I will be at MidSouthCon  [link] this weekend in Memphis. It is hard to believe that this is the 30th MidSouthCon.
I have been attending this show since MidSouthCon 2. I will have about 15 new pieces that have not been seen before at MidSouthCon. If you
are going to be there, please stop by the Dealer's Room and check 'em out.

I recently completed the graphic novel project that I have been working on for 16 months. It is the longest project I've ever worked on. It feels a little strange not to have sequential pages to work on. Before I start another project, I am going back and completing some "Unfinished Business" with several of the drawings I have completed over the past few years. I always meant to go back and color these images some day. Well, it's some day. I plan on taking the next several weeks and painting the images I like. I am very pleased with the progress so far. I will be updating fairly regularly.

I will not be returning to ebay auctions anytime soon. The auction revenue has dropped significantly. Ebay has also changed several rules that make it harder on an artist.
DA will be my web presence for now, along with Facebook [link] may start posting images first to my Facebook Fan Page before anywhere else, just to increase awareness of the site.

For all of the people that have asked permission to color my work, please feel free to do so, as long as it is for personal use. Please give a ink back to the original and give me credit for creating the original image.

Thanks to all who have commented. Most of the comments have been very generous. It is nice to have the feedback when I spend so much time in the studio.
I appreciate it very much. I am going to try and reply to comments as time permits. It might take a while.

Thanks again for all of the wonderful support!

Mitch

I will be in Collinsville, IL this weekend at Archon. Collinsville is right outside of St. Louis.
They have a great little convention center that is perfect for a con. It has been about five years since I set up at Archon.
I'm looking forward to getting back.

I'm still working feverishly on the King David graphic novel. Still have a lot of work left, but it will be worth it.

I didn't get many pictures from Comic Con. I stayed real busy. About all I got were pictures of the convention
before the doors opened.

Thanks again for all of the support!
Mitch

It is about two weeks until Comic Con. Dean Zachary and I will be at Booth 2201, in the small press pavilion. I will have some new art for sale, plus prints and the 2011 Yearbook. The books arrived last week and they look great. If you are going to be at SDCC,please stop by. I will not be taking commissions this year for the convention. I will be working on pages for the King David graphic novel project I've been working on all year. I am now working on the entire book. The other artists have not been able to continue working on the project, so when all is said and done, I'll have 144 pages or so completed.

I apologize to all who I may not have responded to over the last few months. Things have been busy and my responses have spotty at best. If you are inquiring about coloring my work, please do so. Give me credit for drawing the piece and a link back here.

I'd like to thank all of you for the kind words and comments about the work.
They are very much appreciated.

Thanks again!
Mitch

I've been very busy with the King David Volume 2 project. I'm about half way complete. It has been nice working on sequential pages, and I've found I really like the landscape format. Adam Shaw is also working on the project. He has some great work, check it out. King David Volume 1 is available at [link]

We have our Booth confirmation for San Diego Comic Con, Booth 2201. Same as last year.
Normally, I have commission auctions up on ebay prior to the convention. This year I may just take commission requests here from DA. It will only be 8 at the most. I still have 4 left over from last year when the King David project started early! If it looks like there is enough response, I'll post more info in May or June.

I've been listening to a lot of audiobooks. I listened to Glen Cook's Black Company series. I've seen Glen around at conventions for years, but I never had read any of his books. It is tough to read and draw at the same time! I plan to let him know how much I enjoyed them. I've also discovered Joe Abercrombie. I've really enjoyed his books. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoyed his gritty realistic approach to fantasy. Kind of like a George R.R. Martin, only bloodier.

I am looking forward to HBO's Game of Thrones. I think this one may be a good, if not great. I look at how SyFy butchered Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series with The Seeker and I cringe. I really hope that Game of Thrones is a success. If so, could the Wheel of Time be far behind?

Speaking of Wheel of Time, isn't Brandon Sanderson just kicking ass? Not only is finishing the Wheel of Time series for the late Robert Jordan, but his other fantasy books are really fun. He has a great way of explaining how magic works in his stories.

For those of you who spend time at the drawing board and want to listen to audiobooks, audible.com is a division of Amazon and have audiobooks for immediate download.

That's all for now,
Mitch

Thank you so much for the emails! I've had a lot of inquiries to where I have been. I even had one asking if I had passed away. Still here! Just working hard!

Last Spring, my friend Dean Zachary asked me to color a project for him. The project was a chapter in the graphic novel King David Volume 1. The pages turned out really nice. Dean and I have an interesting synergy when working together. Volume 1 can be found at www.shepherdkingpublishing.com  When it came time to start Volume 2 in late October, Dean was not available to pencil any chapters. The publisher asked me if I could actually draw as well as paint the pages.

This was an interesting question. I had not drawn sequential pages since 1987. I, of course, said "Sure! I can do that."

So for the last few months, I have been working on King David Volume 2. I have 4 of the 6 chapters in the book. I am penciling as well as painting the pages in photoshop. It is really a fun project. It combines story telling, my love of history and a great page rate! I have finished the first 30 pages. I have another 15 page chapter after this one. 2 more chapters after that.

I have permission to upload a few images as I work on the project. I have put page 19 up in the gallery. It is King David and the Israelites  taking the citystate of Jebus, which became Jerusalem. The research has really been fun. The only drawback is that I don't have time to render every detail that should be there.

I will be busy with the project for the next several months.

Thanks again for all of the questions. If I am slow to respond, please be patient. This project is a real time consumer.

Mitch

It's been a week or so since Comic Con.
I've rested up a bit. Cleaned the studio for its annual cleaning. Time to get back to work.

I've a couple of big projects ahead. It looks like it will be a busy winter.

I've posted the prebooked commissions that I have to ship after comic con. There were several really good pieces that were picked up there.

Comic Con was very busy.
Here are few highlights in no particular order.

We got to know the people from 4th Dimension Entertainment.
www.4thdimensionentertainment.com
Great bunch folks with terrific product!
I've been a Tracey Butler fan for some time. I was good to meet Tracey, Der-Shing, and Tessa.
BUT, the most fun part was meeting   

I got to finally meet Khwan from Khwan.com and pinupheaven.com.
I've been a member of her yahoo group for years and finally got to meet her.

Several artists and writers came by the booth. Met a lot of new friends and
caught up with some old friends also.

One particular highlight was reconnecting with Kyle Gentry. I met Kyle some fifteen years ago at a cartoonist meeting in Memphis. He was a young guy asking about art schools. He finally wound up going to The Ringling art school in Florida. I had not seen him since that meeting. He came by the booth with his lovely wife and re-introduced himself. I was floored. His skills far surpass mine. It was really good to reconnect with him.

I was fortunate enough to meet so many people from DA. It was really great to be able to put faces to so many people. Thank you all for stopping by.

I ran out of bookmarks. They seem to have gone over well.

I actually had an adult entertainer come by the booth, dressed as Black Widow. She wore the outfit very well. Her and her writer discussed a comic cover project. Maybe the project will happen.

I met Nunzio DeFilippis and his wife, Christina Weir. They are booth writers who have worked for Marvel, DC and Oni Press. Nunzio was so very complimentary. Thank you so much Nunzio for remembering us obscure black and white boys from the eighties!

I got the chance to meet and talk with Mike DeBalfo
Very nice guy and a great artist.

Despite having travel problems on Wednesday, The convention went really well.
We stayed at the Bayfront Hilton. Great place and a short walk.

There were many other convention moments, but that is enough for now.
Mitch

We had a great Comic Con this year. We did have some problems arriving on Wednesday, and missed most of preview night. From Thursday on, it was great. A terrific Booth location with great traffic. I met a lot of people on DA. Thank you so much for stopping by. I sold about 75% of the original art that was for sale and a bunch of prints. I sold all but six of the books that were shipped. I did not ship the entire inventory. I will have the 2010 Yearbook up for sale on ebay in the next day or so. I spent way too much time talking and I didn't complete all of the commissions I had planned. I will be taking the next several days to complete those.

Thank you so much to all of those who came by the booth!
Mitch

Preparations are complete. Everything has shipped and we will be set up in time for preview night on Wednesday. I will be at Booth 2201. If you are going to be at SDCC, please stop by and pick up a bookmark. They are a huge 3"x9" bookmark and they are free!
I will also have several new pieces of art, prints and the new 2010 Yearbook.

I haven't posted much in the past several weeks, so I've added a few of the new pieces that will be available in San Diego.

Mitch

Preparations are proceeding for San Diego. I'll have several new pieces of art and several new prints. We have a new booth location and things are looking good! Booth 2201! I'll have new business cards and new oversized bookmarks to giveaway for those who are interested.

The prebooked commission auction did very well. I sold out of all 15 commissions in about a day and a half. I can get started as soon as we set up.

Thanks again to all of the comments!
Mitch

I am prebooking commissions for San Diego Comic Con! Here is the ebay link [link]

I am only taking 15 commissions. They will be laid out in the studio and finished at SDCC. These are the only commissions I am doing this year, along with a charity auction later this year. For all of you who have been asking about commissions, here they are! By prebooking commissions, it allows me time to start working as soon as we set up at the convention. I don't have to wait for people to come by or try to find them before they leave. It has worked out very well in the past. You don't have to be a the convention for a commission. I will ship after the con. It will just be completed there. If you are going to be there, let me know and I will wave the shipping costs.

I am also taking preorders for the 2010 Yearbook. [link] book is at the printer now. I approved the galley proof last week. I will have it available at SDCC, but you can preorder now through ebay, and have it shipped when it arrives from the printer. The 2009 book sold out and this one may well do the same.  It has a very limited number of only 100 copies.

I am currently preparing for the convention. I will have 48 new pieces that have not been posted online, along with several new prints. If you are going to be at SDCC, I will be at booth 2201. Please stop by!

I apologize to all of you who have left notes and messages. I will reply when I can.
Thanks again for all the kind words!
Mitch

I've received several emails and notes asking where I've been. The past month has been incredibly busy.  I had a deadline of July 15 change to June 1 at the first of the month. I've been squeezing two and a half months of work into 30 days. It hasn't been easy. While waiting for approvals, I've finished up the cover for the 2010 Yearbook. It is a yearbook, not just a sketchbook. Most artist's sketchbooks are only 24 pages. This one is a full 64 pages with color plates. It goes to press the first week of June and will be available at San Diego Comic Con in July.

Speaking of SDCC, we have moved to a corner booth this year. Booth # 2201. We are really excited about having more table space. With three of us in the booth, it gets kind of crowded at times. There is a lot of work left to do to be ready for the show.

I appreciate all of the comments and questions. Please do not be offended if I do not answer immediately, I have a lot of work to catch up on. I appreciate all of the support.

Thanks again!
Mitch

I've had several emails asking where I was. I haven't been posting as much, but it doesn't mean I haven't stopped working. I've had several projects to complete and I am preparing for San Diego Comic Con. We got word last week that we will be moving to a corner booth. Jim Hall, Dean Zachary and I will be in Booth 2201! We are pretty excited
about it. It gives more room.

I've been working on new images to sell at San Diego. I won't be posting them on the web. They will only be available at the show. Some might make it into the new sketchbook though. I got that scheduled to go to press in June. It looks like it will be 64 pages with several color images.

I'd like to thank for the heads up on a guy using my art as his own.
I appreciate it!

I've had several requests for prints of pencil drawings through DA. Is that something that many would interested in? If so, what size? Which pieces?

Thanks again for all of the support!
Mitch

March Madness may be the most overused description, but if the shoe fits...   Things have been very busy. I was a guest at MidSouthCon last weekend. It is a local Memphis convention that has been growing in the last few years. I saw a lot of old friends and met some new ones. Great crowd and I stayed busy all weekend. I sold a lot of pieces that I had planned on taking to San Diego Comic Con, so now I have to hustle and replace the artwork sold!

I'm also coloring a chapter in a graphic novel. I don't usually work with other artists, but my friend is penciling a chapter in the novel, I agreed to color/paint the pages. Dean's last project was colored by someone who just didn't have a grasp of his energetic pencils. After all, friends don't let friends have bad color!

Last week, I was contacted by Kate told me of a project that she was doing to help her cousin with Cooley's Anemia. I get a lot of requests for charity work. I just can't afford to help with everything, but Kate got to me. I immediately agreed to help. I have four images at in the print shop. They are the only images I have on Deviant Art that are for sale. All of the profits are going towards the charity. Three of the prints are shown here, but the fourth is exclusively on Please stop by and take a look. Kate has some really good art and a lot of really great artist friends. You never know who's artwork you'll find. You don't have to buy a print to show support (though that would really be appreciated!) Take a look, leave a comment,give a fav or even a watch. If any of you have ever had a sick relative, you know what strength can be gained from a few kind words. I've found that the deviant art community is a very generous group. It is refreshing in this day and age. It would be nice if we could at least send some traffic to

I would also like to thank you all for your kind words. they are very much appreciated!


Mitch

*UPDATE*
Well, It seems that DA doesn't allow groups to sell prints from other artists, so the print shop at has been closed. Please check with them for other options.

Thank you so very much for your comments and remarks. It is nice to have immediate feedback on your work. I work in the studio about ten hours a day, and sometimes play around with other projects for several more. Your comments help keep the work going.

I apologize for not answering every comment. There are just to many. I will try to answer comments posted on the profile page (eventually).

I don't keep journal entries very well. I don't really have much to say that people would want to read. I think my time would be better spent at the drawing table. I have had several notes and emails with the same questions. I thought I might cover them here.

Many have asked permission to color or ink some of my images.
Please do! I have no problem with anyone wishing to do so. You also have permission to post on DA. Credit and a link back would be appreciated.

There have been may questions about my work speed.
There is no magic formula here. I plan each days work. The old saying applies, "Plan your work, and work your plan." Speed comes with practice, repetition, and hard work. Unfortunately, there is no shortcut.

For those who have asked what they can do to be better artists, all I can say is work hard. Study. Then work harder.

I have had questions about commissions. I am not taking commissions at this time. For the first time in may years, I did not offer commissions for the Holidays. I will post a notice when my commission schedule is open.

I think that covers most the common questions.

If any of have any questions or ideas for journal entries, send them. I'll try to keep up with the journal a bit better. I just don't have much to say.

Thanks again for all of your support! I really appreciate it!
Mitch

Comic Con was great fun, but a whole lot of work! We had to stay at a hotel farther from the convention center than we were used to. I did a lot of walking! The show was very successful. I sold lots of stuff, saw old friends and made new ones. It is amazing how an event that is this much fun can be so much work! I set up with my goods friends Jim Hall and Dean Zachary. Thank you to all of you who came by the booth. I was wonderful to see how many fans came by from DA. I really appreciate it!

It is amazing to me the artists that can go from San Diego, turn around in two weeks and go to Chicago or Gen Con in mid August, then set up at Dragon Con over Labor Day weekend.

Now it is back to work. I have a back log of commissions, several freelance projects and a couple of big projects I can't talk about yet. I will post more art in the following weeks.

I'd like to thank all of you who have posted comments. I really appreciate the feedback!

Mitch

Thank you all for the welcome! I appreciate the comments over the past few weeks. It is nice to have some feedback on the work. I apologize for not replying sooner to some of the comments. I've been getting ready for San Diego Comic Con next week. Setting up at Comic Con is not like setting up at a normal convention, it's like being part of the circus! It's tiring, but a lot of fun. I will be in Booth # 2204, please stop by. I will have a lot work that has not been seen before. I will also have prints and the New 2009 Sketchbook. There are only 100 of them and they have already been moving briskly. The feedback on the book has been overwhelming positive.

One of the things that has struck me on Deviantart is the number of incredibly talented people on the site. Not only artists, but photographers, models, writers and people who just appreciate the talent. It is really inspiring.

If I don't get to all of the comments, I apologize in advance. I seem to draw much better than I write.

Thanks again for the warm welcome!

Mitch