For Grandpa

Grandpa passed away this past week and here is a song that I've started writing for him. Here it is as of today...

My Heart Was an Ea...

Graphic Novel, Page 30

Quick update: I've been working on a graphic novel for the last month or so, and I've just finished the rough draft for the first 30 pages. This is great news! 

I really want to post some details, but I want to get started on the final draft first. That way we both know this book is for realsies. I've spent the last few weeks structuring my story on notecards, then fine-tuning it, then typing the dialogue and actions in script-form, then fine-tuning that...now I'm drawing the book, panel-for-panel, in a really rough form, so I know what things will look like and which panels I should put on each page, etc. Right now I'm about a quarter of the way through the book, so it'll be around 120 pages.

Human Drawing Dispenser

The first Friday of every month is Provo's Gallery Stroll, where hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of people wander from gallery to gallery, checking out the new shows and meeting the artists. Most people just go to meet up with their friends and hang out, but everyone usually finds something they like art-wise, too. 

As a way to have fun with the local Gallery Strollers and get out the good word about Ology (a local company that gets college students through math in a short 8 weeks), I made a Human Drawing Dispenser. 

What is a Human Drawing Dispenser, you ask? It's a cardboard box that acts like a vending machine for drawings. It's free. You walk up, ask for a drawing, then one is made---right before your eyes. Me and my good buddy, Andrew Christensen, sat in the box and drew pictures for four hours. 




It turns out that the Human Drawing Dispenser was a success! If you have photos or videos from the event, send 'em my way! 

jess.smiley@gmail.com

Color Time With Noah

Ladders to Get You to Stay

A Thing for the Future

Comic Book in the Works, III

Last night I finished the rough draft of the script for the second act. (Phew! That was a mouthful!) I'm really surprised at how many details I've had to work through, then re-work and work again to make it what it needs to be.

The middle was a lot more difficult to structure than the beginning. Even though I know what's happening and how it happens, the mechanics of the whole thing are really challenging. I have my work cut out for me when the time comes to revise and polish the second act!

Blanket Magazine

Blanket Magazine's Issue 15 has some really great new pictures in it, a nice article on the hotel that's also an art gallery, and the 1000 journals project. They've also been kind enough to include some photos of mine, which is really great! When I get my very own camera again I will be a happier Jess.

Comic Book in the Works, II

Right now the book is divided into three really basic parts: the beginning, middle, and end.

I just finished writing the script for the beginning and I'm so excited. It really is torture to sleep, and know that I can't just plow through the middle and end and get that much closer to seeing the finished book.

It's a lot of fun, though, just focusing on the writing. I get to think of the whole story in terms of which characters and parts of the story get the most attention, and if that attention is positive or negative, and making the story interesting by showing the contrast between characters and situations they are in, and concentrating on dialogue and the dynamics of actions and responses...oh man. 

One of my mistakes in story-making in the past has been to build the world I want to show. Then keep building it and building it and building it. It's easy to get excited about and sucked into the world, but if I don't structure it and turn it into something I can share with people, the world only exists for myself, and that's pretty depressing. With this story, I'm being really brutal with keeping only the essentials of the story, and cutting out the distractions. This is really tough for me because I'm finding I make lots of distractions and I like 'em! Part of the game of writing this story is seeing how simplifying the story makes it so much better. 

By the end of this week I plan to have finished the first draft of the whole story, and then I'll change pace a little bit. 

No Blog Today

In observance of April Fool's Day, there will be no blog today.

sincerely,

jess smart smiley