Winnipeg Northern Lights/Ice Crystals - November 30, 2010

I was shoveling the mountain of snow left by the plows out of my back lane tonight, and noticed a massive beam of light coming from the direction of McPhillips Street Casino.

I wondered what performer was appearing there that deserved such a massive light show. I turned around to resume my snow clearing attempts and found that the entire sky was filled with beams of what looked like cascading Northern Lights!

My cousin Scott has me thinking that these may have just been ice crystals reflecting the city lights, which makes sense as they shimmered vertically. Not the horizontal 'dancing' you might expect from Aurora Borealis... I sent an email in to CTV weather personalities Sylvia Kuzyk and Jordan Witzel. If anyone can get to the bottom of this, they can!

Got the camera out and snapped the following photos. Obviously, the pictures don't do the phenomenon justice!

Click the images for a larger photo!



The photos were also featured in the a Winnipeg Sun photo gallery titled "Winnipeg's winter wonders".

Currently playing: Helix - Running Wild In The 21st Century.
Currently colouring: The Chronicles of Conan Volume 21: Blood of the Titan and Other Stories
Proudly in my fifth Cola free year!

Here's a preview of my colouring work on Dark Horse's Chronicles of Conan series

Dark Horse Comics have posted preview images of my work on the next installment of their Chronicles of Conan series! I still get a kick out of seeing my name in the credits at the bottom of the first page up alongside such greats as Jim Shooter, Larry Hama and John Buscema!

Work on these books is done pretty far in advance, so by the time these previews are released I've usually completely forgotten what the story was about... I was working on this book in May and June of this year. Six months ago!

Here's a preview of the first three pages of this 200 page book, coloured by yours truly! Click the images for a larger version!
The Chronicles of Conan Volume 20: Night of the Wolf and Other Stories is set to be released on December 1, 2010. You can preorder your copy now!

The Chronicles of Conan Volume 20: Night of the Wolf and Other Stories TPB
Featuring art and story by: Michael Fleisher, John Buscema, Gary Kwapisz, Ernie Chan, Steve Leialoha, Bob Camp, Rudy Nebres
Colours by: Peter Dawes, Wil Glass and Donovan Yaciuk
Conan confronts some of his most difficult challenges yet when he faces down a werewolf who is being protected by the same tribe that it aims to destroy in "Night of the Wolf," and he finds a hidden Cimmerian valley filled with the vestiges of an ancient war in "Vale of Death." The wandering barbarian will also have to keep his wits about him if he is to keep from becoming a statue in a madwoman's collection in "The Cauldron of Doom!"
This volume collects Conan the Barbarian issues #151 -- #159, now with new colors, all of the original series covers, and a foreword by Ernie Chan complete with a brand new pinup!

Currently playing: The Arrows - Fallen Angel
Currently colouring: The Chronicles of Conan Volume 21: Blood of the Titan and Other Stories
Proudly in my fifth Cola free year!

2010 Central Canada Comic Convention

I had a great time at the 2010 Central Canada Comic Convention on the weekend!

Comic books are really just the art of telling a story by skillfully combining words and artwork. It’s a medium I’ve been in love with for a long time. Not only was it great to have a weekend to celebrate it with friends, it was nice to meet a few artists and see this art form get the respect it deserves!

Okay, so some respect for comics was lost when I passed by the following boxes of books for sale. Sigh...
Big Boob Girl Comics?

Really?

After experiencing this low point in comics, my opinion of humanity was lifted after I got to meet Scott Kolins! Besides being a fantastic professional artist, he is also an incredibly nice guy! Before I left my job doing colour separations at Digital Chameleon I got to do some work on his fantastic Flash run for DC comics. His work is full of tiny little details which made it both exciting and maddening to colour! I love his style!

In the last year I’ve begun commissioning artists to do sketches on the inside covers of books they’ve been a part of! It’s easier to store a work of art in a book on a shelf rather than trying to frame and hang them. Plus, there’s only so many drawings of superheroes a grown man should really have hanging on their walls! ;)

Here’s a great sketch Scott did of Captain America taking on Baron Zemo in my Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes hardcover – a pivotal scene in the book!

Scott Kolins also went all out in this drawing for my Beyond! Hardcover of all the main characters caught in The Stranger’s grasp!

All in all, a fun weekend! It also gave me a bit of a kick in the rear to keep the ball rolling on a book I'm hoping to self publish next year - Spacepig Hamadeus and the Captive Planet!

And hey, be sure to "Like" the Spacepig Hamadeus Facebook page!

Currently playing: The Payola$ - Here's The World
Currently colouring: An upcoming book for Dark Horse Comics!
Proudly in my fifth Cola free year!

EMERGENCY! (Tent Sale!)

Got this flyer in the mail the other day...Really?! An EMERGENCY tent sale?

Tightness in the chest, with pain radiating down your arms? Emergency.

Red River flooding? Yep, emergency.

90% off furniture and appliances at The Brick?

Okay, I'll humour them. It's an emergency. Whatever.

Let's recount the fateful minutes that occurred at The Brick minutes before this ad went to press...
Currently playing: Foreigner - Urgent
Currently colouring: An upcoming book for Dark Horse Comics!
Proudly in my fifth Cola free year!