My two-week MFA Summer Residency starts in two days. I call it "the storm" because it involves 14 days of classes, professional development, and craft sessions--essentially, a very busy time. Last week I submitted three pieces that I will have the chance to workshop and gain feedback for revisions, so I'm definitely looking forward to hearing what other people think of my work.
MAKING PROGRESS
I used the holiday weekend to unwind from my day job and to tackle a few personal projects:
Wrote three more pages of a kid's fantasy one-shot comic. It's a project I hope to eventually launch on Kickstarter, and for now I'm following my outline and scripting it while my artist draws a few pages at a time.
Nearly finished the outline of a horror comic I've got in my mind. I've written the first 6 pages, and I need to finish writing pages 7-22 before the end of this month. Sometime in early August I'll be sitting down with an artist who's agreed to draw the book so that we may discuss my vision for this mini-series.
Over the holiday weekend the artist I hired to draw my six-panel comic strip Knight Time finished the character designs and panel layout, and so far it's progressing better than I could have imagined (sneak preview below)!
SNEAK PREVIEW
Knight Time is a one-page story about Sir Chuckworth Norrington, who is basically the medieval equivalent of today's Chuck Norris. It's being drawn by Joey Sabo, an artist I connected with through Instagram after a buddy of mine showed me his art. I pitched him the idea, and he was immediately on board with the story and concept. For Sir Chuckworth, I basically said, "he's a knight with blonde hair and a handlebar moustache, a younger Chuck Norris." So Joey took those notes, worked his magic, and brought Sir Chuckworth Norrington to life:
For now I only have the one-page story planned, but who knows? Knights are remembered for their bravery and heroics, so it's very possible that Sir Chuckworth has more tales that must be told. Once the one-pager "Knight Time" story is finished, it will be shared here on my site.
WHAT I'VE BEEN READING LATELY
Yesterday I put together some new deck furniture for my wife, and then proceeded to relax and catch up on some reading with a few cold ones. I'm not much of a beer connoisseur but if you enjoy Pilsners and happen to find a place that carries Country Boy, I recommend you grab yourself a Cougar Bait (but only if you're 21+).
Dead Body Road - by Justin Jordan (story), Benjamin Tiesma (art), and Mat Lopes (colors). What I really admired about this book was its flow of non-stop action and the use of double-spread panel layouts. As a writer I'd love to see how this was written, the panel/page descriptions as they were given to the artist, to learn how to script my own action sequences in similar fashion. This tradeback also contained the complete story, so it was a great piece to consume in one sitting.
Farmhand vol.1 - by Rob Guillory (story, art & colors). This book made me squeamish--and that's a good thing. Medical stuff always makes my stomach turn, and while I was grossed out by the organ-growing plants, Rob weaves an intricate narrative web of a family reconnecting, science going awry and secret espionage by rival corporations and the government. When this book first released people at my LCS were going nuts over it, and I clearly understand why (I waited to read this until a few trades had been released). I'll definitely continue reading this series.
Rock Candy Mountain vol.1 - Kyle Starks (story & artist) and Chris Schweizer (colors). This is an EISNER-NOMINATED book. My thought process is, if you want to win an Eisner one day, then perhaps you should review books by those who have either won an Eisner or have been nominated for an award. Plus, I really dig Kyle's work, so I wanted to give this a read. What pulls me into this book is the simplicity of the story. There's no heavy exposition, or complex character backstory, we just dive into this hobo's journey as he travels America in search of something.
If you're looking for something new to read, definitely check out one (or all) of these books. Hopefully amidst my busy schedule next week I can find time to share another weekly update.
Until next time!
-WG