Character Sketch: Space Opera

It's been a while since I've put up a character sketch, so I thought I'd put one up. This one was commissioned by Matt Williams, the author of Jak Phoenix, a fun space opera available from Smashwords.com and other fine retailers. Matt has even released a short story that is currently free so you can check out his universe.

I tried something a little different for this one. I used my usual brush and Sumi ink, but instead of drawing it in my sketchbook, I used Strathmore 70lb Drawing Paper which gave me a cleaner line than the sketch paper. I like a textured line, but the one I've been getting was a little too rough. This one was much cleaner while still having some character. I had a few sheets left over from drawing One Thing Right by Colin Shanafelt, a children's storybook which should be released in the next couple of months. I colored these sketches (and One Thing Right) with Corel Painter X on my iMac. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

I'm not sure if Matt is though.

We'll see.

Book Reviews

It's always nice to hear what anyone thinks of your work--whether it be good or bad--as long as it is sincere and intelligent. This week my first novel The Scientific Method (a Wandering Koala tale) received another positive review from someone that does this a lot. You can read the review here: http://sfbook.com/the-scientific-method.htm He makes a lot of good points including "The story itself is intelligently laid out, managing to avoid the pitfall of appearing patronizing and dumbing down which so often plagues the YA market." and "the fact that the book managed to grab my attention until the end does go towards showing the quality of the prose."

This is in stark contrast to the reviews my work receives at Barnes & Noble that consist of either one word reviews "Weird" or "Geek meets user" or short sentences that make me wonder if the reader is mentally sound such as one person complaining that my short story was only 27 pages long. It's a short story--27 pages is perfectly normal. Are you? (I wish I could respond to such odd criticisms in person, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't do any good. They honestly don't care.)

I use to keep my work to myself and not share for fear of what others may say, but after a couple years of art school at Ricks College and working as a professional writer and designer for 8 years, other people's opinions don't bother me so much. I'm actually much more interested in their response and honest views of my work. It's helped me do a better job communicating, and that's the point of words and pictures anyway.

The Conclusion!

Part 3 of Wandering Koala meets the Beast who came for Christmas is finally available! Here is the cover with a gorgeous image of Alpine Fall's local church.

As with the rest of the series, the backgrounds are a combination of Google SketchUp 7 and Corel Painter X and the characters are all drawn and colored in Corel Painter X.

My next project is something I've been wanting to do for years, and have tried, but this time I think I've finally figured it out. Check back often to learn more!

Christmas Card 2010 - Rest, You Merry Gentlemen!

Each year I pick a Christmas Carol and write a poem inspired by the title expressing something I'm feeling that year. This year I picked God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, because I was feeling overwhelmed by how much I had to get done for Christmas, and I thought that wasn't what Christmas should be. When I was little, Christmas was the greatest time of the year, and I don't remember ever feeling rushed or overscheduled. I also discovered that the carol was originally called God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen and was changed from You to Ye to make it sound more old fashioned. Who would have thunk?

I also create an original illustration that goes with the poem. This years came from several places. I wanted to show a family around the fire on Christmas Night relaxing together with the kids playing together. I also used the Nursing Home background from my Wandering Koala meets the Beast who came for Christmas comic book miniseries. The window was inspired by an old Batman comic by Bob Kane. The illustration is 100% digital, yet it looks hand drawn which I really like.

Every year I also send out Christmas Cards. I use to mail them, but now I almost exclusively email them and share it on Facebook. And every year fewer and fewer people respond. I'm not sure if they don't like it, if after several years it isn't special anymore, or if the world in general is just getting more and more selfish. I use to get ten email thank yous or so. This year I got two. What a world we live in.

This is one of my favorite Christmas Cards I've ever made. I hope you like it!

Wandering Koala meets the Beast who came for Christmas

The latest chapter in the Wandering Koala saga is now available!

Part One of Wandering Koala meets the Beast who came for Christmas is FREE for a limited time. Download your copy today!

www.WanderingKoala.com/comic0006.php

A new comic in time for Christmas

I've been wanting to do a comic completely on the computer for quite a while, but I didn't know how. I've been experimenting with various techniques and settings for quite a while trying to get it just right.

My last venture, Wandering Koala rides The Phantom Coach, was an experiment doing it all in Painter and Google SketchUp that turned out well. But it was very stylized and abstract, and I wanted a more hand drawn, painterly feel. So I decided to do a Christmas story in this style and am quite pleased with the results.

Above are the first four pages. The comic will be in three parts, the first part being offered for free in about a week or two. The next two parts should be done around Christmas. Let me know what you think.

Comic books designed for small screens - eReaders and smart phones

I've always loved comics, but the cost of printing, distribution, advertising, and senior management benefit packages make them unviable in today's marketplace. Most comics are between $2.99 to $3.99 for a mere 22 pages. Who is going to pay that other than the comic book addicts? There's no room for the marketplace to grow--at least not in print.

But the eBook movement and the move to smartphones opens up a whole new market and new opportunities. There are no printing costs and minimal distribution costs. Plus, a cartoonist doesn't need a big company to publish anymore, so the senior management benefit packages don't have to take their chunk out. Many people have tried to do digital comics, but none have succeeded very well because of three problems: 1) Pricing, 2) Formatting, and 3) New Content. So I designed a new comic to meet these concerns.

Most digital comics cost either $0.99 (which isn't enough to make them profitable) or $1.99 (which is too much for 1's and 0's with no resell value). To overcome this, I've priced my comic at $1.50, which allows me to make a profit but doesn't soak potential customers.

Most digital comics take existing print comics and chop them up into pieces so you lose everything achieved from panel layout. I've designed my comic to be easily read on a smart phone, eReader, or a computer screen. Yet the comic still has the resolution and detail to look good in print for when I'm ready to do that.

Finally, almost all digital comics are reprints of old comics, not the new comics that come out every Wednesday. So I made mine all new material.

My new comic is called Wandering Koala(TM) rides The Phantom Coach. It's in two parts and a trade paperback, all of which are now available from Amazon.com and Smashwords.com for almost all eBook capable devices, and I drew it almost entirely on the computer with Corel Painter X and Google SketchUp 7.

Cully Koala Daily Online Comics

I've loved comics since I was a little boy. I was first introduced to them thru animated cartoons. Snoopy and Garfield are still two of my favorite. Then in Jr. High I discovered Calvin & Hobbes and was re-inspired.

I've been drawing comics since the summer of 6th Grade. I wanted to do it for a living, and at the end of my second year of college started sending my strip off to syndicates and newspapers. One syndicate picked it up, but did a terrible job of promoting it. And my interests shifted to less limiting forms of storytelling. But I had all these great comics that the world at large wasn't enjoying.

Newspapers are dying and with them is the traditional route for making a living with comic strips. So I decided to try something different. I've created a website to promote the strip with five free comics each day, a link to a store with Cully Koala branded swag, and the ability to add the comic to your site. (If you haven't already added it, go there now and do it!)

I wasn't sure what to make the site look like. Other comic strip sites have been very unimpressive, so I thought to make it look like the comics section of a paper. I wanted lots of colors and lots of fun, and I think it turned out that way.

But don't take my word for it.

CullyKoala.com

The Phantom Coach is now on sale!

Has anyone ever told you to stay out of an argument because it doesn’t involve you? Do private disputes really stay private, or do they have a larger effect on the world around them? What if a domestic disturbance caused a ghostly disturbance? Mike and Angie are just another couple on just another Friday Night date having just another argument. But this time it won’t stay between them.

My latest comic, Wandering Koala(TM) rides The Phantom Coach is now on sale! (At least part one is.) Like I said in my last post, this is the third time I've tried tackling this story, and I think the third time was the charm. I softened the harsh industrial style by adding texture and gradients, and I think it turned out really well. I'm also stoked about all the cool ghosts I've added, although most of them don't survive the next three pages. Oh, well, they're ghosts, it's not like you can kill them; they'll be back.

This comic is available in all eBook formats and will soon be available in most eBook stores including the Amazon Kindle store, the Barnes & Noble Nook store, Apple's iBookstore, Kobo (formerly shortcovers), Diesel eBooks, the Sony eReader store, and of course Smashwords, the largest publisher of independent authors.

Purchase your copy today for the incredibly low price of $1.50. (That's right, I said $1.50!!) In a world where print comics cost $3.99, and electronic versions of old comics are $1.99, this is a steal!

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/26287

The Phantom Coach

So I've begun a new comic. But it's not really that new. This is the third time I've tried writing/drawing this story, but I think this time it will work.

The story was inspired by two things. First, an old victorian ghost story called The Phantom Coach, which I found in a Dover dollar edition of short stories and absolutely loved. The second is a night I rode the bus in Alegrette, Brazil with a couple of friends. There was such energy that I knew I had to write a story about it sometime.

For this time I decided to try a style I've always loved but never been brave enough to do. Also, I decided to do the whole thing in the computer including the line work. This presented a few interesting challenges. I had completed several pages, but they looked so stark and lifeless, so I went back and added textures and a few gradient tricks which really helped warm them up. It's taken a long time to find the write settings in Corel Painter to create the line I was looking for. And the buildings and bus were constructed in Google Sketch Up. It took me a while to refine the models enough for the comic. They still look too computer generated, but for this stark style I think it's OK. For the next comic, though, I'll have to do better. And the font is a free font called Anime Ace I found on 1001Fonts.com.

On this particular page you'll notice the bus is distorted as well as the city itself. And I've added a cartoony sound effect. I've noticed a trend in comics to look more photographic and less like comics, but really, it's a comic book--it should look like a comic book, just like a Watercolor should look like a Watercolor and an Oil Painting should look like an Oil Painting.

I'm trying to get the whole story finished and published before Halloween, but it is taking longer than I thought it would. Keep your fingers crossed!