Today I share some thoughts that occurred to me after listening to the latest Spark podcast and witnessing Matt Feazell’s workshop at the Ann Arbor District Library. Can a story have a recipe? If we think about the recipe as something to play with and modify to our own tastes, I don’t think it’s terribly harmful to think of it that way.
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Thunder Punch Daily 93 – Story Recipes Read More »
Today I pick apart the film About a Boy
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Thunder Punch Daily 86 – Deconstructing “About a Boy” Read More »
Today I respond to another discussion thread in the A&S forums, which was primarily about the role of death and dying in all-ages fiction. I spiral it out to cover some general thoughts I keep in mind when writing stories that are meant to be accessible to young people.
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Thunder Punch Daily 85 – Writing for Young People Read More »
Today I share some more thoughts and observations on the freelance gig I’ve been working on, this time in regards to designing a villain team. I found some surprises in attempting to apply my creative strategy to my bad guys, and that led me to some realizations about making comics for young people.
Get the PDF mentioned in this episode here.
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Thunder Punch Daily 72 – Designing Villains Read More »
Today I share some more thoughts on a freelance job I’ve been working on. We always get client notes, but how do we deal with them properly? How do we tell the difference between insights that are useful and ones that aren’t? Should we take it personally?
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Thunder Punch Daily 71 – Client Notes Read More »
Recently Sara Turner reminded me of the virtue of keeping things simple in your storytelling. I share a few thoughts on why I think a lot of us tend to overcomplicate our stories with unnecessary data or overcomplicated research. I also refer to an interesting episode of the Radiolab podcast I was pointed to by Jon David Guerra.
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Thunder Punch Daily 55 – Overcomplicating Things Read More »
Today I share some thoughts on the role of candor in the new media world in which we’re all participating. I share some thoughts that occurred to me after reading a New York Times article on the subject, then break down some pros and cons of being candid as an author, teacher, and entertainer.
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Thunder Punch Daily 53 – On Candor Read More »
Another one from the forum: Is copying and pasting artwork cheating? I share some of my thoughts on the subject, using my professional illustration work, the works of other comics creators, animation, and the Switch Runners project to back up my points.
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Thunder Punch Daily 34 – Copy & Paste Read More »
Today I share some thoughts on a recent TED talks presentation by Simon Sinek. In his talk he explains how inspired business leaders think in the order of Why, How, and What, while most of us think in the reverse order (and seldom get to the Why at the center). I dive in to explain how this philosophy applies to all aspects of our cartooning careers.
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Thunder Punch Daily 29 – WHY? Read More »
Today I share a brief review of the Marvel iPhone App and how the reading experience is a violation of several fundamental principles of comics storytelling. For more ranting about Marvel on the iPhone/iPad, check out last week’s extra A&S Extreme!!
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Thunder Punch Daily 25 – That Darned App Read More »