Progress

Thanks to the fantastic contributions by everyone who has supported The Firelight Isle, I'm now in a great position. I have a fully fleshed out story, fully developed thumbnails, and I've had the chance to beta-test the first half of the story with interested readers, and have received an amazingly positive response.

There's still editing work to do, but I can say with confidence that the development stage is drawing to a close, and I'm now shifting my focus onto preparing for publication.
This is an exciting, but ultimately uncreative part of the project - I'll be approaching publishers, making plans and proposals, doing the groundwork to prepare my website for the comic, and deciding on details of format and distribution. At this stage it's hard to say exactly how long this process will take, since it's not a matter of a finite amount of work. Negotiations can be a slow and unpredictable affair!

However, I've been able to do a tremendous amount of work on this comic thanks to the help of so many supporters, and I can say with confidence that I have a plan to cover every eventuality from here on out: The Firelight Isle is poised on the edge of being ready to draw, and one way or another, it will be published!

Thanks for bearing with me during a period in which the work I've been producing has been very hard to share with you. Watch this space! posted by Paul Duffield  # 12:48 0 comments

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Web Ribbons

I'm now well over 100 thumbnails into the project, and I've decided to start the ball rolling by scanning and formatting the first 120 of them (it took nearly a whole morning just for scanning!). I've been giving a good deal of thought to how I'll be presenting The Firelight Isle on the web, and after some deliberation, I've decided that the pages, once done, will should in two different directions. When in print, they can be arranged into a series of double-page spreads that work well together (that's how I've been thumbnailing them), but they've been drawn in such a way that they will also stack one on top of another seamlessly, and form "ribbons" (of about 10 pages at a time) that can be scrolled down from top to bottom - something that works well for webcomics. By increasing the spacing between certain panels, I'm hoping to give the webcomic its own scroll-contingent pacing, whereas the print comic will have pacing that relies on each double-page spread being absorbed at a time. This is no mean task, so I'm presenting these first "web strips" to contributors who are interested in being beta readers. Hopefully the feedback will help me streamline the finished product for both web and print. If you'd like a chance to beta-read The Firelight Isle, but didn't get a chance to contribute to the IndieGoGo campaign, I'm still accepting donations through PayPal, since every penny I raise for the project can be put to use in the production and promotion! I'll leave you with a thumbnail of the thumbnails to give you an idea what I'm intending:


posted by Paul Duffield  # 14:45 2 comments

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Thumbnails away!

Now that the writing process has reached a point where I have a reasonable synopsis, and visual ideas for most (if not all) the scenes in the story, it's time for the thumbnails! Since the last blog entry I've been working to get these rolling, and I've now produced a good amount. I'm estimating that the whole process (including tweaks, edits and so-on) will take me roughly 3 to 4 months, by which time I'll be ready to move onto the final stage, which will be producing finished designs, and a sample section of the comic itself. Here's a quick picture of my working area with all the thumbnails so far spread out!


There are three aides that I'm using, first a sketchbook, where I'll often very quickly scribble an extremely tiny, rough version of a thumbnail to make sure it's going to work before committing it to a larger piece of paper. I also collect notes, ideas and make brief sketches of details that the thumbnails can't capture in here. The second is the sheet of paper with coloured print and scribbles in the margin. That's a condensed synopsis with editing notes attached for quick reference. The last is my laptop with a bunch of text fleshing out the story, and more importantly, a big list of "things still do to or fix" that I address as I draw! It's a tricky and exciting process, but unfortunately not one that leads to a lot of regular material to post on the blog! Please forgive a certain amount of radio-silence while I work to get this done! posted by Paul Duffield  # 08:54 1 comments

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The Story Comes Together + Sponsors.

A fantastic update! Thanks to the support I received through The Indie GoGo campaign, I've been able to dedicate two weeks over the last month to editing, rearranging, polishing and fleshing out the story of The Firelight Isle. I'm really happy with how it has come together, there have been several major shifts in emphasis and a restructuring, and I'm looking forward to the next stage of development which will be thumbnailing/storyboarding. This stage will most likely include its own story edits, and I'll be using it as a tool to decide which designs to focus on.

This is only the first step in the work that the campaign money will cover, but it's perhaps the most important! The funds that were so generously donated through the Indie Gogo campaign have been set aside to use as a basic wage for any day on which I work on the project.

So far, I've spent a few days on research, a few days on admin relating to the campaign, and two weeks on writing. Some of the campaign money has inevitably had to go back into the time it took to produce the trailer and run the campaign whilst it was active, but the majority of the funds are ready and waiting for the bulk of the work, which will be thumbnailing, design and visual reseach.


I can also announce a new section of the site for the following sponsors!

Labels: funding, sponsors, writing

posted by Paul Duffield  # 13:32 0 comments

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All quiet on the internet front

A quick status update for everyone interested in the project! Following the successful funding campaign, things have gone a bit quiet on the the blog because of two things! First of all, I'm now seriously engaged in working on the Firelight Isle - as close to full time as possible. Secondly, there has been a lot of admin to get through regarding the campaign funds and the perks!

I'm currently working intensely on the writing, fleshing out the details of previously sketchy scenes, and also grappling with quite a major change to the plot which has required a lot of re-organisation. Thankfully the rearranging seems to be going quite smoothly, although to begin with it felt like picking up and untangling freshly boiled spaghetti. At the risk of being totally cryptic, the plot element I removed has been bothering me for quite some time - it has always felt a bit incongruous beside the rest of the story, and I have a feeling I was including it only because it was a straight forward way to add drama to the plot. One of those sounds-good-in-the-synopsis-but-not-in-detail moments.

Unfortunately whilst working directly on the plot and storyboarding, there isn't really much to preview on the blog that wouldn't prematurely give away story details. I'll have to make do with occasional updates to say how I'm doing in general.

Labels: funding, writing

posted by Paul Duffield  # 14:09 0 comments

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Interview about The Firelight Isle

 I was recently asked to do an interview about The Firelight Isle on a comic news site! Here's a quick taster, and you can read the rest at the website itself.

CB)  First one is easy, tells us a little about The Firelight Isle? Where did the idea come from and what is the story you want to tell with it?

PD)  The Firelight Isle is a story I've been wanting to tell for a long time! I've always been a fan of fantasy, science fiction and surreal or magical storytelling, and I've always had a desire to write my own stories, so for most of my life I've had a grand writing project in mind that has gone through different incarnations (inspired by whoever my favourite authors were at the time)! When I started work as a professional artist, I began to realise just how much work is involved in creating epic, multi-volume stories and graphic novels, and so I ended up focussing on completing shorter stories. At that point, Freakangels started, and I spent 4 years working on that, during which time the hectic schedule and intense work on Warren's script taught me a lot about both writing and drawing long form stories. When Freakangels finished, I found that my desire to create a longer piece had been rekindled, and I considered it the best time to try to establish myself as a writer as well as an artist. I broke down all of my early story ideas, and mined them for inspiration, taking all sorts of fragments, and reworking them into a new piece, which became The Firelight Isle. So it's a new story with long roots!

The story I want to tell is very much a character and culture focussed piece, a fantasy that feels like it could well be taking place on some distant world that might really exist. Its themes include friendship and coming of age, along with faith and segregation. I've tried to assimilate as much information as I can on human culture in a short time so that the world it takes place in will be both familiar and surprising. It's hard to describe the plot in a movie-pitch style, since it's more of a slice-of-life style story that includes some grander elements.

CB)  Can you tell us about the main characters, what their names are and why you felt they were the right choice to tell the story with?

PD) The two main characters are both the same age (around 16), and have known each other since their earliest memories, and been fast friends ever since...

Read the rest of the interview on Comic Bastards

Labels: interviews

posted by Paul Duffield  # 10:00 0 comments

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Azul Poster

Quick art update! Here's the finished image of Azul as a promo poster!


Feel free to spread it round and post it on your blogs, twitters, bookfaces and etc!!

Labels: artwork, Azul, design

posted by Paul Duffield  # 19:08 0 comments

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