Hey There!
Happy Thursday! I hope you’re all having a good week. If you saw my Instagram posts yesterday, you know that I’ve got an exciting announcement about Concrete Arcanum, the anthology where Olive and the Ogre, the four-page story I’m working on with Sara Setna, will appear. As always, feel free to check out my video update or continue reading to learn more!
Okay, so what is this big announcement, you ask! Well, we recently found out that NY Times bestselling writer and artist Ben Templesmith will be contributing to the anthology!
Ben is probably best known for his work on 30 Days of Night, which he created with writer Steve Niles, and Fell, which he created with Warren Ellis. Other books of his include Hellspawn, Gotham by Midnight, and so many more! He has several Eisner nominations and is just a very impressive creator overall.
There’s a Facebook group for the creators who are involved with Concrete Arcanum, and over the last few months, I’ve watched as a lot of them have started posting their artwork. It has been really lovely to see how much these creators care about their craft and are invested in the anthology, and so to have an artist of Ben’s caliber come on board is really gratifying.
It also makes me a little nervous because it means a lot more eyes will be on the project. And of course, exposure for my work is what I very much want — it’s what all creators hope for! But the impostor syndrome has come knocking. I’m doing my best to ignore it, though, and for the most part, I think it’s working.
In more Olive and the Ogre news, Sara Setna is wrapping up her finalized pages and they’re looking just awesome! I really love her design for Glarf, the ogre. He looks totally ogreish but also pretty adorable and it’s just perfect. Check out more of Sara’s work on her Instagram and her ArtStation page.
And click here to sign up to be notified when Concrete Arcanum goes live on Kickstarter on September 12.
On the No Spell Lasts Forever front, Aimee Hawley is moving forward with the next batch of pencils and I just really love what she’s doing. There are a couple panels where there’s some tricky spatial stuff going on, but she pulls it off masterfully. I always love seeing her art in my inbox! I recommend taking a look at her artwork on her Instagram and her website.
As far as comics I’m reading, I’ve been continuing with Outcast, by Robert Kirkman and Paul Azaceta and it just keeps getting better (SPOILERS AHEAD). One of the things I was thinking about earlier this week was how the theme of trust plays out in multiple different relationships. Kyle initially has to decide to trust Reverend Anderson, even though he doesn’t share his religious views. And then that trust is tested later on when Anderson takes some fairly extreme actions. When Allison and Kyle are reunited, she has to make the decision to trust him again. Daphne initially has to decide whether she’s going to trust basically anyone in the group. And Matthew Anderson discovers a newfound sense of trust for his father when he realizes the seemingly impossible things he had been telling him his whole life were actually true. So if you haven’t read it, I recommend it!
Well, that’s pretty much it for me this week. As always, I’d love to connect with you on Instagram, @saracookewriter and @nospellcomic.
Have a great day!
Best,
Sarah