Thursday, December 20, 2012

From the Sketchbook: Charlie Team


The stars of Snow Daze are the kids of Oxenvale and Oxenvale itself. Our writing, planning and brainstorming sessions are resulting in more and more kids (the updated bio section for the website is coming soon, I promise). Here are character design sketches of three of those youngsters, Charlie Team, made up of Steve James, Will Hsu, and Raul Rabinowitz. They'll be showing up on a page near you sooner than you think.

Peace!
Marcus

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

New Art: Gettin' Up


Here's a new illustration I did of DC, one of our favorite characters. You'll be seeing more of him soon.

Don't forget to follow us on twitter and facebook.

Peace,
Marcus

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Background and Inspiration




Hey all or anyone who takes a stroll here.

Snow Daze is a combined effort with my artist and creative confederate Marcus.  It's a bit of a strange venture, a little odd in tone, but something that has edges and definition.  We are slow in production because life commands it.

I thought it'd be interesting to provide some background for the elements demonstrated within the pages you've hopefully been keeping up with.  So here goes.

This is a comic about brown younguns.  I've always liked the idea of absurdly mature youngsters...not because I think that people aren't forced to grow old beyond their relative birthdate, but the fact is that young people are more mature than generally depicted.  As a young person my head was heavy with responsibilities and struggled perspectives.  I knew others like me and I knew plenty others NOT like me; we all mature at a different mph and for drastically different reasons.

The reality of Snow Daze is a convoluted one, for certain.  I like using broad strokes and then alternating to fine brushes when I write (to provide a visual allegory), and I think adolescence employs similar tools.  Nolo and his crew represent that definitive entrepreneurial spirit that inhabits certain younger individuals.  Simultaneously, Nolo and certain others speak with a certain stylized gravity that contradicts their relative age.  But they are still not adults and remain affected by the culture and confining geography of their young lives.

I've always been a very big fan of Rian Johnson's high-school-noir masterpiece Brick, and it's been a decided inspiration for this story and world.  Not saying that I hope to ape his film (and check out the novelization pdf, which is excellent), which I argue is somewhat monolithic in its perhaps invented genre, but I immediately understood its exaggerations minutes into it.  It took itself seriously, even as many of its scenes were somewhat silly and excessively melodramatic.  When it was funny - the scene with The Pin's mom, Tug struggling in the kitchen, etc - it wasn't funny by mistake, it was funny because it pointed to the absurdity of young people playing as adults concerned with mortality.  Except, on returning to that notion, you realize that young people may know more about mortality than we give them credit for.  Laugh and then pause.

I hope that aspects of Snow Daze are humorous, and not by happenstance.

This is a race story, a noirish tale, a crime epic, a two-fisted adventure, in a city being filled with breathing characters.  Marcus and I cannot fucking wait to turn you on to some of the wilder moments we're devising.  This has been a long time coming but we assure you that we will deliver something unique and involved, and like nothing else on the shelf.

Stay tuned, issue 1 is almost out the door.

-Leo-

Friday, October 12, 2012

Tank


If you've been reading issue 1, particularly the last 10 pages or so, you've probably seen a bunch of characters who have yet to be mentioned by name. I'm going to be posting some of my sketches and drawings of these characters and we'll be expanding the character bio section of the site very soon. Here's a drawing I did of Tank, a member of the Bravo Team. He's the big dude who Nolo got the better of in the play fight on pages 20 and 21 (seen below).

In other news, issue 1 is almost done! There are about 6 more pages to go. As we move into the home stretch of issue 1 I'm working really hard to stick to my every other Monday schedule for uploading a new page. The next scheduled date is Monday, October 22nd. I'm juggling a lot of deadlines, but I'm working hard to get page 22 done on time. We have a lot of cool plans for the direction of the series after issue 1 is complete, including a format that will make it possible for us to get on a more regular weekly schedule for releasing comics. Stay tuned for more info, and keep checking in. Thanks for reading!

Peace,
Marcus



Monday, August 20, 2012

Still Dreamin'



We're up to page 19 of issue 1. Hatching comic book schemes and chasing dreams while 9-to-5's intervene. Here's my dream chasing theme song: Dreamin' by Big K.R.I.T.

I dare you to listen to it and not be inspired.

The next page should be up early next week. www.snowdazecomic.com


Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Year 1


This past weekend I posted page 11 of issue 1 to the site. What? You haven't gotten caught up yet? Rectify that now by visiting www.snowdazecomic.com/Comics. I'm very excited about page 11 for two reasons.
One: We're halfway done with issue 1! That may not seem like a big deal, but keep in mind, we're two guys caught up in the 9-to-5 world of paper work, phone calls, and grown up responsibilities, etc. Add to that all of my different artistic endeavors, community work, and being a father and a husband, and I feel pretty good about our progress. Plus, I'm very focused on working towards the goal of working on awesome comics like Snow Daze full time. One day... one day.
Two: These pages are the start of some important flashbacks that provide important details and insight into the formative years of Nolo's snow shoveling empire. Leo and I have been living with these characters for a while now and I've been anxious to get into the heart of the story so the readers can come to know and love our characters as well.
This story is for everyone who's worked their fingers to the bone. Everyone chasing their dreams. Those with big plans and those struggling to get by. There's a part of us all in these pages. Oxenvale is coming alive. I'm working on more art and pages that will be online soon. We'd love to hear your feedback and thoughts. You can contact us at snowydee1980@gmail.com.


Peace!
Marcus

Friday, May 4, 2012

Welcome to Snow Daze!


Welcome to the official blog for Snow Daze, a new comic by Leonardo Faierman and Marcus Kwame Anderson. Issue 1 has been written and new pages are being published weekly (for the most part) as I finish the art. You can read the first 11 pages right now at snowdazecomic.com/Comics.

Snow Daze is the ongoing story of Manolo "Nolo" Cienfuegos, a tough, ambitious teenager who is building a lucrative snow shoveling empire with his crew. As his empire expands he wrestles with the success and stress that come with it, along with school, homework, girls, family responsibility and everything else a teen faces.

Join us on the streets of Oxenvale. There are lots of stories to be told in the Ox. Also be sure to follow us on the following social media platforms:

Facebook
Twitter
Google Plus
Tumblr 

Peace,
Marcus Kwame