Oct 14, 2016

Panels...

Here are some panels from some future issues of The Killer Inside Me.

The B/W second printing cover for issue 1 came out yesterday and it looks like issue 3 should be in stores next Wednesday.

Some other good news. It looks like issue 2 sold out too, so there will be a B/W second printing cover for that as well.






Oct 4, 2016

The Killer Inside Me #2

Out this week... tomorrow actually.

Here's the cover plus the rough I sent to my editor before starting it. I had already set the "look" and "style" of the covers with the first issue which took me a long time to settle on.

There's a preview of the issue out there, but it's full of spoilers and has what I'd say is a really big moment of the story in it, so avoid it if you're planning on picking up the book.



Sep 8, 2016

The Killer Inside Me #1 - Second Priniting!

Looks like the first issue has sold out and IDW is doing a second printing!

Going to have to keep this short since I have a deadline coming up.

I'm a guest at the Edmonton Expo (Friday, Sept 23 - Sunday, Sept 25). Swing by and say hi.

A few spots left on my pre-convention commission list. Contact me to get on it (I added an email contact thing to the blog - on the top right!) I'm keeping the price low for these since I want to keep them loose and fairly quick.

9 x 12 (b/w + inkwash/markers) - $40 (Have to be picked up at the show.)


Link to Bleeding Cool article about the sell out.

The second printing cover. I like the red they chose.


A sketch from a recent signing. Pitt pen, pentel pocket brush, and ink wash.

Aug 30, 2016

Interview

I did an interview for The Killer Inside Me with Multiversity Comics earlier this week. Some character designs and black and white pages are in there too. Check it out right HERE!

The first issue is out tomorrow.

Here's a process shot of that first issue cover. I think I was trying to get textures and marks onto the final that don't end up there unless you get a bit messy.



Aug 28, 2016

The Killer Inside Me #1 - Preview

There's a preview of the first issue up on Comic Book Resources. Click HERE to check it out!

It's a pretty direct adaptation of the Jim Thompson novel.

Art wise, I've really been trying to open my work up. That means spotting fewer blacks and leaving areas for colour to do the "work". This also makes scenes where I need to use heavy amounts of ink more impactful.... I hope.

I was initially going to colour this book, but I needed more lead time to accommodate that, so we brought in Jason Millet to colour the book and he has totally kicked butt!

I ended up adding a layer or two of grey tones to each of the pages just to clarify where and how I wanted shadows placed.

Here are the unlettered colour pages.

Pencil inks/grey tones by me and colours by Jason Millet.






Aug 26, 2016

The Killer Inside Me #1

I have a new book that hits stores this upcoming Wednesday. I've been plenty busy with it and haven't had much free time to update the blog (or my tumblr for that matter), but I've been pretty active on twitter.

The new book is the comic adaptation of the JIM THOMPSON cult classic pulp/noir novel "The Killer Inside Me". Here are the 4 covers that have been solicited so far. I'm pretty happy with this batch of covers, although that first one had a whole different cover at one point that I decided to trash (I'll post some process stuff in a few weeks... or sooner.)

The solicit information:

Jim Thompson’s sinewy, brutal, and beloved novel comes to life as a five-part graphic noir! Adapted by writer Devin Faraci (The Fade-In) and illustrated with gut-punchingly vivid art by Vic Malhotra (Murder Book).

In THE KILLER INSIDE ME, Thompson went where few have dared, giving us a pitch-black glimpse into the mind of the American serial killer years before Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy, and Brett Easton Ellis’s American Psycho, in the novel that will forever be known as the master performance of one of the greatest crime novelists of all time.
Lou Ford is the deputy sheriff of a small town in Texas. The worst thing most people can say against him is that he’s a little slow and a little boring. But, then, most people don’t know about the sickness — the sickness that almost got Lou put away when he was younger. The sickness that is about to surface again.

Funny that they used Murder Book as my previous credit for this book. since that's especially old and some of my first work. On to the covers--






Apr 24, 2016

Cover Process: CHUM #1 Variant Cover

Here's the process behind a recent cover.

The fine folks at Comix Tribe asked me to do a variant cover for their upcoming hard boiled "surf noir" book called CHUM.

Written by friend and up and coming writer Ryan K Lindsay with gorgeous art by Sami Kivela and colours by Mark Dale.

The first issue is in stores this Wednesday (April 27th)
EDIT: I've heard that something happened at the printer and the first issue will be in stores on May 4th.... so look out for issue 1 this Wednesday or next.

Thumbnails
To focus on character or location? The location ones are a bit understated where the surfer with gun image gets the idea of the series across simply and quickly. So the decision was easy.
Inks
Flipped the composition around so the Comix Tribe logo wouldn't obscure any important elements.
The pencils for this were nearly non existent and most of the work was done in the inks. Playing black shapes against each other to see how far I could go design wise.


Colours
Changed this from my initial thumbnail's colours to simplify and add more oomph.
One colour seems to always work, especially when the inks are doing so much of the heavy lifting. White highlights emphasis form and separate elements. 



Final Cover



--vic

Oct 18, 2015

Travel Sketches...

Been away traveling and working on a new book. Just so the blog doesn't get too stale, I'll be throwing on the spot sketches up here. Maybe some process stuff too.

 

Line sketch on the spot. Added photoshop colours after the fact.


Pen and Watercolour


Both of these were done in Paris.

--vic