So there I was. I had just wandered into a convenience store while wearing my new shirt that I had made with the logo of The Rabbit Trap. The cashier was asking me about it, what did it mean, and I was describing the book. He asked, did I have any info on it that he could give out, and I had to admit I did not yet. Creating something to give away was literally the next major thing I was doing.
To that end, I have now created and ordered bookmarks for The Rabbit Trap. Hopefully they will be here this week.
It’s technically an ‘animatic’, a kind of draft animation that can be quickly produced and adjusted as ideas change. A fully-animated work would follow on from it.
I started out by drawing a few rough sketches on paper and putting them in order.
Then I decided to try Boords, the online storyboarding service.
If you’re looking for information about The Rabbit Trap, The Lonely Little Fridge, or the compilations that contain my other works, this is the place!
The Lonely Little Fridge is distributed through Ingram Content Group and is available on Amazon and other retailers. The compilations are available through Kipekee Press and Amazon.
Karen Hallion has a clear, lucid drawing style that I quite like. I am just discovering her works. She has published a series of inspirational drawings, the “She Series“, which has become a book.
I just sent the interior of the Toki Pona translation, complete with text and pictures, off to the translator to be checked!
Once that it okayed, I will assemble the book files, create the ebook, and make them ready for uploading to IngramSpark! Then we only await the printer’s e-proof.
Today I got an update. The books have been printed, but have not been shipped yet. In the meantime, the promised digital copy was made available (early!) to backers.
I was flipping through it on my phone at lunch at work. And even in those few minutes, I found three things that help with my children’s book projects, as well as with characters I am developing for other projects!
Now I am going through it and realizing there is so much more to learn… and my next projects will benefit enormously from the organization of the production process that this book teaches.
This book will have pride of place on my comics-creation shelf next to works like Kevin Tinsley’s “Digital Prepress for Comic Books”, Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics” series, the Etherington brothers’ “How to Think When You Draw” series, and Duc’s “L’Art de la BD”… not to mention all the books about actual drawing and writing.
I am so excited by this!
Filth & Grammar is by Shelly Bond with Imogen Mangle, Laura Hole & Sofie Dodgson edited by William Potter & Heather Goldberg proofread by Arlene Lo cover by Philip Bond
Off Register Press, Los Angeles, 2022
ISBN 979-8-9855622-0-0 (hardcover) ISBN 979-8-9855622-1-7 (softcover)
A couple of nights ago, I had a short dream in the drawing style of Camila Nogueira. After I woke up, I quickly drew a rough sketch storyboard in the Tiny Sketchbook I take everywhere with me, enough for me to remember it.
I think I’m going to do a proper storyboard and then do my first rough-draft animation, or “animatic“. It’s only a very short sequence, 15 seconds or so. I am thinking that it will be a kind of “Hello World” work as I step into the world of the animatic.
In the world of computer programming, a “Hello World” program is traditionally the first simple program you write when you are learning a new programming language, environment, or toolset. All it does is print or display the words “Hello World”. Sounds simple, yes? Perhaps. But it is a critical step for the programmer, because it shows that they have figured out how to operate the tools required to create the program, which may be a completely new set of equipment or commands… or familiar ones used in new ways.
So this is my Hello World animatic. I haven’t actually made one before, and I have to figure out how to do it. Scan in externally-drawn images? Draw them on the computer? And how do I put them together with the right timing, and add sounds? Photoshop? AfterEffects? Clip Studio Paint? Audacity? Something else? And where do I get the sounds?
I’ve been wanting to do this since I was in animation school all those years ago…
And now for something completely different: the figure drawing and background artwork of Pegah Arabi. It’s done in a painterly style. Some of the portraits are in black and white. Look at the proportions and light and shadow! I have a lot to learn about drawing necks…
Another of the stunning artists from Linked!n. Her work is also magical rooftops and cityscapes, but it’s completely different in feel than Camila Nogueira’s. The colour palettes are different, the style is less rigorously technical, and it feels friendly and small-scale, showing quiet moments in peoples’ lives.
Camila Nogueira is a Portuguese illustrator, one of the artists I found on LinkedIn. Some of Camila’s works show the rooftops and alleys of fantastic cities, but others show fantasy landscapes and floating buildings. The style is a fusion of technical illustration and magical realism. And the colours are stunning. And apparently some of the artworks are of real places…?
