Good news! The Ratha Graphic Novel team has not been eaten by bristle-manes, abducted by the UnNamed, or stepped on by rumblers. We've all been working busily and here's what we've done:


Dec 18, 2013
Ratha's Creature Graphic Novel 2013 Holiday Update!

Greetings!

It's been a long time since the last update, and I'm sorry for the long disappearance! Never fear, though, I and the team have been working hard on the Ratha's Creature Graphic Novel and are making good progress. More importantly, it's really exciting to see the beautiful work by artists Tod Wills, Dani Long, and Lew Lashmit, working closely with me. Sheila Ruth of Imaginator Press says "I may be biased, but I think this is going to be an outstanding graphic novel!" I believe that everyone on the team agrees.

Here's where we stand so far:

I have completed scripts for the entire book, based on initial storyboards.

I developed a set of terms to use in the script for describing the views for each panel. The terms are based on those used for film scripts, but adapted for use with quadrupedal characters. I found that the traditional film terms such as "MS - Medium Shot" were not always adequate to describe the views I wanted for animals, so I created terms such as "AFQ -Animal ForeQuarter."

We selected a font for the lettering: Blambot's Cloudsplitter (www.blambot.com/font_cloudspli…)

We developed a style for the character reference sheets for Kickstarter backers who chose the reward levels which include them. The character reference sheets include a short character description and a short physical description for each.

We have almost completed the character reference sheets for the major characters. We're still doing some work on references for minor characters and other animals, but these are primarily for our own reference when working on the pages, and won't be developed into full-blown model sheets for the backers, so they'll take less time.

We have completed layouts through Scene 7: Return and Rejection. (There are 24 scenes all together.)
Much of this is happening in parallel, as each of us may be working on different parts as necessary to keep the work flowing. We bring everything together and have extensive discussions on our Basecamp site.

Just for fun, here are some not-so-nice characters for your enjoyment: Named Clan Leader Meoran and the black unnamed female, Nightling. Look in the gallery box.