A couple of days ago I got the 6th card back from Snow, one of the two artists, for Where There is No Night. There were some parts that needed tweaking and we worked it out with an easy fix. I’m learning so much from this graphic novel project. I’m learning how to build a comic team, how to write comic script, how to work with artists and also be part of an artistic team. It’s pushing my skill as a visual artist and also as a manager. I’ve noticed that even in professional settings I speak with more authority than I did and I think that confidence boost I got from managing a team has really helped me accomplish more in my day job too. Thanks to my long time friend, Eve, for being my female creative professional mentor. I couldn not have made some of the big boss decisions I’ve made without her mentorship. I don’t think she knows how much I value her professional advice. She’s a professional in the art world, which is super hard

At this time in my life, nothing gives me more joy than storyboarding my graphic novel through creating Tarot cards with Fire and Fang Studios and Snow, my artist I accidentally outsourced from the Philippines (lololol. Look at how good of a business woman I am! Already outsourcing).It’s been really cool working with an all female staff to create a queer leaning, magical, Gnostic myth that discusses women’s issues and spiritual alchemy through fashion, action and occult symbolism. I’ve already made several fans upset with the themes discussed but the bottom line is, you can’t please everyone …

Getting over my ego has been a huge part of this process too.

I wanted the staff to look like this — female, international and ballsy. It took six years but I finally pulled together a creative team that is bringing my vision into the 2D and I hope some day to the 3D with a movie or TV show … but that’s every artists’ dream?

Just seeing the scenes I wrote come to life blows my mind. I think this is a dream for a lot of writers and even though this is all indie right now, I like what I’m seeing and the art seems to be doing well on my Pinterest. People also like watching me build inspiration boards who are following the story (according to my stats) and I’m playing with fun marketing ideas. I got the finished line work yesterday and it’s a beautiful one. I was really blown away by the skyline and the details in the garden. It captures the feeling of the wealth I’m trying to portray perfectly. Can’t wait to see what I can do with laying the color on.

The one thing people who follow my art have said to me that I find interesting is that my use of color is vibrant. That got me thinking about how we as humans perceive color. I wanted the story to be dark and gothic but it’s more like a shoujo anime in a really good way. It makes me wonder how some of the other really dark scenes will play at.

Then it’s on to starting to dream up the card for the next chapter. It makes me look forward to the darker half of the year when I do most of my writing because I think better at night. This is going to be a long haul project but although it’s a hell of a lot of work for me, I appreciate that I’m creating something I find beautiful to share with the world in these dark times.