The Voice of the Stone

So you want to write a story, Huh? Have any good ideas?

I have this story about a girl...

Jim and I have been collaborating on Ink Bloom for over a year and a half now. Since the book is almost finished I figure I'd give you some insight as to how we work together to develop the story and characters. I'll be honest, I'm not much of a writer. But what I do have are ideas. Lots of them. They pour out of my head sometimes into my sketch book or are inspired by a phone conversation Jim and I might have had while discussing "what should Hachi do next". We purposely developed a universe is which there are endless possibilities for Hachi to discover and grow as a hero. We started off with very broad topics and narrowed them down to a solid story. Like sculpting in marble, chipping away at the surface until you have found the voice of the stone. The most rewarding part of working the way we do is that there are no bad ideas. Once and awhile one of us will go off on a tangent on a topic that might sound crazy at first and through that craziness we find that gem of an idea. Being creative is a process. It just doesn't happen overnight. Jim and I have approached discussions of Hachi's adventures with total open minds. We don't know what's coming but we are on for the ride. Through this broad scope we then were able to narrow down people, places and things Hachi discovers. Some are very clear and the ones that aren't involve more discussion and direction from each other. The process has been creatively stimulating since our first discussions. Jim was then able to take our pages and pages of notes and character studies and graphs to develop the story and plots and subplots into solid writing. Allot of preparation went into what we now know as Ink Bloom and we couldn't be happier with the end result!

Chris

Edits done

Well, Chris and I have finished all of our revisions to the text. It was quite a tedious process. I'm taking all of my big art for the step by steps to the photographer tomorrow so that I can get some really nice reproductions shot for the book. All of this will get turned over to the layout guy at Impact, who just happens to be named Guy, at the end of next week. I'm very excited to see what he comes up with for the layout. It's nice to see all of it coming together now. Chris and I came up with this idea well over a year ago, and now we're in the home stretch. We're almost done with all of the spot illos, so that means there a just a few big paintings to do that don't have any steps , and the cover.

We got our first big piece of publicity. I had a gallery in this month's Heavy Metal magazine, which had a paragraph on Ink Bloom in it. Also, an upcoming issue of Imagine FX will have a news story about it. Can't wait to see that. I love Imagine FX.

More soon,

Jim

Finished writing and the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

We finally finished the writing, all of it. The steps, the sidebars, the intro, and THE STORY.
"Story?", you ask. "What story?"

That's right. This how-to book will have it's own self contained sci-fi epic. It will be the first how-to ever to come with a story. You will get to follow Hachi Hachimitsu on some wild adventures, and learn how to draw and paint scenes from the story as you go.

Chris and I are very proud of this story, and hope that we will be able to push it into other areas such as comics, young adult books, toys and even animation (if we're lucky).

We'll be revealing more about the story and sneak peaks at some of the art right here, so check back regularly.

You'd check back, wouldn't you Hajime?

"If it will shut you up, then yes."

Are We Done Yet?

Gigantism runs in my family, I'm afraid. (see Jim's post below)

WOW! What a great couple of weeks for Jim and I. The realization for "Best in Show" at Gen Con 2009 just hit me and am seriously honored...Seriously. No time to celebrate as Ink Bloom is in full on finishing mode. Almost all my painting steps are done and Jim and I had a great session today on our first of two author reviews by phone! This book is looking great and we both are very proud to see all our hard work in the first rough layout.

On another note...My DVD workshop will go live on the web soon and will keep you posted when it's up.

On another-other note...I did a couple of Podcasts at Gen Con. I sound way too serious but was really cool. Thanks to the folks at Ninja Mountain Podcast (Ninjamountain.blogspot.com) and Wip Podcast (wippodcast.com) for taking the time to talk to me at my booth. Thanks again guys!

Back to work!

Chris

Goofy Lookin' Dudes

Here's a pic of the dynamic duo behind Ink Bloom. Chris somehow became a giant in this photo.

Thanks to Impact for the photo and write up.

Jim

Finally, some art

Here it is, what you've all been waiting for, a sneak peek at some of the art for In Bloom. I'll leave it to your imagination for now what these are all about, but soon we'll be able to tell you in ore detail what the book will be about.

These pieces were shown at the 2009 Gen Con art show, at which my brilliant co-author and artist Chris Seaman won Best in Show for all of the outstanding work he's done this year. I was able to pull off third place for a Star Wars piece I did for Dark Horse, so it was a great weekend for both of us.

By next week we will be done with all of the step art and writing, and boy will we be glad for that. It's been a ton of hard work, with a lot more to come, but we think the quality of the book will be worth all of our efforts.

More sneak previews soon.

Jim

Gen Con 2009

Chris and I will be debuting our first finished Ink Bloom artwork at the Gen Con Art Show this weekend, August 13-16 in Indianapolis. If you're going to be there stop by the art show and check it out.

Once we're back from the show we will be able to talk more freely about the project on the blog, and give some additional sneak peeks here as well.

Hope to see you there,

Jim