Towy---A New Speacialist Strip

I've produced specialist strips before.

Normally, when doing this kind of work, it is best to have more than a passing understanding of the subject matter in hand; ie: if you wish to do a cartoon about classic cars, it would be a good idea if you have either had a classic car, re-built one or at least attended classic car rallies as a genuine enthusiast.

That said, if your mind is as fertile as mine, and you are willing to research with diligence the subject of your choice, then any specialist strip is not completely beyond your grasp; one such case in point is the Towy strip below---a new strip that I am about to start touting around all the specialist horse and countryside magazines world wide.

Now I have never owned a horse and only ridden one briefly, and even then not very successfully---due largely to the fact that the saddle wasn't properly strapped on---and after a few short minutes in the saddle, neither was I.

Anyway, that was a long time ago and since that day I have had nothing to do with our equine friends---other than to admire them in fields as I pass by on my way from point A to point B via almost every other letter in the alphabet and a few stray Greek ones---but all that was to change when I met Jayne.

Jayne and the real Tywy

Jayne, put simply, is the love of my life and a horse loving fanatic. She has two horses of which one in Towy (or to give her her correct spelling Tywy---the Welsh spelling---I just changed it to Towy so it would be easier to read and definitely less confusing for all you none 'Welshies' out there).

Anyway, after spending much time with these two beautiful horses and their crazy owner, I began to see the comic possibilities in them, and a the gags began to write themselves.

Initially Towy was going to be a full page cartoon with no words, but after completing them I decided to re-do the lot only in the more traditional comic strip format. I did this as space is always at a premium and a big issue for editors, and if they liked the cartoon and were teetering upon the precipice of buying my strip, I didn't want 'space issues' to be the door by which they escaped from. I also changed Towy's colour from black to brown, simply because the horses expressions would've been too confusing if produced in black.

Towy then became the independent, free thinking, mind bending, vet hating, farrier flirting, none-fool suffering, free spirit she is now. She has an owner, although that is a laughable tag, as any horse person will tell you that when you own a horse, the last thing you are is their boss. At best you are their cook, masseur, exerciser, unpaid slave and producer of Polo Mints and other tasty treats; and Towy personifies all these traits and many more in my strip.

Anyway, without anymore preamble, I give you the six sample strips I will be sending out to any and every market available to Towy.

Enjoy

Okay, so on an extra note, and purely for your whole behind-the-scenes-insight-into-a-cartoonists-working-patterns-and-mind-set thing, here's a few of the full page, pantomime (techie word for 'silent strips') pages.

Roswell-Update

Do you remember this picture? The one I posted here and explained all about? Of course you do, you are true to my cause for self-publishing world domination and know about everything I do, and for that I thank you most graciously.

As you will remember from the post I mentioned that I was going to produce Roswell as a weekly webcomic, just like Brabbles & Boggitt but on its own site. But I've had a change of heart, a change in direction: now I may just publish Roswell as single, self contained story and go straight through to the printed comic book route as well as the new Kindle Comics Creator, a new way to view your comics on phones, kindles, ipads, computers and other tablets. This way I get the chance to produce them and place them at your disposal a lot quicker (hopefully).

That said I thought the very least I could do was to produce the first page of artwork and show you how the page and layouts are going to look.

Roswell will be produced along the U.S. comicbook size and not my normal European look.

The American format offers a different approach and almost encourages you to be more creative with the format. The European look is normally more rigid: four rows of one, two or three panels per row with a half page splash at the beginning. I tried to change that with my Brabbles & Boggitt look but they have their format for a reason and it doesn't bend too well. But the U.S. comicbook format is perfect for stories that require one big splash image to pages that need a dozen images, and I'm looking forward to exploring this new format and size with Roswell.

But like with all my projects, I will be keeping you updated as to its progress and to that end I gladly furnish you with the first page.

The whole 22-28 page story will be lavishly coloured and packed with the slap stick tom-foolery you've come to expect from me. I hope you like it and will keep coming back for more updates and sample pieces of artwork: I won't be publishing too many pages---wouldn't want to spoil the story for you now would I? But I do promise plenty of snippets and hopefully a behind the scenes look at the production process.

I'm planning on producing the Roswell comic as a full colour book, but that will bump up the end unit cost. A black and white will be cheaper but not as easy on the eye, so I would appreciate any input you have on the whole colour vs black and white thing.

The story I'm sticking to, the art and design I'm sticking to but the pricing, now that's what effects you, my readers and followers, so what would you prefer?

Either way, please keep coming back for more about Roswell, Sleepy Hamlet, I Told You She Wouldn't Believe Me! (my next children's book) plus whatever else pops into my odd-ball mind.

If you like my blog and the things that I say and do, please tell your friends; mention me on Facebook, Twitter and any of the other fine social media networking sites you use. I would love to have my work reach a much larger audience and although I could no doubt eventually get there under my own steam, I'll get there a lot quicker with your help, so please, please spread the word.

Thank you