Posted by Jess Smart Smiley on January 23, 2013 · 5 Comments
Make It What It Needs To Be Ever since I realized that my newest comic is actually supposed to be a novel (surprise!), this has been my motto: make it what it needs to be. I’ve been drawing Jack Tinn and the Aquanauts for almost an entire year and just realized two weeks ago that the story is actually … Read more
Filed under CREATIVITY, INSPIRATION, Jack Tinn, PREVIEW, PROCESS, WRITING · Tagged with Aquanauts, Beagle, charles darwin, Fiction, galapagos, Jack Tinn, jess smart smiley, writing
Posted by Jess Smart Smiley on January 18, 2012 · Leave a Comment
2012 marks thirty years of the Life, the Universe and Everything (or LTUE) symposium on science fiction and fantasy. Every year, for the past thirty years, science fiction and fantasy authors, artists and filmmakers have gathered together at LTUE to share their love of the genres, and to run workshops, forums and presentations on creating … Read more
Filed under EVENT · Tagged with Arts, Brandon Mull, brandon sanderson, dan wells, david farland, fantasy, Fiction, james a owen, James Dashner, life the universe everything, literature, ltue, Science fiction, science fiction and fantasy, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, writing excuses
Posted by Jess Smart Smiley on October 29, 2011 · 11 Comments
Just three days left to win your own copy of my short story in comics form, A Map in the Dirt! All you have to do is leave a comment on any post between now and October 31. I’ll pick a comment at random and the winner will receive a copy of A Map in the Dirt. … Read more
Filed under BOOK, COMICS, DESIGN, DRAWING, EVENT, PREVIEW · Tagged with a map in the dirt, anthropomorphic, Arts, book, comic, contest, Fiction, free, giveaway, jess smart smiley, jess smiley, literature, Short story, smiley art, win
Posted by Jess Smart Smiley on August 22, 2011 · 2 Comments
The last few weeks have brought in a lot of projects and one of my favorites has been making trading cards for science fiction authors. What a fun idea, right! Pictured above is my ink drawing of Ray Bradbury, easily one of my favorite writers since dad lent me his copy of Green Shadows, White … Read more
Filed under CREATIVITY, DESIGN, DRAWING, FLYER, FREE, PREVIEW, PROCESS, SKETCHBOOK · Tagged with art project, Arts, books, cartoon, collect, color choices, creatures, crystals, Design, doodles, drawing, drawings, Fiction, green shadows, ideas, illustration, jess smart smiley, jess smiley, List of science fiction authors, literature, novel, pen drawings, portrait, process, Ray Bradbury, ray gun, sci-fi, Science fiction, science fiction and fantasy, scribbles, sketchbook, sketches, smart smiley, smiley drawings, space, technique, trade, Trading card, Utah, Visual Arts, westercon, white whale, Writers Resources, writing
Posted by Jess Smart Smiley on July 23, 2011 · 7 Comments
For anyone that’s been following my novel-in-the-works, I have exciting news: I’VE FINISHED MY ROUGH DRAFT! Hooray! Three months of writing, 232 pages typed, and 127,000 words written. Phew! Since finishing, I’ve been drawing like crazy, and planning out my next projects, trying to get my mind off of my novel, so that I can … Read more
Filed under BOOK, NOVEL, PROCESS, WRITING · Tagged with Arts, book, characters, draft, editing, Fiction, first novel, language, Manuscript, novel, process, revising, rough draft, storylines, subplots, writing
Craig Thompson’s long-awaited Habibi comes out this September from Pantheon. The book has been six years in the making and Craig has been kind enough to take bits of time away from writing and drawing to give us fans a look at what he’s been up to on his blog. Today Craig launched HabibiBook.com, a … Read more
Filed under BOOK, EVENT, GRAPHIC NOVEL, PREVIEW, PROCESS, SKETCHBOOK, STORYTELLING · Tagged with Arts, Comic Con, Craig Thompson, Fiction, Graphic novel, habibi, Pantheon
Cartoonist Bill Alger is developing a new graphic novel for kids called Homeboy, and has started a blog to record his process and ideas over the next year. “Homeboy is a kid who runs away from home, then wakes up the next morning to discover that a tiny version of his family’s home has become … Read more
Filed under BOOK, COMICS, CREATIVITY, DESIGN, DRAWING, EVENT, FREE, GRAPHIC NOVEL, INTERVIEW, PREVIEW, PROCESS, SKETCHBOOK · Tagged with art, bill alger, cartoonist, cartoons, comic, Fiction, for children, Graphic novel, homeboy, one year, process, project
Emily Carroll does it again with her new comic, The Prince & The Sea. As with most of her work, it’s a quick, but inspiring and rewarding read. The Prince & The Sea is a dark fantasy romance following the love between a prince and a mermaid. The storybook artwork and narrative work perfectly with … Read more
Filed under COMICS, DRAWING, INSPIRATION, PREVIEW, STORYTELLING, WRITING · Tagged with Arts, comic, comic book, emily carroll, fantasy, Fiction, Graphic novel, mermaid, online comic, prince, storybook, the prince & the sea, the prince and the sea, Visual Arts
Cygnus is a journal of speculative fiction headed by writer, editor and epic beard-grower, Casey Winters. The journal (which is listed on Duotrope’s Digest) will feature six to nine short stories, as well as speculative works of art (arguably, anyone could look at my pictures and speculate as to whether or not it is really … Read more
Filed under BOOK, CALL FOR ENTRIES, COMICS, CREATIVITY, DESIGN, DRAWING, EVENT, STORYTELLING, WRITING · Tagged with Alternate history, anthology, art, call for entries, call for submissions, casey winters, cygnus, duotrope's digest, E-zines, Fiction, first issue, Online Writing, Science fiction, Short story, Speculative fiction
Posted by Jess Smart Smiley on May 25, 2011 · 2 Comments
Okay, so I’ve been working on a novel. The idea is something that I came up with last Summer, but wasn’t able to work on, because I was revising my graphic novel. Now that I’m over 50% finished with the rough draft, I feel better about sharing the news. With my drawings and comics, I … Read more
Filed under BOOK, NOVEL, PREVIEW, PROCESS, SKETCHBOOK, WRITING · Tagged with book, Draft document, feedback, Fiction, first book, first novel, first time, in progress, novel, process, trying something new, writing, writing sample
