THE STORY
Really excited with how weird things are about to get.

Rawn Gandy gave me some good input on getting rid of some of the dialogue as well as changing the last panel. I illustrated a few endings, but decided on what is above.

THE ART
I used a Pentel Color brush to ink this strip. I really really really love them. I'll probably start inking most of what I do with this tool. Using the pen was stressful at first, but I started getting the hang of it after I inked this strip for the fourth time.

It was stressful because my hands tend to be very shaky due to a genetic anomaly. As a result, I've acquired the habit of drawing heavy handed to steady myself, but I recently learned about a comic artist with severe nerve damage who also uses brushes. So I no longer have an excuse not to make the leap to a new pen.

I've been studying what Jeff Smith, Rafael Grampa, Paul Pope, Farel Darlymple, Eric Powell, Nate Powell and my friend Meg Gandy do with inking to help me. Meg Gandy helped me out with a few tricks and pen upkeep. So I am confident that the next one will only be better.

I also messed with the way I approach color after taking note from the coloring techniques of Dave Stewart, Eric Powell, Lee Loughridge, Scott Roberts and Moebius. I've come to the realization that surreal color choices can be about establishing planes in space - not just establishing mood.

I'm using a combination of both soft shading and flat blocks of value as well as thinking about helping the background recede using contrasting tonal values.

THE FUTURE
Some of the logistics of my new commissioned job have been resolved so I will be dedicating most of my free time to it, but I'll still try to update this strip as frequently as possible.

STORY NOTES
About a third of the way into the strip, I recognized an opportunity to create the potentially humorous situation of a reinactor, who takes their losses personally instead of historically. He isn't meant to represent all Confederate reinactors. He is intended to be his own sensitive self.

Also, I am going to have to take a break. I've been commissioned to illustrate a comic that teaches college students about various safety issues. This will take up the bulk of my free time until it is finished. I'll still post strips as soon and often as possible. There only only about 5-7 strips left in this story arc. I am probably going to retire Richmond Monuments after this story arc. I am also considering doing a modest print run of all the strips in a flip-flip book.

ART NOTES
For this strip, I originally messed with using a simplified geometric approach that is similar to my comic adaptation of The Little Black Fish. It just didn't work out. That might have a lot to do with the approach's reliance on color. Not sure. I am still messing around with a marriage between what I did with The Little Black Fish and Richmond Monuments.

All of my fellow artist friends are probably sick of my talking about it, but I think that every successful artist (I don't mean monetary success) has a distinct voice that shines through their work. With artists who have found their "voice," no matter how "technically unskilled" their art is, you can still fully appreciate it. With "The Little Black Fish," after about page three, the art felt so natural and effortless when compared to my experiences doing Richmond Monuments. I do enjoy the naturalistic quality of Richmond Monuments, so I continue to search for this marriage of geometry and naturalistic work - without it looking like the art of Mike Mignola or Alex Toth.

MATERIALS
I tried messing with a Faber-Castell brush pen on this one. I wasn't happy with the quality of these pens. The nib burnt out pretty quickly. I spoke with a couple other artists who have used these pens and they had the same results. The regular felt pens by Faber-Castell worked well though. I'm planning to try my hand at Pentel color brush pens. I also bought a Japanese brush pen who's brand name is Platinum.

Enjoy.

VCUarts Department of Communication Arts presents a ...
Comic forum with professional comic artist & illustrator, Reilly Brown

FREE
Feb 11th 3:30PM-5PM
at the VCU Student
Commons Theatre
907 Floyd Ave.

BIO
Reilly Brown, currently spends most of his time working for Marvel. He has worked on several books, including: Cable & Deadpool, Incredible Hercules, Prince of Power, New Warriors, and Amazing Spider-Man, as well as a bunch of other things. Brown has an art studio in Brooklyn and is a founding member of TenTonStudios.com. One of his current independent projects is PowerPlay, a comic about superheros playing street games across the five boroughs of New York City.

(I've been working as the Communications Director at VCUarts Department of Communication Arts developing posters, a new identity system, front end site design etc. I'll post more later. For now check out this great event!)

I'm going to experiment with a new approach to drawing for the remaining strips of this comic. I know that it's never good to do a dramatic stylistic shift, but this strip has always been more about learning and fun than being professional. Even with just these 30 strips, I can see my progression as a comic artist.

Note: The last time I was in Velocity Comics, Patrick Godfrey asked if his zombie likeness would ever show up again in the strip. As any good friend would do, I smiled, said yes, and had his head cut in half in the next strip. Enjoy. =)

General Robert E Lee Monument Location

Not much to say about this one. I am trying to loosen up a bit with my drawing technique. It is making the work a bit more fluid and dynamic.

General Robert E. Lee Location

Sorry for the delay. The holidays threw me off.

Up next! General Lee prepares to slay zombies for the good of Richmond!

Poe Museum location

General Robert E. Lee Location

General JEB Stuart Location

It has been awhile. My apologies. The relatively short deadline for the strip -given the time it takes me to do one - made it very difficult to both spend time with my family and produce quality strips. I am not sure what my schedule will be, but I will try to post as frequently as possible.

The Poe Museum location

I will be signing copies of "The Little Black Fish" Dec 7th at Velocity Comics. More info below. 

DIY ONSLAUGHT
Quadruple book/comic release event. Free and open to the public.
Dec 7th, 7-10pm
Velocity Comics 819-A West Broad Street

To releases from Sink/Swim Press (www.sinkswimpress.com)
QUESTERN by Dallan Hague

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU GIVE UP by James Moffitt


and two more local debuts
GODSEND by Jesse Bausch & Meg Gandy (http://godsend.shatterlands.com/)

THE LITTLE BLACK FISH by Bizhan Khodabandeh adapted from Samad Behranghi's story. (www.mendedarrow.com)

Secondly, below is an update on my comic adaptation of Samad Behrangi's children's book, The Little Black Fish.

"The storytelling, the design, the art, letters, and color on Bizhan Khodabandeh's Little Black Fish all stood out to me immediately as something really worth spending time with. This is his first comic I am told. I am impressed. It is a beautiful story. Anyone with a love of comics would do well to
pay attention."

-Farel Dalrymple
Author/artist of "Pop-Gun War", Artist of "Omega The Unknown"

The 50 page full color perfect bound book is available here. Sample pages can be found here.

This is a comic adaptation of a story by Iranian teacher and activist, Samad Behrangi.

To give you a short description of the story ... It is about a fish who unforgivably questions authority and is determined to learn through her own experiences. In the book, the little black fish embarks on a right of passage journey to find whether or not her friends' stories about the sea are true. During her travels, she is confronted by various animals who try to persuade her from continuing and some who threaten her very life. The story provides an important example of one's determination in seeking the truth.

Available digitally through these market places.

Soon available digitally for...

Still available in print.

$6.95 Perfect bound 50 page book.

For US and Canada

For everywhere else.