While at TFCon DC last October, I was able to pick up a sketch cover commission from Transformers comic book artist, Josh Burcham. Before attending the convention, I contacted Josh over E-Mail regarding the commission. I asked him to create an original character for me. An Autobot Transformer based on the TESLA Roadster automobile in the G1 style. As you’ll see in the video below Josh’s unique take on this character is pretty rad.

I hope you enjoyed this interview with Josh Burcham. Below is a photo of the sketch cover I commissioned from him.

Josh Burcham is a comic book artist working primarily for IDW Publishing on their TRANSFORMERS: OPTIMUS PRIME comic book. Josh also has a new book coming out from Action Lab Comics called the HARDCOURT LEGACY. A comic book that I’ve seen in advanced and already pre-ordered at my local comic book store.

• Josh Burcham’s Website • Josh Burcham’s Twitter

 

 

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Want to check out another TESLA that I commissioned to be turned into a Transformer?

 

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On this episode of the YOSHICAST, I traveled to TFCon DC to chat once again with Transformers comic book artist Casey Coller about Sketch Covers.

SHOW NOTES

• Casey Coller’s Twitter @CaseyWColler
• My Previous Interview with Casey Coller
• TransMissions Podcast TFCon Video

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On this YOSHICAST, we’re doing another SHOW & TELL episode. We’re going to talk about some comics I’ve picked up, like the blank Defenders comics that arrived damaged from Midtown Comics. The first three issues of the new Peter Parker: the Spectacular Spider-Man. I read a new fantasy book called Death’s Heretic by Jame Sutter. I’ll also be talking about my upcoming trip to TFCon DC. So please check it out in the video below!

SHOW NOTES [00:00] Introduction [00:17] The Defenders Blank Comic Cover [02:39] Spider-Man [04:39] Death’s Heretic [06:47] Batman and Bill [10:26] TFCon DC 2017

 

I review the five G.I. Joe comic books that lead up to the Transformers Reboot as Transformers: Generation 2.

Welcome to the first episode of Show & Tell. I would like this to be a regular vlog that I can talk about the things going on with me as well as geeky things I’ve picked up like comic books.

Show Notes:

• Air Quality (00:15)
• X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills (01:16)
• SoundWave Ornament (03:09)
• Hot Wheels Speed Winders (03:35)
• Captain Canuck blank comic book (05:21)
• G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero blank comic book (06:15)
• The Six Million Dollar Man blank comic book (07:39)

What did you think of this episode? Let me know in the comment section down below.

Today we’re going to talk sketch covers with comic book artist Livio Ramondelli (Twitter – Instagram – Deviant Art). Mr. Ramondelli has done work for IDW’s Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, G.I. Joe, and 30 Days of Night. He’s also worked on Star Wars for  Dark Horse Comics, Battlestar Galactica for Dynamite Entertainment,  and Pacific Rim for Legendary. For me, Mr. Ramondelli was the perfect choice for this latest sketch cover commission.

Homaging the Dungeons & Dragons 1983 Redbox, Larry Elmore art.

Livio Ramondelli, in my option, has quite the knack for drawing dragons. Because of this, he was the perfect choice to homage the iconic Larry Elmore art found on the original Dungeons & Dragons Redbox while giving it a touch of Transformers. As you can see from the images, I asked Mr. Ramondellie to replace the fighter in the original piece with the G1 Transformer, Grimlock. I also asked for some of the treasure items found on the cover to be replaced with items from the Transformers mythology. The end result that I picked up from Emerald City Comic Con this year was amazing! It turned out better than I imagined. I’m over the moon to have a Ramondelli piece with a dragon.

I first met Livio Ramondelli in 2014 at Emerald City Comic Con. He was the first artist I ever bought an original piece of art from. He’s also the first artist I ever bought a commission from. It’s because of the time and care that Mr. Ramondelli took educating me on how commissioning artists works that I continue to enjoy the hobby of commissioning sketch covers from different artists to this day.

Below is a transcription of the above video interview with comic book artist, Livio Ramondelli.

Yoshi: Dude, I’m absolutely convinced that sketch covers are… haven’t reached their full potential yet. I think they can only go up from this particular phase.

Livio Ramondellie: I think so. I mean we’re starting to see more and more people request thinks on a sketch cover. As opposed to a regular book or a regular like sheet of paper. So I do think… They’re differently popular, but they could defiantly get bigger for sure.

Yoshi: I feel like, and let me get my idea out here, but I feel like they are the only thing making a comic book collectible right now. 

Livio: Yea.

Yoshi: It seems like about ten years ago. My theory is… about ten years ago or so Marvel and DC, the big guys, said, you know, all these second market books are selling for hundreds of not thousands of dollars. We gotta get in on that. And thus we are now flooded with trades. Every six to eight issues we get a trade. You know, the books don’t have a chance to make any money. Then you get a sketch cover done and this is a unique piece that’s actually worth something. That’s cool for a collector. You know aside from buying pages this is the next best thing.

Livio: Yeah.

Yoshi: I just love comics.

Livio: Yeah.

Yoshi: So this is the piece Mr. Ramondelli did for me. And this is homaging the Redbox from Dungeons & Dragons 1983, I think it was. And, you rocked this sir. I wanted you to do this for the longest time. 

Livio: Oh, thank you so much, man.

Yoshi: Because you are excellent at dragons. You don’t get to work on them enough.

Livio: No, it’s true, I don’t get to.

Yoshi: You replaced the fighter for me with Grimlock, and some of the treasure items from certain aspects of the Transformers mythos. 

Livio: Yeah.

Yoshi: So, that just turned out awesome.

Livio: Thank you. I really appreciate it.

Yoshi: I couldn’t be happy with this. Now you flashed up some of your art for me earlier that you’re working on. Torsos. Full body shots. 

Livio: Yeah.

Yoshi: These are conducive to normal sketch covers I see.

Livio: Yeah. Here’s a swoop from Transformers head shot in progress. A shockwave. Super early.

Yoshi: Now, in the sketch covers I’ve gotten done this is typical of what I see from people who do commissions at cons. 

Livio: uh huh.

Yoshi: This is not typical.

Livio: Yeah. That’s true. That is defiantly not typical.

Yoshi: I think you’re too polite to do it. But I think most people would say, “I don’t have time to do this at a convention.”

Livio: I think it’s hard. With the more elaborate commission in general, sketch cover or just paper, the more notice you give the artist the better. Always at shows, you’re so busy with juggling a lot of stuff that it’s hard to really work on a really elaborate commission you know?

Yoshi: Yeah.

Livio: It’s like your way is perfect. Hit someone up ahead of time. Pick up the commission at the show. For super elaborate that’s great. Like, everyone wins on that one.

Yoshi: So yeah, let’s talk about that one a little bit. I hit you up well before the show as soon as I knew you were going. 

Livio: Yeah yeah.

Yoshi: I sent you an e-mail of what I wanted. I sent you pictures to reinforce what I wanted.

Livio: It was perfect. Yeah, you knew exactly what you wanted. You sent reference shots. That was awesome.

Yoshi: Be an asshole.

Livio: Yeah.

Yoshi: What did I do wrong. What would you’ve preferred?

Livio: You, no. I mean you did it perfectly, man. Yeah. I mean there’s really nothing I would have done differently.

Yoshi: Okay.

Livio: I mean like, occasionally, if you have an artist who they just don’t fee like drawing something. Which that wasn’t the case here. It’s not personal, but like that happens. An artist just doesn’t feel like drawing someone.

Yoshi: Sure.

Livio: But the one thing I was going to say about sketch covers is. If you’re requesting an artist to draw on them. Um, take a lot of attention… Notice where the logo is and how much space it takes up because sometimes a logo takes up almost half a sketch cover occasionally.

Yoshi: Yeah.

Livio: So, if that’s the case and someone walks up and wants a full figure, you know, Falcon from Avengers with the wing span, that figure is going to be like this big. So that kind of thing really has to be thought of because a lot of people would just be like, “Can I have the Hulk fighting Juggernot full figure?” And I mean it’s hard to fit that stuff on and still make it look good unless you want just minute sorta figures.

Yoshi: Right. I will point out that some sketch covers are front and back. I’m kinda screwed in that respects for my G1 love that all they got are front covers. There are clean sketch covers… I wouldn’t call this one clean… But there are clean ones where you can really utilize all the space.

Livio: Yeah.

Yoshi: Now, for a head shot, a torso shot can we talk about what you charge?

Livio: Yeah. Yeah. A head shot is $30. The torso is $60. Then full figures run $100 to $120 depending on the figure and how much space. You know, I feel bad charging someone more if they are getting a real… not that much drawing room.

Yoshi: Now, I would assume something this nuts this is an on come basis.

Livio: Yeah, that’s more. That’s a case by case basis.

Yoshi: Yeah.

Livio: You wanted not only two figures you wanted one huge figure, and environment, basically filling in every inch of the cover.

Yoshi: Yeah yeah.

Livio: So with something like that its case by case and prices very across the board.

Yoshi: Right.

Livio: So yeah.

Yoshi: Well I couldn’t be happy with this. It turned out awesome.

Livio: Cool man, Thank you.

Yoshi: Any advice for anyone else that’s that might want sketch covers. I think we hit the key points.

Livio: I would say just think about the board and logo with your request.

Yoshi: It seems like submitting too much information isn’t a problem. 

Livio: No, I mean the more the better. The thing I would say is don’t micromanage the artist. It’s fine to say everything you want up front. Like what you do is perfect. But once their drawing, I wouldn’t hang around and be like, “Hey can you change that.” You know like… know one likes that.

Yoshi: That’s an excellent point. And I think having worked in the graphics industry for a blink of an eye, I kinda know that so I guess that’s why I didn’t follow up with anything. 

Livio: Right. And you were perfect. You defiantly knew what you wanted. It was spot on.

Yoshi: Well, it’s like, I know what I want and I know your style. So I knew in my head this was going to be the result. 

Livio: Whats good with yours too was that you knew that would fit that space. That’s a busy commission, but it fits the space. Like I didn’t have to cram anything in.

Yoshi: Right.

Livio: The composition of the original piece lends itself to that.

Yoshi: No. Yeah, I like how the dragons defiantly it. We’re just seeing a window of what’s about to go down. 

Livio: Yeah, exactly.

Yoshi: So. for anybody that wants to do a commission with you, be it a bust or it more elaborate, how do we find you. 

Livio: You can just e-mail me. Website,  Instagram. or Twitter. Just contact me through any of those. So yeah, hit me up ahead of time and I ship out commission all the time.

Yoshi: Thank you so much man, I really, really, appreciate it. 

Livio: You bet.

Yoshi: It was good seeing you again.

Livio: You too, man.

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This year’s soundwave-ornament-1595QXI3142.html?searchterm=soundwave">Hallmark Keepsake Transformers ornament is the G1 Decepticon, Soundwave. I talked about this ornament back in Juneau right after I placed my preorder for it. Last Tuesday, I received a phone call from my local Hallmark store reminding me that I could pick up my Soundwave ornament that Saturday.

I’ve talked about other companies in the past that have released G1 Transformers ornaments. These are beautiful Transformers ornaments that I hang on my Christmas tree every year, but Hallmark really hits all my nostalgia buttons. For the last three years, they’ve created G1 Transformer ornaments that somehow simultaneously remind me of the actual 80s toys and the box art that the toys came in. They managed to make me remember that feeling I got as a kid opening up Transformers underneath the Christmas tree.

In my video review above, I’m blown away at how beautiful and lovely created this Soundwave ornament is. Aside from just one miner sticker flaw on the shoulder, it’s hard to find anything wrong with this little. Hands down, of all four Transformers ornaments that Hallmark has put out under their Keepsake line, this one is the most well done.

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The designer of this Soundwave Ornament is Orville Wilson. I really wanted to interview Mr. Wilson for this. I reached out to Hallmark and tried to do my best sleuthing online to find some contact information him. Sadly, I haven’t heard back from Hallmark and I haven’t been successful in finding any contact information for him. I did find a video of him that Hallmark put out a few years ago.

I really feel this was a good purchase. I couldn’t be happier with it. So please let a comment down below and let me know what you think of this new Transformers Hallmark Ornament.

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I just got back from seeing Spider-Man: Homecoming with my buddy Jason and it is by far the best Spider-Man movie I’ve ever seen! Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is the broke, teenage, wisecracking, nerd who can’t pick up girls, and gets picked on by jocks. In my opinion is the closest a comic book accurate portrayal of Spider-Man ever. I’m going to have to rewatch Captain America: Civil War,  just because I want more Spider-Man in my life.

I also enjoyed Michael Keaton as the Vulture. Keaton is such a great actor and I’ve always enjoyed his work. He’s an incredibly talented guy. Marisa Tomei plays Aunt May. In the comics, Aunt May has always been portrayed as elderly, but here I’m not bothered by this change. Robert Downey, Jr. also appears as Tony Stark / Ironman just great. Not much I can say about it. Downey has the character down pat.

The synopsis of the film is young Peter Parker starts to explore his new identity as the Amazing Spider-Man superhero. Peter returns home to his Aunt May from his experience with the Avengers. Tony Stark mentors young Parker as he tries to slip back into a normal daily routine. Not content with being simply known as a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, Paker is out to prove himself. But when a new villain called the Vulture appears, everything that Peter cares about will be threatened.

Last week I bought a new 2017 Macbook Pro 15-inch with 16gb of RAM, 1tb SSD, and the Radeon Pro 560 with 4gb of RAM.Here is the unboxing video I made of the new Macbook Pro.

In the video, I talked about picking up a secondary power supply. I feel it’s extremely cheap of Apple to charge $80 for the power supply and additional $20 for the USB-C cable I would need to actually power the Macbook Pro. (Both of wich are overpriced in my opinion.) In the past, if you ever wanted to buy a secondary power supply it came with the cable you would need to power your computer. This annoyed me when I got the Macbook Pro and I’m still annoyed by it.

I did want to write a little more about the new 2017 MacBook Pro after having spent a week using it. The good, the bad, and the ugly. So here we go.

This thing is fast! This is such a leap forward from my last Apple laptop. I’ve been doing a lot more video editing and the video above is the first thing I put together since getting the new Macbook Pro. I’m so used to making changes and having to wait for renders to finish to be able to see how the change I made looks. On this machine, I have no wait time. It nearly renders on the fly and if I do have to wait it’s rare and minimal.

Something I’m still getting used to is how wafer thin and light this laptop is. When I’m caring it around I feel like I could easily bend it. Apple makes cutting edge hardware and software. Especially with the hardware, Apple is obsessed with having the thinnest devices around that it results in not being able to provide the end user with a decent battery life. Apple boasts on their website that the new 15-inch model can provide the end user with “Up to 10 hours wireless web”. I’m sure if you enable the many power saving feature of this laptop and don’t go to websites with any kind of video on them that yes, the laptop can run for 10 hours on battery. In my real work use, however, I can get just barely over 2-hours of work done on my laptop before I have to plug it in. The Apple user community has been screaming for years that we are happy with thicker devices so we can have larger batteries, but the decision makers at Apple just aren’t listening.

I’m really enjoying the new Final Cut Pro video editing software. I’m also planning on picking up a copy of Apple’s Motion in the near future.

Finally, I want to talk about the Macbook Pro’s keyboard. This is an extremely low profile keyboard. The low profile is achieved by Apple’s use of a new butterfly switch underneath each key. I do enjoy the new keyboard and the sounds each key makes. Nothing makes me want to do more writing than a great sounding keyboard. Sadly, after only a week of use, the “i” key has failed on me. The butterfly switch underneath the “i” gave out. I have to wait until Monday to see if the local 3rd party Apple store in my town can honor my Applecare protection policy and replace the switch in a timely manner. Otherwise, the broken key will have to wait to be fixed until my next trip to Seattle. In the meantime, I’m relegated to using an external keyboard.

In the video, I mentioned that I picked up two dongles to help me get my work done. The first one I bought is the CharJenPro USB-C 3.1 HUB/ADAPTER. This one has and HDMI port, 3 USB 3.0 Ports, SD + MicroSD Card Reader, and a Type-C port for charging the Macbook Pro. I also got the Belkin USB Type C to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter. Something, I don’t use a whole lot, but it’s nice to have just in case.

And those are my thoughts on the new MacBook Pro. I’m really curious if anyone out there is having keyboard issues like I have. I wonder if this is a common problem with the new Macbook Pros or if I just have one key that was a lemon. Either way, let me know below.

Today we’re going to talk sketch covers with comic book artist Brendan Cahill. Mr. Cahill has done work for IDW’s Transformers for years. For me, he was the perfect choice for my special sketch cover commission

Turning a TESLA Model X, into an Autobot.

I like to think that if the Transformers were a toy line and cartoon that came out today, rather than in 1984, that one of the transformers on the Autobot’s side would have chosen a vehicle alt mode of a TESLA. I mean, why wouldn’t advanced robots that crashed landed on earth choose one of the most advanced vehicles of our times for their alt mode? It just makes sense to me.

So, knowing that Mr. Cahill would be attending TFCon Chicago last year, I contacted him with my request.

I sent him an e-mail stating that I would like to have him draw on my sketch cover a G1 Autobot Transformer as a Model X in both vehicle and bot mode.

That it was important to me that the TESLA logo be visible, the Autobot logo be visible, and that somewhere on the page it said: INTRODUCING VOLTIC.

Along with my e-mail, I also provided images of a TESLA Modle X and examples of how I would like both modes depicted on the cover.

I came up with the name VOLTIC from playing Grand Theft Auto 5. You see, in the game, you can drive around in their version of a TESLA, called the COIL. in the game, the Coil car company makes a car called the VOLTIC. And that’s where I got the name for the TESLA Autobot.

Well, after I sent Mr. Cahill my request, he accepted it and a little while later I was sent a picture of the finished sketch cover. The thing came out brilliantly. I love how the Transformer looks. The circled: Introducing Coil is just perfect and Mr, Cahill added some very nice details, like rockets on the gull wing doors. It’s just great.

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I was so excited about how this cover turned out I shared it on the TESLA subreddit where it stayed the number one post for most of the day. TESLARATI, a popular TESLA news site, saw the Reddit post and contacted me to posted a piece about my Voltic sketch cover.

This sketch cover has had quite a bit of attention. So let’s go chat with Mr. Cahill about working on this piece and sketch covers in general.

Yoshi: Why don’t we start out real quick talking about this.

Brendan Cahill: Yeah. Sure.

Yoshi: It’s a Regeneration One sketch cover. You have done a version of a TESLA for me. 

Cahill: Yes.

Yoshi: This doesn’t exist. You had to make this up?

Cahill: Right.

Yoshi: The car exists, but you had to make it up. 

Cahill: I made up Voltic’s robot mode.

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Yoshi: Do you like doing this? Do you like doing the totally off the beaten path? 

Cahill: Yeah. Yeah. I like doing all kinds of things. This is just a slightly different creative exercise than drawing an existing character of an existing property. And I do enjoy it because it just flexes different muscles.

Yoshi: Right.

Cahill: And I don’t know if I find it easy exactly. But I do find it sort of satisfying and something I feel comfortable with, taking the form of the car and extrapolating it into the form of the robot.

Yoshi: Gotcha. There must be a lot of tricks from, you know, having years with tinkering with actual Transformers. 

Cahill: Yeah, and some of it is just bullshit, too.

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Yoshi: *Laughs* Sure. I know online your adding of rockets got very popular. 

Cahill: Yeah, I was like, I think these need rocks. Like, there was no thought process to that except that I think these need rocks.

Yoshi: Yeah. Here at TFCon, have you gotten a lot of sketch cover requests?

Cahill: No. Not a whole lot. I don’t get a ton of sketch cover requests in general. Most commission requests I get are just on board. Every once in a while, but not that often.

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Yoshi: Okay. The way we went about this is that I found you online. I sent the request. I want you to have plenty of time to work on it. If you would work on it ahead of time. Do you prefer that? 

Cahill: Definitely for something like this. In this particular case, there is typography on it. You specifically asked for like, “Introducing Voltic” the character. The logotypes and the reference for something like a car. It’s a lot easier for me to get all that stuff at home. Have it all kind of setup. In the case of like the typography, I actually like found a font I liked, laid this out, printed it out, and then put it on a light box, and traced over it so I got the typography really nice.

Yoshi: Gotcha

Cahill: Like, I’m not a hand letter. That’s not what I do.

Yoshi: Right.

Cahill: So, for something like this that’s really helpful. I’m comfortable working on stuff here, but if I can do at home. If I have time and I can do it at home before hand, I can always do a better job Just cuz it’s a controlled environment.

Yoshi: I have a little saying. You know the worst thing that could have happened if I had sent this to you is that you would’ve said “no”.

Cahill: Right.

Yoshi: And I’ll still sleep at night. 

Cahill: Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.

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Yoshi: Someone who is coming to you for the first time. What can they expect pricing?

Cahill: The things I most often do at conventions and stuff is for like a bust which is sort of shoulders up would be like $50. I usually do pencils and inks and a grayscale marker so it’s kinda of a nice finished piece. Then, like a mid body, it’s more of a pose you see more of the body it’s more of a structure. Something like that is about $100. That’s usually the only types of things I do at conventions because things that get more complicated take a lot longer and then fewer people can get commissions. So something like that (pointing to my sketch cover), is more than that.

Yoshi: Yes. this is an as come basis. You have to know what the request is.

Cahill: Right. So when it’s full body, that costs more. If it’s multiple characters that cost more. If it’s a combiner that costs more. In this case, it was… You had the full body, plus the vehicle mode, plus the typography and everything. But then it was on a sketch cover. Like if I’d done this on a big sheet of board it would’ve been like $300 or something probably because it would require that much more detail and taken that much longer.

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Yoshi: Yes. That leads me to my next question. How do you like working on sketch covers as opposed to just a normal board?

Cahill: I like them. The paper is not as good, but in some ways, it’s actually good because it takes marker better. I don’t know why that is. Like it soaks in more.

Yoshi: I’ve never actually opened one of these that somebody has worked on. Does it bleed through? 

Cahill: I don’t think so. Because usually the back is like has a slickness to it that I think stops it. And I mean, while I’m working on it, I put a piece of cardboard between the cover and the rest of the comic just in case.

Yoshi: Oh nice.

Cahill: It’s the same with like if someone breaks a sketch book. You put a piece of board underneath, like between the pages you’re working on because you don’t want your marker to go through.

Yoshi: Right.

Cahill: Yeah.

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Yoshi: How do people find you who want to get this kind of thing done?

Cahill: Hit me on twitter or e-mail. I have a website that has all my contact information on it and everything. I’m easy to get in touch with and very nice to work with.

Yoshi: This is very true. Very true. 

Cahill: yeah, and you got me at a good time. Like I often have comics work and a day job doing graphic design. So, I often don’t have a lot of time. But in the run-up to a convention is often when I’ve set a block of time aside to do this sort of thing. So that’s the best time to get me. There is a very good chance that if you get me randomly I’ll say,  “Cool.” and “I’d love to do that for you and I totally don’t have time for a few months.”

Yoshi: Right. But then they are in the queue.  

Cahill: Yeah. Yeah, we can always set something up for later.

Yoshi: That’s awesome. Thank you so much for your time.

Cahill: Definitely.

Yoshi: I really appreciate it. 

Cahill: Yeah, good talking to you and I really appreciated this job. It was a lot of fun to do.

Yoshi: It looks great. You have a really great con. 

Thank you so much for checking out my interview with Brendan Cahill. If you’d like to know more about sketch covers, I did a video with comic book artist Corin Howell on sketch covers. And if you just want to know more about sketch covers in general, I did a video about that too. Thank you guys so much and take care.

Links:

• Brendan Cahill’s Website
• Brendan Cahill’s Twitter
• Brendan Cahill’s E-mail

See some other TESLA vehicals I’ve had commissioned to be turned into Transformers.