Graphic Design 101: The Cover Design of Suits

Because I can't find an artist who is not busy getting ready for San Diego Comic Con or Gen Con, I have decided to spend my time working on the design and look of the Suits graphic novel/trade paperback cover. I want to go with a very simple image that will easy make you understand what this book might be about. While there is type on the page, font sytle is not right. I am just using it for "for placement only" to get the graphic balance of the cover right. Now while this might be a bit premature on my part (since I estimate the Suits GN/TPB will be 180 roughly and he have done only a few panels) it gets me thinking of what the final version will be and what the fans should expect. Talk to you later...

Real Life Rules to live by...

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

• Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
• Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
• Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
• Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
• Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
• Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
• Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
• Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished d failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest re semblance to ANYTHING in real life.
• Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
• Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
• Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Talk to you later...

Free Money from Project Wonderful!

You are in business to make money right? Well here is some free money, I have been using Project Wonderful since I first read about it in How to make Webcomics. But some of you people out there are not using it. Why? The ads you get from Project Wonderful are normally more comic, webcomic and gaming focused then what you would get from the big ad sites like Google. Do yourself a favor and sign up at Project Wonderful and stat making some free money. Talk to you later...

YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS!!!!!

From Crackle: Star-ving Ep 1 feat Ed O’Neill & David Faustino

If you are a Married with Children fan or like just retarded childish humor then watch this video. WOW!! I almost pissed my pants over this. Talk to you later...

Paizo is selling the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook (OGL) PDF for $9.99

Talk about brilliant marketing: Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook (OGL) PDF for only $9.99 OR Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook (OGL) Hardcover for 49.99. Which one are you going to try first? Who doesn't have $10 to try out a 500+ page RPG? Now this makes me think, should I reduce the price of NeoExodus: A House Divided Campaign Setting to $4.99? Or even less? Got to think about that. You can read the comments about this over at EN World here and here. Enjoy and Talk to you later...

Must Watch: Awesome Blood-Sucking Daybreakers Trailer!

I think somebody must have been reading my blog about Obsidian Twilight. LOL!!! Talk to you later...

Books to Read: Tilting at Windmills

OK If you really want to get your product in retail locations then you need to understand what goes through the mind of retail owner. That is something that is not readily available. But you can still get that information. The best place to get that information in the Tilting at Windmills written by Brian Hibbs, owner of San Francisco's premier comic book store, Comix Experience. This book even though form roughly 15 years ago the lessons and knowledge is still absolute true and valuable today. Brian has a very interesting very of what the future should be and even 15 years later nothing has really changed and the same problems exist. If you have a retail store and your sales are going down the tubes, YOU HAVE TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK. The reason I know using this book you can make a very successful retail store is because this book was given to me by Tate Ottait, owner of Tate’s Comic here in South Florida, who said he followed and did just about everything in this book. Using this book Tate went from a 1,000 sq.ft store in 1993 to an over 6,000 sq. ft main comic store with an additional a 2,000 sq. ft gaming retail store a few stores down from the main store in 2009. So understanding what retailers want will help you understand what you need to do to get your product into their stores. Tilting at Windmills is mandatory reading for those who are looking to be serious about specialty shop retail sales and selling. Talk to you later…

PDF Business Wednesday: Four questions that will change everything about your industry and help you succeed…

I don’t know where I even got this, but it was important enough for me to write down so here you go. If you really want to be the number one person/company in your industry than ask and answer the next four questions:

• Which of the factors that your industry takes for granted should be eliminated?
• Which factors should be reduced well below the industry standards?
• Which standards should be raised well above industry standards?
• Which factors should be created that the industry never offered?

Answers this four questions honestly and truthfully and you will take over that market. It is that simple. Talk to you later…

Graphic Design 101 – Understanding Fonts and Logos

Too many of you think you understand what a logo is, and you don’t. A logo is not just a bunch of word in a particular for you use as a title on your product. A logo should easily tell you what to expect from the product it is attached to. The logo is the first thing people are going to see to determine if they want to give you anymore of their valuable time. So instead of explaining what it means to have a good logo or describe to you what good font usage is, I thought it might be best to give you the book that I used to help understand the process for me. The Logo, Font & Lettering Bible by Leslie Cabarga is an EXCELLENT book for this topic. I have found it not to be just instructive, technically speaking, it is also visually innovative. I have not found a better book that covers this topic with such interest and knowledge. If you want to improve the look and design of your products (and many of you who read this really need to, for example Bad Baby Productions you need this book. You REALLY need this book!) go and get it. So instead of buying another RPG book for $30 dollars why don’t you take a second and get this book which will help you make a lot more money than the $30 you spent to purchase it. Talk to you later…

It is like waiting for a baby to come…

Right now I am in an interesting position. I have completed the first whole 25-page comic book issue (roughly 90+ issues/episodes of the webcomics) of Suits. I have started writing the second comic book issue of Suits (about half way through) and I am doing the outline for issue #3 & 4 to start writing ASAP. The only thing I am waiting on is the “potential” artist. We have a verbal agreement, contingent on this job he may or may not be offered. Now I have no issue with this, he told me upfront about this and since being a comic book artist is his full time job I know he has to go where the money is. I hope we can work this all out. I REALLY want to get Suits out there. This is one of those that I am really proud of. Plus I need to start working on Ghostwalkers again. Since Ghostwalker is my long tern “epic novel”, I am happy If I can do a solid page done in it a day. I plan Ghostwalkers to be a color book while Suits is going to be complete black and white with grayscale tones. But the waiting is killing me. Like Fort Minor said, “I am like a struggling doctor; I have no patience and I hate waiting”. Talk to you later…

Hot Artist of the Week - Raoxcrew

I have seen Raoxcrew work before and what I liked most what I saw. They have a cool "look" that is hard describe. I think they have a large select of art in there gallery, so you can look and what they do and what they do well. I hope they will release more art work to keep showing off their skills. Talk to you later...

Two issues/episodes of the webcomic, Suits...DONE

I just finished the lettering on the #2 issue/episode (What do you think sound better issue or episode? Let me know.) of Suits. I have to find the artwork for #3. It is somewhere on my computer but I can't remember where I placed it. It is also the final issue Alex García P. because he became too busy on other projects to continue working on this one. I am so glad for all of his work on this project and helping me get this off the ground. If everything turns out right (keeping fingers crossed) the new artist on this project will be Jeff Wamester. I plan to start the webcoming on August 26 (That date is not set in stone, so totally don't hold me to it) and we will release the first four issues/episodes and then have weekly updates after that. Once again thanks to everyone support on this project. Talk to you later...

Warren Ellis is not a great comic book writer and I will tell you why…

I like Warren Ellis’ work. I think he understands what makes a story interesting and what is needed to keep it moving. But the one thing that keeps him back from really being a GREAT comic book writer and that is …

He has the weakest ending for all of his stories.

What do I mean by this? I mean Warren Ellis ends his comic stories horribly. My god! A writer with all that talent, and he couldn’t end a story strong to save his life. I am always amazed when he gets more work from comic book companies. Do they actually read the product he produces? Forget get the persona. Forget the attitude. Forget all the bullshit. Just look at his actual writing skill. Look at the list of work he has done and just ask yourself this little question, “Did this story end with the some power and excitement that is started off with?” The issue that really revealed his inability to end a story strong was Planetary #26. While the concept and idea to create Planetary was excellent and brilliant, the execution of it was not. Global Frequency is another one. Great concepts. All of them innovative and new. How does the series end, like oatmeal bland and boring.

Now I know I am breaking the hearts of many of you out there. Your love affair with Warren Ellis is everything to you in your little world. But let’s get to reality and tell the truth, Warren Ellis is like an OK race horse; great out of the gate and horrible finish. I am sorry I have broken the hearts of some of you. Now I am not saying that Warren Ellis is a bad writer. He always brings innovation to the next level. I am just saying he is a bad closer and like David Mamet said, “Put that coffee down. Coffee is for closers only.” Talk to you later…

Books to Read: Rules for Revolutionaries

This is one of the greatest marketing / business book I have ever read. This book is a blue print for doing the impossible. This is the book that I used to increase my sales at RPGNow.com by a factor of 16 in only two years. This is the book that taught me how to deal with any potential business threat that might arise. If you only listen to one thing I will ever tell you then listen to this: Go buy Rules for Revolutionaries by Guy Kawasaki. This book will change your business life. For those of you who choose to ignore my advice and don’t pick this book up, stop what you are doing, close your business and find something else to do. You will not be able to compete with the people who have read this book. No joke. Not reading this book could be the reason why your company fails. Talk to you later…

Nothing is going on in the RPG scene, and that worries me a little bit…

Right now there is nothing really going on RPG business-wise, well at least for me. There are lots of RPG companies working at break neck speed. The reason being it is the summer and everyone is getting ready for conventions and their BIG releases of the year for Gen Con. I seems a little stupid to me to have only one big release instead of a lot of little releases. I am just one of those “Not all your eggs in basket” kind of guy, but every year RPG companies place their entire basis of survival on one convention. So if you have a bad con, well then is sucks for you. That is the nature of RPGs I guess. In comparison to comic books, summer is important and the best cons are going on, but other cons and stuff is going on year round. RPG gaming only has Gen Con and Origins as the “big cons” (and maybe Dragon Con) while there are San Diego Comic Con, Wizard World, SPX, APE, Wonder Con, Heroes Con, Mega Con, Motor City Comic Con, Pittsburg Comicon and Mid-Ohio Comic Con for comic fans. Plus the attendance of comic cons are lot more than RPG cons.

So with all this stuff for Gen Con going on, I am focusing on my two webcomic series; Suits and Ghostwalkers. On the script side Suits is MORE than ready to go just have to wait until artist, Jeff Wamester, is done with some other project so he can get started on doing this one. I hope (fingers crossed) to have Suits up and running by my birthday (That late August for those that are thinking about getting me a gift). Wish us luck on Suits, we are going to need it. With Ghostwalkers I am on page 14 of 92. Unlike Suits, I have planned Ghostwalkers as a 4-issue series with 2 more 4-issue series for an “epic western series”. This one is a real personal journey for me as a writer. I hope this turns out well. Talk to you later…

Can’t wait for BLACKEST NIGHT?

This just gets better and better. See what I mean here!!!!

Graphic Design 101: Having Photoshop does NOT make you a graphic designer…

Too many of you out there have fooled yourself into thinking just because you own a copy of Adobe Photoshop or Indesign that you are some kind of graphic designer. Let me bring you back to reality quickly, you aren’t. Not even close. Copying WOTC’s graphic design for your products does not make you more like them, it makes you lazy copycat. It does not make you stand out in a crowd or products doing the exact same thing as you. Being unique and different means you have to do something that the other people are not doing. You have to take a chance. This is something I know very well. In 2000, when I created the original Haven: City of Violence cover I wanted to make it more like it came from a movie so I made it with a “letterbox” look to it and I changed it up by using white bars on the top and bottom. All of the Haven: COV book had that look. Years later, everyone started doing this style including , WOTC with their Star Wars line.

Now sometime you can be influenced by something without really realizing it as with NeoExodus: A House Divided. I wanted that Japanese anime / manga influence to it and I created the look and style of the game line. I thought I was being “cutting edge” until I realized White Wolf had done the same thing with their Exalted game line. Did I copy them? Maybe I did. I did not plan it, but maybe I did subconsciously. Does that make me a copy? You betcha’! But I can point to roughly 350-plus other products where I didn’t do it. So over all I am please with my work. Even Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls got bet sometimes. But if you really want to become a better designer for your products then I suggest you pick up the Non-Designer’s Deign Book by Robin Williams. I have suggested this book several times in the past, I just hope you will take a second and actually pick it up read it and use what is inside of it to make better looking products. Looking more professional is only more helpful for you to sell more copies. Stop being lazy you have work to do. Talk to you later…

BLACKEST NIGHT #3 OCVER!!!!

This is going to be AWESOME!!!!!!!

Are Pirates Are Just Underserved Customers?

I read this original article and then this follow up article at TechDirt and it had me thinking, are pirates are just underserved customers? Comment and tell me what do you think. Talk to you later...

Hot Artist of the Week – Chester Ocampo

One the most interesting things about Chester Ocampo and his Deviantart website website and images, is that many of them have a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License attached to them. At his personal website his skills are shown to be even more impressive with the several pieces of art there and his work he did in ImagineFX issue 43. Chester understand what good artwork should look like and what it should accomplish. If you want a artist who will give you supreme quality and expertise, than you need to talk to Chester Ocampo. Talk to you later…

Comic Book Store Visit: Cave Comics

The comic book store that that I really grew my personal taste of comic book outside of capes and tights (that is superheroes for those who don’t know) was Cave Comics in Newton, CT. Run by Pat Callanan has been there for nearly 20 years. I started going and working there my first summer in college (WAY back in 1989) and kept going there until I finally left in 1997. One of the most interesting things about Cave Comics is that they have a large collection of original Batman artwork on the store walls. Pat is a huge Batman fan (his license plate is BATMAN), so if it is about Batman, Pat has it or is about to get it. The store was originally named Batcave Comic but DC Comics put the kibosh on that, so Cave comics it is. So if you are ever in the Fairfield county area of Connecticut, check out Cave Comics. It will be worth it. Talk to you later…

The Obsidian Twilight Help Save a Life Blood Donation Program Update

For all you that are wondering about the Obsidian Twilight Help Save a Life Blood Donation Program is going we have had almost ten people send info and stuff to get there free copies. Some of you are like “Ten people is not a lot of people. Who care?” Those ten people saved ten lives. Ten. Lives. Saved. That is why I am doing this. So if you are thinking about donating blood or getting someone else to donate for you, NOW IS THE TIME! Don’t wait until the last moment. Talk to you later…

Behind the curtain of LPJ Design…

Here is a little fact that many of you don’t know, my Image Portfolio 1.03 Superhero with the over 15 pieces of artwork in it (mostly half page or larger, black and white images) cost me a whopping $200 to purchase the full righs from the artist. Roughly less than $13 per image with all the rights to resell the art to other people. Did you get that part? Full and complete rights for only $200.

There are a lot of people who head’s are exploding over this topic. Many are saying, “It is not fair to pay people so low,” or “how can an artist sell away his artwork so cheap?” or my other favorite, “ You should pay people more.” So you think it is better for me to have to charge more for my product to my customer (meaning I will get fewer sales) and then pass that money to the artist is higher wages? And people wonder why 9 out of 10 businesses fail in the first year. Now if that previous stuff made you head almost burst, it is about to get worse for you…

Image Portfolio 1.03 Superhero is a silver level seller at RPGNow (meaning sales between 101 – 249 copies) on DriveThruRPG it does have a metal rating (meaning sales 1 to 49 copies). So if you take an average of both numbers you can “guestimate” that Image Portfolio 1.03 Superhero sold about 200 copies. 200 copies at $8 each comes to $1,600 minus $200 for the artist means $1,400 in profit for LPJ Design. Why would an artist sell his artwork to me $200 and lose out on $1,400 worth of profit by not doing it himself? Good question. I don’t know and personally it does not matter to me. That is not my job. My job is to keep my business afloat. But here is an answer for those that have to have one: Maybe he knew it was better to have $200 when he needed it, instead of waiting 2 years to “possibly” get that $1,400 of profit that I made. A “bird in the hand, two in the bush” type of situation.

Now to make your head really explode: When I was kicked off of RPGnow back in November 2005 and came in late 2006; all my previous sales at RPGNow from 2001 to 2006 were erased. So my current sale info of Image Portfolio 1.03 Superhero is only from late 2006 to now. So how many sales did Image Portfolio 1.03 Superhero have from 2002 to 2005? Well after checking my personal records on sales units on Image Portfolio 1.03 Superhero was more than 800 copies sold. So LPJ Design really made over $4,600 on that artwork, which is still for sale today. Best of all, this product isn’t even in my top 10 most profitable products from LPJ Design. Just something for you to think about. Talk to you later…

PS: Any of you RPG publisher who are in need of good and inexpensive artists, just let me know and I will help you get in touch with them. You have seen the guys who do my artwork so you I am dealing with good guys. Your welcome!

Paying a $100 a page for RPG artists is stupid, and you’re an idiot if you do it…

Why does this one always keep coming back up? If you know anything about me, it’s that I am a cheap bastard. My wife will tell you that. My brother will tell you that. Even my mom will tell you that. I don’t like paying more than I have to, especially in the arena of business. When I first started doing RPG all kinds of people told me all kinds of silly things about what I should pay artist. “The industry standard is $100 a page for RPG work.” That is complete crap! This is the greatest lie that has been put to RPG publishers by artists since the beginning of time. If you listen to some artist about their artwork too long they will tell you that it does everything including cure cancer so that is why they ask for that rate. Hate to break this to you “artistic” types but you make a “commodity”. A commodity as defined from dictionary.com is:

1. Something useful that can be turned to commercial or other advantage: "Left-handed, power-hitting third basemen are a rare commodity in the big leagues" (Steve Guiremand).
2. An article of trade or commerce, especially an agricultural or mining product that can be processed and resold.
3. Advantage; benefit.
4. Obsolete A quantity of goods.

And when you make your artwork to sell you are making a commodity. I know a company who paid $500 for a one print time usage right for and image that Brom did. One print run and that is it. What happens if you underprint the product and your product becomes an overnight hit (see WizKids' Pirates of the Spanish Main for that answer)? Sorry, you have to purchase a new cover for it. Think that was crazy? Well they did it two more times!

Any of you RPG publisher who are in need of good and inexpensive artists, just let me know and I will help you get in touch with them. You have seen the guys who do my artwork so you I am dealing with good guys. You don’t have to say it, but you’re welcome!

Book to Read: The 4-Hour Work Week

I have talked about this book, The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss, a WHOLE bunch of times on this blog. I read the entire book in Trinidad & Tobago while and vacation and I have been using what I have learned to make some extra money and ideas. Plus this book is FULL OF INFORMATION that is useful in any business that you might work in. Plus there is a full section that teaches you how you can talk to your boss to get them on board with you work from home (see page 207). I am going to use it to see if I can pull it off and I will let you know to see how that works out. It is an interesting and entertaining read. Go to your local Borders and read the first chapter for free and then purchase it from Amazon (great way to “test drive” a product). Talk to you later…

Let's meet at Baltimore Comic-Con!!!

I am planning to go to Baltimore Comic Con on October 10 - 11 to recruit artists for freelance work. Will you be there? Let me know and we can meet up so I can give you MONEY and work!!! Talk to you later...

PDF Business Wednesday: Are you a RPG Company or an entertainment company?

Here is a quote about Marvel Comics that kind of defines it for me:

"It is a mini-Disney in terms of intellectual property," said Ronald Perelman. "Disney's got much more highly recognized characters and softer characters, whereas our characters are termed action heroes. But at Marvel we are now in the business of the creation and marketing of characters."

Let me just say this off the bat, LPJ Design is an entertainment company that makes RPGs. My view and planned growth of LPJ Design as a company expands to music, animated features, television shows, video games, comic books and graphic novels. RPGs are the first step in understand how to build a business correct that focused on intellectual property development. Because at the end of the day, what must of us who work in the paper and pencil field of RPG design and creation are doing is getting skills that transfer over to the video game and entertainment industry. Lee Hammock is a great example of this. Lee and I worked together in the early days of LPJ Design. Lee has gone on to work for DC Comics and now Lead Game Designer at Icarus Studios LLC. Lee was able to use his skills in RPG writing and development and use them to get himself a good position in a very profitable industry. Another great example of this is Shane Hensley of Deadland RPG fame and Cryptic Studios's City of Heroes and City of Villains MMORPGs.

So why can’t you do the same with your RPG company? Well you could, if you plan it right. First off, you have to have the right look. Radical Comics has done this very well with the help of Imaginary Friends Studios. In less than 2 years Radical Comics has gone from an unknown comic book company to a player in the Hollywood movie see with getting several of their books on the road to being developed into movies. Not bad for two years worth of work. I think the same thing could be said about RPG companies if the right actions are taken. Just something you should think about. Talk to you later…

FIRST LOOK: Mickey Rourke as Whiplash...WTF?!?!?!?

Enter the Shark Tank!!!

I have been waiting for this show since I heard about this earlier this year. It is based off of the successful Dragon's Den on the BBC2 and I can't wait to see the American version. This is going to be great. It starts August 9 at 9PM on ABC.

How to become an artist sensation and get people talking about you & your artwork in just 14 days…

This is a simple easy and effective way to become an overnight artist sensation and get people talking about you & your artwork in a step by step plan:

1. Plan to draw 5 images. They can be of whatever you want. In black & white or full color. Large images or small images. You decide. Fantasy, sci-fi, horror, whatever. You pick the genre you love to work in and start drawing.
2. Break down the quality of the images you are drawing as such: Three images with a quality of 6 out of 10 (10 being the best); one image with a quality of 8 out of 10 and one image with a quality of 9 out of 10.
3. Now after you have done that, draw five more images, now do five more images. Just like before make them whatever you want. This time make quality of three images 8 out of 10 (10 being the best); one image with a quality of 9 out of 10 and one image with a quality of 10 out of 10.
4. After you are done with the second set, go back to the first set and place them online at RPGnow.com as a free PDF product. You must do this at RPGnow.com only not any other PDF selling website. This is important due to the fact RPGnow.com has a lot ranking and statistics info that you can use and be more helpful. Tell everyone at any and every RPG news site and blog that you are giving away these five images for free and people can use them anyway they want. Keeps this up for 10 solid days.
5. On Day 11 and 12 just relax and do nothing art related at all. Just relax and be completely free with yourself.
6. On Day 13, collect the final five images into a PDF product and place that one on sale at RPGnow.com. Make it a reasonable price like $10. Then write an e-mail to all the customers who received your free five images telling them that you have a new set o five images coming out for sale tomorrow (Day 14) and if they liked the first free set, then this new set will really blow them away. Also mention to them that you are also a freelance artist who is always looking for additional work at reasonable rates.
7. Day 14, you release the last art set for sale.

That is it. If you have done this correctly you will notice a few things:

• You should have a large number of people who down loaded the free images. People can’t seem to turn down things that are free. I did this with the free Initiative Cards for 4E I produced. On average, I was getting 65 people a day downloading. After 10 days that is roughly 650 people that you can directly market to. I didn’t do the cards because I like 4E, I did them for ability to contact them in the future date.
• There are going to be some people who really like your artwork as would purchase from you if you had some “for pay” images. Now, with the 2nd product you can sell it to them.
• You build up automatic goodwill with the release of the free artwork, and because of that goodwill people will be more inclined to purchase the “pay version” and even hire you for freelance work. The free version gets you easy access to you would like to do business with.

Try this plan for 14 days and see how it does. Talk to you later…

The Business of Going to Conventions

I have been going to comic book & gaming conventions since I was 15 or 16 years old living in Connecticut. I started with the local conventions; basically anywhere I could drive to or take the train to. When I went to college in Baltimore, afyer I finished and started working for Comic Values Monthly I went to more and more conventions for fun and business. But now with LPJ Design, when I go to a convection it is always about business. I am looking to talk to the professional writers there, looking at new artists and seeing new products. Going to convention can be a LONG and TIRING experience as just someone walking around as a fan, if you exhibiting there, it is many times worse. But I have come with ideas and information that will help you stay ahead of the curve and look more professional while doing it.

First off if you are going to do to conventions right, then you need to get How to Make Webcomics written by by Scott Kurtz, Kris Straub, Dave Kellett and Brad Guigar. Read chapter 11: Conventions (Page 158) and this will give you a lot of information on what you need to do and what you should bring. Rather that tell you what they will tell you in the book (Go get it, it is REALLY worth its weight in gold), I will tell you where you can get the sale materials that you will place at your booth. The best company I have seen and used so far for printing marketing material is Clubflyers.com. Clubflyers.com is a great service if you don’t have that much money (1,000 business cards ) or if you don’t have any money (500 Free 4x6 postcards). Most of their turnaround time on a project is 3 business days (normally within 72 hours) and if you are wondering about shipping then take a look at the shipping FAQ page. Now if you are using the LPJ Design “Starter Set method”, here is what you will need for a 10x10 convention booth:

• Full color 4x6 feet Vinyl Banner: $96.75 US (This one goes in front of your booth as a table banner)
• (2) Full color 2x6 feet Vinyl banners: $97.50 US (These two go inside you booth as vertical banners)
• 5,000 Full color, double sided 8.5x11 inch catalog sheets: $325.75 US (You can place information about products on these. You will not giveaway 5,000 sheets at a normal convention more like many 1,000. But now you don’t have to get any more made for your next few conventions.)
• 1,000 Full color Business Cards: $29.99 US (Same info as the catalog sheet. You can get 5,000 though for $69.99 US)
• 5,000 Full color 4x6 inch Postcards: $139.99 US (Same info as the catalog sheet.)
• 500 Full color 4x6 inch Postcards: FREE (You do these to promote something very special like a special discount on a particular product or an exclusive item they can only get with this card.)
• GRAND TOTAL: $689.98 US

Now if you have some “extra” money laying around, you can always add these:

• 1,000 Full color 9x12 inch Presentation Folder: $1,200.75 US (You can place all the above items in the folder. Very classy!)
• 5,000 Full color 12x18 inch Posters: $425.75 (Single sided only)

As you can see the LPJ Design “Starter Set method” should give you enough supplies to last 3 to 5 conventions realistically. Like I said, follow what How to Make Webcomics tells you and use Clubflyers.com and you should be off to a better start at conventions then most people out there. Talk to you later…

[Devil’s Workshop] Image Portfolio Platinum Edition 1.1 Now available

Louis Porter Jr. Design, in association with Devil’s Workshop, has released it all new line for Image Portfolio, Image Portfolio Platinum Edition 1.1 at RPGNow.com and DriveThruRPG.com. Here is information on this product:

Image Portfolio Platinum Edition is the premier line of online PDF art resource that gaming companies can use. All the art pieces in this art resource can be used in any of their upcoming RPG ideas or projects. When a person acquires Image Portfolio, any of the art in the PDF can be used in any of their own products as if they owned it them. This is due to the limited licensing agreement of Image Portfolio. This specific Image Portfolio contains 5 full color images of female character with and without backgrounds. Available at RPGNow.com.

Coming Soon - Image Portfolio Platinum Edition 1.1

Just a little taste of what is coming up from Louis Porter Jr. Design and our new Image Portfolio Line, Image Portfolio Platinum Edition 1.1. Better save your pennies. Coming Soon.

Hot Artist of the Week - Sergio Quijada

The best thing about a hot artist is that you can tell the quality of their work from a mile away. Talk always shines through and Sergio Quijada is a great eaxmple of that. I have been a follower of his work for several years now, since seeing his personal website and the Dini-inspired art work he had done. Go take a look at the portfolio and you can sell all his ability and quality. Enjoy. Talk to you later...

Warhammer 40k Space Marine Trailer

Comic Book Store Visit: Coliseum of Comics

I just has the pleasure to check out the highly successful central Florida comic book store chain, Coliseum of Comics. I had the pleasure to see the Orlando store and the Kissimmee store. Both were proeffsionakl looking and very nice. The Orlando store was the smaller of the two stores, but both were versy solid stores. If you are ever in Orlando at Disbey World check out Coliseum of Comics you will not be disapponted, I wasn't. 3.5 stars out of 4 stars. Talk to you later...

Star Wars: Old Republic Trailer

See it here: Enjoy

More on Marvel’s price increases...

If you are a marvel comic book fan, like me, you might want to read this. Talk to you later...