A Fine Desert Night

Here's a recently inked Maddy Kettle panel. They are having a meal of "moon beans" in the desert having just patched up their hot air balloon. Right now I'm on page 28 and my hope is to get to page 40 before Christmas, when we go to Ottawa. I'm starting to have doubts I'll hit that self imposed deadline, looking ahead at some of the pages I pencilled are waiting for inks they look like 40 or 50 hour inking jobs. However, I have no other commitments until then so I'll do my very best. 


Changing the subject a bit, I was reading a line from Alan Moore about writing, and how he writes by creating a world, which suggests characters, which in turn suggests the stories. I already have a pretty good idea of the world where Maddy Kettle takes place but this made me feel like I could go a lot deeper. And right away, after a few lines, everything started to make more sense.

So I started with an image of a small squirrel in a squirrel sized Victorian spaceship, jalopy and ran with it. 

It starts "The Cloudscape is mostly twilit and sometimes very dark"


With my schedule as it is it'll probably take months to finish a story. I write in a tiny lined notebook I carry with me and fiddle with when I have a moment. 


Also, I wanted to let everyone know that writer and artist Terri Windling appears to be going through a difficult time. She is truly an amazing talent. You can learn more about her here, and how you can help.