Welcome to my dream project, which has been in the “works” for over 30 years. If you’re looking for a simple, funny, fantasy graphic novel, you probably got lost and took a wrong click somewhere. This story is deep as a wishing well, with advice, and struggle, and characters and situations modeled from people I’ve known and a 20 year career in graphic design – Plus actual dreams I’ve had since I was 12. My own children inspired the main characters, even before they were born. Work that out if you can!
The premise is that a boy becomes a robot, then jumps into a wishing well, going on a creative quest without his memory intact. Along the way he gathers information, skills, friends and enemies. My goal was to use the creative process as a plot, so you, the distinguished seeker of enlightenment, may learn and enjoy going along.
This cover focused on the main character in a straightforward way. I am still deciding if this makes the best impact. Yes, he does have four arms. He will be full of surprises! The next page shows my other cover choice.
I made this cover after thinking of where the robot came from, and the symbolic nature of the story. It is possibly too mysterious. I wanted mystery, but not total confusion. The covers to each chapter have a similar structure, so maybe this should be distinguished as a chapter, instead of the whole book. Any opinion is welcome.
Some background as to why I am joining the huge crowd of very talented people doing graphic novels:
I was not into comics as a kid, though I did have an interesting set of two Star Trek (original) comics. Graphic novels didn’t exist then, and all I knew about comics were that professional artists did them. For some reason, I didn’t open my eyes and seek out good comics. I never liked the look of heroes in tights, I guess.
So, fast forward to 2011. I had been trying to organize a possible novel for 20+ years, but without much focus, since I’m not a writer for a living, and I’m frankly awful at dialog. A friend I met on the bus was working on a personal project, about the history of the automobile in Utah. I was impressed that he made little 16 page books, with hand printed linocuts on the cover, and that he was getting to express his interest in it in such nice bite sized portions. Inspiring! Also, I had seen a few great graphic novels, including those of Mike Mignola and Charles Vess. I was drawn into their worlds and shown the potential of sequential art.
Then, a brother-in-law challenged me to join his group of guys making a comic for “Free Comic Book Day”. All I had to do was make a little 12-16 page story, in about 2 months. My idea was to make a comic out of the very beginning of my novel, since I already had a developed story. And I had just acquired an iPad, allowing me to use my bus time to and from work to develop the art.
My first 12 page comic was not too great, because I didn’t understand pacing (I’m still trying to learn how to do it), or really anything else about making a comic. It was black and white, and I stuffed the action together in a confusing manner. But I saw that I loved expressing my story in that way, and I was actually finally making progress. I am a visual thinker, and most of my novel was descriptions of people, places and objects interacting. The writing was tedious and not very satisfying, since my words couldn’t give the pictures in my head real breathing room. I am slow to learn, late to bloom.
So here I had a start. I didn’t submit it to Free Comic Book Day, since the rest of the group didn’t finish anything either. I started again on my first 12 pages, expanding them to 16 and adding color. Then I started looking at as many graphic novels as I could to see what was possible. I already had a story, with a plot that I had modified slightly to teach about creativity. This became my central theme, and motivates me to do more than just make a fun adventure. Creativity is magic to me, and I am easily stuck in boring ruts by my fears of failure and trouble, so I have to fight hard to be truly meaningful and progressive. But the fight is Exhilarating!
I also saw that these “secrets” of creativity are not commonly known, but they are accessible to anyone who can realize them. My story in graphic novel form gives me a way to express them and share them. I use my creativity to show how creativity works, one step and one page at a time.
The title page. A gift box, at the orphan boy’s door. He will soon be home to try it out. To the viewer, this is an invitation to start an adventure.
As I mentioned in my first comment, on the poster page, the major theme of this story is creativity. There are also several other statements I will make. They are not entirely known to even me, since I record the complex emotions that go with living, working, creating, and dreaming in a spontaneous (sometimes) rhythm. There is friendship, trust, adventure, discovery, and learning, as well as the horrors of addiction, greed, vice, destruction, fear and apathy.
The actual order of the creative process is flexible. I ordered it in a way that fit my story, and there are elements that come before others. For an X-ray view of the bones, The general high-level order is:
Initial decision to create
Information Gathering
Playing and Mixing
Testing and Judging
Producing and Building
Putting your creation out there
Evaluation
Starting Over
I sought a workable plot for a long time. Then I discovered a book about creativity, and the epiphany hit. I actually made only one order change, but I was then focused on a plot that started to determine the story naturally, giving disjointed characters and events a purpose.
That was about 18 years ago. It took another 16 years for me to determine that I could not write a novel, so I switched to a graphic novel. Crazy.
Page One, finally made today! And the actual story begins. I have anguished over the beginning more than any other part, largely because I didn’t feel like I knew how to portray Wender’s real waking life. I debated taking photos for this part, since I wanted a strong contrast with what happens later. I decided to express the change in colors and textures and darkness instead.
A word about my methods. I’ve storyboarded 5 “chapters” of around 24-36 pages each on my iPad. I color on the iPad as well, with my finger. I have scanned many old designs and use them to build the upcoming ideas. When I finish each storyboarded page, I take it into Illustrator to do the inking lines. I take those back into a clean page in Sketchbook Pro for the iPad for coloring, while I am on the bus to work. I get it as far as I can, then export it to psd format, and make the final changes, textures, and fixes in Photoshop. That is generally the quickest part.
So that is how I make the art.
Page spread 2, a day early. I finished this on Wednesday, so I can’t wait to publish it. Since I haven’t noticed that anyone reads this yet, I’m sure no one will notice. Anyway, here it is.
Hopefully it is revealing just enough, such as that Wender lives with other kids, who are friendlier with him. He lives in an old, rundown city, dirty and broken.
Creativity starts slowly, with small progress in single steps.
This one is a little early, again. I started overworking it, so I had to let it go. I used to be afraid of heights, so this is a way to face that fear, and show a kind of blessing behind it. Good thing he’s already transformed into a robot!
So far no one has found my graphic novel . . . I wonder how long I can keep it secret. Who will put in my first comment?
We haven’t met the narrator yet, so maybe I should mention at this point; many pieces of my plot, and many events, especially strange ones, have been plucked from my own sleeping dreams. That is a great method for creativity, since my mind is doing the work without my conscious effort. Too bad some of my best dreams have been forgotten, or couldn’t fit into Uendyr’s story.
Of course, part of the process is the “accidents”, stuff that just occurs for inexplicable reasons. You can’t completely force it. Go with the flow, and let it take you at this point. Now is not the time for limits and making judgments. In fact, that doesn’t come for a long time yet! Don’t be afraid to leap. Believe this timid author . . . The fear to create is unfounded. It’s the criticism later that I worry about.
I had many dreams of a space like this in my basement, more than 30 years ago, when I first started the story. There were hidden staircases, which got weirder as they led down. I’m just scratching the surface of possible things to express here, but I only have one page, and I have many more dreams to express. Also, I wanted to introduce perceived danger, just as my real dark basement used to have.
In the process of creativity, you bring a lot of raw materials with you, even the used stuff from previously built ideas, long before you are ready to use it all. This is also a big theme for me, since I was raised to be a hoarder and obsess about waste. It’s a struggle, but I try to declutter, so there is room to appreciate true value.
NOTE TO READERS:
I welcome comments, especially if you see mistakes or have questions. Not that I will answer them all. Just speaking to the future, when my story isn’t such a secret. I can make page changes easily, if they make sense.
Finally ready to bring the latest spread to the light of day. Haven’t had time to completely scrutinize it, so I may need to fix and update it later.
The idea here is that Radalus represents getting a creative vision in your head. He is intangible, and is often forgotten, living in the dust in your head, but he has some amazing powers! Hence the complex imagery, the antique mummy ribbons, and the slightly biblical language. And of course there are strange symbols, such as typography, far off places, a unicorn horn, and a wishing well bucket. That last one plays an important role soon. The color heavy collage was chosen over sketches to kind of look into the future.
Coming soon, Wender leaps into the well and becomes Uendyr. A rude kind of rebirth.
This one was particularly challenging, but then I find that I challenge myself on every page, to force more meaning and development into each spread.
The style is a little loose, and I’m trying to use a quick style that feels natural on an iPad, so detail is lacking, and faces don’t match like they should . . .
You can tell that my internal critic doesn’t want to shut up, and he’s not even in the story yet. He should be grateful to finally get this spread online.
So, what is this spread about? Why does it matter what Radalus says, if Uendyr won’t remember? This is about making the decision to take the leap, even if you do it for the wrong reason. Radalus is just pointing out what a wonderful place the Isle is, and giving Uendyr confidence that he’ll be able to handle it. I realize your imagination doesn’t usually talk to you like a ghost, but vivid visions in your head are what starts your belief that there is potential ahead for something great. I started this online graphic novel because my imagination woke up every time I saw something cool. Then I made a leap by putting it on paper, and my “island” began to appear!
Okay, you might be holding your breath. You may want to hold it a while longer after this page. A bigger fall is coming. And Uendyr’s gonna get wet.
This is some really great stuff! Very talented indeed!
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