4. What have you enjoyed most about working on this project?
Glenn Møane: Seeing Brett transform it from an idea to an actual book in such a short time. I have a title as a co-editor on this project, but Brett is the guy who’s been pulling the strings. He’s the one who’s brought in the talent and co-ordinated the whole thing. Not the mention the three stories he’s created, each written, drawn, and colored by him. This is Brett’s baby and the amount of work he’s put into this project makes me want to stand up and applaud. Brett has a great passion for comics and I think he’ll have a bright future in this industry.
Randy Haldeman: Creative freedom to really put in the little details that make me smile. Also, Brett has made this project a blast. From his constant updates about the way everything is going, to just being a great guy to work for, I couldn’t have asked for a better person to run this anthology. Jake Young was also wonderful to work with. We didn’t get much talk time, but when we did talk, I could tell how much he cared about this project.
Jake Young: The setting, and the fact that Brett let me create my own character. It’s fun working with a group that’s so open to new ideas. This really makes me excited for the future of Torsobear.
Cy Dethan: It’s always great to work with people like Pete Mason – creators with a genuine love for the medium. Writing for themed anthologies has a sort of inspirational warmth to it, too. It’s an opportunity not just to watch your own story develop, but also to get a real insight into how other people approach a project.
Nic Wilkinson: There has been such a lot of scope to be playful and experimental with the lettering due to the nature of the story and the art. Being, as I am, mainly a product of the 80s working on this story – actually I can’t say “working” as it’s waaaaaay too much [fun] for that – has been like a trip to Neverland. When I saw his first character sketches of Snaplok, and then the full pages, come in I could not suppress a gleefully feral whoop – straight from the heart of my 10-year-old self. Working with such brilliant and passionate people to bring this project together has been one of the highlights of my work in comics.
Kieran Squires: Truly I’ve enjoyed watching everyone else’s projects come to life. I wasn’t sure what to expect or even how my ideas would be accepted but everyday has been inspirational. Seeing some amazing stories and illustrations go from nothing to life on the page is amazing and being able to bounce ideas round to help shape this fantastic world has been a joy. I have to thank Brett for allowing me to be a part of this.
Harry Saxon: As aforementioned I like me a challenge and I need to change styles so I don’t get rusty. In these 2 projects I tried something minimal, a different approach because I needed a change from the endless layers of shading and lights I’ve been using in my latest works. I like simple things as well, or as a teacher of mine used to say “if you only use one layer of shadow, better make it GOOD”. In “Home Invasion” I challenged myself a bit more by using a colour palette from the 50s (oh the yellows…)
Janos Honkonen: There’s actually two things. First of all, whenever you get into an indie project of any kind, you’ll never know what you’ll get people- and organization-wise. It may be a bunch of people who talk a lot and nothing happens. Torsobear: Yarns from the Toyburg was totally the opposite: there was a whirlwind of activity, awesome scripts and drafts and marketing and plans just flooding our creators’ online group. That was such a relief and an awesome thing to be part in. Secondly, the work of Saoirse Louise Towler who’s illustrating my story. I had no idea what to expect, but what I got were these incredibly skillful, cute and yet disturbing children’s book illustrations that went beyond what I hoped when I wrote the script. I’m not usually very gushy in the sense that I am pretty critical and I’m not afraid to voice it, but this was just stunning. I found myself stealing back during stressful work days to just look at the drafts she sent and emitting very unmanly “squee” sounds.
Brockton McKinney: Watching Brett bring to life on the page the insane and grotesque characters we created. Oh, and he sent me a 42 pack of KFC alcoholic Gravy Beer as payment for the work.
Check out the Torsobear Kickstarter!
And finally…
