Some time in the studio...

So, it's been an insane month for me. In the last week alone I've been to Edinburgh book festival and Birmingham comic con, and am now getting ready to settle into a full month of inking for Frostbite. It'll be nice to stop in one place for a while, haha. Big hellos to anyone I met at the forementioned events, of course ^_^

But the big news is of course that Vampire Academy the graphic novel was officially released last week, yay!
And Rose has no need to look quite so scared! I can't tell you how nerve-wracking it has been getting ready for the release of this book. I know how much Richelle Mead's amazing characters mean to readers; I love the novels myself, and I know that no adaptation will ever fit perfectly the images we build in our heads whilst reading something we love...but the response I've seen so far to the book online has just blown me away. I want to offer an absolutely MASSIVE thank you to every one of you who has offered support, feedback or general squeeing - it's just SO appreciated! *hug*
Clicking that banner above will take you to the amazon.com page for the book, but you can find it in most book shops and online sites.

So - big love goes out to my cohorts: Leigh Dragoon (script), Caravan Studios (colours), Ching Chan (art editor), Rob Valois (editor) and of course Richelle herself - who has just recently given birth to her first non-book baby; a real life flesh and blood one! *confetti*. Many thanks to Penguin teams all over the place, including the amazing BetweenTheLines run by Penguin Australia, where you can see a version of the first book told via facebook! So much fun. ^_^

And, once again, MASSIVE thanks to the Vampire Academy community. You guys have been so welcoming and supportive and I could not have hoped for more.
Now, back to Frostbite inks!

Vampire Academy exclusive on USA Today

Rather excitingly, USA Today have published an exclusive preview of the graphic novel along with an interview with myself and the fabulous Richelle Mead. Apologies for the low quality banner image, haha, but click through to see the first six pages of the book and read a little about the process.

Vampire Academy inks have been submitted!

It is with a happy, happy heart that I can inform you: Today I submitted the last of the 144 pages of lineart that make up the first graphic novel! It's always a super exciting feeling to reach the end of a project, especially one as exciting as Vampire Academy. Now my lineart will be sent to our wonderful colourists so that they can work their magic and transform the pages from plain lines to full colour! After that, the editing team will add the text and bubbles, as adapted by Leigh Dragoon from Richelle Mead's original book, and then - finally - the book will be ready for print. It's lovely to feel part of such a great team.

I can also confirm that I won't have too much time off from Rose, Lissa, Dimitri and the rest...as we will indeed be moving onto Frostbite very soon! I'll be using the time I have before the new script arrives from Leigh to finish up book one of the Avalon Chronicles for Oni Press....so I won't be slacking off, haha.

Join me in a celebratory cry 'HERE'S TO ST VLADIMIR'S!' ^__^

San Diego Comic Con - news from me! ^_^

Okay, so – though I wasn’t at San Diego Comic Con in person, I was there in spirit in the form of some very exciting announcements that I’ve been wanting to share for a long time. 

Firstly, I will be working with writers Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir, and the lovely folks at Oni Press, on the series - Avalon Chronicles. Hugely exciting! Nunzio and Christina are just wonderful, and I’m so honoured to not only be drawing their epic, but also to be allowed to join in on some of the story creation! I can’t wait to share some of the cast and progress work with you. For now, you can check N & C’s blog for more details, and I can offer up the sample preview I put together for San Diego’s announcement at the Oni panel.
Aaand - Richelle Mead is the fabulous writer responsible for the rather schmexy Vampire Academy series of novels, and I am just utterly thrilled to be the artist responsible for bringing her story to life in graphic novel form, to be published by Penguin Books. Getting to work on such a popular (and bloody awesome) series is exciting enough, but to be working for a giant like Penguin Books makes me feel very privileged.  You can see Richelle’s own post at her blog, along with the cover mockup that Penguin have put together for the announcement, by clicking on the banner.

So – it’s an exciting time for me and I am more hyped than I can say! I’m already mid production on the first Avalon book, Once In a Blue Moon (a re-imagining of the same title released several years ago), and am eagerly awaiting Leigh Dragoon’s script for Vampire Academy – though I’ve played with test pages enough to know I’m going to very much enjoy these characters!

I look forward to sharing more news when I have it. ^_^