A Watercolor Christmas (with Dragons)

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas day! We made many of our gifts this year with Anna taking first prize for her three impressive Waldorf Dolls:



Angelica sewed little felt Green Eggs and Ham for Zita to play with (no picture available!) and I came in a distant 3rd by having one of my watercolor pictures framed for Anna (I also gave her the first two volumes of Scott Pilgrim to sweeten the deal). Here’s the framed picture:



I also had the opportunity to do a commissioned piece similar to the one above -three girls reading. This was part of my Christmas rush. That finished piece looked something like this:



and I have to say it looked pretty nice all framed up. It can be downright striking what a good matte and frame can do for a watercolor.

Finally, I have an end-of-the-year book recommendation! I’m currently in the middle of the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. The basic idea is “Horatio Hornblower ...with dragons!” During the Napoleonic wars a British naval captain is unexpectedly forced to join the Aerial Corps and become the handler of a rare and powerful dragon. The books are fast reads. I’ve just finished the third installment and they have been getting stronger as the series progresses. If you like historical fantasy give them a try!

NEWER CONTEST WINNERS!

Here's something I never expected: I haven't heard a peep from the original winners, "LAUREN" and "KAREN" so I have had to resort to drawing new winners after all. Everyone paying attention this time? ...well, here's hoping. And the new winners are....

MAGGIE

and

DON!

Send an email my way, friends! --->ben(at)hatke(dot)com.

Contest Winners!

Hello again internet! A HUGE thank you to everyone who participated in the Great ZtSGJGC, and especially those that took the time to spread the word. As of this posting the contest is now officially CLOSED. I’ve taken a page from the Jake Parker Playbook and generated the winning names using the website Random.org, which purports to generate TRUE RANDOMNESS. Think about that for a moment... true randomness....

Aaaannnnd we HAVE WINNERS!

Second prize (a paperback copy of ZSG and an ink drawing) goes to:

LAUREN

First Prize (Hardcover Zita and a ZSG watercolor) goes to:

KAREN

Winners, please contact me at your earliest convenience. Email ben (at) hatke.com and send me your mailing address. IF YOU CONTACT ME BEFORE NOON TODAY I’LL BE ABLE TO SEND THE PACKAGES OUT THIS VERY AFTERNOON!

Thanks again, friends!

The Great Zita the Spacegirl Jolly Giveaway Contest!

Hello Internet! My chilly little studio office looks like the exploded innards of a UPS truck -all packing tape, manilla envelopes and cardboard boxes. Many of you should have received your books by now. This little project was a good experience for me. I learned things. Things like “brownies and milk aren’t so great after licking a dozen manilla envelopes.”

But if you read the title of this post then you aren’t here to listen to me yammer on about licking envelopes! You want to know about the CONTEST. Here’s how it works:

The winner will receive a signed hardcover copy of Zita the Spacegirl along with a little tiny original watercolor tucked in side the front cover:



To Enter all you have to do is leave a comment in this post! Simple, right?

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL...

Do you want to increase your odds of winning? Then help me spread the word about Zita the Spacegirl! Posting about the comics somewhere, mentioning zitaspacegirl.com on twitter or facebook or another blog -that is worth TWO extra entries (three is the maximum). Of course you do run the risk of bringing more people into the contest ...but therein lies the fun!

The contest will close ONE WEEK FROM TODAY and entries will be put into a randomizer. I’ll then post the name of the winner who will have 48 hours to send me his or her address. I’ll do my level best to get the prize out for Christmas.

Okay.... GO!!

EDIT: Contest Update: Guess what finally arrived today? My paperback comp copies! So folks, we now have a SECOND PRIZE -namely a paperback copy of Zita the Spacegirl that comes with a tiny little piece of concept art. Take a look:



PS: this is an super-good animated short via Lines and Colors. Definitely worth watching!

Gotta Have Faith

Hey guys! If all goes according to plan the Hatke Family Adventure books will be sent out TOMORROW and I have to say that the little 3X3 watercolors all turned out really well. It’s all turtles and wizards and hearts and stars and a few other random creatures. Here’s a picture:



So I’m going to get back to packing up these books now. In the meantime I want to draw (heh heh) your attention to the work of Faith Erin Hicks. Faith is a lovely Canadian comics artist who I got to meet at First Second this year. I am really enjoying her new webcomic, The Adventures of Superhero Girl. I've always been a fan of The Tick's mundane sidekick, Arthur, so the humor in Superhero Girl is totally my cup of tea.

Oh, and I actually have 2 more copies of Tales from the Bohemian Highway! I may do another batch of these special editions someday but for now this is it!