A little while ago, I had a gig writing for a satirical news monthly published in Nelson, BC called The Other View. My column was tech/geek in flavour and I adopted the pen name "Tristan Zorn" which was my attempt at concocting a heroic, pseudo-spacy name fit for a starship commander in the United Federation of Planets. In other words: I made it up. I later discovered that Tristan Zorn was the name of a real person in Jakarta, Indonesia, and a musician, among other things, who played with such hardcore bands as Forgive, August Star and Saw Loser.
I mention all this now because it seems that Tristan is upset with my "stealing" his name and not even having the decency to do something cool with it. I would like to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to Mr. Zorn and reassure him that I will not be using his name in the future. Here's hoping that he will continue to do cool things with it, or at least cooler things than I was.
In related news, I may post some of my best articles from The Other View on here, with the names changed to protect the coolness.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Comic Space-opolis
Here's my page on Comic Space: http://www.comicspace.com/chris_tihor/
I'm also checking out some strange new website called Zeros 2 Heroes. Not quite sure what the deal is there yet, but it appears to be a new online comic community and it has some association with ReBoot so I figure that it could turn out to be interesting. Here's hoping. If you check it out, have a look for me on there.
I'm also checking out some strange new website called Zeros 2 Heroes. Not quite sure what the deal is there yet, but it appears to be a new online comic community and it has some association with ReBoot so I figure that it could turn out to be interesting. Here's hoping. If you check it out, have a look for me on there.
Quick! Before the month ends!
I figure that I should try to get in at least a post a month, whether I need it or not. The first page of Steel City Black Sheep is being produced in the in-between times and should be showing up soon. I've posted some of my old mini-comics on my Comic Space page for the eyeballs of all. Also present is the ashcan which I produced with the help of the talented Stephanie Jenko for my defunct comic company of many a year gone by, Fever Dream Press. The ashcan was for a series titled Xenophobia which is one of those projects that is due for some manner of revival in the future, methinks. I'll post the link to my Comic Space page shortly...
Monday, June 11, 2007
Busy Backson
Well, it looks as though I won't be doing the lettering for Spiketown after all, which is okay as it will free up more time for me to work on some other projects. I can't say too much about some of them right now as they are still up in the air or in the throes of development, but I can mention one or two things.
The first is a little DIY project of mine tentatively called "Steel City Black Sheep". This is a personal comic that is inspired in part by some of my experiences growing up in Hamilton, Ontario as a young anarchist hoodlum. It is a work of fiction though, so all of you libel lawyers can just back the hell off. The idea is to produce the occasional hand-drawn page at irregular intervals and post it up on the net somewheres for the enjoyment of all, including myself. It should perhaps be noted that I am not what you would call a gifted artist so the results may not be pretty, but I think that that should work well with the content.
The other thing that I thought I'd mention is that I dug up some old comics that I worked on and will be posting them online soon for interest sake. Stay tuned.
The first is a little DIY project of mine tentatively called "Steel City Black Sheep". This is a personal comic that is inspired in part by some of my experiences growing up in Hamilton, Ontario as a young anarchist hoodlum. It is a work of fiction though, so all of you libel lawyers can just back the hell off. The idea is to produce the occasional hand-drawn page at irregular intervals and post it up on the net somewheres for the enjoyment of all, including myself. It should perhaps be noted that I am not what you would call a gifted artist so the results may not be pretty, but I think that that should work well with the content.
The other thing that I thought I'd mention is that I dug up some old comics that I worked on and will be posting them online soon for interest sake. Stay tuned.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Rising to the Challenge
Well, I did it. I submitted Spiketown to Platinum Studios' Comic Book Challenge. I went a little nuts getting stuff together and making last minute changes, and probably gave Myke a pain or two with all of my emails and phone calls, but it all came together nicely.
We decided to submit page 4 of our first issue as an art sample for our submission. It consists of a short confrontation between one of the main characters, a drunk and surly Forrester, and a hapless bike courier. Hopefully, it gives a good idea of the style and tone of the series. At least part of it, that is. I wouldn't want to give the impression that entire book consists of drunken and/or surly people arguing with each other, although that could be an entertaining theme - for a short while anyway.
The synopsis gave me the most trouble: How do you summarize a series like this where there is so much that we want to do with it, so much that we want to include? For myself, I see it as product of my many influences, comic book or otherwise, distilled down into a coherent whole while retaining many of the elements of those influences that I found so appealing in the first place. At least, that's what I hope for. I'm sure it's not going to be exactly like that - probably completely different than I expect. But that's part of the fun of working on projects like this: You never really know what you're going to end up with. That said, if it's crap I will not be overjoyed. But I don't think that I have much to worry about there.
So now, we wait until June 18th when the first round of semi-finalists are chosen. Out of the thousands of entries, fifty submissions are picked to go on to the next round. That means pretty slim odds of our continuing with the contest, but that's okay. Now we have some materials that we can tweak for future submissions, and there is a distinct satisfaction in getting our crap together enough to have entered. It feels like a milestone for the project as a whole, and gives me a good feeling about Spiketown's future.
We decided to submit page 4 of our first issue as an art sample for our submission. It consists of a short confrontation between one of the main characters, a drunk and surly Forrester, and a hapless bike courier. Hopefully, it gives a good idea of the style and tone of the series. At least part of it, that is. I wouldn't want to give the impression that entire book consists of drunken and/or surly people arguing with each other, although that could be an entertaining theme - for a short while anyway.
The synopsis gave me the most trouble: How do you summarize a series like this where there is so much that we want to do with it, so much that we want to include? For myself, I see it as product of my many influences, comic book or otherwise, distilled down into a coherent whole while retaining many of the elements of those influences that I found so appealing in the first place. At least, that's what I hope for. I'm sure it's not going to be exactly like that - probably completely different than I expect. But that's part of the fun of working on projects like this: You never really know what you're going to end up with. That said, if it's crap I will not be overjoyed. But I don't think that I have much to worry about there.
So now, we wait until June 18th when the first round of semi-finalists are chosen. Out of the thousands of entries, fifty submissions are picked to go on to the next round. That means pretty slim odds of our continuing with the contest, but that's okay. Now we have some materials that we can tweak for future submissions, and there is a distinct satisfaction in getting our crap together enough to have entered. It feels like a milestone for the project as a whole, and gives me a good feeling about Spiketown's future.
Monday, May 28, 2007
It may have begun with the Word...
... but the Word would be nowhere without his little friends: the letters.
I'm looking into taking over the task of lettering for Spiketown, and am in the midst of researching the ins and outs of it. Being that my penmanship is of the "sucking" variety, I'm focusing mainly on digital lettering. Myke suggested that I try a product called "Comic Life" that came with his Mac. The problem is, I have no Mac. I mean, sure I could borrow my wife's iBook, but I don't think that she got Comic Life with her computer anyway. But all is not lost, there is a Windows beta available from the creator's website http://plasq.com/comiclife , so I'll have to check it out and see if it measures up.
Another product that I will be trying out is Comic Book Creator by Planetwide Media http://www.mycomicbookcreator.com/. I seem to recall seeing this for sale at London Drugs in the past, but I couldn't say for sure. They do have a downloadable trial version on their web page, so I'll have to give it a whirl.
Now if one of those or their ilk aren't adequate for our needs, then I may have to turn towards more traditional methods, i.e. using Adobe Illustrator or something similar. I'm thinking that this will involve a bit more of a steep learning curve, but the appear to be a few books out there to help me out. The ones that I have found so far are the following three:
Comic Book Lettering: The Comicraft Way
http://www.amazon.com/Comic-Book-Lettering-Comicraft-Way/dp/0974056731
DC Comics Guide to Coloring and Lettering Comics
http://www.amazon.com/DC-Comics-Guide-Coloring-Lettering/dp/0823010309/
Digital Prepress for Comic Books : The Definitive Desktop Production Guide http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Prepress-Comic-Books-Definitive/dp/0967542308/
If anyone has had any experiences, good or bad, with any of these books, feel free to share. I'm going to check to see if any of them are in stock at my local comic shop and give them a good once over to see if any or all of them are worth picking up.
I'll be back again later with my impressions of these products.
I'm looking into taking over the task of lettering for Spiketown, and am in the midst of researching the ins and outs of it. Being that my penmanship is of the "sucking" variety, I'm focusing mainly on digital lettering. Myke suggested that I try a product called "Comic Life" that came with his Mac. The problem is, I have no Mac. I mean, sure I could borrow my wife's iBook, but I don't think that she got Comic Life with her computer anyway. But all is not lost, there is a Windows beta available from the creator's website http://plasq.com/comiclife , so I'll have to check it out and see if it measures up.
Another product that I will be trying out is Comic Book Creator by Planetwide Media http://www.mycomicbookcreator.com/. I seem to recall seeing this for sale at London Drugs in the past, but I couldn't say for sure. They do have a downloadable trial version on their web page, so I'll have to give it a whirl.
Now if one of those or their ilk aren't adequate for our needs, then I may have to turn towards more traditional methods, i.e. using Adobe Illustrator or something similar. I'm thinking that this will involve a bit more of a steep learning curve, but the appear to be a few books out there to help me out. The ones that I have found so far are the following three:
Comic Book Lettering: The Comicraft Way
http://www.amazon.com/Comic-Book-Lettering-Comicraft-Way/dp/0974056731
DC Comics Guide to Coloring and Lettering Comics
http://www.amazon.com/DC-Comics-Guide-Coloring-Lettering/dp/0823010309/
Digital Prepress for Comic Books : The Definitive Desktop Production Guide http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Prepress-Comic-Books-Definitive/dp/0967542308/
If anyone has had any experiences, good or bad, with any of these books, feel free to share. I'm going to check to see if any of them are in stock at my local comic shop and give them a good once over to see if any or all of them are worth picking up.
I'll be back again later with my impressions of these products.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Spiketownopolis or Spikeopolis, I Suppose
Will I ever get tired of -opolis titled posts? At this rate, not anytime soon.
I just realized a short while ago that I have neglected to mention on here one of the biggest projects that I am currently devoting my time to: Spiketown. Spiketown is a comic book series that I have been developing with the assistance of the much talented Myke Allen - I do the wordy bits he does the arty bits. Currently, we have planned out about a half-dozen issues, the first two issues' scripts have been written (mostly), and the first issue is being meticulously crafted by Mr Allen. There are also numerous character portraits, concept drawings, and documents that are being produced as part of the process. It's been a fair amount of work, especially considering that we are both holding down full-time jobs as we've been doing this, but excitement levels have stayed consistently high and the thought of having the finished product printed off and in my grubby paws is a real motivator.
We're both novices at this sort of thing, so I have been doing a schwack of research to try to come up with some options for publishing this puppy. I've come up with a list of possibilities that runs the gamut from courting third-parties to going for full-out DIY Indie publishing. I will be making the occasional post here to share my thoughts and experiences on whatever strategies we decide to employ.
Currently we are making preparations to enter the Comic Book Challenge (http://www.comicbookchallenge.com/), sponsored by Platinum Studios, as a way of potentially getting our book out there. I'll keep you apprised of the situation as it plays out. I should also be posting soon about the comic itself and what that's all about, as hopefully I've piqued your interest.
I just realized a short while ago that I have neglected to mention on here one of the biggest projects that I am currently devoting my time to: Spiketown. Spiketown is a comic book series that I have been developing with the assistance of the much talented Myke Allen - I do the wordy bits he does the arty bits. Currently, we have planned out about a half-dozen issues, the first two issues' scripts have been written (mostly), and the first issue is being meticulously crafted by Mr Allen. There are also numerous character portraits, concept drawings, and documents that are being produced as part of the process. It's been a fair amount of work, especially considering that we are both holding down full-time jobs as we've been doing this, but excitement levels have stayed consistently high and the thought of having the finished product printed off and in my grubby paws is a real motivator.
We're both novices at this sort of thing, so I have been doing a schwack of research to try to come up with some options for publishing this puppy. I've come up with a list of possibilities that runs the gamut from courting third-parties to going for full-out DIY Indie publishing. I will be making the occasional post here to share my thoughts and experiences on whatever strategies we decide to employ.
Currently we are making preparations to enter the Comic Book Challenge (http://www.comicbookchallenge.com/), sponsored by Platinum Studios, as a way of potentially getting our book out there. I'll keep you apprised of the situation as it plays out. I should also be posting soon about the comic itself and what that's all about, as hopefully I've piqued your interest.
Friday, April 20, 2007
National Cinemaopolis
I have reared my ugly head once more to announce the addition of a link to another blog. This increases my total blog links by 100%! Great work team!
The blog in question is titled National Cinema and deals primarily with the state of film in the country of Canada. One of the contributors is Ted Tozer who will entertain and inform you with his many views on the subject of cinema, however, if you fear crankiness please tread carefully. He does not suffer fools, he causes fools to suffer. That last statement may not be 100% true, but it is my own lovingly crafted doggerel and I take upon myself the responsibility to, on occasion, take my doggerel for a walk. I will now stop before my puns destroy civilization as we know it.
The blog in question is titled National Cinema and deals primarily with the state of film in the country of Canada. One of the contributors is Ted Tozer who will entertain and inform you with his many views on the subject of cinema, however, if you fear crankiness please tread carefully. He does not suffer fools, he causes fools to suffer. That last statement may not be 100% true, but it is my own lovingly crafted doggerel and I take upon myself the responsibility to, on occasion, take my doggerel for a walk. I will now stop before my puns destroy civilization as we know it.
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