An image from chapter 1 of Shadow Bay (noir visual novel collaboration with Donald J. Rothschild). The somewhat grotesque heads which recur throughout the book in various places were influenced by the Belgian artist, James Ensor (1860-1949). Donald had seen a NYT magazine feature on Ensor just before we started the book, & I had been aware of & influenced by Ensor for years.
Ensor was known for painting grotesque masks & skulls, including at least one self-portrait surrounded by masks, not unlike the image above.
Other influences & references in Shadow Bay include:
Brian Selznick's "The Invention of Hugo Cabret"
Albert Camus' "The Outsider" which I had read whilst waiting for my car to be fixed when starting on the project. The "Long Island" settings of part 1 of SB are inspired by Algeria & er, Leeds...
The term "visual novel" comes from Jim Steranko's 1976 opus "Chandler: Red Tide", which is not technically a graphic novel as such due to the lack of speech balloons & other comic-book conventions.
Tags: graphic novel visual novel shadow bay james ensor
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From the Hudson Valley News ("Good Stories" section), Feb 8-14, 2012.
Notes:
-- It's actually R-rated.
-- They spelled my name (first name at that) wrong
-- I had to Photoshop the layout together, as it was spread over 2 columns
-- It captures the essence of the book quite well
Hudson Valley News online: www.thehudsonvalleynews.com/HVNews/HVNews.html
(unfortunately, the above review is not on the web version)
Tags: shadow bay graphic novel visual novel noir review
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Unashamed plug for our reading on Friday night (January 13th at 7:30pm). We shall be projecting some of the images from the book and Donald shall read. Should be a good evening...
Oblong Bookstore: www.oblongbooks.com/
Facebook event page: www.facebook.com/events/279349135434996/
Tags: Shadow Bay graphic novel visual novel art illustration noir crime novel Donald J. Rothschild
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A quick photo of the proof copy of Shadow Bay (noir visual crime novel with writer Donald J. Rothschild) on the dining table...
It's great to finally have a printed copy & the matte varnish finish really adds to the package. The post-it notes denote issues that Donald found while proofreading...we still have a little ways to go, but it is looking very good.
Tags: art illustration noir cime novel shadow bay donald j. rothschild
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This is the final cover of the "noir visual novel" (it's technically not a graphic novel) collaboration with writer Donald J. Rothschild. More info soon...in the meantime, the entire story is still available in blog form here:
shadowbaynoir.blogspot.com/
(warning: there is some adult content)
Thanks to Georgia Dent for the cover layout.
Flickr set of some of the images from the book: www.flickr.com/photos/billayton/sets/72157623867179515/de...
Tags: art shadow bay noir visual novel donald j rothschild
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