my favourite page in "A CAUTIONARY TALE"

Paul does a great job of establishing mood here in this page from A CAUTIONARY TALE. He brought alot to the story that wasn't on the script page, and to me...that's what collaboration's all about.

COURAGE

Here's the first look at COURAGE, written by me and illustrated by Paul Houston. This is a character sketch of the main character in one of his guises.

This story has had a long history. It was originally going to be produced a few years ago, but the artist (another Paul...Paul Laine) and I couldn't make the schedule work.

Happy to say, it's now going to see the light of day. I'm thrilled with what Paul (Houston) has come up with. I'll gradually show more of what we're cooking up.

And Paul Laine and I won't rest until we find a way to come up with a story to do together...schedules be darned!

CROSSROADS script to page

Page 7

Panel 1

We return to the past again.

The couple sits on the couch, but now with some space between them, maybe arms crossed…not looking at each other. The luster is fading from the diamond. This isn’t the same couple from a couple of pages ago.

Caption: We drifted apart.

Panel 2

Caption: At the time, I was so certain that I was being used or maybe
she was playing head games with me or something like that. I became bitter. I started listening to sad music in the dark…

Our main character lies on his bed in the dark, a somber expression on his face. Music emanates from the boom box (can you draw sad music??).

Panel 3

Caption: …and writing depressing journal entries. Stuff like that.

Our main character sits at a desk in the dark, with just the light from a desk lamp shining on his journal. He writes furiously with a bag of chips, and lots of coffee cups, and dented up pop cans littering the work area.

Panel 4

Caption: I wouldn’t talk to her for a while.

Perhaps it might be shown as a phone ringing, with our main character stubbornly sitting with his back to it.

Sketchy

Here are a couple of Paul Quinn's character designs for CROSSROADS. The story involves a flashback. I like how he notes the way the character will change from his early 20s to his 30s.

Except...where are the gray hair and wrinkles?

More Bell Boy

A few more of Simon's triple-cool preparatory sketches for The Amazing Adventures of...

The Amazing Adventures of Bell Boy

The projects that are now complete (OLGA, A CAUTIONARY TALE, CROSSROADS) have been in one stage of development or another for a couple of years at least. It's a great feeling to have them complete. Those three titles and AGAINST THE WALL (which basically was done, but then I started bugging the ever-accomodating Shawn Richter with just a few more edits) make up "phase one" of my projects...i.e. the first batch.

And I really like them, and they were a ton of fun to work on...but now I'm getting really excited about the next batch (phase two). I've been dropping little hints about them here and there. There's FISK: SUBSTITUTE HERO, COURAGE (more on that one later), and THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF BELL BOY.

BELL BOY sees me once again working with Simon Fernandes (OLGA). It's about a kid who develops super powers on the playground whenever the recess bell rings...or at least, he thinks he does. It's the first time I've tried a comic strip, and I'm really happy with the results. I haven't decided exactly how or where to show the strips once we're far enough ahead, but I'm sure we'll think of something.

Through the magic of photo editing, I lifted a panel out of the second strip. That's it up there. Awesome, inn'it?

Who is Olga?

OLGA is a comic that I wrote, and Simon Fernandes illustrated. It's about a guy at the end of his high-school-life suddenly getting a call, from out of the blue, from a girl he hasn't seen in years. An opportunity for romance?

That's the question.

I really like this story. Simon's got a really cool and energetic art style. He (like all the awesome artists I've worked with) took the story and ran with it, making it better than it was.

Simon and I have another project underway. It's a comic strip called THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF BELL BOY. I'll put up some information about that project soon.

Caution!

Here are a few pages from A CAUTIONARY TALE, which was the second book that Paul and I worked on. It's a dark little tale of a guy who gets what's coming to him...or does he?

Been A Long Time...

Hello again. It's nice to be back. I'm hoping to update this thing a lot more frequently in the coming days, weeks and months.

Here's some news for you:

The two books I did with Paul Quinn are ready. CROSSROADS and A CAUTIONARY TALE were available for the first time at the Fan Expo in Toronto.

Here are some pages from CROSSROADS. It's a story about a guy telling a story (that's got to be revolutionary, somehow). He's recounting the tale of how he made a monumental decision in his life. It deals with fate vs. random chance, and destiny vs. dice rolls. This was the first script that I ever had illustrated. It's a pretty "talky" story, and I think Paul did a great job illustrating it and finding ways to make it visually interesting.

Tomorrow? A Cautionary Tale...