Come see me this weekend Oct. 2-4 at the Long Beach Comic-Con!!

Making Some Progress

Hey folks-

Just wanted to give you an update on my status and drop some new art on you guys. I've whittled down my past due commission list to 5 pinups and my EG story (which I can't wait to get back to!). Still working hard on RPM. I'm currently trying to bang out a nice promo piece for the book as we speak. I think I've got something cool and will post it as soon as I am allowed.
My first shipment of sketchbooks will arrive between today and Wednesday. So, those of whom that have been waiting for their copy will be getting them this within the next 7-10 days. I also have a shipment coming later in the month so that I will have some available for either San Diego Comic-Con or online via Ebay.

Intermittently, between all the the stuff I mentioned before, ICONS is still being worked on when the opportunity permits.

See you in a few days with some more updates!

)*Note: Argo 5 piece sold to Dan Sehn (the creator of Argo 5) and Western Ghost Rider/Gunslinger Spawn sold to Mike Wallace aka Liam Sinclair.)

-Ray

The Chance to Prove Myself

Finally after all this time, I have been offered a chance to take my career to the next level. Since I’ve started to work professionally as a comic book artist just a few short years ago most of my assignments consisted of small back-up stories, short anthology stories and single issues here and there. All those assignments have really helped me to get better with strengthening my fundamentals in sequential art and hone my craft. If you’re just starting out, I would highly suggest you do as many small projects as you can….within reason….to really get your feet wet in this industry. You’ll build strong working relationships and even lasting friendships while working out the kinks in your skills. I know it gave me a chance to make as many mistakes as I’ve had successes and I learned from every experience.

Now, that I’ve got a few eyes watching me and waiting for the next thing that I do, it’s been a long time coming that I’ve received a worthwhile assignment that was more than a single issue. In order to be respected as a viable artistic talent in this industry you have to show some kind of a long term consistency by doing more than a few pages here and there. You have to show that some publisher has given you the opportunity to carry a book longer than a single issue. That, coupled with good work and a nice style comparable to what they may be looking for at the time, will help to open up opportunities at larger publishers such as Marvel and DC. As C.B. Cebulski has stated numerous times about breaking into the big leagues...”The best way to break into comics (the big leagues) is to get published somewhere else.” The man knows what he’s talking about and thanks to Ape Entertainment I have the opportunity to take that advice. I'm determined to earn my place in such an exclusive club.

I was slated to do something else for Ape, but they offered me a way better deal with a different project that I am totally excited about. That means, along with the rest of the stuff I have to do this year that my artistic dance card is full and my schedule for the rest of 2009 is completely booked. I won’t be accepting any more work from here on out. I'm completely happy with that, too.
I can’t talk much about what I’ll be working on for APE Entertainment yet, but I can assure you that it will be published and hopefully out by the end of the year.


Here's a little concept art to chew on for a minute. I came up with Black Talon when I wanted to scrap every character I've ever created and merge them into just one concept. So, this guy is mainly made up of Reyven, Griffin and Protostar. Odds are...I'm probably going to make him a bad guy that has all of their abilities or something. We'll just have to see. Until next time!

-Ray

Breakthrough!

Today is really a great day for me. After a year or so of on again off again practice, I have finally figured out how to color. And not just color, but doing it in a style I really like! Now, I can color my own pinups with confidence and having as print when I make convention appearances. Thanks to the tutorials of Matthew “AmericanNinjaX” Humphreys, Jeffery “Chamba” Cruz, Matteo Scalera and some SERIOUS practice. Repetition is the key, folks. Also, I have to give special thanks to Sean “Cheeks” Galloway because without me looking at a piece of his work while I was trying to figure out some key coloring elements , I would never have gotten that breakthrough epiphany that brought the whole process together.


Posted up top is a sample of how I’ll be coloring my pinups from now on. This is the title character of the ApeCMX.com’s web comic I’ll be working on, Heroic.



On another note and keeping in line with my theme of breakthroughs, I have decided to just be real with myself and accept the fact that goal is to become an exclusive Marvel artist. Sure, I have my own ideas and characters, but the main reason I have followed my dream this far has been to work exclusively for one of the big two. The editors at Marvel have been nothing but great to me from the start, so I have been actively pushing to make my home there. They DID give me my first high profile gig after all. Most of the guys I know work there and it’s a little embarrassing to be the only guy in a group of your peers not working at the big two. Besides, for the last year I have been bombarded with the statement, “Man, you should be working for Marvel already.” Which is a statement that wouldn’t mean much to me coming from the general public, but I hear it from professionals already working there and editors from other companies. Which, to me, means that I must have been doing something wrong the past twelve months….LOL! Don’t get me wrong. I really enjoy working on the stuff I’m currently doing i.e. the Ape stuff and the design work for Hasbro, but my heart seems to only speak one name. Marvel. It just took me a while to finally accept that.


Enjoy my new coloring skills and see you next time!

The Beat Goes On

Well, I am about a third through the pile of work I had in front of me and things are moving along okay. I thought I was going to start another assignment this weekend with the company I have been freelancing for the past 3 months, but I guess they still have things to set up. That was TOTALLY okay by me. I ended up taking the weekend off with my kids and go to visit my dad and best friend. It was nice and relaxing and I think I really needed that breather from work. Now, I’m back and I’ve got about 8 commissions, 10 Earth Guard pages (of the 25), and 10 Icons pages (of the 24), and a cover for Ronin’s HOPE: The Hero Initiative. If that wasn’t enough for me, I am also able to announce that I will be working on Ape Entertainment’s new line of webcomics via their site ApeCMX.com on a book called HEROIC. Man, it’s been a lot of fun already and I can’t wait until it’s up on the site. Trust me, 2009 is going to see a lot of my work all over!

Speaking of work, I recently shared a page layout from one of the books I’m working on with my good friend and APE co-founder Brent Erwin. He mentioned that my layouts were exceptionally tight and could actually be inked from. I explained that the main reason I do them that way is so that I have enough information in the final penciling stage that there is little to no guess work and I can breeze right through it. I know of a handful of other pencillers who use the same process as I do. I just can’t seem to go straight to the page like I used to when I didn’t know jack. Now, I really enjoy penciling tiny (on 8.5X11 printer paper), enlarge it in Photoshop, print it out at 11X17 and lightbox it. Let’s not forget my 2X3 thumbnails to start. I couldn’t do it without that step. On the surface, it may seem like a lot of steps, but it turns out, for me, that it’s faster and yields a better page at the end. I usually do these in 5-page increments even though I know I should layout half the book to save me even more time. I have to break out of my comfort zone eventually.

At any rate, I figured I would post the layout Brent was talking about so that you can see what he meant and also a design that didn’t make it for HEROIC, but I have already found a place to use it.

Back in a couple of weeks!

Do or Die and Omega Girl Bio

Well, after a couple of months of trying to find a 9 to 5 job with absolutely no headway and no prospects, I have decided to just do the best with what I got. My current situation is that I live in a VERY small town near the Mojave Desert where the jobs are few and have all been taken. Not to mention that the next biggest city is 40 miles away and it would take me an hour to get there and an hour to get home at the very least. yet, those are but mere bumps in the road. The true obstacle I face in this dire job market is the fact that someone needs to be here, the middle of nowhere, to take care of my daughter. Since our next of kin is 75 miles away , that would leave me. Needless to say, I have to make my career work in order for us to keep this nice new house, make sure my daughter gets to school and back and has someone here in case of emergency, and picks my wife up from the bus station everyday. Anyway, that's where I am these days. Time to get to work, huh?

Here is the bio for one of the members of my creator-owned project, The Icons. I'll post them all here as they get done.

The GRIND: Art of Ray-Anthony Height

My 2008 sketch book is now available to purchase!! Get your copy today!