Eric Orchard

Ten Minute Mermaid Comic

2010-01-08T11:53:00.000-04:00

Something I don't have time to lavish a lot of attention on.

Alice, Rejected

2010-01-07T15:16:00.001-04:00

Here's an earlier composition for the Alice picture.

Alice, Roughly

2010-01-06T11:17:00.004-04:00

Five days in to the new year and things are crazy! But in a great way, so far this seems to be the most exciting year creatively for me. I can't believe the projects I'm doing. Above is a detail of an illustration I did for the excellent UK publication Steampunk Magazine. What a thrill to get to do this piece and it has to do with Alice in Wonderland which is brilliant.

Just found this site on Imaginary Realism and am scouring it for inspiration. Amazing stuff.

Quiet Snowy Day

2010-01-04T11:51:00.000-04:00

Three Days In, So Far So Good

2010-01-03T13:10:00.004-04:00

I'm cautiously peering out from my studio for my shadow and things look pretty good so far. I am working hard on stuff and battling the urge to follow every little path that presents itself and spreading myself impossibly thin as I have the last few years. I've started work on my first commission of the year; an Alice in Wonderland based illustration in pen and ink. And I'm working on the piece above, a pencil drawing for my portfolio. I love working on a detailed pencil drawing like this, it literally feels like discovering a world and a story. I'll post it when I'm finished.

Looking Back And Forward

2010-01-02T12:32:00.004-04:00

I'm thinking and planning and fretting right now exactly like I did a year ago. I remember last years worries so vividly; a new son and too much work.

Career wise the last 2 years have been rocky and full of ups and downs.This past year in particular; I had a son, the economy looked very grim and we had a big move halfway across the country.Being who I am its the failures Iremember clearest. The thing that tripped me up most was panic.I took on too much, worked really hard, missed out on valuable family time and it didn't feel worth it. So the lesson to me is don't take on too much and choose the things you really want to do, not what I feel I should do.

Next year looks incredibly promising.

I have some really exciting work lined up and a plan. I plan to keep the big projects to a minimum. Two, maybe three projects over the year and find an art rep to handle my commercial work. I'll figure out how to make a living at this yet. This year, I hope!

Happy New Years Creatures!!

2010-01-01T06:00:00.000-04:00

A Very Good Twenty Ten To You All

2009-12-31T14:05:00.003-04:00

To quote oner of may favorite authors

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself," Neil Gaiman

Have a happy new year and very best wishes for the coming year.

Henry Playing With Train

2009-12-30T21:09:00.001-04:00

A quick sketch in pen and photoshop of Henry playing with a model train. I did this about five minutes ago.

Pencils And Magic

2009-12-29T12:21:00.003-04:00

Forgive me for "thinking out loud" on my blog but I find I do my best thinking here. I'm going over my plans for the year. I do this every year and every year my plans fall through because of projects falling through, family illnesses, having kids...Anyway, ever hopeful I've made plans this year as well. This year I'd love to build up my portfolio of pencil drawings. Some of my favorite of my own work are pencil drawings and I'd really like it to be a more significant part of my portfolio. I don't do a lot because I get intimidated by the lengthy, difficult process. But it's also a process I enjoy. I'm hoping too that these pieces might help me make some money while I work on the Flying Boat comic, enabling me to eat and wear clothes.

Art To Pay For Illustration

2009-12-28T15:08:00.004-04:00

I'm currently amassing pictures to sell to help finance my comic book work. Which is odd and backwards but everyone's got funny twists in their careers. Above is a teeny ink and watercolour on handmade paper. It's about five inches by three and a half. I'm thinking of ding a bunch of these and selling them. They are so much fun to do. I love monsters. Also, I've started a series of pencil drawings to sell. These will be mid sized detailed pieces. Work I love doing. Has anyone tried this? Any advice, thoughts?

Stealing Some Moments With My Sketch Book

2009-12-26T14:36:00.004-04:00

Having a son who is at the sage where he can appreciate ripping Christmas wrapping to gory shreds I had a lot less time for drawing this Christmas then in the past. Here are some doodles that happened when I'd sneak away.

A Boy And His Tree

2009-12-26T11:26:00.001-04:00

Wishing For Some Peace, Love & Joy For Everyone

2009-12-24T16:19:00.001-04:00

Wishing Everyone a wonderful Christmas.

More On The Boat

2009-12-23T07:00:00.000-04:00

A few more notes on the announcement about Flying Boat and Top Shelf. One important thing to tell people is that this will take awhile. A year and a half or more. I want to make the best book I can and so does Top Shelf and that'll take time. It's going to be about 140 pages long and fully coloured which is time consuming as well. Another thing is that I'll have to work on other projects while I do this in order to make ends meet. I have a number of other projects lined up and am already making schedules and working out my own deadlines and time lines. However, I'm hoping I can post lots of pictures and bits of info here while I work. This should be a fascinating process I'd really love to share. Stay tuned!

Harry And Silvio And Maddy Join The Top Shelf Family!

2009-12-21T06:00:00.000-04:00

I received great news in time for Christmas last week; The Flying Boat graphic novel will be published by Top Shelf Productions. Top Shelf is my favorite indy publisher and one of the best, most esteemed publishers in the world. They publish such great books as League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Owly, Swallow Me Whole, From Hell, Essex County, Box Office Poison and many, many more amazing books. I've actually been working on the story with editor Chris Staros for some time now but just signed the contract two days ago. I'm not exaggerating when I say this is exactly what I've been dreaming of since I was little.

Totally Brilliant Sunday

2009-12-20T10:24:00.002-04:00

I'm having a lazy,pleasant Sunday for the first time in recent memory. Henry is caged into the living room with chairs, settees etc. and we are lazily sitting on the couch drinking coffee,reading and looking out the window.

Some Book Ideas

2009-12-19T10:27:00.005-04:00

Some great books I read this year that would make fantastic gifts.

How To Feel Like a Little Kid.....

2009-12-19T08:08:00.000-04:00

This was so awesome to get in the mail; Mike Mignola's From The Vault 2 signed by Mr. Mignola himself with a sketch!! Merry Christmas me.

Chugging Along

2009-12-18T10:07:00.003-04:00

Working away on stuff. I received the green light on a webcomic at Tor.com with Jeff Vandermeer and I've been putting a few finishing touches on Jeff's Bellysnatcher sketchbook. I'm putting together a few samples for a collaboration with J Torres and waiting for word back from my editor on the latest draft of the Flying Boat graphic novel, which has changed it's name from The Great Goldfish Adventure to The Great Spadefoot Adventure because toads are fun to draw and the goldfish was getting too cute. This seems like a lot of work but it's actually not, since loosing the contract on the children's book I was working on I suddenly have a lot of free time so I've been reading more, which is a great Holiday past time. As for The Great Spadefoot Adventure and it's publication I' have a verbal agreement with a publisher, one of my favorite publishers, and we're just working on polishing the storyline until an agreement is signed.

BellySnatcher

2009-12-17T10:25:00.007-04:00

These images are from a year long project I've been doing with Jeff Vandermeer, an author whose writing has had a tremendous impact on my work and thinking, casing me to look at the world a little deeper and with greater wonder. BellySnatcher was started about a year ago based on a dream Jeff had. Jeff dreamed that he was collaborating on a book with me called BellySnatcher, so I I illustrated a book based on his dream. I've used not only his dream but my responses to all of Jeff's amazing work, his writing about hidden things and people and the dizzy, scary depths we face. The mixture of deadly serious and ridiculous. I hope that I've captured some of Jeff's wonderful sense of humour as well.

I'm touching up a couple of images today and scanning the book and then sending it off.

Jeff talks about it here. I would encourage anyone who likes books and has a sense of literary adventurousness to read Jeff's blog regularly.

Collage Humour

2009-12-16T11:48:00.002-04:00

Another piece from the Vandermeer collaboration. There is something about his writing that causes me to respond with collage and humour (collage Humour?)....

Flying Boat Ink

2009-12-15T11:02:00.002-04:00

Working away at completing projects today. Listening to a Haruki Murakami audiobook (After Dark)The outline for Flying Boat seems to changing daily...

Cat And Mouse And Something Else

2009-12-14T12:53:00.001-04:00

A Moleskine thing from a collaboration with author Jeff Vandermeer.