Saturday, June 13, 2015

New Mission for Detroit Tradecraft

In our June 2015 meeting we needed to better determine our Mission at Detroit Tradecraft. Oscar "Oz" Wilson Jr was insightful enough to create  this Statement:

Detroit Tradecraft Mission Statement:

"Determination, Teaching, and Creativity.  DTC is a community resource for the people of Metropolitan Detroit. The ultimate purpose is to inspire collaboration amongst its members and to enlighten those who seek to learn the skills necessary for a possible career in the comic book industry..."

Friday, April 17, 2015

Imaginos Plus Book Signing- 4/18/2015- Comic City, Pontiac


We are talking to Mark Dudley, Imaginos Workshop principal and Detroit Tradecraft member about his crew’s upcoming book signing at Comic City in Pontiac, Michigan,  Saturday April 18th.   We are hoping to get the scoop on the future plans for Imaginos Workshop and Mark's wish to run the world one relationship at a time in comics and independent entertainment..>>

DTC: Detroit Tradecraft is extremely proud of Imaginos Workshop’s successful Kickstarter campaign: Imaginos Plus Sampler...   Can you let us know more about the book signing at Comic City.... What can the fans expect?

Dudley: This is kind of our love letter to our fans. We want to let them know how much we appreciate their support. We also want to let people not so familiar with Imaginos Workshop, to know who we are and what we plan on doing in the future. 

DTC: We have talked extensively offline on your views of working with the younger generation of creators.  What have you been doing beside putting out the sampler and the Kickstarter to promote that goal?

Dudley: I believe that older guys like myself can benefit immensely from working with and teaching the younger generation. They have a grasp on the here and now that one tends to lose as we get north of 40. They also have an attitude that they can't be stopped and you need that as an artist: dealing with the rigors of putting out comics and other forms of media.

DTC: Let’s get a bit deeper about the Imaginos Plus Sampler, who are the crew working on each storylines of the project?

Dudley: We have a lot of young folks working on this thing and about 4 older ones- lol. You may recognize Jeff Lilly from doing translations for ADV back in the days of New Type USA. He wrote the first story Rifts: The Adventure of Young Erin Tarn. This is a property owned by our benefactor Palladium Books. It's an all ages story with a principle female character. We are aiming this at the young adult market. Noa Page is pencilling with Ben Roderiquez inking and Italy's own Ylenia Di Napoli colors and our very own Atran Raikainy lettering the whole book. 

We also have a superhero comedy based off our weekly pen and paper RPG campaign.  It's called Candy Coated.  The book is written by Imaginos Workshop and is pencilled by my buddy from Grand Rapids, Dimitris Moore, with inks by my old Drunkenstyle studios partner, Brandon Clark and colors by NYC's own Shauna J. Grant. This book is supposed to be pretty bubblegum tongue and cheek and the art team brings that to life perfectly.

Joe Cain has been into comics at the fan and store level for years, Most folks don't know that he is also a writer.  Thus, it's not a surprise to see his story, REQUIEM, grace the pages of this anthology.  It's a Matrix type, X-men type, mystery involving a star system wide conspiracy and wiped memories. Pencils on this book are done by the very talented Flint native, Cassie Henry, with inks by indy scene vet, Gary Mitchell.  The art is gorgeous and the story definitely makes you want to dig deeper.

Finally, is my story (the one I have been working on for 30 years),  Juda Fist: 7 Deaths of the Yobi.  It's about a super-soldier from today, and how even after he wakes up in the future he has to come to grips with the fact that his past won’t stay dead for long.  The story is kind of “Akira meets Bladerunner, meets Black Dynamite”. I am doing the pencils on this one with colors by my good friend, Whitney Cook. 

DTC: What are you hoping to get across with the Imaginos Plus Sampler?   A jump off to other projects, or a comic publishing deal with the Imaginos characters, etc?

Dudley: We want people to see that good writing and good art are a marriage that makes a better story.


DTC: We have talked about making the push into Image Comics for about 2-3 years now. Do you imagine any of the stories in Imaginos Plus ( pun intended) as being that push or are you foreseeing other projects?

Dudley: We are going to be submitting them all. I submitted Juda Fist just a bit ago. Jeff and myself are going to be submitting Erin Tarn to Dark Horse and image as well. 


DTC:  This past year you have been working with young artists using skype, has this been a fruitful process?

Dudley: Absolutely. I love to teach and anything I can give a person or get from a person, as it's a mutual exchange is great.

DTC: okay last question- what do you Imagine in the future for Imaginos Workshop, and possibly Detroit Tradecraft?

Dudley: We will continue to grow and change.  I think Imaginos and Detroit Tradecraft have a huge role to play as leaders, movers and shakers here in the Metro Detroit Comics and Media scene but we have to make the right moves and not fight opportunities as they present themselves.


DTC: Thanks Mark, that was well stated. Congrats and Best of Luck for Imaginos Workshop


              Everyone in earshot of Pontiac- come down to Comic City In Pontiac for
              book signing with Imaginos Workshop from 12- 4 , Saturday, 4/18/2015

COMIC CITY: Pontiac
466 N Telegraph Rd
Pontiac, MI 48341
Get Directions

Phone number (248) 334-4139

Intro image: formatted: C. P Jackson. writer, C.P.Jackson

Saturday, January 24, 2015

brand-test



okay these is a good alternative for some info graphics- an animated gif for Detroit tradecraft- will expand it
okay- above is the updated animated Gif- I am still trying to figure out how to use this as a link to a site or an embedded html