2023 Recap
Interior Art from upcoming Legends Of Lys Annual 3
Happy New Year!
Thank you once again for joining me in a year recap. I really enjoy getting to sit down and outline project updates and highlights from the year art wise. What happened to monthly updates from August through November? Well I started creating monthly updates on my youtube channel to change things up a bit. You can watch all of those updates here! With the end of the year post I wanted to return to a fully written blog post, so I hope you enjoy it!
2023 proved to be a really challenging year. Personally I encountered alot of family struggles; cornerstones in the history of my life and others were shattered in strange ways. People that were reliant on one another are now alienated and fixed pointedly in a different direction. These themes and experiences weigh heavily on me, it is a tough new reality that my family is faced with and those that are like minded and remain are binding together to face this fractured future.
I think that these experiences show in my work over the last year; siblings in direct conflict that explodes into a full blown war, a master manipulator pulling threads from behind the scenes, seemingly defeated heroes needing to dig deep and wield strength they never have before. These are just some of the threads that I can trace and relate to. I hope that somewhere in the nuances of my work in 2023 I was able to process and reconcile with some of these situations and behaviors. I’m being purposely vague but im sure that readers can relate to family struggles, whether they be on the page or in reality.
if you are part of my circle it is by choice and I appreciate having you in my orbit. I’m not one to share in a public place like this but being my website and a reflection of the year I feel its appropriate. I think its helpful to peel back the layers of a creator to understand what is influencing them in their lives, their personal struggles and conflicts that have an impact on the page.
from Boston Kids Comic Fest, June 2023.
It all feels very raw and vulnerable and I’m hoping that some of what the people in my life are going through makes them stronger and more developed in the long run. thanks for being here and for reading my update, now onto focusing on active projects and some updates for the coming 2024 year.
Legends of Lys – My main comic title continued to make steady progress throughout 2023. I have finished all of the interior artwork for volume 3 and I’m now lettering the last issue of the trade. I’d say its about 85% complete, I still have the bigger portion of the last issue and back matter to work through.
I’ve also started drawing Legends Annual 3 which brings Talos back to the forefront but also lets some of my characters cross over and play. Along with working through new material I sold out of the older first trade paperback of Legends Volume 1. This gave me the opportunity to update the cover and trade dress a bit so its now back in print!
Current Status: Volume 3 in progress, due out in 2024. Annual 3 is being drawn and will debut on my website in 2024. Legends Volumes 1 and 2 are available now!
Fenrir & The Escape From The Deep: The sister book to Legends of Lys is done! The trade paperback is available and selling healthily. I had alot of fun sharing this book at shows this year and I’m itching to get back to my favorite wolf guy. Look for him in next years Legends Annual 3!
Current Status: Completed, trade paperback is available here
The Expeditions Of Atlas Clarke: Atlas is finally out in the world! The trade paperback being complete is so satisfying for Cory and myself. I am truly so proud of this book and thank everyone for their support this year with the book. The first printing sold out almost immediately! I’m also longing to get back into this world and work with Atlas some more, but you need to bug Cory about that one.
Current Status: Completed. Trade paperback is available here
Fenrir & The Feral Swordsmen - the next Fenrir story is going through some rewrites at the moment. I had a loose outline for a story and the beats I wanted to hit but with the addition of a pit stop for Pom and Fen in Legends Annual 3, I think this might alter some things for Fen 2. I’m still designing characters and working towards things, more to come!
Current Status: Pre-production; Character designs in progress and script refining.
Legends Of Lys: War Of The Storms - the fourth volume of legends is still in preproduction. I’m writing outlines and scripts and have a general sense of the story. I’ve also been working more on character designs for this story.
Current Status: Pre-Production; Character designs in progress and outlines in progress.
Other Projects
The Ten Rings: The novel continues, not alot of progress made in 2023. I spent some time rewriting a few portions of part 1 and struggled a bit on some chapters in part 2. Given how busy a lot of my comic work was this year along with shows and commissions I didn’t dedicate a lot of time to this.
Current status: In Progress; I’m currently working on the 2nd part to the book. I’ve completed part 1 and its interludes and have parts 2 and 3 outlined.
Cosmonaut: A resurrected project from years past that I am fine tuning and really only keeping the name. This will be my next foray into comic sci fi starring Halbert, a character from Ten Rings that I have interest in exploring. I’ve really only done some character designs for this and some outlines.
Current Status: Pre-Production, In progress.
One Halloween Night– An anthology comic I’ve been kicking around for some time. I have a few story ideas that I’ve been refining and I’m planning to start drawing in 2024.
Current status: Pre-production, In Progress
Tendonitus Vol. 1 – Artbook that I have been teasing for a few years showing behind the scenes look and sketches of projects as I work on them. I have started to compile some images that would be appropriate for the art book and I’m looking into layout design and how I want it presented.
Current Status: Pre production
Hypershock: I did not make any new progress with Hypershock in 2023.
Current Status: Paused.
From Kids Con New England, November 2023
I also wanted to take a moment to thank all of the wonderful hosts of 2023 for having me at conventions, in store appearances and craft fairs. My list of events was much bigger than the last few years and I had a blast. Here are all the appearances I made in 2023!
Shows from 2023
5/6/ FCBD - Silvermoon In Store
6/3/ - Boston Kids Comic Fest
8/19-Plastic City Comic Con
8/20 - Pages and Pints Expo
10/29 - Silvermoon In Store
11/8 - PCIS Literary Night
11/11 - Kids Con New England
11/12 - Pages & Pints 2
11/14 - Beverly YMCA Craft Fair
12/2 - Lynn Public Library Craft Fair
if you are still with me, thank you. I think in this crucial time its important to have these creative outlets but also to acknowledge and honor the supporters in your life and elevate them if you can. Be kind to one another, happy new year
B!
