Nolo

New Nolo.

G-mo

Here's a new G-mo piece I drew on paper and colored using a wacom tablet.

~Marcus

Behind the Scenes: Page 1

So, I've decided to pull back the curtain to give you a glimpse into our creative process. If you're reading this, chances are you've checked out Snow Daze (If you haven't, check it out here). Here is the layout page that started it all. This page is part of a silent four page intro where we see Nolo's ritual before he goes out to work on a snow day. Leo's script called for a somewhat messy teenager's room that would give some visual clues into Nolo's character and interests. The overall layout remained the same between the sketch and the final version (seen below), but there are some key differences in the posters on the wall and some of the reading material on the floor. Leo liked the layout, but some of the posters had to change in order to fit the time period in which our story takes place. We decided that Snow Daze would take place between the early and mid-nineties. As a result the Cannibal Ox and MF Doom posters on Nolo's wall would be anachronistic. Cannibal Ox's album, The Cold Vein debuted in 2001 and MF Doom's debut (with his new moniker) came out in 1999. So I swapped out those posters for an illMatic (1994) poster.

The Michael Jordan poster stayed, because Mike is timeless for NBA fans, but Nolo's reading material changed. I decided to throw in a copy of The Source with 2pac on the cover as another marker of the time period.

The style of the characters also changed slightly during this time. I had started with a more exaggerated cartoony style than I usually work in, but later decided on the current style of Snow Daze which strikes more of a balance between the cartoonish style and realism.

Some other important details in Nolo's room are his cassette's and the book, The Art of War. Even though CD's were bringing about the slow demise of the audio cassette during the 90's, Nolo insists on cassettes as his media of choice. This parallels my own habits during the time. I held on to tapes until the bloody end. I remember my excitement when record stores were trying to unload all of their tapes and you could find classic albums for 99 cents. Now my phone holds way more albums than I could ever carry in my bag back in the day. Things done changed.

Nolo's copy of Sun Tzu's The Art of War is important too. It tells you something about his approach to life and to his business. While he's a man of action, he also plays the long game and lines up all of his chess pieces.

That's it for this first edition of Snow Daze: Behind the Scenes. There will be more to come. Keep reading, true believers!

Peace,
Marcus

Page 30 preview panel

Here's a preview panel from page 30, the final page of Snow Daze issue 1. You can read page 30 tomorrow morning at snowdazecomic.com. It feels really good to be wrapping up the first issue and we have more cool new Snow Daze stuff coming at you in 2013! Stay tuned as the story continues in Oxenvale.

Peace!
Marcus

Snow Daze's First Interview

What's up, party people. Marcus here. Yesterday the internets were hit with double the Snow Daze action! Page 27 went online (and on time, i might add *patting myself on the back) and our pals at The Womb Mates podcast also published their interview with Leo and I. We had a blast. They're really cool guys and they're really good about  supporting up and coming comic book talent. Check out our interview with them here and make sure to subscribe and check out their archives!

In other news we only have 3 more pages until Issue 1 is finished. Stay tuned for updates about the print edition and more. We aren't slowing down. This is only the beginning!

Peace
 

Ice Cold

I drew another new illustration of Boy. A new page is on the way next week.

Peace,
Marcus

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

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