Archive for October, 2010

30 Characters Challenger: Jande Rowe

| October 31, 2010 | 0 Comments

Jande Rowe, Author of "Aedre's Firefly"

Hello all,

I’m Jande (aka @eccentricOrbits). I’m the wearer-of-all-hats behind Aedre’s Firefly, the graphic novel fantasy about a starved dysfunctional young girl who has been made the town scapegoat. I hadn’t intended it to be a long form graphic novel. Originally it was a simple short story of about fifty panels at the most, but somehow the main character kept on at me to tell the whole story. I don’t script it very far ahead, so I still need more character designs for her story.

I also create Wheeler’s Orbits which is a more humorous comic about a couple of guys trying to get their inherited outer-space haulage company out of the red. That one will soon to debut on my website. Plus, I have a number of novels and short stories (mostly fantasy and science-fantasy) on the back burner waiting their chance to debut. And my husband also has a number of stories that cry out for the graphic novel approach. All of these are going to need more characters.

I’ve been in the webcomics venue since January 1st of this year and so far its been quite a ride. I’m still struggling to set up my web site properly (using Comic Press), and the graphic novel I’ve been posting has gone through a number of format changes, trying to find that balance point between work-a-holism and still having sleep, food, friends, and family.

Life was certainly easier when all I had to do to justify my existence was to make a painting –landscapes and abstracts being my forte. And then I had to go and challenge myself to claim a small corner of the webcomics world, and commit to updating weekly to boot. I have always loved comics. I have been drawing since the age of three. Self-taught, I discovered the rules of perspective late in life. I was almost thirty. But what a transformative discovery that was! Yet there is always more ways to improve my art. I hope to learn more from some of you, and perhaps, you too will learn something from me.

I’m normally a very shy, very private person, so getting involved in all of this is challenging in the extreme for me. But I have been gradually making happy acquaintance with some wonderful creators as well as being able to tell a story that showcases the resilience and the capacity for growth of the individual human spirit.

30 Characters Challenger: Phil Gibson

| October 31, 2010 | 1 Comment

Hi everyone! My name is Phil Gibson, I’m a graphic designer by day, comic artist by night. I currently run my own comics website Wormbone, after finishing my first full comic, Lancaster the Ghost Detective, which is being re-run five days a week.

I’m certainly looking forward to taking part in this challenge; especially any challenge where I can sleep any time in the middle of it! In addition, I can’t wait to see what everyone else is going to come up with too! Just imagine, there’s going to be literally hundreds of new fictional lives at the end of the month! Woo! GO TEAM

Oh! Good luck to everyone participating, it’s going to be a blast!

Twitter – PiousKnob
AIM – DarkPoinko
Site – Wormbone, Lancaster

30 Characters Challenger: Sake Anih

| October 31, 2010 | 0 Comments

Hello everyone, my name is Sake (As in “For Pete’s sake, I am not an alcholic drink!”) Anih and I’m…feeling extremely young and humbled amongst all this talent, ahaha. I’m currently in my last year of high-school and have decided to take on this challenge while juggling band, leadership positions, six AP classes, and ten college applications for twelve schools. As all my friends have already told me, I’m clearly insane.

But uh, a little about me. I was born in China, came to the United States when I was six, and now reside in a little place called Plano, Texas, a nice little suburb outside of Dallas that is, according to Forbes, “The best place to live”. I’m hoping to attend the University of California, Los Angeles, to study Japanese and Chinese and, if I’m lucky, Design and Media Arts. I’m looking at a career in game design, and am in the works of starting a club at school with a few programmer friends to create a full-scale computer game.

I grew up around Asian/Japanese sub-culture, and so I have been heavily influenced by manga and Japanese RPGs, notably the works of CLAMP, Obata Takeshi, Nomura Tetsuya, and Soejima Shigenori. My more realistic style has been influenced by online artists as Emily Warner (“Frozenlilacs”) and Helen Zhang (“Lokklyn”). Unfortunately, school and other committments have drastically reduced my drawing time, so I’m hoping that my joining this challenge will give me some much-lacked practise.

30 Characters Challenger: Bob Learned

| October 31, 2010 | 0 Comments

I am a old school comic book geek…unashamedly. I have been reading and drawing comic books since I was able to draw at all.  I now work as a graphic artist in corporate hell… and enjoys  drawing comics on the weekend and after work.

I love to share my knowledge and abilities with anyone who loves comics and drawing.  Whenever I can show off my website http://www.oxymoronpress.com or my webcomic http://www.beyondcomic.com I do.

I love drawing pop culture characters as well as my own characters. I love the idea of creating new characters and showing them off to you, and have you to share them with your own art friends.

You can follow me at @BobLearned on twitter.

30 Characters Challenger: Todd Brabander

| October 31, 2010 | 0 Comments

Hello everyone,

I’m an author and freelance artist from Portland OR.

Most of my projects are fantasy, post modern, or horror related. My work aims to capture a twisted and occasionally humorous view of the normal world. I’ve been in several music groups, had some writing published online, and I’ve publicly displayed visual art.

A friend turned me onto the 30 character challenge. I don’t have any projects I’m actively working on. I have been kicking around some ideas for some stories or maybe a web comic. I thought this would be a great way to do some forced brainstorming and drum up some new ideas.

30 Characters Challenger: A. Story

| October 31, 2010 | 1 Comment

Hi.

I’m A. Story. I’m a 22 year old Illustration major (started late…) living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I’ve been drawing all of my life but only really set my nose to the grindstone in recent years, trying to acheive my dream of being an artist as a career.

I just recently launched an online graphic novel called Inscribing Ardi. I also just started an art blog, growly beast.

I don’t know what to call myself–artist, illustrator, comicker, designer. I’m still learning about all these things as I try to carve out my place in the world.

I like art, music, history, cultures, words, classicism, fantasy, beauty, erotica, and anything queer.

This was weirdly short!

30 Characters Challenge Kick-Off!

| October 31, 2010 | 0 Comments

Hey everybody!

As we get ready to kick off the challenge’s second year, I want to take a minute to thank all 150+ of you who have chosen to participate.  This thing has grown much larger than anticipated, but as far as I’m concerned the more the merrier.

One of the best things about last year’s 30 Characters Challenge was the supportive and collegial atmosphere that developed among the participants.  Although the number of challengers has quintupled this year, I know we’ll maintain that positive sense of community throughout the month.  This Challenge brings together creators of a variety of ages and skill levels, from hobbyists to working professionals.  Let’s treat everyone’s work with the respect it deserves, and do make an effort to leave positive comments on the stuff you like.

I want to extend a special thanks to Dan Govar, who’s done an outstanding job with the 30 Characters site design.  But if you think the site looks good, just wait til you see his character designs.

Again, thanks for participating in the challenge and I’m really looking forward to seeing what you’ve got­.  I’d say more, but I’ve got some characters to create!

30 Characters Challenger: Drew Williams

| October 30, 2010 | 1 Comment

Where do I begin…?

I’m a 20 year old Computer Science major at the University of Chicago, minoring in Visual Arts.  I have yet to start my sequence for my minor, and my skills up until this point are self-taught, having a foundation in a love for anime and american cartoons and more recently being inspired by Disney and modern comic books as well.  I like sweets, techno, old Disney movies and Apple computers, and do my work on my iPad, in my sketchbook and on my iMa

c with an old Graphire 4 that I remain very proud of/pleased with.  I did writing back in the day, and won a few contests with it, but I have shied away from the art of writing in more recent years, in favor of quick sketches that can be done between classes.

I used to have a deviantart, but I grew fed up with the website’s politics, so I closed it.

I value fluidity, action, motion, and color in my drawings, and you’ll probably see a lot of urban influences.  I have a love for steampunk, fantasy, and science fiction, and I am inspired everyday by the students in my dorm, but I try to break free from repetitive characters and thus will try and mix it up a bit.

I want to do this challenge because I have been in a slump in the art department as of late, Computer Architecture taking over my life and all, and thus I want to get back in the groove, so to speak.  🙂

Also, the samples of art I include in this post are all from 2+ years ago.  I tend to sketch in notebooks more than on the computer.  Stay tuned to see how much my style has improved!  (Adding in the obligatory my-old-artwork-is-horrible, etc etc)

30 Characters Challenger: Koko Sou

| October 30, 2010 | 0 Comments

Hi everyone. I am a pharma sales rep by day and an artist whenever the time will allow. I live in Manhattan, but grew up in Rhode Island. I hope to some day launch my own webcomic; all I need is time and energy. I wanted to do this challenge last year but I missed the deadline.   Anyway, I’m hoping this challenge will kick start my creative juices, get some of theses characters out of my head and force me get off my ass and get my webcomic together.

30 Characters Challenger: Zoë Kirk-Robinson

| October 30, 2010 | 2 Comments
A quick self-sketch of Zoe Kirk-Robinson

Wanted in connection with the disappearance of many chocolates

Everyone else seems to be doing these “introduce yourself, people!” posts so I thought I’d throw my ring into the hat along with everyone else. So “hi!” I’m Zoë Kirk-Robinson. I’m the artist and co-writer of The Life of Nob T. Mouse and All over the house and I also write a webcomic-related advice website called The Webcomic Builder.

You may have heard me on The Webcomics Company podcast (but I won’t hold it against you if you haven’t!), where I’m one of four people who fight for truth, justice and the webcomics way. Or something.

I’m a writer for a living rather than an artist, but I’m hoping to one day be able to make my comics, or at least some cartoons I draw, how I make my living. Hey, a girl can dream. My backup plan is to become a barrister and since what the world really needs is more artists, not more lawyers, I’m sure I have the forces of good on my side when I pick up a pencil. 🙂

I started creating webcomics waaay back in 1996, when I put Portly Stoutmaster’s Journeys online for the first time sometime around March or April that year (I remember it being before my exams in May). I followed that up in December of 1996 with The Life of Nob T. Mouse. Portly Stoutmaster may still be around, I’m not sure. Nob Mouse certainly is. The comic turns 14 in just over a month, making it older than several members of my family. That’s just plain freaky. It’s even more funny, from my point of view, when you know that I only made the comic as a way to look busy while slacking off from physics exam revision.

Now I’m planning my third webcomic, Ink Proof Cannon, which will be produced in conjunction with the publishing company I started to manage The Life of Nob T. Mouse and All over the house. I’m hoping to design the main characters for Ink Proof Cannon‘s stories during the 30 Characters Challenge, plus a few more that could appear in comics later. The fact that I’m combining this challenge with NaNoWriMo, a day job and two existing webcomics means I don’t expect to get much sleep this November, so here’s a tip: buy your shares in Pro Plus now because stocks are going to run short!

My weapons of choice for the Challenge are a collection of trusty HB pencils; a sketchbook I’ve designed all my All over the house characters in; a lovely HP scanner/printer combo; and my Nisis graphics tablet (ever heard of them? Neither had I but it works!). If any of them fail me, I may resort to pen & ink and uploading the characters by taking pictures on my ‘phone if necessary.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

30 Characters Challenger: Adam J. Smithee

| October 30, 2010 | 1 Comment

These “who am I” posts seem to be all the rage, so I figure I might as well throw my biography upon the sacrificial pyre.  My name is Adam, and I am a webcomic author and artist, humorist, inventor, and geek.  I run the occasionally-controversial The Apple of Discord as well as an ongoing story comic called Apple Valley.  After a few failed comics back in the early 2000s, I rediscovered my webcomic aspirations in 2008 with AoD and have never looked back.  In addition to my own comics, I also occasionally frequent conventions, speaking about webcomics and Giant Robots.

Fun Related Fact – I really like giant robots.  Like, an unhealthy amount.  I have several hundred, and am a walking, talking database of anything coming out of Japan with rocket fists and laser eyes since the 1970s.  At a recent convention, I was supposed to be performing my “A Brief History of Giant Robots” panel on Sunday… but I wound up hijacking an abandoned Giant Robot panel Saturday night (the guy doing it never showed) and doing a nearly two-hour long imprompteau “comedy” version of the panel to a standing ovation.

Back to the fact sheet – I got into webcomics as a break from novel-writing, as a release for my neverending fountain of creative impulses, and to help loosen up my right hand, which has a double whammy of a badly broken wrist in my youth AND early onset rheumatoid arthritis (I’m only 31).  Due to my physical constraints (that, and the fact that I have had almost zero actual art training in my life) my work tends to fall more on the simplistic side, featuring strong, smooth, and bold lines and bright balanced colors. 

My weapons of choice are the Wacom Bamboo Fun Medium and Paint Tool SAI.  I also build things (like my buddy “Hal Servo”, a fully working custom puppet designed off of Tom Servo from MST3K), though I’m not sure if that skill is going to actually be useful in this contest.  I may surprise you.  Heck, I may surprise me.

A lot of my more popular work is parody-driven and derivative (and cynical and offensive and dark and disturbing and…), but I really enjoy creating and working with my own ideas so I’m looking forward to this chance to open up the flood gates and be as wonderful or horrible as the muse takes me.

30 Characters Challenger: Amanda Ohsiek

| October 30, 2010 | 2 Comments
Mahewa and Me

Me with my internet visage, Mahewa

So. Hi.

I guess the best place to start is to talk about myself a little, eh? First, I’m a 19-year-old undergrad majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Mathematics, but alongside my academic interests have always lain creative ones. I’ve been both drawing and writing since I was very young. I’ve taken a couple of odd art classes during my youth, but for the most part I’m a self-taught artist. I’ve always loved animals, both real and make-believe; in the past few years I’ve drawn mostly anthropomorphic art so that I could practice human anatomy while still keeping my characters “wild” and unique. I’ve still got one tentative foot in the furry fandom, leftover from my affinity for anthros in the past few years. (In fact, you may know my lioness persona, Mahewa J. Huntress, from elsewhere.) In recent months, though, I’ve finally started practicing human faces and thus introducing many more human characters into my work.

My favorite genres of fiction are fantasy and sci-fi, preferably with a dash of romance. As such, the characters you’ll be seeing from me in the next month are probably going to fall into one of two different fictional canons that I have created: Teyra, a fantasy world governed by the four classic elements, and Race, our own world in a time far in the future when the galaxy’s sentient races have finally approached each other. I’ve constantly been changing and refining Teyra since I first dreamt up a story for it in 9th grade, while the world of Race was built quite recently out of some sketches from this summer and an abandoned short story from 10th grade. I’ve been vaguely considering making one of these two canons into a webcomic of my own. I may also create the occasional character that does not fit either mold, though these will be rare.

Why am I taking on the 30 Character Challenge? Because I want to push myself to draw more. Since I’ve never officially enrolled in any sort of art regime, my sketches are rarely more than doodles in my lecture notes. With this project, I will be pushed to refine my ideas and learn more about the vast library of digital art techniques out there.

Thank you kindly for your time in reading this. I very much look forward to the events of this coming month!

~Amanda

30 Characters Challenger: Matthew Goodmanson

| October 30, 2010 | 1 Comment

Hey everybody!

I’m Matthew Goodmanson, and I must be crazy.

I haven’t updated my website since 2008. I’m a procrastinator, I have trouble with deadlines, I get distracted like a five year old with ADD and my motivation is constantly at war with the rest of me and that picture makes me look like a wizard. 30 characters in 30 days. Yikes.  I must be crazy.

But aren’t we all?

I work for a company out of Halifax, Nova Scotia called Silverback Games where I’m the head of the 2D department. We make casual games, with dreams of bigger things to come and I love it. I’m 32 and I live just outside of the city with my beautiful and talented wife, Meg who is a bastion of patience (one has to be when married to someone in the video game industry) and my tiny, adorable yet slightly despotic two-year old son Alexander. I’ve worked in kids TV production, was concept artist for a failed MMO and I’ve done sketch cards for Marvel, DC, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. As for non-work stuff, I’ve been playing Dungeons & Dragons for over 15 years now, so I have a little bit of experience creating characters, but I have an intense love for comics, contemporary and classical fantasy art, sci-fi or any half-geeky genre out there. Part of this challenge for me is going to be drawing out of genres I don’t usually dabble in. I know everyone here has their reasons for doing this, and I’m very impressed at how willing everyone is to share. As I mentioned above, I know my weaknesses on and off the paper (or Cintiq if I’m lucky!), and this is a challenge that I need to face.

Working as a professional illustrator, at the end of the day the LAST thing I want to do is draw for myself. But isn`t that why I got into this business in the first place? I love my job, but it’s time for me to take my creativity back for myself, if only for a few hours a day. I have to give big thanks to Tyler for setting this all up and giving all of us a chance to flex our creative muscles and show the world what we’ve got. It’s going to be a crazy amount of fun watching how the days are going to unfold and the genius that I’ll be seeing on my screen from all of you. I’m looking forward to it.

A few samples of my older stuff and if you want you can follow me on Twitter @Gensanova or on Facebook HERE

Good luck to all of you!

~Matt

30 Characters Challenger: Chad Welch

| October 30, 2010 | 2 Comments

C4 you later!

I’m Chad Welch, and I’m a conceptual designer and illustrator who grew up near the coast of Texas.  I currently freelance illustration and license my artwork from Tulsa, Oklahoma, though I hear Chi-town or Californication is in my near future.

As you might have guessed, I like to draw stuff.  Classic movie monsters, superheroes and high fantasy round out my childhood, and give me the fire that fuels my drawings and designs.  Thundercats rule, He-Man is not gay, and long live the Friday Night combo of Dukes of Hazard/Incredible Hulk.

I’m going to enjoy flexing my creative muscles for this challenge with you all.  Best of luck, and keep creating!

Chadimus Welchimaximus
http://www.chadwelchart.com
Twitter: @ChadWelch
Sweeato

30 Characters Challenger: Jared Lewis

| October 29, 2010 | 4 Comments

Word. My name is Jared, I’m 27, & from the Eastern side of Pennsylvania.

Like everyone else here, I was drawing since forever. What really sealed the deal for me was when I was 5, I met & toured the studio of a very prolific freelance illustrator. The guy’s style was firmly old school, but seeing that someone was capable of producing that much quality stuff over a lifetime had a fairly profound effect on me. That same weekend, I also saw the actual life sized Powerloader & Queen models from Aliens, but there was concept art around & it was really striking to see that no matter what people think up, it mostly starts out with just a sketch.

And ever since, I’ve been an indoor kid, pencil in hand, drawing on anything.

Comics have always been a first love, but my parents always feared (rightfully so) there was no money in them. So for years I developed stories & sketches on the side while I tried to make a career out of making 3D game art. Then some pretty bad experiences kind of turned me off of that. Right now, I mostly work at a local cable station to pay the bills & in my off hours work on honing skills & ideas, in hopes of soon going pro with my comic stuff. In the meantime, I try to maintain a sketchblog, which I tend to update in spurts & post the occasional comic on the sequential art battling site Entervoid.com.

Some friends from there that competed in Zuda turned me onto Daniel Govar‘s work, & from his twitter feed, I found out about the challenge. People always tell me I’m an idea guy, but my biggest problem is lacking discipline & follow through. That’s why I’m signing up for this. I have loads of ‘wouldn’t it be cool if…’ sort of half-baked ideas & concepts I concocted, but never took the time to develop into something meaningful or scribble out onto a page. So this is an outlet for that. I hope that focusing on them will get the wheels going & I can turn them into something constructive down the road. Also, this is great initiative to get things started again on my blog & try to keep it daily, or at the very least a lot more frequent, for more than just a spurt.

Here are a few more examples of my stuff. If you would like to see more, visit FacebusterDeluxe.wordpress.com or check me out @kurohux on twitter.

Really I’m looking forward to this whole shebang, both as a challenger & a spectator. Hope I don’t disappoint on my end. Good luck, Everybody!

Hi I’m Thorne

| October 29, 2010 | 0 Comments

Hey Everyone, My name is Thorne, and I am the Creator of Tears & Pain a Fantasy comic that I can’t decide if I want to be funny or dramatic so I slide between both! 🙂 You can find it at http://tearsandpain.com

Born & Raised in Illinois, I now live in Florida, after a brief but annoying stay in Alabama *Note: If you currently live in, or like the State of Alabama, take no offense it just wasn’t for me.*

Tears & Pain has been running for two years now, with Book II launching last month, I joined the Challenge to work on my character creation skills and to push myself to create more.

I’m your basic Geek, with a twist for all things Medieval.

Good Travels,
Thorne

30 Characters Challenger: Vito Delsante

| October 29, 2010 | 5 Comments

Hey there.

So, introductions.   My name is Vito Delsante, and I’m a writer based out of New York City, specifically the Astoria/LIC area of Queens.  I’m possibly best known for two reasons:

1. I wrote an issue of Superman (676).

2. I’m the store manager at Jim Hanley’s Universe.

I’ve been concentrating on a lot of creator owned work this year, and one of the things I’ve been doing is creating a Wiki for my characters…to be sort of a living, breathing, online story bible.  I self published my book, FCHS, this year, so I feel like I’m going in the right direction.  Doing the 30 Characters Challenge is, more or less, forcing me to expand this universe, which, in time, will be the focus of my career (I’m hoping).  Keep in mind, I’m a writer, so there won’t be much in the way of artwork with my posts, but there may be a surprise or two.  I’m not adept with pencils, but I’ve been known to sketch here and there.

Other details…I’m married to a wonderful woman (ie, she loves comics too), named Michelle.  I have two dogs, Kasey and Kirby.

Thanks, and see you in the funny pages.

EDIT:  I should have followed Joey’s lead initially and added my Twitter info…here it is.  Please follow me!  (10/30/10)

30 Characters Challenger: Joey Esposito

| October 28, 2010 | 3 Comments

Hey everyone, my name is Joey, I’m a writer from New England currently shoehorned into Queens, NY. Okay, so technically it’s Long Island, but Queens sounds “better”.

I write comics — no real artistic skill here, so I fear you’ll be reading lengthy character sketches and journal entries from me for the next 30 days! But it’s nice to find something like this that isn’t restricted to artists only! Currently, I’ve got two projects in development, one of which, Roscoe and Alice Find God, can be seen here, and the other which is super-tip-top-secret! For a day job (or… night job, I suppose), I’m the Comics Channel Editor for CraveOnline, covering all things throughout the industry as well as dabbling in other areas. I also freelance for a variety of other sites, covering topics that range from awesome to “making a buck”. During the day, I make videos for an online toy retailer. You know, the American dream. I’m also the drummer of a band called Hounds Basket that your mother would hate.

More importantly, I love ice cream, my cat, dog, girlfriend and fish. The order is up for interpretation. Working as much as I do, I find the creative outlets in my life constantly being pushed to the side in favor of something considerably less exciting. 30 Characters sounded like a stellar opportunity to force myself into creating, so I hope it triggers some mad desperate need to get crackin’.

So here goes nothing, and I can’t wait to see what every pumps out! You can find me on Twitter, or feel free to e-mail me.

30 Characters Challenger: Perry Watson

| October 28, 2010 | 0 Comments

Avete, artifices colega! My name is Perry Hamner Watson. I am a 19 year old white male and resident of South Georgia. I am presently a college student enrolled in Valdosta State University on the pre-engineering program, training to be an electrical engineer. Also, brownie points to whoever can translate my salutation and tell me its language.

Having settled on a technical career, art is purely a hobby for me. I consider myself an intellectual and strive for expansion of the mind through artistic expression. I am a writer, having written half a dozen short stories and am currently working on a novel, and I have some degree of profficiency with traditional drawing media, as evident by my deviantART page (http://stoneman123.deviantart.com/).

The one quality that I always pursue in my artwork is the fabrication of new or at least unanticipated ideas. When ideas are used and re-used over and over again, they start to grow stale and boring, to me at least. The ur-example, I would say, would be the tropes of the Tolkienesque fantasy, having been rehashed countlessly over the years. I want ideas that are original, or at least haven’t been done to death.

As for inspiration, I’ve been consuming video games and cartoons all my life, and will continue to do so. I’m also a fan of Dungeons and Dragons and other such role-playing games and an avid reader of novels. My current favorite cartoon is Adventure Time with Finn and Jake, due mostly to the vibrant originality of its setting, not to mention the humor, the characters, and a score of other things that make it awesome. My favorite books are the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman and A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay, just to name a couple. My favorite video games are No More Heroes and the Monster Hunter games, again, to barely scratch the surface. All of them have inspired me in one way or another. Indeed, so has everything I’ve ever experienced.

My hope is that with this challenge I will be able to grow as an artist, to generate an array of interesting and unique characters for later use, and, perhaps, to inspire other artists.

30 Characters Challenger: Luke Burchfield

| October 28, 2010 | 0 Comments

Hello, Internets! I’m Luke Burchfield, a sixteen year old writer from Texas and quite possibly the youngest challenger so far. I enjoy Italian food and long walks on the beach…

Heh. I’m actually just a budding sci-fi/fantasy nerd who found this challenge exciting. I usually have troubles with just character creation, because my writing style focuses more on plots and ideas than people. I hope to use this challenge to break out of that habit and grow as a writer.
Anyway, once the Challenge gets into full swing, I’ll be putting up short vignettes and a crappily hand-drawn, crappily scanned doodle of what I used to help form the character in my head. I apologize in advance for whatever harm I may cause to your brain cells in doing so, as I am a terrible drawer.

Some more personal info: I’m both an actor and a techie for my high school’s theatre troupe, and just got casted as the lead in a small play that goes on in February. I’m learning how to play guitar, and have been for about six months. If I’m not acting, playing guitar, or working on homework, I’m reading. I absolutely love to read, and will read just about anything. I have a strong preference for fantasy, with most of my influences and most favorite authors being Stephen King, Darren Shan, JK Rowling, JRR Tolkein, and Jenny Nimmo. Sci-fi is also one of my loves, with Frank Herbert and Isaac Asimov being the forerunners. Anyway, that’s me. I look forward to seeing what awaits me in November! 🙂

You can find me here on Facebook. Just tell me that you saw me on the Challenge site and I’ll accept your request. 🙂 My Twitter is GotItAllWrong. I’ll be posting updates on those two sites whenever I post up a new character.

30 Characters Challenger: Jonathan Moore

| October 28, 2010 | 0 Comments

Hail, challengers. I’m Jonathan and I draw and paint stuff. I’m working on a few comics projects now as well as painting various commissions, etc. I’ll have my creator-owned book New Holland Days coming out next year. I have a story in the well-received WWII zombie anthology FUBAR that hits comic shops sometime in late November, I believe.

About me: I live in South Carolina with my angelic wife and two daughters.  Aside from my art, I teach human anatomy to aspiring health sciences students at a local college. In my free time I like to do lots of other things…too many, to be honest. It took me far too long to decide to do art for a living.

So, I don’t really relish talking about myself. I hope to have fun with this challenge and if it be in the cards, come up with some decent characters. The best place to see the rest of my work right now is http://furmanjon.deviantart.com and I’m on Twitter, @TheOnlyJonathan.

30 Characters Challenger: Martha Schwartz

| October 28, 2010 | 0 Comments

Hey, I am finding this a very fascinating thing to do and hope to meet and understand all you out there and why we are doing this.  Me?  I love the idea.  I feel that art should be about fun.  Many of us are trying too much to make an impression out there, and I am sure that you are taking the opportunity to do so as much as anyone else.. but I am solely

self portrait

Super Warrior

Super Warrior

doing it for the fun.  I love this because we can share ideas and get them out there as well as see what others can do and put up to the challenge.  I feel that I can learn a lot about this for myself and for others.  I want to do this to see if I can not only do the art once a day, but to come up with something that says or screams.. me, the creative.  I hope that we all get more out of this, but I want to thank the time to do such a thing.

From the happiest place on earth, well to some people, I just think that life is fun but when it comes to art, it can be the best.  I want to take the time to show others what I have to offer.  Art should be fun, and that’s what I am about.  I hope that it will all go great and to share with many of you guys.

30 Characters Challenger: Josh Heusinkveld

| October 28, 2010 | 2 Comments

Howdy to all, my name Josh Heusinkveld, I’m very excited participant again and can’t wait to gets start it. Few things about me: I am married to beautiful, sexy writer; father of two children; and have two awesome six month old Golden Retrievers: River & Simon. Yes, I did name them after the Tams from Serenity/Firefly.

I’m amateur artist into comic book, graphic and web comic. I don’t have any published works but I donated a lot of my works to charities such as Wonder Woman Day and Cure for Comics past three years.  You able to see my works at Deviant Art site – www.JoshHeusinkveld.DeviantArt.com

My goal is to create/develop characters for my web comic and graphic novel. Currently I am working on getting a web comic up going by the end of year and working on my comic Ultimate Patriot from 24 Hour Comic Day, which I didn’t complete 24 pages in 24 hour. And finally, once my wife completes and gives me the script for her graphic novel, I  am going to be her artist. I been drawing on/off throughout years and I’m getting better small step at time every day.

30 Characters Challenger: Amy “Of Many Faces” Heisei

| October 28, 2010 | 0 Comments

Well met, everyone. I’m Amy of Many Faces: she who spontaneously breaks into song, and she who makes strange noises while talking to herself when she’s bored. I tend to do a lot of things at once or nothing at all. For example, I recently finished shooting a feature-length movie (my first) as a production designer while simultaneously playing a small part in a musical, putting me at sometimes 15-hour workdays not getting paid. But so are the labors of love. Now with those projects over I’ve been lamely lethargic. Through this 30 challenge, it is my hope that I see this thing to completion and get back into the swing of art and drawing and design.

On top of doing movie-making and theater-doing, I write and perform music with my sister, here in Northeast Ohio. We do songs that are both silly and serious, haunting and taunting. I play piano and sing. She does guitar/bass and sings. We’re still figuring out a name for ourselves, but what’s in a name?

I love graphic novels and surreal art. Some of my biggest influences and looked-up-to names include Harold the Gargantuan Bird of AppalachiaBrian Froud, Alan Lee, Dave McKean, HR Geiger, Beloved Creature, Salvador Dali, and… there’s more, I just can’t think of any at the moment… Inspiration also comes from weird bugs, animals, people, places, animation and puppetry. Among my favorite directors/storytellers are Hayao Miyazaki (I spent two years teaching English in Japan and was surrounded by Miyazaki films’ characters in some form or other, and during my learning of Japanese I was bent on watching the movies in their original language with English subs in order to get a feel for the myth and culture and history surrounding each story and appreciate it in a way that would be missed in English dubbing: the artwork reflects the natural beauty of the Japanese rural countryside and is breathtaking to watch– I feel like I’m back in the small town I was living in where there are rice fields in every direction and a big mother mountain watching over everyone), Don Bluth, Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan, Henry, Selick, Charlie Kaufman, Guy Ritchie, and Neil Gaiman. Nearly every film/television series/etc. involving Jim Henson’s Creature Shop inspires me. Some miscellaneous titles or particularly influential films: The Animatrix, The Neverending Story, The Dark Crystal, Mirrormask, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and many more. I also used to watch Disney/Buena Vista’s “Gargoyles” obsessively for a while. The bug still bites me time and again.

Oh! I have the most splendid birth date: 7/11/1984. It is both lucky and ominous. Made for great things that I must put into action before it’s too late… (duhn duhn DUHN…!)

Moving Reel

Good luck, everyone! I’m excited to see the process in all of us. Creativity is what brings us together today. May it do its part.

I need to get my scanner fixed, and soon!

宜しくお願いします。
Mucho gusto.
Pleased to make your acquaintance.

30 Characters Challenger: Bobby Phanphormma

| October 28, 2010 | 0 Comments

Hi! My name is Bobby Phanphormma. I’m 17 years old and currently a senior in high school residing in North Carolina. I’m mostly self-taught up to this point with only one high school art class.

I’m partaking in the challenge to challenge myself further. As I enter the challenge I was only sketching and doing art projects for other classes. I’m also doing this as a mean to create characters for my graduation project product portion. I’m doing a mystery genre comic for my project.

Throughout the challenge I will be drawing the characters for my project that I have yet started (Yay for procrastination), characters for stories I collaborated with a friends, and probably a few randoms here and there. I will try using the oil and chalk pastels I have lying around and digitally.

So, that is it for me. I look forward to the characters others create and my own. Sorry that I can not upload any images for all to see as they are on the computer that is being checkup.

30 Characters Challenger: Amanda Rachels

| October 28, 2010 | 1 Comment

I’m a comic artist from Magnolia Springs, Alabama.  Turn-ons include Lex Luthor, Judas Priest, the Indianapolis Colts and dark theaters illuminated only by the work of Christopher Nolan.  My partner – writer Kevin LaPorte – and I produce a weekly vigilante/horror web comic, The Blind Eye, updating each Monday at http://blindeyecomic.com, and our clown slasher opus, Clown Town, is currently a finalist in Small Press Idol 2010!

The 30 Characters Challenge is a no-brainer for Kevin and I.  Character planning and design are two of the most enjoyable aspects of comic creation for us, and the very idea of bestowing a new imaginary life each day for a month is irresistible!  We’ll be delivering characters from a variety of story ideas we’ve thrown back and forth recently.  Ours will be a genre-spanning bunch, but, you should know, no matter what we start with thematically, horror concepts always work their way into what we do.  We can’t wait to get started!

30 Characters Challenger: Fes Works

| October 28, 2010 | 0 Comments

HELLO! This is Fes, and I have a hard time ignoring new creative ideas and projects! Aside from the standard high school art classes, I’m a self-taught cartoonist. I’ve not read much of any print comics aside from the Sunday funnies, but I got into reading webcomics in 2005. By 2006 I thought “I can do that! That’s EASY!” Well, no… It’s hard work, and takes a lot of dedication. So with a newfound respect, I’ve been plugging away at my comic P.S.I.: A Pessimistic Sense of Inadequacy, a training ground for improving my story-writing, drawing and character narrative.

In 2007, I created a weeekly, topical podcast called The Webcomic Beacon, which is one of the longest-running, continually-updating, webcomic podcasts online and still updating regularly. A labor of love with a focus on helping amateurs getting started in creating webcomics. Heavily advocating webcomics as a hobby and as artistic expression.

I’ve also participated in The Crossover Wars, the biggest webcomic crossover even in history TO THIS DAY! Crossover in the sense of ACTUAL crossing over of comics, not merely cameos as some certain comics have claimed. The Crossover Wars involved over 50 comics in assorted, direct crossovers, across at least 10 different storylines. All involved in trying to prevent a hostile takeover of the Webcomic Multiverse.

It was during this time, that I discovered Jenny Everywhere (a.k.a. “The Shifter”). Jenny Everywhere is a purposefully open source, comic heroine created in 2003. Around this time, the original website had gone done, but I brought her back with The Shifter Archive Project, where I catalog comics, cameos, artwork, articles, and writings on this character. With the help of several enthusiasts, it is the most compressive archive of the most notable open source character online, to date. I’ve seen and helped promote Jenny Everywhere as a character in many projects.

These days I’m trying to keep my head above water, with all the projects I’m engaged in; and I could talk for hours about all of it. While I’ve not giving into Art Memes so much, it’s hard to let a Comic CHALLENGE go by, once I find out about it. 30 Characters will certainly be a challenge for me, given my schedule, but I have to try. I hope to get at least 15, if not the full 30. I hope to utilize these new characters in my main comic as background characters, and see how things go from there.

Well, it’s time I signed off. You can check out my Fesworks Hub site for links to all I am involved with.

30 Characters Challenger: Jeremy “MADDOG” Miller

| October 28, 2010 | 0 Comments

Hey Gang !! Maddog here. You can Call me Jeremy if you want just don’t call me late to Dinner! YUK! YUK! I’m a Dedicated husband and father of 6 kids (That explains the insanity!) I’m a creative person. That seems to be the title that fits the best. I’m not really educated in any art field unless you count the two years of commercial art training I did in high school that is now obsolete because of photo shop. I got married early and started having kids and thus left any ideas of an art career behind.So 15 years later I’m thinking why not enjoy the powers of the pen again. So on a long trek in 07 driving an 18 wheeler over road I decided to delve into the world of web-comics .Well I’m still doing comics now but not driving a truck. Three days a week I update my black and white drawings to Zombie George.com I enjoy my scribblings .And I’m going to enjoy the creative spark that comes from imagining these new characters. I promise to do some in color.

I guess that is enough B.S. For one Creative person Bio. I would like to go ahead and thank my wife and kids for all the love and understanding . My wife specifically because with out her I would be lost in my own little world forever.

30 Characters Challenger: Jay “Mig!” Mcleod

| October 28, 2010 | 0 Comments

Hi all, my name is Jay Mcleod. My art name is Mig!, and I am very excited to be participating in this challenge. I have always loved drawing, but did not get serious into the comics artform until about 1997. I spent a few years creating characters and worlds I never thought would see the light of day, but I had a lot of fun creating. I used to spend entire weekends drawing in my home studio, coming out only for the bare essentials.

After a few years of practice, I met a bunch of like minded people who helped drive me into the self publishing world with my character Migrayn. Migrayn is a lone warrior looking for a peaceful world, but finds havok along the way. I self published a few of the books, and then life happened and I stopped drawing.

I got married, had a kid, I opened up my own Internet Marketing company and generally forgot how much fun it was to draw. I never had time anymore to pick up the pencil.

Now, many years later, things are starting to fall into place. I have some more free time now, the urge to draw again is hitting me real hard, and I think I am ready to work on my characters again.

I will be working on background and important characters for my new Migrayn series, so mostly everything you see in the challenge will be part of that world. Thanks to Tyler for making this all happen, and hope you all enjoy the art!

Visit www.migrayn.com, my main art site, and also where the comic book archives are.

30 Character Challenger: Ralph Contreras

| October 28, 2010 | 2 Comments

SHAZAM! My name is Ralph Contreras, I’m an alumni from last year’s 30 Character Challenge. It’s super great to see so many creative people getting involved this year. I had a blast last year. So there was no question I’d accept the challenge this year too. This time around I have a better idea what to expect. I’m just going to let my imagination go wild, no planning or restrictions when it comes to the characters. I will approach the actual artistic process differently though. Last year I only did penciled work. This year I’m planning on inking them as well. I’ve recently started inking my own work (and totally enjoying it!). So I’m very excited to strengthen this skill with this challenge.

I’m a proud self proclaimed major comic book nerd. On one random weekend in the summer of ’84 my aunt gave me a stack of comic books. She was doing some spring cleaning and was tossing her husband’s comics. (bad for him, good for me). She thought I would like them (she was right!); a new world of of great stories with amazing art took hold of my imagination. From that day on comic books have been a major part of my life in one way or another. I was your typical comic fanboy (collector) throughout the 80’s and 90’s. Buying every issue I could find. Reading and memorizing all the rich character histories. I always loved to draw the characters I was reading about too. I’d fill notepads with drawing of all the amazing characters I was reading about. My real first dive into to character design was when I was playing the Marvel Comics Universe role playing game. I’d write up a description and draw the character, like the way I saw in the Marvel comics Handbook. There was “Mister Gloves”, “The Duplicator” and so many others. This is when I discovered I wanted to someday create my own comics.

Fast forward a few years, I graduated from college with a Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts, emphasis in Graphic Design. Ready to conquer the world I looked for work for about a year, but couldn’t find anything. So what’s a comic nerd to do? I opened my own comic book store. (It was Awesome!) I was surrounded by comics for five years, meeting fellow fans and great local comic artists. After closing the doors to my shop, I jumped into the world of graphic design. I was moving from to city to city doing that. It was during this time I started drawing again and creating my own comic characters.

For the past 2 years I’ve been focusing on creating my own comic. I’ve been working on sharpening my storytelling, drawing and inking skills. I setup a personal blog www.ComicBookGraphicDesign.com, where I combine my comic artwork with my graphic design skills. I post all my sketches, character designs and fanboy adventures. I’ve created several Free comic book resources there to help other aspiring comic artists in this journey too. I’ve recently set up www.NewMexicoComics.com, a comic creators community to help connect writers and artist in New Mexico. Always the comic nerd I’ve also created a Marvel comic news fan site, www.TheHeroicAge.com.

Plans for the future, I”ll be focusing on my comic projects in 2011. A quarterly comic “Hero Guard”, and a weekly webcomic “Amazing Hero Adventures”. Maybe some characters coming out of the this challenge will make it into one of these comics. I’m excited to be involved in the 30 character challenge again and I’m ready to start creating!

Let’s be friends: Connect with me on my Blog and other sites!

30 Characters Challenger: Rob Stenzinger

| October 28, 2010 | 2 Comments

Welcome Back “30 Characters” Readers and Challengers!

Rob Stenzinger

I’m Rob Stenzinger. I survived last years challenge and though it was a ton of fun, it was also quite challenging. Recalling the good and bad stresses I ran into last year, part of me is asking my self… “DUDE! Why in the world do you want to do this AGAIN?”.

But the truth of it is that it was great practice and an incredible experience. It was inspriring to be part of a group of artists and writers sharing the best we could muster each and every day for a whole month. The practice, inspiration, shared experience and supportive audience made it totally worth while.

So I’m back and stoked to see what comes of it this year! What cool art and words will I wake up to everyday in November?

As to the other projects I do:  I draw the comic Art Geek Zoo: The Way of Sound every week:

Art Geek Zoo - The Way of Sound
(Art Geek Zoo – The Way of Sound)

… and I continue with new updates for the game I released earlier this year, Guitar Fretter.

Guitar Fretter
(Guitar Fretter – an action-puzzle game of learning the guitar fretboard and defeating Minions!)

Finally – there’s another big event I’ll be a part of this November: the UP! Fair. I’ll be meeting and learning from other comic creators and independent publishers and that’s where I’ll be debuting my new workshop “Storytelling to Make Your Comic’s User Interface Awesome“.

Cthulhu - Deep Sea Bassist
(Cthulhu – Deep Sea Bassist will be in the UP! Fair art auction coming soon…)

Good luck, good practice, good discipline to us all! And thanks again, Tyler James for instigating such a fun creative challenge!