BUY THIS BOOK.

Well, here it is...

Flight: Volume 8 is finally available for Pre-Order at Amazon! And if you look down that list you will see my name, among many of my heroes...which makes me very misty-eyed. I have been so completely blessed to be part of this Volume.

For those not in the know, this 8th volume of the Flight anthology will be it's last. And it's going to be a pretty amazing volume, after seeing all the work come together...I am SO excited. I totally recommend picking up a copy yourself.

I won't wax too poetical this time around...I did that in my last entry about Flight. But I really can't wait for you guys to read it. The cover really captures the bittersweet tone of the whole experience, closing this series out. It also feels kind of like this.

Jellybots: Lizzie

As long as the ideas keep coming, I'm gonna keep riding this thing out...we'll see where it goes!

This is Lizzie :D

She's based off my friend, Lizzie (who, after I did one based on Jen, asked for her own :p) And I realize this has effectively opened the floodgates for anyone who wants a portrait (which wasn't my intention) but I'm trying not to design characters I don't actually believe in.

I've been jamming on plot development with my friend Peter, and at the same time I was considering..."what kind of character would I turn Lizzie into?" he spontaneously wrote me a draft of a script (yay!) that contained a character named Anne who was pretty much all the buck-toothed, awkward, befreckledness I had been dreaming of.

So here she is...in the current scheme of things she may even be the protagonist...a young girl who doesn't quite know who to be. She's kind of a lot of crazy energy all pent-up in a very self-conscious shell. (hence the little doodles: a) has obnoxious laugh, b) is embarrassed) The kind of girl who would decorate her suit with smiling stars, but get a little shy if you brought it up. Also, she likes llamas (not pictured).

Spring/Summer/Any-Sunshine-At-All couldn't come soon enough. I was thinking about pink lemonade all the while I was working on this...I think Jellybots in general is my way of pulling myself out of Winter and into Spring. Hope you all like it! It is, after all, for you!

Also: Cheers, Lizzie! Welcome to the lineup! Now don't ask me for anything ever again. ;)

God is love!

-n

PS: I'm not sure anyone's noticed, but I've updated the blog with tabs! In particular, I've been updating the "Playlist" section with music that's really inspiring me. Which will also keep me from spamming it here :p But check over there for new songs every now and then! Hooray!

Jellybots: Jen

Another one? It's true! From 3am in the morning I bring you: Jen!

I'm just continuing to jam on this topic and see what happens as it develops...as Ideas occur I'm trying to get them down on paper. I've also been really throwing down ideas and rearranging them in terms of where the plot is going. I don't want to rush it, but I do think this could have a lot of story potential. It's funny: but I'm experiencing how hard it is to just write a fun story that doesn't get soooo SERIOUS.

Anyways, this is for my friend Jen Hom, who wanted her very own Jellybot :) So it's not a portrait per-se, but I tried to get the gist of her in 'bot form. Of course I picked a color palette she probably wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole (teal was already taken, Jen, sowwy!) HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY! :p Anyways, I'm having a ton of fun on these...I mean...I was up till 3am last night making sure this got done. Hope y'all are enjoying them too! We'll see where this goes. I've got a couple more character ideas in the queue before I have to figure out what next. Hopefully those will materialize soon!

Oh, and at this point of development, I'm open to any and all ideas and suggestions: so let me have em!

Cheers!

-n

Jellybots, Craig?

I guess I'm on a roll? I had some time and the inspiration...so rather than doing my taxes, I did this tonight!

I enjoyed slapping the Candyman together so much, I figured I'd keep going and work up a portrait of another character I've been sketching. I think his name is Craig? I'm not sure yet, though. I'm open to better ideas.

Just to prove that not EVERYTHING is happy-go-lucky in Jellybots-world (just most things)...Craig is a big bully, and not terribly bright or open minded. A kid with a Jelly suit and something to prove. Small ears, big mouth, and one 'eye'. Not really a sensitive listener.
Kind of the result of my thinking about the range and variety of suits and forms possible. I'm trying to keep them simple, but distinct in terms of silhouette...and as things move forward I hope to get crazier and crazier.

In a lot of ways he's a less adventurous design than the Candyman...I mean, we're all pretty super-saturated with lantern-jawed neckless badasses. But why not one more, for old times' sake?

Jellybots, The Candyman

Hi guys!

I've been feeling a little aimless since I wrapped up work on my Flight comic. Things have been crazy-busy, but that's not the same as having a project to work on. So I've been thinking about a few different stories and ideas I've had bouncing around my brain, and I thought I'd do a little development on whatever strikes my fancy.
Today, it's Jellybots. This is the first work I've done for myself in a few weeks.

So this is (working alias) The Candyman. He works with the kids, and (in the current version of the story I've been fantasizing about) he's the only grown-up who can interface with the Jelly. He's kind of a eccentric/kooky mentor ala Miss Frizzle :)
This is still a tentative first pass...I just wanted to get my ideas down. I'm not sure about his face and whatnot. He'll probably get adjusted and revised.

The dial on the visible side of his headgear controls what color his 'hair' is, and there's another dial on the other side that controls the style.

Oh, and his cravat is a robot that detaches to assist him.

There's no real outline for the story, but I have a lot of ideas for character designs, so that will suffice for now...I'm having fun :)

And below are a few really quick color studies I threw down last night...just to get myself in the mindset again. I'm not really fond of any of them...maybe the first. But I have little I can actually post these days, so I figured: why not?