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Behind the Scenes of “Runaway Train”

~ Johnell DeWitt ~ 1 Comment

Tech and time weren’t my friends this week, but I did manage to mostly edit a video that I’m excited to share because it shows the evolution process of the script for “Runaway Train,” my and Maggie Shang‘s collaboration for the Let’s Go!: A Kids Comics Anthology. But instead of having all the cool captions and corresponding pictures added to the video, I ran into tech issues that I couldn’t solve in time to tag team with Maggie’s post about her process.

So here’s the video with loads of info about how we started our collaboration, how the scripts changed over time, Maggie’s artistic decisions plus really valuable insights she learned along the way, my scripting decisions, and what I learned from the comic’s scripting process for this anthology project. For the time-limited among us, I’ve included time codes and supplementary graphics and info below. I hope you have as much fun watching this video as Maggie and I did making it.

Time Codes:

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Junk Wars is on Kickstarter!

~ Johnell DeWitt ~ 1 Comment

The Let’s Go!: A Kids Comics Studio Anthology launches at 4 pm EDT on Kickstarter today! Click the “Notify me” button on our launch page to be kept up to date.

April 22 also happens to be Earth Day, and since the story that Cesar Lador and I collaborated on confronts the problems of space junk and ocean pollution, we wanted to share a little more information on how the story came about. What better way to do that than through an interview? How about two interviews?

The first is a video interview that the talented Sarah Giles prepared and edited, followed by a Q&A where Cesar and I interviewed each other.

And now the Q&A part.

My questions for Cesar:

When you get a script, how do you determine if it’s a right fit for you? Why did you agree to collaborate on Junk Wars? 

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Three Amazing Opportunities for Graphic Novel Creators

~ Johnell DeWitt ~ Leave a comment

KidLitGN’s pitch event opened last night for loading pitches and this morning for agents, editors, and publishers to view and select pitches. GN creators still have until Oct. 3 at 8 pm EDT to load pitches. And agents, editors, and publishers can view pitches until Oct. 31 at 8 pm EDT.

See kidlitgn.com for details.

Also on KidLitGN’s blog, is a comprehensive Q&A from literary agent Janna Morishima, where she mentions the opportunity to join Kids Comics Studio–the membership part of Kids Comics Unite. The latter is free and open for joining year round. Kids Comics Studio, however, opens for new members at select times of the year (it’s open for a few more weeks) and has a monthly or yearly charge. Kids Comics Studio offers weekly workshops, critique and accountability sessions, networking with other graphic novel creators and a whole host of opportunities you won’t find anywhere else (see here for more details). I’ve been a member of Kids Comics Studio and have benefited from the community’s knowledge in countless ways, one of which leads into the third opportunity…

Some Kids Comics Studio members are putting together an anthology that we will be crowdfunding in April 2025. We’ve been hard at work coming up with a theme, planning our design, marketing, and of course, creating our comics. I’m collaborating with two amazing illustrators on two projects, which I’m hoping to share with you in the months ahead. And, we are rolling out our newsletter, where GN creators and other interested parties can join our journey through this process and learn what we have learned as we’ve collaborated to create this graphic novel. You can sign up for the newsletter at this link: https://bit.ly/kcu-studio-anthology

So there you have it, three opportunities to dive into the graphic novel creator’s world, KidLitGN’s pitch event, Kids Comics Studio, and the Kids Comics Studio Anthology newsletter.

You can access Janna’s amazing article here: https://kidlitgn.com/2024/10/02/what-are-agents-looking-for-a-qa-with-graphic-novel-agent-janna-morishima/

Interview with Mae and Moon Author/Illustrator Jami Gigot

~ Johnell DeWitt ~ 8 Comments

JamiGigot_pic

I met Jami through our critique group and enjoy reading her manuscripts. She creates warm and comforting characters that have a timeless feel, and she also illustrates them. Jami started her artistic career in digital animation before moving to 3D and VFX work, as you will see, and entered the kidlit world with her debut picture book Mae and Moon published through Ripple Grove Press. Her follow up book Seb and the Sun, also through Ripple Grove, is due in 2018.

Thank you, Jami for sharing your story.

 

Jami, you have a cool day job as a visual effects artist and you’ve worked on some pretty big movies: Batman v. Superman, Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Pan, and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Can you be more specific on what you do?

When a film is shot these days, a lot, sometimes even the majority, of shots are done in a studio in front of a giant green screen. I work with a team that fills in that space with digital environments, creatures, vehicles, and props, all of which are created solely in the computer. I do a lot of different tasks, but my main focus recently has been on texture painting and lighting scenes. 

Which movie has been your favorite to work on? Do you have a favorite sequence or asset?  Continue reading →