What's the Story Again?!

So I've been asked to post a quick synopsis of the story.

It's a story about a boy, Dewey, and his best friend, Blue (a super cool glob of water). They do everything together. Dewey finds out that friendships aren't all about giggles, sometimes tough decisions need to be made.

When I set out to create this book for charity (providing water to those who don't have it), I wanted the story to reflect the nature of the charity so the undertone is the importance of water (Blue).

Also, since you've been asking I'm looking to see what the best solution to sell online. So stay tuned!

Thanks folks!!!

Plush!!

A quick update:

So far things are going far better than expected. In less than a week we've (yes, I'm including you) managed to raise a little over $400. I was expecting maybe $100 or so, but you guys have been AMAZING and super generous...and I love you. Shhhhh. Just follow your heart.

ANYWAYS, here's a tid bit of exclusive info - For Comic Con (Wizard World) I'll be taking some Blue stuffed plush. Here's a sneak peek of the design. Enjoy!!

You can't get any more doner than done!

So after a year of concepting, re-writing, illustrating, re-illustrating, playing video games, proofing, the books are 100% done and delivered!


HUGE thanks to all who've helped along the way either with the story, critiquing, or proofing. I realized I should just stick to drawing, which defeats the purpose of this whole blog thing, huh? The English language is waaaay too complex. I had about 8 folks proofread the book and nobody was consistent. I'm not saying they're not smart, I'm just saying...dang, I'm glad my career doesn't involve too much writing. I'm sure you're glad too.

I'm sure the entire interweb is buzzing about how they can get their hands on this piece of amazing. Unfortunately for right now you have to be at Comic Con in Chicago in August or know me personally. I think choice A is ultimately more rewarding in the long run.

Thanks again to all who've been along the ride this long. Sadly (or fortunately, depending on how you view this blog) this will be one of the last few postings since all of the work is gone, but I will check back in to let you know how much money was raised and if there are any great stories to share. If you are having withdrawals, you can check out my personal blog here: http://idothedirtywork.blogspot.com/ where I'll post stuff I'm working on.

Have an awesome life!!

I'll have a little blood with my water

Ok, I know that sounds a bit disgusting. Well, man up. So after much deliberation, the charity chosen to receive the all of the $$$ from the book is Blood:Water Mission.


I did my research and there were a number of great charities I could've chosen, but in the end it came back to this group (it didn't hurt that graphically we're on the same page. One of their posters has a similar look to something I'm doing for the Chicago Comic Con this August. More on that later). They're fairly small and a little bit of money goes a long way. Their focus is not only providing a sustainable solution to the water crisis in Africa, but also the HIV/AIDS crisis as well. Hospitals sometimes lack CLEAN water to treat patients, so I'm hoping whatever we can give them, will really help out. So I encourage you to check them out and even if you don't get a book, consider what you can do to help them or a similar charity.

Thanks for listening! Word!

Mucho Needed Update!

Ok folks! It's been a while, I know. Here's what's been up:

a) Book is done - 100%. I'm actually waiting for my proofs. I've been working with a great printer my nephew was working with. You may know Shutterfly as the online service that helps you create and print mementos, but they also have a business solution side that they don't advertise too much. I'm not sure why, but I had a great experience and they've been great partners thus far. Always there to answer a question and their awesome staff also helped catch a couple spelling errors (side note - that's why I'm an artist)!
B) Oh yes! Thanks for all who voted (either through the site or via email). THE FINAL book cover will be......................(pause for effect).............Option A! Some of you made great arguments for Option B, so I worked elements of that design into the back cover.

Stay tuned for info on the chosen charity! Thanks again! Word!

Pick your fav

So the book is done and I designed the cover today, but I'm not sure which one I like the best. Here are the 3 I've narrowed it down to. I have my fav, but I wanted to give you guys the opportunity to vote a cover off the island. Thanks! Word!

Stick a Fork in it

'Cause she's done. Sorry it's been a while since I've last posted, but for the last few weeks I've been telling myself, "this is it! I'm gettin' this sucker did." Well, here's what happened. I was done so I wanted to run it by my wife and JP to get their opinion on the finished product. They both liked it but had some suggestions. JP had suggested I add a few more pages for MAXIMUM IMPACT!!! Those weren't his words, but it makes it sound that much more intense.

Anyways, so I added a couple more pages. Below is a page of thumbnails trying to figure out how to best elaborate where the fixing needed to happen. Try not to look directly at my awesome thumbnail skills, it may cause blindness and I don't have insurance to cover that.


So after that was done I just need a few more things: acknowledgments and cover. I did the acknowledgments (which I referred to as "BIG UPS") and then moved onto the cover. Here's a sneak peek. Try not to vomit. URRRP. I think I did. A little in my mouth. Ugh, beans and feta cheese. OK, I'll leave you with that for now. Word!

The White Light

There it is. It's drawing nearer. I can taste it but I'm not quite there. Between work, snow and the book, this is how I'm feeling (just like Dewey).

I've got just 4 pages left then some minor revisions, the cover, choosing a charity (which I have one in mind) setting up some sort of online shop so I can sell the books unless someone at work is willing to buy all 300 (well, 298. I'll keep 1 for me and 1 for my mom) and I'm sure I'm missing some minor yet HUGE details.

Anyways, I do have a little more of my process to share. Remember how I had one file with all of the pages? I then created individual files for each page then threw them into InDesign so I could see what the pages would look like next to each other. In some cases, I didn't like the flow, so I needed to edit a page out, throw a new one in, or play with the story a little so I could flip a couple of pages. Here's a quick InDesign screen capture.

By seeing it all together like this I realized I had too many static poses. It is the look I'm going for, but I still needed to mix things up. I also realized I needed to change the color of one of the secondary characters because I am using certain colors to define certain characters. It sounds deep, but trust me, it ain't thaaaaat deep.

That's where I'll leave you with for now. Good night! Word!

All This Work for Nothing

So I have been working on this book for quite a while now. I technically could've been done a little while back. What happened? Video games? Kinda. Friends? Hmmmm, I guess a little. No, what really happened was I wasn't happy with what I had. I had the whole book illustrated and I didn't feel like looking at it. And if I don't want to look at it, why should you? I stepped away from it for at least a month or so. It was flat, boring and lifeless. See for yourself.

I wanted it to be minimal, but there's minimal good and minimal bad. This was leaning heavy on the latter. However, I was determined to do this. I had a moment where I could almost hear the Rocky music playing in my head and I felt like punching slabs of raw meat and getting back in the ring and finishing this dang book. So I may have had a burger instead, but I came back. I took a second look at what I had done. It needed something else so I grounded the image.

Ehhh. Better. I was getting closer, but it needed a little bit of texture so I gave it some. Actually, a lot.

Ok, this is a little too much, so the final illustration is a little more scaled back, but you get the picture. It has somewhat of a painterly and aged look. I'm happy with it. I was actually hesitant to show you guys because I don't want to ruin the surprise, but I like you. I feel like we have a connection. I don't know, I mean, I was thinking maybe we should move in together. Just think about it. We'd save so much on our utility bills. Sleep on it.

This is where I'll leave you for now. Oh, yeah, remember how I said I was going to add a T-rex? I did.

Word!

This is how the story goes

Happy New Year folks!!

Sorry it's been a while but you know how it goes, holiday gatherings to go to and post-apocalyptic mutated insects to kill (an Xmas video game present. I'm itching to go back for more.).

So where were we? Oh yes, I had just introduced the main characters. So by now I've made tweaks to the story line, finalized the main characters and story boarded the book on post-it notes. So next I laid out the book pages in Illustrator and began drawing each page as seen below. I don't know how other folks would handle this stage but I like to see all of what I'm working on in one place so I can make adjustments as needed. The same goes with anything else I work on, EVERYTHING is on one file and nothing gets deleted. I'm a digi-hoarder because you know you'll eventually need to go back to the ONLY thing you deleted. I usually have a layer in Illustrator called UNUSED or TRASH.

Anyways, without further adieu, here's what the book looks like laid out.

We are almost caught up to where I am presently. Of course I blurred out the image because I don't want to fully ruin the surprise. I've since made a few more tweaks but that's for another time.

Thanks y'all and have an awesome awesome crazy new year!!

Word!