True Blue Mug

When creating a fantasy world also known as “world-building” you need to add details that make your world unique. It seems that most authors and artists just draw from existing sources. I’ve noticed that fantasy webcomics in particular draw from D&D or WoW.

Boring…

A great way to realize your world is to start from the ground up, literally. In Ether we have something called the “land shrimp” which crawls through the cracks of every great city. Not necessarily the most distinguished aspect of our world, but certainly the tastiest when served with a little tarter sauce.

What a year!

I can’t really sum up how crazy 2010 has been for me.  Good times and bad times… just times, I suppose.  Anyway, looking forward to 2011.

Working pretty much non-stop to finish up a script so I can send it on to a management company. No more posts until I finish.

Webcomic in the New Year for sure! I’m not 100% on the when, but I’m optimistic that it will be sooner rather than later. I leave you with a sketch of an alternate character design. Kinda brooding which is how I feel at present.

Another long meet over the weekend with Jeff and while we were discussing the webcomic, Jeff mentioned how big our world is getting.

It’s true.

Back in the day, when we developed Ether as a television series and thought to become rich and famous overnight, the series had eight major characters. Since that time through our various iterations, many new faces have appeared in the world of Ether. So many in fact that I’ve decided I need a spreadsheet to keep track of them all and to avoid creating names that might run too close to existing characters. 

The grand total is 250 unique characters, each with their very own personality quirks. The number is actually 252, but who’s counting? Me! That’s who!

I’ve created the vast majority from, er… the ether, but there are a handful that had an assist from some of my friends.

The webcomic alone probably accounts for a hundred of the characters. What I’m particularly proud of is that none of the characters seem unnecessary. They all have a place and purpose in this mad world of ours.

I believe Harrison Ford once said to George Lucas regarding Star Wars:

You can write this shit, but you can’t say it.

Equally… I can write as many characters as I like, but Jeff has to design them and that’s the task ahead. Never mind the unnamed characters and all the many, many locations…

You use a giant god-like hand, obviously…

This is probably the last piece of “old” art I’ll be posting for awhile. It’s also my favorite.

Jeff and I had a big meeting over the weekend and the webcomic is coming along nicely. I really wish we could just post it now, even in its unfinished state it’s pretty freaking awesome! That said, we want to take the time to make sure that everything is just right. The image above is indicative of the scope we’re trying to go for except that the location of our comic has a topography that’s ten times more complex. It’s easy for me to write, but poor Jeff has to realize these cities and locations to the smallest detail. It’s not the simplest of tasks… lucky he has that giant god-like hand! They come in handy! Ha! I better stop. Bad puns abound!

Designing, sketching, inking, and coloring a webcomic equals a great deal of work. Thankfully, I’m just the writer! :D

The task of taking my words and conjuring them into images falls to my good friend, Jeff Martell. He’s an incredible artist, a magician of pens, pencils, and paints! What does he have up his sleeve for our webcomic? You’ll just have to wait a bit longer for the reveal. Meantime, here are some of my favs from our past endeavors.

Jeff not only works on our webcomic, but he’s also amidst production on a short animated film entitled Mutwale. It’s the tale of an elephant in Africa, sound cute and fun? It is, but it’s also much more. I’ve been privileged enough to view an animatic of the film and it’s a very moving piece of work. It touches upon the horrors humanity inflicts upon the world in the form of genocide and the repercussions that ripple through nature itself. It’s going to be great! I can’t wait to see it in its finished form! Click the elephant below to check out Jeff’s production blog.

If you want to be a hero (and we all do), find out how you can donate to the project by clicking the triumphant elephant below.