Hey Everyone Sorry for the lack of posts. Hannah and I have been busy working on the dragon pitch. Only a few more pages to go. Once we get some more things finished, I'll post some more art here, but trust me when I say, Hannah is killing these pages. I've gotten great feedback from quite a few pro artists I really respect which is great. Just hope my writing doesn't ruin the whole thing.
The other thing I've been working on is a kids book. Not just any kids book, but a very special kids book. My daughter is turning 1 in January and I wanted to give her a special present, something she could keep forever, so I decided to write a little book for her and have it printed. After a long time looking for an artist I was putting away some comics in my longbox and came across an old comic I picked up at a con a couple of years ago called "Apooka, The World's Most Adorable Zombie". It's a fun little read and I loved the art by Mike Roll, so I got in touch and he came aboard to do the art.
I am really excited for this. Originally I was going to do a generic story that could be read by anyone, but as I sat down to write it it started becoming clear that the story need to be very personal about Gia. The script ended up being sort of a poem that details her first year of life. Right after Gia was born, one day in the hospital I was holding her while she was sleeping and for whatever reason it just slipped out, but I called her my Gia Bear. My wife thought it was cute and it stuck. From that point on we called her Gia Bear, which eventually became just Bear. At one point we called her Bear more than Gia and we decided that wasn't the best idea. We didn't want her thinking her name was actually Bear. For Halloween this year my mom made a Bear costume for her, so I thought the character in the book should be her in her Bear outfit.
Attached are some of the character designs Mike sent over, which look really great along with some of the reference photos I sent of Gia for comparison. I am really excited to see what Mike comes up with for these pages and can't wait to have this completed. I think this is going to be something she'll enjoy for many years. I'll post the finished version of the book up here once it's finished so everyone can see. I've also asked some of my other artist friends if they would be willing to contribute a sketch or drawing to the book, giving their take on Gia and her birthday. If you're an artist and interested in contributing a drawing, the book will be 9X7, FC. Send me an email and let me know. writejessewrite at gmail dot com
-jesse
