New Work Published: Pocketwatch Pixie and Safyre V2: Unfinished Business

 I've been working with author David Brzezinski for several years now, ever since I did the cover for his book "Battle for Berridor".  Since then, I've done at least one cover a year for him, as well as some interior and design work.

One of the things I like about David is that he makes publishing a family affair, getting his kids to co-author books with him turning out some good stories in the process.  Children Caleb and Faith Brzezinski have co-written such books as "Safyre" and "Angelina and the Egg", all of which are worth checking out.

This year, David and family have published two books at the same time, one with Caleb and one with Faith.  I have had the honor of doing covers for both, as well as interiors for one of them.

"Pocketwatch Pixie" by David and Faith Brzezinski is a young adult tale of a girl who finds a magical pixie trapped in a pocketwatch.  A good story for readers who like a little magic with their heroism, with a strong female presence in both the authorship and the story.  The cover for this one was a bit of a stretch for me, with some inspiration by the DC "Superhero Girls" series of novels.  I also did a few black and white interiors that were fun and I hope will be charming.

"Safyre 2: Unfinished Business" by Caleb and David Brzezinski is a followup to 2013's "Explosive Origins: Safyre Book 1".  It's the ongoing story of two super-powered teens and their fight to save their home, Titanium Falls from nefarious villains.  Somehow a peanut-shaped car and a portable black hole get involved.  Look, you're just going to have to read it.

For the cover for this one, I tried to tap into some Kirby vibes to get that "comin' at ya!" feeling, with some of Kirby's trippy sense of color.  No cinematic movie grading here, darnit!

These are fun books authored by people who are just enjoying the process of writing and publishing, and aside from the fact that I worked on both of them, I can't recommend them enough...this is the kind of stuff that young people...or just the young at heart...should be reading when they're reading just for the fun of it.

Brutal Blade Vol. 2 Now Available for Kindle! plus Hal-Con Update

At long last, "The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit" Vol. 2 is now available for Kindle.  For just $3.99, you can get this great collection of strips and art to read on your Kindle, desktop or any mobile device running the Kindle app (I'm partial to having it on my Android phone myself, but to each their own).  Click here to go to the book's Amazon US page, or search "Brutal Blade" on Amazon to find this and all our other editions of Brutal Blade, volumes 1 and 2. 
As with the Kindle edition of the first book, I'm offering a special discount to one reader.  The first person to purchase the Kindle edition and email me a receipt will receive a refund of 125% of the purchase price - that's $5.00 for you non-mathematicians - via Paypal.  The only condition is that in your email you have to give me your opinion of how the book looks on your device.  Not owning a Kindle myself, I'd like to know how the formatting appears on other devices.  So drop me a line and earn some cash back.

In other news, it's less than two weeks to Hal-Con.  Between one thing and another, I'm busy trying to get everything ready.  That includes preparing banners, books (see below), posters and other items that will be available at our table.
If you're in the Halifax area, drop by Artist Alley and say hello to Ian and myself.  We'll both be showing off our work, and doing sketches, and there will be copies of both volumes of Brutal Blade available for your enjoyment.  Also, don't forget that cover artist for volume 2, Geof Isherwood, will be in attendance at his own table, and I'm sure you'll be able to hit him up to sign your copy as well.  We're looking forward to meeting any Bruno fans out there, and maybe making a few new ones while we're at it.  See you there!

Bruno Goes Mobile with Kindle!

You heard it here first....The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit Vol. 1 is now available on Kindle through Amazon.  That's right...as of right now, you can head over to the Kindle Store to grab your portable copy of Brutal Blade for just $3.99 and have it delivered right to your Kindle device or app.  Run over and grab yourself a copy today!

A couple of technical notes, and a special offer, hot on the heels of this.  I've had to do a lot of reformatting on the pages to get them to fit the Kindle properly.  As a result, most of the book is designed to be read in landscape mode, but some of the pages (e.g. the front cover) are still in portrait mode, just to make everything fit.  I've tried to minimize the need to flip your reading device as much as possible, but in some spots it was just inevitable.  I hope that it doesn't make the reading experience too unpleasant.  Please feel free to throw invective at me if it bothers you too much.
Also, I should state right up front that I do not yet own a Kindle myself.  I have tested the book on the Kindle app for my iPod Touch, but due to the size of that screen, there was a certain amount of zooming necessary to read the pages properly.  Everything looks fine to me, but I'd really like to hear from someone who has actually read the book on a Kindle proper as to how the reading experience was for him/her.
So, if you own a Kindle and buy the book, please take the time to email me and let me know how this book looks on your device.  In fact, the first reader to email me (info@aimcomics.com) a quick review and a copy of your Amazon receipt (redacted where and if necessary) will be refunded $5.00 via Paypal to cover the cost of the book plus a small "thanks" for helping out.
Now where else are you going to find an offer that gives you back more than the price of what you just bought?  Be quick though...this offer is good to the first responder only.

Looking for Kindle-ing

I'm in the process of trying to port "Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit" to a Kindle version.  Anyone who's ever tried to publish a comic through Kindle will likely be chuckling wryly by now, and well you may.
My first attempt was....well, in a word, awful.  But that's what I get for thinking I could just upload the existing pdf and Amazon's back end would take care of the rest for me.  Little did I know there's a lot of work involved if you don't want your product to look like a dog's breakfast.
However, I've been fortunate enough to locate a great resource that will save me a lot of time and frustration with the whole process.  Over at Smashwords, there's a nifty little ebook called, appropriately, "Formatting Comics for the Kindle and Nook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Images and Ebooks" by Niki Smith and Michael Jasper that explain in words simple enough for even me to understand how to go about reformatting your comics for an ebook reader.  Not only that, but the book also provides some basic advice on ebook marketing and links to an html template that will, I expect, save a ton of time.  Even though there's still going to be a lot of work involved to get the book Kindle-ready, I think this handy resource make it a lot less frustrating than it might otherwise have been.
If you're a self-publisher interested in putting your own comics on the Kindle, I highly recommend heading over to Smashwords and throwing down a couple of bucks for this book; you'll be glad you did.