Profile: Todd Gnacinski

Madbadcat’s Note: The retro style and story of Todd Gnacinski’s book grabbed me from the first moment I saw the cover on Etsy and it turns out we share a love of all things Dave McKean.

::: Artist(s) Name:::
Todd Gnacinski

::: Title of Work(s):::
Satellite State

::: Publisher:::
Self Published

::: Website:::
www.satellite-state.info
www.myspace.com/satellite_state

::: Q ::: Tell us about yourself.

I was born and raised in Milwaukee WI. I began drawing when I was around 12. I majored in illustration at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design graduating in 1995. I began working as a freelance illustrator just after graduation. In 2004 I began writing my first pages of a yet untitled story, which after revising and tweeking became Satellite State. Read more

The Tao of Workflow

Like most webcomics on their first year, The Tao of I.T. Al has changed over the months, as the workflow has been changed and refined.

Originally I had followed the current "traditional" comics art route with pencils and inked work done with actual graphite, ink and paper.  These were then scanned, cleaned up, and then painted digitally.  Now I work entirely digitally using Corel’s Painter for pencils and Adobe Illustrator for inking and coloring. Some backgrounds are hand drawn, but I primarily rely on a growing library of scratch-made resources made in Illustrator. Workflow is important to me because it the more it speeds up the processes, the more time I can spend drawing!

October’s batch of Al is done, and he’s back in action. Much of the recent material has been concentrating on the supporting characters, but Al has reasserted himself recently. It’s good to draw him in full martial arts mode. And it comes out so easily.  It’s rather odd that one of my major skills is to draw a large armadillo in a hakama! The hakama, sometimes known as "samurai pants", is a very elegant traditional garment worn by aikido, kendo, kenjitsu, iado, and Japanese archery practitioners.  Back when I was practicing aikido, I thought it made my technique look ten times better than it did. Read more

Apple Bans Digital Comic

Is it a case of "think different- think just like us"?

Murderdrome, first digital comic made especially for iPhone/iPod, has been banned from the iTunes App Store as inappropriate.

Infurious Comics, the publishers of Murderdrome, are making a plea to Apple for the same age categories to their books/comic sections as in their games and music sections. "We have extensive support from the industry in this and would welcome a change in the current store in order to make sure that content is categorised appropriately, " says an Infurious spokesman.

Visit Infurious’ Website to add your comment about this ban. All comments will be forwarded to Apple in protest. Read more

Aikido Al’s Comic Con Slideshow

San Diego Comic-Con 2008: Mostly highlights of the vast Exhibitor’s Hall, with some additional shots of around the convention area. Read more

San Diego Comic-Con 2008

Part 1: Yikes! (an overview)

"Geek is good" said Marc Bernardin, Entertainment Weekly and EW.com Senior Editor on Friday’s Entertainment Weekly’s Filmmakers panel. 

That’s the second impression you get after the initial shock of the sheer size of the convention.  It is about 200,000 of your closest friends.  This year was the first Comic-Con that sold out entirely through pre-registration.

  The central core of Comic-Con is "comics."  In reality it’s a multimedia cross-section of pop-culture.  Picture if you will the football field-sized Exhibitor’s Hall.  Major movie studios such as Sony, Paramount, and Warner Brothers rub shoulders comfortably alongside the big two of the comics industry: DC and Marvel.  Video game companies such as NCSoft, Square Enix, and Sony Computer Entertainment also showcase their latest work, as well as television networks such as Fox, BBC America, and the Independant Film Channel giving previews of their latest shows.  Add to that a myriad of independant artists and comics companies, comics vendors, art suppliers, tabletop gaming companies, toy companies, and organized fan groups. Read more

Highlights of GigOfHam.com’s Comic Con 2008 Gallery

Photos by Carl Perry/ GigofHam.com Read more