Blog

Hi. I am a painter and have reached a point of not knowing the best direction for my work.  I am sure iI am not alone...I have tried to transfer some of the ideas and images but I am yet to discover the best means of producing stuff.....It's a real challenge....God gives says...'what's in your hand, Moses' in reply to our questions...I would love to produce sellable and attractive art.

some time ago, considering the violent and otherwise depraved nature of the world i'm depicting in my project, i was confronted with the need to figure out how to communicate such subjects in such a way that honors God, as the entirety of my work intends to.

i've seen christian media promote pacifism, or at least non-violence in the past, and knew that such a tactic was inappropriate for the subject matter i'd be dealing with, would not work with the story, and was actually and honestly completely unattractive to me. my initial disturbed assessment of myself with my complete lack of interest in violence-less media was to think that i was so depraved an individual that i could not enjoy a story without violence and gore, that i was the product of secular media, and that there was nothing i could do about it. pressing further into this issue as i confronted my current dilemma, i realized that yes, despite my depravity and how desensitized the media i had consumed had made me, pacifistic-christian action oriented media actually does contain a deficit.

without the protagonist being able to respond with violence, the antagonist cannot act evil enough for a story to hold my interest. if a storyteller has set a tone where non-violence ultimately prevails, usually the Big Bad Evil Guy lacks any real depth, anything that actually, believably needs to be fought against. this creates a deficit i react by filling with non-interest.

again, i'm depraved, but i feel that this is an issue closer to the basic character of mankind and what we seek in media. we need something to rally for, and we get that by having something significant to rally against. when we neuter either side of that equation, i believe we lose depth and the audience. when we lose the audience, we lose out on our opportunity to get our point across, and since for me, communicating that point with a medium is my ministry, that's not an acceptable loss.

furthermore, i think pacifism is a red herring modern christian media promotes. we are directed not toward pacifism in the bible, but toward activism. we are to be proactive turning the other cheek, not passively accepting only the first blow. we see Paul take beating after beating as an apostle in the New Testament, but there's more to that than what we've adapted as a hippie ideal. i believe if Paul found himself in a situation where he was in position to defend someone defenseless facing imminent physical danger from a murderous antagonist, Paul would act immediately, appropriately, and probably violently.  

We see a lot more violence in the Old Testament than we do in the New, but in the same way that God's character does not actually change between the two, neither does the actual historical violent content of the times, just the content of what the bible actually communicates. even Jesus, who is earlier depicted very humble and accepting of the violence He endures comes back in Revelation as the leader of the armies of heaven, who wipes the earth clean with his return, and not in a pleasant, harmless, non-offensive fashion. 

So, to the actual depicting of violence and other forms of sinful depravity, what is to be done? i've come up with a basic philosophy for how i intend to communicate those subjects, not in such a way as to conform to the world and just do as the popular secular media does, but in such a way that doesn't pull any punches, lose any interest, and continues to honor God. 

The Rules:

don't pull any punches. stay honest about the negative content in your story. don't curb or muffle communicating the evil content in your work, because real life has evil content that will not be curbed of muffled, and what your communicating, that there is a better way, that evil is worth fighting against, is worth communicating.

don't honor the violence. secular media creates and glorifies hero's who excel at violence, who are worshiped by their fan base because of how effective their violence is at solving their problems. while violence might solve the immediate problems your protagonists are facing, it should not be the central focus of your story, like in an action movie or an issue of Punisher. 

depict violence realistically. this will vary depending on the content of your work, for instance you can play fast and loose with an angels vs. demons kindof story, but if you're depicting something more flesh oriented in nature, be realistic. rarely does someone walk away from a fight unscathed, and rarely does an injury not significantly interfere with not only continuing to fight, but daily life in general. if your protagonists are constantly wading into battle and coming out the other side incurring no losses or injuries, your antagonists are lacking any real reason to be feared or fought against. 

consider the audience. your work will be consumed by what is probably a younger audience, which hopefully will be first reviewed by their parent-types. your violence is going, to at least some degree, desensitize them. that's not always a bad thing, imagine an EMT who's not been desensitized to the sight of blood, their going to be useless in their life saving role. your violence, gore, and other depraved subject matter must desensitize in such a way that prepares them for life, and for the secular media they will also be consuming. make it a point to communicate the 'why' of your violence, the correct and incorrect role it should play, and the contrast in the way it should be consumed. i want a young reader walking away from my work armed with the ability to shirk off the violence glorifying portrayals they're going to be consuming everywhere else in life outside of the realm of christian media. additionally, if your work is too violent, too gory, then not only will the parent filter probably prevent your audience from actually consuming your work, it probably wont be sold by discerning vendors like family owned christian book stores, which is your most likely eventual storefront.

your work should not arouse. this works directly for sexual content you choose to include and peripherally for violent content. if you depict sexuality, you should do so in such a way that does not 'turn on' your audience. this is a tricky minefield to navigate, but review your work continually, figure out how to do that. your purpose is not met, and your work counter productive if you actually lead your reader into sin and not away from it. violence works the same way, it's okay for a reader to come away from a story wanting to learn martial arts, sword fighting, acrobatics or similar, it's not okay if your reader leaves your work inspired to solve their problems by shooting up their school.

anyway, these are my guidelines to date, their still evolving and being refined as i figure this stuff out for myself, i hope this is helpful to anyone out there who's trying to honor God with their work in a similar fashion. 

Goodness, how long has it been THIS time?? Looks like about two years!

I'm so sorry about that! But let me list off everything that I've been working on since then!

• God has been blessing me so much especially in my art work! I've been working on my web comic The Sparrow Cafe which is about a teenage american girl living in Mexico as a missionary kid. 
• Because of that I've been featured in twelve gates magazine, an online magazine that features christian mangas and comics. I've been with them for about 7 months and so far its been a blast!
• This has been a great way to go to different churches talking to youth groups and young artists about working as a comic-lady and spirituality in comics. I've enjoyed all the trips and talks! 
• Finally I'm working on writing my first book about life growing up as a missionary kid in Mexico. I'm almost done and I'm working hard!!

So thats about the gist of it. I wish I can write some more but its incredibly early and I MUST get some sleep. I'll be sure to add more artwork, blog some more and get more involved on the site. 

Glad to be back!

School has officially started for me this week. I haven't had any kids yet, but they'll be there on Monday. It's hard leaving my little buddy and beautiful wife to work all day, but I endure it because I want to provide for them.

Got some writing done yesterday and a little drawing done too. Oddly enough, even though I technically have less time to work during the school year, the structure of it actually helps me get more accomplished than in the summer.

Hopefully will have some new art to share soon, and maybe by this time next year I'll even have a book or two finished. We'll see.

Keep Soaring,
Branson

What comics/graphic novels would you recommend to a friend who had interest in getting back into comics? 

Off the top of my mind I would say, in no ranking order; Batman Hush, Superman Birthright, The Walking Dead, Y the last man, (Samson the Nazirite of course :) ... but I'd like to hear what this group would recommend.

CCAS went hispanic this week with coverage from Integridad.com and EnlaceMusicial.com Zondervan y Sociedad Cristiana de Artes en Comic-Con 2012.  

See http://www.integridad.com/noticias/sociedad/zondervan-y-sociedad-cristiana-de-artes-en-comic-con-2012/

That's a question I've been dealing with lately.  

If you poke around my art posted here, you'll discover a web comic that did for a short time called Outcasts.  It was an allegory of how traditionalism was making our churches incapable of doing what the Lord called us to do.  Then, after actually serving on staff at a church, I came to realize that the argument isn't so cut and dried, that there are things on the "nontraditional" approach that are just as paralyzing.  (As I said in my previous post, the Lord had a lot to teach me over the years.)  So, I went back and started to rewrite my outcasts story, giving it a more balanced view.  Well, in the process of writing, I came to realize that it felt like it was the middle of a story more so than the beginning of one.  I needed a prequel to establish the world I was creating these characters in.  

Hence my most recent project, for now simply titled "MM."  I've drawn and redrawn the first page four times now, and the script that I started writing tonight is completely different from any of those four versions.  If I were to take all the time that I've spent starting this project over and over again, I might have been finished with it by now.

The good news, though, is that I'm very pleased with how the script is turning out now.  It took a while, but this project is finally starting to take shape in my mind.  

FYI:  If you spend the time figuring out the details of your characters and the settings, getting to know them as intimately as you can and fleshing out every detail you can think of, then writing the actual plot becomes so much simpler.  

Excited for where this is going, and what the LORD plans to do with it.

Keep soaring,

Branson 

Hello everyone,

Wow....to be honest, I completely forgot that I had this until I received a message a little while ago. How is everyone?!?

I've been spending the past couple of years honing my skills a little, reading some books and trying some different techniques and things. I can definitely see improvement in my work, so praise God that he's working in me still.

Still nothing new on the project list. Still have a ton of ideas, several started projects, and too little finished ones. But, given all that I've learned in the recent months concerning art and story writing, maybe I didn't need to finish them because I still had some things to learn. I look back at my artwork from four and five years ago and think, "Wow...I used to think that was my peak!!" But now, I can see how God has matured me and taught me that, while I can be satisfied in what He does through me, I should never think that I have nothing new to learn.

Encouraged about what neurons are firing in the brain. Perhaps one day soon, some of them will see the light of day. Until then, I will continue to wait as God grows me and changes me into what He wants me to be.

Keep Soaring,
Branson

The Remnant is a project by Joshua David Ling (Me) to write action-oriented stories around the rhythm and rhyme of hip hop. Most albums are exciting full stories from beginning to end. The purpose of this style of storytelling is 1. To Glorify God, 2. To bring back bardic storytelling in a modern way, and 3. to speak to teens and young adults about standing up for what they believe in.

All music from The Remnant is free. If you wish to pay however, we will graciously accept your gift and put it toward making The Remnant’s stories even better.

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read this. Stand up brothers! Never stop praising God!

To download or listen to the music: http://joshuatheremnant.bandcamp.com/

For More Information: http://theremnant.imaginationchronicles.com/

My good friend and acclaimed horror writer, Author Sue Dent,(http://www.suedent.net/)...who I lovingly call "The Queen of the Chiristan Undead"... has started an online campaign to fund my adaptation of her wonderful novella, Electric Angel, into a graphic novel.

So if you have a hankerin' to see me dive back into GN and sequential artwork, take a visit and do what you can to help make this a reality in 2013:

http://www.indiegogo.com/electricangelgraphicnovel

Hey all, I was hoping someone who really has a talent for stories and such wouldn't mind reviewing a 20 page script I made for my Pilgrim's Digress story. It is the story of floating islands, and zombies, and all that silliness that I posted back a few years ago but never finished:

If you are pretty good at the art of storytelling, and if you would be kind enough to review the DOCX file, and give me some input, I would be ever so grateful! Just message me, and I'll send you the DOCX! :->