Wizard World Chicago Comic-Con

It's that time of the year again! I will be in Artist Alley with my friends from General Jack Cosmo Productions at the Chicago Comic-Con presented by Wizard World. Please stop by my table (3110-3112) and say "hello". I'll tell you all about what I've been up to as well as showcasing my recent Sketchbook: A Fistful Of Lead. Plus, there is also an extremely limited edition introduction to "New Dreaming Men" created by me and writer Aaron Shaps (General Jack Cosmo, Zeroids, Phantom Detective). More on NDM later, but Aaron and I will be offering 100 signed and numbered copies of NDM with the first introductory prose story, and black and white character paintings all behind a brand new full color card stock cover. It's a rip roaring, all ages pulp adventure to be published by Olympian Publishing.

The Phantom: Generations

New work:
Recently announced is a new Phantom series of comic novellas from Moonstone Books titled: The Phantom "Generations". I have been assigned to do the 20 covers of the series. And I felt this was the perfect opportunity for me as an artist to get back into the ink. This is very exciting for me to do a series of comic book covers for The Phantom where I will be able to stretch out a bit more and pull out the ink pen and brushes and collaborate with some really creative friends in producing the covers.

My good friend, Ruben Procopio has been a big inspiration over the years with his amazing sculptures from Electric Tiki and Disney to his black and white illustrations in "Tales from Zorro" and "The Phantom Chronicles". One of my all time favorite Phantom covers is his stark, noir-ish Phantom in the shadows for Moonstone's first Annual last year. Simply, brilliant. And we have been discussing some possibilities of working together ever since.

After Joe Gentile discussed the series of covers with me, I immediately thought of two things: working in black and white (to be digitally colored) and asking Ruben if he wanted to collaborate. Iron sharpens iron... and I'm working with the best.
There's one goal in mind with doing these together: to make them the best possible images of The Phantom.

I had already roughed out the first cover of "Generations" when I approached Ruben. But, we've already started developing the series of covers and we will be sharing the credit for the rest of the run. There's no formula yet; together we'll both brainstorm a batch to get approvals from Moonstone and for the time being, I'll pencil the finish and either I'll ink the entire piece (like this first one), partially ink for Ruben to take over and finish it or he'll ink the entire cover over my pencils.
We're going with the flow for the time being.



So, here's the first issue cover that I have titled, "The Oath". For those who have come in late... this is Christopher Standish Jr. making the legendary oath upon the skull of his fathers murderer: "I swear to devote my life to the destruction of piracy, greed, cruelty, and injustice, in all their forms! My sons and their sons shall follow me."



The inked art was then handed over to my friend and color artist, Jason Millet to finish. Jason was fantastic to collaborate with as well and he did an exceptional job.



The Phantom "Generations" begins early next year.
Check out Ruben Procopio's blog: http://www.maskedavengerstudios.blogspot.com/
And Jason Millet's site: www.jasonmillet.com

Sneak Peek: The Phantom #25 Cover

For those who came in late...
Some have become familiar with my work because of my painted Phantom covers for the Moonstone Books series that started with the (now sold out) trade paperback collection back in 2003. Moonstone publisher and editor-in-chief, Joe Gentile has described my relationship with Moonstone and The Phantom best:
Joe explains, "With The Phantom, we were really looking to do something that would be noticed. We are basically dealing with a man in purple tights running through the African jungle. So, we wanted to showcase what makes the Phantom who he is: the 'Ghost Who Walks'. He has been looked upon with awe and respect for 20 generations. We needed to amp up the character's innate mystery and power, and somehow make him look like a real human being, but show that he may be MORE than that. That's where Doug Klauba comes in. With Doug's painting of the Phantom, by far the most powerful and most emotion - provoking depiction of this character that I have ever seen, he shows the Phantom realistically, but with that extra touch of otherworldliness that befits the 'Ghost Who Walks'. The Phantom is a guy who, when he walks into a room, the bad guys immediately want to leave. Here, with Doug's painting, I think he captures the inner intensity of the character like never before."

The current Phantom team headed by Mike Bullock is currently approaching issue #25 with an exciting, all out-action packed double issue. Mike invited me to illustrate his story arc across a wrap around cover and I wholeheartedly accepted the challenge. What you see here is a study of the cover image without the back cover elements. The back cover will be a montage of story elements and characters from issues #19-#25. Normally, my studies for The Phantom stop at pencil drawings with some added acrylic color over scanned print outs- but with this one, I couldn't resist! I did a finished painted study as I continue to fine tune the rest of the drawing for the complete wrap around cover. You'll find this image as Moonstone solicits issue #25, but you'll see the full wrap around art when that issue hits the stands. Order yours now!

Sketchbook release

DKSketchbookCvr
Originally uploaded by dcklauba

Available now!

The Douglas Klauba Sketchbook is a soft cover, perfect bound 8.5 x 11 artbook with full color covers and 70 black and white pages of drawings, sketches and roughs showcasing the last 6 years of my projects for Sci-Fi, Pulp, Fantasy, Costumed Heroes and Cover Art for various publishers and clients.
Also a selection of Sequential Art pages from pencil to inks of my short story, "Raja Yah" originally published in Moonstone Monsters: Ghosts.
And for the first time ever a special section of never-before-seen preliminary art for The Phantom covers for Moonstone Books with commentary by historian Ed Rhodes and personal quotes from Ruben Procopio, Alex Ross and Thomas Blackshear.
Price $20.00

The book is available directly from me, from Moonstone Books, Dreamhaven Books and the Bud Plant website:
http://budplant.com/product.asp?pn=DOUGS&bhcd2=1197994276
Or in Canada from the fine folks at Girasol Collectables: www.girasolcollectables.com/

A limited edition, signed and numbered with pencil sketch on the title page is available for only: $45.00
Please email me for info.