Friday, April 25, 2014

Keep on keepin' on

The jury is still out on our new colorist. Although inexperienced in colors, we're extremely curious how he'll approach the pages. Thinking outside of the box is one of the hallmarks of Sore Thumb Press, so my hopes are high.

I'm approached an artist to try a page of Grammy Vs, but haven't heard back as of yet. That concept has a lot of potential, and the right art will make it sing. Finding talent is a challenge, but perseverance (or luck) will win out.

I often see work that's incredibly polished; folk spend enormous amounts of time filling panels with meticulous detail, and/or inking every single miniscule line flawlessly. One of the things that I adore about comics is how forgiving the medium is. As a matter of fact, loose lines that properly tell the story are much more effective than lusciously rendered pages that feel 'lifeless'. I've always believed Less is More, and comics can become victims of over-think, like a lot of media.

I've decided to spend free time outside of my 'day job' to tinker with STP projects. I have a feeling once the ball starts rolling, the momentum will be difficult to halt!

Friday, April 18, 2014

Changes

We've been anxious to get things moving forward. 

Dustin, our previous colorist, seems unavailable, so we've sought new talent. We've contacted a potential replacement (more details next week) and have high hopes to finally complete our first Lil' Ninja book. Creative team changes can be a challenge, but it's awesome when a nice fit comes along.

We continue to feel that having finished books will jumpstart us in sales, and getting STP off the ground.

I'm also reworking Slam McCracken as a comic strip pdf; I think the format works extremely well, and I'll probably retry Kickstarter to gather funds for that concept. At the same time, I'd like to get moving on other concepts (not enough hours in a day!).

The name of the game is being focused, and finding the steps to get things done!

Friday, April 4, 2014

The past couple weeks have been continued fun. I've reformatted Slam McCracken as a strip, and really like the results. It ties in with my great love for classic comic strips like Calvin and Hobbes, and I discovered that syndicated strips were collected in 40s comic books as loose anthologies. I now realize that having the right concept presented in the right format is key, although nothing stops us from expanding to other media once one takes off.

My wonderful partner continues to move forward on Lil' Ninja. At the same time, we're dusting off The Temp, but with an entirely new spin. Once again, I'm excited by the potential of the concept, it fits in with our goal of producing comics that aren't easily pigeon-holed. Later, I'm working on character designs for the next Lil' Ninja book, and we should have Dustin finishing colors on the Victoria tale asap.

 Busy indeed!