Rough thumbnails and title treatment, along with character design exploration for Beth.
Rough character designs for Beth (left) and David Bowie (right)
Rough character sketches for Beth.
Beth character sketch, inking example. I prefer a starker inking technique with no washes or tones. My work is created traditionally, with digital lettering and clean up.
The first two months of 2018 are in the books.
January started off with a bang. I was laid up for a week and a half following a ruptured ovarian cyst at the start of the year. I was surprisingly productive. I completed a 16-page comic about my ordeal, called “My Ovaries Hate Me (And I Hate Them Too),” which will be premiering at the Somerville Public Library Con in May.
February continued the creative kick. I participated in the 2018 Ghost City Comics Festival, drawing and inking a five page comic in a weekend. My teammates were Paul Axel and Chas! Pangburn. We didn’t place, but it was a fantastic time full of drawing and learning loads.
In addition, I pitched to two anthologies in January, and received acceptances to both. I have a script and thumbnail deadline of March 15 for one. I finished the script and thumbs today (March 4), so I’ve moved on to pencilling.
I also got two rejections – the Ghost City Comics Festival, and a bid to table at CAKE. I have ten left to get before I hit my goal for the year!
I’ve written these a few places, but want to have them centrally on my blog. Without further ado, here are my 2018 comic-centric goals.
This year is going to be a blast. I’m looking forward to all of the drawing I’ll do, and my improvement along the way.
PLUS Brewed Awakening comes back *TOMORROW.* Have a teaser!
Yesterday I had my first comic con tabling experience at the South Shore Comic Con, held in Cohasset, MA. It was a small, gentle con, filled with kids and their parents. I didn’t make the table cost back, but I did sell a few of my books, and made a few observations.
Tabling with my friend Kyri Lorenz (Dec 2, 2017)
While I was there, I made a few observations that will help with future cons:
Know your audience
Having not been to the con before, I didn’t know how child-centric it would be. My work largely skews older, due to language and themes surrounding mental health. Parents weren’t super interested in supporting my work, but older teens and young adults were.
Mark whether comics are child friendly
This, I found, is the biggest question that potential customers asked. They wanted to make sure that they could give their children my work. Kitchen Witches is my only all-ages piece at the moment, but my husband and I are working on a children’s comic for a con in April. I’ll be sure to color code or otherwise denote which pieces are kid friendly for future cons.
Colorful covers sell well
This ties back with knowing the audience. I found that people expect a higher level of production value, even with indie cartoonists. I’m not confident in my digital coloring skills, but it’s something to work towards in creating eye-catching work.
Fan art of licensed characters sells well
This really isn’t for me. Unless I’m drawing a Captain America book, I probably will not sell prints of Cap. Stickers maybe, maybe a sketchbook, but not full out prints.
I also had a great time buying pieces and supporting local artists! Check out my haul.
My haul! Books by Jerel Dye, Dave Ortega, Jesse Lonergan, Kyri Lorenz, and Raul the Third. Plus the cutest little robot climbing a hill, by Jerel Dye.
It’s difficult to believe that 2017 is nearly over. True, there are five or so weeks left. But in the last 47 weeks, I’ve had an incredibly productive year for comics.
Let’s take a look at some of the highlights:
There’s still a month left, and I think it will be a productive one.
Legalize Magic by Oliver Tacke // cc 2.0
Not content with one project of a literary bent, I’ve somehow found myself roped into working on an anthology with the Boston Comics Roundtable, the Boston-area indie comics creator group.
Spellbound II is “Modern Magic.” Where tech meets hex, touch screen Ouija boards exist, and the WiFi fairy is the godmother we all need.
My role will be selecting the comics with my co-editors, and designing/laying out the book itself. I’m very excited to be part of this project. The BCR releases excellent anthologies. The aim is to have the book in hand by early June, just in time for the convention season.
Specifications:
Dimensions: Trim 7” x 8.5”, image safe area 6.5” x 8” — no bleeds
Color: Black & White or Grey scale
Page count: 1 – 6 pages
Submission information:
Please send a complete script and at least the first page in tight pencils to spellbound.anthology@gmail.com.
Important dates:
3/3 – Script deadline.
3/31 – Final art deadline. Expect us to bug for updates before this deadline.
Ned Wolfe 