Illustrated Stories

When I was young, I loved illustrated storybooks. I think most people did. You could just read it without the pictures, or just follow the pictures to get the story. Or you could read it with both and have the story fuller, because they compliment each other.

As I got older, I noticed books had fewer and fewer pictures. I always wondered why no one created illustrated novels for adults. Graphic novels are close, but I think we can do better. I love great stories and great art--why not combine them? We do in movies. I have found one example, the three part mini-series Elektra/Wolverine: The Redeemer by Greg Rucka, and it was excellent. Unfortunately, it never caught on.

I also planned on creating an illustrated novel/story someday. Well, that day has arrive. I've written the story, and now I am preparing the illustrations. Here is the first one as a sneak peek for you all. Let me know what you think. I'm planning on black & white interiors, because 1) I love black & white art and 2) they reproduce well on paper and as an ebook.

I'm planning on publishing this story as an ebook at first. Once I have several illustrated short stories (I'm trying to come up with a good name for it--let me know if you have any ideas) I'll publish them as a paperback like I have my novel, The Scientific Method (a Wandering Koala tale). This short story is part of that series.

Character Sketch: Fireman

I think the hardest thing for an artist to do is create a unique style that they like and that their audience likes. I've been struggling with this for years. So as a step forward, I decided to do a series of character sketches. The first one is a Fireman. I was going to call it a fire fighter and actually show a boxer made of fire with boxing gloves and shorts, and I drew a version like that, but it was too silly, even for me. So I went with this version instead. I used a Pigma Brush Pen to do the black and white drawing, then colored it in Corel Painter X. I wasn't crazy about the black and white brush penned version, but I was ecstatic with the finished painting.

I don't think I've found my style yet, but this series should help me take one step closer. Or not.

What do you thing?