Daniel Govar

Projects & Commissions Update

I’ve updated the personal website – removing many older pieces (there will be more removed over the coming week), and adding many new pieces to all galleries. I hope to have the entire site updated over the next week, with a new section added in a month for an upcoming project. More on that later. Below are some of the new commission pieces I’ve added as well as personal pieces that will be added to the print gallery soon. Additionally I hope to have my Con Schedule listed soon – it will appear on the sidebar menu as well with the site update.

Outland Collective

Many of you will note the new banner on the right – I have joined the Outland Collective along with some art pals and have begun posting pieces there monthly as well as this month’s First Friday piece, Seven Devils. The First Friday pieces will be prints in the near future so keep an eye out for that link soon in the sidebar. Every third Monday of the month I’ll have a new challenge piece there.

Projects

I’ve been working on a few new projects recently; a couple I hope to be able to talk about soon. I have also been plugging away at RELAUNCH chapter 2 with Ron Perazza, and I recently wrapped production on zombie sword blade designs for Neptune Trading. When I have one in my hand expect pictures and a link to purchase them.  Because of the projects I am currently working on, commissions are closed for me until mid March, before coming conventions. Those commissions I do post over this month are pieces I’ve had on my list already. And now – back to work!

The Road Goes Ever On

The Road Goes Ever On is the latest comic experiment by Ron Perazza and myself, based on the Walking Songs by J.R.R. Tolkien and makes use of the Yanapax player to deliver comics on all devices and using a variety of story-telling techniques. This latest experiment features an Infinite “Shire” canvas spanning a day and all seasons. Read it for free by clicking the image and heading over to the ComiC Book Think Tank!

For those wondering about more regular site updates – they are coming – I have been swamped with commissions and will be uploading a great many of them in the next day or so, as well as another wave just after the holidays for commissions that have been given as gifts.

Baltimore Comic Con, NYCC, & RELAUNCH

The last two big conventions I attended this year (Baltimore Comic Con & New York Comic Con), were nothing short of spectacular. I created a little over 40 new commissions and sketches for those two cons and met fans and fast friends alike. A huge thanks to everyone who stopped by my tables at these two conventions, and said hello and perhaps picked something up. Many new pieces by commissioners have been added to the various galleries. Check them out and be sure to leave a comment!

RELAUNCH!

If you’ve been following my tweets and various postings on Facebook, I imagine you’ve seen some cryptic messages about Space Girls which was in reference to RELAUNCH! Relaunch is a comic I created with my highly inventive friend and colleague Ron Perazza, a veteran of both Marvel and DC Comics, and a maverick in the world of digital comics. If you know me, you know I’m a big proponent of digital media and furthering content created for digital devices, so when Ron approached me with an idea he had for a new type of storytelling, I leapt at the chance. With Relaunch we set out to tell a story in a modern fashion and in doing so, enlisted the help of another friend, developer Oscar Gagliardi to create a player for this type of content – our collective goal: to experiment and provide the tools and fruits of our experiments to the comic creating community. The site we set up to house these experiments and share our developments is called ComicBookThinkTank.com. The player that’s been developed called “Yanapax” is available as open source software for free download. There’s more to come…

Store: I’ve updated the store with my new sketchbook as well as some originals I’ve just made available for sale.

Upcoming Conventions: I will be at the Annapolis Comic Con this coming saturday, and the last convention I plan on being at for the year is the New Orleans Comic Con. If you can make it out to either of these two shows – stop by and say hello! If you are interested in a commission for one of these two shows – send me a note at the contact link above.

We Are Tekken!

So there’s this cool new promotion going on called “We Are Tekken”, that I had a hand in. A few concept art guys and comickers – some new and some superstars (name drop Neal Adams, J0ck), were asked to illustrate our take on some of the new iterations of Tekken characters in their new game Tag Tournament 2 for the launch and for a new contest they have where artists can win cash, fame, glory; all that jazz. To enter the contest – CLICK HERE.

Below is a small version of my image for the promotion, and if you would like to see how it’s made, click it to see a walkthrough of the proccess.

Heroes Con 2012 and Projects

I’ve been diligently working on a few projects over the last few months that are all coming to a close, some which have wrapped in the gaming world, others in the comic world are nearing completion. I also have agreed to work on some book illustrations next month and have another comic project that should be getting underway right on the heels of those illustrations. In other words, busy, busy, busy. That said – I will not be taking commissions for a while, unless we have already spoken about or arranged one. I really appreciate all the inquiries and love – I wish my words could express how awesome it is to read my email each morning.

If you’re looking for a commission or have a project you would like me to work on – I schedule everything out, so please send me an inquiry and at the very least I will let you know when I foresee freeing up.

Hereos Con and Commissions: I am no longer taking pre-con commissions for the show. I booked up on those a few weeks ago. I will be putting a number of folks down on a pre-sketch list for the show itself. It is almost full now as I want to leave slots for folks who walk up at the convention. I do understand how crazy this convention can be and the rush to get on lists early, so I thought it only fair for some of the folks who follow me online as well be able to grab a piece and not have to try and rush to my table early. How does one get on my list? Shoot me a note via that handy contact link at the top of the page and mention Heroes Con and what you are after.

Heroes Con: I’ll be in Artist Alley, table #650 – there will be a large dragon banner with my name and I’ll be the one furiously drawing my heart out. I will not arrive at the convention until Friday around 1 pm due to previous obligations, but will be there for the rest of the convention and will be at the Drink & Draw Friday Night and the Auction on Saturday. I’ll be selling sketchbooks and a few prints, and perhaps something more at the con and will be putting the Red Sonja piece below in the art auction. Also below are some of the pre-con commission pieces.

C2E2 2012 – Post Show Report

Wow. That was about twice the size of last year’s convention and Saturday in particular felt like New York Comic Con. There were very few lulls in foot traffic and the fans and attendees were so wonderful! So many awesome people stopped by, bought prints, got sketches and sketchbooks and generally just chit-chatted. It was great seeing folks just interested in what I was working on and asking when they could read whatever I had coming out. Nearly everyone who saw the dragon work – mostly Temeraire-based illustrations and Tolkien/Smaug, asked what comic this was for/about, in which case I pointed them to the first book, and Naomi Novik’s site, and where to find her fantastic novels (everywhere really). For those asking about the big Dragon print – I have to check on some things first, but check back here and I’ll share when I can.

I did about 10 commissions over the weekend and a couple of personal pieces such as this one:

I also picked up a ton of originals from friends and a few artists I really admire; Primarily of two themes I adore – Kitty Pryde & Lockheed and Dragons. Here are a couple of gems I picked up:

Mallory Harrelson

Paul Azeceta

John Bivens

Eric Canete

Aside from all of this the night life was great, the restaraunts were awesome, and heck, even Shia Lebouef made a comic and had a table in artist alley (you can do it as well!). I met a ton of people and had an awesome time with great friends, and now have a ridiculous ammount of work to do to finish up various projects. I will be at Boston Comic Con next weekend and only have 1 pre commission slot left before the weekend. Send a note to contact up top if interested and see you at the convention!

C2E2, Boston Comic Con, & Heroes

 Three upcoming conventions I will be at in the coming months – two over the next two weekends – Chicago’s C2E2 (April 13-15th – Artist Alley Table L13), and the Boston Comic Con (April 21-22nd where I wil be a guest), and the ever popular Heroes Convention in Charlotte North Carolina (June 22-24th). As usual I will have select prints, sketchbooks, bookmarks, originals, and will be doing a limited number of sketches. If you are looking to pick one up at any of these shows, please send me a contact note to get on the list or set up a pre-con commission pick-up, (I spend longer on these pieces). Other Conventions that are further off that I will be attending this year: New York Comic Con, Baltimore Comic Con, and if possible Dragon Con in Atlanta again.

Projects update: I’m wrapping up pages for a fun short story for pal Mike Walton’s False Positive, and working on a number of illustrations and concept pieces for video games and novel covers. I’ve been working on two other comic projects as well that are nearing fruition and will be getting exposure soon. I’ll mention and point to things as soon as I can. In other words – I’ve been very busy lately.

In other news, a bunch of new pieces have been added to the comics and illustration sections. A smattering is below, but scroll the gallery for about 10 more. Enjoy and hope to see some of you at a future convention!

Also, I’m nearing the 1,000 “likes” on my Facebook fan page. When it hit’s 1,000, I will pick a person at random from the list and will do a free commission for him or her, so if you haven’t “liked” the page yet – please do to enter yourself in the drawing

Interview, New Orleans, Temeraire

First, I’ve completed the big Termeraire piece some of you have been following progress on via twitter, tumblr, and Facebook. I’ve posted it below, and if you click there are detail shots as well.

Copic, maker of the ink pens and markers I use, has posted an artist interview with me, where you can see the large Temeraire piece being created and where I talk process. Also, that piece has been posted on the front page of Temeraire.org! Thanks guys (Can’t wait for the new book!)

Lastly, I leave tomorrow for New Orleans Comic Con. If you have a commission you would like, to pick up at the con, I am opening a small number of pre-con commissions. Shoot me a note via contact above and let me know if you’ll be there! I’ll be set up at artist alley table 2063.

Temeraire, New Mutants, etc.

I’ve uploaded some of the Temeraire pieces I have been doing lately – A series of pieces from Naomi Novik’s brilliant historical fantasy series about dragons during the Napoleonic Wars. If you haven’t read it, you should! Below are links and you can find them in the illustration section.

Project Rooftop – one of my favorite sites, has posted what are most likely my final redesigns of the New Mutants. They were a lot of fun, and I have to give a shout out to Paul who is the proud owner of the big group piece. Those and more can be found in the Comics section.

New work, projects, conventions.

With 2011 out the door I did a tally of all the illustration work I did last year. 293 images in total. A nice big number. I want to do about a quarter more this year as I didn’t really get on a roll until mid summer. While I was truly proud of the vast majority of the work I did I was only able to scan and post about a third of the total. I uploaded a lot of new work to the comics directory, and will add still more to the illustration, tolkien, and sketches sections later this week, so keep an eye out. I’ve linked to some of my favorites below, and click over to the comics section for a whole lot more. Additionally, there is something else I worked on a little while back that folks will be able to see this Friday.

I have not added any new sequential work as last year was a strange one. I pitched a number of projects that either were rejected, put on hold in another case, were scrapped shortly in, or are still in the pitch process. I also did an insane number of commissions last year. As to new projects, I have what I am going to just call project “X”, (clever, I know), that is about 20 pages in. I may start showing specific people some of it at the begining of this year after I finish the first arc. I hope to be able to share that with everyone just after February but time and legalities must run their course. Another project I started and backburnered due to work conflicts will oddly be viewable to people around the same time. I can say it’s a departure from my usual work and should raise some eyebrows. Another project I have been working on is a pitch that I’ll certainly post here whether it’s accepted or not. It’s a bit of a dream project that I figure I can try and do now or be disappointed in myself that I never tried. Lastly, I am illustrating a short story by Mike Walton that’s a lot of fun and will be going up on his False Positive comic site. If you haven’t checked it out – you MUST. It is creepy, evil, fun.

Commissions: I am currently closed for commissions for a while due to various projects I have ongoing. I took on a zillion commissions just before the holidays in order to have free time to devote to some of these personal and non-personal sequential efforts. Should you want a commission, please use the contact link above and I will give you an ETA on when I might free up. I generally open commissions just prior to a convention for people who might want to put one in for pick up at the show. Which leads me to…

Conventions: I will be at Wizard World New Orleans January 28th and 29th. If anyone wants one for that show send me a note above and please note that it is for a New Orleans commission. Other shows I will be attending this year: C2E2, Boston Comic Con, NYCC, Heroes, and Baltimore Comic Con. What will I have at said shows? Prints, sketchbooks, originals, and I will be doing a limited number of commissions.

I think that’s about it. Have any questions? Shoot me a note here. I’ll have another post come Friday Happy New Year everyone!