SKETCHBOOK 88 COMPLETE! This book was my companion for nearly a year, as I developed work for: …and much more! Sketchbooks are my private playground, where I can explore, discover, and think out loud on paper. What do you like about keeping a notebook/sketchbook/diary? Is it helpful? Practical? Have you used your sketchbook to develop…
I’ve spent the last 6 months working in this sketchbook. Scribbling my last page of character designs, story notes, and testing out new drawing tools felt surreal, since I’m still very much in the thick of everything happening on these pages. It’s a conversation I haven’t finished, though the pages they occupy have been filled.…
There’s a big difference between a sketchbook and a portfolio. Growing up, I erased, scribbled over, and tore out my mistakes so that only my best work remained. I didn’t know any better at the time, but I could have gotten much more of out of my sketchbooks with a few simple tweaks. What I…
I’m happy to share that I FINISHED WRITING THE ROUGH DRAFT of my gritty sci-fi adventure novel last night! Clocking in at 175,000 words and exactly 700 pages, my sketchbook ideas are now fully fleshed-out characters, creatures, and technologies that make up a single, cohesive story. Is it perfect? YES! Just kidding. Among other things,…
Read on to learn more about: Creating my 224-page rough draft in 3 weeks while stuck in bed Finding beta readers to proofread my graphic novel Setting up surveys and forms to gather feedback from beta readers Using reader feedback to revise my graphic novel Hi! My name is Jess Smart Smiley. I’m an author/illustrator…
Check out these stunning photos of Cormorant fisherman Lao Huang by photographer Peter Yan. His last name is Huang, and he is 86 years old. The locals call him Lao Huang (meaning old Huang in Chinese). He told me he’s been a fisherman ever since he was a kid, and both he and his brother…
I recently had the opportunity to talk with Jamie Ryder at The Comic Vault, where I was asked about my new comic Fantasy Quest, puzzles, and the magic of mystery books. Read the full interview here.
4 years ago I doodled a cute little vampire boy in my sketchbook. Since that first little drawing, Harold the vampire: -has starred in his own all-ages graphic novel (Upside Down: A Vampire Tale) -is in another upcoming Upside Down book (that’s right!) -has sparked the creation of 3 other Halloween-themed children’s books: Rumpus on…
I’ve fallen head over feet for Pippi Longstocking. Will somebody please pay me to make a graphic novel of this girl? Pretty please?!
(Continued from Part 1) HOW DOES A COMIC WORK? One of the big questions we are asking in class is “how does a comic work?” Of course we want to know what a comic is and how to make one, but we’re doing so from the inside-out. We’re taking it apart to understand it. For…