Ivalice Zine Entry

Example of a zine illustration that spreads across two pages. It depicts a nu mou character from Final Fantasy in an item shop, accompanied by a moogle character eating a kupo nut.

This is the work I did for the (completely free!) Ivalice Zine organized by Ashley Cope, whose work on the webcomic Unsounded has inspired me for years. When I spotted the call for entries I jumped at the chance. It was curated so it was a little nerve-wracking, but I think my pitch of ‘I just want to throw down a nu mou’ worked out. The only additional requirement was that I put a moogle in, too, so of course that was acceptable to me!

Cover art by Ashley Cope. This 100+ page fanzine contains comics, stories, artwork, and more. There’s action, some pinups, and blood so fair warning.
It’s also completely free to download!

I had so much fun making the big splash illustration, I also created this spot graphic intending to be used in the table of contents. It’s based on the Final Fantasy Tactics character, Agrias, who has an ice-sword attack called Stasis Sword. I’ve always really loved her but didn’t quite have the time to render a human character, so this is my little nod to how awesome she is.

Comics Tip

Small Steps to a Career in Publishing
I joined a fan-zine to gain experience in collaboration and publishing. A fandom is a great way to connect with like-minded creators and produce something together. Some zines are curated, others are not. Sometimes they also fall apart, depending on organization and participation. Even so, a complete entry for a fan-zine, whether the zine releases or not, is a fine addition to a portfolio, depending on the job. I mean, don’t submit a comic to a legal firm asking for a graphic designer, you know? Fanfiction and fanart are often acceptable as examples of what creative professionals can do with established properties.

Monochromatic, digital artwork of an Ivalice video game UI, done in comic style with screentones.

Monochromatic, digital artwork of an Ivalice video game UI, done in comic style with screentones. This one has leaves and tilled fields to reflect 'springtime' and 'earth.'

Monochromatic, digital artwork of an Ivalice video game UI, done in comic style with screentones. This one has melting, lit candles to represent the season of summer and the element of fire.

Monochromatic, digital artwork of an Ivalice video game UI, done in comic style with screentones. This one has wind rustling petals and a ribbon around it to represent fall and air.

Monochromatic, digital artwork of an Ivalice video game UI, done in comic style with screentones. This one has icicles frozen to it and snowflakes around it to represent winter and water.

What I learned from working on the Ivalice Zine is that the creators I look up to are people, too, and appreciate help with for-fun projects. I also learned that it’s a blast collaborate with a writer. These graphics based on the Final Fantasy Tactics cursor design were made to mark each ‘chapter’ of a four-part story they wrote. The story focuses on four characters and aligns with earth/spring, fire/summer, air/fall, and water/winter. I really enjoyed helping CorpseBrigadier polish their vision and I hope they liked how it turned out, too! I had so much fun, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for my next opportunity to collaborate with a writer.

Digital lineart of a nu mou in a fantasy shop overstuffed with otherworldly objects. A moogle sits on one of the shelves and eats a kupo nut. The nu mou is like a large upright rabbit-person, and the moogle is a small batlike person with large ears.

In the meantime, if you’re up for a random collaboration with me, here’s some lineart to color.

Care to read more?

Gastronomy Chart

by H. McGill | May 13, 2022 | Fiction, Illustration

This one-shot editorial illustration represents mashups of foods that I personally enjoy and celestial bodies. I wanted to make a large print for sale in-person at conventions. Someday, I may open an online shop as well, but for now this exists as an exercise in creating a compelling illustration out of lots of fiddly bits.

Terminal: My New Graphic Novel Pitch

by H. McGill | Apr 29, 2022 | Comics, Publishing

Making a New Graphic Novel Pitch: Terminal!After attending a comics event via SCBWI, I realized that my fantasy graphic novel Warlock’d was better off self-published. If I self-publish Warlock'd, I could teach myself how to make a graphic novel without the threat of...

Afterlife

by H. McGill | Apr 15, 2022 | Illustration

The Composition that Social Media Made This piece didn't start out as a reflection of some unrelated personal stuff that happened to me lately. It was defined via a Twitter poll where voters decided I was going to draw yi qi dinosaurs next to a stream and color them...

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SAW Graphic Novel Development Month 1/6

Comics

I signed up for a 6-month graphic novel course via Sequential Artists Workshop (SAW). It’s very heavily focused on individual study and progression. As for the graphic, I got sorted into the ‘orange’ group, although it seems like I’m just sort of interacting with whomever. I’m doing a lot of sketchy thumbnail work for the course and…making friends! But mostly working, starting with an exercise to help me visualize my entire graphic novel before going in to the nuts and bolts.

Setting Up Benchmark Scenes
Even though I’d been working on Warlock’d for years prior to this SAW class, I picked up a fun exercise that I will be doing for future projects. The idea is to quickly explore the whole book before writing a single line of dialogue. In my case, I’d already written the script, but every time I tried to fix it, it just spiraled into new ideas. So, to stop it from expanding further, this exercise really helped.

Warlock’d in Four Panels
Here I quickly jotted down the spine of the story. They turned into jokes because this much truncation lends itself better to humor than drama. These scenes need to happen for the story to work.

Warlock’d in Eight Panels
Here I misunderstood an eight page assignment but I still found this helpful to do anyway. It was sort of like mini-thumbnails for fleshing out the four panels above, giving them more context and thumbnails for the actual pages.

Sketchy version of a future Warlock'd page where the demon Dehydemes is hanging out with Margo in Hell. "Sure, I'll go ahead and grant his wish for you," says Dehydemes, finger poised over the inn. Dehydemes touches the inn. It bursts into flames. Margo thinks, "Wait...this seems...bad."

Sketchy version of a future Warlock'd page where Lebeau is puzzling over why the inn isn't on fire. Margo insists it is on fire. Lebeau shrugs and busts down the door of the inn. The innkeeper is like "What the--" Lebeau yells 'I'm here to help!" but is very unhelpful.

Sketchy version of a future Warlock'd page where Lebeau is hanging out with a man in a fox mask. "Thanks for letting me hang!" says Lebeau. "Oh sure," says the fox. Panel 2: Closeup of the fox, who is inscribing something on an amulet. "It's Christmas. No one should be out in the cold." Panel 3: Closeup of the fox's inscription, an ancient method for expelling demons by drawing a saint on a horse. Panel 4: Pierre yells "Out, ye damned!!!" and a magic horse stomps Lebeau, expelling Margo into the flaming border. The demon Dehydemes is hanging out in the border. "Well, well well" says Dehydemes.

Rough version of a future page in Warlock'd. Margo is in her cage and she accuses Pierre: "You! I had a perfectly good thing going!" Pierre is grumpy in a chair nearby. Margo's human body lies sleeping in the background. Panel 2: Closeup of Margo saying "Now I can't even go into people right anymore". Panel 3: Closeup of Pierre's gritted teeth and his hand on Margo's bed. He says "Margo..." Panel 4: Pierre stands in front of the window, through which the moon shines. He says "Christmas is ending. The boundaries between our worlds will close at midnight tomorrow. If you don't find a body before then, you're stuck. As a damned bird." He's pissed.

Sketchy version of a future page where Margo the magical bird goes back into her body and settles into the empty cavity of her own heart. In panels two and three, she awakens in her human form, evidenced by a single tear running down her cheek.

Sketchy version of a future page where Lebeau has Margo and Pierre on their horse. They charge towards the burning inn. In the second panel the horse busts into the inn. Lebeau says "We're here to help!"

Warlock’d in Eight Pages
From the four, then eight, panels, I was able to derive a lot of pages that I’m either excited about reaching, or…excited about changing altogether. Hey, not everything’s a masterpiece. At least I know many months in advance that it needs editing, rather than after I’ve fully drawn the page.

Takeaways
This doesn’t have to be done digitally. It could be drawn on napkins with ballpoint pens. The point is to quickly jot ideas down and become more familiar with them, even set up a few to look forward to polishing. Spending too much time and polish on explorations is just like vacuuming my cat…Sure, maybe it looks nice at the end, but did I really have to do that?

Comics Tip

Make Friends, and Support Them
Making comics may seem like a lone effort, but without a community, a comic goes nowhere (and possibly never gets finished). Part of paying into the comics community means supporting other comics creators.

Buy and read the work of your peers. Get to know their interests outside of comics. Beta read scripts for each other. Toss money into a comics Kickstarter or two. Go to some conventions and strike up some conversations with exhibitors in Artist Alley. Show up to a weekly local drawing group. Trade tips and resources. While it’s not a one-for-one trade in most situations, being successful at comics means being part of a larger group of people.

With that in mind, here are three comics friends of mine who kindly volunteered for shout-outs, as well as a link to the Sequential Artists Workshop. Check out their stuff!