God's'Dog: Warrior

News, and introducing our colorists.
5 months ago – Tue, May 14, 2024 at 07:24:26 PM

As you know, we are working hard to get these books done, things are moving along nicely.  Don't forget to fill out your Backerkit survey!  This is necessary for us to send you your books.  Also, the pre-order store is till open for those who are interested in more books.  This is the only place to get some of these books at the moment, like Snow White, and these will not be on the market for several months otherwise.   

In this update, I wanted to focus on our two colorists, Felipe Cartin and Matt Crotts. 

Felipe's colors appear on Matt Sheean's main story, and we wanted them to be a continuation of the style of colors we had developed for book one.  In book one, because of Cord Nielson's very iconic style, reminiscent of Mignola, we wanted to have a powerful and simple flat coloring style with very few gradients.  When Matt took over from Cord, I wanted to attempt the same style of coloring on Matt's more detailed style.  The result was very successful, and Felipe is able to suggest mood, the passing of time and different atmospheric moments with some of his varied choices. 

The flat colors can sometimes suggest strong directed light as at the setting of the sun, and other times it can suggest the muteness of color at night, the presence of the fire and the anger of Reprobus.  Here are few random examples. 

In all, the final result a powerful synthesis of Matt Sheean's almost squiggly attention to detail, coupled with bold color delineation that accentuates the form.  

Our second colorist is Matt Crotts, coloring the legendary pages drawn by Jesse White. Matt is also lettering for both books, designed the cover of the Garments of Skin Comic and illustrated one of the stories about King DAvid.   

Matt's style is almost the opposite of Felipe.  It is painterly and tonal, with textures brushstrokes.  The glow in these images has almost the effect of a JM Turner watercolor. 

The style complements Jesse White's brushy "Sword and Sorcery" style quite well, and creates a sense of the epic quality of what is transpiring. 

Thanks for your support everyone, more news coming soon. 

Art in April
6 months ago – Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 02:40:46 PM

Hello everyone,
Great news. We are working behind the scenes to get everything ready for print. We are so close that we opened up the BackerKit and sent out the surveys! Please check your email and fill out your survey. This way we can ensure that everyone gets their orders in and locked. 

We will reach out again when the books are off to the printers, to let you know we are locking the BackerKit in preparation for printing and shipping.

In the meantime, please enjoy these pieces of art from Warrior:

-J-M

Working hard on these books!
7 months ago – Wed, Apr 10, 2024 at 06:13:04 AM

Hello to all of you.  We've been quiet since the end of the Kickstarter.  That is because we are working really hard on getting these books finished without compromise.  I am one of those people who would rather push the deadline a bit and make sure to deliver the absolute best book possible.  For all of you waiting, the Backerkit surveys and the pre-order store should open in the next few days. You will be able to order more copies of everything.  

The art for God's'Dog Warrior is close to being done.  It will be over 160 pages with everything together. It also seems to me that Matt Sheean's drawing is getting better with every page.  See below how he creates the connection between the giant's chaotic tower and Symeon's pillar. 

And now notice how he also brings a similar perspective in the Jerusalem church, where we have an echo of a scene in book 1.  We are looking at world-class art here. 

Other artists are noticing.  We have had some great pros send in their take on our characters, images we will add to the book as pin-ups. This hilarious image is by Benjamin Schipper, artist on Joe Death published by Dark Horse. 
Check out his website:  https://www.benjaminschipper.com/

We will keep you appraised as to how it is going with more art and details soon.  We now have all the pages for The Garments of Skin, and Matt Crotts will start to letter and assemble the whole thing.  I haven't really shown you anything by Chris Pettrochi who is weaving the modern narrative in Garments of Skin, his pages came in, and they are absolutely spectacular. Their style is very different from everything else, with a wonderful painterly approach, crashing the world of God's'Dog into contemporary life.  

Stay tuned for more.  
 

What is "The Garments of Skin"? + 100K unlocked!
8 months ago – Fri, Feb 23, 2024 at 03:33:17 PM

We are excited to have reached 100k and unlocked the latest stretch goals and adding a sticker to the mix.  The big stretch goal is 200k, when we will have an amazing dustjacket by Nick Pittara.   

In God's'Dog, we explore the symbolism of the Garments of Skin, which is based on the Genesis story that at the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, God gave them garments of skin to protect them, a supplement to increase them.  These garments were then passed down from generation to generation and contain a power, the power of tracing limits and the power of holding back the outer darkness.  

Some might think my brother and I came up with this idea of the transmission of the skins, but it is in fact based on a tradition many have forgotten. I knew when discovering this ancient tradition, that I had discovered the original object of power, a legend far more ancient than Tolkien's ring, and in many ways far more profound in its implications. We have integrated this notion of the garments of skin all through the book, but also in the design of our top tiers, as well as the new Garments of Skin comic.  If you want to know where the tradition originates, scroll down for the details!

The Garments of Skin books!

Our top tiers, The Leather Tier and the Absolute VIP tier will be exclusive limited edition treasures, including glorious leather-bound versions of the the first two books. Each book will be debossed with red and gold foil, containing sigils designed by Cord Nielson.  Each book will also come with its own slipcase, marked with an embossed gold foil Symbolic World Press logo.  The God's'Dog leather-bound editions will follow the black to white tone change we have planned for the normal books.  

• Book 1 - Monster Leather-bound edition will also have an expanded version of Secrets of God's'Dog integrated as an appendix.  Secrets of God's'Dog is 60+ pages full of the original designs for places and characters, traditional sources and two articles, one by Jonathan Pageau and the other by Matthieu Pageau about the meaning found in the story.  It will also include splash pages and fan art.  
• Book 2 - Warrior Leather-bound edition will integrate the first issue of The Garments of Skin comic series, 32 pages integrated as an appendix with splash pages and fan art as well.  

The two top tiers will have signed bookplates and will include regular editions of both books as well, this is A DETAIL WE FORGOT TO MENTION IN THE REWARD TIERS. 
 

The Garments of Skin Comic Book

If God's'Dog is the exploration of an epic ancient story, the Garments of Skin is a supplement to that story. We are doing something completely unheard of. It is more meta and fractal than anything you have yet seen, and so this story will play the very role of the garments of skin for the God's'Dog story line itself. It will help the reader experience what these garments are, what they mean and especially what they do.   

This ongoing story happens in the near future, in an upcoming dystopia of techno-control, which is mysteriously led by forces reminiscent of the God's'Dog story itself. It will be full of alternative legends, mythology, and different artist styles, but it will also be a brush with the end of the world and what the edge really is. 

I am really excited about this quarterly comic, and we are currently looking at how to distribute this to people in the most efficient way.  In the first issue, we explore a legend from the British Isles, the Story of Hercules, the story of King David, and we are introduced to a few modern characters who are figuring out the meaning of the dog-headed saint and how he is relevant to their rapidly changing world.   Here are a few preliminary pages by our artists. 

The Origin of the Garments of Skin legend

The legend of the garments of skin is found in the book of Jasher.  The book of Jasher is a text possibly written in the second temple period and contains legends which fill in the gaps in Bible stories.  When I was discovering the meaning of the garments of skin long ago, in 2002 actually, I discovered this passage in Jasher chapter 7.   

23- And Cush the son of Ham, the son of Noah, took a wife in those days in his old age, and she bare a son, and they called his name Nimrod, saying, At that time the sons of men again began to rebel and transgress against God, and the child grew up, and his father loved him exceedingly, for he was the son of his old age.
24- And the garments of skin which God made for Adam and his wife, when they went out of the garden, were given to Cush.
25- For after the death of Adam and his wife, the garments were given to Enoch, the son of Jared, and when Enoch was taken up to God, he gave them to Methuselah, his son. 
26- And at the death of Methuselah, Noah took them and brought them to the ark, and they were with him until he went out of the ark.
27- And in their going out, Ham stole those garments from Noah his father, and he took them and hid them from his brothers.
28- And when Ham begat his first born Cush, he gave him the garments in secret, and they were with Cush many days.
29- And Cush also concealed them from his sons and brothers, and when Cush had begotten Nimrod, he gave him those garments through his love for him, and Nimrod grew up, and when he was twenty years old he put on those garments.
30- And Nimrod became strong when he put on the garments, and God gave him might and strength, and he was a mighty hunter in the earth, yea, he was a mighty hunter in the field, and he hunted the animals and he built altars, and he offered upon them the animals before the Lord.
31- And Nimrod strengthened himself, and he rose up from amongst his brethren, and he fought the battles of his brethren against all their enemies round about.
32- And the Lord delivered all the enemies of his brethren in his hands, and God prospered him from time to time in his battles, and he reigned upon earth.

What fascinated me about this story long ago was how the garments of skin are garments of power, and that Nimrod, becomes the one to reign upon the earth through its power.  Although Nimrod rebels against God, he is nonetheless made powerful and prospered for mysterious reasons, despite the fact that his ancestor stole the garments of skin.  

I remember being quite excited in discovering this, although it would be another several years before this legend was integrated into the God's'Dog story. We decided to make the legend of the skins continue into the future, making them an object that must be handed down until the end of the world.  

There are more mysteries regarding this, but watch out for a Symbolic World video next week diving even deeper into this question. In the meantime, here is how we show Ham stealing the garments of skin from Noah in the book.  Although it does not say it explicitly in the book of Jasher, it seems to suggest a symbolic connection to Noah's drunken nakedness, and so we made that the moment when the skins are stolen. 

Help us get to 200k!  This is a story which is more than just a comic book, but one we have been meditating on for more 20 years, and it is also the deepest commentary on our current time we could make in story form.   

Thanks for your support!  



 

Amazing Artist Contributions to God's'Dog.
8 months ago – Tue, Feb 13, 2024 at 11:37:09 AM

Since the first book of God's'Dog, we have made a few waves in the world of artists.  For this reason, it has been amazing to see all these great artists rally around God's'Dog to make it happen.  Of course there are our main artists, Matt Sheean and Jesse White, with the cover by Cord Nielson.  There are also all our artists on Garments of Skin as well, but we also have several artists contributing splash pages and other surprises to the campaign.   

Nick Pittara  @nickpitarra

Nick is an astounding artist, known for his mad detail and line work, and sees himself in the lines of artists like Geof Darrow and Frank Quitely.  His latest book, Ax-Wielder John has made quite a splash in the world of comics and is really something to behold.  I am so excited to have Nick contributing a dust jacket to the project, which will be unlocked when we reach 200k.  His image will also be featured as a splash page at the back of the book. 

We are getting close to our 100k stretch goal, help us get to that line, a lot of exciting things still ahead of us. 

Vesper Stamper  @vesperillustration

Vesper Stamper is an award-winning author and illustrator, her debut novel, When the Night Sings has garnered all sorts of prizes and accolades. Since her debut, she has written several books and illustrated many others. Vesper's style is modern and folksy in all at once. It offers a beautiful contrast the other styles in the book.  Her hand-painted splash page for God's'Dog: Warrior is full of loving detail and attention. It seems to rise out of a fairy tale. 

Al Gofa @al_gofa_comics

Alex is a comic book artist from Montreal, and so a compatriot of mine (Jonathan).  He has worked on several independent comics and gave us an interesting interpretation of Matt Sheean's giants, with great force and color. 

Send in your fan art for God's'Dog:Warrior to [email protected], we will have pin-up section at the end of the book and I might feature you in one of our updates!

Introducing our Colorists

In God's'Dog Warrior, we are working with to illustrators, but also two colorists.   Felipe Cartin is coloring Matt Sheean's images, and Matt Crotts working with Jesse White. Their styles are quite different, their palettes as well, and it is interesting to look at pages next to each other.  

Felipe's colors are flat and more concerned with ambiant light effects, so following the light of the day but designing those colors to create specific moods. 

Matt's use of color is more painterly, but also more fantastical in term of color choice. From the greenish to pink to yellow skies, with the use of yellow and turquoises highlights on the character, there is an almost magical quality to his color schemes.   We will be featuring Matt's art more as we show you more of the Garments of Skin comic. 

The Crazy Adventure of Snow White

Fow those who don't know yet, although the Snow White fulfillment is almost done, some of the problems that arose exposed some massive problems in the Symbolic World Press, which forced me to fly to Dallas last week in order to try and fix the issue.  If you are interested in this, read my latest Symbolic World Newsletter for the inside story.