Author Spotlight —Mini-Graphic Novel
For being such a book nerd, let’s just say I was thrilled to learn from a friend that you can publish stories online for free at Globalcomix.com. (Thanks, Michael!)
I’ve always enjoyed drawing and painting, but I’ve never given illustration a try. It felt really challenging! But after months of fiddling around, I’m excited to have put something together that I’m proud of.
My story is called Blue — a fantasy adventure for elementary-age kids who enjoy horses, magic, and a sprinkling of danger and heroism.
You can read chapter one of Blue for FREE here.
*A note to parents — the host website, Globalcomix has some awesome free & low-price kids comics and graphic novels! But be aware that it’s not a kid-friendly site. The covers of mature content comics will pop up while exploring the website.
The Creative Process
I always enjoy learning about others’ creative journeys, so here we go!
First, I sketched ideas in pencil, and then I played around with an app called Procreate on an iPad. (It’s like a digital sketchbook/canvas/with every-artist-tool-in-one-spot.) It was challenging to learn, so I took a couple short online illustration classes to help.
During this time, a friend invited us to her homestead, and we happened to walk to her neighbor’s horse farm. On a whim, I took a bunch of photos that helped me study how to draw the main stallion in the story, Dae. I actually traced several images of him from a real photo, though others I drew directly from hand. You can check out my gallery below to see more.
Gallery below — here’s a view of the same story scene in process.
From sketch to a screenshot of the Procreate app (where I am choosing my colors), and a photo of a horse that help fine-tune the finished page.
