New content in the Blue Valkyrie and Sidlings sections! Should also have three new pieces in the illustration section within the next month, keep an eye out. Busy busy months on end for me. Some time off around Christmas, sure, but otherwise it’s been a rollicking rollercoaster of work work work. But that’s life, isn’t it? If I had less to do I’d probably use my time less effectively anyway. Limits on my time make me want to use it all the better.
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Fall Update
After being good all throughout the Spring, things went on hiatus during the Summer and now we’re deep into the Fall without any updates! Busy busy busy with art, writing, and work, but I have plenty more to update the site with. Check out new content in all areas of the site.
May Update
April was an enormously busy month for me, which took a little bit of a toll on my art output, but as we transition into the warmer months I believe I’ll be outputting a lot more. I feel motivated and compelled to produce work, which is always a good feeling- they say that the best artists make art part of their lifestyle, and I feel like that’s becoming more of a reality for me than its ever been since graduating.
Blue Valkyrie has successfully been updating, starting with issue two, with some frequency- We’ll be launching page five of issue two this very week, our third consecutive week of weekly updates. With pages six and seven already complete, we’ll also be able to keep those updates rolling and I’ll have some time to get ahead of schedule. My writer, Emily, has also been interviewed about the project, which is very exciting, and our official Patreon has started gathering some steam.
Sidlings has a few more illustrations up, and the complete first part of the story is now available! It’s getting really great everyone, catch up if you haven’t.
My illustration/pin-up submission for Badfic Love also debuted this month, inside the play’s tie-in comic book. Or so I’m told. I haven’t seen a copy of the comic yet. I’m told that the play was great, though!
Plugging away at more projects, either in terms of planning or actual production, but I’ll have more news for that in the future. Also moving to a new apartment. So that’s a thing.
April Update
After enormous build up, The Blue Valkyrie has finally launched! The Blue Valkyrie started in conversation in summer of 2013, and a year and a half later, the complete first issue has launched online. While a Patreon link and official website are yet to come, we’ve already begun updates on the ongoing story. The updates are planned biweekly, and while we aren’t sure what the final incarnation of them will be (one page, two, more?) we’re committed to keeping that going. Check out the newly updated Blue Valkyrie tab above for some select pages and illustrations.
More Sidlings images are up as well, and while I’m not quite keeping pace with my author, I’m quite happy with my sketchy graphite output. Chapters 0 and 11 now have been put up, and 15 is on the way shortly. I’ve penned a few more reviews for The Outhousers as well, so, yeah. That’s a thing too
Happy April everyone!
If you haven’t checked them out yet, be sure to visit
March Update
It’s official- in March of 2015, the long awaited Blue Valkyrie will be launching digitally! It’s been a long road to get to this point, having started on the project with Emily in August of 2013. The majority of the time since then has been extensive planning, character designing, world building, and so forth, leading up until when I started on the first issue a few months ago. After months of work and a lot of corrections, I think I’ve probably produced the best looking comic I’ve ever made in my life, and I’ve learned a lot that will make issue two even better (and probably faster). Digital distribution will begin shortly through Tumblr, and we’re planning ahead to the future for rolling updates (possibly a page a week, or maybe a few pages monthly), fundraising, physical printing, an actual dedicated website, and more. Thanks to everyone who’s been hanging in there with me for the past year and a half while I spoke about the potential of a project just now coming to fruition.
In other news, further progress on Dee Emm Elms’ Sidlings project, more graphic design, more writing for The Outhousers, and other little things here and there. I’m also reorganizing my apartment, got a new drawing table, and I’m looking into a new, more professional scanner (and possibly printer?) to help improve my workflow. Progress, slow but sure.
2015: The Year Ahead
2014 was an enormously busy year for me, and it appears that 2015 will be as well.
Issue one of The Blue Valkyrie is wrapping up now and it looks really fantastic thus far; I’ve penciled and inked twenty-two pages of content, colored a handful, and we’re just doing a final round of clean-up and corrections. I’m currently producing original pencils illustrations for Dee Emm Elm’s on-going serialized novel Sidlings, as and when I can. I’m finishing up a pin-up/poster for a theater production called “Bad-Fic Love” as of this week. I continue to handle a number of bizarre requests for studio artists in need of photo manipulation, graphic design, etc. I’m publishing more or less one graphic novel review a week for The Outhousers. I’m learning French in hopes of picking up the torch on fan-translation of 90s cyberpunk/superhero comic Cybersix. Trying to make some time in between to work on some independent art projects for my own sake.
Plus, you know, I work full-time, have regular adult responsibilities, and try to socialize occasionally.
I’ve been really horrible with updating my site so long as I’ve had it, but I’m going to try my best to do at least one monthly update this year. With so many on-going projects I often feel like I have only incremental progress at any given time, but still, I’ll share what I can when I can.
Thank you, to everyone who has been to my site, and occasionally checks my site, in spite of how horribly stagnant it has been.
August Recap
As August draws to a close, I’m looking back and finding myself shocked at how quickly the summer went by. August itself especially.
The Blue Valkyrie is in full production mode now, with nearly a dozen pages done- pencilling and inking, at least. It’s been a really challenging process so far, but it’s also incredibly fulfilling. Working with a writer has proven incredibly rewarding both personally and artistically. Having to help realize another person’s vision has really challenged me to step outside my safety zone. I can’t take shortcuts or write myself out of visually difficult panels. I’m forced to take everything head on- crowds, complex backgrounds, inclement weather, and a whole host of other things I won’t spoil here. Without a doubt, when the first issue is done, it’ll be the best looking comic that I’ve ever done.
I’ve also started on a handful of sculptural works, at least in a very basic conceptual sense. I’ve not really physically started on the sculptures, other than a few tests. It’s strange for me to engage in that kind of practice after so long. I never thought myself much of a sculptor. I haven’t done anything like that since I was required to do so as a freshman in college, and even at that time, I sort of dodged making real sculptures, leaning heavily on my illustrative sense of image making (rather than object making). The sculptures that I’m envisioning are unlike anything I’ve ever done before… found objects, objects designed by me but made by others, electronics, gold leaf, carpentry, and a whole host of other things. I’m conceptualizing the series of sculptures as part of a gallery show, in such a way that the cumulative sculptures essentially engage the dialog of installation. It’s a weird thing for me to approach, so totally outside my interests historically, but it’s infectiously exhilarating.
More manga reviews have come out this August with The Outhousers. Horror-manga Terra Formars was the first, shounen vampire series Seraph of the End, and shoujo vampire series Black Rose Alice are out now, and my review of Kazue Kato’s anthology Time Killers will be up by the end of the month.
Send good vibes for September, it’s going to be a crazy month. Trying to finish up issue one of Blue Valkyrie, starting into issue two, starting on some of the sculptures, and keeping up with reviews, on top of which I (of course) have an actual day job and we’re going to have two gallery openings, an art fair booth, press previews, and a whole lot of other madness that’s going to make the whole month of September positively nuts.
But hey, I’d rather be busy than bored.
Site Still Under Construction
Hey everyone, thanks for all your patience. I’ll be continuing to update this site, and hopefully, I’ll be updating more frequently both with new art and more writing. I’m plowing full steam ahead on art for The Blue Valkyrie project, and I’m also doing weekly comic reviews for The Outhousers, so, I’m busy as always.
Happy August, everyone.
David John Mitchell 