Writing, comic artists and hornet-pies. OH SHIT!

Holy...mother...of god...

S’been a while since I caught people up on just what it was that was going on up here in my space station that, upon closer examination, is suspiciously like a television box under a bridge.

Look, enough of this chit chat, yeah?  To the infos!

I mentioned on my Twitticus page that I was looking for an artist to collaborate with on a comics project, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.  One of the toughest things about the venture is that, being an artist m’self and having what would be considered a ‘signature’ style (generally defined  by a mess of black ink and vomit), when anyone hears I’m looking for an artist they generally assume I want someone that does pretty much what I’m already known for doing, which isn’t exactly the case.

Foremost, the appeal of focusing on the story and characters through writing is pretty obvious to anyone who’s used to to splitting themselves between writing as well as the drawing portions of making a comic.  On my side, the desire to do both often results in a huge mess of ideas piling up in my head like so many bargain bin pumpkins behind the grocery store the day after Halloween.  I’m not actually sure you find pumpkins behind grocery stores in those situations, but I liked the visual, and so I went with it.  Story ideas are like pumpkins, mostly, anyhow, and you can make pies with both, so shut up.  So while I’m slowly carving out one project, a million others pop up and just buzz around angrily in my head, like…okay, more like hornets rather than pumpkins.  So these pumpkin-hornets sting at me now and then, reminding me that they’re just as cool as what I’m working on maybe, possibly even cooler, possibly worse, but I won’t know until I DO SOMETHING with them, and I get worried that I won’t live long enough to do even a fraction of what’s buzzing around in there, and I’m fucking immortal, so that should let you know justhow worrisome it is and how much stuff is waiting to be dealt with.

I literally have ideas going back to elementary school that I plan on getting out of my head somehow in some form.

Getting someone to draw some of these things not only frees me up to just play writer and screaming overseer, but it lets me breathe easily a bit about the stinging pies in my mind while I do something else, like a comic that I’ve already written out but maybe haven’t drawn and can finally get to.  There are situations where I can see one of my stories benefitting from someone else’s visual approach as opposed to how I think I’d tackle it.  rather than try to emulate something like the look of what I’d consider to be a more traditional superhero story that would do well to be paired up with that kind of look, I’d much rather find an artist comfortable with it.

For what I’m doing now, an idea that’s been stinging me for just under a decade, something that popped up around the time I was working on INVADER ZIM, I keep recalling the kinetic lunacy of Frank Miller’s Hard Boiled, so I keep referencing Geoff Darrow, with more stylization, something like a Geoff Mignola, but really, it’s one of those things where, if I see something that just looks right then it just looks right.  Definitely not looking for cutesy or spooky as much as I am someone capable of handling action, emotion, and more action.

So that’s that, as far as that goes.  Writing up things and hunting for someone to make those things into pictures.  I know some people will read this and think to send links to their artwork, and that’s appreciated, but I’m looking for some professional stuff here, stuff that shows actual sequential art powers and not just illustration skills.  I’ll let you know when I find the right person by releasing a fiery dragon into the sky.  Exciting, huh?!