Nick Davis's Blog, page 32
June 24, 2015
The Cuddly Defenders Comic Featured on Full Grown Fan Boys Podcast #TristanLives
Today Tristan And The Cuddly Defenders was featured on the Full Grown Fanboys (FGFB) podcast, were the crew give our heroic Teddy Bear comic an awesome shout out, and talk about the Kickstarter too. You can listen to the FGFB Podcast here.
June 23, 2015
What On Earth Is Going On With Planet Ceres?
It is a small rock stuck in an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, it is barely a dwarf planet and has been largely ignored. Now though as the tractor sized probe Dawn obits this tiny little planet it is suddenly the subject of speculation after two mysterious lights were found shining from its surface, and today a 3-mile high pyramid-shaped object was spotted. This speculation runs from an alien civilization, to a deposit of ice or salt reflecting light. I have my own theory and it is fairly simple – we left something behind on our planet hop to Earth. Hey… makes about much sense as Aliens, right?
Source NASA JPL – Ceres Spots Continue To Mystify In Latest Dawn Images
June 22, 2015
Mad Max, Imperator Furiosa and Nux Reimagined Into To The Furry Road #TeddyBear
Take a trip down Furry Road with Mad Max Ted, Imperator Furiosa Bunny and Nux the War Bear, as I have a little fun turning the heroes of Mad Max Fury Road into more cuddly, furry versions. These Cuddly Sketches were finished in black ink and colored used blended Derwent Inktense pencils. Take a look at these re-imagined heroes from a world gone mad (and furry) after the jump.
June 17, 2015
Writing Without Fear – Before The Pixar Inside Out Movie There Was The Numskulls
In this Writing Without Fear column we are going to quickly talk about original story ideas, and how their isn’t really any, and how it is all just variations on a theme. This week Pixar is about to release their next animated feature which is called Inside Out, that features animated versions of our emotions sitting in your brain and controlling you – sounds pretty original, eh?
Wrong…
Before Pixar and what will be a beautifully animated movie there was the Numskulls, who are featured in United Kingdom weekly comic The Beano and they have been around since 1962, first appearing in the Breezer. They were, or more correctly are a collection of tiny technicians that keep their human (called Edd Case) running. You can learn more about the Numbskulls comic strip here.
No Original Ideas
Now the point of this Writing Without Fear is not to bash Pixar for stealing an idea, I doubt they even know about the Numskulls. But to point out there are no original ideas, so if you are writing do not panic! There is just original ways of telling that idea, and that is what you should strive for.
Write without fear, you story may have a superhero, a vampire, a cuddly toy, avenging angel, merciless assassin, a schoolboy wizard… It is your story, so write it and be confident that in its telling it is an original story.
Go For It
In every Writing Without Fear I tell you to just write, the reason is many potential writers just stop because they feel their story is stupid, or someone in their family or friends points out it has been done before. Just go for it, because it does not matter if there are a dozen shiny vampire books out there, it is your story so own it, and tell it. After all are they writing?
That is all for this Writing Without Fear, thank you kindly for your time.
June 15, 2015
The Cuddly Defenders: Out Of The Attic 2 Kickstarter Has Launched!
Hello Teddy Bear Fans, I have some great news for you all. The Kickstarter for Tristan And The Cuddly Defenders – Out Of The Attic #2 has launched! You can check out this short time Kickstarter (only 20 days), Reward levels and help Out Of The Attic #2 get published.
The Cuddly Defenders Creative Crew are back in action from the first book, and Out Of The Attic #2 will be 24 pages with five stories that continue the Teddy Bear adventure against the Monsters under the bed as they thwart the evil plans of the Bogeyman.
You can view this new Kickstarter and back it here, please start spreading the word Teddy Bear Fans! #TristanLives
June 10, 2015
Hero Ted – Saving the World Before Bedtime A Brand New Teddy Bear Tales Comic
Meet Hero, a Superhero Teddy Bear who is out to save the world just before bedtime in our brand new Teddy Bear Tales Webcomic. Hero is a new character to Tristan’s world, and who he is, how he fits in and how this Teddy Bear gets his powers will be explored in his (semi)weekly webcomic.
Hero Ted’s story, like all Superhero stories starts with Origins, wherein we find out how this heroic Bear got his powers. All his adventures will be written and drawn by Teddy Bear Tales Author Nick Davis.
I hope you follow on as we explore this new part of the Teddy Bear Tales Universe, and join me in welcoming Hero… Click here to begin the adventure!
June 8, 2015
Download Tristan & The Cuddly Defenders eComic Today @Smashwords
Hey Teddy Bear Fans, the latest Cuddly Defenders Comicbook – Out Of The Attic is now available to download as an eComic on your favorite eReader device via Smashwords.
Just visit the Out Of The Attic Comics page on Smashwords, click the eReader format of your choice and follow the checkout instructions. Learn more about this new comic book featuring Tristan and his friends latest adventures here.
June 7, 2015
Writing Without Fear – Write Your Story No Matter The Character You Choose
Welcome to my third Writing Without Fear article, this is my exploration of the world of writing, of creating and building your own characters, and telling your own stories.
Today’s commentary and exploration of writing was prompted by this article ‘The 3 Reasons Why Indies Should Never Use Superheroes‘ that was knocking around my Facebook feed at the start of the week.
I will be quite honest while the article did make some interesting points, it made me grumpy, these type of ‘don’t do this cause I said so articles’ always do. Now after saying that I realize that this article will be skirting the same territory. So I will bracket everything I am about to say with this… Your World, Your Rules!
A Thousand Ways Of Being Discouraged
When you make the leap to pick up a pen, put finger to keyboard and start writing your story you will be met with a thousand different ways of being discouraged. Most of these ways will wrap around these words of that’s silly, stupid, been done before, wasting your time, no one will read it, that isn’t realistic, not another teenage witch/vampire/superhero/assassin/Angel/mecha story.
And if you listen to this, if you read articles about what you should, and should not write then guess what happens? YOU DO NOT WRITE ANYTHING!
You get paralyzed by a very real fear that what you’re writing is silly, immature, idiotic, you stop, you falter, you don’t share your work and your characters and stories die.
Because someone took it upon themselves to judge what you write before even reading the story.
There Are No Original Stories
Over last couple of years I have been interviewed, sat on comic con panels about writing and I can break my advice down to five points that I give all aspiring writers.
There are no original stories, so don’t sweat it, there are just original ways of telling a story
Your World, your rules! If up is down, and down is up that is perfectly fine
You do not have to justify or explain anything, Vampires can be shiny, Teddy Bears can walk around, Jamie can have a magic torch, and Hobbits exist because you said so
Just write… The more you write, like exercise the stronger you will get
Own it… It is your story, no one elses.
Keep this in mind and create, nothing you do will be perfect even if you rewrite is a thousand times. I have learned as a creative writer you don’t finish a story you kind of abandon it.
Why Was I Grumpy About That Article?
One of the biggest issues I had with The 3 Reasons Why Indies Should Never Use Superheroes is it is telling you to give up on your character because you cannot writing anything original about Superheroes, cause the big two have done it all before you.
I call BULLSHIT on that… Yes, Marvel and DC have told thousands, upon thousands of Superhero stories and explored the genre to death. You may notice all there stories are circular in nature and always in the end reset to the status quo. With your own characters you have a freedom no big two comic book writer has… Not even the big names like Bendis.
You can take your Superhero on a journey that Marvel, DC, Image, IDW, Dark Horse, Aspen, Boom, Action Lab Comics (and many more) could never dare do. You can be bold, you can be intimate, you can go Michael Bay form in comics… It is entirely down to you… So say not do something because it has been done before is like poking yourself in the eye and wondering why it hurt.
Here Is An Original Take On The Superhero Story
Have any of you read my love letter to Superhero comics? It is called Fabula Zero Exposition and it is the most unusual graphic novel out there. The story is about Jack, a Superhero comic book writer who has writers block. He is way past deadline, just been given the comic companies flagship title and he cannot for the life of him get his story to work. Eventually the Superheroes get fed up waiting for him to finish the story, and come to life throwing him into silly Superhero situations like fighting Giant Robots, or facing down the dastardly Doctor Dark.
The story is written as an homage to all the Superhero comics I have ever read, and what makes it unique is every time the Superheroes are in the story the graphic novel is a comic, but when the story is just Jack it is a traditional narrative adventure.
Fabula Zero has garnered positive praise from everyone who has read it, it is a comedy in parts, pure Superhero book in others, and bit of an action adventure throughout. The point is, if I had taken to heart the advice of articles like The 3 Reasons Why Indies Should Never Use Superheroes it never would have got written.
So Endth My Ranth
As I reach the end of this article, I hope the one thing you carry away from this is write without fear and tell you story regardless of what your character is. Remember I also write about Teenage Witches, Heroic Teddy Bears and Feisty Princesses. Overcome your fear, write your words and find your endings.
Good luck, be gentle with the earth and keep writing… The story is in your hands now.
The Art Of May From Rocket Raccoon To Groot, Red Fraggle And Piglet Too!
Following on from my April Art article, I thought it would be fun to share with you the art I have created during the month of May. Not quite as productive as April, but that is more to do with the number of conventions I attend during May.
This is all still a journey for me, it has been four years now since I picked up a pencil again and I am still learning everything I forgot. New inking styles, form, proportion and seeing my drawing ability morph into something that works for me. One thing I do remember during May is talking about how to draw with a lot of people, which the reply,”Just draw… Like a muscle, you get stronger the more you use it.”
Plus I got a compliment from a couple of people about my inking style, I know not much… But it is the little things that keep me going down this road. Anyhow, enjoy the gallery below.
The Art Of May
June 4, 2015
My God It Is Made Of Stars… A Hubble Image Of The Arches Cluster
This is a new image from the Hubble Telescope, it is of the Arches Cluster one of the most densest known star clusters in the Milky Way. This celestial version of Manhattan Island is approx 25,000 light-years from Earth in the Sagittarius constellation. Pretty spectacular, eh?
