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Yiannis Stilos is a great illustrator/ designer with a variety of cool styles! He sent me this wonderful shot of the Marquis in the shadows of Venisalle!

Stilos

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I met fellow monster lover, Scott Wygmans at a local comicon when he stopped by and gave me this cool portrait of the Marquis! You can't go wrong with demonic tentacles!

Scott Wygmans Workhorse

Vault of Midnight signing November 28th 6-8pm

Just a reminder~ Tomorrow I'll be at the Vault of Midnight comic store ( Ann Arbor, MI ), Saturday November 28th from 6-8pm for a store signing! There will be event posters on hand (free with purchase of the BPRD: Black Goddess or Marquis Inferno tpb) along with some freebie BPRD promo cards courtesy of Dark Horse, if you're in the area stop by and say hello!

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Santiago Caruso is an amazing illustrator whose work is both haunting and beautiful (and look at that linework!) He sent me this incredible portrait of Vol de Galle today and I wanted to share it as a special midweek Thanksgiving Diableries!

Santiago Caruso

Wanted Damned or Alive!

Last week I posted a peek at some layouts to The Marquis and the Midwife~ page 26 of the layouts opens on a poster warning the townspeople about the "Marquis Devil". I originally showed the Ministry of Inquisition's depiction of the "Marquis Devil" in chapter 3 of Danse Macabre, but for the wanted poster the drawing became more fanciful and fleshed out. Here are the design sketches for what the Ministry believes the Marquis looks like.

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Another wonderful surprise last week was finding this drawing in my inbox from Jorge Fornés, who sent me this great cliffhanger of the Marquis fighting a devil over the rooftops of Venisalle! More of his cool brushwork and energetic style can be found on his blog that would work as a caption for this drawing!

AAAAHHHHHRGGG!!

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Francesco Francavilla is a drawing machine! He's constantly producing crazy amounts of cool art whether it's Zorro, his creation the Black Beetle or his weekly Pulp Sunday pinups (and tons more)! It was a great surprise to find this Marquis birthday card in my inbox on Friday!

The Art of Francesco Francavilla

The Marquis and the Layouts

When laying out the larger Marquis stories I work without a script at first, just some story beats written down and then I start roughing out the page thumbnails as the story plays out in my head (image on the left shows 4 page roughs to Chapter 1). After I have the whole story initially worked out, I like to go back and tighten up the page layouts and rework the pacing ( 2 pages on the right). Some things will get moved around a bit~ shown above, what I thought would be page 12-13 in Chapt. 1 ended up as the beginning pages to Chapt 2 in the final layouts. Once the second pass of layouts are done I'll write a rough draft of the script and go onto pencilling it all out~

This is similar to how I tackle the layouts with a writer doing the hard work like on B.P.R.D, I usually do quick thumbnails when I read the script and then more detailed ones to run by the editor. And as a side note, the scribbles around the pages on the left were some first ideas for the Midwife's "coat of arms" that her children scrawl around the town.

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Worse than any ice cream headache, only Tom Fowler would know of Vol's sweet tooth!~ Tom has a great style full of life and character and don't forget to check out those cool monster designs at his blog! Great stuff!

Tom Fowler's Portfolio and Blarg!

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Troy Nixey (artist on Jenny Finn, Trout and now directing the remake of "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark") is one of those artists you want to see draw monsters and tentacles~ he did this pinup of the Marquis encountering something dark and fleshy for one of the single issues of Hell's Courtesan but a mixup saw it left out of the printed book.

Troy Nixey

The Marquis and Abe at the Vault of Midnight!

I'll be at the Vault of Midnight comic store in Ann Arbor, Michigan this month for a B.P.R.D.: The Black Goddess tpb and The Marquis: Inferno book signing (but will be happy to sign any other comics I've done too). The gang at Vault of Midnight will also have copies of the event poster on hand (free with purchase of either book) along with some other promos and surprises courtesy of Dark Horse comics! If you're in the area, please stop by the store to say hello!

November 28th, 6-8pm

Vault of Midnight

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Along with all the great new Marquis fan art I've been receiving, I'm also glad the blog lets me show off older drawings I've gotten over the years~ Eric J (artist on Rex Mundi) drew this dramatic shot of the Marquis dispatching a devil for me back in 2002!

Eric J Tripping Through Starfields

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The amazing Chris Samnee drew this beautiful Marquis as he stands over the body of the Courtesan for a fan commission (unfortunately I wasn't the fan)!~ but it's reprinted in his great 2008/2009 Sketchbook that's available over on his art blog along with more cool art!

Chris Samnee

Peeking in on the Midwife~

Right now I'm working away on the new "Marquis and the Midwife" graphic novel for 2010! I'll be posting more images and sneak peeks to the story in the coming year~ but in the meantime here's an inked panel of one of the "children of the midwife" or "horsemen" as I called them in the layout notes, peeking in on her.

Marquis 2000!

Another found illo~ as I remember this was a mockup for a t-shirt design back in 2000. I had done earlier shirts with the "M" devil crest and planned to do more, but I didn't like how this one was going and scrapped the idea.

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In keeping with a cartoon themed Halloween weekend Diableries, Piers Hazell sent me the first part of a cool "lil devil" type Marquis comic! I'll publish the conclusion to "The Devil Behind You" in an upcoming Diableries!

Piers Hazell Deviantart