Image Crazy 99! Ok, maybe it's just the third one, but I thought I'd share...

Yeah, I know it's a crazy number of images, but that's the point! Welcome to my mind, people! What happens to me when I'm writing, or should I say when I'm in a creative mode, is that other ideas start popping into my head. Rather than consider them distractions to the stories I'm working on, I welcome them, flush them out, and get them out of my mind by writing as much as I can in a short period of time.

I've probably talked about my process before, but when I get that initial idea, I try to get to my computer, open a file and brain dump as much as I can out at the same time. It's a loose plot and dialog and whatever else might pop up... names, locations, time, whatever happens to come out. I'd say it's a brainstorm, but I don't limit myself in any way, I just throw what I can out in as large chunks as possible. In the end, I'll end up with anywhere between a page and a handful of pages and I can set it aside until I get back to it again. The nice thing about co-writing with someone, if you do that, is you can take that same brain dump, throw it into a Google Doc (I recommend it if you haven't tried it), and bat it back and forth, organizing as you go along, add, subtract, separate into different files, etc... in the end, you have something you can almost start scripting from. Over the past handful of months, I've ended up with over 30 of these "little" brain dumps ranging from solo projects to things I've worked on with Michael Nelsen, etc... So there you have it!!!

What you have is... Unfiltered, written by Me with art by Jason Baroody... Unbeatables, created by Michael Nelsen and I with art by Michael Nelsen.... "TLA" created by myself and Michael Nelsen... pen "doodle" by Michael... The Evil Tree written by me with art by Denman Rooke... My Detective book, written by me with Art by Sachin Nagar... Any lettering you see is done by me, I try to do all of my own lettering, but sometimes I get some help. ;)

Have fun and please go check out the Bearded Lady site, it's getting ready to go through some SERIOUS changes!

Thanks,
Erik
erik@beardedladyonline.com

Patience and persistance can pay off in the end...

Seems like many many moons ago, I started talking with Sachin Nagar about my detective book XXXXXXXXX (no, still not slipping on the name). I honestly have over 180 pages of script ready to go as well as TONS of info to get me beyond that. I'm not going to call it an epic, just a great story with plots and sub-plots, which keep it going. Don't forget the mysteries involved... always something behind the scenes to figure out.
Originally, I came up with the idea back in November and started working with an artist shortly thereafter. I was fired up and he was fired up, so I was cranking out scripts, just knowing, "this is the one." After a while, life got on the way of my poor artist and he had to bail out. Common story in comic book land, at least in the pre-production phases. He has taken a different path and I wish him luck, actually! He's had some luck, done some covers for publications, etc...
For a time, I gave up on finding an artist because the ones I was trying to work with didn't really match up with what I was looking for on this book. Eventually, though, Sachin popped up with this amazing artwork and from the first rendering of the main characters, I was sold on his style.





Here we are a few months later and we're just about ready to get a submission package sent out... I'm excited, of course... this is one of those books I've been waiting MONTHS to send to publishers, eager for feedback, eager to get moving on the book, etc... I guess that's the problem with writing too far ahead, huh?
Hope you enjoy the images! More to come, as always.