Exciting News

Well, I am very excited, honored, pumped...and about a dozen or so other adjectives, about being asked to lead a workshop for youth in the Young Voices Conference at the Toronto Public Library.

Some amazing talent has already participated in past years, and I notice a few friends have also participated. I can't wait...but I will have to as it doesn't begin until October! 

About the program

Teens: Work with professional writers on your fiction, non-fiction, poetry, graphic novels, journalism, visual arts and script writing! Get published in an instant anthology. Meet other youth who like to write.

http://ramp.torontopubliclibrary.ca/secondary/stufftodo/events/youngvoiceswritersconference/three-content.jsp

Paris Ballad - The High Priestess (Chapter 2)

I haven't known what to do with myself. Since I have finished the first chapter and sent it off, part of me was reluctant to continue on with the project, since I may need to change things. And yet, my heart wants to work on this. I tried working on an old WIP that I put away for a bit...and then for some reason (fate?) the part that I had just added, completely vanished. The Word doc closed of it's own accord, without even asking me to save it. I took it as a sign. My heart wasn't in that story at the moment. It was in this one still. So, I am hoping that is a sign of good things to come for this project...like publication.  I began working in earnest on Chapter 2 - The High Priestess. Here is the cover for it.

IF - Fluid

Today's Illustration Friday topic was Fluid.

An even newer & improved FB banner!

The one posted earlier was too busy even for me. Plus, my imagination is in bright bold colours-and rarely in greys. So I had to re-do it. I think making it more symmetrical makes it much nicer.

A new facebook banner- for Timeline

Since FB has added the new layout and cover option for timeline, I had to do a banner. There is nothing like a good book and the imagination.

Cover Art & Illustration Friday

Well, I was going to take a short break from working on Paris Ballad, now that I have completed Chapter 1 - The Magician, and sent it out along with a full outline to a few select agents. (Here's hoping!) I was going to just play around with an Illustration Friday, which I hadn't done in ages. But since the topic this week was "Popularity" - it fit in too perfectly for what I wanted to do for the cover of Chapter 3 - so I couldn't resist creating it. (In the final version, it won't have my web address on it!) I have really been enjoying playing with the Art Nouveau style, which is very new for me.

Paris Ballad

I finished the first chapter/episode of Paris Ballad - a graphic novel about the triumph of love over adversity and the occult. Here is the cover. If you go to the illustration section and look for the subheading 'graphic novel' you will find more (and larger) images from this book. I am excited about sending it out. I feel really proud of the work that I have done, and am really pleased with the cover. I hope you like it and I welcome your comments. I am currently looking for a publisher and/or agent for this. I expect it will appeal to the same people that enjoyed Craig Thompson's Blankets.  And I hope that men will enjoy it too. As the story progresses, there will be more thriller elements involved. I have uploaded only a small sample of this episode, which is 36 pages in total.

Almost finished 1st chapter of my Graphic Novel!

I have the 1st chapter nearly complete of my graphic novel. This chapter is about 32 pages...but it might end up slightly longer...I am trying to contain it there, though. I thought you might enjoy some of my development pages from it. Showing a very rough storyboard, to fine pencils, to finished art. So far everyone who has seen what I have done so far says it reminds them of the movie The Artiste. So, I guess that isn't so bad. I haven't seen it yet. I can't wait. From what I have heard, it also reminds me of my book in style, though not the story.

My Current WIP - A graphic novel.

I don't want to talk too much about this project just yet - but am working hard on my new graphic novel set in Paris. It is strictly for adults. There is quite a bit of mature content in this story. I am loving how it is turning out. I have about 60 pages roughed (the first 3 chapters) and am working on creating some final pages so that I can start to submit it shortly for development. I might use kickstarter to help me fund it, in which case, I think I might offer 'advertising' in the book in subtle ways...like I could put your image in a crowd scene, name a cafe after you, put up a graffiti tag with your name, or for big bucks...maybe an advertisement on a kiosk for your business. All possible options for funding rewards. Here, in the meantime are some sample pages of what my book is going to look like. It will all be in grayscale (like a silent movie)

Illustration Friday - Contraption

Why, it is all just a house of cards!

I was inspired today to do an illustration for this week's Illustration Friday theme - Contraption. I immediately thought of a Rube Goldberg contraption which once I had the dominoes leading to a house of cards...became a sort of Alice in Wonderland/political illustration - with the cheshire cat becoming a wall street fat cat and the house of cards and dominoes the illusion/contraptions of wall street. Alice wakes up when she realizes it is all a house of cards.