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Hurrah for your inking style! I admire your filling of the page, something I still try and push myself to do.

Here's hoping the whole process goes well, I'd love to get a copy for myself someday!

Terrific idea. Can't wait to see more of this story, Eric.

This is absolutely beautiful. Wonderful shading and composition.

Have a good time in Halifax. I want to go to there again! I want to go to "Your father's Mustache" and public garden!

Excellent, and good luck with the project!

It's interesting, a similar thing has happened for me too. Long, long ago, during a depressing time, I gave up writing and slowly managed to get into art. Now those early art ideas (mostly cartooning) are becoming a project. Go figure.

I'm anxious to see what you create, and Chizine would be a good place for what you're describing.

Wow, excellent !

Good luck! I sure hope it happens!

That's funny, Russel. Not laugh out loud funny but interesting funny. How trauma can lead us to unexpected places. I'm a big fan of ChiZine and would love to do an illustrated book for them. Thanks so much!

Thanks Ben!

Thanks Jeanie! Me too! I'll keep you posted. What are you working on these days?

I'm immersed in rewriting one of my middle grade novels from a different character's point of view. It's a huge project that will take a long time, especially now that I've had to take on a day job (the monthly health insurance premiums are getting brutally expensive). That's why I haven't posted on my blog lately. I plan to accompany the text with pen-and-ink illos, of course. Thanks for asking!

Well lucky for us the amazing Julie came along! I hope this comic happens for you. I'm sure it'll be a hit Eric!

Good luck wththis amazing character!

Good news! And a great inkwork here -you seem to have a real way with skulls...

lovely layouts:)

Thanks Abhishek!

Love it! how unique!

Thanks so much Leah-Mae!

good sketches. I think you can publish story books for children!

keep it up...

thank! Great article

Skinniest legs ever. :)

*hearts*

Thanks so much D.K!

Awww, cute!! And I love this lion under^^

That last one actually makes me kinda nervous.

Really? She's pretty nice....

Very cool-looking! I love your new banner.

Paz

Thanks so much Paz! I love it too!

Beautifull ink!!
I realy like these ones.

Thanks so much Oriol!

=)

Y'know, at first I was more excited about Bera than Harry & Silvio? Thing is, seeing how wonderfully you've developed H&S (from what you've posted, of course) I now wish you could work on several things at once as well :)

Can't wait to see more. Keep up the great work, Eric.

Thanks Brian! I know what you mean, I'm going through the same thing. And you still haven't seen Cecily Briggs yet!

your way to work B&W is great

Excellent work as always. Beautifully done!

Thanks Luis!

Thanks Jeremy!

LOVE Bera!
That owl pic is just wicked!

Thanks so much Erin!

these are terrific!! The owl is brilliant

Thanks so much Alex!

Love these!!!! congrats on another great book launch Eric!
What a treat it was to meet Henry, you have an amazing little guy.
Love to you and Julie!
xo
Ambera

Thanks Ambera! It was so great to see you! I can't get over how busy our lives have become!

Hey Eric!
Tell Julie I will stop in sometime soon to see her. Busy with truck issues again, and lots of work at home - Aaron took on a new position with work, so we both have been burning the candle. You should incorporate Henry into your Bera story. Maybe she can find a baby in the woods...protected by a great hairy Benny-beast! Ha! ;)

Shannon

Cold.
Stunning work my friend! I love it!!

Thanks Shannon!

Thanks Rawls!

love this- haunting stuff- great graphic slabs of black and white-mmm.

Thanks so much JP! I really worked back and forth on this with both india ink and opaque white, it was a lot like painting.

Its looks really great!!!

Thanks Kalo!

I just love your ink and line work-they're so impressive!

Looking forward to more posts of Bera. :)

Thanks so much Diandra!

Looks great! Really nice narrative flow. I like the hands.

Fabriano is nice paper. Vegetable-based sizing instead of animal-skin, too. (Oh the stuff ya learn working in an art supply store as a day-job...)

Hmm, have you tried smooth finish Strathmore bristol? Whatever works, man.

Thanks Glendon! I am sooo lazy about materials. I've stuck to the same nibs since I was 16! Although there is no worse feeling then bad paper. It has nearly reduced me to tears before. I love Arches but it's ridiculously expensive and I find Fabriano about the same. I was using an illustration board for some time but never really enjoyed the slick texture. I could never find a happy medium with boards and always felt bad because it seemed like what all the proper artists used. Now I find more satisfaction in using materials that you have come to with help or on your own. I'll try the strathmore bristol, I think I've used it before but I'm not sure. Thanks so much for the advice on that!

Which art supply store do you work at? I end up ordering stuff from Toronto sometimes(including paper) because sometimes certain materials will just be unattainable here. we have Deserres as our main art store here but the introduction and proliferation of beads has me very nervous. The art school has a tiny but good shop. I don't even think you can buy cadmium red gouache in Nova Scotia!

I just don't like to be too sales-y in the inter-webby blogs. I try to keep day-job and freelance separate. But maybe others will benefit from the answer...? So here goes.

I manage the DeSerres downtown at Spadina & Richmond. I wouldn't be too concerned about the beads, the bread-n-butter is still fine art.

Our stores are Fabriano's Canadian distributor, so the prices are usually about half of what Arches go for.

Strathmore makes some great wind-powered versions of the bristols now, and the price per sheet works out pretty close to the regular ones.

Fabriano has now responded with hydro-powered paper. So it might be worth a look.

(At a guess, do you go to the Winston Churchill & Dundas one?)

And isn't the Euro printed on Fabriano?

Thanks so much for the advice Glendon! It's always very welcome here. I go to the Halifax shop, I'm not sure I've been to a Toronto Deserres yet. I'll be sure to come by yours when we move there next year, if you're still keeping that job.


Julie and I both really into the greening of the paper industry. I want to keep using paper but want it to be sustainable. Cotton rag just feels better then pulp in any case.

Oh weird, I thought you lived in the GTA for some reason. The Halifax crew are nice folks. One of my team moved out there too.

I totally would love to buy you a coffee if you're in town next year!

You're right, Fabriano did make the Euro. The paper went off the market back then, and we almost got mauled by members of the local botanical watercolour society when the stock ran out.

More and more art companies are going green. We get asked questions about it a lot.

Oh man does the idea of an angry mob of Botanical painters appeal to me. I picture it as one of those quiet, hidey mobs.

so many good paintings here!!!!

These are stunning Eric! I love the owl in the trees so much : )

Great stuff. Love the line work and the story sounds suitably off kilter.

Thank you so much Feng Lan! The amazing thing about the internet is I get to be introduced to amazing artists who live so far away.

Thanks so much, Lisa!

Thanks Roland! So glad to see you here!

Beautiful and haunting, Eric.

Forge ahead, I say. The start, as you pointed out, is certainly the hardest part. You got it done. Maybe not the way you wanted but it's done. Move on.

Then, maybe after settling into the work for a bit, go back and redo some of these scenes to better suit you.

Thanks Brian!

That's excellent advice.

Hi Eric. Your work is wondeful. I like very, very much yours illustrations in black and white.
Saludos,
Lelis

Love these! So bold and striking, yet so beautiful.

man, Eric, thats really pretty!
i honestly would enjoy seeing these illusrtations without word bubbles, and used as part of an illustrated novel. you write beautifuly and the mystery you create in your B&W work would compliment a beautiful literary work! this is by far the most compelling work i have seen so far of yours.

wonderful! you seem to be on a real roll, maybe it's the sleep deprivation giving a nice 'hallucinatory edge, but whatever it is, you should run, jump and dance with it!
it's got such a spontaneous look to it, not agonised(even if it is when you're doing it)and your use of texture(the trees, the clouds, the owl)and light and shade gets stronger all the time. i'd love see these panels all together. on a page, in sequence. but i love seeing em, whatver.

At this point I think we have established that you kick ass, but this my friend is MY favorite of your black and white thus far.
I am crazy with jealousy at your mad ink skills!!!

This is incredibly beautiful line work. Love it. Love the dead guy: )

Thanks so much Lynne!

Thanks so much Joe! I think this is probably the most personal work I've posted, other then drawings of my family, and perhaps complelling in itself. Maybe you like it 'cause there's so many trees in it? (:

Thanks Shane! I'm planning on putting this together in a minicomic as I go and I'll be sure to send it along to you. I find it funny to be doing minicomics again. That's how I got started.

Thanks Erin! You're making me blush! Please remind me to send along the minicomic to you when it's done. Stuff is a little behind on this project because of Harry and Silvio but I'm hoping to pick this up again by Christmas.

Thanks Tim! I wish I had the next sequence to show you, the dead guy tells Bera a fairy tale while they sit together in mausoleum.

Sorry Lelis! I didn't mean to leave you out.

Thanks so much for your kind words.

Thanks for dropping by my blog Eric, especially as it gave me a chance to see your beautiful work.

those are really fantastic.
bravo!

Absolutely beautiful. The owl is tremendous in the opening images. Smooth movement b/w. Bravo buddy.

Thanks so much, Paul!

Thanks Ian!

Thanks Peter!

Eric, I love these. They are so dark and moody yet still appealing - a difficult balance to maintain, and one I particularly enjoy.

You are totally amazing to be able to juggle new-baby, prospective work (Harry) and personal work (Bera). Plus start controversies in book discussions. :-) Such talent!

Wow, awesome Eric! Love your work.

I love these pen and inks! There is such a good balance between creepiness and being appealing, wow. This one of my favorites.

Thanks Tara!
I have to admit I'm sacrificing a little bit of sleep but I can't deal with the guilt of not drawing. And I love it.
As for the YA argument, I totally got sucked into something a little more argumentative then I would have liked.

Thanks so much Kate!

Thanks Vickie!

This looks amazing! Please forge ahead with it this time, it's going to be fantastic. I love the way you use black and white.

Thanks Jess!
Yours and others encouragement has helped me to decide to do just that.

Hi there! These are beautiful, and I wanted to tell you I appreciated your defense of YA on the Tor blog. That whole discussion made me want to kick some shins :-)

Thanks Laini! That was frustrating wasn't it? I feel like I kept repeating myself "they have good stories, they are not censored, they are not simplified kids books," but some people had already made up their minds on the matter.

Wonderful blogs by the way!

very impressive!

Thanks Seyhan!

I really dig this, Eric. I have a thing about stories with ogres and trolls. I guess that comes from being a hulking lad with wild hair and heavy brow in the 6th grade. ;)

Thanks Jamie!
I think everyone has a bit of troll in them.

I really like these drawings, Eric!

Thanks Ana!

Hope you are feeling better!
Constance

Thanks Constance! I feel terrible I didn't get anything done for the door project.

Poor you - I hope you are feeling better :)

Sounds horrid, take it easy and look after yourself...the paintings will still be there when you are 100%.

Thanks Susan! I feel much better.

Thanks Gretel! Lots of fluids, right?

Sending wishes for a fast recovery and greetings to Julie!
Christina

Thanks Christina! I've already passed along your greetings.

I stopped by on my way down the list of people posting today about doors....sorry to hear that you've been ill, and hope you feel much much better very soon! This is the first time I've visited your blog...I am enjoying your artwork...I am sure you have created some quite fascinating doors; well, even in that sketched castle in the next post I see an intriguing door...

I'll be visiting again.

I can see you've been feeling very green... not a good color on you ;o)
Good to know that you were able to get out of bed today. Sounds like the worst is over, so downhill from here. :o)

Ha! Thanks Alicia!

Glad to hear you're feeling better, Eric. It must be spreading through the atmosphere because we're fighting it off down here!

Thanks Sara! I'm so sorry
I didn't take part in this. I feel like I went to bed 4 days ago and just got up. Not that bad, but I was sleeping alot. I love your post! That house is magical.

Thanks Jennifer! I actually went to the doctor's because my mother managed to scare me into thinking I had rubella, which is pretty unlikey for someone growing up in the lower middle class in the west after 1969. It turned out everyone's got this cold. I hope you don't get this one.

Hope you're feeling better and that your face is less green now!?
It's miserable feeling ill.

Thank you so much Elizabeth! Maybe if I was in Morocco I'd get better sooner! I know I'd feel better, it's snowing here again. Are you in N.Y. right now?
I know she's green but I still think she's cute.

Thank you so much Elizabeth! Maybe if I was in Morocco I'd get better sooner! I know I'd feel better, it's snowing here again. Are you in N.Y. right now?
I know she's green but I still think she's cute.

Hi, I came here from the Doors blogging post. I enjoyed visiting your blog. Continue to feel better real soon.

Paz

Thanks Paz!

Ooof! Get well soon! I mean all glowingly well. That cold sounds mean!!!!!

Thanks Viviane!It's kind of rediculous, I've been in bed for days and sleeping for about 20 min of that time and then my wife gets it on top of her morning sickness so I almost lost my new sketchbook.
I've also wasted a tremendous amount of time weighing other careers like comics etc. and getting no substantial work done.
so
um...
You're good?

Oh, I feel your pain Eric! I "never" get sick, but I thought I was dying last week, so I dragged my sorry butt to the doctor only to find out that I had the flu ($230 later). So that is what the flu feels like - I never want to feel that again. Bleccchhhh! I missed an entire week of life...and drawing. But now I am BACK! :) Feeling strong, too. Here's to our good health!

Cheer to that!