Graphic Novels

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Graphic Novels

1GaryBabb
huhtikuu 29, 2021, 4:35 pm

I have traditionally published 10 books, but I have never gotten involved in Graphic Novels. I am not an artist, but I have written one book, Dark Angeles of Zeus, that screams to become a Graphic Novel. The story could be advanced greatly with graphic art. Have any of you breached this gap? If so, how did you accomplish this?

2paradoxosalpha
huhtikuu 29, 2021, 5:03 pm

I failed to secure an illustrator for my slender fiction book last year, although I wanted one. Now I think I'm going to write a couple of sequels, and see if I can find an artist who will help me with the deluxe omnibus edition when they're all in the can.

My daughter is an artist, and she'd be my first pick if she's willing. But I don't think I'd recommend parenting as a way to arrive at that collaboration.

3LShelby
huhtikuu 30, 2021, 5:29 pm

>1 GaryBabb:
I have sort of published a Graphic Novel. But Amazon didn't like the ebook version I put together -- they complained that the file-size was too big. It can be found in the form of a webcomic, on my publisher's website.

I did the artwork myself using 3D CGI. Primarily Poser (which gives me the built in ability to customize and pose human figures), but with a host of other 3D modeling programs, since many objects seen in the story were modeled by me. It took me five years working in and around my regular writing projects, plus about a year devoted primarily to that project to put together what you can see at that link.

The reason I did it in 3D CGI, is because I was playing with the software already when an old story of mine morphed, came to life and took over my brain, saying "I am to be told in pictures." But I enjoyed drawing the storyboards so much, that I started work on a second graphic novel using a more traditional approach. (Progress on that one halted five years ago, due to first needing to paint some book covers, and then due to health issues.)

From my experience doing both novels and graphic novels, and in working in both 3D CGI and in traditional forms -- telling stories is faster and easier when you use words. You have to expect an artist to take much more time doing the art than you spent writing the script. Which means that the artist's investment into your story is greater than your investment in your story. This is something that you need to always keep in mind when looking for an artist.

Finishing writing a book is generally considered a very, very big deal -- far more people start books than ever finish them. Finishing a Graphic Novel of similar page length is an even bigger deal. Maybe more than ten times as big a deal. Hiring an artist for such a huge project is expensive, but what is needed goes far beyond just the money... you need to find someone that is trustworthy, who can work well with you, and who is capable of long-term sustained effort.

I, personally, am not willing to put that kind of effort into someone else's story. It would have to me my story for me to find it worth it. Just saying.

My eldest daughter was the star of her High School art classes, and has been working on a Graphic Novel version of Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance for the past couple years. Even though she was always known for her stick-to-it-iveness, she is finding an entire graphic novel a massive challenge.

(In the extremely prolific Japanese comic market, they frequently employ an almost assembly line method to churn out the art The principal artist does the pencils, someone else inks, someone else does backgrounds, someone else does the shading, possibly yet another person does special effects.)

>2 paradoxosalpha:
I have two daughters who could theoretically help me by doing art, but they are already having a hard enough time getting their own projects done. ::rueful::

4JeffDBuchanan
toukokuu 16, 2021, 8:06 pm

As a lover of reading and cinema, I created Cinenovel®, which combines text with photography (utilizing actors as opposed to illustrations) for a fully immersive reading experience. Our pilot project, "The Plunge of Icarus," was deemed by Apple to have "objectionable material" (i.e. 28 of the 500 frames had some mild nudity). Eventually, it became too much trouble dealing with the hoodied Apple geniuses who kept telling me what my project was so I removed it from Apple and reformatted it for Kindle Fire, which actually presents a much more cinematic aspect ratio. Unfortunately, we have not yet adapted and converted all the bells and whistles (fades and dissolves, voice-over read, and sonic accompaniment). We're working on it. Check it out at www.cinenovel.com and let me know what you think.

5LShelby
kesäkuu 27, 2021, 11:43 am

>4 JeffDBuchanan:
I've bumped into a few photographic webcomics before.

It's really the bells and whistles you mention sound like they are trying to move it out of the world of books and into the world of movies. After all, animated movies are still movies.

To me, the key difference between a movie and a graphic novel is that a movie takes control over timing away from the reader. A reader of a graphic novel chooses how long each image is looked at. The words, as part of an image, are frozen in time -- there to be experienced when the reader chooses. Add sound, and it either has a definite duration, or it repeats -- neither of which is the same experience. The same with visual transitions and so forth.

Anyway, it sounds like an interesting project from the writing/creating end, but I don't know that I'm all that interested in the content. So I'd rather have you stick around and tell us more than to go check it out. Maybe my interest would increase if I had more details.