Chris Houghton

Reed Gunther Mez-it

2009-07-10T06:22:00.000-07:00

I was recently lucky enough to be asked by Mezco Toyz to participate in the Mezco Mez-Itz Art Show at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con. There's a bunch of artists participating in making a custom Mez-Itz vinyl figure (much like a Munny or a Mighty Mugg).

They sent me a blank figure and after doing some research on how to customize one of these bad boys, I decided to make a Reed Gunther doll.

The blank figure each participant starts with

After adding some super sculpey.

I was visiting my parents over the weekend but really needed to get this done that Friday night. So, it was back to the kitchen counter just like the old days (look my Mom even made me put out comics to protect the counter from the paint!). Dad was gone so Mom and I hung out into the night and she took most of these photos. Thanks Mom!

Yey! Painted!

We called it a night but decided that the next morning we needed to take Reed outside for an adventure...

He climbed high into the Rocky Mountains!

Discovered strange and disgusting creatures! ...and killed them of course...

Will Reed ever be safe? Will his bear-counterpart ever be made in vinyl form so that Reed can actually stand the chance against horrible vile monsters like my brother Shane's annoying cat, Lucy? Time will tell, time will tell...

Thanks again to Guy Davis for recommending me to Mezco and many thanks to Mike Drake for letting me participate. Best of luck with the show Mike!

Fun Update!

2009-07-08T13:38:00.000-07:00

Hey guys and gals!

It's been a busy last couple of weeks with a friend's wedding, traveling to Buffalo to visit Kassandra for a long weekend, working on some freelance projects, and drawing issue 2 of Reed Gunther. I'm back home and at the drawing desk again now but wanted to let you all know that Shane is doing some great stuff with the Reed Gunther website!

Shane posts pretty often with news on the comic (issue 2 coming out in August) and most recently put up a nifty web applet that allows you to flip through the comic. He'll be updating the online comic with a new page every couple of days. Issue 2 will be released this way once all of issue 1's pages have been put up but there will also be a print version available which has exclusive sketchbook work and GREAT pin-ups done by some very talented artists.

I leave you with a pin-up I recently did for Guy Davis' Marquis series. Guy's awesome and super nice and I was more than happy when he asked me to do a pin-up. Thanks Guy, hope you like it!

Angel

2009-06-25T07:16:00.000-07:00

Here's my Drawer Geeks submission for this week's topic: angels.

I figure if these guys really do exist, I'm gonna start wearing hats a lot more often...

Reed Gunther Issue 2 Teaser

2009-06-24T07:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a little promo we put together for issue #2, "Reed Gunther in a Stalac-TIGHT Spot!" Be sure to check out www.reedgunther.com for ongoing news and info on the comic!

Also, issue #1, "Reed Gunther and the Steak Snaking Snake!" just got it's first review!

A Success!

2009-06-23T06:08:00.000-07:00

Heroes Con was a lot of fun! We met a lot of really fun and talented artists and had a really great time. Since I'm pretty new to the "con circuit," each one I go to I learn so much. This past weekend was particularly helpful because I was able to talk to a lot of artists about the future of web comics and how to go about self-publishing.

Left to right: My buddy Joe who set up some of his work at my table, me, Jared. My good buddies, Jarad and Scott (not pictured here) helped me out all weekend watching my booth at
times and helping me schlep all my stuff around. Thanks dudes!

Little Jimmy: But Chris, with renting a booth, traveling costs, and self-publishing, how do you keep something like Heroes Con affordable?

Chris: Well Jimmy, you try to cut down on costs and take some advice right out of the pages of Reed Gunther: go camping!

Little Jimmy: Wow, you must be young and lack life experience because that sounds like a terrible idea!

Chris: Haha, oh Jimmy... It was kind of terrible, yes, but cheap! And really hot... And we got a lot of bug bites...

Jarad and Scott emerge from the tent confused on why they agreed to accompny me on the trip.

Of course I never remember to take enough photos (sorry Kassandra!) but I did get one taken of us all out at dinner one night for some tasty pizza.

Left to right: me, Jarad, Scott, Rosemary, Guy, and Joe

I even got to do some drawings during the show! These were just examples I hung in the front of my table:

And look at all the stuff I was able to take back with me! It helped keep the three of us sane as we drove 13 hours back to Detroit on a hot day with no air conditioning...

Thanks to everyone to stopped by the booth to say hello, pick up a free button or two, or buy an issue. It means a lot and both Shane and I really appreciate all the support for Reed Gunther!

Heroes Con!

2009-06-18T03:57:00.001-07:00

Hey guys! I'm leaving today for the Heroes Con in North Carolina! If you happen to be there, please stop by my booth. Problem is, Heroes Con has yet to let me know in advance what my booth is! But, I do have a booth so stop on by and say hey-o. I'll be somewhere around here:

Oh no, that doesn't help at all...

Bob Flynn art trade!

2009-06-15T06:20:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post this a while back!

"Recently" the talented, Bob Flynn and the goofball artist, me did a little art trade. I sent Bob this little drawing of a knight:

I think it was a 7" x 11" piece of paper and really no big deal, just somethin' silly. Heck, I even colored it just for fun.

Because some time went by between Bob getting my drawing and him sending something to me, he said he felt bad.

So this is what he sent me to...

I was blown away! I mean, come on, this is too cool! Good golly, if I ever do an art trade with you again Bob, I'll be sure to send my drawing REALLY early and at a time where you're way too busy to send me something back. Then (hopefully) you'll feel an equal amount of guilt and I'll become the next recipient of another outstanding Flynn drawing.

I think we all know who came out on top in this trade! Thanks Bob!

Green Brain and Kids Read Comics!

2009-06-11T06:25:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say that Reed Gunther issue #1 is now available at one of the best comic stores I've ever been to: Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, Mi. The owners, Dan and Katie Merritt are super nice and so supportive of indy comics. Because of that, you can find some great hard-to-find comics in the store.

Also, Dan is putting together a great free event for kids, comics, and creators this weekend in Chelsea, Mi. I'll be at a booth on Saturday along with a lot of really fun comic creators. I'll be doing sketches, selling Reed Gunther issues and posters, and giving away FREE buttons! Wohoo!

It's that time of year again...

2009-06-10T06:58:00.000-07:00

Here's a small card I did for my best-buddies' little brother's high school graduation. Congritulishuns!

A Little Summer Love Song

2009-06-08T20:31:00.000-07:00

A simple drawing for my lady who's currently farther away from me this Summer than I'd like.

Where the Wild Things Are!

2009-06-05T13:57:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to be able to participate in a really fun project that Cory Godbey put together as a tribute to Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. Be sure to check out the blog here to see all the pieces contributed. There was some really fun and beautiful pieces!

Reed Gunther is available online!

2009-06-02T12:46:00.000-07:00

Hey guys and gals!

Shane and I are happy to announce "Reed Gunther and the Steak Snacking Snake" is now available for purchase online here!

Shane has been working on putting together www.reedgunther.com with some fun info on the issue and the two schmucks who made it. So if you're interested in this strange cowboy and bear friend, then check out the first issue!

We've both been hearing some really nice comments about the story and work and it's really a pleasure to be receiving that kind of support. Thank you!

2009 Reuben Awards!

2009-05-31T04:53:00.000-07:00

Although it happened last week, I wanted to make sure I wrote a post on my wonderful experience at the 63rd Annual NCS Reuben Awards!

I just got back the other day from a full week in LA. From last Thursday until Monday, Kassandra I hung out at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel and Spa talking with some of the most famous, successful, and talented cartoonists in the world. To say the least, it was incredible. Tom Richmond did a great job listing a general overview of the weekend which can be read on his blog if you're interested.

I'm kind of at a loss for words on how the weekend went. It was so surreal (and cool) to be at any of the parties over the weekend and bump into artists like Mike Peters, Sergio Aragonés, Bill Amend, Bill and Jeff Keane, Eric Goldberg, Sam Viviano, Stephen Silver, Stan Goldberg, Tom Richmond, etc. etc. etc. The list goes on and on! What a treat to be able to meet so many of these guys and girls, many of which I've been following their work for years.

I wanted to pass my most sincerest thanks to the NCS and the NCSF not only for the scholarship but for the opportunity to go out to the Reubens. Plus, it's not like we were treated like flies on the wall or anything (although that would've sufficed!) but both Kassandra and I were treated like old friends. Everyone we met was so welcoming and hospitible. It was like being at a strange family reunion where everyone drew cartoons. It was great!

Just to top it off the awards night was on my 21st birthday. What a Birthday to remember!

Pre-party outside of the Grand Ballroom where the Reubens were held

Jim Borgman, myself (trying my hardest not to look too 'in over my head'), Dave Coverly, Patrick McDonnell, and Jerry Scott

I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down and draw next to legendary cartoonist, Bil Keane

And he was even nice enough to do a little drawing for me:

So did Mike Peters:

Another great experience of the weekend was going over to Cathy Guisewite's house on Sunday for a big party she hosted. It was great to see her house, all the original comic strips hanging on the walls, and her studio.

Step one of Cathy's step by step diorama of how she works on "Cathy."

Sadly the weekend had to end but for the rest of the week, Kassandra and I stayed with my brother, Shane and his girlfriend, Katie. Kass and I took advantage of our time in la la land and were able to meet up with our buddy (and very talented dude) Matt Whitlock who took us around Nickelodeon Animation Studios. How fun! While we were in the Fairly Odd Parents section, we also got to meet fellow CCS alumni, Gordon Hammond and got to gawk at his great work.

THEN, on Wednesday, we met up with cartoonist, Johnny Ryan for lunch. We ate good diner food, talked cartoons, and Johnny drew me Blecky Yuckerella:

After lunch, we made a quick trip out to Santa Monica to (funny enough) meet up with another CCS alumni, Bill Morrison of BONGO comics. What a fun studio. Bill showed us around, let us flip through a bunch of original Simpsons work and sent us out the door with our arms FULL of BONGO books, comics, and trade paper backs. Thanks again Bill!

Here's Kassandra and I all dressed up apparently posing for a 15' tall photographer. I couldn't think of a better person to spend the week with.

What a week! Needless to say, I had to have a day or two back in Detroit in order to process everything that happened this past week. But now I'm back at it and in full swing!

Reuben Awards!

2009-05-22T08:51:00.000-07:00

Wohoo! Kassandra and I made it out to Hollywood yesterday and are ready to start the first day of the Reuben awards weekend. We can't wait! Not too sure what's in store for today but we're ready to fly by the seat of our pants and meet a ton of really talented artists!

Toons and Tones!

2009-05-18T12:38:00.000-07:00

The Motor City Comic Con was a success! Kassandra and I had a lot of fun meeting a bunch of new artists and comic fans. We sold books, buttons, posters and did a nice amount of con sketches. If you bought one of my sketches and happen to scan it in, could you email me a copy of the file? I'd love to share it here on the blog!

chrishoughtonart(at)gmail(dot)com

In the meantime, I've been goofing around with screen-tones. Turns out, they're a lot of fun! Here's the link where I bought an assortment of them if you're interested in getting some.

Oooh, dots!

Motor City Comic Con!

2009-05-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Kassandra and I will have a booth at the Motor City Comic Con this upcoming weekend in Novi, Michigan. We'll have Reed Gunther and Station 8 comics, art books, posters, and some fun buttons for sale. So, if you're in the area please stop by and say hello!

Detroit Free Press Article

2009-05-13T17:33:00.000-07:00

I was in Toronto for the 2009 Toronto Comics Art Festival on Sunday when this ran but wanted to make sure I posted it here! The Detroit Free Press was nice enough to do a really fun article (in full color!) on my current work and also the annual CCS student show.

Here's a scan but you can also check out article here.

Much thanks to Steve Byrne for writing such a great and kind article!

Space Girl!

2009-05-08T09:08:00.001-07:00

Busy busy busy! These last couple weeks have been crazy!

Present Day

2009-04-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

Here's the last piece of the tripdic I was working on last week.

For the third panel, I wanted to focus on the present day stage of my brothers and I. Growing up, we all went through the weird stages in panel one and two together. Now, we're at some point of adult "maturity" (BAH!) and all better understand each other and are really great pals. Yet, we all currently live in different states and most conversation must happen over the phone. Ah, the cruel irony of it all! ;D

Here's the thumbs/idea scribbles (I'm debating if this is a good stage in my "process" to post seeing how it exposes how off-track my thinking gets. Are those Shel Silverstein-inspired drawings in the lower left? And what the heck is Mr. Tagent? A terrible gag, that's what that is!):

The pencil drawing:

The final done in the "Bill Presing" technique (which was a lot of fun)! My oldest brother, Peter, is on the top, Shane is on the lower right, and I'm the youngest depicted at the lower left).

Thanks for all the nice comments on the tripdic pieces everyone. I'm glad you've enjoyed them! Have a good one!

Middle School...

2009-04-29T07:56:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Here's the second piece of my tripdic about growing up. This one is definitely about the middle school tween/teen phase. Wow, what a strange time that is, huh? I hope this painting captures a bit of that awkward and tough stage in life! ;)

The rough:

The Final:

Free Comic Book Day!

2009-04-28T12:06:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot! Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday!

I'll be down at Green Brain Comics in Dearborn selling copies of my book, "Dailies", "Station 8", AND my buddy Miker is printing me a bunch of "Reed Gunther" issues to sell there as well! So if you're in the area, stop by and say howdy. It should be a lot of fun and BPRD's Guy Davis (who we were lucky enough to have as one of our pin-up artists) will also be at Green Brain!

*There will also be free Reed Gunther buttons available!

Imagination running... WILD!

2009-04-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a project I recently had a preview for a few posts ago. I thought it would be fun to do a big watercolor (16"x 16") illustration of a bunch of things you do and play when you're a kid. It's the first part of a tripdic I did about growing up, but all three pieces are so loosely related to each other that they each work just fine by themselves. I'll post the next two pieces in the next two days.

So here's some process work for the "poster". I say that because, isn't it just crying out to be turned into one of those "Get LOST: in a book!" promotional posters they have at libraries? I specifically drew some stacks of books in the illustration because I couldn't get this idea out of my head.

Thumbnailing/list-making:

Next I drew a big loose inked drawing on a 16"x 16" piece of tracing paper. I later laid my watercolor paper directly over this drawing on a lightbox and drew right on the final with a pen.

Here's some very limited-palate color studies. I figured because the drawing is so darn busy, the color shouldn't be.

And the final:

Have a good Tuesday everyone!

Evolution of a Reed Gunther Page!

2009-04-27T05:09:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!

Well, the first 30 page issue of "Reed Gunther and the Steak Snacking Snake" is done! The book turned out really fun and Shane and I were SO lucky to get Reed Gunther pin-ups by Guy Davis, Kassandra Heller, Bob Flynn, Andy Gabrysiak, Dave Chow, and Pascal Campion! (We'll be selling the issue at production cost and won't be making a cent but these artists were nice enough to lend us a hand out of the kindness of their hearts. Thanks guys!) Shane did a great job making the story a blast and a half as well. I'll be sure to post when the issue is available to buy online.

Seeing how I sent it off to the printers yesterday, I thought it'd be appropriate to share some process work of how I worked on completing each page. From what I've seen, it's pretty standard but I always like seeing process work so hopefully you do too. ;)

First, I read through Shane's script and laugh at all of his jokes (some of which he puts in the panel descriptions that only I will read! He says it makes reading a script a lot more fun and I agree.)

I jot down any notes I want to ask him later on the phone or through email and try to work out a page layout to the side. Even though these drawings are so rough (some of them looked like I held the pen to the paper and sneezed), I'm really thinking hard about things like composition, page flow, etc.

Because those "script thumbnails" are so rough. I redraw them on a separate piece of paper at the correct size ratio and further develop my compositions. This is also a great stage to work out my spot blacks and try to develop focal points and blah blah blah...

Now it's onto the actual page! I don't blow up my thumbnail but I do reference it to draw with "col-erase true blue" pencil on illustration board. The blue pencil is great because after inking, I can through the page on a scanner and scan it in at "Black and White," which will ignore any of my blue scribbles.

Also, I try to leave the pencils somewhat rough because I always need to remind myself, "All of these pencil lines will never be seen by the reader. Spend your time inking, idiot!" (I try not to call myself idiot too much, either).

I do however want the page to be readable since this is the stage I check in with Shane and let him know what I'm up to. This is also the stage where Shane calls me up from LA to scream, "What the heck did you do to my script?!" I kid! Shane always has great advice and in this particular case, we needed to revise a couple panels.

Inks! I whip out my #1 brush and ink that baby UP!

You can see the changes that had to be made. Without giving away too much story, we decided that the 2nd panel needed to be broken up and we also realized the cows shouldn't be mooooving (heh!). It'll make much more sense after you read the issue. ;)

We also decided to switch the camera view around 180º on the 4th panel to give the sequence a little variety and to also distance the viewer from Reed for a little comedic moment.

Lastly, I scan the page (on the school's VERY nice 11 x 17 Epson scanner) and lay down some halftones. This acts as a nice buffer between the harsh black and white and helps to seperate certain elements in each panel a bit.

Also in this last stage, I add all the lettering (referencing Shane's script) and sound effects. Then it's onto the next page!

Be sure to check back soon! I'll post as soon as the issue is printed and available for purchase!

2009-04-26T12:14:00.000-07:00

Wow things are crazy busy right now. Here's a teaser of yet another project sent from my phone. Have a good one everybody!

2009-04-19T10:16:00.001-07:00

Here's a sneak peak of one of the projects on my drawing board right now. Confused? Me too! I'll post the finish soon!