Tag: concept art

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What if Jamie Roberts Was NOT a Pirate??

a genderqueer human brandishes a sword with a dramatic sweep of the cape

You all know about Jamie Roberts, the genderqueer pirate who left the sea with their two best friends to go treasure-hunting in a land full of dragons.

But what if they weren’t pirates? Believe it or not, in very early drafts of this comic, Jamie and friends were not pirates at all!

In SUPER early drafts (we’re talking back in 2011 to 2013), they were students at a military school. In those versions of the story, they discover the top brass held an earth-shattering secret plan: to release a demon king and destroy their enemies. They would flee the military school and get refuge in the land where the demon king was sealed away.

In hashing out one draft, I had it that they were military school students, then turned pirate to escape. And the feedback I got was, “Why don’t you just…make them pirates?”

Honestly, storytelling 101: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Besides, I really wanted to get to the pirate bits more than the military school bits. People love pirates more than school, anyway.

So that’s how they became pirates!

Some of these concept sketches, though, will be making it into the bonus material of The Legend of Jamie Roberts, volume 3…Which is coming to KickStarter on October 14.

Be sure to sign up for my email newsletter to be the first to know! The newsletter is free and private, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more!

Thank you for reading.

You. Are. Awesome.

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LIVE STREAM – Let’s Draw Commissions!

Join me while I draw these commissions today, live on stream! Some are for KickStarter backers, some are for folks who booked one on Ko-Fi.

If you would like me to draw a commission for you, you can find more info over on Ko-Fi. I’m accepting orders UNTIL DECEMBER 15. (If you’re on my email newsletter, you get a discount.)

Got questions? I’ll answer them LIVE! But you gotta post them in the YouTube Live Chat.

That’s all for now. Thank you for watching!

You. Are. Awesome.

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FINAL HOURS for The Stars of Fantasyville on KickStarter

This is it. We’re in the final hours for The Stars of Fantasyville on KickStarter.

the stars of fantasyville: a sketchbook!

The Stars of Fantasyville: A Sketchbook collects all of my Inktober sketches from last month, and puts them in one book. The theme? The stars of comics, roleplaying games, and other stories from Fantasyville Productions. Or at least…a sampling of characters.

I want to inspire folks with these character designs. As an artist and storyteller, I know how influential art books can be to the creative process. Heck, these characters came to be because I flipped through other art books and went, “AHA! I like this and that,” and “What if…” My hope is that this book can do the same thing for anyone who needs that creative light bulb to ping on.

At the very least, my hope is that these characters get you excited for the stories they feature in. Because some of these stories are out, and more are coming out very soon!

In fact, if we reach $900 in funding before midnight tomorrow, every backer will get The Uthers Detective Notebook PDF. It collects concept art, sketches, AND scripts for an upcoming graphic novel, The Uthers (the story of a half human, half-Uther detective tasked with finding a teenage wunderkind and the cyborg she built).

We’re already on our way to $800 in funding! If we reach that before midnight tomorrow, then backers with physical rewards will get a SLAY pin, and all backers get The Legend of Jamie Roberts Captain’s Log PDF, full of concept art, outline notes, and other behind-the-scenes goods!

Again – less than 36 hours, yo. The campaign ends AT 11:59 PM EST TOMORROW (Nov 19).

back this campaign

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

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The Stars of Fantasyville: A Sketchbook On KickStarter NOW UNTIL NOV 18

My new art book, The Stars of Fantasyville: A Sketchbook, is on KickStarter now – until November 18!

WHAT IS STARS OF FANTASYVILLE: A SKETCHBOOK?

Let’s answer your question with another question: do you know about Inktober?

Inktober is the artists’ challenge to draw in ink every day in October. It’s an art challenge I have done every year since 2017. And when I do, I often collect the Inktober sketches of that year and gather them into a new book!

In the past, I’ve drawn Witches, Gods & Spirits, Dragons, and even a webcomic called PuzzleSpell.

For Inktober this year, I drew the characters that feature in my comics, roleplaying games, novels, and other stories! Every sketch is drawn with Copic markers, Zebra brush pens, and Strathmore paper, and adjusted for printing in Clip Studio Paint. I have gathered all the sketches from Inktober this year and put them into Stars of Fantasyville: A Sketchbook.

And now, you can pre-order a copy of your own!

What I’m Asking For

To make this book happen, I’m asking for $700 by November 18. As of this post, we’ve raised $485, and we have 8 days left.

What will that money be used for? Well, I broke it down in this pie chart I drew:

processing fees - $62. printer set-up fee - $35. Print 100 copies - $247. Shipping books to me - $35. Shipping books to customers - $150. ISBN and Barcode - $150.

Why do I want to print 100 copies?

Ok. I mentioned this in my post about Aistear Con 3, but I’ll state it here, as well: books are my best category when I go to conventions. So to prepare for conventions next year, I would LOVE it if I had as many copies as possible in my inventory. Nothing sucks worse than getting ready for a show and realizing, “Oh dang, I forgot to re-order books and now I only have 2 copies of this title left.”

What Can You Get for Backing This Campaign?

I kept the rewards list simple: digital and physical copies of The Stars of Fantasyville: A Sketchbook, and PDF copies of all the Inktober sketchbooks of years past.

Because here’s the secret: I have a LOT of add-ons you can include with your rewards!

Add-on options include (but are not limited to)…

The PDF of PuzzleSpell the webcomic, copies of my other books, commissions, keychains, pins, and subscriptions!

If you’re able, back this KickStarter BEFORE NOVEMBER 18, yo.

back this campaign!

If you’re broke, share this post! Every share helps.

That’s all for now. Thank you for your support!

You. Are. Awesome.