In the brief time we’ve been working on our books, we’ve had the chance to work with some very cool and reliable freelance creators. We also had the misfortune to work with one disreputable liar and thief (more about William Hightower at the bottom of this page). Below, grouped by job, are some of the great people we’ve had the pleasure of working with. (Look for this page to get very crowded soon as we add more hired guns to the list below!)
     Note: The creators below are listed in the order in which they worked for LSS, most recent collaborators towards the bottom of each category.
 

***NOTE: the links to samples of their works are not currently active as I redesign their personal pages***

PENCILERS:
     Patrick Traylor brought his manga-esque talents on board to pencil and ink "The Drastic Duo", the debut tale of that fun-lovin' team "The Bang and The Boogie" as well the short tale “Glory Days” which introduces readers to the golden age hero “American Pride.” Samples can be seen by clicking his name. ***Patrick if you're out there, drop me a line!  I'd love to hear from you.***

     Diego Candia illustrated the introductory chapter of the "LeadSlingerStudios Presents: Halloween Special." Click his name to see samples of his lush ink-washed pages.

     Andi Kurniawan has already illustrated a 2 issue arc for Tales from Neroesville (issues 2 and 3) title "Lightning Balls", chapter 2 of "Who's Yer Daddy", chapter 2 of "Deaders" and is getting ready to throw himself into the Neroesville 1 issue story "Mistooken Identity." While not doing all of that, he is also gearing up to begin work on a super-secret project here at LSS with one of the studios favorite writers and good friend. More on this as it comes together. Andi is not only very talented, he is multi talented as he has a background working in Manga in Indonesia. He's been a real Godsend to us here at LSS and we hope to continue working with him for some time to come!

     Jim McMunn doesn't deserve to be in this category. Or rather he deserves to be in all these categories! Jim tracked us down via our website and offered up his services. When he said he was influenced by Rick Leonardi, I immediately offered him the script for "A Day at the Beach." (Rick Leonardi has long been one of my favorite artists, I just wish he did more work!) As I started getting pages back, I knew I had made the right choice. Jim was already digitally penciling and inking the book himself (thank you Cintiq) when I was bemoaning that I did not have a colorist for the book yet. Jim's like "well I could just color it too" like it's no big deal or anything, and again I started getting colored pages back and was thrilled with what I was seeing. So with Tales From Neroesville issue 1 under his belt, he asked if we would be interested in publishing his own book for him. Those of you who know me know that I wear my Irish on my sleeve (literally), so when I heard and saw the concept for "The Mighty Sullivan", I was hooked. Look for that to be out later this year and on LeadSlingerStudios tables at the cons. After that Jim might bang out another 1 issue story for Neroesville (time permitting) and will definitely be doing more Sullivan stories.

     Alex Aviles came to our table at the Baltimore Comic Con last year and discussed being an artist looking for work. I gave him a card and expected to never hear from him again (for some reason most people don't seem to follow through on contacting us after cons. Perhaps they're intimidated by the caliber of the artists here?) When I heard from "Elstabo" a week later and looked over his website, I was impressed. When he said "I like violence and horror" I knew I had to have him do a chapter of Deaders. Alex isn't the kind of guy to contact you a lot, so I was concerned he had decided to ply his trades elsewhere. Then one morning I woke up and there were the pages for Deaders in my mailbox. ALL OF THEM! He is now working on a project for another company, but I would gladly work with him again.

INKERS:
     James Taylor was kind enough to lend his skilled inks to the first chapter of "Hero on the Lam", the first appearance of HappyJack. Samples can be seen by clicking his name.

     John Carlson also jumped on board to put clean smooth inks on the short story "Mr Cameron goes to Neroesville", an introductory tale of our fair city. Samples can be seen by clicking his name.

     Paul Frey came to us via our website and said he was interested in inking for us. (note the number of pencilers above and the number of inkers here, then realize I am the house inker.) I took a look at the samples on his website, saw he has some real talent and offered him inking duties on Shawn's newest book "Project: REBORN." He's been churning out solid inks ever since. Many of the artists I work with are in other countries (Indonesia, Philippines, Uruguay, etc) so it was nice to have the opportunity to finally meet a collaborator face to face at a con. Look for Paul to join us at the LSS table at a con or 2 this year. Hopefully he'll lend that digital inking brush to future stories.
 

LETTERERS:
     Ed Brisson skillfully lettered chapter one of our “Sherlock Hyde” story for the first book of “FRAMEWORKS” (put together by friend and PistolFist creator JS Earls). He then lettered issue 2 of "Revelations" for us and as long as he's willing, Ed will be our letterer of choice. Ed is a skilled and professional letterer who takes the job seriously and nails deadlines. Samples of his work can be seen by clicking his name.

     Jaymes Reed lettered up the introductory chapter of “Deaders” as seen in PRIMER #0 and the upcoming LSSP Halloween Special. Jaymes does great work and does it quick. Look for his name on more of our stories in the coming months. Samples can be seen by clicking his name.

     Thomas Andrew White lettered the first issue of Revelations for us and I have to give the man credit. I didn’t realize what a wordy book that was until I got the pages back from him. He really did a nice job with the limited amount of space we left him to work with. Samples can be seen by clicking his name.
 

COLORISTS:
     Larry Brown was generous enough to put his coloring skills to work on the Baltimore Comic Con Edition of Revelations #1. Great skills and a quick turn-around made Larry our go-to guy for this cover. Samples can be seen by clicking his name.

     John P Dickerson threw his hat into the ring for coloring for us. Unfortunately we didn’t use his final version for the cover, but we’re posting it here just so fans can see some of John’s hard work. Plus it’s always cool seeing another version of a cover. Samples can be seen by clicking his name.

     Lisa Jennings also did a wonderful job coloring the Baltimore Comic Con cover. Unfortunately we did not use hers, but we did use her final, colored version for the cover of "Revelations" issue 2. She's very talented and I hope we get to show off more of her work in the future. Samples can be seen by clicking her name.

     Christian Kaw contacted me and said he was a colorist looking for work. I took a look at some of his samples and offered him the Neroesville short story "The Drastic Duo." When I showed his work to Shawn, he asked if CK would be interested in coloring Project: REBORN. He jumped on board and has been lending his painterly skills to LSS ever since. He also turns out pages like a printing press! We hope to keep CK around and already have another project in mind for him.

     Randy Sargent was brought to our attention by our friend and fellow creator (not to mention the Godfather of Comics Podcasting) Bruce Rosenberger. I took a look at Randy's clean and classic coloring style and asked him if he'd be willing to color the Neroesville 2 issue story "Lightning Balls." He said yes and has truly been a blessing to the book by offering different palettes for characters and design ideas, he's also banging pages out at an incredible rate. I hope to have Sarge on other upcoming stories as well.

LIARS, CHEATS, COWARDS AND DISHONEST PEOPLE:
     We had the misfortune of hiring William Hightower of Baltimore, Md to pencil a 2 issue (42 page) story for us. After getting a signed contract back from William, we paid him a handsome deposit for his hard work to come. I even supplied him with Blue Line Pro boards as part of his compensation package. After a few weeks, I got very few progress reports, even less artwork but plenty of excuses. After a full year and no finished pages, I got some excuses of illnesses, but assurances that he would be hammering out the pages asap. Then... NOTHING. All communication stopped and William seems to have fallen off the face of the Earth. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you consider working with this man! He is a cheat, a liar, and a scam artist! Click here to see a copy of the signed contract as well as Williams contact information.

     William if you would like to contact us regarding the situation and clear your name, by all means e-mail me. I would love to hear from you, Jas

PS: I'm at the LeadSlingerStudios booth at the Baltimore Comic Con every year if you'd prefer to discuss this face to face.