Espiratu Mali

I am now working on my third graphic novel, Espiratu Mali. If you go to my Facebook Page "My Graphic Novels" you will see some of the images that I have completed for this book. In my first graphic novel, "... Or Die Trying", I introduced Rissa. Rissa's mother had some unique mystical powers that were handed down to her from her mother, and to her mother from her grandmother, and so on. Upon her death, she passed those powers on to Rissa. As the tradition for eons was mother passed these powers to first born daughter. Many generations after Rissa's death, the linage continued. However, at this point in my story, the latest matriarch gave birth to twins: Holly and Molly. Holly was moments older than Molly and was destined to assume her mother's mysical powers. Holly was mentored by her mother in the attributes of her powers and the beliefs behind them. Molly, on the other hand, was ignored. If Holly was the good daughter, then Molly clearly was the evil one. She was fixated on perfecting her evil. She sought out training in the dark arts. And when she felt she was ready she killed her sister, and then killed her mother, and thus inherited the mystical powers. Molly then changed her name to Mali, Espiratu Mali to be exact. She devotes her new found knowledge and powers to finding immortality and greater powers.

How I Started

I had always envied those who could draw, people who could create a world of images with just a pencil and paper. I attempted to doodle, but I was not very impressed with the results of my efforts. Then came the age of computers. I found that even though I could not draw, I did have an eye for graphic arts. One of the first programs I loaded on my personal computer was Harvard Graphics. This was back in the late 1980's. I did not know many people with a home computer. Harvard Graphics came with a rather thick manual, and dozens of "floppy disks" to be installed. I did not find Harvard Graphics intuitive but with a bit of effort I was creating page layouts, birthday cards, and newsletters that looked pretty good.

Page layout is one thing, but it is not the type of original art that I yearned to create. I still could not draw.

I was always a decent storyteller. Even as a young teen, I used to keep my younger cousins entertained with ad libbed stories of Captain BooBah, a ghostly pirate who sailed the skies in a ghoulish Jolly Roger looking for children to kidnap.

I tried writing novels. In fact, I started three. All decent stories, but I just did not have the work ethic to write on a regular basis. I knew the stories in my mind, but I was not interested enough in the work involved to submit them to paper. And so, these novels remained on my hard drive only a few pages completed.

Then, about five years ago I discovered DAZ 3D Studio.  This free software allowed me to create the type of original artwork I had always wished I could produce. My earliest DAZ artworks were rather primative, rather simplistic. But I was proud of them. I studied the works of other DAZ artists, asked questions and experimented. My images were improving.

I decided to try combining my storytelling with my new found ability to create images. My first effort was "The Statue," a six panel illustrated story. 

I found that I equally enjoyed creating the artwork and writing the story. In fact, one would stimulate the desire to do the other. A story would trigger an image in my head that I was challenged to create. And, an image would trigger storylines.

I made a short story for my son, Andrew, which I titled "Allegory." And I also made him a birthday card short story. Cards were becoming fun. I created a birthday card and a get-well card for my nephew, Louis.

I tried to develop longer stories for my artwork.  And so, I wrote "Once Upon a Time."  I created approximately 70 images to illustrate the story. 

While my artwork was still improving, and I was proud of what I was creating, I knew my art was a far cry from some of the masterpieces I saw from other DAZ artists. However, my artwork coupled with my stories gave me a product that was better than what I was seeing elsewhere.

I was feeling confident enough in what I could accomplish that I decided to create my first graphic novel. I used DAZ to created the images; Microsoft Word to create the text; and Adobe PageMaker to put them together. It took me 18 months to finish "... Or Die Trying." I brought my completed files to a  local printer, and paid for the printing of five copies of the 110-page, 250 images, graphic novel.

I tried to find a publisher for the book. However, given the 250 full color images, I could not find anyone interested. So I turned to a self-publishing company, Createspace.com. While the quality of image reproduction was not up to my standards, I was able to sell my book on Amazon.com.