Jericho

This is an iPad painting that I did months ago. It's just a sketch but it has an important feeling of mystery to it that is important to the story. So much of what really happened anciently is shrouded in mystery. We know so little!

These two prophets walk alongside the Jordan river near Jericho, a desert city about 15 miles from Jerusalem.

Olive Groves

Little Nephi explores an ancient olive grove (it's his first time in such a place). These groves are sacred locations that have been corrupted with pagan sacrifice by the worshippers of Ba'al. This one is one of the few that has not been polluted...

In real life, some of these groves were thousands of years old, even in the time of Jeremiah. Yes, olive trees, when taken care of properly, live for thousands of years!!!

This is getting close to the quality that I want panels in the comic book to be. It's so hard to set (and keep!) standards that are better than you are!

Stay tuned! More coming next week!

Back in Business!

The hiatus is over! Please understand any hiatus from this blog DOES NOT mean I have stopped working on the project--it means I am working harder than ever! Some things I have accomplished in the last two months:

Finished Season 1 script (100pages)--CHECK!
Made some money from unrelated projects (so this one can keep going)--CHECK!
Went to LA for CTNX and made many important contacts--CHECK!
Got professional feedback on my work--CHECK!
Ate some great Japanese food--CHECK!
Designed a totally new website (coming soon) --CHECK!
Designed more of the world--CHECK!
Acquired additional professional talent--CHECK! CHECK! CHECK!

Lots to be excited about. One of the many goals we have made include improving our web presence and our communication with our fans. The story and the project continues to grow! Here's some recent artwork from our design archives:

Jerusalem may look like this...so if you were thinking something less magical--HA! Jerusalem is perhaps the world's most magical city...ever. In its best days it was a city of great wealth and beauty.

Jerusalem's richer sections are filled with architecture like this.

Near Bath-Sheba on the Southern, desert side of Israel is Abraham's Well, a beautiful spring of water that served as an important and vital life-source in the arid Negev desert.

Not everyone is rich in Jerusalem. The poorest of the poor make their homes on tels--mounds that have been created by the repeated destruction of buildings over thousands of years. They have no choice but to live in these undesirable locations...until the next destruction comes along.

Lachish was arguably the next most important Judean city besides Jerusalem, the capital. The Lachish region is verdant green with spring flowers and beautiful limestone formations. Lachish itself was a great fortress...before  the destruction.

The Hebron region lies due south of Jerusalem and consists of hill country blown dry with the hot, East Arabian winds. 

In Jerusalem they build with rose-colored limestone and plants grow in abundance. Despite everyone living within the protection of the massive city walls  that David built, the people have found creative ways to grow gardens in their wonderful mediterranean climate.

The richest parts of Jerusalem are ornately designed--a culture that was annihilated when the Chaldeans razed the city.

Jerusalem was ancient even in the year 600 BCE. There are ruins everywhere--lasting remnants of previous empires.

Thumbnails - I draw these first, then go to a final image.

Growing Pains

My silence the last two weeks has been due to substantial growing pains. The project is no longer a solitary creation, and as such, is in complete flux. My deepest apologies to any of you I have promised to send the comic and haven't! Because of the many changes, which I cannot yet announce in detail, I am unable to deliver the comic book digitally as I had supposed would be possible. If you meet me in my daily life I have a copy of the comic on my iPad and I would be thrilled to let you read it and get your feedback.

We now have a team of 6 people working part-time on the project! Everyone needs a little money to pay their bills, and I had the chance to make some so I took it. Everyone on the project continues to be unpaid. However, I could not have asked for a better team, and I am ECSTATIC about where this project will be in six months.

Here's a concept of Arabia and the cultures that may live there.

The fallacies of youth...

Life is good. An update: my foot has finally healed to the point that I can both walk and drive (I have a manual transmission and it was my clutch food that was broken) which alleviates a great deal of organizational stress in my day-to-day life. 

I have spent the last two weeks working to refine previous work that "wasn't good enough anymore." Part of the problem with being a young artist is your old work becomes outdated...and fast.

The major tackle last week was primarily decision-making. The biggest problem I face is how to take a religious story with mature subject matter and make it entertaining to a wide audience of all ages and many belief systems.

To my knowledge no one has done this successfully with Latter-day Saint material, except for the recent Book of Mormon musical, created by the South Park prodigies.

I was hoping to find a way to get feedback on the story without having to add a storyboard version of the entire comic...and the verdict? I have to storyboard the entire comic. 

It's a lot of work, but I'm pleased to announce it's already 1/2 way complete. I have over 20 pages of storyboards (with the lettering complete!) and hope to finish the next 20+ pages by the end of next week.

At which point I will be seeking beta-testers who will be given access to the story in exchange for their feedback and some free comics. I am looking for people of all walks of life young, old, male, female, Christian, Jew, Muslim--the works.

In particular, however, I need LDS parents with children who are willing to read the comic with their children.

Here's a visual update of where we are:

And some storyboards samples. Have a great week!

Light at the end of the tunnel!

Hallelujah!! A real page! I've been working a long time with this vision in my head and finally am able to start showing people what I've been envisioning....and (drruuuuuuum roll) TA DA!

An Israelite father and his son travel to Jerusalem to sell their olives at the market. Life is good. They live during the time of Solomon the Wise, about 950 BCE. Who said the Bible can't be fun? It is my conviction that many of the greatest stories of all time are contained in the Bible, irrespective of religious content--they're good stories!!!

So this is what the comic will look like. In fact, it is now what it DOES look like. I have completed the color keys for the entire comic, which was more work than expected (I was hoping just to do the first 9 pages which only has 2 lighting schemes, however, the entire comic has like 7 or 8...maybe more...). It set me back 2 days and the inks took an extra 2 days as well. Right now I will be lucky to have the first 9 pages colored by the end of next week.

But quality over quantity. I don't want to sacrifice story or art for speed...especially since I am pushing my limits in all of these areas, and now that I've set this page as the standard I think I have a lot to live up to.

Good luck to me.

First 9 Pages!

I will have completed pages to post next week! I am in the process of inking them and will be coloring them all next week.

An important part of any production is testing the "pipeline" or the workflow to make sure there are as few kinks as possible. I think of it like a well-oiled engine where all the pieces work together perfectly with very little wasted energy.

I decided to complete the first 9 pages of the comic (the total comic is now closer to 40--basically a double-issue!!) in order to make all my mistakes early on. It has been very effective since I've made a bunch of mistakes!

But I am very pleased with how it is coming along. Here's an inked panel:

Have a great week! Gotta get back to work!

SURPRISE!!

Having written loads of material, I have shifted gears again and am back producing artwork. The writing diversion helped with defining my evil characters, which to my great delight are suuuuper plentiful. I mean, we are telling the story of the disintegration of a nation! Everyone's a bad guy. I love it!

Also of note: I got the first draft of a new score for the "film" (okay...I call it a film but it's just a comic book...for now). What's that? You didn't know I had an old score, either? SURPRISE! Music is a necessity for epics...right??!!

And the new score rocks (as does the old, which will also be included at launch). It's working title is "Nephi's Love Theme". Once I have a professional, mastered recording of it I will post a snippet as a teaser. Right now it is still being composed, however. A few revisions and then we will progress it to the recording phase.

The current plan is to have both scores available for download on iTunes.

More surprises to come in the future. I love surprises! So expect them! (Does that still make them a surprise???!)

And here's a random ink from a panel:

Update!

The project has definitely evolved significantly in the last 30 days. I will be publishing it as both a comic book series and a graphic novel series.

It will start small, just one comic at a time and I will likely be selling them door-to-door on nights and weekends until I am able to get them into retail stores like Deseret Book. The business side of things has been a real challenge. I spent over a week just working out the mathematical requirements for establishing a publishing company, and as it turns out subscription services and digital comic books get very complex very quickly. Until demand merits subscriptions and digital versions, I will be publishing strictly print comics and selling them via retail or direct sales. I am pretty sure each 40-50 page comic will retail for $4.99.

I have cracked 200 pages of story, which translates into 1.5 graphic novels or about 450 pages of comics. I'm focusing of course on the first one, but in order to make it a comprehensive, epic story I necessarily have to delve into all of the novels to know where my characters will end up and how they will progress from book to book.

Currently the story consists of 6 graphic novels, and each one will be about 300 pages in length. Yes, that's nearly 2000 pages of story, and it may very well be one of the largest graphic novel series in the world...when it's finished.

I have also been busy improving the style of the artwork. I don't have any finished pieces, but here's a low-res color draft of a panel. I am confident it will continue to improve from here.

Update!

Well, I've penciled 20+ pages. It became apparent that this first prologue issue needed to be expanded to really give the story the epic feel it deserves. Whereas before I had written it at 24 pages in length, it has now become 32, which of course will add 30% more time to each segment of the project...but it will be worth it.

Not only this, but the design work has also become more complicated as I push my limits in every realm: character design, acting, environment design, shape design, lighting...and on and on. In a typical comic book of this quality there would be no less than two professionals doing this work and usually four. Not to mention the small team of part-time editors, graphic designers, and letterers, among other responsibilities.

In short, I'm starting to feel a little thin as I try to balance all of this, but at the same time push my artistic limits in each field.

Quite the challenge, but I'm pleased to report things are looking good...very good.

My current launch date for the comic is Oct 28. Expect blog posts to be less frequent as I battle through the production. By the time I am finished I will have created over 100 unique paintings (panels). I can't wait! I am probably the most excited of anyone to see it complete!

Steady as she goes.

Progress

I penciled the 9th page today. Another week or so and this part of the project will be in the bag. Life got complicated because I broke my foot...don't worry...it's not bad. Once it is easier to be up and around I will have a lot of imagery I can share.

He who hath ears to hear let him hear...

Second installment in the "Conversations with Jeremiah" series. I just do these for fun...they have no real pertinence to the actual comic book.

Me: You have...ears?

 Jeremiah: What?

 Me: I said...oh...

 Me: ...nevermind.

 Jeremiah: What?!
Me: Nothing. I didn't say anything.

 Jeremiah: You keep staring at me!
Me: Well..it's just...you don't have any ears.

 Jeremiah: Yes, I do.

 Jeremiah: They're right here!

 Me: What are you listening to?
Jeremiah: Bee-yon-say?

 Jeremiah: I think she's Egyptian. Dresses like one.
Me: Um...okaaaaaay.

 Me: I have something I want you to listen to!
Jeremiah: Hey!

 Jeremiah: Joy to the "fishies"? Who IS this guy?
Me: Must be a fan of yours, I guess.

 Jeremiah: A fan? I didn't know I had any. He sounds happy, though.
Me: He must have read your book.

 Jeremiah: MY book?
Me: Yah, you know...

 Me:  ...destruction, apostasy, adultery, deceit, murder...

 Me: It's totally the thing in the last days. People dig it. We call it entertainment. Watch it all the time...we just don't like reading it as non-fiction, I guess...

 Jeremiah: And this "entertainment" makes people...happy?

 Jeremiah: Do YOU watch that kind of stuff?
Me: Well..I mean...I have...in the past...maybe...

 Jeremiah: WHAT??! YOU GUYS ARE ALL THE SAME!

 Me: Hey...where are you going?

 Jeremiah: To write a sequel.
Me: Oh...good...glad I asked.

 Me: I hope somebody reads this one!
Jeremiah: I heard that!

Me: I need to rethink my life.





Also of note: