Teen Titans #100 and the Covers

If you pick up this month's Teen Titans (out next week) you will see a few pinups in there, one of which is by me!  I drew (and inked and colored) some Titan Ladies.  I've always loved the thought of teams because you can contrast characters and interact them in cool ways.  The tough thing with them is coming up with an illustration that has any sort of color or composition sense!  That's what I tried to attempt here.

I think the opportunity came about because of the image below:

I had done a Supergirl cover featuring some Teen Titans at one point (inked by Richard Friend, colored by Guy Major).  It was never used, unfortunately!

I wish I could say it was a fluke, but in fact, I drew four Supergirl covers in that year's time that won't ever be published.  There's a lot of confusion dealing with the "why"s and I'm not sure I was supposed to know.  Eventually I just stepped down because I didn't feel like there was anything else I could do.

So when I put the above cover online, I was pleasantly surprised how well fans reacted--thank you!  It feels good that the cover's gotten a good amount of playtime online, all things considered.

Another comfort at the time was that I was working on variant covers for Batwoman--we had it set up that I would do variants for JH's run and he would do variants for mine (meaning, the main covers during my arc would be drawn by me).  AND I got to ink and color these, which really got my creative juices flowing.  It's been a while since I've had that opportunity and I had a blast!

So, I'd done four of the five variants, when I had found out that DC decided not to publish any variant covers on Batwoman. 

I have told many fans to keep an eye out for these variants and I apologize for getting your hopes up!  No word yet on whether they will ever see print.  I've tried to ask about printing them on the interior of their respective Batwoman issues, but haven't heard anything yet. 

No definitive word, either, on whether they will let me do covers for my arc.  Or give me another cover gig.  For now I'm still working on Batwoman interiors, and that'll start February of next year.  Thank you for your eagerness and I hope you'll be patient and keep your eyes open when I have work coming out again!

In the meantime, your positive buzz I think goes a long way.  And never fear, I will get back to being prolific soon enough.  I will grab fate by the balls and tell it to shove off!!!



WONDERCON!

RECENT EDITS IN RED!

I'm a guest at Wondercon in two weeks!  Crazy!!  Here's what I have going on:

DC Booth Signing
Friday, APRIL 1
2:00-3:00pm
Booth #301

DC Booth Signing
Saturday, APRIL 2
2:00-3:00pm
Booth #301

Spotlight on Amy Reeder
Saturday, APRIL 2
4:00-5:00pm
ROOM 236/238

Cover Story
Sunday, APRIL 2
12:30-2:00pm
ROOM 104

DC Panel: DC Icons
Sunday, APRIL 3
2:00-3:00pm
ROOM 103

Manapul & Reeder: Drawing DC
Sunday, APRIL 3
4:00-5:00
ROOM 204/206 (or 200/212? Check to be sure!)

You've GOTTA go to that cover panel, trust me.  I don't know if anything's changed, but last I heard, I'll be with Francis Manapul, Adam Hughes, Frank Quitely, and Bill Sienkiewicz!!!!!!!  I promise not to take up the mic time; if I somehow manage not to faint I'll just consider my seat as the super-vip fangirl section and be focused on listening and taking notes.

I believe Francis and I will be drawing for all to see on that DC drawing panel!  I love doing that stuff!!

And if you want me to feel like I'm super-cool you can come to my spolight panel too.  If it's just you and me we can discuss favorite cereals!

If I get some signing times I'll edit this post to add them so keep your eyes open!

Thanks and hope to see you there,

Amy

P.S. I've gotten some requests for commissions and am only doing five this time around (it's my first time doing commissions) and the list has already gotten filled!  Sorry about that.  But if I'm not too busy I'd be happy to draw you a crappy marker headshot sketch in your sketchbook for free.  Just, if it looks really bad, don't scan it and put it online, unless you hate me!!

Coverstory: Art of the Cover
Sunday, APRIL 3
12:30-2:00pm
ROOM 104

Putting on the Mask

It's my issue 1 variant cover!  The image sort of sums up my place in the series...it's a big responsibility to take on art duties on Batwoman alongside JH.  And I'm ready to take on that challenge!

I will be doing variant covers for JH's five-issue run, and will be doing interiors (and covers--JH will be doing variants) for the next arc, issues 6-11.

For images of my process, check out my facebook.  It's where I update most these days.

Take care!!

And the winner is...

"The Reeder Ship"!  Come up by Ian Explosivo.  Congratulations!

Insanely close were "Reeder, Amy, Fire!" by Stan Yan and "Artist, Writer, Reeder" by Anj over at Comic Box Commentary.  Thank you for saving me from having a lame name!  My ideas sucked.

So, this is my new blog.  I am working on a new website to embed it in.  I will be using this to make announcements, show art and my process, and I also hope to use it as a resource for aspiring artists, posting tutorials and just general thoughts on being or becoming a professional artist.  The constant struggle of staying diligent, or what comments I generally have when I see people's portfolios, would be a couple examples.  I'm a teacher by nature (and education!), so when I learn something, the first thing I want to do is explain it to others.  It gives me a rush, for some reason.

That said, I have difficulty maintaining an online presence...for some reason it's exceptionally hard for me to have a lot of things going on at once and do them all well.  I'm happy to have comments and read them all, but I generally try not to reply because I get so wrapped up in it that I forget what's most important, which is getting work done.

The month of September will be especially crazy, but!  Here are a couple video tutorials I've done to hold you over.  This is what I hope to do in the future, only I'd like to create a series of videos on drawing faces, at different angles, different expressions...and also talk a lot about face variation.  I'd draw one face per video.

Testing! Testing!

Blooooooggggg.