Grab bag anthology commence in 3…2…1…
Late Night Cravings
I’ve been out sick for a few days so the engine has been a bit lackluster this week.
I nestled into my couch for a whole day and doodled when I got a wave of energy. A simple pencil drawing turned into something much cooler than I anticipated…
Restless in bed, I started thinking about the drawing. A story began forming. Here’s a peek into my brain during that time. Excuse the franticness, this is essentially a record of the conversation with myself while tossing around at 2am…
“Ok, so, what if I were to do a kids, scary-adventure comic, no wait, maybe an illustrated prose book? All black, white, and ink-wash drawings. That could be cool.”
“What if the kid holding a machete was a monster hunter? That’d be fun, but probably done before. Let’s take that a level further. Ok, what if he travels to a monster world by means of a portal found underneath his bed? That’s a bit cooler.”
“Ok, what if there’s another portal located in his closet that leads to a different world? How about a ghost world? Interesting. We need a third world because, you know, everything is best in threes. How about the Undead world? Maybe located in his basement. Ok, better. Monsters, ghosts, and zombies.”
“The kid could have a talking bat, or some other nocturnal animal, as his guide. You could do a pretty fun horror adventure with this set up. Maybe even a trilogy of books, each book dedicated to one world. Lofty expectations, but it’s a nice thought. The titles could be “Bring Me the Monster”, “Bring Me the Ghost”, and “Bring Me the Undead”. Cool, but I may need to tone them down a bit to appeal to the younger audience.”
“Ok, so why is this normal kid going into these worlds? He gets lost in them and he’s trying to find a way out? Hm. Maybe he’s looking for someone. Ah, what if he witnesses his baby sister get pulled in by a dark figure one late night? He’s a brave, snotty kid, so he’s up to the task of rescuing her. We could play with this. Maybe there could be a bigger connection between the kid, his family, and these crazy worlds. Some Coco magic. We don’t need to figure this out right now. It’s a good thought for deeper story.”
“So, we have: a young boy must traverse three scary worlds (monster, ghost, and undead) in order to rescue his baby sister from a mysterious dark figure. Quirky, spooky, Tim Burton-y sort of tone for a younger audience. There’s some good meat there. I could work with it.”
“Oh, lastly, what’s the kid’s name?? Well, I wrote like 70,000 words of an awful sci-fi novel over 10 years ago about a kid crash landing on a new planet. Yes, it’s mostly unreadable, but I always liked the main character’s name of Manuel, or Manny for short. I think Manny works. Maybe when Manny starts getting a reputation in these spooky worlds, he is given the name “Manny Darko”. Too on the nose? Probably. But for a middle-schooler? Probably pretty rad. Manny Darko vs. The Monster.”
“I’ll shelve this idea for now. I’ll water it later and see if it grows into something.” /End
The “what if” game is a fun writing exercise (maybe not at 2am, but when inspiration strikes, you go with it). It gets your creative wheels turning and you can really set some projects in motion. I’d say that this one was a success, although, I’m not sure if I’ll pick it up and run with it. It will get on the “good” side of the list at the very least. With long term projects like this, you need to sit on them for a while and make sure that it’s something you really want to do. Most of the time these new ideas sound very exciting, like you want to jump on them immediately, but 90% of the time… it’s a trap!
Quick Punches In The Face
Lettering is going very smoothly on Eclosion. Maybe too smoothly…is this also a trap? I’m about 95% complete, which is good news. After putting the last touches, I’m going to shelve the whole project for a few days, then come back to it with fresh eyes.
Also, since I last spoke about it, I’ve gotten the script for Funny Page #4 in a good enough place that I’m ready to begin thumbnailing/penciling the first half of the book. I know exactly where I want to go in the back end of the comic, but I just need to find the right words to give Tom Graveless and the crew. I’m confident that I’ll get there. This has been my most challenging writing assignment yet. But, a good challenge! I started penciling the first page this week. I’m going to take my time with it. I’m happy to jump back into this quirky world.
Here’s a funky metalhead guy that I started in the sketchbook. I like his exaggerated shape. I’m still deciding if I want to throw paint on the sketch or scan it in and play with some digital color.
And here are pencils for a random sketchbook comic about a man walking to the market and grabbing an apple. A fun, Sunday kinda warm-up.
Lastly, two upcoming events that I will be vending at:
1 - Heights Of Imagination Book Fair on Saturday, February 8th
2 - STAPLE! Independent Media Expo 2025 - April 12th-13th
A couple friends and I got into STAPLE! by the skin of our teeth. Apparently the event sold out in something like 17 minutes?! Pretty insane. Happy to be tabling at the event! I’ll mention it again when the event gets closer.
Stay safe and RAB-DAR-GAB (you’re cool if you know what this is).
Thanks for your time,
Nico
What they know about RABDARGAB!?! Classic
Do it!!!