Found in my sketchbooks. From 1994. I was applying what I’d learned in my figure drawing classes.
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The Curse
This minicomic was done as an example to our students in the Luther Burbank Center’s after school comics class. I wanted them to see a story with a beginning, middle and end – in four pages. Three actually, since the first page was the cover.
How to Publish a Minicomic
In 1995, Nizzibet and I were living in Santa Rosa, California. She was getting some work freelancing for comic publishers and I was employed part-time as a proof reader / type setter at a rubber stamp company. We were pretty broke. So when the opportunity came to make some extra money came up we grabbed the chance.
The Luther Burbank Center had offered an after school class in doing comics for a kids 10-13 years old. The artist who had originally planned to teach the class had to drop out and, somehow, my name came up as a possible replacement. I’d never taught a class before but I’m willing to try almost anything once. Especially when I’m broke. I got hired on as the teacher and Nizzibet got a job as my assistant. And thank god for that.
I was a terrible teacher. Okay, maybe not terrible, but certainly not very good. A good teacher can imagine more than one way to teach a lesson and can ask the students questions in order to know what the students are getting and what is going over their heads. I wasn’t good at that then and I’m not much better now.
Fortunately, Nizzibet is very good at working with people of all ages. She’s very good at explaining things in different ways so concepts can be easily understood. Because of her the class was a success.
I did manage to contribute a few useful things. One of those was this minicomic instruction book on how to make a minicomic. It’s purposely unpolished. Our students were still learning to draw and I wanted them to concentrate more on getting their drawings done than on making them perfect.
Finnegan’s Brink #3 (cover B)
Cover illustration for the third issue of Finnegan’s Brink. Unfortunately, the miniseries hasn’t seen print. I finished illustrating the first issue and got about two thirds of the way through the second when we decided to pull the plug. The comic book market was shrinking again and small publishers had a lot more to risk if a title didn’t sell. The publisher worked his way out of comics. Nizzibet and I went on to try other creative ventures.
I expect that some version of Finnegan will see print eventually. I like the story. I just can’t pick up and start working on those pages from 1994. I’d have to start over. I don’t draw like that anymore.
Finnegan’s Brink #2 (cover B)
Cover illustration for the second issue of Finnegan’s Brink.
Finnegan’s Brink #1 (cover A) in Color
It’s only in recent years that I’ve felt comfortable doing color illustrations. Being able to make changes in Photoshop helps a lot with that. Back in 1994 I wasn’t very comfortable with my abilities so the publisher hired Julia Lacquement to color the cover of the first issue of Finnegan’s Brink. I think she did fine job. I don’t know anything about her process. The publisher got her a copy of my illustration and I only knew she colored it when he showed me the final painting.
Finnegan’s Brink #1 (cover B)
This was the second illustration I came up with for the cover of the first issue of Finnegan’s Brink. We (the publisher, Nizzibet and I) all agreed that this image worked better than the previous one.
Finnegan’s Brink #3 (cover A)
This could have been the cover illustration for the third issue of Finnegan’s Brink. It’s not a bad drawing. Unfortunately, neither this, nor the previous two illustrations quite worked. Not as covers anyway. The saying: “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, exists because we do judge books (and people – but I’m really talking about reading material here) by their outer wrappings. If that cover doesn’t grab your eye you’re not going to pick up the book.
The publisher knew the illustrations weren’t working but wasn’t sure why. A friend of his suggested that the format of the illustrations (small illustration inset within a large piece) wasn’t something I felt comfortable working with. I agreed with him. The format seemed like a good idea and I was happy to see what I could do with it but I was having trouble making either of images dynamic enough to grab attention. The middle image was limited by its size and the surrounding image was limited by having another image sitting in the middle of it.
I know I could come up with something more engaging now but in 1994 I didn’t have enough design experience. So we went back to the drawing board.
Meanwhile, at Oz-Squad.com
The fourth chapter of Lizzie the Girl Knight is live now. It can be read here.
If you haven’t started reading yet, or if you want to re-read the previous chapters, just follow the links below –
Chapter 1
The Little Matchgirl – A Dangerous Run – The Killing – A Princess – and a Strange Coincidence
Chapter 2
The Kites – The Storm – The Dragon – An Unexpected Trip – The Forest at Desert’s Edge
Chapter 3
A New World – The Orchard – The Dwarves – The Strange Door – and a Terrifying Predicament
Finnegan’s Brink #2 (cover A)
Finnegan’s Brink was to be a three issue miniseries. For publicity purposes, Finnegan’s publisher wanted to have the covers for all three issues done before he solicited the comic. In 1994, when I was drawing the book, the comic market was still mostly a superhero ghetto. A number of publishers were, and had been, trying to introduce new and different types of comics, but the marketplace was still mostly restricted to comic book specialty stores. The biggest selling books in those comic stores were about superheroes.
The publisher wanted a design for the covers that would make them stand out from other titles on the shelves. He had an idea to use an couple of contrasting images, one inset within the other, in order to give a better idea to the scope of the story. It seemed like a good idea. I worked up some sketches and then executed illustrations for all three covers. Yesterday’s image was for the first issue. Today’s is for the second. Tomorrow’s image will be for the final issue.
