HOW TO MAKE A GRAPHIC NOVEL
This week I’ve been teaching a group of 13-16 year olds about making comics. We’ve talked about storytelling, writing, drawing, comics terms and forms, character development, perspective and page layout. It’s been a very busy week! IDEAS On Wednesday I gave a short presentation on how I made my graphic novel, Upside Down: A Vampire Tale, … Read more
SIGN UP FOR MY COMICS WORKSHOP!
LEARN HOW TO MAKE COMICS | JUNE 10-14 Just a quick reminder that I’ll be teaching a 5 day comics workshop next week for children ages 13-18. Classes will be held at Higher Ground Learning in Salt Lake City, June 10-14, and will cover everything from generating and filtering story ideas to developing characters and story arcs, … Read more
LOOKING BACK AT LTUE 2013
Every year–without fail–LTUE manages to be a bigger and better event than the previous year. 2013 has been no exception. WHAT IS LTUE? LTUE stands for Life, the Universe and Everything: a symposium on science fiction and fantasy, geared toward writers, artists, filmmakers and fans. This was my third year participating as a panelist, speaking … Read more
LTUE IS HAPPENING NOW!
Going to LTUE? Here’s my schedule for today: 2PM Working With Clients 3PM Art for Children’s and YA Books 6PM Writing for Comics and Web Comics 8-10PM Book Signing In case you missed yesterday’s event, here are some of the handouts I gave to panel attendees (click for full, printable size):
SELF-PUBLISHING
Here’s an interesting article I read on self-publishing–specifically on self-publishing comics. Although I don’t agree with everything Stef says, and I certainly don’t work in the same format, size, run, etc. she did, a lot of the information is extremely useful for beginners. It’s a great overview of what really goes into self-publishing a comic, … Read more
My Top 5 Comics of 2012 (Featured on Boing Boing)
Along with comics creators Nick Abadzis, Jeff Lemire, Jeffrey Brown, and Nate Powell, I was invited by Boing Boing to share my top 5 comics from the last year. 2012 has been an incredible year for comics, and I’ve been finding more to love than ever before. This really is an exciting time to be involved in … Read more
Project Highlights from 2012
2012 has been an exciting year! My first graphic novel, Upside Down: A Vampire Tale, was published by Top Shelf Productions, and took home an Arty Award for best graphic novel. I also had my hands in a number of really fun projects and I survived the Mayan apocalypse! Scroll down to check out a few highlights from … Read more
Upside Down: Where to Get It
Where Can I Get It? Happy holidays, everyone! I’ve been getting a bunch of emails asking how to get hold of a copy of my graphic novel, Upside Down: A Vampire Tale, so I thought I’d post some options. Bookstores and Comic Shops Check your local Barnes and Noble bookseller, or a nearby comic shop. If … Read more
Don’t Read My Graphic Novel
Don’t Read My Graphic Novel That’s pretty much what the following review says about my new graphic novel, Upside Down: A Vampire Tale (Top Shelf Productions, 2012). A concerned friend sent me the link to the review and, rather than defend the book, I thought I would just share the review here: Review of Upside Down: … Read more
Interview with Comics Artist Jess Smart Smiley
I read in an interview that you committed to drawing this book in one year’s time and didn’t stop until you were finished. Since this was your first graphic novel, what kind of difficulties did you face in trying to get it done? Read the full interview with About.com here!
