Liyana is Available on DVD and Blu-ray!
My brother’s first movie is now available for pre-order on DVD and Blu-ray. Shof worked slavishly on Liyana as art director for what seemed like forever. I was lucky enough to see it on the big screen, and it comes highly recommended (biased, though I may be). Directors Aaron and Amanda Kopp put together a touching, poetic and gorgeous piece of work. Get it here!
All Of Them. Take All The Buses.
You wait all day for a bus and suddenly three show up. That’s not true. You chase after a bus all year and suddenly three show up.
Which bus to take though?
All of them.
How We Got a $30,000 Grant To Work On Our Afrofuturist Comic
2019 was going to rock for our little Afrofuturist comic, Outcasts of Jupiter. I said as much at the start of the year, but I’m not sure I really believed it.
I knew it represented a crossroads for Shof and me on the book. After five years of spinning our wheels, we felt a desperate need to tell the story we began in a Kickstarter in 2014. So we looked for comic book grants online.
I can tell you that searching for comic book grants online doesn’t return a whole lot of truly viable options. Most of what you’ll find is relatively small (but nonetheless vital and welcome) endowments that focus on funding a modest self-publishing run, or covering the cost of materials.
We needed something more.
When we found a grant that pledged $30,000 to support the production of a creator-owned comic, we thought it was too good to be true. We applied anyway. One year later, here we are, working on an Afrofuturist epic, getting sent monthly checks to support the building of a brand new science fiction universe of our own design.
Shof and I were awarded the 2019 Creators for Creators Grant, and I kinda feel the need to talk about it, because I believe it’s an incredibly important and unique grant for the medium. More people need to know about it.
What is the grant, and how does it work?
- You get $30,000 paid out over the course of one year, in support of the creation of a 64-100 page comic book or graphic novel.
- Single cartoonist or writer/artist duos welcome.
- An incredibly simple application process. Look.
- It’s an international grant, with no geographic restrictions.
- Some very impressive creators behind the grant, including Charlie Adlard, Jordie Bellaire, David Brothers, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Nick Dragotta, Leila del Duca, Matt Fraction, Kieron Gillen, Jonathan Hickman, Joe Keatinge, Robert Kirkman, Jamie McKelvie, Rick Remender, Declan Shalvey, Fiona Staples, Eric Stephenson, C. Spike Trotman, and Brian K. Vaughan.
- You retain all rights to your work. This was massively important to us. Best of all, the grant opens up some seriously exciting publishing options, including Image and Iron Circus Comics.
- There’s precious little paperwork or legalese to stress over once you’re awarded the grant. The entire process has felt surprisingly painless, and help/advice/guidance is only an email away.
- The grant is not an “advance.” Let that sink in for a moment. This is money that you, as a creator can use in any way you see fit to support the creation of the comic. That could mean ditching ramen for proper food, or exhibitor passes to experience-enhancing cons, or simply the ability to take a little time off work and focus on the comic.
There’s a ton more information on the official website. You should have a look.
A few words in closing…
We weren’t lucky. We worked hard for it.
Anyone can apply for a grant, but to “win it,” you’ve got to get your act together. That means producing the best pitch you can possibly muster. I’ll talk more about that soon. For now, if you’ve got a dream and a burning passion, you owe it to yourself to apply for the C4C Grant.
Most importantly, always remember you aren’t alone. There are folks out there who want you to succeed.Rock on, 2019
2019 is Going to Rock - Here’s Why
Greetings, People of Earth!
First, Shof and I would just like to say thank you. Thanks to everyone who’s waited patiently while we hammered away at the second half of the first half (yikes!) of Under a Jovian Sun. Thank you to everyone who’s been reading the pages we post on Tumblr and on Tapas, who’s commented, shared and offered precious words of encouragement.We set out to expand the Jonahverse in an unexpected way, and thanks to some awesome collaborators like Claudio Grassi, Francisco Muñoz and Yinfaowei, we think we’ve done just that. It’s been a supremely fun project for us, but also draining (financially and mentally). Most importantly though, you guys seem to really dig the adventures of Nasco, Bahira, Bayo and the gang.
There are just a few pages left to publish before we hit what we believe is the halfway mark of the book (about 50 pages). At that point, we’re going to pause for a little while and switch our focus. We’ve been working on Under a Jovian Sun for a couple of years now, and we’d like to get back to working on Book 2 of Outcasts of Jupiter.
Book 2 is going to be much more ambitious and much bigger than Book 1 was. For a good deal of the preproduction, we’re going to be working in public. This means you’ll be hearing from us a lot more often. We’ll be posting lore dumps, sketches, videos and much more. We’re also revamping our website, and launching a brand new shop with some really cool items we hope you’ll love. (www.cokercoop.com - sign up for the newsletter!)
We’ve got a ton more news to share, and if I’m honest, we can’t wait. This year’s been good, but the next one’s gonna be incredible. I feel it in my bones.
Till the next update!
Shobo
That Time we (Almost) Made an African Animated TV Show
Nearly a decade ago, Shof and I were approached by an African television production company to pitch an animated TV show for an African audience, because, you know, we’re Africans. It was incredibly exciting, and we threw ourselves into the idea.
Ambitions on both sides grew quickly, and before long we were asked if we’d be interested in setting up an entire animation studio (from scratch). The studio would handle the production of forty-four, twenty-two-minute animated episodes.
The idea was to produce a cost-effective show that could work as a Saturday morning cartoon. We used Avatar: The Last Airbender as a benchmark. Like I said, ambitious.
The cast of Ekologue.
Our intent was to work with animation studios in the Philippines for the bulk of the production. Over the course of four years, they’d train promising young African artists in key areas while we handled the story and art direction. We projected that the total cost of production (including the cost of building the studio) would be somewhere in the region of $8 million dollars over four years. It was an intense period. Shof and I produced a massive 60-page business plan and budget, detailing every aspect of production - software, equipment, talent and studio personnel, as well as a pitch document for our first show - Ekologue.
At the end of the day, the television production company we were talking to decided not to move forward with the project. That’s just the way it works out sometimes.
It’s been long enough now that nothing’s likely to come of Ekologue directly, so we figured it was a good time to share. That isn’t to say nothing useful came of the show. A couple of the characters (Bayo and Bahira) are now a core part of our ongoing webcomic, Under a Jovian Sun. In fact, in many ways, you can probably draw a direct line from Ekologue to UJS. You’ll see what I mean when you read the pitch below.
We also learned that while you may be excited about the prospect of a job, you really shouldn’t do spec work. We worked on this project in various forms for over a year and I’m not sure how close we were to actually getting greenlit.
In 2010 we couldn’t find a ton of helpful references when Googling “how to pitch an animated show” or “how to start an animation studio” so who knows how this would have turned out. A lot of our work was done in a vacuum, and I know for sure that if we were to pitch an animated show today, it wouldn’t be in the format we used then. However, we figured it might be fun for folks to look at and perhaps imagine what could have been.
If you’re interested, you can have a look at the pitch document here.
Under a Jovian Sun Returns in 2017
Under a Jovian Sun will finally get new pages in 2017. It feels fantastic to finally say that.
We started posting in October of 2015. The goal was to post a new page every couple of weeks and run through the entire story. However, production issues meant that this simply wasn’t possible. Our talented artist and good friend, Claudio Grassi had to bow out for personal reasons. It was tough, because Claudio brought so much passion and love to the project, unfortunately, his departure couldn’t be helped.
Shof and I are very protective of who we share the Jonahverse with, so we took our time when it came to finding someone new to work with. We spent months looking at applications from nearly 400 talented artists, and In the end I think we found the right partner in Francisco Muñoz. Francisco’s style is very different from Claudio’s, but it’s equally as engaging and he comes to the project as a fan first. We’re lucky to have him on board. While pencil/inking duties have changed hands, the irrepressible Harrison Tombra remains on colors, bringing that vibrant signature look of his to our pages.
Over the course of the past few months, we’ve been working quietly with Harrison and Francisco in an effort to build up a buffer of pages that will allow us to post new Jovian Sun pages on a regular schedule, one dictated by the demands of the story. We’re not quite there yet, but we’re mighty close, and we wanted to share an early look at what’s to come over the course of the year. Here are some work-in-progress pages of what’s to come from Under a Jovian Sun. As always, you can follow our progress on Twitter and on Tapastic.
Google’s Pixel is a Fast Phone
I got one on a whim, the day after Christmas. You see, my trusty Galaxy S6 had a habit of dropping its 4G signal randomly. This trait irked me more and more until I could take it no longer. The Pixel isn’t out yet in the Philippines, but you can find them from resellers online. I sold the S6 for a tidy sum (just under $300) headed to Greenhills and got a Pixel for PHP 30,000 (or about $600).
First impressions? It’s fast. Super fast. I’ve always been a little jealous of iPhone users, specifically because of how ridicoulsly smooth iOS looks in operation. I owned the S6 and have used the S7, and can say that this is the first time I’ve used an android device that truly felt as polished as iOS. To be clear, I’ve always prefered Android’s aesthetics and UX, but the interface, even with the best phones has always felt a little unoptimized and laggy. Not so on the Pixel. Double tapping the menu button to switch between apps is instant. Launching the camera, flipping through multiple tabs, scrolling through web pages, nothing I’ve done has made my Pixel so much as break a sweat. Frankly, it makes using my phone feel _great_.
Even the design has grown on me. The bizarre half-glass window on the rear was supposedly added to aid signal reception. In my case at least, I’ve noticed a clear, marked improvement over the S6, which had severe issues getting a clear signal from my carrier on the 30th floor of my apartment building.
And then there’s the camera. Simply put, it’s incredible. I’m not a photographer, but I do love taking pictures and video to document what I’ve seen and been, and the Pixel’s dexterity, providing great results in dark light and day light, coupled with Google giving Pixel users unlimited Photo storage means I ’m taking pictures and video a lot more. That isn’t to say it’s infallible. The Lens Blur option is clearly inferior to Apple’s Potrait setting, and even the Selective focus option on flagship Galaxy phones.
Long and short? I really dig this phone.
In Introduction to Jannah and Farah
Greetings, People of Earth!
Today, we’d like to introduce you to Jannah and Farah, two more characters from our upcoming webcomic, “Under a Jovian Sun.”
Farah: 13 year old human twin sister of Jannah. She has long, thick curly hair and an easy-going attitude. She carries a custom-made Moroccan banjo, slung over her shoulder and always goes on runs with her sister. Wears thick glasses, and her clothing is highly decorated with patches, pins and little
flourishes that exemplify her neo-Bohemian attitude.
Jannah: She’s a couple of minutes older than Farah, and bossy because of it. Self-appointed second-in-command of the group of street urchins, and she runs a tight ship. Short hair, no-frills clothing, wears a scruffy sweater, jeans and a belt. Her and Farah sleep in the bed of a broken down 504 pickup truck. They’re inseparable.
Jannah and Farah
