Giving Them Faces
I’m having a lot of fun with my WIP. I’ve got a growing pile of library books next to my feet, documentaries watched, and a long list of research books still waiting to be checked out and brought home. Quite a few of the documents I’m slogging through are heavy with numbers and graphs, while others offer interviews, giving a human side to the situations I’m exploring. But the books and articles that explore my WIP’s main premise are still a long ways off, a decade or two at least. Nothing to do but watch and see how things develop. It’s all heavy conjecture, right now… and I’ve been diving in head-first. There’s a definite line between intimidating and exhilarating, and I have to tread carefully if I want this to come together the way I think it has the potential to.
But as I’ve been doing research, the rough shape of the story has been coming together: it still could change, and nothing’s in stone, but I’m at least the point where characters are emerging. And I’m so happy to be able to say that! There’s nothing quite like figuring out the faces and postures of a cast. They may not have names yet, but they have birthmarks, histories and personalities. Check out some of the new faces here.
Also, the list of literary agents who represent graphic novels has been updated with Jon Sternfeld of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency. Whether he takes graphic novel queries is unknown, but he represents at least one (signed in April 2009).
Cover Exercises
A few quick updates! I recently offered to design mock-up book cover designs for people interested on my Twitter account, and a few people took me up on it. I’ve added the results of the design exercise to the gallery section. All of the covers were put together pretty quickly as an exercise as I work on other projects, with no more than an afternoon or two working on and off on each. The cover for seen here took the longest, but after a few false starts it’s the one I’m happiest with! The Grey Knight is a dark fantasy novel by one of my fellow FinePrint clients (yay!), Chris Finch, and has a bunch of really appealing visuals… ultimately I went with the city of Highbranch, since I had read about it on his site a month or two ago, and had been drawn to it even then. The cover for Hanging by a Thread came from a concept belonging to C. L. Steele (”a graphic novel about coming out as a lesbian after marriage”) while Jupiter’s Goat was pretty much just a phrase I liked. ;) I have a few more ideas in mind, so I may update again with those soon.
Also, the list of literary agents who represent graphic novels has been updated! Brenda Bowen has joined Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, and you can read an article about what she’s interested in at Publishers Weekly. Take a look if you’re a graphic novel artist/writer interested in finding an agent.
“Bowen will represent authors and illustrators of children’s books for all ages (preschool to teen) as well as, in her words, “graphic novelists, animators and maybe a surprise element or two.”
WIP character sketches
I’m deep in research-mode for my next project– still unnamed, but with a premise I can’t wait to explore. I’ve put up a WIP section on the site so I can share concept art as I flesh ideas and visuals out.
I’ve posted a number of character sketches I’ve been playing with, so take a look!
Welcome!
Welcome to the new and fancied-up niki-smith.com! I’ve given the site a complete overhaul, with more info about past and future projects, including my recent focus: a graphic novel called Highwater. I’ll be posting some concept sketches for my next WIP sometime soon, so readers can follow along as I explore this new story.
I’ve also been keeping a list of literary agents that represent graphic novels up to date, for any aspiring comic creators out there. The list is up to 43 different agencies so far, and is still growing.
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