Lettering progress, and new site!

While I'm still waiting on Renzo to send me the cover and the last 11 pages, I've finished the first half of the lettering! Balloon Tales has an excellent tutorial on lettering with Adobe Illustrator. It's bloody hard to draw the balloons nicely by hand, but in Illustrator you can make professional-looking balloons that don't sacrifice that hand-drawn look.



Working through that has also taught me a lot about using Illustrator itself, and will be no end of useful in the future. For now, though, there's more exciting stuff... such as the new existence of Toffsbury.com!

The site's still under construction as I figure out how Wordpress and ComicPress work, and while graphic design choices are being made. There are some character concepts up there right now, and before too long there will be actual comics. Huzzah! At the same time, the shopping around to publishers begins. It's just a matter of those pages coming in...

Still here

Again, it's been some time since the last update. The pressures of school coupled with some uncontrollable delays have slowed the project down, but it's still going, and hopefully I'll have the final art soon. I just got a new computer that won't collapse when you try to draw a line, so the lettering can begin once (a) my essays are finished and (b) the art's all in. When the 20th (essay due date) is past, there will be a proper website with proper content up. Huzzah!

Meanwhile, a bit more art. While I had gone in with the idea of traditional comic artwork - bold colours, solid inks - Renzo came up with a great style I hadn't thought about, painting colour directly over the pencils for a rough but gorgeous effect. Take a look:

Progress...

It's been some time, again, since my last update. Things have been moving along. I haven't started the fund-raising yet, due to a lack of material and just being too bloody busy at school and work... but we've started moving anyway, and things are looking good. It's a great feeling, to see someone absorbing your words and transforming them into picture - and Renzo definitely knows what he's doing.

So far we've got character concepts and rough outlines of the first 11 pages. I won't share it all just yet, but here's a little sample to slake your thirst:

Professor Entropy (concept)

Artist found!

It's been a while since I mentioned the good news in the previous post, and I spent a week in Michigan and Chicago since then. But all is confirmed now, the contract is signed - Toffsbury has an artist!

Renzo Podesta has done some great work in comics already, and has a style that I can see matching Toffsbury really well. Click through the first issue of Hard Drive... it's beautiful stuff. Come back for some sample art before too long.

Meanwhile, Bryan is generously working on a bit of mockup art for use in the upcoming launch of the fundraising site. Soon you'll be able to make a contribution to putting Toffsbury, Destructo, and the rest of 'em onto paper, and get some nice benefits in return. More on this when the site is launched.

It's a bit stressful but very exciting to be embarking on this right at the beginning of my final year of Master's work while heading up an important initiative at work, but it's busy people who get things done, right? I can't wait.

Good news coming!

I've got to confirm a couple of things, but it looks like I've got me an artist. Watch this space for an update soon...

Toffsbury's character

My friend Henry (in no way the basis for Toffsbury's manservant, except, well, kind of) asked me what I find likeable about Toffsbury's character. I decided to post it here, for one and all to see what our hero is like.

He's an extremely wealthy, high-ranking noble, but he's snobbish. Though he's very much ingrained within an outdated class system, he'' befriend and protect anyone with good character or need, even the absolute lowest of the underclass (something you'll see further down the line).

He's kind of blind to the real world, and his way of thinking is completely outdated (after all, he believes in the British Empire and carries a flintlock pistol), but when it comes down to it, he is absolutely set on doing what he thinks is right.

He's a bit thickheaded in certain ways, particularly when it comes to seeing the world as it really is... but he genuinely wants to do good.

He is kind and generous and empathetic, in his somewhat blind way, and he takes hardship in stride. Even when brought to his lowest, he believes in justice and his duty to the people of England, and he'll fight to defend them. He perseveres against anything.

He's generally got a positive, pleasant outlook. He'll get annoyed on occasion, certainly, and his temper can be quick (especially if you've ruined his cognac or spilled his tea), but he tries to be understanding. He wants to see the good in everyone - even a heavily-armed, hulking thug who's pointing an energy cannon at him.

He's a strong character, and sometimes (in a goodhearted but kind of simple way) believes he's more capable than he really is, but he loves and even depends on his friends.

Taking it public

Hello! This blog is hopefully the beginning of a great adventure, as I finally take the next steps to get Roland Toffsbury, Gentleman Superhero off the ground.

Toffsbury is a British nobleman, sworn to protect the British Empire from her deadliest enemies with sword and flintlock. A bit of Bertie Wooster and a bit of James Bond, he and Henry, his Chinese manservant, battle for Queen, country, and Earl Grey tea against ruffians, scoundrels, and all manner of high-tech evildoers.

Though he lives in the present, his mind is stuck around 1910. Still, he holds his own against Machiavellian misanthropes with murderous machines, and mechanically-armored henchmen with troubled marriages, all with a certain amount of flair and elan.

...

Toffsbury will be a graphic novel, broken into 12 issues at 22 pages apiece. The project started in 2007, when I was reading the DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics. I read a passage, saying (and I paraphrase), "Nobody wants to see your hero waking up, getting dressed, and having breakfast." I thought, "I could make that interesting." And I sketched out a page. Then the page became an issue. Then that became two. Then that became a plot for an entire graphic novel of tremendous ambition. Seven scripts of 12 are written, waiting to drawn.

Unfortunately, due to my lowly status as a student, I have never been able to afford to hire an artist to make the project happen. I've had a few very interested freelancers agree to a royalty-sharing deal, but all had to drop out when paying gigs came along.

I'm hoping now to use Kickstarter to help bring this story to life. I've placed ads and received submissions from quite a few extremely talented people, and hopefully I can raise the funds to hire one of them on. I'll be using this space to keep track of the search and the funding situation.

Here, meanwhile, are a few concept drawings, courtesy of Bryan Lawton, my first supporter on the Toffsbury project.

Toffsbury (The clothes look good, but the man should look a bit more heroic)


Professor Entropy (Original sketch - yes, the proportions aren't great, but I love that face and that pose)


Professor Entropy (Closer to complete - needs an adjustment in the back)


Destructo (Nearly there. The hair's not quite it, and he needs a few adjustments around the crotch, torso, and shoulders)


Gertrude (Destructo's wife)


Lord Borrington