It’s A Wrap! Inchi is Finished!

Inchi is a creature born of mysterious circumstances. A beginning almost as bizarre as the characters he gets entangled with. Without a sense of self, this “born yesterday” cephalopod must cooperate with a foul-mouthed seagull and an empathetic mermaid to confront humanity’s genuine and present danger. An ancient and unseen danger looms as the story unfolds to reveal the origins of the threat as love scorned and not reconciled. Inchi and his new companions must work together to defeat this threat while discovering his own identity. All of this develops in a small out-of-the-way canal in the back alleys of Modern-day Venice.

That’s right! I said mid April and it happened! I can hardly believe it myself, but the color is done, and this book is ready to launch. I meant to talk about this in the previous Voyages letter, but I will be using the Kickstarter platform for this launch. Why Kickstarter? Many independent writers, artists, and small press startups rely on the Kickstarter platform to raise capital, “get found,” or both. Where sequence art is concerned, it’s one of the only vehicles available outside of normal distribution channels that supply your local bookstores. That said, there are many other benefits to Kickstarter on top of being a direct to the consumer platform. It will allow me to offer you other unique content that won’t be available any other way. I’m still working out all the fun stuff, but remember those variant covers I talked about? I know I showed you the renaissance cover (I added it again below), but here’s another following.

Architectural Variant “B” or Trade T.B.D.

There’s a third cover too! You may remember when I announced Kez Wilson was joining the project? Specifically, he’s doing a cover, and he’s fantastic, so I can’t wait to see it. I’ll share that with you once he’s finished.

So what’s next? I am working towards a campaign launch no later than the end of the month. The only obstacles now are Kez’s cover and the launch video. Both are in the works, but as soon as it’s done, I’ll be sending all of you a pre-launch link so you can back it early!

I really appreciate everyone who has hung in there through this process! Have a great weekend!

Double Trouble

You may be like me and say things to yourself like, “Enough already! Let’s see a book!” I think that’s fair, but I know for sure that the wait is almost over. Mariam is in the second half of coloring Inchi #01, and I am diligently working towards finishing the color and layout on 21 Steezy Snuffs. Two books I’ve talked about for a LONG TIME. Too long! If you follow me on Instagram, I uploaded a story with a snippet of these, but here is a better look!

How exciting is that! So with that said, I am still working towards planning the Kickstarter for Inchi and will get those details out mid-month. Related to that, I’m working on a promo video that is crucial to the campaign. I’ll share that with my Voyages family before I make that public. Planning a Kickstarter feels like almost as much work as getting a book created, but it will be worth it. Inchi will be first with 21 Steezy Snuffs following soon after. Here’s a process peek.

Many of my friends and followers in the blogging community are writers like me. I haven’t talked about this in a while, and I think it’s a good time to refresh memories. We share many similarities, but one point of difference is that I am a good storyteller but a mediocre writer. At least in the traditional forms. So I embraced sequential art (comics) to get my stories out to people in a way that makes up for my shortcomings. To communicate visually what I would struggle with in written words seems to be a worthy personal challenge. Perhaps, in the journey, I will become better at both. I hope to anyway. But what do all writers have in common? They want to get their stories, ideas, and thoughts out to the world. So this is my chosen vehicle. More importantly, it’s happening! With 21 Steezy Snuffs, I am forcing myself back to the tricky realm of words on a page. Armed with a copy of The Peregrine, how could I lose?

Thanks as always for all your support! Have a great weekend!

David

21 Steezy Snuffs is Back

With Inchi over in Mariam’s hands for a few more weeks I decided to pull 21 Steezy Snuffs back into the forefront! As many of you may know, this project was supposed to be released last year, but I stopped abruptly for “reasons.” However, I want to finish this, and it’s a perfect time to throw on some accelerant and get this done quickly!

21 Steezy Snuffs is twenty-one micro-stories of “stylishly easy” deaths. All told from the perspective of the deceased. While heavy in subject, it will also be rich in art and a fun visual experience. I plan to do this in the customary sequential art book size but with a thicker cover since its a one-shot. For those who may not be as familiar with the term “one-shot,” it’s a single standalone book rather than a series.

I’ll keep you updated on both projects, but please consider joining Voyages if you’d like the insider’s scoop.

Free THL Digital

Get this FREE digital comic The Hidden Legions (THL) just for subscribing to my fabulous newsletter Voyages! THL is a 36-page “Limited Edition” comic, written and illustrated by yours truly, David Patton. Digital cover is exclusive to Voyages subscribers!

THL takes place during WWI France and is the opening story of the main character, Collete. THL is interesting not just because of the fictional story itself but in the non-fiction associated with its creation. One would-be artist’s journey from not knowing anything to kind of knowing something.

Get Your Copy and Subscribe. I won’t bother you too much. 🙂

Colors of Mariam Yasser

Inchi is out of the art phase and into the color! I’m happy to announce that Mariam Yasser has joined the project to bring this book to life. Mariam is a comic book colorist from Egypt whose work I found while researching a partner. I remember reaching out to her last year when the book was only half-finished, and I’m so glad she was available to push this to the finish line! Mariam worked as a professional illustrator for five years before starting comics in 2019. Mariam is quite versatile in her skill sets and aspires to create her own comic.

You can find Mariam at:

https://www.instagram.com/mariamyasserart/

https://farashetmanga.artstation.com/albums/1706471

Be sure to check out some of these projects she has worked on!

The Ignis Quadrant, Into the Suck, Northwoods, Baby Barbaria, The Dark Star, Chernoborg, Resurrection House, Coleman Carmichael, and Sydney Dossier.

Kickstarter details are coming soon as I expect we will be press ready sometime in mid-April!

Keith “Kez” Wilson Joins Inchi

I’m excited to announce that seasoned artist and animator Kez Wilson has joined the project! Kez is well known for his work on animated films like Space Jam, Quest for Camelot, and The King and I but has extensive credits in the comic book industry to boot! During his tenure at DC Comics, Kez created Robin’s “R” logo for the new era and other title logos like Detective Comics. In addition, the list of pencil and inking laurels includes Star Trek, Suicide Squad, Crimson Avenger, Power of the Atom, Secret Origins, Hammerlocke, and so many more! Speaking of Hammerlocke, Kez helped write that book plus, wrote and produced his title, Supercar.

In short, Kez is the real deal, and I couldn’t be more thrilled and honored he’s agreed to help with a cover for Inchi. Look at some of these Kez covers for Doc Savage!

To learn more about Kez Wilson, all you have to do is punch his name into Google, but I put some links below to learn more about him.

On the back of that news, I’ll mention that I’m in the final two pages of this book and getting serious about designing the Kickstarter. First, of course, there’s still the coloring to contend with, but I’m hoping to secure a colorist in the next few weeks!

https://www.facebook.com/Kezilla58

https://kezwilson.com/

Merry Christmas Art

Tonight is “the night”! Merry Christmas and Gruss Vom Krampus!

Once again, the MoonBlimp was passed over for Santa’s lead in favor of Rudolph. However, it seems the Krampus always needs a ride or a place to dump the bad kids! 😉 I would never have expected that there was such an enthusiastic audience for all things Krampus. I think this is becoming “a thing” for me, and I’m not sad about it. Thank you for a great year and a wonderful Christmas season.

Enjoy your families the next few days. I’ll drop an update early next week!

A New Book – The Hidden Legions

The Hidden Legions (THL) is a 36-page “Limited Edition” one-shot comic, written and illustrated by yours truly, David Patton. THL is a physical 5″x5″ print version of the original webcomic by MoonBlimp. Because of its celebrity status as the first project, only 50 of these signed editions will be available outside of mass press runs.

THL takes place during WWI and is the opening story of the main character Collete. THL is interesting not just because of the fictional story itself but in the non-fiction associated with its creation. One would-be artist’s journey from not knowing anything to kind of knowing something. The webcomic was initially intended to stand alone and has sat dormant since 2018, but now we are saying why not? Why not release this to the world. Trust me; there are many reasons.

There is no way to say this other than to come right out and say it. This comic isn’t the best technically, artistically, or by any other accepted measure of what is or isn’t good. When I decided that I wanted to explore comics as a storytelling medium, I knew basically nothing about it. I had to begin as most do using nothing but my experience as a reader, Google, and some instructional videos. As someone with a creative career foundation before jumping into comics, I came with the correct growth mindset. Part of that growth mindset was knowing that if I was going to grow, get feedback, and ultimately get better, I would have to be vulnerable.

To that end, The Hidden Legion (THL) was originally released between December 2016 and August 2018 on Instagram. That’s right. I put it right out there. You can think of THL as a webcomic of sorts. I tried to get one out as often as I could as I learned and struggled to communicate with the pen. However, from the very first frame (Somewhere in Paris), I realized I was in over my head. I had the will, but I didn’t have the skill or even enough knowledge to fully comprehend what I didn’t know.

So I worked and studied hard, all while continuing to make errors. But I didn’t stop to correct them. Instead, I kept pressing the story forward. Artist friends all told me this was the right of passage. The journey of self-discovery and finding your style, and I do have to agree with that. The proportional errors, the shoddy line work, the horrid framing, rough and laughable dialog are all necessary to learn and presented in their pure and unedited form.

As for the story, I initially picked this as somewhat disposable. What I mean is, I like period pieces, and you will see that throughout my catalog. However, I assumed (and still do) that the whole Uber-Soldat, Fascist evil doctor trope had been done so many ways that no one would care if this didn’t go anywhere. In other words, a perfect throw-away story while I figure out if I can do this medium or not. But then something happened. I really ended up loving this character Collete and her story. Much of which I should mention, you will learn nothing about in the following pages. That said, I have plans for Collete and her companion Eli that extend into other future projects. So the partial story here will serve as a fun easter egg for those “in the know” when the more fabulous adventures of THL are finally released.

If you decide to read this story, I know you’ll have many questions. That’s understandable. Why is that guy running around trying to inject people? What is La Societe? Why is Eli’s Springfield called Agnes, and what’s up with Collete’s crazy rifle? Two additional frames remain unfinished of this original work. However, those won’t help to answer these and the many other questions I’m sure you’ll have. I’m saving those answers for a future book when THL returns to properly tell the story of Collete.

There is much to unpack, but I will answer one of those questions. Collete’s rifle is a modified version of the Model 1888 commission rifle, also known as the Gewehr 88. There are a few reasons she uses that rifle, including the axe-style bayonet attachment.

Please let me know your thoughts by either joining my newsletter Voyages via the website or emailing me directly. As always, thank you for your support!

You can see the comic and purchase it through this link.

Season of the Witch…is over. I am not.

Halloween may have been over for awhile now but for those who love it the remnants still remain. There’s the decorations that linger just a little too long but there’s also the two horrible pumpkins on the lawn that I haven’t thrown out yet since the 31st. My wife who’s the musician in the family, left a witch’s hat on top of her Takemine which inspired the below study. I will miss you Halloween. But that’s not all….

All creatives that are passionate about what they do have a tendency to push themselves just a little too hard. The most common result is creative burnout which can manifest itself in different forms and for very different reasons. Creative burnout is manageable if your capable of seeing it coming however, most experts agree you shouldn’t hibernate. Well, that’s exactly what I did through the month of October. While possibly not healthy, it was the perfect amount of self pity, restructuring of goals, and putting new deposits the passion bank. Fortunately for me, I am capable of creating my own light even when there are no laurels to be thrown for my achievements. However, I have learned repeatedly that I do have a pacing issue. As I’ve said before, this is a voyage. There is no destination where this voyage ends. It about the drive to keep going and enjoy the view along the way.