I know that these concept art sheets from HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA are already all over the internet but I just wanted to share them here in case anyone missed them. I love these all, they are such an inspiration!
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Monday, September 14, 2015
Every Damn Day
There is an old maxim that goes behind the philosophy of any art form and that is important for any one trying to do anything in life really. That is the old adage; practice, practice, practice. Not that I am anywhere in life as it is right now but I know this one all too well. It is important to make sure that everyday you do something toward your art form (writing, illustration, photography, acting, etc.,) in order to actually further yourself.
You can all you want to, do one thing of your art and then try to promote the Hell out of it as you can, and then if you get somewhere with that awesome, but more often then not I have learned myself from doing such a thing that you end up just being disappointed. Instead of focusing on promoting one thing and putting all of your energy into that (which can work of course), I would say that while your putting the right amount of energy into it you also keep yourself moving and working on your next project and just plain old doing little exercises to keep your skills tight and ever evolving.
The mass amount of artists out there (in any form or shape) is amazing and great, especially now in this age of digital media and social media. It is a wonderful thing that there are so many different outlets out there for anyone to try out to get their story and their art out in the world. The world is diverse and huge and everyone has something to say.
This does however also make it harder for everyone to discern what artist is actually worth the time of any major company right now. Which ones are truly ready for their shot.
None the less it is great that so many people are waking up everyday now and focusing their energy on creating art.
The bottom line is that everyday you must do something to better your art and yourself! Something small to the start of something huge! Keep your goals in mind at all time!
You can all you want to, do one thing of your art and then try to promote the Hell out of it as you can, and then if you get somewhere with that awesome, but more often then not I have learned myself from doing such a thing that you end up just being disappointed. Instead of focusing on promoting one thing and putting all of your energy into that (which can work of course), I would say that while your putting the right amount of energy into it you also keep yourself moving and working on your next project and just plain old doing little exercises to keep your skills tight and ever evolving.
The mass amount of artists out there (in any form or shape) is amazing and great, especially now in this age of digital media and social media. It is a wonderful thing that there are so many different outlets out there for anyone to try out to get their story and their art out in the world. The world is diverse and huge and everyone has something to say.
This does however also make it harder for everyone to discern what artist is actually worth the time of any major company right now. Which ones are truly ready for their shot.
None the less it is great that so many people are waking up everyday now and focusing their energy on creating art.
The bottom line is that everyday you must do something to better your art and yourself! Something small to the start of something huge! Keep your goals in mind at all time!
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
My Top Five Books on Writing
Here it is a list of the top five books on writing in my opinion. These are the books I have read and often look back to understand the nature of the beast of what I am attempting to do each time I set pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. Get them any where books are sold!
1. STORY by Robert McKee
2. SCREENWRITING FOR DUMMIES
3. HOW TO WRITE WHAT YOU WANT AND SELL WHAT YOU WRITE by Skip Press
4. WRITERS ON COMIC SCRIPTWRITING by Mark Salisbury
5. THE DC COMICS GUIDE TO WRITING by Dennis O'Neil
These books are chalk full of great tips and tricks and craftwork all told by master craftsman themselves. STORY teaches you practically everything you need to know to what makes a story work with plenty of examples from popular films and television shows. The second book teaches the same thing practically just more so about the business side to it. The third book by Skip Press is a great tool for quick tips on formatting and the business side as well. Mark Salisbury interviews various notable writers of comics in this great book, some authors are Neil Garman, Grant Morrison and Kurt Busik, among many others. The last one is a quick read with many examples from the various great comics by DC Comics with examples on how it is they have developed stories as a company.
I can't tell you how these books will help you in your process to writing your masterpiece, only you can figure that out. What I can tell you, is that you will enjoy reading and learning from these books immensely and think of them often. Get on it!
1. STORY by Robert McKee
2. SCREENWRITING FOR DUMMIES
3. HOW TO WRITE WHAT YOU WANT AND SELL WHAT YOU WRITE by Skip Press
4. WRITERS ON COMIC SCRIPTWRITING by Mark Salisbury
5. THE DC COMICS GUIDE TO WRITING by Dennis O'Neil
These books are chalk full of great tips and tricks and craftwork all told by master craftsman themselves. STORY teaches you practically everything you need to know to what makes a story work with plenty of examples from popular films and television shows. The second book teaches the same thing practically just more so about the business side to it. The third book by Skip Press is a great tool for quick tips on formatting and the business side as well. Mark Salisbury interviews various notable writers of comics in this great book, some authors are Neil Garman, Grant Morrison and Kurt Busik, among many others. The last one is a quick read with many examples from the various great comics by DC Comics with examples on how it is they have developed stories as a company.
I can't tell you how these books will help you in your process to writing your masterpiece, only you can figure that out. What I can tell you, is that you will enjoy reading and learning from these books immensely and think of them often. Get on it!
Monday, August 17, 2015
Different Setups for Stories
So, as a writer of many disciplines I often do quite a bit of research on many subjects. I find it quite necessary to know the many ways to concoct a story structure depending on which type of story you are working with. Whether it be, sequential art stories, prose, verse, screenplays, or stage plays. So here is a look at the different setups for stories in sequential art:
DIFFERENT SETUPS FOR STORIES
MINISERIES- A story or comic with a predetermined number of issues. Has two specific rules to adhere to.
1. Have enough story for the allotted amount of pages allowed each issue. Have time for rewriting.
2. Must be a change, development, or reverse in every issue until a climax is reached, then dénouement. Keep the story moving!
GRAPHIC NOVEL- A story in which many things happen, and many characters exist. Must keep moving up and up constantly. The reader must be constantly fed new information to help further understand the world in which the graphic novel lives.
MAXISERIES- Should have a unifying theme and continuity of plot. Must reach a conclusion that answers all plot and character questions, ties all elements together despite diversity. Doesn't have to be tightly plotted as a novel, stories can be diverse and unconnected but must tie in at conclusion. Usually twelve issues long.
ONGOING STORIES- The sort of traditional tips of comics. Deal with problems of continuity and continued stories. Three ways to write continuous stories in an ongoing title.
1. Story Arcs- The twin of miniseries so to speak. Arc is a part of continuum though. Must have enough plot for allotted number of pages. Reintroduce characters and locales. Have fully outlined plots.
2. The Levitz Paradigm- A grid like format that helps track main plots and sub plots in a single ongoing title or many titles. See p.101 of The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics by Dennis O'Neil.
3. Chart Form- A form in which many titles with the same character involved; helps track the plots and sub plots dealt with in each separate title to tie in with the one main plot.
MEGASERIES- A long continuity which stars a single set of characters and appears in several titles. Falls back on the old three-act-structure. Outline for story should be at least twelve pages long. In addition to the main plot there are usually a dozen other subplots. Should have narrative explaining the story in each issue. Every scene should point to a climax and no page wasted. Story must justify the space allotted to it.
DIFFERENT SETUPS FOR STORIES
MINISERIES- A story or comic with a predetermined number of issues. Has two specific rules to adhere to.
1. Have enough story for the allotted amount of pages allowed each issue. Have time for rewriting.
2. Must be a change, development, or reverse in every issue until a climax is reached, then dénouement. Keep the story moving!
GRAPHIC NOVEL- A story in which many things happen, and many characters exist. Must keep moving up and up constantly. The reader must be constantly fed new information to help further understand the world in which the graphic novel lives.
MAXISERIES- Should have a unifying theme and continuity of plot. Must reach a conclusion that answers all plot and character questions, ties all elements together despite diversity. Doesn't have to be tightly plotted as a novel, stories can be diverse and unconnected but must tie in at conclusion. Usually twelve issues long.
ONGOING STORIES- The sort of traditional tips of comics. Deal with problems of continuity and continued stories. Three ways to write continuous stories in an ongoing title.
1. Story Arcs- The twin of miniseries so to speak. Arc is a part of continuum though. Must have enough plot for allotted number of pages. Reintroduce characters and locales. Have fully outlined plots.
2. The Levitz Paradigm- A grid like format that helps track main plots and sub plots in a single ongoing title or many titles. See p.101 of The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics by Dennis O'Neil.
3. Chart Form- A form in which many titles with the same character involved; helps track the plots and sub plots dealt with in each separate title to tie in with the one main plot.
MEGASERIES- A long continuity which stars a single set of characters and appears in several titles. Falls back on the old three-act-structure. Outline for story should be at least twelve pages long. In addition to the main plot there are usually a dozen other subplots. Should have narrative explaining the story in each issue. Every scene should point to a climax and no page wasted. Story must justify the space allotted to it.
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Doctor Who
The Doctor is in! 'Doctor Who' season 8 has been brought to us in all its glory to the streaming world! Whether you have Netflix or some other form of streaming goodness its there and oh baby is it going to keep us busy! The wife and I love DW so much and we always spend quality time with my aunt and uncle and little cousins watching the new ones and the old ones when off season at their home. It is a blast, so that is going to keep us busy for quite a bit! Hoping to marathon this coming Saturday with all of it!
You want to talk writing and great acting, I mean, there is so much to learn from this show. Also just about basic humanity and life in general. Steven Moffat is an amazing showrunner and there is a lot to learn from him as well. I've read interviews and seen YouTube videos on him as well talking the craft of writing. Such an amazing man, also Neil Garman who I spoke of in yesterday's blog post has written episodes for the great series and is a huge mega nerd for it, just like myself and my wife and all the amazing fans in the fandom, so you know its good! If you've never checked it out before, I implore you to do so. It's all on Netflix. Get on it.
Season 9 of 'Doctor Who' premiers on BBC America on September 19th (on my birthday of all days!).
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Reading and Writing
Recently I finished all of the books I own to read and I am trying not to buy anymore right now because we might be moving to another apartment soon. So in the spirit of being prepared ahead of time I am trying to condense the things I have so that I don't have too much to move when the time comes. I'll tell you now, I've moved at least five times now and it is always my books and DVDs that weigh us down the most when trying to transition.
For a long while now I have been on a Neil Garman kick, I almost own all of his books now and I want to get the others so bad and it is so hard to resist! I'm like the only nice seagull at the beach trying to leave the nice beach-goers alone and in peace but here and there really glancing hard at that potato salad. Neil Garman is by far my most favorite fantasy writer of all time because of the way he crafts his stories and characters so believably. I feel honestly like he is the most original writer out there sometimes, just the worlds he creates for his stories. Indeed in his novels his characters visit such amazing places and run into the most amazing people. I love the fact that he always starts off his novel with an everyman character which is not always the case with his short stories. What is fascinating as well to me as a writer and avid reader is that his main characters aren't always the same race either, I mean they are always for the most part (except for a few short stories) male but not always the same race as he is. As a writer myself I am always a little afraid to write a main character that is not the same race and sex as I am, I mean I'm not afraid to write side characters that aren't the same gender and race as I am but I don't know, there is something about doing the main protagonist that makes me feel weird. Although in one short story I did, entitled, 'Christmas Ghouls', I write with a female protagonist. So I guess I'm dipping my toes in the water a little bit here and there. Neil Garman teaches me so much though about writing and being a writer, he's the only writer I've watched like lectures on YouTube and read his blog religiously I have to say. My all time favorite comedy writer for novels of all time is Christopher Moore and I love him but there is something to me that seems that he as a person is a little inaccessible. I don't know. I love his books and his craft is astounding, but he doesn't have like that something that Neil Garman has. Still, both great authors and great books.
What it is I am talking about here is that just from reading and really paying attention to all the things that your favorite authors have to teach you is a great way to learn the craft of writing. That along with writing, every single, damn day. One word after another after another after another until you've actually finished something. This is the most important thing. Finishing something. Keep at it!
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Summer Garden
Summer gardening fun at my parents house! Got lots of good plants to eat and flowers to love! My wife and I love the freshness of them!
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