New Books, Studio Visits, and the Eisners

What a busy year it is! As I write this I am closing in on the last 30 Pages of Mighty Jack Book 2 (that's the best title I've got so far). I spent last week in Sicily visiting a school on the Sigonella Navy Base and when I returned the very first physical copies of Mighty Jack (book 1) were waiting on my desk. They look great! The paperback edition has spot gloss and fancy flaps! Here are a few pictures:

And here it is with Nobody Likes a Goblin:

Both books are available for preorder. Goblin releases on June 7th and Jack releases on September 6th. (I'll throw some permanent links up on the sidebar soon).

And so...

Last year my friends at Mirandum Pictures helped put together a little studio visit video for me. They were so patient with how much I wanted to cram into this video and even went so far as to climb up to a mountaintop for firebreathing. We totally got lost in the woods after dark on the way down. The video finally debuted over at Paste. You can follow that link or watch it here:

Finally on my list of things to mention today: Little Robot has been nominated for an Eisner Award! (Best publication for early readers). Remember, all industry professionals can vote here:

EISNER VOTING

Maybe you will vote for Little Robot? But I will be just as happy if you vote for my friend Liniers' lovely book Written and Drawn by Henrietta.

Everything I Need

Hello Gravagna Montale. I'd forgotten how much I loved you.

The picture above is my little studio space for the summer. It's a simple space that has everything I need for the project at hand and very little more.

There is a door, for coming in and going back out. There is a window that looks out onto a courtyard and the mountains beyond. The window is for daydreaming, but it also doubles as a light table for tracing (I've been doing more tracing and less dreaming lately). I have one big table full of pens and pencils and paper and sketchbooks. I have a computer, and a scanner and an internet connection that allows me to send the words and pictures from my table out into the wide world (or at least to my editor). I have a pair of quality headphones which, when the need arises, I use to tune out the distractions of my boisterous family.

I have a very specific task this summer. I'm working on a graphic novel called Mighty Jack. The book is completely written and I have a complete draft drawn out in thumbnail sketches -I had that part all finished before I came here. My job this summer is to turn those 200 pages of rough sketches into 200 pages of finished art. I'm fine tuning the story in small ways as I go, but mostly it's steady, quiet work.

Mighty Jack is the story of three young people and a magic garden. Here's some early concept art:

The style and characters have developed a bit and look a little more like this now:

I said I had everything I need here for the job I'm doing but there is one thing I'm missing. I used my own house as a model for Jack's house. I took plenty of reference photos before I came here, but it would have been nice to draw a scene or two from life like I did with Little Robot.

Anyway, here are a few more pictures from the past couple weeks:

Hidden Away

The No-Longer-So-Little Hatke Family has arrived in the magical village of Gravagna Montale, where we will be hiding away for the summer. And I am just now fully back online after a brief (and cleansing) hiatus.

It's good to be hidden up in the mountains for a little while. For the next few months I will be drawing comics pages like they are gong out of style (which I hope they never do) and the girls will be hunting lizards, eating gelato and jumping in mountain streams.

As promised here is a first batch of pictures, these from our journey from Virginia to New York and from New York to Gravagna. For more I suggest following Anna Bertolini's Instagram feed.

And finally, in book-news, here's a link to a short video from Book Con, where I answer some questions about my next-to-be-available graphic novel Little Robot:

http://video.dptv.org/video/2365504621/

And here is another video where I am playing host in a conversation with Jeff Smith, Raina Telgemeier and Jenni Holm:

http://video.dptv.org/video/2365504639/

More to come!

Summer Changes

As I write this the Little Hatke House is full of the chaos and bustle of bags being packed and last minute arrangements being made. We are returning to Italy. We are, my heart tells me, returning home, to our little village of Gravagna Montale, after three long years away. 

We are leaving tomorrow.

We'll be staying in Gravagna for June, July and August and if you're interested in keeping an eye on us, I'm planning (well, hoping) to post a photo a day on Twitter and Facebook. I'll collect the pictures into weekly batches here on the blog. 

And while the girls are exploring mountain paths and hunting lizards in the rocks I will be drawing, drawing, drawing the pages of my next graphic novel, Mighty Jack. This book has put me up against one of the most challenging deadlines I've ever faced, but I'll be working in the same place where I drew most of the 3rd Zita book, so I'm hopeful...

And so we're off down the road again! I hope you'll follow along.