Monday, July 29, 2013

Page 2, Cosmo's Apples

Cosmo is a strange member of the village, but seems happy and harmless...
Please come back next Monday for page 3!
I was trying to show Cosmo as an outsider and a strange but harmless character. Someone the adults may not respect but the children would not fear.  Someone who maybe overlooked but understands more than most.  Originally,  I had him dancing in the rain then followed into the wood by the kids...but after I drew it out I thought it jumped to much form panel to panel without telling a good story "in between the panels".  So I  redrew and added panels and an extra page,  showing more of an event and more of Cosmo's character....I find I am circling back quite a bit for lack of a clear story...need thumbnail much more for revisions...
 

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Page, 1 Cosmo's Apples

Here the kids meet Cosmo coming out to the woods inhabited by a scary Troll....
and Lady Ellis who warns all the children of the dangers in the woods...
Please come back next Monday for page 2!
I jumped straight into thumbnails in Magna studio without a clear idea of the story.
I was more concerned with the sketches and thought I would figure out the dialog later and just fill it in. Unfortunately this would be a big problem...and resulted in rewriting and story line changes, throwing away sketches. This sounds like a basic process issue but it is hard to recognize until I have more experience.  I added a whole intro panel on top, as well as the kids in the middle before Lady Elllis tells her story.  I will refine the stages of development and hopefully improve my workflow, not skipping ahead and missing key refinement steps. Next time I hope to spend time with plotting out the whole story first.  This sounds so basic, don't get ahead of yourself. I would save the bottom panel for later in the story .....

Cosmo's Apples Cover

Here is the cover and first page of "Cosmo's Apples"
There is path that leads to a small village in the woods.  The
sign says beware and stay on the path...was planning on a Monday
post but forgot about going on Vacation...so posting early!


Here is a rough first draft for the cover...I decided to make the village a little more castle like and show the path leading up to the village gate....







Monday, July 15, 2013

Cosmo's Apples Therapy

Please look for page updates on Monday mornings.


I have not been posting in a while so I am trying to get back into it.  The above is not fiction, its just what we all go through sooner on later.  I am trying to share a bit more on this post than I have in the past.  Drawing and sketching can be very therapeutic at times. It can help you share in pictures what is difficult for me to put into words.  Few people visit this site so I guess I shouldn't worry about getting personal, but sometimes its hard to know what to share in a post. The short comic this page introduces is just an improvised fairy tale I told the kids one night. I have always loved comics as a way to tell a story and this is my amateur attempt.  What makes this important to me is the escape it offered from real events going on off the page. I hope you enjoy it , I will post a page a week on Monday mornings and add some process notes....thanks

Friday, July 12, 2013

Evening TV

Sketch done a while back, while watching everyone crash on the couch in front of the TV!