Production Photos of Homeless G-Men Number Three

Alright check it out, production pics of Homeless #3, as soon as I finished the second issues I launched into Homeless #3, I wanted it to be printed and ready for purchase in November at the very special event I'm organizing at the Cameron House in November. I'll have more on that later, yes I am way behind in blogging, I've done two in stores and Hamilton Comic Con and next week I'm doing two days at the Humber Campuses for a mini-con put on by Stadium Comics and I am too burnt out to write or draw right now. I did over 128 finished comics pages (plus others to use later) in seven months with a newborn baby. I am spent and need a rest, I will be back to talk more but I really just need to flake out on the couch with my dog right now

cheers, talk soon

A.Shay Hahn

Comic Updates

Hey there everyone, sorry I haven't posted since FCBD but I've been working long nights and I have some news. Homeless G-Men #2 is almost finished - just have to finish the covers and add the words, Crypto Zombic #2 is 3/4 of the way finished just a few more pics to draw and colour and I've started Battle Rally #2. All the books will be available to purchase in August, keep your eyes peeled for more updates as I get closer to wrapping up the issues.

I'm still looking for letters for the letters columns so if you've picked up the books and want to share your thoughts please email me at the address below.

Also if you haven't purchased the first issues yet either get in touch with me here or head to my store

http://www.storenvy.com/stores/550950-the-mad-craft-shoppe

the last pic in this post is the mini-print that you get when  you buy the comic three pack.

alright, back to the ink mines!

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com 

Artist's Alley table 125 at Toronto ComiCon!

Burning the candle at both ends getting prints, stickers, drawings and all kinds of goodness ready for Toronto ComiCon. I even ran out of printer ink for my beast but luckily one of my ink suppliers was able to get it to me via Express and for that I am eternally grateful. The bundle at the top is a limited edition bag of three comics, four stickers and a mini print that you can get for $20.00 quantities are limited and once the prints are gone they are gone for good and the package stays at the $20.00 price point.

There are very few of the Deep Sea Diver prints, they will be $20.00 each and I do have a limited amount of screwed up copies where you will get both prints for $20.00 they just don't have a border on them.

There will also be inked drawings (photos later) and lots of sketch covers ($60.00 each for one character).

Had a great talk with Mark Pawz of StuffLikeThat podcast and we'll be doing an interview in the near future.

All right, hope to see you at ComiCon!

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Comics Have Arrived! The ones I made! My first comics!

Today The Homeless G-Men and Crypto Zombic arrived at my house, this is an incredible day for me. I am so very happy to have them here, comics will be available for purchase at Seven Crowns Tattoo on Feb. 7th at 8pm for my show "SWEET ACTION!" come on out to the Opening and pick up some comics!  Battle Rally will be arriving soon and I will try to have my online store open for purchase by the end of the month.

cheers!

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Battle Rally Proof Photos

Hey everyone, hope you have been having a wonderful and happy holiday season, I received some more great photos of my third comic BATTLE RALLY! from the good people at Print Ninja looks great so far and a sample copy is on the way for me to hold in my hands.

For the next month I'll be drawing a series of comic characters and film characters for a show at 7 Crown's Tattoo (Toronto) and launching all three books there, mark it in your calendars good people, the show is called SWEET ACTION! and it's going to be hoot.

have a happy New Year's Eve.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com 

Pictures of the Physical Copies

Thanks so much Print Ninja for sending these photos of physical copies of both the Homeless G-Men and Crypto Zombic along with some interior shots of Crypto. The books look great and I can't wait to get my hands on them so I can get them into your hands. The proof for Battle Rally has been approved so in 2015 you will be able to purchase three different comics from me. This has been one heck of an adventure and I'd like to thank the people at Print Ninja for their help with getting the books together.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

The Battle Rally is off to the Printers!

The third comic is off to the printers for proofing, I thought I'd do a break down the work that I've done since April for a quick timeline.

 I began drawing some rough comic pages in January of 2014, I have been reading comics since the age of six, I am a life long fan of the medium. Growing up with the drawings of great artists like John Byrne, Michael Golden and George Perez really formed and helped my drawing skills as a kid, my vocabulary and spelling were leaps ahead of many kids in my class. Although I took many breaks from buying comics over the years either because of lack of money or my interests were elsewhere if I visited a friend's apartment who was still collecting I'd always borrow theirs to see what the X-Men or whoever were up to.

If I hadn't set my mind on going to art school when I was sixteen I would have worked on my portfolio and tried to break into comics.

Now that printing is easier to access and programs like Manga Studio 5 have made the process easier to get through I decided that it was time to make my own, in April I began drawing the first issue of the Homeless G-Men, I knew there were two episodic stories I wanted to tell so I grabbed a bunch of 11x17 boards, bought a ton of graphic novels to get current with the new bunch of creators and illustrators  and went to work.

As I was working on the book I decided to do another - and then another. I get bored very easily and working on three books at the same time was a great way to keep things moving. I wrote barely any script notes, I made up the comics as I went along letting my thoughts guide the story and writing dialogue notes at the same time so I could plug it in when it was time.

 There were many checklists made, many story notes written on legal pads and a deadline coming - I had to get everything ready to digitally colour and letter by August 1rst. I finished drawing three 32 page comics by my deadline, I also started drawing 13 pages of a mini-series that is going to feature all three teams in the comics coming together and the two of the stories for the second issue of the Homeless G-Men.

I have spent the past three months keeping crazy hours (8am- 3:30 am)  and teaching myself to learn Manga 5, at the same time I finished 14 paintings for my annual Cameron House show and committed to a show of my drawings for Seven Crowns Tattoo in February, we also got the great news in June that my wife is pregnant and due in February, it has been a very busy seven months.

Now that the third comic has been sent to the printers for proofing (thanks print ninja) I can take two minutes to pause and pat myself on the back and also get to work on my first professional comics job that I was offered about a month ago. I will be drawing a Christmas 7 pager for Eric Freitas and Ulises Farinas comic "Amazing Forest" on Monkeybrain comics. 

So there you have it, amateur fan to professional comic artist in nine months.

 

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Homeless G-Men ready for proofing

After many, many sketches that used the whole cast of the comic ( none of which I was happy with) I reworked an older drawing of Swinnerton for the cover of the Homeless G-Men No.1.

I like it, I actually like using the while/red for the front and back covers. I'd thought of using black but it didn't fit. I think the blue buts up well with the red and white.

The pages are now in the capable hands of the folks at Print Ninja and I'll be seeing the final proof soon. Comics will be available in the New Year from me in person or you can head to my shop at storenvy (not open yet since I have no comics available to ship).

In the next two weeks I'll be finishing the third book and sending it off as well, I'll also be reorganizing the studio to make space for the stock that will be showing  up.

enjoy the Santa Claus parade

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Crypto-Zombic is off to the printers!

Very happy to announce that my first completed 32 page comic has been sent to the fine people at Print Ninja, I should be getting the preview copy on Monday (of course I spotted a typo after I sent it off) and I can't wait to sign off and sent it to press.

I'm allowing myself twelve hours off from work before getting to the next comic The Homeless G-Men, which has been drawn and coloured, I just need to add the text, that should take another week and then I'll be onto the THIRD comic which still needs a few pages drawn and coloured.

At this rate (and of course if I'm accepted) I will have three (and possibly a fourth) comic available for sale at TCAF in May 2015.

If you're interested in seeing some of my other work check out the mad craft shoppe in the links and you can see my show of paintings that is currently hanging at the Cameron House in Toronto for the month of November.

cheers!

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Full Pages from three books looking great

Here's  a full page from each of the three comics I hope to have at TCAF (hope to have meaning I hope I get accepted, not hope to have finished) in May 2015 I'm really happy with the work. There are a few tweaks for each page still but that's fine I'm in a great place with the books, feels awesome.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

A Very Good Place

(These are the folders where I keep my pages)

Sorry to have been away I've been trying to get two pages a day finished and really getting into the work. Very happy to announce that is has paid off, I have finished the first issue of Crypto Zombic (16pages!) I have added one page to the first issue of Homeless G-Men (18 pages!) and am making crazy progress on Battle Rally #1 (will be 16 pages) and the Annual THREE BEAST ARMY which will be a huge THIRTY PAGES!

The first two issues will be scanned, gray scaled and ready for the printer by the end of September.

This is a great feeling, I'll be posting finished panels/pages soon

cheers!

A.Shay Hahn

Progress, slow but steady

I have to apologize for not paying as much attention to this blog as I thought I would but the work getting these books ready has been keeping me very busy. I am working on four comics simultaneously, I hope to have at least two of them finished for TCAF 2015 if I get in. The stories are plotted lots of the page layouts have been done and I'm drawing/inking (reinking in some cases) and getting everything organized.

It's a huge undertaking doing this alone each "side" (as I'm calling them, a side is half a page) has many steps, I haven't even begun to scan or "greyscale" colour the pages (I'm doing all the interiors in black and white to save money on printing) yet. Then there's the work of adding the panel frames and dialogue bubbles then putting in the actual dialogue. It's a huge job, you can see why a team makes a comic and not just one person and I want my books to be as complete looking as a professional comic.

Above are some panels and notes from the four books.

Head over to "the mad craft shoppe" blog (see links, right side) where I'm having a Summer Sale to help pay for the printing costs.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

More Thoughts on Printing and Poor Service

 

 

Hey there I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend, I decided to get the studio set up today and now it's cleaner than it has been since I first set up over two years ago. I feel pretty good about working downstairs now and everything is just where I need it.

This was the highlight of my day unfortunately I am now rethinking doing a "landscape" style book, the printer that I wanted to use in Toronto is not really delivering on customer service, I was trying to get a postcard (a simple postcard) printed by them and since their website is having problems I would have to pay for them to set it up for me on their end - that's just wrong - it's your problem I shouldn't have to pay for it, you just lost a customer.

 Glad I did a trial run through them instead of taking my book their to be printed and getting the same response.

I am now looking into "PrintNinja" doing the book, if my calculations are correct I can get 1000, 60 page black and white glossy paper with a colour cover graphic novels for around $2000.00 US dollars, that is a pretty great price per unit and worth exploring and to make it less complicated I am going to switch to a standard comic/graphic novel format in order to make the process easier along the way. I have decided to go with a colour cover and do some colour prints but do the interior of the book in black and white, I know that I won't be able to do the whole back in colour while learning to use the program so best to just hold back and do some colour work and the rest in black and white and grey tones - this decision took a huge weight off of my shoulders. I would rather concentrate on drawing and story.

I am glad that I am taking my time with this, there is a lot to learn.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com