Notes from the Field: Screaming from Soapboxes

So...we come to that point in the marketing where we will be officially going public with our intention to publish The Overman. Not that it was ever in doubt, but this will be the kick-off of us being equal to a ringmaster of sorts, touting our wares as the next best thing to sliced bread. I don't think IMAGE has a booth here, and that's fine because we've supplied you a map!

Come witness the End of the Future at WIZARD WORLD CHICAGO table #5206.

We'll have a preview of the first book, many items for sale and a few to give away. The goal is to get you familiar with our work and to establish good networks of people excited about our project.

We hope to see you there.

Stay tuned for more announcements.

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Notes from the Field: Marketing Arm

Despite what anyone thinks marketing is a necessary evil. Worse yet is usually marketing is outside of the busines that actually needs them, so there is bound to be things lost in translation.

From my point of view I see marketing as an entity that knows the tools and tips to getting your product out there into the hands of the right people. Oftentimes, especially in games, it can be frustrating to see a game that has been labored on sometimes by a 100 people or more over 2 years, get reduced down to a really crappy marketing idea. I believe the main complaint from the developer of the product is that the outside marketing team "doesn't get it". They have no idea what the game is about, and they went with the lamest hook they could come up with.

There are those rare moments though when marketing has done it's due diligence. That whole Civil War banner thing that Marvel put out...you know the one..."I'm with...'put your favorite noun here'? Simple, identifiable and viral. Everyone would like to claim to be viral in their marketing...and often have whole campaigns that are 'viral' but it's not viral if it doesn't spread like wildfire. It's all wishful thinking at best.

So for the past few months we've done our best to create a presence with our banner ads on many forums and we've offered hosted banners to help boost this effort. But it's not sticky enough to take hold. We've yet to find that sticky factor lest we lose sight of our goal. Namely to get the word of The Overman out there, and to get people to sample our book.

On Comicspace I'm running a CONTEST where we'll draw a name at the end of each month and give away art. I update the bulletins every so often to catch the eye of a passerby on the public bulletin section in hopes of getting more people to include us in their 'FAVS' list. It too is not taking off like wildfire...but our viewing numbers are up to 1500+ views of the preview pages. What more could we ask for given that it's all free?



That being said...here's a print ad that will be appearing soon in the backs of other Image titles.




Let me know what you think.

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Notes from the Field: Developmentalist

Here again with a series of unused development art. This is the stuff that kept me up at night early on. How best to represent The Overman? Scott and I have played tennis with these ideas over the past two years and it's interesting to see the evolution of thought.

For whatever reason some ideas like the austere open approach with the above piece struck a chord with me. The only problem was I wasn't sure where it would go for 5 issues but before I thought any more of it...Scott clipped it's wings. Personally I think this would be such a unique look that people would take notice.

So then the more literal stuff came into play. It's a sci-fi noir, how best to show it. Let's have a detective element to it...but then again Nathan isn't your typical detective. Again, while it was a good exercise, it didn't grab anyone. Wished I could have found out in the pencil stage.

You do realize there are covers I cannot show?

Mainly because they reveal too much of the story or they reveal a character that we want to keep ominous. There's some good ones in there but I know Scott would but the kibosh on it...and for good reason.

This was an exercise in literal subtlety. The idea here was to make the cover the exact moment before the first panel in the book. Many people didn't see the intrigue I was shooting for. An alternate version of this image ended up becoming the backcover, and thus gave me an idea.

The backcovers reflect a moment that the character on the front cover had just before something significant happen. I was hoping that by the time the reader was done the book and saw that image they'd reflect on the moment in time that the event was taking place and then realize, "Oh...that's before all hell broke loose!"

Here's an early mocked up poster idea to get the feel across and to give a little inspirato to both of us. I think it was quickly forgotten as soon as the email was sent/open. While it's a fun image, it really looked nothing like Omakon...and I wasn't about to spend several weeks recreating it accurately.

I'll dig around the archives a little more and see what else comes up. In the meantime check us out on MYSPACE.

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Notes from the Field: Covering it all! Part II

If you couldn't tell by now this is just a small sample of the agony of designing that first issue cover. Even now I'm struggling with covers for 4 and 5 and have yet to slow down this inevitable process. More times than not, having Scott's input on a cover idea is much more rewarding.

Our working relationship as such is one of those rare instances where the other person provides and excellent springboard. Usually that springboard is so out-of-whack that it makes the other rethink their initial idea or abandon it completely. It's all about one-up-manship, and I think we're lucky to have that.

Anyway, enough of my yakking...let's get to the art.

The psychology of a cover is important to us. We strive to capture key moments that add to the story and make you reconsider what is going on in the scene. It's the kind of covers that we like to see that grab our attention that we're most passionate about making. From concept, composition to color it all plays a role in attracting you the reader like a bee to pollen.

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