Tag Archives: author

Watercolors In Rain

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No, I’m not going to quote one the most iconic sci-fi movie soliloquies in movie history. I just thought it was a cool title and was a nice bit of word play. Its still been raining quite a lot and it isn’t even officially summer yet. That’s Florida for you. Speaking of which I have been experimenting again in watercolors. I had messed around with them a little when I was younger but never really did a lot with them. Jumping back in I’m finding it a very fun medium. And of course I’ve always loved the look.

 

I wanted to share the first one with you… just something simple where I was “testing the waters”. (Did you see that pun coming?)

On the writing side of things I’m trying to figure out some cover blurbs and descriptions. Those come in handy if you want someone to actually check out your book. They do take a while to get ‘perfect’ though.

 

Well, that’s it for now. Stay cool and keep an umbrella handy.

 

 

A New Side To Doctor Xombie

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I’m back for another blog article.
This week I figured I’d share a couple of fun pictures as I try to get closer to doing an actual Doctor Xombie comic strip. I’ve been drawing the Doctor Xombie comic strip style version for a long time, but I’ve never really done much in the way of other angles beside a front view. As far as I can remember this is my first attempt at a back and side view. I figured I’d need these to do the comic strip properly. They still need a bit of design work but this is a good start.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the same time I did another quick fun one because I love Ghostbusters. Why not combine ghost busting with Doctor Xombie?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doctor Xombie has actually appeared at the Halloween Howl Zephyr-kills downtown festival before. (Complete with modified Slime Blower and everything.) Here he is with Hannah Banana.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the writing side of things I hope you’ll be happy to hear that the new book has its own Facebook page!
Click here for: “The Adventures Of Doctor Xombie And Fiends” Official Facebook Page
Please LIKE and SHARE the page to help spread the word. Go there to check out a couple of cover design thumbnails and a temporary cover design too.

Until next time,
-Scare Ya Later

Procrastination Motivation

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     It seems like the more I work on something, the more I do other things, or get distracted in some way.
Case in point. I just got in a book I’d ordered recently about one of my favorite artists and started reading it right away. Again like the other 10 books on my ‘currently reading table’ its distracting me in a way but also inspiring me. Can’t win. I’ve been trying to keep my reading pile to under 10 books at once. I guess I just need to make some time to finish them off one by one. Anyone else have that problem?

 

     Had to take some time off of work this week but managed to get a good amount done on the short stories collection book. (“The Adventures Of Doctor Xombie And Fiends“) All the stories seem ready to go. I’ve been fiddling around with Scrivener to format the e-book version. Still a ways to go on that though. I’d like to get the print version completed around the same time so I can release both at once. I’ll have to see how things go though. I’m usually pretty impatient so I might just release whichever is done as soon as its done. Let me know what you think in comments below.

 

The book I mentioned above definitely deserves another mention as I am LOVING it! This is one of the ‘Modern Masters’ series about great artists in comics. Walter “Walt” Simonson is probably best known for his runs on Thor. Simply beautiful artwork. The drawings (pencils and inks) are reproduced in black & white which really let you see the details up close. Inspiring.

[Click on the cover to the left and pick up a copy for yourself.]
I also have the Arthur Adams volume which you can’t go wrong with either. These have pretty in-depth interviews that won’t disappoint. Check out the other artists in the series as well. You might be surprised.

 

On a side note I am (while writing this article) moving my PLEX Server over to a slightly faster computer. PLEX is a media server which turns your computer into a library of videos and music which you can then watch on a smart TV in your house, or even across town if you set it up for that. I have a large DVD collection from years back so this makes it nice to be able to have everything easily accessible with a few clicks on the remote. And of course its another distraction from my writing and drawing projects, but hey. We all need a break now and then right?

 

Until next week…
May the 4th Be With You.

Got It Covered

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Greetings!
I hope everyone reading this is having a good day. If you are not reading this then… well… I’m not talking to you anyway. For those of you reading, please continue.

I believe I’m starting to find a better balance for projects and everything else I need to do in life. (I thought it was a decent amount of progress this weekend anyway.)
For one thing I was able to go through and bag up a bunch of my old comic books that needed tending to. Yes, I found it relaxing just sitting quietly and listening to music and a few podcasts while stuffing funny books into plastic bags. HEHE In truth I don’t have that many ‘funny’ comics, they are mostly sci-fi, superhero, and some horror. Which now that I think about it seems a little odd for Doctor Xombie (my horror host alter-ego if you hadn’t figure that out yet).
If you have any favorite books feel free to leave a comment below or e-mail. I’d love to hear from you.

I also met up with a buddy of mine and discussed future projects and possible collaborations.
He recommended the ‘Webcomics Handbook’. I flipped through it and saw that it had TONS of useful info and instructions on how to get a webcomic made. Instructions from start to finish.

I went to the book store looking but didn’t see it. Me being impatient went ahead and picked up this one instead since it was physically in my hands and I could jump right into it. (I also like that it has a lot of fun cartoons and side-bars with useful tips from the ‘pros’). And I figured we could trade info and tips that one or the other might not have. It not only covers webcomics but also comic books, manga, and publishing in general. Great stuff so far including writing, drawing, coloring, and program tips to get you up and running.

So as you might have figured out I do plan on starting work a comic strip/book in the near future as well as the prose stories. Speaking of which…

Here are a few thumbnail drawings of possible covers for the forthcoming short story collection which actually has a title now!
“The Adventures Of Doctor Xombie And Fiends”
(subtitled “Mostly True Tales Of A TV Horror Host”).

As they are preliminary thumbnails things might change, but I did want to give you a little glimpse into how things are progressing and the process of putting this together. I’m very excited about this book and hope you will enjoy it as well. It might seem silly but I do love the title. I think it really conveys who and what the book is about.

Remember to leave a comment and/or head on over to Facebook and let me know what’s what.
Thank you again for sticking around for this installment. I’ll be back again next week with more.

Got It Going

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Welcome once again to my ramblings.
I’m happy to say I’ve been a lot more productive than I have in the past and things are starting to chug along nicely.
I only have a couple of specifics to talk about right now, but for the most part I have been drawing/practicing a lot more and getting my writing in order.

With some great encouragement from friends I’ve decided to release the Doctor Xombie Short Stories Collection in more of a “Junior Novel” type of format, which basically means, for this project, a larger font and shorter page count.  It does make sense since the stories are for a ‘general audience’. More on this as things progress, but you can expect a physical copy as per usual AND also an E-Book version.

I also want to give a shout out to fellow author Matt Curry for the inspiration of adding my drawings to the blog. (Okay I pretty much read his ongoing blog and swiped the idea from him. Although he says others do it, his was the first that really stood out with the excellent content. Plus he’s a big Dr. Paul Bearer fan which makes him A-Okay in my book. (Was that an intentional pun or not? You decide.)
Be sure to check him out on Amazon. https://amzn.to/2FakkaE

That’s it for now and as Doctor Xombie would say:
“Scare Ya Later!”