Dear Readers,
Before you try to tackle a project as big as a 288-page graphic novel—something you’ve never done before—you should probably try something a bit smaller first, right?
Well, it was in that spirit that I set out upon the adventure that’s preoccupied my last two weeks: writing and drawing a 12-page mini-comic. And though it doesn’t have a title yet, it does have three completed pages—with a fourth nearly done.
Would you like to sneak a peek? Okay, well, here are the first three pages:
They ain’t perfect, but they’re finished. And if I can just finish the rest of the book, I’ll have two things: A) proof that I know how to make a comic; and B) a cool-ass free prologue to hook potential readers into my larger story.
Here’s a bit about the process:
WRITING
Inspired by the one-word prompts for World Anvil’s Spooktober event, I started off by trying to see if I could write a series of one-page Sunday funnies-style jokes. The idea of a crow conversing with a scarecrow came to mind and the beats of the joke came pretty quickly after that. And so, with page one done, I moved on to page two. Rinse and repeat, and then onto page three.
Around about then, having built a little confidence, I decided to pivot into a longer-form story that might act as an introduction to my current project (The Blood of Seven Queens). And that, as it turned out, tied into a little bit of worldbuilding I’d been doing.
WORLDBUILDING
One day over these past two weeks, I was playing around with 3D models and trying to come up with the perfect Cheshire Cat. He’s not a terribly important figure in my story yet, but I knew that he might one day be, and I wanted to take the lessons I’d learned with the white rabbit and apply them to another animal character.
Gradually, over time, I realized that the cat model I was working with wasn’t fantastical enough to be the Cheshire Cat. That led me, eventually, to toy with the notion of my Cheshire Cat being, well, a toy.
I’d already established that toys can come to life in this world, so it seemed like a fun idea—and I knew of the perfect 3D model to use for the character if I went this way. Then, when I was out for a walk one afternoon, I came up with the reason this particular plush cat came to life, and it ended up solving a story mystery I’d been trying to unravel for years.
The Cheshire Cat would help to prove that the hero of my story was descended from one of the seven titular queens. He’d be passed down from father to son, son to daughter, daughter to daughter, and so on.
And “Oh,” I thought, “wouldn’t that be an interesting story to tell in this li’l twelve-page mini comic?!
ART
Of course, the hardest part came last. I’ve written loads and loads of things over the years, had books of mine published and plays of mine performed, but I hadn’t published a comic since I fourteen or fifteen. “What’s this comic going to look like?!” I asked myself.
It’s a question I’ve been asking myself for years now, at this point. I’ve been gathering 3D assets (figures and sets and whatnot) to go in that direction, but I’ve also been getting back to drawing by hand. And over the years, I’ve watched countless videos on how to do comics the “right” way, but many of them have contradicted each other—and none of them suggested doing it the way I was thinking of. So what if I did it wrong? What if I put it out there and everyone laughed at me?
I was a nervous wreck.
Eventually, I showed the first page to some folks and they didn’t make fun of me. They told me it was awesome. So I kept going. I showed them the second page when I was done with that, and they loved that page too. So I did the next one, and the next.
And yet, this weekend, as I put the finishing touches on pages 1–4, I had one crisis of confidence after another. In fact, I’m in the middle of another one right now as I type this to you. I’d planned to start releasing the pages publicly tomorrow, one per day for the rest of the month. I’d thought I would feel confident enough, being four pages ahead of schedule. But I don’t.
So, I’m going to keep these pages to myself (and all of you) for a little while longer. But, for those of you who are paying subscribers, I’ve got a little treat coming up below: the full script, warts and all. Hopefully, it’ll make sense.
And that’s that for my newsletter this fortnight. I’ll see everyone back here in two weeks for the next update, and I’ll see the paid subs “below the fold,” as it were.
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