Brock Beauchamp

Dan DiDio inadvertently summed up mainstream comics’ problem

Brock Beauchamp
July 29, 2011

Most of us have read about Dan DiDio’s recent outburst at San Diego Comic-Con. During a panel about DC’s relaunch, a fan stood up and asked why DC’s creative team had skewed to a jaw-dropping 99% male, 1% female ratio from the previous 88% male, 12% female split the company had employed in earlier years. If you haven’t read it, here’s an excerpt: Fan: “Why did you go from 12% in women [creators] to 1% on your creative teams?” DiDio: “What do those numbers mean to you? What do they mean to you? Who should we be hiring? Tell me... View Article

San Diego Comic Con wrap-up

Brock Beauchamp
July 28, 2011

Next year, I’m wearing a walking counter when I do this blasted con. I probably hoofed it 5+ miles every day because the San Diego Comic Con is no longer held only within the confines of the San Diego Convention Center; now it sprawls out across the entire San Diego Gaslamp quarter. And it’s GREAT. I wasn’t able to do as much as I wanted but that’s the nature of every convention I attend. Next year, I’ll know what I can and cannot do, adjust accordingly, and hopefully have a slightly more productive con. As it is, I met several... View Article

Chris Volsky page three

Brock Beauchamp
July 25, 2011

Whew. Comic-Con is over (I’ll have a write-up later this week) and I’m back at home, entirely unprepared to resume my normal work schedule. Is it a vacation when you’re more burned out and exhausted than you were when you left? Anyway, here is the third page of the Chris story. Click through the image below to jump to the entire short story.

New short story – Chris Volsky

Brock Beauchamp
July 18, 2011

While I’m off at San Diego Comic Con and preparing the second issue, I’ve brought in an artist to help with the next Variables short story. His name is Rey Siasar and he brings a unique style to this story and so far, the pages I’m seeing are great. Also, this is the first short story written by Nick Hemsing, the co-creator of Variables. Jump through the image below to see the first two pages of Chris Volsky’s story.

Preview of the last page

Brock Beauchamp
July 11, 2011

I’m running a bit late with this update but given that it’s summer, I’m not terribly worried about it. The completed page should be posted Wednesday-ish. I learned a valuable lesson while inking this page: do not attempt to ink a page when the room temperature is somewhere in the high 80s. The ink is runnier than usual, the paper sticks to your skin, the sweat from skin will smudge even dry ink, and it’s almost impossible to cleanly ink small details. Normally, a page takes me about 15 minutes to clean up after I scan and ink it; this... View Article

Breaking and entering

Brock Beauchamp
July 1, 2011

And here we are, the second to last page of the first issue! I started work on drawing the cover back in January and it’s kind of freaking me out to see it nearing completion. Is it any good? Should I fix some of the more blatant screw-ups or do I leave it as-is? I’m sure I will end up adjusting a few things here and there but my ultimate goal is to leave things be and just move on to the next issue, learning from the mistakes I made in this issue. One of the areas I feel I’ve... View Article