Tears of the Dragon #2: Pin-Up Remix

And here's another twist on Koko's Tears of the Dragon pin-up. This one is by Zee. I like it. He made some interesting color choices, especially making the dragon grey. Very interesting.

If any photoshop savvy readers want to take a crack at coloring this pinup themselves, I've posted a high res psd file online that you can download. And guess what? It's already flatted for you so you can jump right into the fun stuff.

Grab the file right here.

Events, Appearances, Promotion #2: Boston Zine Fair 2008 Reminder

Just a reminder that I'll be tabling at the Boston Zine Fair this Saturday. The Fair runs from 10am-6pm. I'll be peddling the first three issues of Super Seed and have a few other odds and ends at my table. I'll also be bringing a laptop that'll have a slideshow of past, present, and never before seen future comic work, as well as a portfolio of some of my best stuff. So if you're in the Boston area, hope you stop by.

The Boston Zine Fair is being held this weekend, September 20-21 as the Art Institute of Boston, 601 Newbury St. Boston, MA.

Tears of the Dragon #1: Introduction

It seems this is my big week for announcing new comic projects, so here is another one. Tears of the Dragon is the fantasy epic I teased in my monthly projects update post earlier this month.

I'm teaming up with Indonesian artist Koko Amboro to tell this story, and he's done some incredible character designs, which I'll be sharing over the next couple of weeks.

As I mentioned earlier, this is a story that's been kicking around in my head since high school. Up until a few weeks ago, it had been years since I've spent any time working on this project. However, during my call for artists last month, and after seeing Koko's art, the first project that came to my mind was this long dormant fantasy story. I'm confident Koko is perfect for it.

As you can see, he really nailed this pin-up! A special thanks to Alan Adelberg for coloring this piece.

Have to admit, I'm not 100% committed to the title"Tears of the Dragon." It's definitely appropriate, but it's still a working title. The story, however, is one of my favorite things I've written, and I think people are going to really enjoy the story Koko and I will tell.

ICE #2: The Protagonist

While ICE: Interrogation Control Element deals with the very topical and politically divisive issues surrounding the war on terror, it'll largely be a character driven piece.

The main protagonist of ICE is Thomas "Trip" Higgins, seen here. (Character sketches by series artist, Damian Couceiro.)

"Trip" was a family man and a U.S. Army Military Intelligence reservist who re-upped after the terrorist attacks of 9-11. Higgins was one of the US military's top interrogators in Afghanistan and Iraq, until he became disgusted with the "monstering" of interrogation tactics employed by his peers. This, combined with his wife's failing health, caused Higgins to leave the army.

Higgins is now raising two daughters (ages 17 and 8) on his own, losing his wife to cancer three years ago. He went through a period of depression and mourning following his wife's passing, and then threw himself almost obsessively into writing his book, a harrowing account of all he saw in the interrogation booths and a manifesto for reform of U.S. interrogation policies. For the past year and a half, Higgins has become a wonderful father and has restored a sense of normalcy in his and his girls' lives.

But as Trip is pulled back into the demanding world of military intelligence as Senior Echo of the new ICE, it will once again strain his relationship with his daughters.

ICE #1- Introductions

Earlier this month, I mentioned a political/psychological thriller comic I'm working on. Let me introduce you to ICE: Interrogation Control Element. Here's the pitch:

ICE: Interrogation Control Element

Thomas "Trip" Higgins was one of the US military's top interrogators in the war on terror. Trip consistently broke prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq by using highly sophisticated ruses, psychological tricks and other methods well within the bounds of the Geneva Conventions. But as the methods of his colleagues became more and more severe and higher authorities turned a blind eye towards interrogations that increasingly relied on humiliation, deprivation, degradation, and even torture, Trip became disillusioned with his profession and left the military.

Several years later, after writing a bestselling book that recounted his experiences and outlined a manifesto of reform of US policies and practices of interrogation, Trip is shocked by a new offer. The government wants Trip back, asking him to serve as "Senior Echo" (Chief of Interrogators) for its brand new Interrogation Control Element; a state of the art facility charged with the interrogation of the most important prisoners in US custody. With the new administration closing GTMO and promising increased oversight of interrogations, they need an effective interrogator to head this new facility, and Trip is their man. In his new role, Trip will have to oversee a young team of interrogators, teaching them his tricks in the interrogation room.

After getting off to a rough start, Trip's team hits its stride, breaking prisoners and gaining valuable information. In the process, they start to uncover a deadly plot threatening thousands of American lives. But as they get closer to the head of this terrorist plot, there is a backlash. When Trip's team and family are threatened, just how far will this by the book interrogator go to save them?

ICE is a comic that is topical, political, and action-packed, and is inspired by true events.

Gaming #2: American Dynasties Trailer

For the past year or so, I've worked on developing American Dynasties, an educational role playing game designed to teach social history to middle schoolers. We've just put the finishing touches on the final prototype, and will be testing in schools this next month. My company has worked with the Center for New American Media to design this game, and they've just released the prologue/intro video on youtube, so I thought I'd share it here.

CounterTERROR #4- New Artist Onboard!

As promised, an announcement regarding CounterTERROR. As followers of this blog know, I've been working on this action/horror/thriller comic for some time now. For the past year, I've been collaborating with artist Jacob Bear on CounterTERROR, which is a story that's a nice mash-up of 24 and 28 Days Later. Jacob has done some great work on the title (literally- he designed the logo!) but unfortunately (well, for me, not for him) after turning some heads at Wizard World Chicago this past year, Jacob got the opportunity to do some work for a popular publisher. As a result, Jacob really hasn't had much time to spend on CounterTERROR, and recently I decided (in consultation with Jacob) to move the book forward with another artist.

I'm happy to announce that Stefano Cardoselli will now be the artist on CounterTERROR. Stefano's a great artist, and he's been working at a fast pace, churning out layouts and pencils. At the rate Stefano's working, I'm optomistic I'll be able to debut this comic before the end of the year...which is perfect, because it takes place December 31, 2008!

So here's the first look at CounterTERROR's new artist!

September Projects Update!

I'm at the point now where I have a nice variety of projects in the works. Keeping them straight and all moving along smoothly is it's own challenge, but one I'm excited about tackling. On this blog, I'm going to do monthly updates to keep readers (and myself) up-to-date on the current status of the projects I'm working on. So, here we go:

Super Seed

• The webcomic is continuing with thrice weekly updates, and continues to grow in popularity. It's currently on the "Birth Perfects" interlude.
  
• The third chapter in the Super Seed saga is now available for purchase at Indyplanet.com for the low price of $2.99. Get Super Seed: "Donor" (Issue 3 of 4) here!
• I'm continuing to plug away at the pencils and inks on Issue #4, which will complete the Super Seed mini-series. I'm currently working on page 9. No date yet for when this, the "Surrogate" storyline, will debut. But it's coming.
  

CounterTERROR

• Big announcement coming soon, but counterTERROR is moving forward at an accellerated pace. Script is done, most of the layouts are done, and pencils have started this week. I'm going to push hard for completion of the first 8 pages by Thanksgiving.
  

"Friend Request"

• This short story is currently being inked by the talented Mike Babinski. Since there is no real time pressure on this story, I'm not pressing Mike to put this at the top of his queue. It will get done in time.
  

Unannounced Political/Psychological Thriller

• Have yet to announce this project, because I'm waiting to have some images to show before I make the big announcement. But I've been researching the heck out of this one, and I'm really pushing the envelope in terms of the kind of stuff I've done before and even stretching the bounds of what comics have traditionally done. I'm excited about it.
  
• I have a talented artist attached. He's got some of the script to work with and character descriptions, and is doing preliminary sketches and layouts.
  
• Stay tuned for an announcement with the details on this one.

Unannounced Fantasy Tale

• Another project I've kept under wraps till now. This is my A Princess Bride, my Willow, my Lord of the Rings. The basic plot points and outline have been in my head for years. But it wasn't until my artists search, looking through the portfolio's of artists with more of a fantasy style that the hamster wheel in my head started churning. I've found a tone and edge to the story that was previously lacking and the thing just started writing itself.
• I have an artist attached who is working on character designs and a pinup. The first 8 pages of the script are complete, and I'm hoping to fast track this story as well.
  
• Stay tuned for more details on this one as well.
  
• And here's a sneak peak, art from talented artist Koko Amboro:

Colosseum

• I displayed a pinup image for this comic earlier in the month. While I'm still committed to this concept and think it has a lot of promise, the fact is I could only juggle so many projects at once. So for the time being, this project is going to be shelved until I find the time to do character sheets, an extended outline, and delve a ways into the script.
• I do have talented artists in mind for this project, so I'm still motivated to keep this project moving forward.
  

So, that's about it...There might be a few other things in the hopper, but these projects are the ones that make my priority list.

Creating Comics #2: Aiding Young Comic Creators

I received an email the other day that read as follows:

Tyler,

I wonder if you might be able to help me. I have a son aged 10 that is very interested in comic creation, and he creates HUNDREDS of them. They are, albeit, rudimentary but he is very interested in them and I am trying to encourage him. He typically takes ideas from fiction and television and turns them into comics.

I am interested in any suggestions that you might have on books, materials, anything to advance his quality and creation of more original ideas. He is probably not old enough for some of the continuing ed courses yet, but any thoughts you might have I would appreciate it.

It was a good question, and I thought it'd be worthwhile to share my response here:


That's great to hear! There's a fear in the comics industry that there are no young comic enthuisiasts, so it's great to hear your son loves making comics.

As far as some materials and things to help improve your sons skills, one I would still recommend (and the first book on comics creating I got when I wasn't much older than your son) is How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way by Stan Lee and John Buscema. This book is written in a very easy to read and understand way by the master Stan Lee, and is full of gorgeous illustrations, some step by step, that will start getting your son drawing more realistic and dynamic anatomy. Highly recommended.
(On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/How-Draw-Comics-Marvel-Way/dp/0671530771/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219423894&sr=8-1)

While there are tons of books and other materials about drawing comics, I'd start with the Stan Lee book and see how your son takes to it. I'd also recommend trying to find a comic shop in the area and taking your son there to pick out some comics as a treat from time to time. Now, comics have definitely become more expensive over the years (avg price is now about $3), but many stores have $1 bins or even $0.25 cent bins of older back issues they are trying to unload. I have a couple of nephews your sons age who love it when I take them to the comic shop and they get to raid the bargain bins, pick out what they like, and come home with a big stack of comics. You'll likely find him referring to the comics when he's drawing his own.

Another tip is that you can show support for his creations by giving him some "professional" tools to help set up his own little comic creation "studio." When I started drawing comics, I started on the kitchen table with the pencils and pens lying around the house. Gradually, I upgraded my materials. Some things your son will love:

• Comic Art Boards- Pre-lined bristol board paper made especially for comic book art. You could either buy him full-sized paper or manga sized boards might be more manageable for your son at this age. Check out here for example: http://www.bluelineart.com/ma00520.htm
• Inking Pens- Multiple tip size pens for going over his penciled work. For example http://www.dickblick.com/zz221/28/
• Straight Edges- Make sure he has a good ruler. (I love the rolling ruler http://www.artstuff.net/staedtler_rolling_ruler.htm ) You might also get him some triangles, circle, and curve templates
  

Obviously, there's plenty more tools of the trade, and if your son reads the Stan Lee book, you may find him asking for some tools that they show in there. Although all it takes is a piece of paper and a pencil to make comics, but there's something about getting quality tools that really makes the process fun.

A final suggestion would be to help your son share or "publish" his comics work. I used to give my dad a stack of my comic drawings in the morning, he'd take them to work and photocopy them, and return with a stack of my own comic books that I could then bring to school and give to friends. So a trip to Kinko's to copy comics that your son is especially proud of would probably be a lot of fun for him.

And since it's the 21st century (and since my background is Education Technology) I'd be remiss if I didn't also suggest helping your son start an online portfolio for his work. A site like www.comicspace.com is a free site set up for comic artists to display their work. You could help your son scan in his comics and set up a site to display his work.

Thanks for the question, and I hope some of this helps. If you have any questions about anything I've mentioned, feel free to ask. And definitely let me know how it goes with your son and if any of these suggestions were helpful.

Best,

Tyler James

Creating Comics #1- Class for Comic Writers!

This Fall, I'll be teaching a course called Creating Comics: Writing for Comics and Graphic Novels at the Newburyport Adult and Community Education Center. In six, two-hour weekly sessions starting October 14, I'll be sharing what I know about creating comics. I'm currently fine-tuning my syllabus (suggestions for good articles and resources always welcome.)

It was about four years ago that I took a similar class at Georgetown University's Continuing Ed Center that really reignited my passion for creating comics. So in a sense, this is a chance to pay it forward, and pass on all I've learned since then.

Here's the course listing for my class.