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I started playing Dungeons and Dragons when I was 20-21, for years I told myself it was a line I would not let myself cross, seeing how it was portrayed by others as hopeless geeks cosplaying elves and orcs in a dimly lit room throwing bizarre dice back and fourth while pretending to cast a Cone Of Cold, but I was at the bookstore one day and saw the cover of the 4th edition cover, a Dragonborn Fighter with a claymore as tall as he was and a Human Wizard crouched as she felt unseen eyes watching her (The cover of the GM manual shows us it is in fact a massive dragon scrying on them with some kind of enchanted orb) and I felt that flame spark on, the same one I've felt every time I found a new series to read or a new show to watch, this was going to be a part of my life.

Oddly enough the two guys I started playing with where two very gruff men, rednecks to beat the band and High school wrestlers and avid hunters, the first time I played created a rogue who's character eventually evolved into one of the main characters in my webcomic series "Guild Tomes" and we played for 12hrs straight and honestly I can't remember the last time I had had so much fun, hanging out, joking, laughing and indulging in my thirst for fantasy.

I loved this game instantly but I was unable to deny the un-Christian themes of it, spirit conjuring, magic, pacts with deamons, primal pagan like spirits and other dark things, I tried to avoid those aspects by playing melee type characters like Fighters, Rangers, Rogues and other simple styles, it suited me and the people I played with usually preferred similar classes, like so much in mainstream media I had to take it with a grain of salt.

I was working for my church as a grounds keeper at the time and one day in Bible study I talked to my Pastor about it, we agreed the magic aspect was not something Christians should even pretend to fiddle in but he even said a knight fighting goblins was not something we should think about, I asked why but he could not give me a real answer he just asked if I thought it was something we should in a tone that told me he was not interested in going into it and I did not pursue it, he was my boss and pastor and I didn't want to seem like I was stiff necked, I figured I could try again another time. It never came however, not soon after that the Pastor ended the one on one bible studies we use to have and told me another gentlemen from the church would be taking over my duties, it was a powerful blow to me and I never did go back to that church again.

I'm the only avid christian in my family, everyone else is either a "Once A Week Christian" or just isn't interested, this meant I was cut off from other Christians as I lacked a car to get the long distances to another church, I was familiar with this, I was a part of a liberal crowd in High School that quickly turned on my once I came to God so being alone with my thoughts and God was well mapped ground but it always stuck with me how my Pastor had been so quick to shut out the good in a fantasy game like D&D and focus and condemn it for what he perceived it to be and unwilling to talk further with me after he spoke his peace, it reminded me of many times in my youth when family and spiritual figures had rolled their eyes and said it did not belong.

I started playing around with the idea of a Christian fantasy tabletop RPG and based it in the world of my webcomic Guild Tomes, a fanatsy series of superhuman adventurers who join Guilds to seek treasure and glory through exploring and fighting the dark powers that threaten their homelands, the church and their Guilds, I was unsure if this truly was something God wanted but the other week I put the game up for sale on my Facebook page and sold several copies in the first week, my paypal account went from $9.90 to $65.88 in a just few days from people buying copies of the game and other Guild Tomes products and the number just grew from there.

I saw with my own eyes that other Christians had the same passion I did and that the realm of fantasy is indeed a realm God is willing to use to minister, guide and teach us in and that he must have saw potential in what I was doing, I was on the right road and God wa son it with me.

I don't claim God has ordained me to be the next big thing but I am humbled to see God helping and using my works for his glory and now I walk the comic artist and fantasy enthusiast path with more confidence now and am happy to have seen that our God is indeed a supportive and creative God and that I have met so many of you, my creative and imaginative Sisters and Brothers.

My next comic is taking awhile and I wanted to add something inspiring to the site so I posted this little testimony/story.

Have a great night guys and may God bless you! X3

Keep those pencils on that paper! ;3

Hey all! I was fortunate enough to see John Tompkin's post a couple of weeks ago that he was accepting Commissions. Here is his lovely rendition of David Rothschiller's Dumas Spirit and Servant Warrior! If you want a great piece of art, why not send John a message? He's very friendly and very kind, you'll enjoy talking with him:) Thank you Captain! May the Lord bless you this and everyday!

---Gerry Lee

A little scoop I just found out today!

Zondervan's Last Adam graphic novel has been re-titled. It is now Messiah: Origin.  

It comes out in October and will be prominently involved with the New York Comic Con activities. 

See more at: http://zondervan.com/9780310431619

Enter their contest to win a trip to New York: http://t.co/e7nXW0jDjc. 

I'll be at NYCC so let me know if you will be there too!

I've been away for a wile, bought a new house took forever to unpack, I lost my basement, as in there is no basement in this house, so no art studio, but for now my bedroom will do, got a bad virous on my desk top, so I have been doing very little computer stuff so I went back to the old school and picked up a brush and pencil I posted a few pics, I though I had taken pictures of all my work but I guess not, so as soon as I do, I will post them.

Hello all!

Here is the review for this book I posted on Amazon.com

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Beautifully illustrated, this 22 page first issue sets up the young protagonist Elijah for a spiritual battle in the realm of the supernatural. As you can tell from the title, one of the main subjects in this book is the issue of lying. Everyone dear to Elijah is lying to him. And he knows it. As he reaches a breaking point of righteous indignation, a demon attacks him. There the first issue ends.

I gave this book 4 stars. I believe it is a God honoring work, and suitable for teens (some mature subject matter is discussed but not illustrated). However, it is a little early to tell what this series will become. Elijah is a believer, but reacts with outrage at the lies being told to him, and withdraws, rather than confronting the sin issues being lied about, for example. If he's not careful, his sense of outrage could become pride and judgment. On the other hand, he may just need time to extend his hands to his family and loved ones to help them free themselves of the sins they are lying about. There are so many ways this book can progress, and it is only on that basis I reserve 1 star until I see more.

I have high hopes for this series, and hope very much that the very talented creator will continue his works for God's glory. I have promised myself to buy book 2 when it comes out. May it be soon:)

ONE DAY ONLY!!!http://amazon.com/The-Whole-Armor-Truth-ebook/dp/B00CLJLTZI/ My comic is now free until the end Wednesday. ..download it now and leave a review thanks

I was testing the game as a human tinker and took the Engineer route to have a robot minion, The scenario was simple, a young amazon warrior was being led into the woods by two thugs who were going to sell her into slavery, my Tinker and his burly robot ape decided to jump them and help the damsel in distress...only a couple of bad rolls ended with my Tinker getting beat down in a equally brutal affair as his robot was distracted by the Slaver's own burly minion but as his HP hit 0 and he blacked out the amazon girl comes to her senses and settles the score by dealing a heavy handed blow to the slaver's throat with her staff thus saving my tinker....Can we say role reversal?

https://www.facebook.com/DyComics

This world is built on change. Everything changes. Even the planet is designed to shift its plates, burn its own forests, carve its own canyons.
We experience this change in our own bodies. Joints start to hurt, weight gets harder to lose.
We are agents of change.
Being a part of the world economy, we see how huge businesses once thought immortal start to sag. Technology that could be worshiped as magic in another decade is piled for recycling in this one. The blood, sweat and tears spilled over a person's movie production is now a dollar dvd in a bin near some EZ Cheez cans.
Things don't remain in place.
If you ever played "king of the hill" on a snowy mound, we see the world in a simple play.  The world demands change. So what doesn't change? The Lord and his Word.  In an ever-morphing soup of souls, desires and wishes, we slip about in a stumbly slushy path of meaning. Those of us who have pressed our feet on the Rock have an advantage of stillness.  If you stare at your work and wonder "is this any good? It's not like the others." The Lord stretches his hand to us and says "give it to me." Like a Heavenly Father with a Heavenly Fridge to display things for His glory, you don't know what He has planned. As things come and go, He is the one who remains in a position to look at what you've done and use it in the way He wants to use it. So don't say "it's worthless." You are many things, but not a judge.
In a world of bests, you are better because the One who holds eternity, holds you.
Keep drawing.

I entered the below text in a discussion and received zero comments so I am reposting as a Blog: Hi Everyone!I'm looking to sell off a large collection of Marvel and DC's. No time to sell it piece by piece and many Dealers just look to cherry pick the cream of the crop and offer substantially less than fair market value. Does anyone have any experience with this or know of a fair and reputable (preferably Christian) comic book dealer/shop owner in LA or the OC? Thanks!

Hello to my Christian Comic Arts family... I just had a recent passing in my family about 2.5 weeks ago, my grandfather... my dad's dad... Richard Fitzsimons Sr. passed from unknown causes, while not related to dementia battles in the past two years, he passed in his sleep. Since his passing, I have been plagued by anger, frustration, depression, financial troubles, and a negative thought process/mind-set. Please pray that I may be able to find peace among the chaos in my life, and I may be able to bring myself back into his infinite glory... and quickly if I might add. Thank you all.

In case you haven't heard, Speculative Faith is having a contest on their website for short writings based on a prompt. You can still vote here until midnight tomorrow, just check out the comments and give the good ones thumbs up.

I'm finally shopping around for an artist for my comic book idea. I'm starting locally here in Boise with a Craig's List ad offering a cut of the royalties with an advance. I'm sending potential artists a test so I can get a handle on their style:

---Five character sketches

---Two action sketches to feel how they draw action.

---A short two page scene.

All of these are all pencil scenes. I got a response back from an artist, submitting one drawing of a guy with a black hair wearing a white dress shirt colored in and saying he couldn't do anything else without a financial commitment. 

This isn't enough to make a judgment. But do the artists in the group think that the test described is too much or do you think it's fair enough? Those writers who have found artists, how have you found them?

When does it pay off to slow …down… the reader, or speed them up?

    I’m fascinated by comic format and page design.  Like every newbie, I’m always gawking at the work of other online comics and asking myself why the artist chose a particular page design, and if there was a better format for telling their story.  I am not an expert cartoonist; however I am an expert cartoon fan and this is what I’m seeing.

Webcomics in traditional formats

 The first web comics were often done by cartoonists who were, or hoped to be, syndicated for sale to newspapers and magazines.  Their chosen framework was four equal sized frames in a row; the fourth frame was the concluding gag or thought.  The frames were small, print color was held to a minimum to save money, so the traditional pros are the masters of amazingly concise line and thought.  I asked Bill Holbrook, artist/ writer of one of the web’s longest running (and very excellent) serial comics, Kevin & Kell, why he continued to use the Syndicate format after a decade on the web. His answer was that it was a habit that he saw no reason to change.  Ironically, his Saturday strip is a free flowing use of a 6” x 10” space, which is what would be allotted by newspapers for a Sunday comic section.

It’s interesting to go through the archives of one of these great four-frame strips, Moth and Ethan by Andrew Chandler for example, and after ten minutes examine your viewing habits.  You might realize that the format is enjoyably slowing… you… down. There’s going to be a thought or joke in frame four and you need to pay attention to the preceding three frames so you can appreciate the fourth.

Jump to another traditional format, the 8.5 x 11 comic page.  Color and playing with the frame size is expected, and some artistic rule breaking (like breaking out of the borders) is admired if it doesn’t interfere with the story.  There is a slight pause while the reader flips a page, so there doesn’t have to be a conclusion at the bottom, but an action or thought must be concluded before you go to the next page.  An entire page allows the artist to make ‘Splash’ pages with a big visual impact, and they  really don’t want the reader to go rushing on to the next page.  By instinct or training, artists know how to use color, detail and design elements such as spirals to hold the eye at a certain point of the page…and slow…the reader…down.

Nontraditional formats are starting to emerge

The web comic is still evolving as a ‘career’ but already I’m seeing strips that, because of their format could never see the light of a printer.  Deep rich colors are flung around the screen like they were free, and the frame and page dimensions can sometimes run vertically off the screen, or ‘scroll down’.   An image that makes the reader scroll down to see the whole image loses its visual “punch” because the viewer must remember one part of the image as they look at the rest of it.  But if the upper part of an image hooks a reader and pulls them down, a long scroll down image can become a journey.

For example, as the reader scrolls down, they can figuratively fall down through the story. A stunning example of this is Daniel Lieske’s  Wormworld  Saga.  The reader sails down exotic rivers, hikes down waterfalls, or falls down through multilayered forests as they scroll down the strip.   Daniel has devoted a huge amount of time producing gorgeous art, so he really doesn’t want the reader racing to the bottom of the scroll.  He uses a serpentine flow to his word balloons and pictures, with splashes of color and darkness to briefly hold the reader’s eye, then let it slide slowly down the scroll.

  I guess I’m conditioned by comic books to think that epic combat has to be shown in a comic book format, because they’re the best format for delivering a “visual splash” battle scene.  Then I read the latest Rust Angel#6 by Matt Tirre, and had my bias rocked by the rollercoaster experience of scrolling down through a multiple frame action scene.  His style of storytelling is so smooth that the reader can grab the scroll bar, pull it down through a multiple frame action scene, and watch their own movie.    Even in frames where the lines are horizontal, the action-sequence is vertical, so as you scroll down through a fight scene the effect is … cinematic.  The smooth slide is aided by  Scribd, Matt’s server of choice, which loads quickly and scrolls smoothly, and an art style which propels the eye from one scene to the next as the action picks up.  Matt displays a keen eye for dynamic figures, and dizzying points of view reminiscent of a Myazaki movie, so the vertical scroll really suits this story well.

How do you let the reader down at the end of a visual roller-coaster?  Rust Angel #6 ends with a great closing scene.  The picture contains a lot of contrast light to dark and beautiful detail in his main character, which catches and holds the reader’s eye.  The main character gazes at a sunset as she contemplates an uncertain future loaded with daunting possibilities. Matt’s given his reader’s a wild ride but he’s not going to let them get away without a reflective pause at the end.

    I’ve yet to see a comic that scrolls horizontally, or animates as you pass your mouse across it, or slowly changes color as you view it. I figure that’s coming next week.

Today I'm amused by digital comics. I just bought 'The Whole Armor' by Chivas (I owe you a review, having trouble with the Kindle viewer, not the book), 'An act of Faith 1-4', and tonight I plan to finally buy 'LightWeightz 2' (sorry I'm so late Justin, been away for a bit).

Anyways I just realized that for all that, I won't have a single sheet of paper or ink, ha ha ha! Times sure have changed. On the one hand I'm happy because the weather in Hawaii is brutal on comic book paper. On the other, when this computer goes down, I'll loose a lot of books. But oh well, they are very affordable:)

How do the rest of you feel about Digital only Comics?

Hey all, sorry I dropped completely off the scene for months. My head kind of imploded. Sincere apologies to my Christian comics friends, and especially to David Rothschiller for failing his Angel Lite Comics company. I just pushed myself too hard on all fronts and got exhausted...:(

I'm a little better now, but not quite what I used to be. I still love Christian comics, but don't know how much I'll actually work on any.

Love you all, looking forward to visiting this site in days to come to see how the Lord is blessing you all.

Gerry

Hey Gang,

I started a new website http://www.skinnerseyeview.com

this is a Christian based website geared for bring souls to know Jesus Christ.

I am looking for volunteers that have a running christian based comic that would like a page on the site, also open to other ideas.

Skinners Eye View

It has been on the hearts of my wife and I to produce a short film based on our comic book character, Black Tiger, for a number of years. After one failed attempt and much prayer we are finally stepping out in this regard. We have been blessed to get commitments from Robin Shou (Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat) and Angela Fong (former WWE Diva) to star in the film. The budget seemed daunting, but we moved forward in faith. We set up an Indiegogo Campaign, believing God put this on our hearts as the means to fully fund the film. Needless to say it was slow going and at times discouraging. While we never trended to hit the full budget, God used the Indiegogo Campaign to introduce us to the promoters of Alamo City Comic Con, opening a door for us to partner with them. Now ACCC is screening the first look at the film along with the original Mortal Kombat at their show as part of their "VIP Mortal Kombat/ Black Tiger ticket" package. He also orchestrated through the generosity of people on the production side of the film for the film budget to be cut tremendously so the contributions we received from the Indiegogo Campaign do cover production.

God has been so good to us. We are a few thousand dollars short of covering our post-production costs, but we know He will provide. If God puts it on your heart to contribute that would be greatly appreciated and you can get some great perks in return (http://www.beyondtimecomics.com/flix/). More importantly, please pray for us to continue to trust in God’s provision and His ways. Nothing has worked as we expected, but He’s undoubtedly working it all out. Isaiah 55:9 says "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Lord may we all trust your ways and thoughts.

God bless,

John

"... diligence is man's precious possession." (Proverbs 12:27).



Hey everyone,

I Just created this Twitter list as another way to fellowship and network. If I've interviewed you before, you're already added. If you want to join, either follow the list (then I'll add you), or reply with your Twitter handle and I'll add you. Have a blessed one and keep creating!

https://twitter.com/RsquaredComicz/lists/christian-comic-creators

Christian sites on the  Deviant “Art” Megasite

Overview of Deviant Art:

   I recently thought that I would do some research into other potential galleries for displaying my comic, in that future time when my strip is far more developed than it is now.  I investigated Deviant Art, probably the largest online free gallery (27million members), and thought I would relay some of my findings.

   Firstly, since there’s no requirement that members post or discuss art in any form, huge portions of the site have become a social hangout for teens and tweens with tiny vocabularies and little interest in art. Secondly, since it costs members and administrators nothing to abandon group sites, there’s many, many, many group sites with…no activity (now there’s a Sermon topic.)

   The Deviant art front page scrolls through new art entries every couple of minutes, so when you post an art piece it will be quickly buried.  Your best chance of meaningful exposure and conversation is to join one or more of the 31,000 groups (a number which increases by about 8 a day). Another nice thing about joining a clean group is that viewers can link to that site directly without having to wade through a mire of suggestive/offensive art first.

    Using the site’s Group Search engine reveals that there’s over 270 groups with the word “Christian” in their title. The groups are listed alphabetically with a brief description, number of members and for some of the sites, the number weeks since the last post.  There’s a huge number of tiny (1-8members) or sites that haven’t had a post in a year or more.

Christian sites: 

The biggest and most rigorously structured is a site called Christians.   The site has a statement of faith that you must agree with before joining, the 3100 member site looks pretty well maintained.  FlyWithGod, with 148 members looks fairly vigorous, and younger in flavor. A surprising well-done site was Bronies-for-Christ;  the site has gathered 218 members who follow Christ and enjoy the overly sweet My Little Ponies, yet  the site had a lively discussion and prayer section.

Typing in the Search word “Faith” bring up another 140 groups but many of these are nonchristian variants. Faith-Fun-Fellowship looked interesting.  Typing “God” into the Deviant search engine brings up 1,040 groups, but they were mostly parodies and Rock bands and I lost interest after the first couple of pages.  And there’s no way I’m combing through all the sites with the word “love” in their title.

Several hours of this and you can more fully appreciate the quality of members and admins at the CCAS site.   I’m thankful for all of you guys.