A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of being the guest of The Genesis Science Fiction Radio program. It is a service of the Black Science Fiction Society community and The Genesis Science Fiction Magazine. It is hosted by William Hyashi and Jarvis Sheffield. You can listen to the entire interview here. Be sure to check them out and show them some support.

So during this interview, one of the questions that came up was how I got started in the creative field. I told the story that I always tell, which is a true story. When I was young, about five or six years old, I was scolded for drawing in my exercise books. My mother in her infinite wisdom took me to a department store and bought me a sketch pad, a Flintstones’ coloring book and a set of watercolor paints. She instructed me to use these to draw and not my exercise books. That’s how I got started. So the host, William Hyashi, asked me if I was making any outreaches to schools. I confessed at the time that I did not. He made the point that I should look into it because you never know if you may influence a young person as I was influenced at a very young age. I have to thank him because it really reminded me of the responsibility that we have with this book Celflux, and anything we do in general because we never know who we might influence. So Dixie Ann and I will be looking at reaching out to local libraries and schools to see if they would be interested in us donating some books to them.

To further reinforce this, you all remember that we recently had an Original Character Commission Giveaway Contest. We had a lot of fun and all the folks who entered each received a free commission. You can view the results here.

When the contest was finished, I was approached by a guy by the name of Evan Evans who told me about his twelve-year-old daughter Laci. Evan is a great comic book flatter by the way, so if you need a flatter give him a shout. His daughter Laci, had her own original character that she wanted to enter into the contest but missed the deadline. So Dixie Ann and I thought that we could not pass up the opportunity to possibly influence the creativity of a young person. So I told him that we would accept the submission and do a free commission for her character. Which we did. Here’s what she submitted side by side with the free commission she received. The character’s name is Chaos.

After this, I was contacted again by Evan Evans who had a message for me from his daughter Laci.

Everard,

This is Evan’s daughter, Laci. I really appreciate you designing my character. She came out Perfect! I love to read and write and will make up a story for Chaos.

Laci

Here’s Laci with a print out of the free commission of her character Chaos, and a big thank you note.

As an indie creator, it’s a struggle and labour of love to do what you do. Over time, you will find folks who love what you do and are willing to support you. Those folks for the most part though are few. So it’s the little things that happen that encourage you to keep doing what you do. This is one of those things. Thank you, Laci for your encouraging words and we really hope you do create and write a story for Chaos and it becomes a huge success. So Laci has again reinforced that we need to do the outreach to our local schools and libraries. Who knows, we might have the privilege of influencing a young mind to create. So till next time. Let’s strive to “Teach Them From Small”.

Everard J. McBain Jr.

Everard is the Creative Director and CEO of GemGfx. GemGfx is a multidisciplinary design consultancy based in Trinidad and Tobago. He has been involved in the field of Graphic Design for over 14 years. He is also the art director and co-author of the graphic novel Celflux which he created along with his wife Dixie Ann Archer-McBain.

ww.gemgfx.com

The post We Must Teach Them From Small appeared first on Celflux - Graphic Novel & Animated Series.

Also, we accepted one final entry after the contest was closed. We received a message from a gentleman by the name of Evan Evans, whose twelve-year-old daughter Laci, wanted to enter her character into the contest, but her father missed the entry deadline. Lacy created her own original comic book character. It’s not every day you get the opportunity to potentially influence the creativity of a young person. So we just couldn’t say no. We hope great things come from this character.

So here are the free commissions that the entrants received. We’ve put their submissions next to the free commission, so you can make the reference.

Thanks again to all who took part, and again it was fun so we plan to make it a periodic event. So keep your eyes and ears open for the announcement of when the contest will next take place.

Till next time.

Everard J. McBain Jr.

Everard is the Creative Director and CEO of GemGfx. GemGfx is a multidisciplinary design consultancy based in Trinidad and Tobago. He has been involved in the field of Graphic Design for over 14 years. He is also the art director and co-author of the graphic novel Celflux which he created along with his wife Dixie Ann Archer-McBain.

ww.gemgfx.com

The post Celflux Original Character Contest Free Commissions appeared first on Celflux - Graphic Novel & Animated Series.

The video is basically samples of the artwork from Issue no.1, animated in the order of the story. The action sequence is just to generate some excitement. The very end of the teaser shows Samantha coming down flying through the clouds, and she makes a fly by the screen.

What I tried to do is convey and communicate the excitement I feel about Celflux in this short vid. You guys will let me know if I did. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Everard J. McBain Jr.

Everard is the Creative Director and CEO of GemGfx. GemGfx is a multidisciplinary design consultancy based in Trinidad and Tobago. He has been involved in the field of Graphic Design for over 14 years. He is also the art director and co-author of the graphic novel Celflux which he created along with his wife Dixie Ann Archer-McBain.

ww.gemgfx.com

The post Celflux: The Graphic Novel Teaser Trailer 2014 appeared first on Celflux - Graphic Novel & Animated Series.

(from Wikipedia)
“Justice (John Roger Tensen) is a character from the New Universe imprint of Marvel Comics, the protagonist of a 32-issue comic book series of the same name published from 1986 to 1989. Most of its run was written by Peter David and penciled by Lee Weeks, though it also featured rare 1980s Marvel work from Keith Giffen. David later reintroduced Justice as a supporting character in Spider-Man 2099, a series with a very different setting. This version of the character, also known as the Net Prophet, was older and had different powers.

This is the artwork for Issue No.1 of Justice. This image grabbed my eye on the comic book rack, and it was love at first sight.

In 2007, the New Universe concepts were also revived, in a modified form, as a single-title ongoing series, newuniversal. A new version of John Tensen is one of the main characters featured in that series and two other characters with ‘Justice’ powers have also appeared.

Justice was a middle-aged DEA agent named John Tensen, whose wife was killed by vengeful members of organized crime. He was undercover at the time of the “White Event,” investigating Daedalus Darquill and his son Damon Conquest, who were running drugs out of their front company, Conquest Dynamics. He begins experiencing headaches as his psionic powers manifest. Eventually his cover is blown, and Darquill uses his own newfound parability to remake himself, Tensen, and the others around him into characters from a fantasy dimension, the “Far Place.” Tensen’s new identity is that of a law-enforcing knight called a “Justice Warrior”, who was having an illicit affair with Queen Endolana of the Land of Spring when he was exiled to Earth.”

The character in Justice had a very black and white sense of morality. He had the ability to read people’s auras and determine weather they were good or evil. He also executed “justice” with the power of a energy blast that came from his right hand which he called his sword. He also created a protective force field out of his left had that he called his sword. What made this book so interesting to me, was that even though the character had a very straight forward view of right and wrong and for him everything was black and white, the book was by no means straight forward. It had a lot of unexpected twists and was written in such a way that you almost did not know which world you were in at any given point in time. If it was the real world, or Tensen’s home world. You also did not know if his home world was actually real, or just something in his mind. Seriously, the book had you guessing.

This book introduced me to complexed characters. The world was shady. There were drug dealers, crime lords, and decadent lifestyles. It taught me that characters could be deep. It just wasn’t about super powers and fantastic abilities. It wasn’t about coming up with the cool looking costume. It was about characters experiencing turmoil and anguish. Having to make tough choices and experiencing great loss. It showed me that characters could reflect the human struggle. These types of characters people could identify with because they were real. Not real as in actually existing, but real as in believable. Marvel was making a push in these days to make more realistic characters and this book was a product of that.

I learned that characters had to be believable. That broken characters were more interesting. Someone could identify or sympathise with a broken character rather than one who seemed perfect. This would later influence my character creation.

Here’s a review of Justice by edward2962

Do you remember this comic at all, and did you read it back when it came out? What has influenced your character creation? Till next time.

Cheers.

Everard J. McBain Jr.

Everard is the Creative Director and CEO of GemGfx. GemGfx is a multidisciplinary design consultancy based in Trinidad and Tobago. He has been involved in the field of Graphic Design for over 14 years. He is also the art director and co-author of the graphic novel Celflux which he created along with his wife Dixie Ann Archer-McBain.

ww.gemgfx.com

The post My Inspirations: Justice appeared first on Celflux - Graphic Novel & Animated Series.

If you are interested in doing a review of Celflux, please feel free to contact us and we will supply a complimentary digital copy. Click The images below to see where to purchase your copy of Celflux.

Thank you for supporting our project.

The post Where Can I Purchase Celflux? appeared first on Celflux - Graphic Novel & Animated Series.

The event is going to be held online, with updates as the days and week progresses. We’ll be giving away free downloads during the week. Each purchase of the print copy, entitles you to a free download of the digital version. Each purchase of the print copy also gives you a chance to win some cool Celflux Merchandise. Join the #Free event on Google Plus or on Facebook.

We’d really appreciate it if you would spread the word about our event so as many people as possible will attend. Look forward to seeing you there.

The post Celflux Book Launch Event appeared first on Celflux - Graphic Novel & Animated Series.

When we first started the Celflux project, it was more a project of love. Just to realize a childhood dream of creating your own characters and stories and sharing it with others. We really did not have any stated goals or directions we wanted to go in other than knowing we had six volumes that we wanted to create. Let me say here that it’s not always a good idea to start something without a plan, but sometimes the journey of discovery is the most rewarding. Celflux has grown into a lot more since we first started. The research we’ve done has helped us create solid achievable goals that we can work towards. So we’ve decided that we’ll be creating six volumes with approximately four issues each. When we’ve completed the volumes, we’ll be compiling them into the graphic novel for that volume. May be hard cover, may be soft cover, we’re not sure yet.

So we recently completed Issue no.1 of Vol.I, and we’ve made digital copies available on DriveThru Comics for sale. We’d also sent it off to the printers to get print copies ready. Recently we received the proofs for the print copies. We were blown away by how fantastic the book looked. No, it’s not me tooting my own horn, it’s me genuinely surprised at how cool the book looked. It did not look like something we did. It looked like someone else did it. It gave us a really good feeling. A feeling like the thing you created came to life. Which brings me back to the Oprah moment I was having earlier. Holding the print copy in our hands we realized that we were not in this for the money. We felt a sense of accomplishment just by being able to create something and see it in physical form in our hands. We’d done it.

So our goal is to finish all six volumes, which is approx 24 issues and bring them all to print. If we can do this we will be content. We’re already satisfied with completing the first one and feel a sense of accomplishment. This little print comic book is a big deal to us. So it’s good to set goals, and work towards them, but find your accomplishment in the little things. This would make it even better when you achieve the big goals and you’ll still feel accomplished even if you don’t reach them.

Oh and The print copies of Celflux will be available on DriveThru Comics soon.

Till next time.

The post A Sense of Accomplishment appeared first on Celflux - Graphic Novel & Animated Series.

When I was growing up many can confirm that I used to draw a lot. I was always drawing. Many sleepless nights just being engrossed in drawing some character, or some scene. The amount of time I spent was irrelevant. What was important, was the finished product and weather or not I was happy with it. As life took me into another direction, I became a graphic designer. Graphic designers operate by rules that are a bit different to fine artists or other creators. Because of the deadline oriented nature of the industry, quality sometimes has to take a back seat to speed. This is not to say that the quality of the work produced by graphic designers is of a lesser quality than others, but what I am saying is that graphic designers have to find a delicate balance between speed and quality and sometimes things lean towards the side of speed.

When my wife and I started working on Celflux I came to the realization that I had to break out of that graphic designer mentality and approach this project with an emphasis on quality. This is not to say deadlines were to be ignored, or to say that deadlines are not important, but they were not to take precedence over producing something of quality. The work on Celflux had to be the best that I could produce, because that’s one of the things people will remember it for. Sure the story needs to be engaging with strong character development, flowing story arcs and a captivating plot. But if the quality of the product is less than stellar, it will not have the impact that it needs to. I heard one person say it like this “The artwork is what grabs the reader, and the story is what keeps them.”

Again, I am not saying that speed is not important. Nor am I saying that it is impossible to create quality with speed. Nor am I trying to downplay the importance of meeting deadlines especially in the comic book industry. But that at this time, for Celflux, speed needs to take a back seat.

When we first started putting Celflux online, we were putting out two pages a week. Between my day job and other responsibilities it became a situation where I was just trying to get the pages finished and not really concentrating on achieving, or maintaining a particular type of quality. I eventually had to stop, take a step back and decide which was more important to me. To meet a self imposed deadline, or stay committed to the quality I was trying to achieve. While writing this blog post, I got an email from Tapastic (one of the platforms we used to put Celflux online) letting me know they missed me because we haven’t posted anything in a while. That aught to tell you what was the decision I made. Quality, is more important to me than speed. So I will slow it down, and focus on the quality. There are instances that even after I had completely finished a panel, if I was not happy with it, I did it over from scratch. In time, Celflux if it is good enough, will be recognized for it’s quality, and will come into it’s own.

The reality is that there are literally, thousands of extremely talented creators out there. Many, many, many of them far more talented than I will ever be. So if Celflux has any hope of being noticed on a Comic Book shelf or in the catalogue of an online digital comic store, it at least has to look like it belongs next to the already stellar stuff that is already out there. There’s a little experiment I did to put this to the test and I’d like to share it with you.

I went to the Comixology website, and I took a screenshot of their homepage. I then went into Photoshop, and placed the Celflux cover artwork alongside the titles there to see if it fit. Here’s how it looked. Judge for yourself.

My desire, is that Celflux will look good enough to be alongside the great titles already there, but be unique enough that it would stand out. While I will always see room for improvement, I think Celflux looks pretty good there. The most I can do is hope that Celflux fans, other comic enthusiasts and the folks at Comixology, when the time comes, think the same.

So for the sake of achieving and maintaining a certain level of quality, at this time, some things need to be sacrificed. One of those things, is speed. In time as my skill improves my speed will also improve. For the time being, quality takes priority.

Food for thought. Till next time.

Everard J. McBain Jr.

Everard is the Creative Director and CEO of GemGfx. GemGfx is a multidisciplinary design consultancy based in Trinidad and Tobago. He has been involved in the field of Graphic Design for over 14 years. He is also the art director and co-author of the graphic novel Celflux which he created along with his wife Dixie Ann Archer-McBain.

ww.gemgfx.com

The post Sacrificing Speed on The Altar of Quality appeared first on Celflux - Graphic Novel & Animated Series.

When we as creators slave over our labour of love, we face the pitfall of thinking that it is the best thing ever. While it is quite possible that it would be the best thing that we have done so far, it is by no means the best that we will ever be able to do, and it most certainly is not the best thing available out there. To us it might be, but that’s where the admiration stops. It takes a lot of maturity to look objectively at your own work, and not be satisfied by what you see. To look at it and see room for improvement, and strive to improve. This is not about perfectionism, but objectivity. The ability to critique your work and by that improve your skill.

When we first started posting Celflux artwork and comic page, we got really good reviews, and we are still getting. I want to send a big thank you out to all those who gave their feedback, encouragement and kind words. I however have always practised trying to improve and never being satisfied with the level that I’m at, therefore I saw room for improvement in the work that we put out. So I decided to look again at the artwork for Celflux, and I went over everything and tried to improve in the areas where I saw deficiencies. Here are some things that I did in examining the work.

Removing Emotion From The Equation.

I had to divorce myself from my creations. That emotional attachment that I felt with them. The type of attachment that anyone who has had a part in bringing something into being has. Sometimes that attachment is beneficial and necessary. Let’s say in the case of a mother bringing a child into the world. But in the case of artwork, it can be detrimental. It’s ok to detach yourself from your art, in order to look at it in a critical manner and thus be able to see the deficiencies and improve in those areas. Pride and emotions makes the critical process murky, and you can’t see clearly.

Setting A High Standard

Using yourself as the measuring stick to measure yourself is not a good idea. You are at one level and you want to get to a higher level. So the key thing would be to measure yourself against someone who is at the level you would like to attain. Look at the artwork of others, and see what they have that you lack. Is it their line-work, inking, colouring or that foundation one everybody struggles with Anatomy. I’ve said it before one of my favourite artists is Joe Madureira. I think his work is extremely dynamic and I use his level of work to compare my work to.

It’s important that I state here, it’s not about mimicking, or copying someone else’s style. It’s about looking at their work and finding the points where they excel in, and building your own style from it.

Reworking Celflux

So that lead me to redoing the artwork for Celflux. I created a few new promotional images, and I went back over all the pages and reworked them. I even reworked the cover artwork. Here is an image of the new and old side by side, so you can make the comparison.

The old cover is on the left and the new is on the right. While you can still see there’s room for improvement, there is a vast difference in the two. The one on the right is far better.

So in conclusion, always be critical of your own work and looking at room for improvement. You will never grow as a creator, if you think to yourself that there’s no room to grow.

Till next time.
Celflux Team

The post Being Your Own Worst Critic appeared first on Celflux - Graphic Novel & Animated Series.

Like us on Facebook.

And so we begin our journey to more great fans. If you like Celflux already, spread the word so others can become a part of the journey.

Till next time.
The Celflux Team.

The post Okira’s Celflux T-Shirt Giveaway appeared first on Celflux - Graphic Novel & Animated Series.