​X-RAY of a SAGA, INTUITIVE COMICS and OTHER FREE STUFF!!!

Again a long time between blog posts. Since we last connected I got over a major writer-artist’s block on my saga, and decided to open up to other opportunities and responsibilities. And it worked.
 
For the last two months or so I’ve been on a tear, trailblazing a path towards new work. I’ve been working on pitches…
 
I’ve pitched a story to a major publisher-specific line of books, and was promptly shot down. Despite a hopeful contact with the story’s creator, the editor would have none of it, so I moved on.
 
Eisner-nominated writer Jack Briglio and I have been cooking something up though. We have a tentative green light from a major publisher, the requested art has been sent in. Now we’re just waiting on a final go-ahead.
 
And finally, with regards to my saga #secretproject, I’m finally in a position to start pitching soon. I set the issue count to 24, divided it in half, divided that in 3x 4-issue parts and have something solid to present to publishers. I will start that soon. Wish me luck!!!
 
What’s more, I found an inker to help me out, a DC and MARVEL veteran I have known since our humble beginnings back in the OCAD art school days. He makes my work really pop and I’m over the moon to see how professional my pages look with his ink-slinging. It’s amazing to see a decent layout, idiosyncratic crosshatching and spare spot blacks come to life with such a consummate pro on my side.
 
I’ve assembled a pitch document with plots, genre, comparable stories, you know… the usual. We inked and lettered a number of pages, I did a color test, and I wrote some scripts 'MARVEL Style' [where you do the art first and then fill in the blanks with captions, dialogue and sound effects]. And it’s all turning out as good as I had originally hoped it would be when I created the first few characters 25 years ago. I know, I’m old. HaHa!!
 
Plus :  I want to share some of the ups and downs in creating this thing…
 
A couple of months ago, I wrote a pamphlet called X-RAY OF A SAGA. It delves into the psychological and spiritual facts of birthing a saga, starting with the premise that “everyone has a saga inside.”
 
X-RAY OF A SAGA is like a message in a bottle from a small island on the oceans of creativity. It speaks to the joys and hardships of working on something so important you might dare call it your opus. I hope you find the quick read inspiring. I am putting it in the BONUS section of the website.
 
Also! Some of you cool cats have been anxiously awaiting the inside track on how I go about creating a comic book or graphic novel. Enter INTUITIVE COMICS, a how-to guide in which I’ve written each stage of creation from idea through to print-ready script. Note that this is my process and it works for me but you are welcome to develop your own tried-and-true methods. Also make sure to read the recommended readings on the BONUS page as well…
 
INTUITIVE COMICS came about as a workshop I gave at Ottawa Geek Market a few years ago. I have since revised it. I even riffed on a made up project called THE GHOST AND THE TREE, about a boy delving into a mystical forest. Each stage is illustrated with the evolution of the page : script shape, thumbnail, pencils, inks, colors, letters, print-ready file. I hope you dig it. It too can be found in the BONUS section of the website.
 
Note that the BONUS section also has a number of links to books and websites which can prove useful, maybe even crucial, to your creation/s and professional development, links for writers, artists, designers and professionals.
 
So be sure to check out X-RAY OF A SAGA and INTUITIVE COMICS.
 
2016 is also the 10th anniversary of my 24 Hour Comics Day effort, LIKE NEVER BEFORE & LIKE NEVER AGAIN. It’s a psychedelic retelling of the CHASSE GALERIE or FLYING CANOE legend, a highlight in French Canadian Folklore. My brother and I stayed up for 24 hours back in October 2006. I drew and he created one minute of soundtrack for each of the 24 pages. I will be releasing both original comic and soundtrack in October 2016.
 
Some of you may have read the 2011 edition where I redesigned the layouts and tweaked the text into a graphic novella. The 10th anniversary edition has a new cover but the contents are gloriously only the original integral document. And it will be… FREE!!!
 
INTUITIVE and X-RAY are available immediately. Check the BONUS tab of www.mirrorcomics.com.  
 
The 10th anniversary edition of LNBLNA will be made available in October.
 
As for my project with Jack Briglio, we’re hopeful for a green light and would thus prepare the thing for the next year sometime.
 
I still have to draw the damned thing. I’m doing pencils-inks-colors-letters-design. Jack is on scripts. We both collaborated on the story and concept. In a way it is a treatise on literature and the visual arts, an echo to the mirror between writer and artist on a comic book, and I’ve never seen this subject matter broached quite this way before. I’m excited and I keep going.
 
As for my saga… the plan is to pitch it to major publishers until I get a proper green light. I’m grateful to a number of friends who volunteered to be beta-readers and ghost editors. The story is better than ever, I have 8 issues penciled, and I’m beginning to pencil issues #9 to #12 in the immediate future. It’s an exciting time to be me these days. My only hope is to impress the right people and see if I can land a major player in the industry. Hopefully, I will be lucky in this regard.
 
That’s it for now… until next time!!!
 
Best,
Dominic,
Ottawa, Canada,
June 2016.

PS : On June 12, 2016, I celebrated the creation of the first character in my #secretproject / saga. Onward and Upward. -db. :)