publication.

Here's a cell phone photo that someone took of the event.

Here's a staged picture. I asked someone to take a picture of me signing that stack of books. I wasn't really signing them. All pretend. A few minutes later, it turns out that I really had to sign them for store copies. It was about five stacks of the same that needed to be signed. What the hell is with that smile??? I must have been cracking up because it was a staged photo. Sometimes I goof around too much.

Here's a picture of the book. Some of the books had these masks strapped to them which you can also wear. It reminds me of the mask that Bruce Lee wore when he was acting as Kato in the TV show Green Hornet.

Here's the page in the book that I worked on. The one on the left.

And just for kicks, here's me as Kato making Bruce Lee sounds. I'm such a dork.

LANCE ARMSTRONG again.

Another Episode for the Tour De France online graphic novel that I worked on is up! These images (among others) are used for the latest Episode 6. This Episode is an exciting one to watch. Turn up the speakers. I've been told that the voice over guy is the same person who voices Optimus Prime in Transformers. And... Here's the little boy wearing the Lance Armstrong T-Shirt. To view the Episode, click here.

There's two more Episodes, 7 & 8, that I'm working on and this will wrap up the whole graphic Novel. We need to wait until July 26 to find out who wins the Tour De France competition in order to draw that winner into the last Episode. Who will that winner be? I'm rooting for Lance!

Drawing on the Wacom with Photoshop

I decided to try my hand with sketching on Photoshop with a Wacom Tablet. Did a rough sketch in one layer, drew the completed image on another layer, then finally colored it with a few colors. Light years from being able to work it professionally. Everything about it is very rough and crappy.

What's nice about this are the line weights. Thick and thin! Having that on any drawing will always pop the image out. Although not many on this sketch, but I whipped out a few here and there. For the longest time, I had an issue with creating line weights on Photoshop. My buddy Tom Nguyen was even trying to figure out why I couldn't get it to work. After months, I finally got it to work today. The Wacom I had for the longest time just became my new toy again.

Book signing at Giant Robot SF

I've been asked to do a signing over at Giant Robot San Francisco on Thursday July 16, 2009 from 6-8pm. All the details of the signing is listed on the ad above. If the font is too small, click on the image and it'll expand. So if you're in the Bay Area that day, come by and say hello.

I'll be signing that book above. Do feel free to bring anything I worked on to sign. Click here for a list of comic books I've done. Or, if you like, feel free to bring anything I didn't work on to sign... I can also sign it whatever name you want me to... Stan Lee, Brad Pitt, Oprah, even Teletubbies.

DARK REIGN: YOUNG AVENGERS #2

Did some inking over Mark Brooks to the issue above. Below are some of the inks I've done. All of this was done on Blue Line.

I seem to be able to complete pages faster when it comes to Blue Lines. Maybe because I don't need to go back in there and re-spot the blacks after erasing the page. Usually when I'm done inking over original pencils, the blacks turn grey after erasing the pencils underneath. It's still good to go for scanning. I just like the inks to be rich and dark in blacks. Looks better for the original art. So I'm saving a step with Blue Line. That and not having to erase the page at all is another step saved. Here's another page with some of the Young Avengers below.

This was released on June 17. I didn't get comp copies from Marvel so I didn't find out about the release date until today. It's out in stores now. You can see some preview pages and read more about this issue here.