Aspire for greatness! Follow your dreams- Motivational video- Start 2015...

Drawing Dead: Episode 6- Inking Beth Greene

After 100 Days Of Making Comics: Week 6

Drawing Dead: Episode 5- Inking Maggie Greene

After 100 Days Of Making Comics: Week 5

After 100 Days Of Making Comics: Week 4

Drawing Dead: Episode 3- Inking Glenn Rhee from The Walking Dead

After 100 Days Of Making Comics: Week 3

Drawing Dead: Episode 2- Inking Morgan Jones

After 100 Days Of Making Comics: Week 2

Drawing Dead: Episode 1- Rick Grimes

After 100 Days Of Making Comics: Week 1

Making Comics: Day 100 of 100. Crossing The Finish Line

Making Comics: Day 99 of 100. Page 2 Inks

Making Comics: Day 98 of 100. Done With Page 1

A must watch for those not following their dreams! Day 95!! Following throught with you dreams. A little inspiration for others.

Making Comics: Day 94 of 100. Inking Panel 2

Making Comics: Day 92 of 100. Happy Halloween

Making Comics: Day 91 of 100. Starting On Page 1 Inks

Making Comics: Day 90 of 100. Page 3 Finished

Making Comics: Day 89 of 100. More Pencils On Page 3

Making Comics: Day 88 of 100. Keeping Thee 100s Alive

Making Comics: Day 87 of 100. Starting On Page 3 Pencils

Making Comics: Day 84 of 100. Done With Page 2 Pencils

Making Comics: Day 83 of 100. What's Next You Ask?

Making Comics: Day 82 of 100. Working On Art At The Dentist

Making Comics: Day 81 of 100. Page 3 Thumbnails

Making Comics: Day 80 of 100. Selling Prints At Comic-Cons

Making Comics: Day 80 of 100. Selling Prints At Comic-Cons

Making Comics: Day 78 of 100. Getting Ready For A Comic-Con

Making Comics: Day 77 of 100. Fleshing Out Page Two

Making Comics: Day 76 of 100. Back To Page Two

Making Comics: Day 75 of 100. More Old Small Press Art

Making Comics: Day 75 of 100. More Old Small Press Art

Making Comics: Day 74 of 100. Deadlines A Failsafe Motivator

Making Comics: Day 73 of 100. Feeling Like The Walking Dead

Making Comics: Day 72 of 100. Expect The Unexpected!

Making Comics: Day 71 of 100. The Super Sleepy Episode!

Making Comics: Day 68 of 100. Multitasking!

Making Comics: Day 65 of 100. Page Two Thumbnails

Making Comics: Day 64 of 100. Learn From Thee 100s

Day 63 is all wrapped up! Making Comics: Day 63 of 100. Inspiring Others

Making Comics: Day 61 of 100. Starting On Cards For Charity

Making Comics: Day 60 of 100. More Work On Page One

Making Comics: Day 59 of 100. Black Suit Spidey Colored

Making Comics: Day 54 of 100. Slowly Getting There

Making Comics: Day 52 of 100. Reference Images

Making Comics: Day 50 of 100. My Small Press Artwork

Making Comics: Day 46 of 100. Getting Back To Thumbnails

Making Comics: Day 45 of 100. Florence Comic-Con 2014

Day 43! Another one down. Making Comics: Day 43 of 100. Working On Prints

Making Comics: Day 42 of 100. Soaking Up What Is Useful

Making Comics: Day 41of 100. Gaining Subscribers?

Making Comics: Day 40 of 100. All Over The Place

Making Comics: Day 39 of 100. Thumbnail Progress

Day 37! Been inking on and off all day. Making Comics: Day 37 of 100. Still Inking The Print

Venturing into digital comics

I have been avoiding this for years but it was bound to eventually happen. Digital comics isn't necessarily the future as far as I'm concerned but they will be a big part of it. I think print comics will alaways have it's place among fans who want to actually hold that tangable comic in there hands, or those collectors who will be willing to pay triple it's value over a bidding war on ebay.There's no doubt in my mind about that, but digital comics are here to stay and I best be getting my shit together if I plan to market my comics using that platform. I have just set up a comixology account and a drive thru comics account and I'm in the process of creating a Kindle Comic Creator file to launch through Amazon.If you frequent any of these sites then you already know the mass library of digital comics available. And it isn't just for the mainstream publishers, tons of Indie comic publishers have already jumped on the band wagon and are having a lot of success selling their digital comics. It's never been easier to get your comics out to the masses than it is now.It just makes sense with all of the touch screen tablets and phones on the market today and the way we transfer media to one another all over the world using this technology that this is a great marketing tool. Not only that, you save so much on printing costs. Sure, you charge less for your book but you also make a bigger profit by cutting out printing and shipping costs. So, to make a long story short, I'm getting with the times and getting into the digital comics market. I'll keep you all posted as to where and when to get my comics once I get everything in order. Take care until next week. - Kenny

Making Comics: Day 27 of 100. A Strong Logo

I got a little behind on my updates mainly because I fell and hurt my arm, and back over the weekend. This will serve as this weeks update. I wanted to talk a little about creating a strong logo. The logo is a very crucial think and can make or break someone from picking up the book. This doesn't always apply but it certainly can make a difference when someone is judging a book by it's cover. You also want to have a unique logo that stands out and that can be associated to your character. When you see this logo it should automatically connect you to the character. Kind of like Nike, Pepsi, Facebook, and Blogger's logos automatically associates their logo with their product, website, etc. This is something to take into consideration when designing a logo. Make it friendly to the eye and not too complicated. Keep it simple and clear but with it's own unique look. That's it for now.I hope to be back on schedule next week. See ya then. - Kenny

Blast from the past!

Hey, everyone. I just updated my vlog yesterday and decided to take a trip down memory lane and video my old self made comics back from when I was a child. I showed the 9 issues of Power Team that I did which included Slayer as the leader of the team, as well as the Slayer comics.

 It really was fun to look back on my old comics with the audience and reminisce a little. I haven't looked through those books in many years and it was nice to see how far that I've came as an artist. However, it was hard at times seeing how bad my work looked, but I was just a wee child drawing super heroes so I can deal with it. ;-)

 I think all artists should look back at their work as a kid. You can actually see the improvement in your work as you get to the newer stuff so it acts as a timeline of your progress in some ways.So if you haven't looked at your old art in years then why not break it out and see how much you've grown.

I've embedded the video below if anyone cares to check it out. That's it for now. I'll see you all next Monday. Peace!

- Kenny Keen

http://youtu.be/nZgflVO8jdU?list=UUtuRG8grbCntbfl1FxGCA4A

Focus

Well, I'm back with another Monday update. I've been really focused on my Slayer book now that I've taken the 100 days of making comics challenge. This has really given me the push that I needed. It feels great to be doing Slayer again and it keeps me motivated knowing that I have to update my progress daily to those few who actually give a damn.

 I have also been wanting to do some more pin-ups of various mainstream characters but my time have been limited to just doing the Slayer stuff. I'm going to try and squeeze in a pin-up here and there but I will need to figure out what to cut out of my busy schedule. There's always sleep, right... who needs that anyway. ;-)

Figured I'de put up some recent art I did of Deadpool just to give people something to look at until I do a new one. Hope you all have a great week. Take care.

-Kenny

First 5 days of 100 complete

Well, this update is a day late due to other things taking up my time now. I started the 100 days of making comics challenge on the 1st of August. That is keeping me pretty busy but I still plan to update this blog every Monday.
I'm already making a lot of progress by doing this 100 days of making comics challenge. I'm getting in well over 30 minutes each day as I work on my Slayer comic book.
I am currently re-writing the script again, working on the inks for the cover, and sketching new character designs. Things are moving pretty good considering that I work a full time job. The link is here to my youtube  100 days playlist... 100 days of making comics. Check it out if you want to see my progress.

Thats all for now until next week.
- Kenny

Backup your work!

 Note to self... always backup your backups.Well, I've been spending my weekend digging for old Slayer notes. I've been  re-working the Slayer issue 1 script because my hard drive crashed about a year and a half ago and I lost it. I thought it was backed up in my dropbox account but when I went looking for it I discovered that I was pretty screwed. So I've been digging through my old notes and re-working things as I prepare to start my 100 day challenge of making my Slayer comic.

 I had planned to jump straight onto the art but it looks like I'll be tweaking the script for a couple of weeks. I have all of the plot saved but all of the dialogue will need to be re-written. There is a notebook around here somewhere with most of the dialogue in it. I have been looking for it all weekend. You see, I've moved twice in the last 2 years and things have seemed to vanish. If I don't find the notebook then I guess I'll start it all from scratch.

So, remember to alway make copies of your scripts and back up your files. Now you know... and knowing is half the battle!

-Kenny

A little progress is still progress.

 Well, Im back with a small update. I had a busy week working my full time job. I did manage to get a sketch card done and a 8 by 10 charcoal commission done. I also filmed a video of a tour of my little art studio after working on it for 2 days to get it organized. My whole vibe has improved since I moved the things around. Now to get crackin' on new artwork!

 As the title states... a little progress is still progress, so don't beat yourself up when you don't get much done when working on your art. Everyday can't be perfect and just use that for a reason to push harder next time. Make the next day a challenge to get more artwork done than the day before. Those that have limited time due to work, family, school, or hitting the karaoke bar scene... set a time limit you have to reach before you can quit for the day. 

 Personally, I work better sitting up late at night when everyone else is asleep and it's quiet. I jam out to whatever music grabs me at the time and get in the zone. However, due to working night shift since last November, haven't been able to do that as much. I get about 2 nights a week to do that now. I mostly have to work on my art in the mornings when I come in from work. I tend to get sleepy quick and have fallen asleep at the desk. But like I said... a little progress is still progress.

 I was writing on my blog last week about taking the 100 day challenge of making my own personal comics. For me to do this, I will have to make some sacrifices. Let me explain a little more about what I mean. I work a full time job working 12 hour night shifts., I also do computer repair on the side. The computer work is kind of sporadic at times. I might go a couple of weeks with no work and then I get slammed with a bunch of jobs. I continue to do it because I used to have a computer repair shop and still have a lot of older clients that still call me up when they have PC issues. I make decent side money doing this but it takes away from my time to work on my comics. So when I say that I have to make sacrifices, I would have to give up taking a lot of the computer work to make time for my comics if I plan to work on them every day.

 I think the sacrifice is worth it. At some point in your life, you have to take time for your dreams or it will eat a hole in you. That much bottled up passion for something is such a waste of something great. You have to let the positive energies flow and push out the negative things that hold you back. With that being said, I plan to take the 100 days of making comics challenge starting sometime this August. It won't be easy but if it was, everyone would do it. I'll be back next Monday with another update. See ya!

- Kenny

Thoughts on the 100 days of making comics challenge.

 I also made a youtube video talking a little about this but I'll get into more detail about it here on my blog. It can be viewed here.

 A lot of people are doing this now and I really admire them for doing it. It's also very inspiring see them stepping up and taking time to work on their own personal comic book project at least 30 minutes every day. Kevin Cross was the first to do this and Peter Palmiotti and Jonathan Rector quickly jumped in and started doing their own 30 day challenge. Now there are several more people doing this and it's great to actually see the inpiration spreading like wildfire all over youtube. It reminds me of the pay it forward concept in some ways. It shows how sharing your passion for your art can inspire and motivate others to follow their dreams and do what they love, be it making comics, making music, writing, acting, bull riding, surfing, under water basket weaving, or even a twerking instructor.

 I really want to take time to focus on this but at the same time, I'm still working towards getting the free time to work on my comics every day. Things are getting easier by setting goals for myself but at the same time, there are days that I can't even get 30 minutes to focus on my comic work. I do think about my comic book ideas all the time though and I'm constantly writing ideas down on scrap paper, napkins or whatever is nearby when a good idea hits me, but actually getting time to draw that idea and breathe life into it is limited at times.

 I have been incorporating my ideas that I talked about before on my blog, "Making time for your art." Things are moving in the right direction but I still want to be better prepared before I take this challenge. I would like to focus on my Slayer comic book when the time comes to do this 100 day challenge. It would be a great way to push myself and the pressure of doing a daily video would force me to stick to a tight deadline and get this book moving again. So, that is on the horizon for upcoming things to focus on but first I have to clear some other projects off of my plate. I have some lettering work, sketch card commissions, and another short horror story to do first and then that can be my main focus. Hopefully I'll have a few more vlogs done also and will be more comfortable making videos. Everything gets easier with practice so I guess we shall see.

 I'll be back next week with more insight on this subject. Later.

- Kenny

Had a great July 4th

I took an unexpected vacation from the 3rd to the 6th and celebrated the 4th of July with my wife at Carolina Beach. I had planned to get a little bit of artwork done this weekend but this vacation kept me busy but I'm glad I took some time off. It was a much needed break from the day to day hassles that I deal with at work and home.

 Sometimes you need to get away and unwind a bit. It can help you get rid of stress and clear your mind of all of the everyday problems that you have to deal with. If you haven't had a vacation in a while and feel that you need one, save up and take a week or even a weekend and get away and enjoy yourself a litttle.

 Now on to my progress. I am now lettering a short story for a new horror anthology that I have in the works. This new series will be taking the place of Horrific Tales Anthology and we be titled, "After Midnight." I have found several writers and artists interested in contributing work for this series. "After Midnight" will be a 32 page anthology featuring three 10 page horror stories from different artists and writers including work from me as well. If you would like to contribute a written story or art for a story please send samples of your work to midnighthorizon@hotmail.com.

 That's it for now. See you all next week.

- Kenny

Finding time for your art: Part 3

 Now that we've established some ideas and guidelines to go by we should talk a little more about sticking with your schedule. Things happen in our lives that we must always put first but we still need to find a little time each day if even 30 minutes. Taking baby steps is better than taking no steps after all.

 Finding ways to challenge yourself is a good idea to keep yourself motivated. Take for instance, indie comic book creator Kevin Cross. He has challenged himself to make his personal comics at least 30 minutes every day for a 100 days on his youtube channel. He uploads a new vlog each day telling his subscribers what he did that day on his personal comic and shows his progress.You can watch them all here... Kevin Cross. Not only has this forced him to work on his comics every day, it has helped to inspire many others to take the challenge and push themselves as an artist.

 Watching the creation process has also helped myself and others to see how someone else creates their comics. This gives you options on ways to tackle your projects by watching other creators methods of creating. Some other great vlogs to watch is Peter Palmiotti's channel Peter Palmiotti. Peter is a well established inker but has branched out to take on all of the artistic chores of making his personal comic "Bright Eyes." He has also became a spokesperson for indie comics and has a podcast called Independent Road where he chats with different indie comic creators about comics, their creative process, and whatever else comes to mind. This is a great podcast to listen to and get some insight on other ways that creators tackle their creation process. Check it out here... Independent Road.

 If you are more of a digital artist and use Photoshop or Manga Studio then you need to check out Jonathan Rector's youtube channel at... Jonathan Rector. He shows a lot of his creation process as you watch him draw. Jonathan also has some tutorials on Manga Studio 5 if you are needing some insight on getting more familiar with the software.

 Some other ways to challenge yourself is to set a reasonable deadline for your lifestyle. A pro artist does this for a living and can pencil a 22 page comic in less than a month. If this is a personal comic for you, then you are probably taking on the writing, pencils, inks, letters, and editing. Being realistic with yourself will go a long ways here. You are working a full time job and have a family so you will need to be take these things into consideration. Give yourself plenty of time to do all of this but still push yourself to get done before your deadline. I would say 6 months to do everything from start to finish is a reasonable deadline but you may be able to do it quicker or you may need more time. If you take this deadline serious then you will get a lot of work done. You may not finish in time but that isn't the point. The important thing is you pushed yourself and made time for it even if you finished a month late.

Actor Will Smith said that his father made him and his brother rebuild a brick wall in front of his business when Will was 12 years old. It took them a year and a half, but they built that wall. How did they do it? Will said," You don't try to build a wall. You don't set out to build a wall. You don't say,"I'm going to build the biggest, baddest  wall that's ever been built." You don't start there. You say: "I'm going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid." And you do that every single day, and soon you'll have a wall."

So, take this idea and use it to creating comics. Start by doing the best art you can on every comic book panel on a page. Do that 21 more times and you have a finished comic book issue. Apply this idea again with inks and lettering and it's essentially done other than some editing. The key point is to keep moving forward doing the best work that you can do.

That's it for now, I'll be back next week. See you then.

-Kenny

Finding time for your art: Part 2

Okay, I rambled on a little bit last time about finding ways to make time for your art. I guess I should back up and say that before you tell others how important it is that you take time for your artwork, you first must tell yourself that.
Everything must start with you!
You have to want it bad enough to make the time!
You have to believe in yourself enough to actually make great art!
You have to stay motivated!
You have to make mistakes to actually learn from them!
You have to practice... A LOT!

 All of this will take time away from your family and friends... you have to sacrafice some of that time and hopefully they will understand. I'm not saying that you should lock yourself in your drawing room and become completely unsociable. You have to always put family first, but you also need to find the right times to work on your art. Everyone has hobbies or T.V. shows they watch every week. Say you actually hate the show your girlfriend or wife watches religiously. Let's call it, "The Housewives of Idontgiveafuck" shall we.Well, this is a great time to go draw some amazing art! Ladies, I haven't forgotten about you. Say your man wants to watch the game or that "Ancient Bigfoot Pimps his Ride" show. Well, this is your chance to go do more important things like work on artwork!

Yes, most of us have children and have to be responsible adults. Take turns with your better half and watch the kids for them to do stuff and when they are done then get them to watch the kids while you work on your art. If the noise of kids playing or babies crying distracts you then invest in some headphones and listen to something that will help you get in to the zone. Start with your kids early and let them know in a nice way that Daddy or Mommy is working and teach them the importance of what you are doing and it will be much easier to find time as they get older. Also, let them get involved, give them a coloring book and some crayons and tell them that they can make some artwork too. Most children want to be like their parents and would love to draw their mom or dad a pretty picture. If you have teenagers then they probably would rather be playing the X-box or PS4 than hovering over you at the art table anyway.

Now that you have that under control, you have to stay motivated. Nothing sucks more than finally getting time to draw and not having any motivation. What has been helping me is to read motivational quotes or look at other great works of art (Comic book art is great art to me.) These things tend to help me stay motivated, so I made a motivational sheet and hung it above my drawing desk along with other posters from artists that inspire me. The motivational sheet has some inspiring quotes along with a Plan Of Action for following my dreams. Below is a low res file of what I made and put on my wall. Feel free to use it if you want and if you need a high res file just email me at midnighthorizon@hotmail.com and I'll send it to you. Maybe you have things that you want to put on your motivational sheet instead. It's easy to make using photoshop or illustrator. Tweak the idea and make it work for you. It's a great way to help you keep focused on your goals and dreams.

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a lot going on but I'll be working hard at updating this blog every Monday from here on out. Talk to you later.

-Kenny

Finding time for your art

As many of you artists know. It sucks balls to work a full time job while trying to write or draw comics in your spare time. It's damn near impossible at times when you add in a family life. Yes, it's an everyday struggle but for those who keep on chipping away at their art, it's well worth it. I'm one of those guys. I might go nearly a week and bairly get to pick up a pencil but when i do get time, I pour everything I have into it.

There has to be a better way though, right. A lot of people tend to stick to somekind of schedule or allow an hour some time after work to draw. Sometimes this works for me but it's not easy when you have to juggle so much at once. The grass needs to be mowed, the car needs an oil change, gotta run get a whatcha-ma-do- thingy for my son's school project. Ooops, I fogot that we are having a family cook out at uncle Billy Bob's place today. Hey, we just stopped by to visit, didn't figure you were doing anything important.

There are tons of distractions when you are at home or off work that you have to get a grasp on. The only way to get the time you need is to set rules or to let people know that today I'll be drawing so do not disturb. It's not easy but if you keep putting your foot down then you will eventually get your point across.

Make some agreements with family members. Say, Look, If you give me some time to work on my art then I'll devote my next day off to doing what you wanna do. They call it compromise for a reason, it's time to start doing just that. People need to know how important your art and your drawing time is to you and only then will they understand and give you the respect you need and deserve.

It's not being selfish by any means. Every single person on Earth has something they enjoy or has a passion or dream they want to achieve. We all deserve a chance at making it a reality. We just need to compromise with others in our lives and give one another time to focus on these dreams.

Well, that's my two cents about that. I'll be trying to enforce these guidelines into my everyday life and hopefully it will work. We shall see. Talk to you later.

-Kenny

Busy writing, drawing, lettering, coloring... you name it and I'm doing it.

 What a great couple of week it's been as far as productivity goes. I wrapped up lettering my pages on the Faro graphic novel last week. Faro is full of talented artists and writers and I'm glad i got the opportunity to be a part of such a great book. To find out more about Faro then check them out on Facebook at... https://www.facebook.com/faro.kane.5

 I also wrote a new horror story for a new anthology Im working on. It's probably the best writing I've ever done. I can't give anything away yet but i will tell you it's a zombie story. Now I really love a great zombie story and this one has really left a big impression on me. I'm working with a very talented artist and doing this. I want to solely focus on the writing and and let the artist take it to a whole new level. I'll be showing teasers of it along with introducing the awesome artist for the story in the near future.

I've also been working on some new pin-ups including a few Walking Dead pin-ups. Below is some samples to look at for now. I'll post some more stuff up to look at soon. Just wanted to share this quick update.

Juggling commission work and my own projects.

Just got signed on to letter and do some design work for a cool upcoming indie comic titled Faro. Also doing the artwork for the Invasion of the Killer Cicadas movie poster. While i jump around on those projects, I'm also drawing some pin-ups to sell as prints at Wizard World Louisville Comic Con March 28-30th. All this and juggling my own art also is pretty crazy. I love focusing on my own projects but lets face it, these commissions help pay the bills and are fun to work on. Just have to balance things out is all and reap the benefits in the end. Some things are worth busting your ass for. That thing is my art whether it be for my own projects or someone elses. This is Kenny Keen and I approve this message. ;-)

It's been a while.

Haven't updated this blog in forever due to being sooo busy with work, comics, family, and life. I figured it was time to jump on here and plug my new book that's currently campaigning on kickstarter. Killer Collection is a 32 page comic book that I've talked on here about before. It contains two of my best short horror stories from years ago along with an all new horror story debuting exclusively in Killer Collection.

The stories featured are titled STONES, FORTUNES CURSE, and REVENGE OF THE SPIDER. If you are a fan of horror comics then this is something that you will want to buy. There's 26 days to go so jump on and contribute early to be sure to get your copy reserved and to help me to reach my goal. Even if you can't buy a copy, you can help by spreading the word. Thanks in advance for all of your help.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1962857977/killer-collection