a mirror image... : Hero By Night

rollercoaster ride? or a mystical game of chutes and ladders?

Jason Embury — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:46:00 GMT

wow, I don’t know if my life is stuck in a proverbial and sort of mystical projection of a game of chutes and ladders the last 2 weeks or not, but it sure does feel like I’m on a huge game board right now, and the Universe keeps letting me climb up one of those ladders only to find myself sliding down a chute a day or two later. It’s been insane.

So I’m back to coloring things today, and REALLY focusing on painting and coloring this week. I’ve started the wheels in motion for my own large scale, undoubtedly overly ambitious, possibly completely unrealistic project the past few days as well. So far so good. I’m still ironing out the best way to present things and utilize the screen space as much as possible. I’m NOT the best web designer when it comes to implementing all kinds of code and stuff to make the most functional site. But I have been able to utilize iframes and some simple navigation and stylesheets as much as I probably can. Now it’s a matter of getting the updating and “look” of everything just right before I start putting up content. I have plenty of content to get started as well, probably a good 4 months worth of material already ready to go. I just need to find those extra few hours each day to fit in, and right now, they just aren’t there.

Been busy pursuing some other avenues here as well, I’d really like to try and shift more of my work online as opposed to being strictly a print industry colorist. I see lots of successful and semi-successful things out there that makes me think I can bring a lot of my own flair too.

for those of you that read the blog on a regular basis, I had been forced to make the decision to leave the coloring duties on Hero By Night last week. It was the RIGHT decision to make logically. One of those decisions that you make with your head and know is right. Well, over the weekend, seeing how upset my kids got when they learned I wasn’t going to be doing the book anymore….I made a decision with my heart. And sometimes, you need to listen to your heart instead of your head. This is one of those times I’ve realized. So thank you ALL, for your emails, phone calls, and kind words. It’s funny to me to have so many people actually CARE about me and to recognize my contribution to something like that. It’s not often that people in the print industry of comics care so much about someone as far down the totem pole as the colorist. Heck most companies STILL don’t include the colorists name on the covers of their comics. the interesting thing being, comics aren’t colored anymore really. They’re painted. So to ignore the fact that someone is in reality PAINTING work on a book, is a disservice to that artist really I think. And I really do appreciate everyone who not only recognizes my work, but goes out of their way to get in touch and tell me what a fan they are of my work. (and a little hint, for all you fans, you may be able to actually purchase prints and paintings of my personal work in a few months if you’re so inclined )

That is all. I need coffee, and I have some Hero By Night pages to color today

cracks in the walls, and holes in the floor

Jason Embury — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:10:00 GMT

Been a pretty shitty week. The digital canvas prints I had done arrived this week, and turned out TERRIBLE, so I got in touch with the printer and they made excuses about this or that, and are reprinting but I won't hold my breath. I'll have to just suck it up, crack out the tubes of paint and my brushes and touch up the canvas traditionally (which is going to take likely as long to do as it took to complete the ENTIRE painting in PS) YAY!

As if that was a great thing, I pretty much may have to just swallow my pride and drop out of the upcoming exhibit I was invited to display at the end of May because I can't freaking afford to get any more work around to put in (the mixed media piece I damn near when into town to get my 40x36 canvas for and some other supplies on Wednesday is just going to be too expensive now to finish) So THAT has me pretty frustrated.

Also, I've had to drop 2 of my books, and one of them is something that I nearly and dearly will miss, Hero By Night. Not everyday that you get to work on superhero books in this industry, unless you work for Marvel or DC, and this was an amazing superhero book. The reviews we've been getting for the last year and a half have been nothing BUT stellar. Looking at major reviews sites, seeing the weeks books reviewed, and watching HBN be the highest reviewed book over stuff like X-men was a great feeling. Knowing how successful it has been online was even MORE of a jolt of cool. We really wanted to see it on it's OWN site, supported by ads, because that's how it could have made the most money, but just knowing that we've had more readers each month than stuff like Batman has been an enormously cool thing to be a part of. All the emails from fans, the interaction on message boards and comments with them, talking to dads and moms and kids and EVERYONE at all the conventions that LOVE the book...it's been a great thing. So yeah, my hands were pretty tied, and I was basically FORCED to make this decision yesterday. Doesn't help that DJ Coffman, creator, writer/artist and all around comic book guru, is probably my best friend. So to the Universe right now, I'm saying, "you damn well better have something better in store for me right now cuz THAT really sucked!" I'm thinking that what that something IS, is for me to focus more on my digital painting and to finally get around to launching my OWN project that I've been working on for a long time. I just don't know if the timing is perfect yet, because I'd like to pay my bills and mortgage this month before I start leaping off a cliff with something that has no guarantee of making me any money right away. I am going to focus more on that though, it's part of my new direction I want to take my work so maybe this was just the final nudge that was needed (even if it felt like getting SHOVED off the cliff instead of jumping of my own free will)

So now, my Dabel Bros. book is on hold as I wait for an inker to be found and get me pages again, hopefully it won't be an entire month, my only other book, Dragon Cross at Big City Comics, is going through some major changes as after issue 5 the co-creator and artist left to pursue other things, and they had to find a replacement and scramble to get things moving. So THAT book has been in limbo for almost 3 weeks now, not exactly sure when pages are going to start rolling in. Billy Dallas Patton is onboard as penciler though, so I AM excited to work with that guy, cuz I love his work, but yeah.....more waiting game.

Yesterday and ilkely most of today, will be spent scrambling myself. I have a lot of bad fortune to recover from here in short order, or things will just blow up by the end of the month. I need to find more work, bottomline. I know this, and knowing is half the battle right. The thing being, I can't wait 30 or even 60 days to be paid for said work. So most of the time I work on 50/50 terms, but the sad reality is that most comic publishers don't PAY on those terms, it's 30-60 days (if that) I've always prided myself on how well I perform under pressure (even though I secretly HATE IT) and now I'll guess I see if I can make magic under some of the most intense pressure I've been under in years here.

I need more coffee, and maybe a shot of Baileys in it today.

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Now playing: <a href="http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/the+cure/track/letter+to+elise">The Cure - Letter To Elise</a>
via <a href="http://www.foxytunes.com/signatunes/">FoxyTunes</a>

Order Hero By Night issue 4 for only .79 CENTS (with FREE shipping)

Jason Embury — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:32:00 GMT

I can't say much more, .79 cents for the full color, 32 page, issue 4 of Hero By Night from Platinum Studios Comics. You can't find a superhero comic ANYWHERE that cheap. It's 32 pages of high quality, (beautifully colored if I may be so bold) compellingly written, superhero GENIUS for less than a dollar. the best part, FREE shipping. If you're like me, you're spending over $5 just to drive to and from your local comic shop. why not get FREE shipping and get yourself a little extra each month. Heavyink.com now offers 20% off of EVERY single book or trade collection at their site, and free shipping on ALL orders. You can start a subscription to all of your favorite titles (like Hero By Night for instance) it's easy to sign up, and it's where I'm buying all my books from now on as well. Check it out, and order your copy of Hero By Night for less than a dollar!!!!

Wizard World LA 2008 recap

Jason Embury — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:02:00 GMT

SO…I got in last night around 2:30 in the morning here. Wide awake, and not the slightest bit tired. Took a long, HOT shower for the first time in like 4 days, and was able to relax enough to get to bed by 3:30 or so. Didn’t wake up until noon today, which sort of put a crimp on me getting to work at 8am, but I’ve unpacked my bags, got things put in their places here, answered my emails, picked up my son from school, and am going to get most of my thoughts out here so I can get to work. 5 more pages to finish by tomorrow night, but I’m thinking of going all out juggernaut in a bit and wrapping them all up today then just sleeping in tomorrow again. Thursday- The flight out was great, after having to drive over and park in the overflow lot at the airport, wait on the shuttle to get me to my terminal, get through security and just BARELY catching my flight it seemed like. Gioy De Marco from Platinum picked me up at the airport, and got me over to where they were filming the Comic Book Challenge 2008 commercial in good time (and she’s NOT quite as maniacal a driver as everyone was telling me either) Or I’m JUST as crazy a driver and just didn’t notice it :D ) So once we were on location, the MIGHTY Dave Collins got me a sandwich while picking up some props (cuz man, was I starving by then) and the guys filming the commercial got down to bizness. Those guys did such a great job, it was really cool watching them work, the director Dave was awesome. And I sympathized with him, cuz he had a headache that kept getting worse throughout the night just like I did. I got to play this crossing guard, who dressed up as a crazy character called Crossing Justice, cape and all. I had fun with that once I got to wear the cape, doing all kinds of crazy Batman and vampire type stuff with the cape. It was a good time. The funniest thing was, that while I was standing out there in the street with the stop sign and big construction worker gloves on, people thought I was ACTUALLY directing traffic (in the middle of a 4 way stop intersection) it was kind of funny. Until the cop car pulled up, did a U-turn in the middle of the intersection and parked across the street. I went to tell Dave, “dude, if I get arrested, guess who’s bailing me out of jail!?” :D Turns out he was just visiting another house of some buddies or something. The UPS truck DID get kind of close to me as it raced by, and there was this whacked out lady driving around in an Expedition that regardless of the fact that I was standing with stop sign in the middle of the street, there was camera equipment set up all over, and I was directing her to just swerve slightly AROUND me into the next lane, looked like she had no intent of moving her car over and would be perfectly happy to just run me the hell over with her big gas guzzling BEAST of an SUV. She did end up going around at the last second, but that was funny. I mean, I had a CAPE on for crying out loud. What? She thought she could run over Crossing Justice? That vehicle would have BUCKLED and crumpled like aluminum foil if it had tried to run me over (at least that’s how I was seeing it in my mind) We then went back to the Platinum offices, met some more people up there and got to see them hard at work at 8 pm in their offices. I mean, half the office was still there at 8 at night, really busting ass on things, and making magic. It was so cool to see how passionate they all are, and to see how much they all LOVE their jobs. That’s how I am, and I really respect the hell out of people that work that hard at something because they love what they’re doing. A funny moment we had was when DJ and I went into their big board room, and sat at the head of their tables, and were just watching the film crew set everything up and watching everyone interact in the lobby together. DJ and I were in there, just talking comics, talking about plans we’ve got in motion, and just thinking it was a real cool place to have meetings (toys, video games, movie posters, statues all over the place) So we’re sitting there talking, probably looking like we were deep in conversation and Scott Rosenberg walks in with his pal Gareb Shamus (the dude who owns Wizard) Scott introduced us again, I’m pretty sure that I met Gareb last year in LA, and it was funny to hear him say that was actually the first time he had BEEN in the offices since WAY BACK when he was in there with Scott before they signed their lease. Those guys are really cool, because you can tell they’re just average guys like everyone else that LOVE what they do. So hopefully Scott didn’t think DJ and I were plotting a coup or anything :D Friday- A fun day to start the show really. Got to see everyone in action at the Platinum booth, moving their product. What a difference a year makes too. Last year at this time, they really had only 3 or 4 titles out, this year, there are tables worth of product, the HBN hard cover trades, singles from the original 4 issue mini-series of HBN, and the first 2 issues of the ongoing book, the GUNPLAY preview edition (which went over AMAZINGLY well with the crowd), The Weapon mini-series by Scott Koblish, Fred Van Lente, and Paul Mounts (probably my FAVORITE thing they’ve done outside of HBN in the last year) and just lots of cool energy flowing around the place. The guys at Mac Hollywood had some Wacom Cintiq’s set up there for us to play around on and demonstrate things, and I got to do some really cool painting stuff on there. Just quick little 15-20 minutes paintings of stuff like Batman and Spiderman, a quick little environmental concept painting, but it’s cool to have people that know how to use stuff like that just jamming things out as the crowd walks by, it makes the STOP and watch what’s going on, which is what it’s all about at conventions really. DJ and I had a Hero By Night signing at 1 that day, and we did a cool interview with The Weekend Gamer I think as well. Hopefully some of my comments don’t come across as me bashing on other BIG publishers of superheroes, because that’s NOT what I was trying to get at. The interviewer just asked me what I thought was the best thing about HBN (or something like that) and I told her, it’s the fact that he’s not an angst ridden hero with lots of complicated issues, he’s a regular guy that kids and adults can both relate to. I was getting more at the fact that he’s the sort of hero ANYONE can get into. HBN IS the number 1, yeah #1, superhero comic on the internet for a reason. Friday we spent relaxing at the bar of the hotel outside. Chatted about some interesting things, had a really drunk girl come up to the table out of nowhere, sit down and start talking to everyone. It was humorous. Learned a lot about everyone really on a personal level, and getting to interact with people like that and learn what their ambitions are in life, is really probably the COOLEST thing of all. It was great to sit next to Dan the man Forcey for instance, and listen to him talk about things like where he wants to be in 5 years, and get to know people like that on a personal level. Because really, in the end, what we DO for a living is nowhere near as interesting as learning about who we ARE as people. Maybe my wife and I will end up living in the same town as him and his woman in Argentina in 20 years and we’ll wind up meeting in a marketplace or something, laughing about how we both remember talking about stuff like that at a bar in LA 20 years beforehand. The way this Universe works you never know. Saturday- fun day all around. more playing on the Cintiqs. I had a signing with Tone Rodriguez, Nei Ruffino and THE Adam Black at noon for KISS related stuff. I worked on the KISS 4K KISSmas one-shot with Tone and Nei, and Adam is now doing all of the chores on the KISS 4K regular series which is being released completely online (with plans to collect all that content in trade form in the future I believe) That was a fun time, I hadn’t actually ever met Tone before, he seemed REAL cool. I’ve met Nei before in passing really, but talked shop about coloring comics and stuff for a while and she seems like a real cool person. I’ve known Adam for a while now, and I’ve been helping him with his coloring for a few months now. That dude is so talented, that once I think he realizes his potential, he’s going to blow up. At 1pm, right after that KISS signing, DJ and I had an HBN signing. I love seeing the KIDS come up to the booth with their HBN books, or come up to the booth for the first time, pick up an issue of HBN and just watch their eyes light up. I had a conversation with one little boy, must have been a bit younger than my son, maybe 6 or 7 years old. He picked up the first issue of the ongoing series, and was just so EXCITED by that opening fight scene between HBN and Elemento in the volcano with all the lava everywhere. I told him, “isn’t that awesome!? It’s just like at home when you’re hopping across the furniture to see if you can make it from one end of the room to the other so that your feet don’t touch the lava” He looks up at me and says, “YEAH!!!! I love doing that” His dad looks at me and says, he does that kind of thing all the time, that IS really cool. They bought like a whole SET of books and the trade. Not because I was pitching them a sale, or trying to pimp the superhero, but because they can RELATE to what’s IN the book. I used to do the SAME jumping from chair to chair to couch, to sometimes coffee table, when I was that age, pretending the carpet was this big vat of lava or something and if I fell off the chair or didn’t make that last jump, I’d fall into the lava or something. I’m betting that kids DAD did the same thing, and that is what I’m talking about with Hero By Night. It wows the KIDS, and it makes the grown ups who read it FEEL like a kid again, and REMEMBER what it was like when they were kids. It’s just such a cool thing to actually CONNECT with people like that at these shows. Because I know that there are people out there reading the book, or reading the online stories and material that’s put online, and feeling the SAME way. Lots of other great things happened on Saturday, that debut of Gunplay by written byJorge Vega, drawn by Dominic Vivona, and colored by Nei Ruffino, was absolutely HUGE. That book looks absolutely wonderful. Donald Faison from Scrubs, who was a judge for last years CBC, was there to sign books, and they gave all the proceeds to charity, which in my mind was a truly wonderful thing to do, it raised some good money and people seemed really jazzed about it. Talked with Alex Sinclair for a bit, I idolize that guy, but I try and keep it in check so he doesn’t think I’m some sort of stalker. He’s helped me out so much over the last couple of years, both directly and indirectly. :D Talked with Alp Altiner for a while as well, about his upcoming stuff at Top Cow, about matte painting, concept art, and what sort of things I should be working on to get into that sort of work. It was cool to hear him say that I had talent, so I know I’m not a two bit hack ENTIRELY now, and that made me feel really good. DJ and I had a conversation with Marc Robinson who we were familiar with from the digital webbing forums. Marc was a real nice guy, and it’s cool to see him starting to land some nice gigs now as well. He had some Spiderman pages from an upcoming book he’s doing at Marvel there to show off and they were off the HOOK. More importantly though, he’s been there, struggling like everyone, and he’s fought through it all and kept producing work. He’s got some MAD talent, and I really like to see nice people like that succeed. I wish him the absolute BEST. Scott took us to dinner that night, we had a good time talking all things comics and movies, but I also really dig talking about everyday things like family and stuff too. We both have daughters that are in middle school, have cell phones, boyfriends, all that stuff, so it’s cool to relate to people on those levels that you share a lot of things in common with, even when you work in entirely different industries and capacities really. It’s all creative work though in the end. Sunday-traveled. Airport, plane, car, home. Couldn’t get on standby, so caught the later flight after all. Today is catch up, with the family, with email, and with work later most likely once the kids are in bed here. It was a good time, but now I’ve got a LOT of work related catching up to do. I didn’t take any pictures the whole trip for once, so I may have to borrow of few from others as they get them up on the net and I get time. Whew!

Wizard World LA 2008 style

Jason Embury — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:12:00 GMT

headed out to the show today, some last minute prep here then I'm off to sign some books and network and what not for a few days. Strangely enough, I'm thinking 3 or 4 days of sleeping in and not doing ANYTHING are actually more attractive right now. But I'm sure that will change once I get going and start doing things out there.

I've got 2 scheduled signings on Saturday at the show, Hero by Night signing is at noon with creator and buddy DJ Coffman, and then the KISS 4K signing is at 1pm right afterwards with artist Tone Rodriguez and fellow colorist Nei Ruffino. Also I guess I'll be part of some digital draw off, painting competition that Wacom is setting up there over the weekend. I guess they are setting up 5-7 Cintiqs for display in our booth, and we'll be challenging competitors in some form of public humiliation and ridicule :D Actually, it sounds like fun. It'll be nice to play around on a Cintiq and have what I'm doing NOT have to see print or meet a deadline for once. Should be a good time for all.

Need to get cracking here, shooting a commercial today as soon as the plane gets there, and I need to double check what I'm wearing because as the assistant director pointed out to me on the phone last night at 12:30 am (which granted was only 9:30 his time) I can't wear white. So I've had to ditch the shepherd robes and go with something a bit more updated. I think I'll manage. Better make sure my iPod is loaded up and ready to go, that my phone is charged, and that I've got enough to keep me busy on a 4.5 hour plane ride today.

Wheeee! Picture from the show to come next week when I get to it.

Impromptu studio tour!

Jason Embury — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:42:00 GMT

so yesterday I had a REAL sore back, still sore today, but I realized it was likely a combination of having slept on it wrong the previous night, and also the height at which I was working with my new Cintiq. So after getting some things done, I HAD to rearrange my entire studio so I could work on the Cintiq in a more comfortable way. Pretty much 90% of my work day is spent coloring or painting digitally now, and I would be in for some serious health problems if I hadn't gotten this Cintiq and been able to get it set up so that it's as close as possible to working traditionally. Having it on my drawing table is a great idea of my wife's, and I have to say, so far so good. It's like I'm working on a regular piece of paper almost it's so comfortable. Also, finally got around to stealing my buddy DJ's idea of wallpapering his wall with artwork. Mine is mostly fantasy oil paintings and LOTS of color too. So without further ado, here's an impromptu studio tour.

First up the Nap Room (or movie room, depending on the time of day) The couch for power naps and thinking, and the chair for sketching and writing and stuff.

The entryway to the studio,

Computer area, complete with notepad for writing down ideas and stuff of course, art ref books, graphic novels, and my Imagine FX magazines.

The new Cintiq setup, much more comfortable, the beginning of the wall of art as wallpaper, some traditional tools, a Pantone flip book for color scheming, various supplies, comics and books, and of course my Cintiq.

Talking to Bob a few weeks ago about our mutual obsession with Batman, so these pics are for him. I had to split up the mini-shrine when I rearranged things, so first, the batman shelf, limited edition metal sculpture, 42 of 1200, various action figures, including the limited edition Rise of Sin Ztu videogame Batman (or however you spell that name),

Limited edition, gold trimmed collector plates, my 3 legged lucky frog, picture of my beautiful wife, my son dressed up as Batman for Halloween when he was 2, etc......

Hero By Night hardcover trade, limited edition with silver foil flames instead of blue, signed by CEO of Platinum Studios <a href="http://www.scottrosenbergblog.com/">Scott Rosenberg</a> (thanks for mailing that out to me Scott :D ) Displayed in a wonderful silver framed shadow box with glass case my wife got me for Xmas (thanks honey)

The ever growing wall of HBN comics. From right to left, the original HBN mini-series, including all issue 1 variants, issue 1 of the new ongoing series (soon to be joined by issue 2 once Fed Ex comes today or tomorrow), a Tiki-God clock which I refuse to set at the proper time of day, because I really could care less about what time it is and I doubt those Tiki-Gods care either, a few toys and HBN trades.

hope you enjoyed this short little visual tour. I'm off to get more coffee and get to coloring now! :D

Hero By Night #3 is available for preorder NOW!

Jason Embury — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:36:00 GMT

The internet's #1 Superhero webcomic continues his adventures in his own ongoing print series as well with issue #3 available to pre-order right now. This swanky collage cover features over 75 images taken directly from the original HBN diaries that ran daily for over 21 weeks prior to the launch of the first HBN mini-series in 2007. The comic continues to gain steam, garnering glowing reviews from all over as we build a modern day ICONIC superhero for ALL AGES. So get your local comic shop to order the book for you, or preorder the book online NOW by clicking on the cover below. But don't take our word for it, ""The current comic book story manages to prove that superhero tales do not have to be filled with angst-ridden, morally conflicted "heroes" to be good." - Tanya Crawford, Broken Frontier "I suggest that fanboys cut the fat they’ve been choking down out of their comic budgets (*cough* Spider-Man *cough-cough* Superman) and add in some nutrition in the form of Hero by Night." -The Pullbox "Coffman’s artwork is fantastic. I love his style because it creates an “animated series” kind of feel to this series that I think is vastly appropriate. I really do dig his style and there’s not much negative I can say about it because it just flat-out works for this story. Coffman’s work is only enhanced by the vibrant and brilliant colors that Jason Embury brings to the page as well and the artwork in this book becomes the complete package." -Kevin Powers, Comics Bulletin

Hero By Night #1 ongoing review at The Pullbox.

Jason Embury — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:09:00 GMT

Great review up from the guys over at The Pullbox on Heroestv.com,

http://heroestv.com/blog/strongbadwi/2008/01/23/hero-by-night-1-new-on-going-series/

"I suggest that fanboys cut the fat they’ve been choking down out of their comic budgets (*cough* Spider-Man *cough-cough* Superman) and add in some nutrition in the form of Hero by Night." I might just have to agree with him on this point, although I'm biased of course.

Stop stalling, make a name for yourself.

Jason Embury — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:38:00 GMT

going to attempt to find that artistic zone again today. there's a lot of stuff going on this week here, kids are home from school for a few days I think, and have a couple half days as well. I'm on the verge of having that "feeling" that you get sometimes as an artist, where you think you're about to get a LOT of good work done. It either ends up happening exactly as you're feeling, or you get next to nothing done. I'm going to play the confident card though, and we'll wait and see what the dealer ends up having. If things end up settling down here this week, instead of having to wait until next week to do so....I might be able to find that elusive switch that seemed to be in the on position the entire month of December, and which I've been looking for the last couple weeks here. wish me luck.

in somewhat related news, I have to get a bunch of stuff done here in the next month and a half, because Wizard World LA is coming up here in mid-March. You can check out more about the show and get tickets online right now, Wizard World LA 2008 Also, they've mistakenly put me down as the artist on Hero By Night, instead of the colorist, I'm sure that'll get fixed soon though :D You can also check out what times I'll be signing that weekend for Hero By Night and for the KISS comics, Platinum Studios Signing Schedule.

Mondays seem to be lethargic by nature I think. Which doesn't really give me and excuse, other than maybe I haven't had quite enough coffee yet.

not as cranky or as tired

Jason Embury — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 02:05:00 GMT

thankfully. a little under 5 weeks, 55 pages of colors, 11 pages of digital inks to do. Will be done with the Hotshot and Mighty Girl graphic novel at the end of that time which is turning out really nice I think. Been taking some great photos lately of sunsets, and cloud formations in the yard and the field across the street here. Actually most of the skies in the second issue of Hero By Night 2 are my own snapshots from around the yard here, if they’re not custom brushes I’ve made from pictures I took over the summer. Kind of neat putting other things like photographs you’ve taken into your own work. Been using lots of pictures as textures and playing around with displacement maps and stuff to add texture to things like walls and buildings and whatnot as well. K, off to get some incense, put on the headphones and get cracking here tonight.

Hero By Night on Facebook!

Jason Embury — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 17:54:00 GMT

if you've got a Facebook account, you can join other fans of Hero By Night over there by adding the HBN facebook page, just click the link and BAM! instant internet teleportation to your favorite online superheros corner of facebook!

Teleport to HBN's facebook page now!!!

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Now playing: New Order - Let's Go (Nothing for Me)

Hero By Night 3D avatars for video chat!

Jason Embury — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 15:47:00 GMT

pretty freaking cool stuff right here, my blogs been down for a couple hours, but this is worth watching!

HBN 3D avatar pack Youtube video!

you can download the software free at http://fix8.com/platinumstudios , and HBN avatar pack is on sale right now for only 2 bucks or something like that.

Woke up thinking I was the Joker!

Jason Embury — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:53:00 GMT

woke up laughing out LOUD this morning. Forget it was only about quarter after 9 and WAY too early for me, I'm dragging now. But what does my wife do? Comes into the bedroom with a camera behind her back. heads into the bathroom asking what was so funny, and as I'm lying there relating the dream to her, proceeding to laugh all over again, she busts out the camera and snaps a picture of me. Then when she finds out what I thought was so funny, ALMOST dumped a glass of water on my head (and probably would have if I hadn't opened my eyes) So yeah, I thought I had gone absolutely NUTTERS for a minute, waking up laughing like that. I know SHE did. Still, funny stuff, not sure I've ever woken up laughing before. Talking about Russian soldiers or something sure, but never laughing. K, BUSY day today, so I need to finish getting around here and hop to it!

OH, new Hero By Night comic page up today to check out if you haven't picked up the book yet in stores, INSERT SUBLIMINAL HYPERLINKAGE HERE!!!

Ringing in the New Year with a comic from the Dabel Brothers!

Jason Embury — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 19:10:00 GMT

Novelist C.E. Murphy (The Negotiator Trilogy,The Walker Papers) has signed a deal to produce her superhero comic series Take A Chance, with the Dabel Brothers! Issue 1 of the series is completely done, issue 2-5 will have art by the amazing Ardian Syaf, and I will be providing digital inks AND colors for this series. More news and updates to come as they roll in here, but I'm literally NECK DEEP in work here in the studio wrapping up colors on Hero By Night issue 2, and finishing up colors on the Hotshot and Mighty Girl graphic novel for Platinum Studios in the next month as well. Here's a sample of my colors from issue 1, and a sample of the digital inks from issue 3!

Looking back and stepping forward.

Jason Embury — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 20:47:00 GMT

2008 is here, and I’ve gotten caught up enough with work, and taken enough time off to enjoy family and relaxation here, that I can look back on the great things that 2007 brought to me, and look forward to what this year has in store. I’m not a big list guy, but there will be lists in this post just to make it shorter. Get ready to scroll down!!! So first up, last year.

2007

Family wise we had a great year here really I think. We accomplished a lot on the home front such as: a new stone patio in the backyard, retaining walls around the burms behind our waterfall/pond area, put in a fire pit off the patio, planted more trees in the yard, got our basement almost finished, got the pool table set up and re-felted in the basement, painted both of the kids bedrooms (which involved a lot of hand painted silohettes and things on the walls, an entire wall of giant Kracken tentacles and a treasure map in my sons room, tiny little stars, custom shelving, borders and 4 different colors of paint in my daughters room) watched both the kids play baseball and softball and be successful, found time to fit in a real family vacation for the first time in a couple years, and generally just really made this house start to feel like it’s our home now instead of just being the “new house”. So in that regard things were hectic and busy as ever, but also fun and even relaxing at times.

I met a few people in 2007, that I’ve come to regard as friends as well. GOOD people first and foremost, and all of that has nothing to do with them working in comics, but everything to do with them just being real people without any sort of agendas or anything. Hard workers, and people that share a lot of things in common with me. People like Dan Forcey, Rob Richardson, Jason Maranto, Dale Mitchell (a.k.a Adam Black), Carly Wagner.

And lest I not forget my long time buddy DJ Coffman. DJ and I have known each other for a long time, but this last year I think we really started to become not only better friends, but a sort of Batman and Robin type of act. We share a lot of the same philosophies on life and family, politics and spirituality, and of course comics. I honestly probably owe a large part of my current happiness and success in comics to DJ. I was working as a colorist in the industry before I started coloring his Hero By Night book, doing various things at Image including a stint on Shadowhawk right before, but having him ask me to color HBN was probably what really solidified my financial situation enough for me to hone my craft, make more connections, and become good and fast enough to make a living coloring comics all day. I have had an immeasurable amount of fun working with him over the last year, creating an enormous body of Hero work, talking shop, bitching about things that seem lame and petty, and as stupid as it sounds…..looking to the future and dreaming. He has a lot of big ideas, and big goals, as do I, and I think I’ve seen enough of this industry at this point, to know that we have a real chance of making those things come to life some day.

In terms of work, 2007 was really a breakthrough type of year for me. This was the year where I really transitioned into coloring comics full time. The year started with wrapping up colors on the successful Hero By Night mini-series, started coloring the new KISS comic KISS 4K, which also allowed me to color the Guiness World Record largest comic book ever, doing some digital painting commissions, creating some card art for Fantasy Flight Games, working with some extremely talented creators on various projects…..Also starting with Wizard World LA, where Hero By Night debuted, where the KISS comic debuted, where I signed a lot of autographs and such, went to dinner with Scott Rosenberg (who was a real genuine and nice guy) and had a great time. I went to all of the Wizard World conventions this year, met some other great creators, publishers, fans and people in general. I met a lot of cool people and generally had a blast.

By the time summer rolled around I was busier than ever here. In May I started as the VP of Creative Development over at the new publisher Big City Comics. I had met Jeff Kaufman in LA, signed up to color one of his books shortly after, and then as his plans changed and we talked more and more, I decided to come onboard and help him coordinate things, find talent, and make the comics he was producing the best they could be. So here I was, trying to coordinate things with Diamond, design ads and promotional materials, color 2 Big City books, as well as the KISS 4K comic. It was a great experience, I learned even more about the comic industry, met even MORE great people, but I realized after a couple months I was really stretching myself pretty thin trying to be a colorist AND be on the editorial/administrative end of things for a publisher, and it was having a negative impact in my life (and on my health) I decided to step aside and continue just coloring for them after a period of a few months, and really focused myself on doing some outstanding coloring work on their Dragon Cross title, providing near painted pages at times for that first issue. Literally the week I finished the last page of Dragon Cross #1, a series of things happened rather quickly: first, my lucky 3 legged chinese frog who holds in i-Ching coin in his mouth and sits on the top of my desk had the coin drop out while I was dusting. THAT DAY, I got a call from my editor on the KISS comic, and was informed I had been let go as had then entire creative team on the book. Well, evidently I hadn’t put the right side of the coin back in the frogs mouth, so I immediately rotated that coin. I’m not sure which happened next, but I know that a check I had been expecting to come the week before, and NEEDED to get to me that week, didn’t show up. So THAT wasn’t a lot of fun, and again, the coin got rotated in my lucky frog. The next day, I had gotten offered enough work for the next 6 months here, and that frog hasn’t been TOUCHED since. All of that happened some time towards the end of August/beginning of September I think.

So as September got underway I now had several things going once again, had gotten back into a much saner schedule work wise, and the quality of life started to improve dramatically for me here. DJ and I were working on the new Hero By Night webcomic coming out 3 times a week, had started planning for the upcoming ongoing HBN series launching in December, I was starting work on an 88 page graphic novel, and things were going fairly well. October and November were much of the same thing, with a trip of WW Texas thrown in. As November close, I found myself finishing colors on HBN 1, steadily working on my graphic novel, and ignorant of what December was about to blow into the studio. One day, early in the month, I had just finished putting in about 8 hours here, it was around 4pm I got a call from my EIC over at Platinum, and was asked how many pages I could get one overnight for the KISS one-shot KISSmas special book, written by Chuck Dixon and drawn by Tone Rodriguez, I guess they had some problems with scheduling and stuff or whatever, and the book had to go to print the next day. Well I thought about it some, told them I could do 6 pages, hung up, thought about it some more, talked to my wife, talked to DJ, decided I could in fact probably do 13 of the 15 pages they needed for the right price. So I called back 15 minutes later and agreed to do 13 pages. I then proceeded to knock out all 13 pages, with the help of some VERY wonderful and reliable people who were able to flat for me, and low and behold from 5pm to 11:45 am the next day, I did indeed to get all 13 pages done, after which I proceeded to eat lunch, lay down long enough for the phone to ring 3 times, the dogs to go crazy and get absolutely NO sleep before heading up to the gym and coaching my daughters basketball practice for almost 2 hours. So I took the next weekend off basically, then did another 11 pages of my graphic novel, wrapped up the HBN webcomic for the month, started issue 2 of the HBN series, heard from an author in Ireland that I had colored a book for in late 2006 that my services may be needed for the remaining 5 issues of her story as she was working out the kinks in a deal with a major BOOK publisher and distributor for her series, then around the 18th got a call from my buddy Rob who informed me his book was going to be late if it wasn’t done by the 4th of January because they had a colorist drop out after issue 2. This was the Dragon Cross book I had to leave to take all the work I had signed on for at Platinum. Rob is such a good guy, I saw how issue 2 had turned out, I had just done essentially half a book overnight a week or so earlier, I still felt bad for HAVING to leave his book, so I agreed. Lo and behold it’s January 2nd, I was able to take time off to spend with family on Xmas and New Years, and I only have 3 1/2 pages left of issue 3 of Dragon Cross, and the whirlwind that closed 2007 will have come to an end. WHEW!!!!!!

Which leads us to….2008

I’m not sure about doing resolutions this year, life is a spontaneous, ever changing thing. But I do have some goals for this year though, which if you want to think of as resolutions I guess they could be seen that way. In no particular order:

1- Find more time to create art for just me. I have a couple of projects I’m working on right now of my own that I would really like to find time to develop and produce. I also would like to find time to set aside for working in my sketchbook every day, for throwing around some colors in a traditional way (i.e. with markers or real paint)

2- Finish losing the weight I wanted to lose last year. I lost 15 lbs in 2007, I have about 10 more lbs to lose to get to where I wanted to be in 2008. I think I’ll get there by the end of the year though.

3- Become a better digital painter. I made some great strides this year, I really did. From taking 2nd in a Gnomon School of Visual Effects monthly digital art contest and winning lots of great training DVD’s, to painting my first comic cover (Dragon Cross issue 4) I have a vast amount of potential for growth, more than I EVER saw for coloring comics when I started. So I really want to take the steps to become an even better painter this year.

4- Learn a new software program. The likely candidate will be Painter X, however getting my hands on Maya or a similar 3D app would be nice.

5- Paint the elvish script around the decorative ceiling shelf in our living room for my wife, and include a large celtic/elvish design motif painted on the ceiling for her. I told her that I didn’t want to do anything this year but mow the lawn, however if this is ALL I have to do extra, then I can count myself lucky!

6- I have a comic coloring related goal I don’t want to mention really. I’ve established myself this past year as being undeniably GOOD and reliable. IF I can make as much progress this year as I did the last year and a half, I can approach being great I think. I know that may sound selfish, but I think all artists want to be more than just good, it’s in your nature as an artist. That’s all part of it though.

7- Make more connections. I made some great connections in the comic industry this past year, as well as in the digital art community, the concept art and gaming industries, and I want to further those connections this coming year. Being a freelancer isn’t easy, but having a larger pool of editors, publishers and potential employers that know your name is always a good thing.

8- I want to start to step back a bit and give my kids more freedom. NOT an easy goal, and hard to explain, but my wife and I have always been VERY involved in our kids lives, making decisions, coaching sports teams etc….. I’ve come to the realization though, especially as my daughter is in that pre-teen stage now, that we really need to start letting the kids, mostly HER, start to become more independent, and either succeed or fail on their own. I think we’ve done what we can to make them strong enough to handle things, and we’ll obviously still be guiding them, but the only real way to learn some things is through adversity, and learning to deal with that adversity on your own (especially when you get to be a teenager) They are both at the absolute top of their classes in school academically, they both have reading levels that are FAR beyond their grade level, and they both are good athletically as well. It’s hard being a parent, but I think if we don’t start to step back a little bit, that what will happen is that the kids will start to RELY on us to be there for them at all times, and the fact is, as a parent you CAN’T solve all the problems.

9- Relax more. Deadlines can be stressful. I need to actually eliminate some things from my daily routine here, and add some others in order to accomplish this. I’ve moved away from meditation a lot in the last year or so with how busy things have been, but I really feel I need to get back to that a lot more. I also need to do things like read more, find more time for family and doing brainless activities like watching TV, and playing some video games now and again, playing pool. Sadly deadlines drive your life as a freelancer, and living in the state with probably the WORST economy in the nation right now….you take whatever work you can, when it’s there. I’m extremely blessed to do what I do for a living, but I can’t be content. If I were to have to go FIND a job out in the “real world” right now, there is NO WAY I could find something that would pay me as much as I’m making now (which is kind of sad) There are just no good jobs to be had, so for me to be able to work from home, remotely, and for employers that are from all over the world, is really something of a miracle.

10- Become a better person. Don’t get me wrong, regardless of the few people out there that may think I’m a jerk, I’m really a good person. There are certain things I want to work on though for sure. I think we probably ALL have this goal somewhere deep down, for some it might be buried in their sub-conscious, but the bottomline is just being the best person you can be. A better dad, a better husband, a better friend, a better brother, a better son, a better artist, a better citizen….that’s a lot of hats for any of us to where, and yet finding the BALANCE is the key. At 31 I think I’m just starting to get the right weights on each side of the scales, now it’s just a matter of adjusting the scales until they’re balanced.

Whew. That’s it I guess, probably some other things I want to do I’m not mentioning, I’m probably forgetting some things too. But in a nutshell, that’s pretty much it. I’d like to look back NEXT year at this time, and say that I was able to make progress on each and every one of those goals if not accomplish them outright. Hopefully everyone else can think of at least 10 things they can work on or strive for in the coming year. I’d like to throw world peace on there somewhere, as a lot of us would I’m sure, but working on being a better person will have to suffice as a write in for that one. Happy New Year everyone!!!