Odds & Ends #1 on sale NOW!!!!

Howdy folks, long time no talk. Sorry about that.
I'm here today to share with you a Searsian moment that is rather exciting. You see, fellow Searsians, Ominous Studios has just announced the publication of Bart's first ever sketchbook! I know, I know, calm down for a second and let me tell you all about it.
The sketchbook, titled 'Odds & Ends,' is a 5" x 8" book with a massive 52 pages of sketches, page pencils, commissions, doodles, roughs, character designs and every other thing you can probably think of. It's going to be a wonder to hold, and behold.
And the best part is, it's only a mere $12 for that mighty tome. And even better yet, if you order before January 8, it's only 10 bucks! How ridiculously awesome is that?!?! Well, yes, that's pretty awesome, but it gets even better... for only another $10 you get an original convention-styled sketch to be drawn right in the sketchbook. That is beyond awesome!
So here's a look at the cover for this badboy-

As you may have noticed, it has the number '#1' on it, that's because this is the first in a planned series of sketchbooks. There are literally thousands of images to choose from, so there will be no trouble filling these sketchbooks up with artwork, much of which has never been seen before, even by me on a few occasions...

Here's a few spreads from the first sketchbook to further whet (correct spelling!) your appetite -

So, there is absolutely no reason why you should not directly head over to the below link and purchase your copy of Odds & Ends #1 right away. Do so... now.

http://ominousstudios.com/emporium/

This Bart Sears and that Bart Sears #2

Good morning fellow Searsians, it's time to catch everysearsian up on some of the 'going's on' from the Bart Sears estate. It has been a good long while since I've done something like this, and there are several projects that have long since been completed that I have neglected to mention here.
So what I'm going to do is start with the most recent projects, and work my way backwards.

So first off, Bart has just recently completed the pencils and inks for the Deadlands: Death Was Silent One-Shot which goes on sale on the 17th of August. Here's the beautiful cover inks for it:

Deadlands: Death Was Silent cover inks

I've been lucky enough to see all of the pages of this comic as they were completed in their inked form, and I can honestly say that this is one of the best comics Bart has done in many years. It is done in a style that hasn't been seen before by Bart, it's kinda like a sketchy version of The Path, with some fantastic storytelling and emphasis on flow and framing, rather than flash and pretty lines. This comic art shows a maturity on Bart's part that has always been there, but rarely on display so evidently.
Bart has been kind enough to hold onto all of the thumbnails and roughs from this comic for me, and I'll do a big post here about the comic and the roughs as soon as the comic is out and I have the roughs to show you. I'm very much looking forward to seeing them both.
Ominous Studios has produced a number of fun items to get people ordering this particular comic, namely these three promo adverts:

Deadlands: Death Was Silent promo adverts by Ominous Studios

They even went as far as creating a little promotional video for the comic, with sound effects and all! Check it out here.

Bart has also completed several very nice commissions recently, including this one and this one. Lovely aren't they? They are produced on those new trendy comics with blank covers, for artists to work directly on, much like the Wolverine 100 project covers Bart did. Bart has mentioned to me that he does like drawing on these covers, but has found that the format doesn't allow for the use of a light box much, so the roughs and all pencil work have to be done on the actual cover, which is obviously not how a traditional comic page is done. But the results are still fantastic, even more so for the fact that they are inked entirely in markers. Not a brush to be seen.

Bart has been producing a number of interactive comics (or Interactive Graphic Media, as Bart prefers to call them) for the Ominous Studios website. These interactive comics show recent and previous comic work of Bart's in a really cool format that I'm sure you'll agree is both fun to use and great to look at. You can see the unpublished Heroes For Hire issue from the late 90's here. You can also see the inks for Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #200 here and the pencils for Conan: Island of No Return #1 here.

And speaking of Conan: Island of No Return, you'll all no doubt know by now that Bart produced the pencils for two issues of this finite series. The first issue came out on 15/6/11, and the second issue came out on the 20/7/11. Both issues seem to have gotten very favourable reviews, with many people being pleasantly surprised with Bart's work on it. It would appear that this Conan work, coupled with the impending Deadlands issue, could be the work that really gets Bart's name out there again, which can only be a good thing.

One step back is the cover image Bart produced for Advent Comics' Pandemonium: Evil Incarnate book. I call it a book because it isn't really a comic, it's more of a Graphic Novel, of about 70-80 pages in length. Anyway, here's Bart's pencils for the cover alongside the final version:

Pandemonium: Evil Incarnate by Advent Comics

Bart only did these cover pencils for this book, which can be purchased through a number of places, including Amazon, in both book and kindle form.
But apart from this cover, Bart has produced a decent amount of work for Advent Comics, including this Titan cover that is yet to see print:

Advent Comics' forthcoming title 'Titan' cover pencils by Bart Sears

He's also produced some very unique work for another as yet unpublished title for Advent Comics, this time creating a bunch of interior pages on the art program Manga, the results of which are amazingly crisp and beautiful to look at. I sincerely hope these pages get printed, but it has been about 9 months since Bart handed them in to the publisher, with still no sign of them. Only time will tell.

Bart also recently produced some single frame action grabs for an organisation called Robin Hood, who raises money through charity work to feed the homeless of New York. They hold large events that appear to attract some high-flying A-List stars such as Lady Gaga! Anyways, Bart produced a handful of images of a modern Robin Hood sort of character that was then used for a video at an event. Photos of the final product are seemingly impossible to come across, but I can share a few of the inked renditions with you in the meantime:

Robin Hood frames

Let's see, what else has Bart done lately... oh yeah, he also did a two-page splash for an issue of Top Cow's Artifacts comics! The comic in question, issue #3, came out on 17/10/10, with a trade paperback featuring the issue and spread being released on 26/1/11.
And here are the pencils and inks that Bart provided for the spread:

Top Cow's Artifacts #3 2-page spread by Bart Sears

And finally, one of the bigger jobs that Bart and the gang at Ominous Studios has undertaken recently is a project still very much shrouded in mystery and intrigue. I can't really give you any information at all on it, not even the name of the project, but I can say that the work produced by Ominous Studios for it is fantastic and will be worth the wait!

Now, as for the future. Again, I'm privileged to be privy to a great deal of what is going on at Ominous Studios, but bound to secrecy nonetheless. I can say that there are more Brute & Babe tutorials on the way, both old and new ones (which is exciting enough on its own!). There are some very interesting educational products in the works, not to mention several entertainment properties that are simply going to knock your socks off.

It is a very good time to be a Bart Sears fan, there's plenty of things to collect, and promise of amazing things down the road, so stay tuned, Searisans, the future is bright indeed!

The Ominous Studios website is near!

As related in my previous post, Bart Sears has recently announced the creation of his new company - Ominous Studios. And what good is any new business venture without a fancy new website to go with it?

The folks at Ominous Studios have been working tirelessly to get the website up and running and what I have seen looks fantastic. And as a treat for you, dear Searsians, I have once more been granted permission to give you a sneak peak at what the site is going to look like.

So here is the 'About Us' page.

As you can see, Ominous Studios has a broad spectrum of artistic works on display, from comic work, character design, children's books, game artwork and promotional pieces. It is also a great example of Ominous Studios' adaptability and program knowledge, with everything from pencils all the way though to the latest digital art programs on display.

And this is the 'Clients' listing, featuring a close-up of one of the companies cooler characters- Raaman.

So there you have it. Parts of the website will be available to view imminently, and I'll be pointing to it as soon as it is right here!

So don't go too far...

On another Ominous Studios related matter, hopefully a lot of you are busy working on getting your artwork together to submit to Ominous Studios. The gang will be more than happy to look at your work, with one simple proviso, you have to follow the Submission Guidelines, and that means that they want to see 6-10 of your chosen pieces of art. You can include a link to your website if you have one, but you MUST have those 6-10 pieces, not just the website link. The guys at Ominous Studios said "Time simply doesn't allow for us to go through each site selecting and printing artwork."
But they are really looking forward to seeing what you guys can come up with for them!

Ominous Studios is here!

Of all of the interviews, articles, reviews and news I have passed on to you, dearest readers, through this blog; nothing (and I mean nothing!) compares to this!
A few of you might know, through Facebook no doubt, that Bart Sears has set up his own company, called Ominous Studios. This studio has been coming for... well, years, really. But the reality of it really only became apparent this year, and particularly the last few months.

So what is Ominous Studios, I hear you ask? Well, it can be summed up with this sentence - "Quality Concept & Creation for the Entertainment Industry."
What on earth does that mean? It means that Ominous Studios is an artistic and Intellectual Property house, where projects will be undertaken and both 'resident' and freelance artists will provide their services for a negotiated fee. It is also a place where many Intellectual Properties will be on display, in a variety of formats such as web comics and short films, to name a few, and these Intellectual Properties will often be available for Purchasing Rights and Distibution agreements.

But what about the Ominous Press characters of old? Will they have a place in this studio? The short answer is - YES! The project is a closely guarded secret, but not for too much longer. And what you are going to see, whilst different, is far superior to what has come before.

But now, as an exclusive to this blog (if only by a few hours!), I can announce that Ominous Studios is officially open for business and is accepting submissions to fill it's existing contracts!

And here are the submission guidelines for those interested parties-

As stated above, you'll need to sign a release form when submitting to Ominous Studios (as is common with pretty much all companies now), so below are the forms for any interested parties. The first is the international A4 size, the latter is the US equivalent.


So get creating folks, and have the chance to be a part of this historic occasion!

On a personal note, I have been unbelievably privileged to be involved in some small way in helping both Bart & Michelle at Ominous Studios in getting things together. Sometimes it has only been a bit of advice, or somebody to bounce ideas off of, or even just a spot of proof-reading. But it has been an utter thrill from the very beginning. Bart and I have been discussing Ominous storylines since the first time we emailed each other, all of those years ago, and it is quite amazing to finally see things coming to fruition.

Naturally, there will be plenty of announcements to be made in the near and far future, so check back soon.