ethanmaldridge
Ink and Claw
A Blog by author, illustrator, and cartoonist Ethan M. Aldridge
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Looks like I can finally announce this: I got to write and draw a Doctor Strange story! It's for Amazing Adventures, part of Marvel's Super Stories anthologies for young readers. Here's a look at my take on the Sorcerer Supreme!
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WHat program do you use to draw?
It depends on the project! For almost all of my illustration and comics work, I draw traditionally, with ink and watercolor.
The exception to this is my little looping animations, which I do in Procreate and Procreate Dreams.
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Midnight gathering.
This is a sneak peek from my new dark fantasy graphic novel The Pale Queen! The book will be on shelves next month, help it succeed by preordering now wherever you get books!
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Thanks so much for reading!
For those interested, there's also a second mystery novel in the series coming this September. As the previous poster said, they're all illustrated in this style. If queer, gothic, all-ages horror is your thing, check it out!
Childhood can be scary.
A collection of some of my hand-drawn horror looping animations!
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hi! I think your books are really cool and I remember being in 8th grade and always checking out the 2nd estranged book from my middle school library. It had a really big effect on me as a queer kid and I adored it, so thank you for that! Your art style is really neat too!
also, sorry if this is a silly question but is there going to be another estranged book? Hope you have a wonderful day!!
Thank you so much, this means so much to hear! It's a dream to be able to make queer books for queer kids, they're the kinds of books I wished I had access to.
As of now, there are no plans for a third Estranged book. My publisher gave me a contract for a duology, and that's what we did! I offered to do a third at the time, but honestly I'm happy with the full arc of the family's story across the two books, and it was agreed I should move on to other stories.
The good news is I've done a lot of queer fantasy books since then, including The Legend Of Brightblade, the Deephaven Mystery series, and my upcoming queer fairy tale comic The Pale Queen
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Hi! As a fellow watercolor comic artist I'm always on the look out for wonderful paper to use, so I'm curious if you have any favorite paper brands for your work that you would recommend?
I use hot press watercolor blocks, typically just Blick's store brand. I used to use Arches, but something about their paper changed in the last few years and it doesn't hold up to the way I paint. Blick's watercolor paper is sturdy, nice even texture, and a decent mid-price option for good paper.
For those who aren't familiar with watercolor, hot press is a smoother textured of paper (good for drawing), as opposed to cold press (better for getting that good watercolor paint texture). A block means that the pad of paper comes with all the sides glued. You typically need to "stretch" watercolor paper before painting to keep it from buckling while you paint. Having the sides already glued down means I can skip that step, because I'm a fundamentally lazy person.
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Ectoplasmic mediums look pretty silly in hindsight, but if it were real I think it would be absolutely terrifying.
The Medium
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The Medium
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Childhood can be scary.
A collection of some of my hand-drawn horror looping animations!
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Childhood can be scary.
A collection of some of my hand-drawn horror looping animations!
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I've got a book out on submission. I need to keep morale up, so I bought some fancy gay wizard shoes, as a treat.
#me#these will look nice for the launch party of The Pale Queen#Lots of star motiphs in that story#you'll see
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Book cover process.
It was a fun challenge to create a design for the cover that looked like a distinctive book while also matching the look of Deephaven, developing the overall series look. Big thanks to the book's designer Molly Fehr for the type and title design!
Scrimshaw will be on shelves this September, and you can support the series by preordering (or picking up the first book) now!
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Those original watercolor pages look absolutely gorgeous and full of life! I preordered the book, and I'm really looking forward to reading it ^^
Thank you so much, that means a lot!
Preorders do a lot to help a book succeed by showing booksellers and librarians that there is interest, and by giving books a better chance at debuting on bestseller lists (which increase their visibility even more). That's why I'm so, so grateful to everyone that preorders a copy of my books, it means the world.
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Is illustrating graphic novels your full time job or is it just part-time? something you do at the side
I write and illustrate books full time, both graphic novels and prose novels! I'm usually working on 2-3 projects in different stages at once, which helps keep things interesting and also keeps the rent paid.
Before going full time as an author/illustrator I had several jobs, including:
-Server and cake decorator at a small bakery.
-Retail at a stationary supply store.
-Assistant carpenter.
-Shoveling up poop at an animal farm.
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The Pale Queen is a queer dark fantasy graphic novel. It will be on shelves this June, you can support the book by reserving your copy now wherever you get books!
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The first big review for The Pale Queen, and it's glowing! Kirkus calls the story "enchanting."
You can read the full review here
And you can preorder the graphic novel here before it hits shelves this June!
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Thanks for spotlighting them! I adore my spooky, literary child
Trans Character of the Day
Nev Tallow from Deephaven is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns!
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