San Diego Comic-Con 2011

The hardware

Feeling like I'm being watched during my acceptance speech

Blair Butler from G4 TV talking about the Rocketeer Artist's Edition

I'm still in recovery mode from the San Diego Comic-Con experience. I really look forward to going, but while I'm there it is just so overwhelming, that it's hard to keep days straight and remember everything that happened. I do remember however, the absolute highlight of the 4 days, that I was there, it was winning the Eisner Award for "Best Publication Design" for the Rocketeer Artist's Edition book. Before going I didn't want to make a big deal about it, because when you have high expectations, it can easily be followed by big disappointments. The experience was certainly surreal. To be in a big ballroom, surrounded by people, who's work you admire, is quite humbling. Even during the ceremony, I didn't feel any sense of anticipation or nervousness. I was just attending a banquet to celebrate other people's achievements. Suddenly, when the big screen flashed up a picture of the Rocketeer book, along with my name for my award category, things changed drastically. I, at that moment, wanted to win...badly! It was very exciting to have my name announced, right along with Dave Stevens. Then panic set in, because, I'd have to walk all the way up to the stage and actually give an acceptance speech. I'm pretty sure I thanked all the people I was supposed to thank, I really can't remember much about it. It's certainly a great honor and privilege to be acknowledged by your peers for doing good work. I realized, this makes me want to work that much harder to continue to do my best work. I'd love to be able to add another Eisner to my shelf someday.

John Fleskes wrote a very nice personal blog about his feelings on my Eisner win, it can be found here... http://fleskpublications.com/blog/2011/07/31/randall-dahlk-wins-2011-best-publication-design-eisner-award/#comments

I don't know if there is any interest in this, but here's an audio version of the entire Eisner Awards ceremony. My award comes at the 1:04:32 point in the evening. http://www.thecomicbooks.com/Audio/11-07-22-SD-WillEisnerAwards.mp3

Flesk Prime Book Cover

Here's a description, from the inside flap of the book,

"Flesk Prime serves as a fresh look into the imagery of five exceptional artists: Craig Elliott, Gary Gianni, Petar Meseldžija, Mark Schultz and William Stout. The essence of each craftsman is captured here to satisfy their fans as well as individuals who are enjoying their first glimpse. The section on each artist begins with an introduction and a biography written by Flesk publisher John Fleskes. The five were invited to handpick their pieces for inclusion, to showcase the best representation of their works. Furthermore, new quotes have been obtained to capture the artists’ own thoughts. Each chapter shows the dynamic range of styles and illustrations and the unique diversity of these five creators. Almost all of the artwork has been reproduced direct from the originals."

When John Fleskes asked me to design the cover for this book, he had a certain visual style in mind. He wanted a more gritty, urban, edgy look, that would peak people's interest, who might not normally seek out a book of this content. I think it was a very wise marketing decision. What a great way to introduce the artists that Flesk Publications work with to a new audience. I liked loading up the cover with different layers, textures and materials, it has a real density, that is reflected in the contents also. It's nice when it all works and comes full circle and feels complete. The book should be available in time for the San Diego Comic-Con.

Tuna Egg Casserole

I had a lag in my work schedule, and was looking for some productive way to fill that gap. I came across a website called, "Just Add Ink, A Comic Cookbook." It was an invitation to local (Minnesota) cartoonists and comic book artists to contribute to a book compiling, recipes, cooking tips, or comics "how to." Each artist is given a page 8 1/2 x 11"- 2 sides, to give their recipe, or tell their story. I've always been interested in combining illustration and storytelling, but never had the guts, to really give it a try. This seemed like a good outlet to cross that wish off of my list. This is really, more of a series of individual illustrations put together to create a comic, then true panel to panel continuity. But, you know what, I had fun with it, and even though it's not really my strong suite, it forced me to think differently and try to create something I've never done before.

I usually like the work to speak for itself, but feel this needs a little explanation. I wanted this to look and feel like it was an insert into a woman's magazine from the 50s. Hopefully the "host" doesn't need an introduction. I hope that there is enough reality or believability to off-set the ridiculous. The whole joke is supposed to be summed up in the last panel, when Norma Jeanne is pointing to the name of the tuna as "Purr-fect" and making reference to how much the family cat enjoys this brand of tuna. I'm not sure the subtly came through, that she's actually using cat food to feed her family. Is it perhaps too clever?

Altered Esthetics is one of the sponsors of this project and will have a gallery show and book launch on August 5th, celebrating the release of the "Just Add Ink- a Comic Cookbook." It's all a little out of my comfort zone, but you can't grow if you don't challenge yourself. Purr-fect Tuna, try a can today! (if you can wrestle it away from your family cat)

San Diego Exclusives

San Diego Comic-Con has become the Shangri-La, Eden, and Nirvana of pop culture events, all rolled into one package. When one hundred thousand people descend upon the San Diego convention center for the four day event, there is great anticipation for getting all their animation, manga, comic book, low brow art, B-grade movies, original art and collectible urban toy, needs met. It never disappoints, to be an adrenaline soaked event.

Publishers look for this time, to make special announcements and also roll out their plans for the upcoming year. Part of all of the fun is, when special limited editions are released only for those attending the San Diego Comic-Con. IDW is producing 2 special edition covers especially for this event. Dave Steven's Sketchbook and Walter Simonson's Thor Artist's Edition both will be represented with very limited edition covers. I believe, you can order both of these ahead of time through IDW's website, and then pick them up at the convention. Of course, you could take your chances, and try to purchase them from IDW's booth while you are there.

Dave Stevens' Sketchbook

Here's the cover I designed to the new IDW sketchbook coming out from IDW. It continues to be a privilege to be associated with work by Dave Stevens. This is a 256 page hardcover book that collects all of the sketchbooks that Dave self-published. Also included in this book, is approximately 80 pages of additional sketchbook material, being printed for the first time. There is a great mix of both black and white images and full color art pieces. With designing this book, I wanting to keep with the Art Deco influences of the previous Dave Stevens books. I thought it would be a great companion piece to "The Rocketeer Artist's Edition" book, and also "The Complete Rocketeer Deluxe" book. The lightning bolts on this cover are a nod to that similar design element in the Deluxe book.

Inside the book, you get to see how versatile Dave's abilities were. Along side of the pin-up drawings, are hollywood portraits, animation drawings, advertising art, figure drawing, movie poster concepts, watercolors, charcoal, pen and ink, commissions, and personal work. Along with the variety, is also a window into his working style and growth as an artist. To me, the book feels really complete and a valuable resource to fans of illustration.

Walter Simonson's Thor Artist's Edition

Here's the new cover to the latest version of IDW's Artist Edition series. When I say series, keep that in mind, in other words, there will be more announcements soon! This book prints 7 issues from Walter Simonson's run on The Mighty Thor. The art is all printed from the actual art boards at actual size ( a whopping 12" x 17"). Walter provided all of the original artwork himself, which was scanned in at a very hi-resolution and in color. Even though the actual artwork itself was done as black and white, all of the nuances of the original art page appear as if you are looking at an original piece of art. The artboards retain the slightly yellowed appearance of age, along with pencil lines, white out and zip-a-tone. This book is following in the path of last years release of, Dave Steven's The Rocketeer Artist's Edition, (which has been nominated this year, for an Eisner award for book design). The goal on this book, is to have it printed in time for the San Diego Comic-Con.

Bruce Timm Art Book Covers

One of the latest projects I've been working on, is a hefty art book of Bruce Timm's good girl art for Flesk publications. Once again, this project has been nothing but pure joy! What's posted above, is a selection of designs that were presented for approval, for the cover of his new art book. This was a real process of getting to know each other's style, and trying to execute a cover that met with Bruce's vision.

The original source of inspiration for the designs, were based on the great paperback cover art of Robert McGinnis and Mitchell Hooks. During the mid 50's to mid 60's, thousands of these crime/mystery paperbacks were released to the enthusiastic hands of the general public. Bruce wanted to not only pay homage to the cover artists, but also to the design style of that period. I noticed that a lot of the books had hand-rendered title treatments. I wanted to explore that idea and see if in my own way, I could create something that felt authentic. It was a fun challenge to try to create something new and fresh, without relying on a pre-existing type font.

I tried to incorporate floating shapes and complimentary colors to the cover design, which combined with the painting, would look vintage. The cover design ultimately picked, was the last cover posted, which shows a more elegant and less busy design. This actually puts more emphasis on the figure and less on the title. This is a nice simple solution with a feeling of symmetrical balance.