I’m going to be at Comic Con International in San Diego from July 23^rd to July 27^th.

If you are going to be at the show stop by and see me at Artists Alley table KK-13. I’ll be drawing original art, doing some sketch caps, signing prints, and I have signature cards for $1. I know the show is crazy expensive, and if you come up short on cash, come over to my spot and get yourself some fine looking prints for a huge savings!

I’m going to be on the WILDSTORM BREWING panel with Jim Lee and a host of other artists on Saturday Night at 6:30 in Room 8. Come down and check out the panel, and hear all the latest X-Files comic news and more from Wildstorm. They’ll be talking Gears Of War, Lost Boys, Wildcats, etc.

If you want to commission a piece of art before the show I am opening a sketch/sketch cap list for Comic Con. I have only 20 slots for pre-orders. I will also be taking a limited amount of requests at Comic Con. It will be first come first serve. If you come by the show I’ll be doing quick-hit, 5-minute sketches for just $5 bucks during the show. These are on specially made sketch-cards that measure 5.5 x 8.5.

So, if you are going to be attending and would like a sketch and/or sketch cap, please feel free to send any request or question to art@briandenham.com

All communication will be through email. Please do NOT send any emails to any other email address or through Myspace. This is to keep the requests organized and fair to all. Once received I will follow up with an email confirmation.

Hope to see you guys there! Bring your X-Files #0 to get signed, it ships that week!

Illustrator improved upon one of the greatest assests in Illustrator with the new CS3, the Dashed Line Tool.

I use the dash line tool so much it appears on almost every one of my pages, especially those with tech, or set in a sci-fi setting. Whenever I need to make interesting computer displays or GUI (Graphic User Interface) I make a bunch of random lines in the horizontal and the vertical way, and then I apply the dash line tool to some of these, randoming the settings in the Dash Line box. I make lines with small gaps and long lines, and long gaps and small lines, and all sorts of random goodness.

When I have something extremely cool looking with dashes and gaps, I go in on a Layer above that and create a few more random dashed lines in white to break up the randomness even more.

Once I have all that foolishness in hand, I ground it and then draw a box around it like a computer screen and place it on whatever open computer wall I have drawn on my page, and i use the Free Transform tool to stretch that yummy goodness into perspective to line-up with the “monitor” I have drawn.

NOW-this problem has come up before, ( I talked to Adobe about fixing this, and they finally did in CS3), the dash lines will not look right in perspective because they keep the horizontal and vertical line around the dashes that were right when I made them. AND THERE IS NO WAY AROUND THIS IN ANY VERSION PRIOR TO ILLUSTRATOR CS3! You can’t fix it by expanding or making outlines or nothin’!

But IN CS3 you select your dash line and presto, hit OBJECT>EXPAND and through the magic of little pixels Illustrator makes each dash you have created their very own individual item. You can now UNGROUP them if you wish, and delete one or two, or make some bigger, or smaller, OR THE BEST THING OF ALL, you can now use the FREE TRANSFORM tool to distort these items into perspective and it will look correct!!!

I’ll post another entry tomorrow with a bunch of examples of where I did this in Iron Man and it was wrong, and how I got around it in Illustrator 10. I’ll put up some version done in CS3 so you can see how cool this tool really is.

Try it on your own right now, and I’ll see you tomorrow!

I broke into comics in 94 and was working at Extreme Studios when I first saw a Michael Turner book. I was blown away by his work on Ballistic from Top Cow. This was the excitement and drama and dark, shadowy realism that I wanted to create. And this guy down the street was already doing it and doing it better than anyone! He was a big inspiration for me. We were in the same class of Image artists. Of course, he was top of the class and he lead with a magnificent guiding light.

Years later I was fortunate to meet Mike at a con, and he was just a guy. A pal to everyone he met. A few years later, in 2000 I was just recovering from surgery for a tumor on my drawing hand, and was invited to come work out the kinks at Top Cow. This was right after Mike’s 1st operation. He was already recovering pretty well and was getting around on crutches. He told us in the bullpen about his operation, and the skiing accident that led to the discovery of his cancer, with all the mirth and dignity anyone could hope for in that situation. we all felt for Mike but he was not one to take that sympathy. It happened…shit happens…move on and keep moving. That was his attitude. It helped me through my recovery, it helped fortify me for my future.

Mike’s like that. He inspires. He blazes and we just watch in awe. A few years later I was able to do a creator owned comic called Killbox, about my fellow Marines. While I served in the Marines and met many heroic people, I have never met anyone like Mike. My dedication in Killbox #3 reads “Dedicated to Michael Turner, comic book artist, visionary, and the bravest man I’ve ever known.”

To paraphrase one of Mike’s favorite movies… “The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long - and you have burned so very, very brightly, Mike”

And he could still kick your ass at foosball hopping on one leg leaning on the sticks.

Goodbye, Mike