So I’m continuing to take advantage of this pause between projects - but I’m switching from fun stuff like fishing to things that need to be done around the house. Things that involve lots of digging. Like digging up part of the sewer line and installing a clean out access, or digging post holes. I wish I had the digging skills of a crawdad. They seem to make short work of it. As a kid I used to love the impressively tall mud chimneys that marked the entrance to their tunnels. But like this crawdad I’d probably get distracted by a clam. I mean that literally, I could easily get distracted from any particular task by a clam.
New YouTube Video of Ocean Deep!
So I decided to put together a “video” of Field Trip to the Ocean Deep using the preliminary sketches. With the help of some royalty free music and sound effects, the sketches really come to life! Well… I think so. Also I’d like to point out that royalty free doesn’t mean something is sub-par. A lot of the music i found was really great…in fact one of the songs has become such an earworm that its a bit of a problem (Candelabra by Latasha in the Youtube Audio Library). Anyways, check it out, and if you like it check out the actual book - Even if that means literally checking it out from a library. I like to think the final art gives it a life and atmosphere of its own.
So this is what I thought an air force application looked like
This is from a story I wrote when I was in grade school called Reptic Returns - a story about a Lizard who joined the air force. (I was really into Top Gun and Iron Eagle and anything involving cool airplanes). Anyways I don’t know what my favorite part is about this page….the fact that I left the girl character’s name blank to fill in later, or the somewhat suspect air force application…
Scary Deep!
Originally some of the creatures in Field Trip to the Ocean Deep were a bit more intense! Like these giant amphipods that tried to eat the school bus submarine in one of my early ideas for this adventure.
Giant amphipods (related to shrimp) are not to be confused with giant isopods (ocean dwelling relatives of pill bugs) that are featured in the recently released final version of Field Trip to the Ocean Deep.
Down into the Deep!
Field Trip to the Ocean Deep is officially out! Here’s some of the early drafts of the cover along with the final version.
Avalanche!
Here’s a fun sketch from a story idea that’s on ice.
Salamander
When I was a kid, my favorite activity was exploring the woods near our home. One day I came across my first salamander. It was THE coolest thing I had seen up to that point. It was like a frog and a lizard combined. What could be cooler? I also quickly realized that, like a frog, it needed a moist environment to flourish. Which makes it all the more crazy that in ancient times, salamanders were considered creatures of fire! That notion is thought to have originated when prehistoric people would gather old, dead wood to burn - and when doing so the occasional salamander would emerge from the fire! (moist dead wood being a favorite home of theirs). So a legend began to develop that there were large salamanders out there with the power to start and extinguish fires! Kind of cool. But not as cool as just a plain old wet-log loving salamander.
I'll be on a BookCon Panel this weekend!
Check it out if you have time! If not I believe they’ll be recording it so it can be viewed later. Must remember not to pick my nose….
An Oldie
So this is a story idea I put together about 8 years ago and it was my first serious attempt at getting an agent. It wasn’t accepted, but I got some good feedback that lead me to a revised version where Lloyd and Floyd were kids and the trains were toys. That version did get me an agent! That said, I always liked the characters as portrayed in this version - middle aged men behaving like kids. Probably because that describes me pretty well. Anyways I decided to make an animation out of the original dummy sketches (and some later sketches too). I like to think I’ve learned a thing or two since making the original dummy. You’ll notice the pacing is a bit herky jerky, the story leaves some questions, and its hard telling what type of book I was trying to make - but I still have a soft spot for it.
Train Inspector
Here’s an old idea made into an animation. The original premise was that the reader was supposed to inspect the train page by page to make sure everything was okay. Of course everything was not okay, each page stuff gets progressively more strange. I think this idea still has merit and could be better executed if the inspector was a character and there was an actual plot arc with stakes….that said. I love that this has none of that. So give it a watch and see if the train looks okay to you. Forgive me if the old-timey music is too much! I was trying to figure out what way to go with it.
Still figuring this thing out
I’m having fun using the quarantine as an excuse to experiment. I just posted a video of a Prompt Sketch…just a super quick sketch based on a writing prompt. It is suuuuper basic and if I was to keep doing something like that, I’d make it a bit more interesting. Still….gotta start somewhere! Not saying this is the start of something….but if it was there would definitely be room for improvement!
YouTube channel? Yes!
An image from Catch on Venus.
With the extra time resulting from the COVID 19 quarantine I’ve decided to do something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile. I’ve made a YouTube channel where I will post videos based story ideas that didn’t quite make the cut. What do I mean when I say they didn’t make the cut? Well, maybe they were too short, or too long, or just me goofing off, or a bit too confusing….or a lot too confusing. Whatever the reason, I don’t want these ideas to die unseen in a folder somewhere. That said, most are just rough sketches strung together into movies, so don’t expect too much. Anyways check it out! This first video is a short called “Catch on Venus”.
Who knows…this could have possibilities. Maybe I’ll use the channel for sketchings and book readings too…but one thing at a time. With me there’s always a chance it will fade away once we get this virus behind us. (And we will get it behind us!). In the meantime I’ll try to post some stuff to entertain myself and maybe a few of you while we’re all keeping our distance IRL! Be safe out there!
Boy King
A quick sketch from a little project I was working on.
Underwater Adventure
This is a sketch from a project I’m currently making the final art for . So much has changed with the story, and while I think the current version is better, I like how intense the creature looks in this old sketch.
The Station
An old sketch of a train station from a story that I put on ice many moons ago. I’m itching to get these characters back in action when the time is right!
Alternate cover for Field Trip to the Moon
So right before I turned in the final art for Field Trip to the Moon, I had an idea for an alternate cover. It featured the class and space station more, and the bus less. Basically I just really thought the station should look like it spins to make artificial gravity. The editor passed on it, which I agree with, but I still like the way it looks.
This sketch show an alternate cover design showing the kids departing a station that spins to make artificial gravity.
And this sketch shows what that station looked like from space. The scale of it is much more enormous than the station used on the title page of Field Trip to the Moon. See below.
This is the final art of the version used.