July 03, 2008 -- Steamy Photoshoot
Who wants to see me and Carla in a steampunk photoshoot? You know you do.
Huge thanks to Jennie Breeden for remembering her camera after I totally forgot mine. You rock, Jennie.
July 03, 2008 -- Oh me oh my.
Something that's been in the pipe for a long time may just be coming to pass. I really oughtn't say too much more about it until I'm sure it's going to happen, but it looks like it's gonna. Stay tuned for a pretty big announcement coming during or just before San Diego. I won't be there, but the project might.
Yay.
July 01, 2008 -- Convention Time!
We're back from Wizard World! Paul already has his usual witty Con Report up, so I'm going to let him host most of the pictures. There is one, however, that deserves a special nod:
Thanks so much to J. Kevin Carrier for the very first piece of Turk Fanart! If you don't get the joke, head on over to Paul's website and check out his new comic, BPM.
More soon, once my brain recovers -- including my encounter with Warren Ellis and an amazing Steampunky photoshoot with me and Carla in a Chicago eL station!
July 01, 2008 -- Steamy Photoshoot
Who wants to see me and You know you do. Huge thanks to Jennie Breeden for remembering her camera after I totally forgot mine. You rock, Jennie.
May 20, 2008 -- We lost a great one yesterday.
Rory Root, consummate comics retailer, has passed away at the age of 50. I knew him from theWEF, met him twice in person at APE, and though I didn't know him well enough to eulogize him the way many others have, I was very taken by his shy, gentle, self-effacing nature, and how he countered that with his pleasant conversation and willingness to share his boundless knowledge with anyone, be it on line or at a convention. He was also one of the very first to give Vögelein a chance.
We'll miss you, Rory. For your kind self, your beautiful store, and your positive comics evangelism.
May 19, 2008 -- Motor City Wrapup
So it's almost 1am, and I'm finally winding down after Motor City Con this weekend. I will admit that I was really trepidacious about going, as last year I made about $10 all day Saturday. I am starting to run behind on other tasks, and I was pretty sure I could get more mileage out of just staying home and trying to get caught up.
Fortunately, this year's show turned out great! Paul and I got sat next to Pam Bliss and Jen Hachigian, and we had a grand old time.
Awesome things that happened:
Terry and his friend Mike, my annual Canadian Contingent, showed up with a big bag of Snacky Foods You Can Only Get in Canada, continuing a tradition started by Shane and Sara from Future Pastimes in Sarnia. Yay Smarties and Aero Bars! I have such wonderful, thoughtful fans.
Pam was my one-woman PR firm and self-esteem provider, and I left the show rarin' to go on my next page of Clockwork Game.
Paul and I each got to do a sketchbook addition for a really great Death-themed collection. There were some really amazing drawings in there, and it was totally intimidating to make my own meager contribution to such a gallery.
Had our annual Saturday dinner at the chinese buffet with the Hamtramck gang; shoutouts to Sean and Michelangelo and Suzanne, as well as two folks joining our band of amiable zanies for the first time, Comfort Love and Adam Withers. Go check those guys out! They do some of the best sexy-without-being-grody superheroes going.
Ran into an old Bodhran player buddy! Good to know he's keeping well.
And my favorite exchange of the con was actually the last one. I ran into these three super folks from the Lansing area, and we all nerded out about all sorts of stuff including astronomy and urban gardening and Patton Oswalt. They also gave me an Organic Gardening Coloring Book, which was made entirely of awesome. If you live in that neck of the woods, you should go check out the organization it's for; it seems like something really worthwhile.
So now! To bed!
Next stop, Wizard Chicago. See you in a few weeks!
April 27, 2008 -- Pleasant, Indeed
I just had the nicest workshop today. It was held at the Veteran's Memorial Library in Mount Pleasant. Everybody who came was really excited and enthusiastic and immediately reminded me why I keep giving these how-to sessions -- and one of the attendees actually knew what The Turk was! I had a great time, and I hope everyone else did too.
April 08, 2008 -- Oh, hey, before I forget --
I seem to have confused my readers! The new webcomic currently has seven pages available, not just two. The "first page" available last Tuesday was actually Page 6, or Page 1 of Part 1. There's a whole five-page prologue that comes before it. If you haven't already found it, you can click here to read it from the beginning.
My bad for not being clearer when I sent out the big release. My brains were all muddled from sleep-deprivation and long hours at the desk.
April 01, 2008 -- No Foolin' -- Who wants a Seekrit?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
VÖGELEIN CREATOR JANE IRWIN LAUNCHES NEW WEBCOMIC
KALAMAZOO, MI – April 1st, 2008 – Self-publisher Jane Irwin, known for her black-and-white painted series Vögelein, has chosen April Fool's Day to begin her newest project, Clockwork Game. Based on the true history of a world-renowned 18th century hoax, commonly known as The Turk, the new story will be released in its entirety as a webcomic, updating each Thursday.
Originally designed to amuse the Empress Maria Theresa, The Turk was a machine that could play chess with the skill and originality of a grandmaster. It captivated audiences all over Europe and the United States, playing against many well-known rulers and dignitaries throughout its long and astonishing career. “I was inspired to retell the incredible story of The Turk because it seems far too fantastic to actually be true, and yet with each new book and article I uncovered, the facts became much more captivating than any fiction I could have created,” Irwin said. “Clockwork Game is a mostly-true dramatization of historical events, told with as little conjecture as possible.”
Drawn in a crosshatched pen-and-ink style, Clockwork Game marks a major shift in both medium and presentation from Irwin's earlier work, though the subject matter shares many similarities with her previous graphic novels, which told the story of an automaton brought to life. Vögelein: Clockwork Faerie and Vögelein: Old Ghosts were released to widespread critical acclaim, including Clockwork Faerie's inclusion on Booklist's 2003 Top Ten Graphic Novels for Youth.
In addition to her own projects, Irwin teaches several workshops each year at schools and libraries, showing creators of all ages how to tell their own stories through the medium of comics. She lives and works in Kalamazoo, Michigan with her husband, Paul Sizer, creator of the standalone graphic novels BPM and Moped Army and the series Little White Mouse, which currently runs on WebComicsNation.com.
Clockwork Game can be found at http://www.clockworkgame.com, or via the front page of Irwin's hub site, http://www.vogelein.com.
Sample art from the comic is available upon request.
###
For further information contact:
Jane Irwin
PO Box 51595
Kalamazoo, MI 49005
fierystudios@hotmail.com
www.clockworkgame.com
www.vogelein.com
February 22, 2008 -- Seekrit Project: Announcement Coming Soon!
For those of you who haven't been beta-reading the Seekrit Project, good news!
I will be launching the project here, and in the Vögelein newsletter, on April 1st. Once you know the subject matter, that date will make perfect sense.
I have twelve finished inked pages so far, with a thirteenth fully pencilled and on my desk. I was hoping the new style would go faster than the old, but between the breaking-in period, getting accustomed to new tools, and the stupid-hard backgrounds I'm giving myself (my next book will be set in a blank room and populated by stick figures, I think) each page is taking nearly as long as those from the Vögelein books. Here's hoping for improvement.
The game plan is to have twenty pages done by the time I launch. You'll get the prologue, which is five pages, and the first page, to start. Then it'll run once-weekly. One-a-week is about all the page rate I can handle and work full-time and still have a life. The 15-week buffer will ensure that it runs on time for the immediate future. As much as I wish I could go twice-weekly, like all the cool kids... alas. I'd rather only promise what I know I can deliver.
And there will be extras. Oh.... just y'all wait.
Moohoohahaha. Stay tuned!
For older news, please visit the News Archives on the Vögelein site.