A re-introduction to the board! (Tales 52)

[Adam Riches]

I thought it would be a good time to formally re-introduce myself here…so, hi everyone! My name is Adam Riches, long, long time TMNT fan, but (as you can see) veeery infrequent poster, hopefully that will change a little though! Some of you may already know me from my posts on Peter, Ryan, and Murph’s blogs as “/-\ [) @ (\/)” for those that don’t though…

The reason for this introduction you ask? After holding this in for what feels like forever, I can finally let the cat out of the bag and say that you will all finally be able to see my pin-up in Tales of the TMNT 52, available tomorrow! (Cheap plug :P) This is so huge to me on a personal level, that I feel the need to share publicly what an absolute dream come true it is for me as a fan who has aspired to work on TMNT nearly my whole life, I never thought it would happen so early in my illustration career though! I hope that this will be the first of many projects I have the honor of collaborating with Mirage on, and also that you will all enjoy my pin-up, and hey if you like what you see feel free to let Mirage know via sales and/or e-mails! (Cheap plug #2)

If anyone’s interested, in a few days I can post the line work from the pin-up for everyone to check out, and of course if anyone has any questions I’d be more than happy to answer, let me know what you guys think tomorrow!

One last thing, big BIG thanks to the whole Mirage crew, especially Murph, Dan, and Ryan, for being some of the coolest, nicest guys I’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with thank you all so much for the opportunity!

[OA]

Congrats! Looking forward to seeing your work.

[Raph's Girl]

Way kewl! Welcome to the drome Adam! Can't wait to see your work! :D

[Rooish]

Congratulations! I'm very excited about this issue.

[CudleyCowlick]

Hey Adam, welcome (back) to the 'drome and congrats on the pin-up. I am hoping my shop will have Tales 52 in tomorrow, so I can bask in all its Cowlick-y goodness.

I'd love to see the line-work for the pin-up!

[odupianist]

Congrats dude. I know tokKa has had a pin up in the books, and now Adam, who else has from the 'drome?

[CudleyCowlick]

Dude that is a really awesome pin-up. I hope you get to do another sometime!

Looking forward to seeing the line-work.

[Adam Riches]

Hi all,
thanks very much for the kind words and shared excitement in this experience! I actually just got back from my local (actually not so local) comic shop, where I picked up a few copies for myself and some friends. There is really nothing quite like the feeling of going in to the comic store I've spent over a decade removing things from, to know that I finally put something ON their shelves for once! :lol:

Will post up the line work soon and if I can find a decent copy around here somewhere the pencils for it as well. I actually thought I might post up the original for comparisons sake, but surprisingly the print job is actually quite good and a pretty accurate depiction of what the original looks like, well besides the fact the original is like the size of a billboard. I also feel very fortunate that it was printed on the inner back cover, got the glossy treatment, oh yeah! 8)

[staypuftweepel]

Hi Adam, I thought your picture looked pretty cool. It's nice to see someone actually use some Archie characters. I wanted to ask though, how did you go about getting yourself in there?

-Gary

[Ninjinister]

Hi Adam, I thought your picture looked pretty cool. It's nice to see someone actually use some Archie characters. I wanted to ask though, how did you go about getting yourself in there?

-Gary

I was wondering the same thing, what with a few of our own being featured. But I'm pretty sure it's a pretty strict process to get one in... otherwise every yahoo would have their stuff featured.

[Adam Riches]

Hi Gary, and S...
the short answer to your questions is hard work and persistance, as annoyingly cliche as that sounds. :D

Basically I went through the proper channels, submitted new work constantly, and had some luck. Which is pretty much the same way I go about trying to get any illustration job, the only difference in this case being that it wasn't just a job, I legitimately love TMNT and it was a dream scenario that something actually materialized from it. Wish I had more to offer on this front, but it's something I'm still trying to figure out myself!

Also as promised, here is the inked stage prior to the tones being added in. I believe this is the final version (though I may have made a few minor tweaks before starting the final, can't remember). Unfortunately the pencils aren't with me at the moment and I'm having some trouble locating a good digital copy, will try and get that scanned again at some point soon for those that enjoy looking at process work.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/TrippEisen620/taleslinework.jpg

[staypuftweepel]

Hey Adam, thanks for getting back to me. I have one more question for you though. Who were you persistantly sending stuff to? Were you doing it by sending it to the creative people or were you sening it to Mirage's address?

-Gary

[Adam Riches]

Hey Adam, thanks for getting back to me. I have one more question for you though. Who were you persistantly sending stuff to? Were you doing it by sending it to the creative people or were you sening it to Mirage's address?

-Gary

Don't know if they want me giving out contacts or anything, cause they probably don't want to be bombarded...but all submissions were sent directly to creative staff via e-mail. Sorry I can't be of more help, good luck though! :)

[oldmanwinters]

I like it, Adam. Something puzzles me though. Between you and Dario Brizuela, I'm wondering how the Turtles hold their masks over their eyes since it appears they have no beak to support them!:tgrin:

All joking aside, you do a great job of emulating his style.

[Adam Riches]

I've wondered that myself! The only reason I drew it the way I did was because I knew Dario was doing the art, and I wanted the book to try and have some continuity...I don't know about everyone else but I'm not a big of disjointed art. I like the issues to have some sort of flow to them. For the record, I would say my normal TMNT drawing style would probably fall somewhere between v1 E&L with some hints of OT or sharper edges ala recent Dooney depending on the mood I'm in.


In fact the only reason the whole thing didn't end up more Dario esque, was because I did the pin-up prior to him completing the art, so I had nothing to go by for parts of it, and had to imagine what I thought Cudley would like with an update.

[staypuftweepel]

Yeah I don't blame you for not wanting to give the guys info, I just wasn't sure if you submitted your art to the Mirage building or to one of the guys. Thanks.