Just last week, we submitted our THIRD entry to Zuda, a collaboration with artist Caesar Garcia (check out Caesar’s art here). I can’t say much of anything about the piece due to Zuda’s submission guidelines, but I CAN show off our previous entries – one with Amanda and one Caesar submitted on his own. Of course, The Blind Eye also started as a Zuda submission, but those first eight screens and the 10 we’ve released since are viewable on this same website, so you better’ve read those already! Today, Amanda and I are releasing, for the first time ever, our initial Zuda submission, Maskers! You can view all 13 screens that we completed in order in our Library!
Maskers - 1st Zuda Entry
Now, allow me to qualify a few things about Maskers. It was our FIRST effort at a collaboration – and my first honest-to-goodness comic script. That’s our excuse for its obvious shortcomings. The pacing is rushed, the panels are cramped and often hard to follow, and much of Amanda’s gorgeous art is covered up with word balloons and the enclosed exposition, all of which should have been handled more elegantly. As incredulous as I was two years ago when Maskers was rejected, I’m equally as aghast now that we ever thought it had a chance! Regardless, it was a terrific learning experience that cemented the creative synergy between Amanda and myself and pushed me to learn better how to script and, more technically, how to letter a comic. The advancements in our efforts to master the craft are obvious when comparing Maskers to The Blind Eye.
Caesar Garcia's The Bridge
Caesar is gracious enough to allow us to post his previous Zuda entry, The Bridge, on our website as well, and it’s pretty clear he was EONS beyond us in terms of pacing, composition and overall craft when he submitted his first comic to Zuda. Check it out, also in our Library! One of the really cool (and fun) things that came out of our collaboration was combining our very distinct sets of skills and experience to create the work that we turned in to Zuda Thursday a week ago. That project has NOTHING in common with either of those posted for your enjoyment today, but I always think it’s important to display work for public consumption even if it’s not being continued, whatever the reason.
We’ll keep you updated on http://blindeyecomic.com as well as the Zuda message boards and our social networking apparatus as we do (or don’t) hear something on this latest Zuda effort. In the meantime, The Blind Eye continues twice-weekly updates and will continue to do so on an ongoing basis, no matter what other projects we have going. Rest assured of that.
Look for another blog in the next few days on our other BIG project, ClownTown for Small Press Idol 2010! Our character bios and designs will be up for voting there THIS WEEK and we need your vote to move on in the competition! You will not believe the work Amanda and Caesar have done on these characters! Watch for it!
