HIGH MOON on THIS IS WHAT I'M DOING

In the Halloween (the Moon edition), Mel Jean Brook wrote the following awesomeness about HIGH MOON:

Every once in a while, you come across a concept that is so freaking cool, that you bang your head and wonder why you didn’t think of it.

A Study In Character

Some Character Sketches:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween is here!

Today, Steve and I got some treats from two fantastic webcomics:

Girls With Slingshots
&
In His Likeness

Go check them out!

A little today, I'll be posting some fantastic sketches, some links, and maybe a treat or two.

High Moon Is Live !!!

Read it now only at Zuda.Com

Your Mom's Basement on HIGH MOON

The fine gents over in Your Mom's Basement did a quick little LAST MINUTE INTERVIEW with me over at their site. Here's a snippet on how writing for ZUDA is different than writing regular ol' comics:

When you are writing a standard comic, every right-handed page is supposed to give the read incentive to turn the page. With Zuda, literally every screen has to give the readers an incentive to click further. As a writer you have to adapt your strip to the new reading rhythm of the format. I have 8 screens, or literally, 4 full-sized comic pages to get my readers' attention. How many comics can you name off hand that get a reader's attention, reveal essential plot and character information, and are enjoyable by page 4? It doesn't happen often in the era of decompressed storytelling.

Need Coffee on HIGH MOON

The fine folks at Need Coffee, wrote up a nice little piece about HIGH MOON.

From their article:

Prof. David Gallaher and Steve Ellis OBE are co-conspirators on a new webcomic that's blasting off shortly on the Zuda Comics website.... All you need to know is that it's a western involving six-shooters and werewolves. It's called High Moon. And really, what else do you need to know?

They also mention this important element:

Ah, there is one thing: apparently this project is like Webcomic Thunderdome. Eight pages enter, one comic leaves. If you want to see more of High Moon you have to go to the site and vote for it.

HIGH MOON debuts today - only on ZUDA.COM!

The Artwork behind HIGH MOON

In his LiveJournal, artist Steve Ellis talks a little bit about the art process behind HIGH MOON:

The artwork I did for HIGH MOON is gritty and dark and takes heavy influence from crazy western films like Jodorosky's El Topo, Django, as well as High Plains Drifter and Unforgiven. We've added the whole horror angle which fits seamlessly with the Western feel...

I'm very proud of it. I did the penciling, inking, and coloring. Much of the art was done directly on computer but has a textured dark threatening feel which works with the storyline.

Steve also mentions one of the best parts:

It's ... a supernatural western/horror, involving six guns and werewolves....it starts out as a mystery and I think it will be a blast when we reveal the final twist.

NEWS: C-NET on ZUDA

What's a Zuda? Major publisher leaps into the world of webcomics

And we get name dropped here:
Love and the first batch of 10 contestants are a mix of known and unknown writers and artists in the comics world, covering a range of genres from David Gallaher and Steve Ellis' Western ''High Moon,'' to J. Longo's slice-of-life satire, ''This American Strife,'' to superheroes in Matthew Humphreys' ''Battlefield Babysitter.''

And just below, you can see a teeny, tiny little screen shot of HIGH MOON:

HIGH MOON: Grrrr ....

Can't have a werewolf western without a werewolf, right? This is one of ours. Concept art by Steve Ellis.

Comic By Comic's Shameless Pimping

Rich, over at his awesome blog: Comic by Comic, does some exceptional pimping for HIGH MOON

The High Moon Mini Interview

I like the western heroes’ sense of fair play, their oath to act as a shepherd to their community, and their sense of justice. Macgregor shares many of the traits of a typical western hero. But, as High Moon develops beyond its prologue, there are a few elements that set him apart.

Park Cooper and Barb Lien Cooper: The Park & Barb Show

Blogged with Flock

Tara: The Pitch Concept Art

Tara is a female character in HIGH MOON. This art was also included with the pitch package to DC Comics. Art by Steve Ellis.

Kleefeld on Comics: Thoughts On Zuda Comics

Sean Kleefeld posts his thoughts on the marketing of Zuda, so far:

At this point, based purely on the extremely limited material I've seen so far and my reasoning above, I think Alpha Monkey, The Dead Seas and High Moon have the best chances out of the gate.

Macgregor: The Pitch Concept Art

Steve Ellis' concept art for Macgregor is much, much, better than mine. The is some of the art that was used when we pitched the title to DC Comics.

About.Com Lists It's Picks on Zuda (so far)

Aaron Albert over at About.Com listed HIGH MOON among his initial picks - check out what he said below:

Best Premise: High Moon – Although the title was a little much, I could see this easily being a cool series.

And, Aaron hasn't even seen the art yet.

The First Character Worksheet

This is the first of many character worksheets I developed for the central protagonist of High Moon, Macgregor.

Most of these details changed dramatically as the story, plot, and setting began to develop - but it was important to me that I start with the central character and build the story around him and his motivations first.

We need to care about the character before we care about his conflicts.

This worksheet, as loose as it is, was the first step.

Second Sketch: The Edited For Your Protection

Above, is another reason why I wrote HIGH MOON, but didn't decide to draw it.

What you are looking at here is the second sketch from my first High Moon notebook way back from 2004. I've cut out things that while not currently plot points, at one time, were initial ideas.
A few things stayed, most of them changed.

HIGH MOON: The Back Cover of My Notebook Sketch

I developed High Moon back in 2004. The main character, Macgregor, was loosely inspired by the lawmen of such old-time radio serials as Gun Smoke and Have Gun, Will Travel. Above is one of the first sketches I did of the Macgregor, in the back of my noteboook, with a series of ballpoint pens.

You can all see how much the look and feel has evolved since then.