Concept

I have been reading, and rereading blogs and essays about self publishing written by artists I admire. Jeff Smith creator of Bone(BONE RULES!) invited Colleen Doran a talented artist in her own right to write about her experiences with self publishing in the medium on his popular Boneville blog page. Dave Sim creator if Cerebus,(and though Dave has proved himself sexist on numerous occasions) with 300 issues spanning decades of work; it is hard to ignore as an accomplishment of the highest when it comes to the realm of self publishing, and his subsequent essays on the subject have been helpful as well.*

After reading numerous essays and books on comics, the graphic novel and about the art-form itself I have come to this realization: Story is of paramount importance, overshadowing nearly everything, except concept. You can have a great story but if the characters are unappealing, cliche, corny, trite or just plain dull- no one is going to care about your story. It is for this reason entire sections of my original concepts, notes even plot points have been revised. I am looking for a balance between classic and innovative. A fine line it can be trying to make a "classic" styled character (because of story purposes)without marching headlong into cliche territory.

I am hoping that with the designs I have been working on I hope will be interesting and not overly stale.

artwork by the amazing Jeff Smith!


*If anyone knows of any other great essays on the subject I am always looking for more motivation