Creators of New England

Greetings and salutations!

I should introduce myself I suppose. Though operating under the assumption that a picture is worth some random larger number of words I’ll toss an image in at this point.

Sal! (Salamandra for long)

I’m a freelance illustrator and sequential artist currently in Portland Maine (but soon bound for the UK) This image is the opening two page spread from “Personal Demons“. This is a project that has been cooking for quite a few years now. I started on my own but was fortunate enough to meet the brilliant UK author Brynneth Colvin. She was interested in the story and now writes it!

The art style is an unholy union of my love for dark lit and art, and the Manga visual style. We’re serializing the first book online currently and seeking publication for the print version of the series.

The story is set on the island of Hopeless, Maine which is an isolated and very strange place.  To learn more about the location and quaint customs and “wildlife” you could peruse the Hopeless Vendetta. (this being the best and only newspaper produced on the island) There is also a Hopeless based novel in the works (by in the works, I mean Brynneth has already written it, and though i have done the cover art, i haven’t got the interior art sorted just yet, and..once again, publisher as yet uncertain)

I have what many would probably consider an unhealthy love for this medium and this has been the case since something like the age of five. I’m very grateful to Neil Gaiman for proving that it can also be damn fine lit as well. We’re hoping to follow his lead. (keeping in mind what Ursula K. Le Guin said-”Good art IS entertaining”)

If you’d like to see more of the art there is a lot of it here.

Mostly, I draw and drink coffee.

Tom Brown

I’m Sarah, and I’m a cartoonist from Kennebunk, Maine. I have a pretty profound attachment to the Portland indie comics scene and am one of the organizers of Maine Cartoonists, a casual group that meets once in a while to share projects, advice, etc. I’ve been watching blogs with multiple authors for a while now and figured why not start one, but include talent from all over New England? The internet is so convenient, why not start a “roundtable” here?

I’m a freelance illustrator and designer and am currently contracted to work on educational games out of Boston. I do web design too, as you can probably see. I’m finishing up my degree in Communications & New Media and have a chinchilla named Cosmic Creepus.

My current big project is Under the Apple Tree, a comic based off the history and ghost stories of my hometown. It takes place during WWII and follows the experience of a girl who moves into a haunted house. It’s available to read online and the first issue will be available in print at the Maine Comic Arts Festival in May!

Coming up with ideas is hard enough, but then you have to do the long hard slog to flush them out, bring all your skills and talents to bare and hopefully complete something. That’s the challenge to those brave or foolish (or a combination of those) to attempt a comic book project. My biggest challenge has been to keep my head above the the waters of doubt and confusion. I mean, once you know how the story ends,  you’re done, right? The truth is you’ve just begun, because you are Director, Writer, Star, Production Designer, Editor and Producer all rolled into one. This appeals to the control freak in me, but the shear amount of work and time involved is truly daunting.  My latest personal project, Geeples, is a story I started a LONG time ago, when I was a kid. It has taken me a long time to figure out what kind of story it really is and how to approach it as a storyteller. It may not take you decades to figure your story out like it did me, but be prepared for a long slog.

Have I told you I want to be an animator?! That’s a story for a different day.

Welcome to The Collective, a collaborative blog set up for comic creators and cartoonists from the New England area! For a long time I’ve watched such great multi-contributor websites such as Gorilla Artfare, and finally realized there’s no reason we couldn’t start our own. There’s a massive amount of talent here and something like this could be an excellent way to share our projects and get support.

If you’re interested in joining, read up on the “About” page. Members will be given their own account to post with and can contribute links and other things to help this community grow.