For all German fans of Maya: I will be signing on May 8, 2010 at
Hermkes Romanboutique in Wuerzburg. Wohoo… take a look at the Shop Window… and you will see a page from Maya there. Wow! Can’t wait for the event!
This is the first German ‘Free Comic Book Day‘ and HERE! you can see a list of all free comics you can get on this weekend in May! Your chance to grab some free stuff and a sketch of Maya . The guy’s at Hermkes Romanboutique have printed a special booklet about the guest artists and it contains a page of Maya and a white page where I can sign it and draw a little sketch. So you don’t need to bring your sketchbooks to the event. But if there is enough time I will sketch in sketchbooks too of course… and I’m signing everything I have worked on, like for example my Tales From The Crypt comics and Maddrax covers if you want. Here you can see the location of Hermkes Romanboutique. Best comic shop in the world btw!

A new issue of ‘Making Games’ hit the stands this week. In it you can find the Making Of my ‘BADASS RABBIT‘. It’s the first part of a new workshop series about creating 3D low poly game characters.
You can order the issue ‘here‘ or by clicking the post image on top.

I wish you all a happy new year! I know I’m a little late but the last months were a fun ride and I couldn’t stop (and update my blog) because everything is so f….n amazing! I want to give you all an update on what I am working on this days and what you can expect from me in 2009.
First: I’m working as an art director for ‘Rough Sea Games‘, a new browsergame company. You can read the official press release (in German) ‘here‘. I can’t talk about the game I’m working on yet, but you can follow the official blog at ‘Rough Sea Games Blog‘ to see our weekly updates. And you can take a close look at our ‘Company Logo‘ I’ve designed. All I can say is: We are working hard to make the best browsergame ever! “Rock the boat!”
So what does this mean for my comic projects? The answer is I had to make some decisions regarding my current work on ‘Ray Harryhausen Presents’ and new ‘Tales from the Crypt’ stories. So I was asked by Jim Salicrup to do another Crypt story recently which I had to put down because of my new job. I also put down a coloring job for a book at IDW. I have finished two issues of ‘Ray Harryhausen Presents: It Came From Beneath The Sea… Again!’ which means the last two issues will be done by another artist. This is sad because the story is really amazing and it sucks I can’t do all issues. But hey… I’m still very excited to see it in print because regarding comics this stuff is my best work yet. A big THANK YOU to ‘Sven Strangmeyer‘ who did an amazing job on coloring my sequentials.
Another collaboration with Sven is the ‘Hillary Clinton Cover‘ we did for the ‘Female Force’ comic series for Bluewater Productions. Unfortunately Hillary somehow saw the cover before print and… mhhh… let’s say, she didn’t like how my comic clothing fits her forms… so the cover isn’t a front cover anymore. You will find it as the back cover to the series. I’m curious to see the new front cover now.
And because I am talking about Bluewater projects let’s go on with news about ‘Captain James T. Kirk’: I did some designs for the new original comic series by ‘William Shatner‘! Somehow this makes me feel like an ensign on the Enterprise… hehe. As a huge Star Trek fan this really is amazing!
Regarding other stuff: I was interested in doing a comic for the image anthology ‘Popgun’ and I have to thank Thomas Mauer who introduced me to the people behind the books. But finally they decided to not let me do it because my art didn’t fit the book. I think this is strange because the whole anthology features a lot of different art styles and it seems like a ‘no creator money involved’ project. I wanted to do my first official comic story from my creator owned title ‘MAYA‘ for it because I think it is a great format. Too bad. But hey… without a publication in the anthology maybe I can make some money with my art… hehe.
As you may know I started on a CGSociety contest, called ‘Steampunk‘. Unfortunately I didn’t find the time to finish it. I will asap when I find enough time beside my other projects.
I did finish the first part of a new ‘game art workshop’ article for the German game developer magazine ‘Making Games‘. This will be out soon in issue ’01/2009′. The series will show how to create a low-poly game character. Here you can see my character the model will be based on: ‘BadAss Rabbit‘
That’s it for today folks. CU soon!

Chris

My new comic story ‘Moonlight Sonata’ will be out this week in ‘Tales from the Crypt’ issue #7 from Papercutz. The story is written by famous writers John and Joe R. Lansdale (Bubba Ho-Tep, Masters of Horror, Bubba Nosferatu and the Curse of the She-Vampires, Conan, Pigeons from Hell, Fantastic Four, Supergirl, Batman …) and shows the tale of mugger Roscoe Little who believes he’s hit the jackpot, when his victim’s keys open up the front door to a millionaire’s townhouse… but things change when Roscoe discovers something in the basement.

I just discovered an interview with Jim Salicrup over at ‘The Pulse’ where he is talking about the new ‘Tales from the Crypt’ comic books. He showed an email from a fan. It really makes my day knowing the readers like my art for the books and better… compare it to the original EC art! Here is an excerpt from the fan mail comment about my art: “a real joy to the senses and – like EC – worth interrupting the story to just absorb and relish!“. Click on the banner image to read the whole Interview.

Today I’ve got my ‘Tales from the Crypt’ #3 graphic novels from Papercutz. And all I can say about this fantastic book is: It’s zombilicious!. Click on the image above to read more about the graphic novel or order the book in soft- or hardcover format at amazon here:
Order the hardcover graphic novel here!

Sorry for the late update. The reason for not posting is I have finished another story for ‘Tales from the Crypt’ #7 beside my work on the ‘Ray Harryhausen Presents’ books. You can read a short synopsis of the story here:

“In the second scare-tale, mugger Roscoe Little believes he’s hit the jackpot, when his victim’s keys open up the front door to a millionaire’s townhouse — but things change when he discovers the werewolves in the basement in “Moonlight Sonata.””

What an exciting start into 2008! My “Tales from the Crypt” work is out now and you can find it at your local comic shop. Just look for the cover you can see on the left or ask for issue #4 of the new Papercutz comic series.
Don’t forget to let me know what you think of my sequentials on Neil Kleid’s story “Extra Life” and the cover to this issue! To drop me a line just click my orange painted head in the right side column.
And for all German readers of my blog: In two days you will have the chance to listen to a podcast I did.
Talk to you soon.

My upcoming comic ‘Tales from the Crypt’ issue #4 (Cover, story ‘Extra Life’ written by Neil Kleid) has been CERTIFIED COOL from Diamond Comics Distributors! If you don’t know what this means, please read what Diamond writes about the ‘reading cat’ symbol:
Throughout Previews (the catalog), you’ll find a selection of some of the coolest comics around, but let’s face it, some comics are so cool that they deserve to be singled out. So every month, we (Diamond) “certify” some of the best and brightest. “Certified Cool” is Previews’ way of showing you a comics world that is powerfully unique unto itself. The titles certified cool stood out to us as perfect examples of distinct comic stories that will broaden your entertainment experience and the industry.

So don’t loose any more time and order the book! It is officially cool now…:)
You can order with the following order code at your comic shop:

Diamond Order Code: OCT07 3727

Here is the official short description of the book:
The Ghoulunatics introduce two tales of hi-tech terror! First, poor Andy Dabbstein learns in “Extra Life” that playing Ogre Continent online in a virtual world can, in reality, have deadly consequences. Finally, meth dealer Stony Blake is such a successful drug dealer that he even has a specially made cell-phone embedded in his skull. But when the sister of one of his OD-ed customers seeks revenge, it becomes “Crystal Clear” no fancy gimmicks will be able to save him.

Read more about the book – Click here!

My cover to the December issue of ‘Tales from the Crypt’ crawled it’s way to the web.
You can see a big cover version to issue #4 of the series by clicking the small thumbnail image to the left. Papercutz used 100% of my design suggestion for the book. Even the colors for the logo. I’m a huge fan of speech balloons on covers and it is great my idea for this one was used for the book too. I hope you like it.
The book can be ordered from the October issue of Diamond Previews (see page 318 in the catalog) and it is ‘Certified Cool!’. A reason more to order it right now!
If you want to read a short description of the book please take a look at the official Papercutz site here: Read more about the book – Click here!

Faster than a speeding bullet comes the first huge announcement…

TALES FROM THE CRYPT is back!

And if this news is not enough I proudly can announce I will be a part of this amazing event in comics history… I will draw a story written by ‘Neil Kleid‘.
If you haven’t heard the news about the return of this fantastic comic you can read the official press release here:

TALES FROM THE CRYPT RISES FROM THE GRAVE!
Original EC Comics GhouLunatics Present New Stories and Art by Award-Winning Creators

A big THANK YOU to Editor In Chief JIM SALICRUP!