Here’s a commission that got completed just in time for New York Comic Con. I finished a number of pieces over the last week, including the long awaited lettered states and remarqued editions. After ten years, they are all completed. I almost can’t believe it.

As of next week, I will be up to date on commissions for the first time since…well, I dunno. The only one I have left is an oil painting, but that is an open-ended work. I want to have it completed by the end of the year.

One of my favorite patrons, Ray, commissioned this piece of the character Malikai from a series by the late Michael Turner called Soulfire.

I used professional quality markers for this. They are great, but my set is drying out. I almost didn’t have enough to finish the job.

Tricky things those markers, and no corrections possible if you botch something.

I was able to scan most of my commissions before I left for New York, but won’t be able to post them until I get back.

I do have a few lettered states (volume II only) and a handful of remarqued editions that I will be able to sell later, but I won’t be taking any orders any time soon. I will let you know when they become available. I will ship the remainder of the books over the next few weeks as time permits. And I thank EVERYONE for their patience!

The only customer we were not able to track down was Devin Timothy Stevens. If he ever pops up, we will have to issue him a refund.

Out of nearly 1000 orders, I guess that’s not too bad, but I have no one to blame but myself for taking so long to get these books completed! I will not be doing this sort of thing again, obviously.

I will not have any limited editions for sale in New York. Sorry. I will have paperback GN’s.

c

Hi Colleen,
I just wanted to let you know that I got my books in the mail today, and they are awesome! I didn’t realize that they had wooden slip covers- I can see what you meant about them being too big and bulky to bring to comic con! Really, they’re just so beautiful- I can’t wait to show them off to my friends. Anyways, I’ll see you on Saturday, and I’ll pay for the second book then. See you soon!

Best Wishes,
Sue

You’re most welcome, Sue!

Lettered state editions of A Distant Soil are about as rare as red diamonds.

I originally intended to do 24 (one for each letter of the alphabet) copies, bound in leather with hand laid in hand made marble endpapers and handmade custom boxes. For each book, I drew a full color character portrait. This I made available for $200.

That seemed like a lot of money back in the day, but it quickly became apparent that my retail price was too low. Shortly after beginning the project, the manufacturing cost on the books increased.

If I were to have them made to the same standards today, they’d cost about $500 per book just to make! To sell would cost $1,000.

So, all the people who ordered the books at $200 may have had to wait for YEARS to get their orders, but I finally finished them all off. I had a few copies of volume II left over and will offer those for sale someday, but there will be no more of any of the others. They really are beautiful, but even I don’t have copies now. I had to use my reserves to fill the last orders.

I listed a lettered state for future volumes on all the A Distant Soil GN limitation sheets just in case I was able to find another manufacturer. I doubt this will ever happen, if for no other reason than the days of my being able to take time to do sketches like this may well be over.

Those who were able to get their orders were very happy with their books, and even though it took forever, I am so relieved to be able to finish them off and ship them out! There’s only two more left to ship, and after I pack them later this week, I will post the art for them as well.

c

PS: Brian Holst: you have books shipping, too.

This portrait of Jessica is one of the long-awaited lettered state drawings for the incredibly understanding and patient Tim Barnes, who has every reason to want to come at me with an axe because I screwed up his order such that it surpasseth all understanding of the word “badly”.

But it looks like all is well now, and I am very appreciative of his patience.

This is one of my favorite lettered state drawings.

Jessica gets her big 1980’s hair, which, by the way, is a pain to draw in these books because the paper has no tooth. Rather slick, it is unforgiving, and you really can’t correct most mistakes on this stuff. Any lines you try to erase go ghost.

Anyway, she hasn’t appeared in the web comic yet, but long time fans love her. Especially the male ones.

c

Another one down!

The flu really sucks. Back to bed for me.

c