Goodreads Choice Awards 2011

I got an email from my eagle-eyed co-creator, Leigh Dragoon, yesterday because she spotted that Vampire Academy: A graphic novel made it into round one of the Goodreads choice awards for 2011. This is so, so exciting! I can't quite believe the phenomenal list of books that are up for voting. It's a really strong list and, whatever happens, to be among them for the first round of voting is just stupidly flattering.

2011 Goodreads Choice Awards: Best Best Graphic Novels & Comics Vote now for your favorite books!

So, round one of voting is open now! If you want to see Vampire Academy (or one of the others!) move forward into round two, then head over by clicking the link above and cast your vote now. ^_^

Also well worth clicking on is the link to the now fully launched The Thrill Electric! (banner here from Becky Cloonan's amazing cover to issue 1) I've mentioned it before, but you can now view the first two episodes (and episode 3 launches today) completely for free thanks to channel 4! A new episode launches every Thursday and the reaction we got at the MCM expo was so positive, with Resonance FM and Bleeding Cool really jumping into the action; we're all excited about it ^_^

A bit of a round up...

Long overdue, and post-MCM is the perfect chance for a round up! I'm still pretty exhausted after this weekend's MCM Expo, but I had such a great time and came back with a stash of great comics! Huge aplogies to anyone who saw me on the Sunday...lack of sleep had made me into some kind of zombie and so I probably said all sorts of weird things, haha.
So, what is there to highlight from the show for me? SO MUCH!
First up, a huge thank you to Anna, Matt, Dave and Pud for being awesome ComicVillage organisers. You guys were fantastic! *hug*

So - the weekend for me: Just before the show, an interview I did for the wonderful ideastap site went live. Follow the banner above to see that.
When I arrived at the excel on the Friday, I made the most of the meet and greet atmosphere by making my way around the comicvillage and buying a ton of independent press comics, whose quality once again astounds me! A few creator highlights: Adam Cadwell, John Allison, Jim Round, Jade Sarson, N.Gingerboom.......oh so many; too many! You were all amazing! I also was lucky enough to get a copy of the 4th Elephantmen hard back...oh, those books are so, so shiny and awe inspiring. Richard Starkings is a star! As always, I would have liked to talk to so many more people, but the show is insane - in a good way ^_~

Click the banner above to see BleedingCool's lovely response to one of my favourite parts of the Saturday! Following the amazing Futurama crew (which was more than a little humbling, especially when I got to meet the fabulous Phil lamarr!) Myself, Leah Moore, Kit Buss of Windflower and Darren Garret of Littleloud got up on stage alongside the lovely Johnathon from HatTrick to promote the upcoming Thrill Electric. Channel 4 commissioner, Jo Twist, was also there and it was so nice to finally meet her in person! Thanks so much to everyone who came along to the panel, we had a great time. We even got to see a shiny trailer for the project...at least, the audience did. Sadly, from our spot on the stage, we couldn't see the screen, haha! I hear it will be placed online soon, so will link when it is.At the Sweatdrop booth I was of course selling Dragon Heir: Reborn, and have to say a massive thank you to everyone who came by to say hello, make nice comments or pick up the book *hug* It was so fun getting to sit with my Sweatdrop homies again after so many expo's of running around like mad!
On the Saturday evening, I got to enjoy a now-regular special expo treat: A meal with My hubby, Anna Petterson and the charming and wonderful Warren Ellis, who I so rarely get to catch up with. I always love this little moment of calm amongst the madness of the event and never seem to get a chance to see Warren outside of it these days!
Sunday was a blur for me, but I know that underneath my zombie-like exterior, I had an awesome time. And Artists won the Artists Vs Writers battle! FINALLY! Well done to Leigh Gallagher, Adam Cadwell, Joe List, Becky Cloonan and Gary Erskine for finally getting one over on the writers team, haha ^_^
In non-Expo news, the new, shiny ImagineFX issue is out this month that features my Dragon Age piece in the Q&A along with the usual incredible level of art and education we can expect from the magazine!
So - what's next up for me? I'm back into grind mode, working on Frostbite and needing to dive back into Avalon as soon as I can too! I'm also looking forward to the Launchpad comics conference on the 18th June, where I'll be offering a talk on my work and on paths into the industry for anyone serious about working in this wonderful comics industry of ours. Hope to see some of you there!

This is Emma signing out. ^_^

Pinups galore

I will always consider myself a comicker first and an artist second. I just love creating pages and telling stories. But every now and then I'll need to do a standalone image, and this week has been all about the pinups. ^_^ Firstly, a cover for one of the episodes of Thrill Electric - the exciting new digital comic series I mentioned a while ago. Produced by Hat Trick and channel 4, written by Leah Moore and John Reppion, and drawn by Windflower Studio, it's going to be a very cool series indeed! Oh, and I was the designer, so it's been really amazing watching my character designs and colour suggestions being taken forward and put into comic form; very cool. For those interested, there's a step-by-step for the pre-colours part of my cover behind the banner. To see the full, coloured image, you'll need to check out issue 2 of the comic when it's out. ^_^
And the second pinup? Well, Vampire Academy fans may like it ^_~ Hopefully we'll be able to show at least a snippet of it soon. I know you guys have been amazingly patient for a long time!

The cat's out of the bag on project number 3!

So - you already know about the Avalon Chronices - the fantasy series I'm working on for Oni Press, and you already know about Vampire Academy - the amazing series by Richelle Mead being adapted for Penguin books....well, yesterday we were given the okay to talk about the third project that's taking up my time right now!

A little while ago now, I was approached by Hat Trick (the people behind such fab shows as Have I got news for you and Who's line is it anyway) about a project being written by Leah Moore and John Reppion; two talented writers who I am happy to call friends, and with whom I have always hoped to get a chance to work. The project, I was told, was for channel 4...some form of online comic that would be set in Victorian Manchester.  My brain flipped. Leah and John, channel 4, Victorian dresses? Lovely. In light of my current schedule, we opted to have me do the design work for the series and search for a group of artists who could work in my style on the project itself. Enter Windflower Studio; a fresh-out-of-uni, talented and enthusiastic bunch of artists whose work and attitude has impressed me since I and Sonia Leong first stumbled upon them in a portfolio session years ago. Channel 4 were convinced and we had our team for THRILL ELECTRIC. I'll be posting up some sneak peeks of individual characters over coming weeks; what you see here gives an idea of the cast and how much work has already been done! Who interests you? For more info, do head to Leah and John's blog! ^_^