Will be back in March

Due to upcoming deadlines for animation projects I won't be able to finish the Women in Horror month series.

I feel really bad I couldn't but I had a few things come up that needed my attention. You can check out the rest of the WiH Month events by checking out their website: http://www.womeninhorrormonth.com

So great job to everyone that got involved sorry I wasn't able to finish. As for my regular blogging. I will be back on March 1 after I get my work done and can get back to working on my script.

Have a little patience folks, I will have more things for you to look at.
Thanks!

I've been gone awhile

Sorry about my lack of updates recently.
I have been going through quite a bit of stress and was depressed for the last couple of weeks. I've been having trouble with job search, working on dull projects and all of the pressures have been preventing me from working on the Do Unto You project. Knowing that I've been slipping, I've talked with my husband and he's giving me a hand trying to get myself back together.

So I will be trying a job search again next week and finish up my animation projects and hopefully after February, things will be easier. As for Women in Horror month, I have a few more articles to do but I won't be able to update everyday as I was originally going to do. A lot of things have been overwhelming me lately.

I haven't given up on this blog though, I just have been set back a little bit. I will make sure to get more involved, having something to do to keep my sanity.

Thanks for understanding

Happy V-Day!

Happy Valentine's Day and lots of love to all my readers and followers!
Be posting up a new article tomorrow!

WiH Month: Camilla d'Errico

For my latest post for Women in Horror Month comic series, I want to present the local comic artist and illustrator Camilla D'Errico.

Camilla is a first generation Canadian born to Italian parents in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She went to Vancouver to obtain her diploma in Illustration and Design from Capilano University and worked for various artists and comic projects until 2008, her own comic series, "Burn" was published by Arcana Studios. A story about a young body who after a freak accident, has his body merged with a sentient robot.

Her art style can be described as manga art style with dream-like watercolours, blending the cute with the fantastical and the surreal.

Along with Burn, she has worked as an artist on Serena Valentino's Nightmares & Fairytales. A collection of folklore and fairy tales published through Slave Labour Graphics and working on the graphic novel as well as the character designs for the video game "Sky Pirates of Neo Terra"

Along with her comic work, she has worked on various things like designer toys, stationary and various illustration work for Walt Disney Company, Hasbro Toys, Microsoft Zune, Dark Horse comics and the list goes on.

She has been getting great success from her artwork, whether it is through comics, illustration or product design. I hope to see more of her work in the future.

Camilla's Webpage
Camilla's Twitter

Chipping away the block

Well, after the last couple days of crud, I actually managed to write out the rest of the plot today while I was at the library. Turns out I needed to get out of the house (working at home can suck sometimes.)

I also went to the Cloudscape meeting today and talked about my idea to someone who does copywriting for a living. Turns out I was horribly nervous talking about the book to someone I barely knew (plus you tend to feel a little defensive when talking about sensitive issues like religion and sexual orientation. You never know how someone would react until you mention it- especially in a horror setting) Any other time I talked to someone about the comic idea, it was with close friends (at least those that I've gotten an honest opinion from) so pitching it to someone new was nerve wracking.

Otherwise, things went well. He likes the idea and wants to read more of it so I will have to quickly revise beatsheet and treatment and have him look over it. And if things go well. I will start writing the first draft next week! :D If by the end of February, I don't have the first draft done, at least I will be getting myself out of development hell.

And apologies for not keeping up with the Women in Horror month posts but I will have something new for you to read tomorrow!

Le Tired

I've been very tired and unmotivated for the last couple of days. I hope this will wear off soon. If I am unable to write tonight, I'll do a little reading to get my brain meats working. If you're stuck on writing and need a brain boost. Try some of these links:

5 Useful Habits of Beginner Screenwriter.
Exposition: 6 Storytelling Tips
The Comic Academy: How to Succeed in the Comic Industry in 2012

This video embedded below is good to help lift your spirits when you're having a hard time with your creative work:



Time to pull my brain away from the internet and get some stimulation. Goodnight everyone.

WiHM: Hack/Slash

For this edition of Women in Horror Month in comics, I am bring up a popular long-time series from Image Comics (previously Devil's Due publishing) called "Hack/Slash"

Hack/Slash
Created and Written By: Tim Seely
Original Pencils: Emily Stone 
Current Pencils: Bryan Baugh
Colours: Courtney Via

So the concept of this comic book series is what caught my attention. The main character in the series is bad-ass goth chick, Cassandra "Cassie" Hack, who is considered to us a Final Girl from a Slasher film (the original Slasher being her deranged mother)

After she stopped her mother, Cassie becomes what you call a Slasher of Slashers. She hunts down other killers with the help of her friend Vlad, a hulk of a man who wears a gas mask and carries two meat cleavers. They go across the country and hunt and kill any serial killers in their path. The comic series even had appearances from horror icons such as Chucky (CHILD'S PLAY) and Herbert West (RE-ANIMATOR)

Although I haven't read through the series yet I will comment on the artwork (sorry Tim). The pencils from the beginning of the series is done by Emily "Em" Stone. I really liked her artwork in this series, she makes Cassie look sexy but dangerous in her own right. Even with the lead character in scantily-clad clothing, it still feels true to her rebellious character and the women's bodies are not contorted into a badly drawn cartoons.

Emily Stone however has finished her run on Hack/Slash and now the pencils have been taken over by independant comic artist Bryan Baugh

Also the colours for this series is done by Courtney Via, who I actually watched on deviantArt many years ago. It quite interesting to see her name in comics but for a very good reason, she's a damn fine artist as well as colourist. I would highly recommend checking out her original work as well as the comic work she's done.

Back to the comic itself, I've been hearing rumors on and off for years about a movie adaptation of Hack/Slash. So far Bloody Disgusting has recently accounced of Marcus Nispel (Friday the 13th remake, Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake) to be the director for the movie adaptation. Not all of his movies I've liked but I think working with something like a slasher film -without it being another remake- could be good.

Blah Day

Today has been a dead day for writing, I've been a bit busy. I will try to continue through the night and get something done whether it is writing or some new artwork.

Tomorrow I will have another Women in Horror month article for you to check out.
Goodnight folks.

WiH Month: Junko Mizuno

For my second Women in Horror month feature, I am presenting the Japanese Horror illustrator and comic artist, Junko Mizuno.

How would I describe Ms. Mizuno's work? I guess my best description would be "PowerPuff Girls on LSD"

Junko Mizuno is a manga artist whose work often consists of cute anime aesthetics with elements of sexuality and horror. Her work created the sub genre: Gothic Kawaii.

Her manga works include Hellbabies, re-imaginings of fairy tales such as Hansel and Gretel and Cinderella to the humorously titled Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu.

She has even done some work in comic anthologies like Marvel's Strange Tales where she created a Spiderman and Mary Jane comic.

In addition to her comics and illustration, her works have also been used in designing toys, t-shirts, calenders and other collectables. Her artwork is very unique and gives a very feminine perspective of Horror.

She was interviewed by the BBC for their Japanese Documentary series Japanorama, which you can check out below.





Check out Junko Mizuno's Website
Follow Junko Mizuno on Twitter.

Fear Friday

(because I can't seem to think of a better title)

Been writing through today, figuring out the storyline. Splitting the story into three POVs have actually helped me figure out the character's actions but I still think I might be over complicating it and will have to cut out excess information for the final treatment.

None the less, I decided to treat myself tonight and watch something on Netflix. Anyone with Netflix in Canada can tell you that our movie selection is a little blah (especially for the horror section of which I frequent)

So after going checking out a couple of cheap flicks (and gotten bored by them) I decided to watch the infamous Hostel II. I've watched Eli Roth's Cabin Fever film (which I did enjoy) and I've heard all sorts of things regarding the Hostel films- It's sick, gross, perverted, misogynistic, etc..

When I watched the films I was surprised at the amount of character development that Roth has incorporated into the film and while there was quite a bit of gore, I found there was a lot more psychological tension than the horrible torture that people said were in the film. I wasn't as disturbed as I thought it would have been (I think I have been spoiled by the European and Asian horror films.)

I guess what I am trying to say is that the hype/hysteria regarding the film is much stronger than the film itself and that the whole "torture porn" label attached to Hostel is rather ridiculous, there was no rape or graphic sex in the film and the bad guys I would expect to be misogynistic if they were willing to buy women and torture them.  If you want to talk about being offended, I find most chick flicks to be more offensive than Hostel II when it comes to female character development.

There is an article by a lawyer who talks about the film in much better detail. Check it out here

Overall, I felt that the movie was rather overrated but I did enjoy it none the less for the characters (which is very rare in horror movies nowadays) even for the villains which I found them quite interesting. Hostel is one of those films that people use as a scapegoat for everything that's wrong with the world, when really it's the abyss that's looking into them.

Overcoming Writer's Block

Well its the second day of February and I was really struggling with the middle part for the story. I want to get the treatment done in the next couple of days so that I can start with the script. However there were a couple of events I couldn't make the set up for.

Then it hit me that my plot was rather complex and hard to write all at once, so I decided to write three plotlines for three main characters. Then look them through, intertwine them together in the final treatment and cut out unnecessary crap. (it still sounds messed up but there is a madness to my method)

I started reading the book "On Writing Horror", a guide from the The Horror Writers Association  that gives you tips on writing characters/plotline/mood/etc.. specifically for a horror setting. So I highly recommend this book for anyone who is plunging for the first time into horror writing (like myself D: )

Speaking of books, the first post I want to make for the Women in Horror month is an award winning comic series I believe would be good to kick off this series.

Y the Last Man 
Created by Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra
Written by Brian K Vaughn
Artwork by Pia Guerra
Published by DC Vertigo

Now whether or not you consider this a horror story, it still fits within the realm considering it is an Post-Apocalyptic drama series (much like the Walking Dead)

Y the Last Man is about a man named Yorick, who finds himself to be the last living man on Earth as a unexplained plague killed off all of the men in the world as well as all the male animals (except for Yorick's pet monkey Ampersand)

So now Yorick is traveling the world trying to reach his girlfriend who was last known to be in Australia. All the while trying to prevent attention drawn to himself. From the scientists that want to use him as a lab rat, to the extremist feminist society that kills any remaining men in sight.

The writing in this story is done by Brian K Vaughn and illustrated by Pia Guerra. It takes a realistic look at what would happen if Man disappeared off the Earth and how the Women would cope and try to get society working again.

The writing is very well done and talks about gender issues that is not exploitative or exclusive in any way towards either gender, Pia's artwork is well done, clean lines and colours, something that can transfer straight from comic to the screen (I am surprised that it hasn't had a movie adaptation by now)

This is the type of comic book I would give to people who are typically not comic book reader (usually due to overtly sexual/sexist imagery stereotypically found in comics) because the writing is really good and raises some interesting questions.

I've really enjoyed this book and Pia Guerra is a talented and lovely lady and I hope to see another project from her in the future.

Women in Horror Month gig

Hi Everyone!
For the month of February I am participating in the Women in Horror Month blog series.

What is Women in Horror Month?
Women in Horror Month is an organization of helping out women working in aspects of the horror genre (film, literature, comic books, etc..) getting recognition, promoting their work and networking with others. For some people out there who are thinking this, this is NOT something that will exclude or demonize men in any way.

The director sisters, Jen and Sylvia Soska (who are on the Board of Directors for this event) has a much more detailed explanation you can check out here: Welcome to Women in Horror Month

Now that all formalities are brought out of the way. I will be introducing what I will be doing for the month.

As those of you following my blog know, I am following my New Year's resolution to get my long awaited Horror graphic novel "Do Unto You" started. For the month of February I will be writing my first draft of the script and I will be making a blog post about it once a day.

Also what I will be doing is blog posts on various female artists and writers who have contributed to the Horror comic genre as well as finding webcomics, independent comic publishing, as well as animation, film, etc.. that could use some promotion.

So yeah, February is going to be a busy month for me. Wish me luck!