You Will Believe A Man Can Fly - May 13th, 2011

A Special Goodbye to Smallville.

After 10 years of  following Smallville and being a devoted fan, the wait is finally over. In a 2-hour long series finale, Clark finally became the man of steel we all know and love. The final two-hour event left me quite speechless, and in all the right ways.

First, Clark flew. Second, Clark received acclamation from both his mom and dad (Martha and Jonathan Kent) and his synthesized, “real father”, Jor-El. Third, he put on the suit and saved the day – just like we’ve always dreamed he would. Now, pushing an entire planet away from colliding with earth? Now that was worthy of Superman.

The biggest note for me was th[...]

Converting The Outline To Written Literature - March 20th, 2011

From Foundation To Creation.

Once you have your outline completed and all the plot holes filled, now it is time to build the actual story. This could take weeks, this could take months, or this even may take years  – and depending on how large your graphic novel is, I personally recommend not doing it all at once. Why? Plain and simple, you’ll burn yourself out and stop working on the project. Write the first chapter, perhaps the second, then go over the outlines again to make sure you’re heading in the right direction. Once you’re satisfied – move on to the next step – storyboarding your first two chapters. This will help you stay on target – b[...]

A Graphic Novel Starts With An Outline - February 14th, 2011

Building Your Graphic Novel’s Foundation.

At the heart of every graphic novel is a good story. If you don’t have a good story, I don’t care how good your art is, your “re-play” value will be very poor – unless your graphic novel has a lot of nudity. Hehehe. But seriously, I can’t stress enough how important it is to develop a good story.

Every writer has their own way of writing, some just open a notebook and start writing, some create multiple appendixes filled with back-story and historical foundations before ever considering the opening scene of their book, others write – rewrite, and then rewrite again until they are finally happ[...]

How To Make A Graphic Novel - January 6th, 2011

From Imagination, to Visual Creation.

Over the next 5 posts I’m going to walk you through how to create a graphic novel. Easy to say, hard to do. Sure there is a substantial amount of literature entitled “How to Draw a Comic Book”, and “Make Your Own Graphic Novel”, so let me be frank – the following tutorials will not focus on how to draw – they will focus on how to CREATE or COMPOSE a working graphic novel. There is such a massive difference between drawing and creative writing that I have to distinguish this.

Personally, I’ve been involved with comic books and cartoons since about 1987 when, at 6 years old, I drew my first “[...]

Welcoming 2011 – Happy New Year! - January 1st, 2011

Plan To Make A Difference!

Naturally, a new year means new resolutions. These resolutions will last about a month, maybe two. Why? There are a million little reasons, but usually they fail due to lack of accountability. This is because these New Year’s Resolutions are focused on you, and usually the only one to keep you accountable – is you. So what? Are there any other types of resolutions?

Invest In Others

The best type of New Year’s Resolution is investing – in others. Sure, you’ll get the whole “good-will-towards-men” feeling, but also you’ll find the one thing needed to maintain that resolution – accountability. W[...]

Merry Christmas 2010 - December 25th, 2010

Ho. Ho. Ho.

There’s nothing quite like a Christmas with my wife’s family. They’re Greek. So this means, Greek = amazing food, loud fun, and lots of games. We’re winding down, now, but the aroma of turkey and honey glazed ham are still hanging wistfully in the air. There is a miniature tree in the corner of the room because a large tree would be too much of a target for the nieces and nephews running around in a crazed frenzy, and there are several large, heavy-duty pieces of machinery stash here and there in the living room, mostly used for entertaining babies, but also used as foot obstructions and obstacles conducive to hinder adult locomotion. But the excitemen[...]

Working Backwards – Digital Illustration - December 23rd, 2010

Starting with a Pencil Vs. a Stylus.

I’ve come to the decision that working completely in the digital world when it comes to drawing is a HUGE mistake. I decided to try a bit of an experiment during a re-write for the 1st chapter, and should it have worked, carried it on into the 2nd chapter of BlueFire. I am glad to say, it doesn’t work. Nothing will be able to replace the pencil. Sure, a stylus can synthesize an Ink pen, but in reality, there really isn’t any “drawing” or creation during inking, just repetitious grindstone mathematical calculations. The creativity NEEDS a pencil — hand to paper interactivity that allows for the subtle nuances that make u[...]

Texture Versus Perfection (Part 2) – Digital Illustration - November 15th, 2010

To Brush or Not To Brush.

In part 1 I briefly touched on the the struggle to reach realism from the perfection that digital tools create. “How to we put the ‘dirty’ back into art that has been digitalized?” is the real question I find most digital artists struggling with. We put time and effort into the development of perfection in our art, yet in the end we fight against the very digital tools we’ve flocked to due to their ability to create “perfect” instead of “real”. (Please Note: The term perfect or perfection in reference to the gradients and lines rendered by a digital art program, in contrast with a brush on canvas or a photograph.)

Pu[...]

Texture Versus Perfection (Part 1) – Digital Illustration - October 21st, 2010

Put The ‘Dirty’ Back In Art.

Imagine historical painters spending hundreds of hours perfecting their painting skills in order to create seamless shadows and gradients in their paintings and ceiling murals. Now imagine a 13-year-old kid with photoshop and the gradient tool. With one tool and a $600+ dollar program, we have destroyed the coveted skill sets required to create amazing and beautiful art. Ironically, in our day and age, the question we find ourselves actually fighting over is – “It looks TOO perfect.”

Naturally, this is because nature itself, though perfect at creation, is organic and constantly growing. The perfection that 16th century pai[...]

Final Draft Outline Complete – LOTP: Part 1 - September 13th, 2010

15 Years In The Making.

Yes. It’s finally ready to be written. Okay, well actually most of it is written, but I’ve finally pieced together the pieces that tie in the two sequels perfectly. Took me two years. Yes, I’m that slow. I actually started writing Light of the Protector when I was 14. It’s been fifteen years since the first draft danced off my fingers. Sure, there’s been about 20 revisions and overhauls since then, but in the end it was definitely worth it. Not that I don’t like any of the previous drafts, but as soon as I completed one, another brilliant idea would pop up and force my hand.

The bad part about LOTP’s numerous revisi[...]