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.
Showing posts with label Spiketown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spiketown. Show all posts
Monday, June 11, 2007
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.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Writing Contest Continued
So, as part of winning BioWare's Neverwinter Nights writing contest, they have conducted an email interview with yours truly. To get to the interviews page go here, or to go straight to my interview go here. I was happy to do the interview (who wouldn't be?) in part because it gave me a chance to plug some of my ongoing projects like my game development and the comic series that I am writing with my bud Myke Allen, which I will no doubt post about in the future. One thing that I didn't mention that I would like to here were the specific game projects that I am working on. The first one is an ongoing project that has the working title of 'Discordia'. It is a computer role-playing game set in the dark, cyberpunk future of an ancient magical world. This game is fairly complex, so it will no doubt take me forever to finish. In the short term, I am starting work on a puzzle game tentatively called "Shock Jockey" which should potentially be quite fun and addictive. Once I finish these games, there will be much rejoicing and plugging of said games all over the damn net.
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