BRIEFLY

HOW TO... Marvel Comics has announced an April release for How to Paint Characters the Marvel Studios Way, a hardcover featuring insights from some of the industry's leading concept artists. Ryan Meinerding, Charlie Wen, Andy Park, Jackson Sze, Rodney Fuentebella, Anthony Francisco and more of the artists behind the Marvel Studios Visual Development team.

Here's how Marvel describes the book:

"Within the stunning pages of this keepsake book, readers will learn these artists' favorite tools of the trade, their tips for visual character development, their process of collaborating with filmmakers and other artists on the team, and the costume and props departments -- and how it all comes together to create seamless film designs! Each five-10 page 'character study' will take readers on a step-by-step journey through the artist�fs approach to bringing a specific hero or villain to life. Not only will readers get a sense of how each artist works, from their tools to their process, they'll also get to see how a character�fs design was created -- from blank page to a final approval!"

LIGHTSTEPPING Dark Horse Comics has announced a Nov. 21 launch for Lightstep, a five-issue series by Milos Slavkovic.

Here's how Dark Horse describes the series:

"Alien worlds, a star-spanning empire, and technology about which we can only dream, combine to tell a story of secrets hidden in the transmissions of a radio drama from Earth thousands of years ago, and a woman whose date with destiny is about to send a ripple through the cosmos. The galaxy is controlled by a race of elevated beings who live out their lives on accelerated 'Lightstepped' planets -- where a single day spans a lifetime on other worlds. Lightstep follows January Lee, a woman of royal descent, whose 'divine illness' reveals to her the lies of her ancestors who founded the empire. Banished from her home into the void, an unexpected rescue sets January on a course to redeem her heritage and change the galaxy forever."