C2E2 Live Art Luau, Friday Night in Chicago!

Our gracious hosts at Nerd City have made some changes to the C2E2 live art party. It will be taking place on Friday night, rather than Saturday, as originally posted. It's moved to The Volcano Room at The Bottom Lounge. And even better, it's now a Live Art Luau!

I'll be painting alongside Jim Mahfood, David Mack, Ben Templesmith, Won Kim, Joey Potts & some other talented art beasts. And it's all topped-off with an amazing live performance by the phenomenal Adira Amram & The Experience!

Nerd City's Live Art Luau

@ The Bottom Lounge in The Volcano Room!

1375 W. Lake St, Chicago, IL

Friday, April 26th / 8pm - 2am

Hawaiian shirts & island attire are encouraged!

Tickets available at www.artluau.bpt.me

and the Nerd City C2E2 Booth #967

More info on Facebook & www.nerdcityonline.com

"I'd reveal how I do adore her, hang my heart on my sleeve just for her."
- Dave "King Gum" Crosland

CHOKER #5 out today, featuring pinup by Dave Crosland

That's right! The painting I did for Ben Templesmith & Ben McCool's CHOKER (Image Comics) appears in the back of issue #5. The book was released today, at comic shops across the USA. Hit up your local retailer to make sure they're carrying it!

Find out more on the Image Comics website.

"Where my gerunds at? Parenthetical."
- King Gum Crosland

CHOKER Pinup

Way back in spring, my friend and colleague - Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night, Wormwood) - invited me to do a pinup for his new miniseries with writer Ben McCool -- Choker (Image Comics).

I took my sweet time finishing it... snatching moments here and there, painting it in between other projects and deadlines. But I was finally able to put the kiss of completion on this puppy, a few nights ago. At 2am or so, I called it like a doctor in an OBGYN, and my Choker pinup was born.

This piece will appear in either issue 5 or 6 of the Choker miniseries. Hell yeah.

"Oh, Ramona! If there was only something between us... other than our clothes."
- King Gum.

On The Slate - 11.10.10

It's been way too long since I posted on here. I've been all over the place, since returning from Los Angeles, last week. Luckily, I've been making art the whole time! The pics above include (in this order) -

1. My woefully overdue pinup for CHOKER (by Ben Templesmith and Ben McCool, Image Comics). I've been attacking this thing off and on, for months. Painting can be such a different process for me, than drawing. But I try to learn something new with each piece. And this pinup has been a crash course in glazing techniques.

2. Warm-up paintings. Since painting is usually an adventure in layering, it helps me stay on point by painting several pieces at once. So while I'm doing the CHOKER pinup, I'm also painting random faces, and pulling strange stunts in my experimental sketchbook, Little Clouds.

3. The Love Growl, drawn in Mat From France's amazing travel journal. After seeing his, I totally endorse travel journals as a way to track your adventures abroad. Hell, I might even start taking a travel journal with me to the supermarket!

4. Yo Gabba Gabba. I'm drawing a sweet Muno mystery tale, penned by the one and only Kelly-Sue DeConnick. The pace has been a little hectic, but I'm having a blast. I've actually penciled the story twice, now. I wasn't pleased with my first take, so I redrew it at a bigger scale. With more room to move around the pages, I was able to draw with much more fluidity. One of my professors (David Groff) told me, "Don't be afraid to scrap a piece and restart it, if it means you'll get a better product in the end." And he was right. Plus, I've been out of comics for too long, just to come back with the weak sauce.

"I like my asses fat, not flat!"
- The King Gum.

Progress on "Choker" Pinup

I'm now a few steps deeper into my pinup for CHOKER. At this point, I've reinforced the drawing in colored pencil. The linework has been tightened up and I've laid in some definite color tones that will (most likely) translate all the way through to the final painting.

Smooth sailing,
- Gum.

Choker Pinup Under-Painting

This is the under-painting stage of my pinup for CHOKER, the upcoming Image Comics title from Ben McCool & Ben Templesmith. I'm having fun playing with texture galore on this one.

Originally, I'd wanted to show you all the original pencil drawing, THEN show the underpainting. But alas, the digital file of the pencil drawing got corrupted. Still, I'll be posting more mid-process pics of this. So keep yer peepers peeled!

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate! Akk!!!
- King Gum Crosland

Choker Pinup Sketches

My pal, Ben Templesmith, invited me to create a pinup piece for his & Ben McCool's new mini-series, CHOKER (Image Comics). I got to read an advance copy of the first issue, and it was incredible! The two Bens have done a grand job of creating a lush, well-developed world of drugs and criminals, detectives and monsters. I've been sworn to secrecy, so I can't discuss the story at all. But the sketches above are preliminary doodles for the main character, Johnny Jackson, and one of those monsters I mentioned. I'll be featuring both in my pinup painting.

The first issue hits store shelves in February. Be sure to ask your local comics retailer to order it!

Now, where's that pesky raincoat...
- King Gum Crosland