May 11, 2009
This brilliant trailer for upcoming Nick Magazine Avatar comics was assembled by comics writer, Alison Wilgus (that's her and her husband doing the voices in the beginning). It plays off the killer videos the show's creators made for past Comic Cons. The trailer made its debut this past weekend at Anime Central as part of the "ATLA: Beginning and Beyond" panel organized by Avatarlegacy.com.
Featuring the art of: Justin Ridge, Elsa Garagarza, Johane Matte, Gurihiru, and Tom McWeeney...and of course awesome music by the Track Team!
As of next month, I will be going into my 10th year at Nickelodeon Magazine!!! I started freelancing for them (1-2 days a week) the last week of November in 1998 while I was still in my senior year of college. By the time I graduated, I was working 5 days a week as a "permalancer" and then eventually got hired "on staff" a year or two later. Years of monthly magazines and special projects later...after even having a photo of my butt (in jeans) on the cover, I still feel like the new kid!
I can honestly say though that I've really had one of the best jobs ever. And am still completly in love with it.
The best part of being at Nick Mag for the past 9 years: I've worked with an insane amount of talented artists, writers, editors, art directors, animators, producers, and cool creative people! And looking back, I definitely feel I've learned a lot and still continue to every day.
I've been asked a lot of questions and done a lot of public speaking about "your career" and how you can "make it", which feels ironic, since I'm still a few thousand dollars shy of paying off my college loans!
But at any rate, I've been compiling a lot of this advice in one place for easier correspondences, and recently a few people insisted that I share it online. So if you are interested in that kind of stuff here you go:
--I'm sure a lot of the details are up for debate and I plan to add and change things over time. But I guess it might be useful for people seeking some inside tips and tricks! Cheers!
It was a lot of fun getting to edit a comic magazine based on my favorite cartoon show! And I really hope it sells well (and that the show continues to grow in popularity) so we can do lots more and continue to play in the Avatar universe!
I also wrote a long rant about people scanning/posting the magazine all online (the day it came out!) and how I believe that affects our chances of making similar magazines in the future. This was a follow up to another journal post i made on my deviant art site specificially aimed at fans of the show. It's lead to a lot of interesting conversations, great feedback, and the meeting of cool people. If you haven't seen it yet, here's the video trailer for Season 3 of the show:
The best place to find a copy is the magazine section of a bookstore chain like Barnes and Noble, Borders or Chapters/Indigo.
If you have trouble finding a copy of the magazine check HERE
February 08, 2007
I am luckily allowed to work on these annual Nick Mag "Best of Comics" magazines. The latest one is on newsstands this week, so I hope you'll check it out!
The Best of Nickelodeon Magazine ALL-COMICS ISSUE!
This 52-page magazine collects tons of the hilarious and creative comics from Nick Mag's THE COMIC BOOK, including "Viking Crush" by Dan Abdo and "Idiom-tastic Animal Detectives", by Travis Nichols, which were both mentioned on the list of '100 Distinguished Comics' list in Houghton Mifflin's Best American Comics 2006.
Continuing the tradition of last year’s Best of Nick Mag comics, this latest collection will impress readers with an incredible variety of talent. You'll discover work by groundbreaking comics creators such as Jordan Crane, Justin Green, Jason Lutes, James Kochalka, Michael Kupperman, Brian Ralph, Souther Salazar, Jason Shiga, Craig Thompson, Sara Varon, and many more!
This special issue also spotlights several cartoonists and offers behind the scenes articles that are fun for the casual reader and a great resource for young artists!
