Outre #1: Creator Roundup!

Tomorrow is the big day, as Outré #1, “the Responsibility issue”, will be released to the world in all its glory. But before you download it to your tablet, phone, laptop or home computer, we thought we would do a quick presentation of all the creators that have been involved in bringing it to life. These guys have put in countless of hours in order to getting the issue done, so we feel that they definitely deserve both your attention and applause.

The cover is by Alex Elykov, a digital illustrator from the Nottingham, UK. Apart from Outré Press, he has done work for publishers such as RiotShell Comics and Alderac Entertainment Group. Check out his work at http://alexelykov.carbonmade.com.

The first story, “Taras and the Monolith”, is by Dan Hill and Kim Holm. Dan, a UK-based writer, has had stories published by Viper Comics and Ape Entertainment. He also writes the column “Opening Contract” at the comic book site The Weekly Crisis. You can find him at http://dan-hill.org.

Kim is from Bergen, Norway, and has been creating comics since he was a teenager. We at Outré are very fond of his Lovecraft adaptation The Pickman’s Model, which you can read for free here. He also illustrates extreme metal concerts during events like the Inferno Festival. Find him at http://cartoonarchy.no.

“My Universe Expands Until I Have No Center” is written by Alex Wilson and drawn by Ben Garriga. Alex is a writer and actor from Carrboro in North Carolina, and his 5-pager “The Time of Reflection” won an Eagle Award in 2012. Visit http://alexwilson.com for regular updates about Alex’s shenanigans.

Ben is from the States as well, and he’s showcasing some of his excellent art at his DeviantArt page: http://graphitenightmare.deviantart.com.

The third story, titled “The Most Dangerous Place For Children”, is written by Ronald Montgomery, penciled and inked by Jim Giar, colored by Tim Switalski and lettered by Rafer Roberts. Ronald has written stories for publishers Alterna Comics, Tribe Comics and Black Ship Books.

Jim is from Cleveland, Ohio, and a member of The Rust Belt Monster Collective. You can see samples from some of the amazing stuff Jim has done on http://chelzostudios.com.

Tim, another Rust Belt Monster from Cleveland, does not only colors, but full art as well, which you can find at http://www.timswit.com and http://www.timswitalski.com.

The same goes for Rafer, who we presented to you yesterday. He is perhaps most known as the creator of the Plastic Farm series, which has been going on since 2002. Follow Rafer’s work at http://plasticfarm.com.

The final 8-pager in the issue one is “I, Icarus”, by Glenn Arseneau and Valentin Ramon. Glenn is an archaeologist who his graphic novel Greyman published through Arcana Studio in 2011, as well as The Price by 215 Ink the same year. He can be found on Twitter as @glennarseneau.

Valentin is a illustrator from Spain who’s currently living in London, UK. He has done covers for Bluewater Comics and the short story “Stinky”, which he did with writer Fabian Rangel Jr., was published by Challenger Comics in 2012. Check out his portfolio at http://valentinramon.blogspot.co.uk.

Cécile Brun has done one of the four stand-alone illustrations in Outre #1. She is a 24 year old girl from France, who along with her partner Olivier is a member of the Atelier Sentô studio. The two of them are currently working on an exciting project titled Natsuko, which you can see first beautiful pages from at http://atelier-sento.tumblr.com.

The second illustration comes from Jelena Đorđević, who lives in Serbia. She’s an artist who’s currently working on an ambitious series titled Empire of Blood, with writers Michael DeShane and Magnus Aspli (that name sounds familiar…). To see pages from that and other projects, check out Jelena’s work here: http://besnglist.daportfolio.com.

Brian Gilman is an up and coming artist who majored in illustration. You can see samples from some of the short stories he’s worked on at his blog at http://gilmancomics.blogspot.com, as well on his DeviantArt page: http://warder120.deviantart.com.

Bringing colors to Brian’s illustration is K. Michael Russell, who’s a full-time registered nurse and freelance comic book colorist. His online portal can be found at www.michruss.com.

Last, but not least, we have artist Aleksandar Božić Ske, also from Serbia. In addition to freelance work, he has done comics for Bluewater Comics, as well as a one-shot with writer Glenn Møane (that name sounds familiar too…). See his online portfolio at http://skecomx.weebly.com.

So there you have them, ladies and gentlemen. We hope you enjoy what these creators are bringing to the table on this year’s Free Comic Book Day, along with the other comics you may pick up. See you tomorrow!

Stay creative!

Magnus & Glenn
Editors
Outré Press

Take a look at these…

As we told you last week, this Wednesday we want to give a shoutout and the ol’ tip of the hat to some projects we think you’d be interested in.  Some of them are more prolific than others, but we believe all of them are worthy of your attention.

First off we want you to check out the Kill All Monsters! Kickstarter. Kill All Monsters! is originally a webcomic series by Michael May, Jason Copland and Ed Brisson, in which the high concept is something as simple and glorious as “Giant Robots vs. Giant Monsters”. These antagonists sort out their differences in a post-apocalyptic world where the monsters have the upper hand. This results in awesome fight scenes like this by artist extraordinaire Jason Copland:

The Kickstarter campaign, which will fund the print edition of the first volume of this series, has been going on for about a week and is doing very good already. But it could still use your support, so make sure that you secure yourself a copy, as well as other cool stuff like t-shirts, prints and sketches.

You should also visit the Atelier Sentô tumblr page, the online home of Outré contributor Cécile Brun and Olivier Pichard. These two artists are creating some downright gorgeous art across several mediums such as prints, short films and sequential art. But we want to point out one specific project, as Cécile and Olivier have just posted the first page of their comic Natsuko.

We at Outré HQ love this page. Not only is it beautifully illustrated, it also does a a great job as the first page of a comic: It establishes the bratty character of Natsuko, tells us about the setting and why he’s there, and the ominous final panel sets the mood in a haunting way. We’re guessing that this is going to be a coming-of-age story with elements of both science fiction and horror, but we could be wrong. Either way, we’re eagerly looking forward to new pages.

Last but not least we want to promote another Kickstarter campaign, this one from editor and artist Eugene Booker. Like us at Outré, Eugene is launching an anthology of his own, titled D.I.Y. Comics Anthology. This is going to be a quarterly ‘zine, featuring short stories, comic strips, prose and interviews, among other things.

Eugene is looking to raise $3,000 with this Kickstarter, which will help him to market and publish the anthology both digitally and in print. With about a week left of the campaign, Eugene and the creators involved could really use your help, so please consider pledging a handful of dollars or two. Pro comics creators like Dave Elliot, Jim Krueger and David Wohl are already saying some very nice things about this book, so we would love to see it come to life.

Check in next week as we return to our regular programming, with more teasers and previews from our initial issue – coming your way on the 4th of May.

Stay creative!

Magnus & Glenn
Editors
Outré Press

Outré launches the 4th of May!

Our launch date is approaching steadily, but we’re well underway to hammering, moulding, shaping and cutting Outré into the perfect initial issue.

Our contributors are all hard at work and we’re seeing the end of a few of the stories already. We’ll continue giving you teasers and tastes here on the blog all the way up to the 4th of May.

Kim Holm working on the pages for «Taras and the Monolith», written by Dan Hill.

 

Seeing as Outré is a non-profit, non-budget anthology with the aim to reach as many readers as possible – regular comic readers and specifically those who don’t read comics (or haven’t in years) – and bringing our talented artists and writers and their stories out into the world, we need some help from the guys and girls behind the almighty internet. Yup, that’s you!

Once you sit there with Outré, or stand on the bus with it, or lie in a tent, or bake on a beach, or wait in line, or ride your bicycle, or drive shotgun in a friend’s car and you’ve read it and enjoyed it, we want you to tell those on the bus about it, or that other guy in the tent, or those playing beach volleyball, or that woman in front of you in line, or the folks who help you back on your bike, or that friend. Or simply sharing it online. Word of mouth will be our fuel, but you’ll have to be our ignition.

If you write a blog or review comics, anthologies or books for a website or a magazine, don’t hesitate getting in touch and we’ll fix you up with a digital review copy as soon as it’s ready.

Here are a few previews of some of the stuff you’ll see in Outré #1:

by Brian Gilman

by Cécile Brun

by Kim Holm – story by Dan Hill

That’s it for now, but remember we’re still accepting submissions for our 3rd issue and all artist are encouraged to get in touch to join Outré in the future. We’re already at work on issue 2 and have already been joined by a special writer for issue 3.

Stay creative!

 

Glenn & Magnus
Editors

Artist spotlight: Cécile Brun

We are glad to announce another terrific traditional artist for our initial issue of Outré. Cécile will contribute to the theme responsibility with a unique stand alone illustration.

Who are you?
I am Cécile Brun, a 24 years old French girl living in Brittany, and a member of the strange Atelier Sentô team.

 

Why do you draw?
I draw because I have a lot of imagination, and just thinking about it isn’t enough for me. I need to get it on the page to make it a bit real in our dimension.

 

Where can one find you?
Well… You can visit me anytime in Brittany. But travels are expensive and thanks to the web you can easily find my works and all my projects on the Atelier Sentô: http://atelier-sento.tumblr.com/

I also have a DeviantArt profile: http://uehara.deviantart.com/

And my own Tumblr: http://brun-cecile.tumblr.com/

 

Cécile and her partner Olivier at Atelier Sentô will have a short story in issue #31 of Prophet. A bonus reason to check out the fantastic sci-fi craziness Brandon Graham & Co. are making.

 

Stay creative!

 

Glenn & Magnus
Editors
Outré Press