Category: News

New Year 2019 Updates and Information!

Posted on by Miles

Hello everyone!   Happy New Year!

(New Year’s Day is totally in March, right? Right? Oh, ok…)

I have a lot of information about this last year and what I’m planning and hoping for 2019!

Last Year, Michael:

 

– Graduated from Art School!

I received a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Illustration, with a focus on Sequential Design. It was a long haul, but so glad to be done. I was so happy to be with the graduating class I was in! We had a big show, with many amazing pieces!

Grad_01
Grad_02
Grad_03

 

– Had a great time at Denver Comic Con 2018!

I think it was one of my best years financially, but I know it was some of the most fun I’ve had there. Learned to focus on talking with people, and making my art, and having fun, not worrying about making sales. Had some fun commissions at the Con, and with my sister-in-law helping at the booth, my wife and I were able to wander more and go see panels and David Tennant!

 

 

 

 

 

– Did 50 Marvel sketch cards for Upper Deck! 

This was such a neat opportunity to get to work with Marvel and X-Men characters in some sort of official capacity. These original sketches were distributed randomly into the Fleer Ultra X-Men 2018 card packs.

 

 

You can see the full collection of 50 cards on my previous blog post.

 

 

– Spent a couple of weeks after school on a Webtoon for a competition.

My friend Chad Beninati (http://handicapehero.com/) wrote out the beginnings of a fantasy story and I drew it. You can find what we got done here (it’s better on mobile devices): https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/the-knight-and-the-rat-king/list?title_no=220795

It was a bit of a personal challenge since the contest went on for a few months, but with school, I worked on it for only about a month, max. It was fun, but the speed certainly shows. Still, I think it was a good start.

 – Went to Scotland!!! 

My wife Emily and I had been planning a trip to Scotland for after I finished school. We went at the end of October/beginning of November 2018.

It was amazing and incredible: the place, the history, the locale, the exploring, and getting to spend so much time with each other without going to work or school. We stayed in Glasgow and Edinburgh, explored both those cities a bit, as well as traveled to Stirling and Loch Ness!

 – Started selling art on RedBubble!

I’ve uploaded some art and logos I’ve done to a RedBubble Store!

I love the printing they do on their shirts – my wife and brother both have one, and they hold up really well and have quality printing done, not just a cheap iron-on. So go check it out!

– Visited the doctor at the beginning of December

to finally get some hand and wrist pain I had been having for months looked at. They said they suspected a strained flexor and actually had me stop drawing for about a month and on disability from my workplace for two months. It seemed like would be a problem, but was actually kinda nice, to take a step back from the art and my job. I got to spend the holidays with my wife and family without anything really pulling me away, and I was able to spend time praying, reading, refocusing and reconnecting with people. It reminded me that I am a person apart from my artwork and job, which is something I need reminding of.

This year:

– I submitted a proposal to the Adobe Creative Residency competition!

My entry is one of the comic projects I’ve been working on for a little while, called The Artist and the Half-Orc.

 

The winner receives a job and payment to work on their creative, career-pushing project! So IF I were to win, that would become a huge thing, and of course, modify the plans I have for this year.

– I have some other comics projects I would like to work on and finish, including:

My interpretation and variation of Killer Wolf, a public domain script created by Justin Prime, which you can find details on Here.

 

– I’d also like to keep pushing my digital painting and keep taking commissions.

Here’s some progress pics from a commission I’m working on of my brother’s Bard/sorcerer character from DnD.

That’s all for now! 

I hope this “New” Year is going great for you! I’d love to hear what things you’re up to, excited for, or planning for the future, so please shoot me a message!

“May you always have light for your feet.”
Tales of Warriors and Wanderers Issue 0

Michael Howe

Denver Comic Con 2017

Posted on by Miles

Denver Comic Con 2017 has come and gone.  (Yes, 3 months ago…)  Like last year, I had my own table.  This year, however, I and my wife got things organized much more in advance.  This really reduced the stress of packing and getting ready, and increased my confidence going into the show.  Emily was amazing in plotting and planning out which products would go where on the table and backdrop.  Granted, a lot of that got thrown a wrench when we had to adjust our backdrop for the table space we had, but even that went pretty smoothly!  🙂

Our Table at Denver Comic Con, showing some of our prints!



As far as business went, the Con was actually rather difficult and a little disappointing.  Not many people were in buying moods, perhaps because of the crowds that were there.  But we did have some people come and look at the art and chat, and that was pleasant.  All the art I had for sale there can be found at my gallery, and the comics I was selling are available at Indy Planet.

Some other perks that happened:

Several friends came by and hung out around my table.

I got to enter the Line Webtoons Vertical Story contest and get my portfolio reviewed by Tom Akel and Zach Howard.  The feedback was constructive, giving me things to push towards in my art.  I also was able to go to the Line Webtoons panel about their platform and monetizing web-comics, so that was interesting and exciting.

The short comic I made for the Webtoons Vertical Story contest.
The list of events Line Webtoons was holding Friday – I went to two.

I also got to meet Mark Morales, Crystal Sully, and Stephen McCranie and his wife Kristal!  And I also met and sat next to Michael Matsumoto. Having already been following Mark, Crystal, Stephen, and Michael online before the con, it was great to get to meet them.  All were really nice and willing to chat and share advice.  Artists are real people, don’t be nervous to talk to us!

Finally, I got to spend some time just drawing out a Star Wars sketch cover, which was really pleasant, both as a relaxing thing and getting to draw Star Wars.

A star wars sketch cover with a pencil sketch of two imperial knights, a female and a male in armor with lightsabers
The Star Wars sketch cover I worked on at the Denver Comic Con. Imperial Knights for the win!


Overall, the Con was difficult, but a good thing for me to have gone to.

Character Design for competition

Posted on by Miles

Just wrapped up my entry for the Reckless Deck/Art Order Figures Competition.
http://www.infectedbyart.com/contestdetails.asp?cid=32

The Reckless Deck is a cool card deck to help prompt creativity.  As part of the Kickstarter the creator did for Volume 2, there was a reward of miniature figurines.  And there is a contest to use certain cards from the decks to create characters for a chance for one’s work to be one of those figurines.

So here is my entry.  I started it a while ago but felt overwhelmed with other work.  So I dropped it.  But then I saw that it was ending this week, so I spent a couple days refining and finishing it.

  • Dragon Attributes
  • Claymore/Great Sword
  • Heavy Artillery Laser Cannon
  • Mech Armor
  • Cloak
  • Bow and Arrow

The Northern fields are some of the most dangerous places in the country of Dleosu.  There are of course the lava flows and chasms, but the worst thing is the dragons that inhabit the region.  Unfortunately, it is still a strategic location, which is why the Defensive Reconnaissance Attack Knights Elite Force dispatches their Scouts to the region.  

Equipped with insulated armor, heat-reflective cloaks, helmets with heads up displays and armor based on the biological protective properties of dragon scales, these lone snipers guard the fields against all intruders.  The spikes on the Scouts’ shoulder pads are actually dragon teeth.  These are a mark of rank and status among the troops, but also have the bonus of making dragons more… respectful of the trooper.  

A Scout’s weapons are a Claw – an extendable one-edged sword, and the CLY-1318 DragonBane Sniper Rifle.  The DragonBane is a heavy-hitting piece of equipment, because not only do the D.R.A.K.E.-S need to be able to disrupt any military force from a great distance.  One also never knows when one of the dragons may decide to get too close.

Buy my comics on IndyPlanet

Posted on by Miles

My comics are available for purchase on the IndyPlanet site, both as physical and digital copies:  http://www.indyplanet.us/brands/michael-howe-arts/

My IndyPlanet Store

Current titles available:

  • Tales of Warriors and Wanderers Issue 0
  • The Lost Captain

COMICS!

Posted on by Miles

Well, I finished a short comic all my own IP!  It’s the first in a planned series of stories, which are not always related – like Tales of Fantasy back in the day.  Each issue can, but doesn’t have to be, a completely new story/universe.

Sent this comic to Ka-Blam printers yesterday, so I will hopefully have it at Denver Comic Con!

It should also be available at IndyPlanet once they have that ready.