This will be number 4 in the spell series.
This one was written and spoken by the spectre collector.
Click here to view on youtube.
The 7th World
Whimsy with a twist
Dream Stealers
UPDATE
Full story is now unavailable online. Hardcopy will be available in 2019.
We as dreamers, throw ourselves into the stadium of social interaction. Perform, showing our talent, hoping for a positive response.
A heart, or maybe a star is thrown our way to make us feel accepted. Loved in some way.
We judge others via a thumb up or a thumb down. Every now and again we just bypass the performance, saying nothing.
Dream Stealers is a modern fable about one dreamer, and how he changes himself to please others. Should we change or just be ourselves for others to accept?
Red Bear
A story popped into my head the other day which was sparked by a conversation I had with some strangers over dinner.
It came out of nowhere when the discussion turned into something very interesting about the environment.
It’ll be based in the Slavic region, and will touch on the rich and secretive world of dealing.
It’s all a bit hazy in my head at the moment but will begin to clear and hopefully, be a good story.
Stay tuned.
Update
I’ve begun building props which helps me build the story and also highlights holes that needs to be filled.
The Westbury Faery
Back in 2015 Sue Wright (Tiny Owl Workshop) and myself went down to the Melbourne Film festival to pitch at the 37º South Market. At the time it was to find interest in Sue’s Lane of Unusual Traders world building project. We met many producers who loved what Sue and myself were doing, and doing differently.
But later we found interest in a smaller idea I had floating around in my brain.
After visiting Westbury, Tasmania, I had the idea of bringing a faery to Tasmania from Ireland. I wanted the idea to be for writers.
Westbury has a rich Irish community and even has a big Irish festival on the village green once a year. If you dig deeper on the internet, you’ll find more evidence on convicts and how the green was used back in the 1800s.
This all gave me ideas of how the faery could work.
The idea of a box being found under a house in Westbury filled with artifacts, really appealed to me and thought it would appeal to writers who love piecing things together in their own way.
I used the Jack the Ripper theories to explain to people how this idea would work. We have a set amount of evidence and like Jack the Ripper, people would have their own theories as to how or even who the faery came to be.
So the evidence/artifacts are built. The writers would then fill out their own story using the artifacts, the best would then go into a book.
Sue and I pitched the idea to Plot Media, who loved it.
The project got a lot bigger after a big effort creating a submission document for funding. Along with Log Cabin Productions in Canada, we were successful with a Screen Australia and CMF fund.
The rest is what you see on the website. A lot of work from Log Cabin Productions, Plot Media and myself.
Here’s a small selection of designs, illustrations and props.
And now Sue and I are working on the book.
We have CONTACT
I was asked a little while ago to design the logo for the NatCon in Brisbane.
I had never heard of NatCon. Why hadn’t I heard of this.
So I did a little digging around and found that the last event held in Brisbane was in 2006. That was 10 years ago. I was still in ad land back then and not totally focussing on books. Yeah, I’ve heard of ComicCon and Supanova, but NatCon had escaped my focus.
I met with Aimée Lindorff whom I recognised was one of the writers from a Tiny Owl Workshop project called Pillow Fight. She was also the chair for NatCon Brisbane.
They gave me the name of ‘Contact’ for the event. They also mentioned that would cover a lot of genres.
I walked away with many things in my head.
The brief was a simple, but I needed to think about all the genres they wanted to cover. They didn’t want too many pieces, just a logo and maybe some design elements for collateral.
I took a 60s style of illustration and twisted it a little.
A little nod to the Super Science Fiction magazine covers via a femme fatale. I’ve always loved the way they had a strong women character suited up ready for action. Maybe a little too sexy at times, but she was always a strong character.
I saw her as the main focus to the design. She needed to look modern with the added highlights of nostalgia.
Aliens, got to have some sort of alien, right?
Thought a lot about this, I didn’t want to just create a Creature from the Black Lagoon style of alien. It needed to look different.
I took a more Starship Troopers angle to the aliens rather than a 60s film. Loath or love it, the alien designs were interesting.
I added a little pattern work which is a small nod to steampunk. Steampunk also weaves through the design of the raygun. I personally love Steampunk and Jules Verne with Journey to the Centre of the Earth being at the top of the list.
Overall it has all come together nicely.
Click on the images to view.
Snapshot of my work in progress.
I like to build in one document. This way I can move elements around simply and compare colours etc.
The final logo
3 versions. Reversed – Colour – Black and White
Design elements for icons, postcards etc.
Poster designs
Bright colours with a large character seem to work really well.
Extras
Gotta have tshirts.
More on Contact can be found HERE.
See you there in March.
RED
Latest illustration. This one is called ‘Red’.
It’s quite large at approx 1.5 metres high. Being so big, my computer was starting to lag and would take around 2 mins to save to the hard drive.
I’m planning on adding to it over time but at the moment it’s finished for now.
Here’s how the berries were done.
A couple of in progress shots.
Here are some close ups of the final piece.
New thingies
I’m starting to think about new illustrations and the stories that go with them. Currently in the works is a 1.5m high digital painting. It will have badgers, foxes and rabbits amongst other things. It’s quite large and will be done in stages.
Also a large scale model is in the works. Created with polymer clay and leather. I’m looking forward to this one and will be a show piece to sell another book I have in mind. It will be slightly dark and quirky with a delicate story that weaves around friendship and loneliness.
NEWS – I’m still here.
Time has flown. Little has happened here on the website. But I can say lots is happening in the background.
Apart from my full time job in advertising, I’ve been working on a few things.
One in particular is a Faery Project which I’m doing with Tiny Owl Workshop. It will be a project that I hope will excite and attract a few writers around the world. I’m busy making things and doing lots of research.
I’ve also been doing the next stage for Lane Of Unusual Traders. Thinking and conjuring up areas of interest that I hope will inspire more stories from writers. Stage 3 will have more features that will influence certain areas. I’ve also added a business in Stage 3 that will work its way through the lanes.
And, I’m constantly doing artwork. Sunday sketches is also still happening and you can find these through my Twitter accound @tezzabold.
Word Hunters has also bubbled to the surface again in a different format. Stay tuned for more.