Upcoming Projects Update...

Lots going on right now, but I thought it was long past time for a quick rundown of upcoming releases and current projects --

• Blackburn Burrow #4 comes out (at least according to Amazon's website) on March 12th, wrapping up the mini-series by Ron Marz and myself, based on Jay Levy's original film script. Here's a look at the wonderful cover by Brian Stelfreeze...

• FADE: Hearts & Souls, the next in a series of digital short stories featuring my character Evan Fade will be available for download from Amazon within the next few weeks. You can pick up the first one here.

• The October Girl series for Monkeybrain Comics is back in full-time production, with release dates to be announced. We're taking the series bi-weekly starting with the next issue and I'm currently working on getting the next three issues wrapped up so we can be well ahead of schedule when the series resumes.

• The long-delayed NIGHT FOLK novel is also finally nearing completion, with several weeks in March and April set aside for final edits and work on the interior illustrations. Look for more news and some sneak peeks at work on it in early April.

• And if I haven't mentioned it before, I've returned to the world of Doctor Who to provide covers for the latest series of IDW's DOCTOR WHO CLASSICS reprints. This run features some classic tales of the Seventh Doctor as played by Sylvester McCoy. McCoy has always been a personal favorite of mine, so when they asked if I'd be interested in doing the covers for this series, I couldn't turn it down.

And look for more announcements in the coming months, along with more changes here on the blog and on my website, www.matthewdowsmith.com.

Upcoming Projects: Doctor Who

Been more than a little silent lately. Between wrapping up Doctor Who #10 & 11, working on the NIGHT FOLK novel, and getting ready for another secret project, it's been even busier than usual around here. And tonight, a few hours before the Doctor Who finale on TV, the secret project I've been working on was announced -- more Doctor Who at IDW Publishing. With regular series writer Tony Lee moving on to a secret project of his own, writer Joshua Hale Fialkov is coming on board for a four-part story starting in issue #13. Can't say much about the story yet, but I can say it's set in Casablanca. Here's a sneak peek at my variant cover for the first issue...

Upcoming Project News: Witchblade Annual 2010

Happy to announce one of the secret projects I've been working on -- a short story for this year's WITCHBLADE Annual from Top Cow. It's a prose story in the style of the old Pulp magazines I love so much, and I've also done some Pulp-y illustrations to go with the story. Definitely a challenge, but tapping into that old style of bare-knuckle writing was a lot of fun, and it's been a long time since I've written anything with an honest-to-god fight scene in it.

The Annual is slated to hit shelves some time in December, and along with my story, there's a great 'Witchblades Past' tale by Ron Marz and Tony Shasteen, some pinups, and a fabulous Tom Feister cover (which I've posted above).

I was thrilled to be asked to participate, so a big thank you to Ron Marz, Filip Sablik, and Phil Smith for making it happen. Here's hoping everyone likes the story as much as I liked doing it.

Upcoming Project News: Doctor Who

As anyone who has read this blog must surely know by now, I've been a Doctor Who fan since I was 6 or years old, so when IDW Publishing asked me to draw a story arc in their new ongoing series, I was over the moon. When I wrapped up work on those four issues last year, I told everyone who would listen that I had no idea how I was going to follow up a dream project like that.

Now, thanks to IDW's Chris Ryall and Denton Tipton, and ongoing series writer Tony Lee, it looks like I've found a way -- drawing more Doctor Who.

At the Gallifrey One convention in Los Angeles this past weekend, IDW announced several new Doctor Who comic book projects, including the final 10th Doctor Story arc and a brand new series featuring the 11th Doctor.

I'm delighted to say they've asked me to draw both, as well as a short preview story that leads into Tennant's final story, and a short story that I'll be writing as well, both for a Doctor Who annual timed to hit the shelves before that final story begins.

(Me, Richard Starkings, Denton Tipton, and Tony Lee
at the IDW Doctor Who comic book panel at Gallifrey One)

We'll be wrapping up the current ongoing series with the four-issue "Final Sacrifice" (the first cover of which is featured above), which will tie up the long story arc Tony Lee has been planning since issue #1, ending the series at issue #16, and then relaunching the Doctor Who comic book with a brand new #1 featuring the new Doctor, Matt Smith (no relation, sadly).

I'm incredibly excited to be involved in all of this, and looking forward to once again working with IDW, Denton, Tony, and Charlie Kirchoff on my favorite character. Tony's got some great plans for both Doctors, and we heard a lot of great suggestions from people at the convention for things they'd like to see in the new series.

And I'd especially like to thank Gary Russell (who oversees scripts for both the show and our comic) for making all of this possible.


This is a dream come true for me, and the idea of being the regular artist on a new series of Doctor Who comic book stories is more than I could have ever hoped for. A big thank you to all the fans who responded so positively to the "Fugitive" story arc. Your kind words about my art on the book led to all of this, and it couldn't have happened without you. Cheers!

Upcoming Project News...

Looks like one of the top secret projects I've been working on is now up for pre-ordering on a number of online comic book shops, so it should be safe to reveal that I drew an issue of DC/WildStorm's upcoming third SUPERNATURAL mini-series -- SUPERNATURAL: BEGINNING'S END -- based on the popular CW television show of the same name.

I was thrilled to draw 'the boys' again, and I'm always excited to work with the gang at WildStorm. I was honored to be asked to return to the Supernatural universe for this issue, and I really wanted to give my editor and the fans the best work I was capable of, so if you remember me talking a while back about a new art technique I'd been experimenting with, this is the project where I finally got to use it.

The artist of this series (the talented Diego Olmos) drew two pages of linking material for this issue and I drew the rest, including some very fun scenes with Sam and Dean running around in the basement of New York's Museum of Natural History.

The issue I contributed to (issue #3) is scheduled to hit the stands in March!

From the Westfield Comics website:

SUPERNATURAL: BEGINNING'S END #3 (of 6)
DC Comics, Wildstorm; March 17, 2010; Cover price: $2.99

Written by ANDREW DABB & DANIEL LOFLIN Art by DIEGO OLMOS & MATTHEW DOW SMITH

Perpetually caught between Sam and John's arguments, Dean hits a boiling point and drags his brother out for some good ol' monster hunting - at the Museum of Natural History! Time for a little bonding over blood! But the boys' first 'hunt' together goes tragically wrong...and has disastrous consequences for Sam.

Upcoming Project News (sort of), Part Deux...

Well, it's been a crazy few days here at the start of 2010. Between wrapping up some odds and ends for various side projects, working on the FADE novel, and ironing out the details for my first appearance as a guest at a DOCTOR WHO convention, there's hasn't been time for much else, but I did find time to sign on to some new projects that will keep me booked well into 2011. It's the most work I've ever been offered in one go, but they were all projects I couldn't possibly say 'no' to. As usual, I can't talk about any of them publicly yet, but as soon as they're announced, I'll be posting the news here on the blog.

And for those of you who have been following me on Twitter, I'll be giving all of these projects their own Muppet-themed code names. It's silly, but it's become a bit of a tradition, and a good way to talk about the progress of these assignments without giving away any of the details.

Hope everyone's new year is starting out as well as mine, and here's hoping the rest of the year goes just as well for all of us.

Upcoming Project News (Sort Of)

Been a busy month or so here in the studio. Between wrapping up my run on IDW's DOCTOR WHO Ongoing series, knocking out some last minute audition pieces, and working on the Evan Fade novel, I haven't had a lot of time to post updates on my upcoming projects. To make matters worse, they're all top secret projects that I have to keep under wraps until deals are signed, approvals are granted, and announcements are made by the various companies involved.

All I can say at this point is that I'm in the middle of drawing something for one company, gearing up to possibly write and draw something for another, and developing another project that I would write for that company with someone else attached to draw. That last one is a particular dream of mine, since it would mean working with an artist I've always wanted to write a story for.

Incredibly specific, I know.

As soon as things become public, I'll make announcements here on the blog. Hopefully I'll be able to post some preview art from the projects, as well.

Project News: DOCTOR WHO

For those of you who have been wondering about the secret project I've been talking about for the last few months, I'm very excited to be able to finally tell you that I've been drawing a four-part story in IDW Publishing's new DOCTOR WHO ongoing series.

As anyone who knows me or has read any of my blog entries is surely aware, I'm a huge DOCTOR WHO fan, so the assignment is a real thrill for me. And as excited (and a little terrified) as I am to be working with one of my favorite characters, I'm equally excited by the script I've been given. Tony Lee, who wrote the excellent DOCTOR WHO: THE FORGOTTEN is handling all of the writing for the ongoing series, with rotating art teams coming in to draw each story. My story starts with issue 3, which is in this month's Previews, with a September release date.

And the best part? Paul Grist is providing the covers. I'm a big fan of Paul's work so it's a dream come true to work on a project with him doing the covers. I'll be doing a couple of variant covers for the run (the piece above is the variant cover for #3), but I'd rather have the Grist covers.

My Own Private Pilot Season

So I've been thinking... I've got a bunch of potential work-for-hire projects coming down the pike, with a number of other possibilities floating around out there, but having dug all of this old art from projects that never went anywhere out of the closet, I'm thinking of taking one of them, re-doing it, and putting it out as a one-off special issue.

Whichever one I end up doing, it'll have to be short -- no more that 32 pages -- and relatively self-contained story-wise, which knocks a couple of contenders out of the running right off the bat. But that leaves at least 4 other concepts that I could develop into a one-shot.

The other limitation will be that the project has to lend itself to a quick and loose art style, since there's only so much time in the day and I would like to have a life outside of my job. Not to mention the fact that there are at least 2 people out there who will murder me unless I finish the Fade novel soon (Hi, Dan. Hi, Jim.). Luckily, the concepts I have in mind will all work with that kind of look.

So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to take 4 of the concepts I've got sitting around and work up short pitches for each of them, along with a pinup or sample cover to give an idea of what the main characters would look like, and then post them here on the blog. Whichever idea gets the best response will be the project I end up doing.

Once the project is chosen, I'll start working on it in-between my other projects, posting the progress as I go along, from sketches to final pages. And if it turns out well, I'll see about getting it published through one of the many great small press publishers out there. And if there are any small-press publishers (or even big-press publishers) out there who want in on this, drop me a line and we'll set something up.

I'll post the first project proposal next week, so keep an eye out. I'm going to try and put a new one up every week, and have the final choice by the end of the month. Obviously, feel free to check them out and let me know what you think of the various options. The final decision will be down to you.