Change of artist for Storm Front?

[ludomaniac]

I was looking at the "extended forecast" page on comiclist.com (http://www.comiclist.com/index.php/newreleases/extended_forecast).  In the section for the Dabel Brothers, it says this:

The artist for Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: Storm Front Vol. 2 #3 (SEP090769, $3.99) from Dabel Bros. Productions will be Brett Booth, not Ardian Syaf.

What happened?  Is this just for one issue, or has Ardian been replaced?

[Mickey Finn]

Ok, here's the lowdown....
Ardian has been replaced (reluctantly) because his workload with other studios has impacted the schedule of The Dresden Files. The original idea was to replace him for Fool Moon, but time and tide conspired, and Brett Booth (Anita Blake) will indeed be taking over during the run of Storm Front.
 
Let me stress this, before the rumor mill gets ahold of things...this was a scheduling and workload conflict, nothing more. DBPro did not wish to replace Ardian and tried to re-arrange things to the best possible outcome...they're very happy with the work he's done with them and wish him nothing but the best. Ardian will be missed.
 
Brett Booth is a fantastic artist, and I very much look forward to working with him. I'm excited as hell to see his work on Dresden.

[Brian]

Brett Booth's blog has a colored version of his Fool Moon cover.  He did point out that the paw print on the ground was supposed to be blood, not power.

http://demonpuppy.blogspot.com/2009/09/am-i-drawing-jim-butchers-fool-moon.html

[Mickey Finn]

Heh...his Harry's face  looks more like the original person that inspired Harry's build (they don't look alike in the face) than any other artist I've seen.

That's kinda cool

[ludomaniac]

Ok, here's the lowdown....
Ardian has been replaced (reluctantly) because his workload with other studios has impacted the schedule of The Dresden Files. The original idea was to replace him for Fool Moon, but time and tide conspired, and Brett Booth (Anita Blake) will indeed be taking over during the run of Storm Front.
 
Let me stress this, before the rumor mill gets ahold of things...this was a scheduling and workload conflict, nothing more. DBPro did not wish to replace Ardian and tried to re-arrange things to the best possible outcome...they're very happy with the work he's done with them and wish him nothing but the best. Ardian will be missed.
 
Brett Booth is a fantastic artist, and I very much look forward to working with him. I'm excited as hell to see his work on Dresden.

I resent your preemptive effort to stave off ugly rumors with mere "facts".  Many of us make up nasty innuendo to brighten our otherwise empty, meaningless lives.  Who are you to take that away? 

Um, seriously though, I'm glad Ardian is apparently getting so much work, as it can be hard for creative artists to support themselves.  Always happy to hear about a success.  I'll miss Ardian's wonderful art, but I'm looking forward to seeing what Mr. Booth does with the characters. 

[Mickey Finn]

I'm not taking it away...those that wildly enjoy running off with bizarre stories are seldom hampered by facts...just look at politics

[cephis]

I'm not taking it away...those that wildly enjoy running off with bizarre stories are seldom hampered by facts...just look at politics

I think that statment would be funnier if it wasn't so true

[Derek Ruiz]

As the Senior editor at the company. I couldn't bring it in myself to tell Ardian he couldn't work on Batman: Blackest Night Mini ( which is awesome check it out). He feels working with DC could lead to bigger things than being a NYT Bestselling Graphic Artist.

He will probably be back to work on some other related Dresden stuff in the near future but I wanted to be sure you guys know whats going on.

Brett Booth is going to finish off the last two issues of Storm Front and then jump into Fool Moon.

I'll becoming around more often to now that I'm gotten some work out of the way that has been keeping me away.

-Derek

[cephis]

As the Senior editor at the company. I couldn't bring it in myself to tell Ardian he couldn't work on Batman: Blackest Night Mini ( which is awesome check it out). He feels working with DC could lead to bigger things than being a NYT Bestselling Graphic Artist.

He will probably be back to work on some other related Dresden stuff in the near future but I wanted to be sure you guys know whats going on.

Brett Booth is going to finish off the last two issues of Storm Front and then jump into Fool Moon.

I'll becoming around more often to now that I'm gotten some work out of the way that has been keeping me away.

-Derek

We appreciate the update Derek and have the upmost faith in your taste

[library lasciel]

total newbie questions here -

Is Brett Booth going to be trying to match Ardian's style?  Or when the hardcover collection comes out, will there be a horrible break in style like there was with the short at the end of Vol. 1?

It wasn't so bad for a short story, but I really didn't like the differences in Harry's face and build between the two interpretations - I don't know if I could take that jump in the middle of what is to me, essentially, an illustrated version of a single coherent book I'm already familiar with.

In relation to that, are you also changing the inkers and colorists, or is the rest of that team staying on?

Lastly, does Jim have a lot of input on the adaptation, or does Mark Powers write it, based on SF, and then Jim simply says yes or no?

Thanks muchly - I'm a total newb at graphic novel stuff, and I'm finding that I'm really picky about what artistic styles I like.   Which is a total pain.   

[Mickey Finn]

"Is Brett Booth going to be trying to match Ardian's style?"

That would be cool if he could, but I'm not sure on that (as I themantic consultant, we'll know more when we see his first  panels come through).

"Or when the hardcover collection comes out, will there be a horrible break in style like there was with the short at the end of Vol. 1?"

That was something they were VERY much wishing to avoid (hence the original delay in the next issue, they were trying to arrange it so Ardian would have time to do Dresden and Batman), but it looks like it may not be avoidable.

"In relation to that, are you also changing the inkers and colorists, or is the rest of that team staying on?"
I don't actually know the answer to this, but it's likely they won't change.

"Lastly, does Jim have a lot of input on the adaptation, or does Mark Powers write it, based on SF, and then Jim simply says yes or no?"

The process is thus, as far as I know:
Mark writes the script, sends it to David Lawrence, our project manager and an all around great guy.
David sends it to the Theme Consultants to check over, make sure there's not a problem with the adaptation. At this time, he may also send it to Jim...I'm not sure when Jim sees it.
Then the art begins. The art goes by the Consultants in pages. Later, I believe David sends bundles of pages to Jim with our notes.

[library lasciel]

Thank you very much! 

Wow, now I feel very knowledgable.

[BrettBooth]

total newbie questions here -

Is Brett Booth going to be trying to match Ardian's style?  Or when the hardcover collection comes out, will there be a horrible break in style like there was with the short at the end of Vol. 1?

In relation to that, are you also changing the inkers and colorists, or is the rest of that team staying on?

Hello Brett here. To answer your question, no I won't be matching his style. The point of me finishing off these last 2 issues is to get them done quickly so they can ship on time, if I tried to match the styles it would take far longer since Ardian style is based off an older 80's look as opposed to my more 90's base. Since I was going to be drawing the next book anyways we figured why wait. It might take months to find someone to match the first artist style, plus then they have to agree to work on the book, find the time in their schedule...ect. It is too bad that a change had to happen, Ardian was hitting a nice stride...

What I am going to do is try to match the book more closely while trying to keep what Ardian did with the designs. I've read the Stormfront 4 or 5 times so far so I want to make sure the little things that aren't in the comic scripts are put in, like the graphic on Harry's T-shirt at he end of the book (also the scorpion will be changed to a more accurate interpretation.)

I've put the first page of Stormfront V 2 issue 3 on my blog.

http://demonpuppy.blogspot.com/2009/09/stormfront-v2-issue-3-page-1.html

As for the second question I have no idea yet. I don't usually use an inker so some things will need to be worked out.

Best,

Brett

[library lasciel]

wow.

cool.

Thanks for the link and for answering my questions!

(happily, I like your style too!  I would have been quite sad if I hadn't! )

[cephis]

Hello Brett here. To answer your question, no I won't be matching his style. The point of me finishing off these last 2 issues is to get them done quickly so they can ship on time, if I tried to match the styles it would take far longer since Ardian style is based off an older 80's look as opposed to my more 90's base. Since I was going to be drawing the next book anyways we figured why wait. It might take months to find someone to match the first artist style, plus then they have to agree to work on the book, find the time in their schedule...ect. It is too bad that a change had to happen, Ardian was hitting a nice stride...

What I am going to do is try to match the book more closely while trying to keep what Ardian did with the designs. I've read the Stormfront 4 or 5 times so far so I want to make sure the little things that aren't in the comic scripts are put in, like the graphic on Harry's T-shirt at he end of the book (also the scorpion will be changed to a more accurate interpretation.)

I've put the first page of Stormfront V 2 issue 3 on my blog.

http://demonpuppy.blogspot.com/2009/09/stormfront-v2-issue-3-page-1.html

As for the second question I have no idea yet. I don't usually use an inker so some things will need to be worked out.

Best,

Brett

I for one, like what I see so far and look forward to buying your work Brett,