ULTRAIST STUDIOS

We're Moving!

2006-08-30T08:37:00.000-07:00

After spending a bit of time here at blogger, we've decided to fall back and retrench the Ultraist Studio Journal / Blog to an all new location. The new format will be hosted locally at www.ultraist.net/journal/ and will allow for more options to organize posts and random thougths, to keep this thing more as as stream of consciousness, as it was originally intended.

After the Comic Book Expo this weekend, the plan is to get the new Journal fully operational. It will be a dumping ground for sketches, previews, news, reference, and other miscellaneous ramblings. Also, keep your eyes open for an all new Spy Guy daily strip, as well as some other goodies... coming soon.

SPUD page 6

2006-08-21T07:28:00.000-07:00

Here is another page from the next comic. Enjoy.

Dave Sim's Note From The President, Cerebus 183, June 1994

2006-08-21T04:20:00.000-07:00

The following excerpt is from Dave Sim's Note From The President, Cerebus 183, June 1994.

No one (or very few people) were in on Bone at the beginning. Andromeda was, the Silver Snail, a handful of others. Now, of course, virtually every distribution outlet and retail store is doing very well with Jeff's book. For the aggressive ones, this tells them that there's a great deal to recommend looking for, supporting, and making the 'next Bone' happen. For the passive ones, they can afford to sit and wait until it is happening and then jump on the bandwagon (usually wearing an 'I was Here First' t-shirt). The same Andromeda that supported Bone from the beginning didn't carry Cerebus until around issue nine. Harry Kremer who was the only Canadian retailer to buy the first issue (bless 'im) was told by Ron 'let me know when he goes to colour.' To say I was determined to force Andromeda to carry Cerebus would be an understatement. My molars ached. I stayed in the game, I put the books out on schedule and made it impossible for Andromeda to not carry Cerebus. If one or both large distributors won't carry your book or if you get pitifully small orders from them, the ball is in your court. You have to put together a network of stores, subscriptions and individual sales and put your nose to the grindstone for months or even years until you can prove them wrong. If you can't sell enough copies with a colour cover on newsprint, then you go to mini-comic format and build interest and attention there by putting the book out regularly and getting better. Remember there are a lot of ballplayers who are drafted pretty high and still spend years in the minors before they're 'called up'. The ones who don't want it badly enough quit. The ones who want it badly enough play their hearts out game after game for months or even years on end.

How badly do you want it?

Comic Pack - On Sale

2006-08-16T05:38:00.000-07:00

Get the entire Kitchen Bros. collection in one pop!
Now available for $10.00 CAN.

Comic Book Expo 2006

2006-08-12T04:42:00.000-07:00

The 12th Annual Fan Expo is happening September 1-3/06 at the Metro Toronto Convention Center South Building, located at 222 Bremner Boulevard, Toronto Ontario.

Special Celebrity Guests include:

William Shatner - Captain Kirk of Star Trek
Leonard Nimoy - Mr. Spock of Star Trek
Jim Lee - All Star Batman & Robin
Mike Mignola - creator of Hellboy

Some other Not-so-special Non-celebrity Guests include:

Mike Kitchen - animator on Hellboy, creator of Spy Guy
Blair Kitchen - animator on Curious George, creator of The Possum

Look for us in the Artist Alley!

The POSSUM Is Here!

2006-08-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

Suddenly comics just got a whole lot more interesting.
Click for details.

SPUD page 5

2006-08-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

Yet another page from Spud & Harry #1.
It's not quite finalled.
Some tweaking of the grey tone dots still needs to be done.
But you get the gist of it.

SPUD page 4

2006-08-01T15:20:00.000-07:00

Here is another page.

SPUD page 3

2006-07-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

I am currently on week 2 of a 4.5 week vacation.
In that time I've been hard at work on the next comic from the Spy Guy universe.

The comic is called Spud & Harry.

This is page 3.

Creator's Rights

2006-07-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

Back in 1988 a group of comic creators got together to discuss the issue of Creator's Rights.

The summit was instigated by Dave Sim in an attempt to define the ethical boundaries in selling his first printing of High Society direct, bypassing the distributor.

As a result of the summit, Scott McCloud came up with a "final draft".

In 2005 Al Nickerson jump started the discussion again, and created the Creator's Rights Forum.

After spending almost two weeks of reading through the posted articles, I jumped into the discussion, with a Creative Stream Analysis using Spawn as an example.

One month later, Dave Sim responded.
How cool is that?

Drop by the forum: http://www.creatorsrights.com/
Post your 2 cents. Help keep the conversation going...

Day Job Sketch

2006-07-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

So my little brother mentioned the other day that I'm not posting enough... okay. True. He's been running circles around me both with blog posts (19 - 2) and comic pages inked (72 - 9). See, the problem with the CG world of animation is that it doesn't do anything for keeping the traditional art skills in practice. Plus; that's just the kinda guy I am. However I decided a few weeks ago to start taking advantage of the time sitting idle while the CGI machine makes it's calculations, and pull out an old fashioned sketch pad.

Here's a sharpie quickie: Wolverine

ULTRAIST STUDIOS

2006-05-05T21:59:00.000-07:00

The Ultraist Studio blog is now operational. This area is intended as a dumping ground for sketches, thoughts, and other miscellaneous ramblings.