Twilight Monk page 4

The power went out from 6 p.m. yesterday till 5 this morning. Because all of my work is on my laptop, connecting to a wireless router... I was unable to upload todays page until now. Its only an hour delay, so I hope that you will forgive me.
I scripted up a few more pages this week with a few layouts. Im trying to keep 5 pages ahead of each pages release just to ensure no delays. Hm... perhaps I need a little gas powered generator too? Well I suppose then I could continue posting pages well after the 2012 catastrophe.
I really wish that I was going faster with this book. Its a constant battle to make time for everything that needs to get done. Im doing a lot of marketing research right now, and started advertising Nova Colony on topwebcomics.com, and Twilight Monk on project wonderful. So we'll see how that turns out. I took out the ad for nova colony a long time ago though (1.5 Months), and it still hasnt gone up. Im guessing they are quite backlogged with ads.
Im sort of learning all about how to do this stuff right now, as I only ever did print comics in the past.
-Trent

My earliest influences

Kenneth Pargeon asked me a very good question in an email, and I thought it would be nice to post it here too. He asked...

"I have always admired your style. when you began work on creed you seemed to "create" a style that wasn't the norm at the time (jim lee, mcfarlane, etc.) i was wondering if i could ask you where that style came from, who influenced you as a young artist, and what comic books did you read as a child/teenager?"

Hey Kenneth.
As for my influences and where that style came from... I guess it was a blend of Kevin Eastman, Mcfarlane, Sam Kieth and Disney animation. I had a really hard time getting work anywhere in the industry because my art style back then was so different from mainstream guys. I suppose its become a much more open world in comics these days, because I see so many different distinct styles that would have had trouble getting a chance at mainstream books in the 90s. My first comics that I ever bought were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles drawn by Eastman. I used to copy that stuff a lot. Then I loved the reaction that I got when I pushed the proportions a lot more. My best ideas come when I first wake up in the morning, or really late at night, when Im in a half dreaming state. I had a dream about some kid with big hair and big feet, and then I woke up and drew him. That was where CreeD came from. I think there was a lot of influence from old 16 bit video game art too. The floating islands came from final fantasy, the frog that turns into a dragon was I guess kind of like "the boy and his blob", the world was a lot like "Zelda, a link to the past". If you look at the booklets that came with games back then, they had more detailed art, and that influenced me a lot. I think i just experimented with a lot of different pens and brushes and techniques until i found one that worked. There were a couple of VHS tapes of guys like Jim Lee and Mcfarlane where they talked about the kinds of tools that they used and their thought process while drawing. Those were inspiring to me at that time.
-Trent

Twilight Monk page 3... and a little color.

Everything seems to be progressing nicely with the book. I was really hoping to have something like maybe a postcard or something for the Long Beach Comic Con, but Im not sure if I can get anything done in time to get it printed. Up to this point, Ive got about 35 pages scripted and roughed out, but I spend about 6-8 hours on each B/W page. Doing a fully painted image would take an additional 15 or so hours. Another reason why I cant do the series in color... I paint and repaint it so much that sometimes I spend 20 hours on a painting.
Currently Im doing 45-50 hours a week at work, and Im doing a facebook game, and Im marketing Nova Colony, and trying to hit the gym 3-4 times a week. WHEW! Youd be amazed at all the little extra stuff that has to get done with a project like this. Making a banner ad for a website can end up taking 3-4 hours. When youve only got 3-4 hours a night of free time... lets just say Im running on very little sleep.
Heres a color version of Page 3 that I did a while back. Ill continue to post these as I have them, but some of these next few pages are being added in, and I dont have time to do them in color. This particular page was one of the first color tests that I did to try and find a style that I liked. In the end, I think it makes the world seem very whimsical... but perhaps tooooo whimsical. The color style will contrast a lot with the violent nature of the book as it progresses.
-Trent

Get it on the cheap.

Use promotion code "AUTUMN" for a %10 discount on the nova colony book 1 here.

Drawing comics for therapy.

Im nervous man. Its been a long time since Ive really put the pressure on myself like this. Up to this point, Ive written a lot of different scenes for this book, then Ive rewritten them over and over again. But nothing is quite as "concrete" as the moment you put it out there for people to see. Im making decisions on dialogue that Im going to be stuck with. Im making decisions on format that I wont be able to change either... such as the page size, color vs black and white... yeah. Im nervous about committing, but it must be done if any progress is to be made.
The art that I do for my work in games is very different. If I put something together, it can always be reworked. Our deadlines are loose, and someone else makes the final call. But with this comic, Im laying it down, and sticking to it. Call it "drawing comics for therapy"... but I think it will be good for me.
I cant promise 2 pages EVERY week, because we're going into crunch time at work. But Im really making strides with my free time. Im also developing some artwork for a flash game which Ill be posting later on. I started out thinking that this whole series would be in color but... the problem is that when I start to paint a page, I spend too much time. I think I spent about 15 hours on this page from start to finish. And ultimately I decided that for the future of the book, Id rather post more pages, and tell more story than to release a shorter book. Beyond that, my favorite comics are in black and white. Ill be posting covers, and pin ups as well as poster art and desktops though, so dont worry... there will be some painted stuff coming along for Twilight Monk as well.
-Trent

Planning for Twilight Monk.

Well, I think Ive mentioned it before, although rather subtle like, but yes... Im planning to start a new series called "Twilight Monk". Im moving ahead pretty smoothly on the actual book, but Ive been torn as to how to release the material.
Originally, I thought Id start a whole new site, and I bought the web domain for TwilightMonk.com. But Ive found that I really like using blogger. The features are really nice, and user friendly, so I can spend less time working on web design, and managing spam comments, and more time working on the actual book.
Ive gone ahead and posted Nova Colony as a web comic on Novacolony.com. You can pick up the first issue, and find cool stuff that is Nova Colony related there. Meanwhile, Im going to begin posting early development sketches and pages for Twilight Monk here starting next Monday.
I hope that you will join me in this journey, as Twilight Monk will be a much longer book than Nova Colony OR the entire CreeD collection if all goes according to plan.
Im sure Ill be fine tuning this development blog as I go, so your feedback is greatly appreciated!
-Trent

Nova Colony Book 1 page 25

Nova Colony Book 1 posts new pages every Mon, Wed, and Fri.
-Trent

Nova Colony Book 1 page 24

Nova Colony Book 1 posts new pages every Mon, Wed, and Fri.
-Trent

Nova Colony Book 1 page 23

Nova Colony Book 1 posts new pages every Mon, Wed, and Fri.
-Trent

Nova Colony Book 1 page 22

Nova Colony Book 1 posts new pages every Mon, Wed, and Fri.
-Trent