Blog is a Movin'

Hi Folks. Firstly, thanks to those of you who have been reading my blog and following my work here. I hope you continue to do so as I transition the site to a new home on Wordpress. The address is easy enough to remember:
timdurning.wordpress.com
I've already begun posting news on this site including new work and an award I was lucky enough to receive. Thanks and hope to see you there.

Influences

I recently did a presentation to the junior illustrators at the University of the Arts, where my good pal Chris Patchell teaches. The presentation began with talking about my studio, schedule and projects, but it also included this image tiling of influences on my work. Some images represent artists I admire, other pieces are about a mood or style that resonates with me so I thought I would share it. Enjoy.

Gifts from the Library

I illustrated and designed a promotional package for The Friends of the Boca Raton Library. The events was their 1st Annual Book Festival, a fundraiser to support their local library. It's been one of my favorite jobs in recent months and The Friends were kind enough to send me a packet of samples and a certificate of their their thanks. Looking forward to the 2nd Annual Book Fair!

New Addition

Studio set up/ 12" Wacom Cintiq hooked up to my 13" MacBook

In my job as an illustrator and comic book colorist, I work almost exclusively in Photoshop painting digitally. This should make things a little easier.

I received this tablet from an in-house job after some negotiation about the fee for a long job. The number was lower than I would have liked and thought that it couldn't hurt to add some trade in to make it a little more fair. The studio, for whom I worked for over 2 years, was super friendly about it and really willing to help me out. I used this tablet a lot when I worked for them and it's a dream for anyone who works digitally, especially in drawing digitally. The screen is a lot smaller than I'm used to at my home studio, but it's a fair trade off in my mind. Now I've just got to work my way up to the full version!

OUT TWO DRY

Tonight, March 4th @6pm, is the Philadelphia Cartoonist Society's second Out to Dry show at Brave New Worlds Comics. A collection of sketches, personal work and printing arts will be up for sale on the walls of Philadelphia's premier comics store. I'll have a collection of studies, sketches, and original drawings created for other illustrations, so if you're in the area come out for a great time and buy some art.

More Lineage

Lineage, a webcomic I produce with writer Michael Taggart, is picking up steam. I'm really happy with the results so far and wanted to share some more pages in the hopes that more of you guys will pick up reading the book.

In the pages below, we're going into the Illicit Disctrict- a place in Home where mystics, prophets and all manner of societal ills are allowed to run rampant so long as they don't stray from the district's borders. Enjoy!

From the Trash Bin

Here's a recent job that was sadly killed in the sketch phase. It was a rushed cover for PW, the story dealt with police submitting Hispanic men in Kensington to random cheek swab tests. I was looking forward to executing this one but it was thought the idea was too abstract, so the paper passed on the job. Better luck, next time I suppose.

Comic News and Notes

It's an awesome month for comics I work on! The second issue of the Shrek comic by Ape Entertainment came out this month, drawn by Christine Larsen, colors by myself. Below is a preview of one of the spreads, but you can see more at Christine's blog here.

In other news, another project I work on, Valentine, is getting all kinds of great news. In addition to being published by one of the bigger houses in the comics industry – secrets to be revealed later – all of the iPhone/iPad/web versions of the comic are now free to read- investigate here. I hope you check out this awesome fantasy story set during the Napoleonic Wars. I'm working on a print-exclusive bonus story, both drawn and colored by me, so if you want to see more than the meager jpgs that make their way here I hope you'll pick up the book when it's out. Until then, enjoy some more excerpts from issue 8:

Lineage, a webcomic

I've been quietly working on a comic with writer/bud Michael Taggart. Mike and I have collaborated on lots of projects in the past and this is by far our most ambitious. The story has taken a long time to develop and has gone through several incarnations before we arrived at the current method.

I wanted to keep it under wraps until we had a good amount of backlogged pages, promising I would start making it public in the new year. With the coming of 2011 and 15 pages, we decided now was the time to start going public with our work. The project has allowed me to experiment with new ways of working and there is a lot to look forward to as it evolves. I hope you check out the work and if you like the story so far, check out the website for updates every Wednesday by going to www.lineagecomic.com.

Included here are the first 5 pages. Enjoy.