Stolen Suns chapter 2 is out on iTunes to be read on iPhone/iPod Touch. This is the second part of my experimental comic about Vampire Rockstars (or are they)?
You can get it from iTunes HERE.
Preview:

If you have downloaded and read Stolen Suns Chapter 1 (and if you didn't you should!) please rate it on iTunes and maybe even write a little review of it. That makes a huge difference for me! Thank you!
Link

Stolen Suns on ComicBookRessources

Stolen Suns is on the first page of CBR.com, the best website for comics!

There is a very nice article about Chapter 1 of Stolen Suns and an interview I gave to Shaun Manning, so if you want to know more about what this book is about and also see two exclusive images from Chapter 2 please head on to: link

I really want to thank CBR for their unfaltering support of independent creators in comics and manga. If you like sequential storytelling you should be reading CBR. It's an honor to be featured on their website.

It's on!

Stolen Suns Chapter 1 is now available for free on Itunes!

If you have an Iphone or an Ipod Touch please download SS1 by clicking this link:

Itunes link

It's free and available to all. Please tell your friends, even if they don't know or like comics they could really enjoy reading it.

Your reviews on Itunes and ratings are also extremely important. Please if you wish write a few words, choose a rating. Everything helps.

Today I'll show a little bit of the process that goes into creating one page (or frame) for Stolen Suns.

First I work out a thumbnail during the 'writing' part of the chapter. Since I'm the artist on this no need to write long description, it's better to come up with a quick drawing of the page. All this is done in Photoshop, with a Wacom Intuos 4 tablet; the whole process is digital. Why? Because it saves a lot of time.

When I draw the full page I use the thumbnail sketch in the background and I overlay on it the structure of all the objects and characters in blue (like the blue sketching Disney animators used to do to work out an animation). On top of this 'blue structure' I put another layer in Photoshop and just draw everything (without the small details) with my digital HB pencil.

I then add a layer for inking, done with a digital brush, still in Photoshop.

Now that I have the line art finished I can focus on the coloring that I usually do on one or two layers under the lineart. The coloring is extremely simple and done in an opaque digital gouache, with basically one color for shadows and one color for highlights (pretty close to an anime style of coloring).

Then come the post-pocessing in Photoshop. I like to think of the finished colored page as a raw material that I can rework in post like a movie director would. I do a lot of different things to achieve the look I like, lighting, focus effect, texture, etc. Some people could find this step unnecessay but I believe that there are certain effects you cannot paint. I have to use the digital tools for all they are worth, or I would just be missing out.

Then it's just a matter of adding speech bubbles and lettering. I keep this for the end so I can change dialogs as much as I want, change the bubbles placement, etc.

Flatten the page, resize it, save it in RGB JPEG format, and it's good to go.

Chapter 1 almost there

Chapter 1 of Stolen Suns is being submitted to the Itunes store as we speak, and it will be submitted soon to the Android Marketplace and other possible places. That means you will get to read the first chapter of the saga of the infamous Rock band in a matter of days or a handful of weeks!
And the best of it: FOR FREE!

Chapter 1 will be completely free to download.

I will not spoil anything about the story but let’s say that you will meet a big cast of characters, see some of the tensions building up and the relationships growing among them.

Stay tuned to the blog as I will soon post some behind the scenes stuff about chapter 1 and do a brief introduction of the band.

In the meantime here is one new image from Chapter 1.

Free Stolen Suns Iphone/Ipod Wallpaper

Here is the first Iphone/Ipod Wallpaper with a Stolen Suns theme. 

To install it please follow those instructions

1. Right-click or control-click on the image.
2. Select “Save as…” and save the image to your hard drive.

You can then sync the iPhone with any folder on your computer that contains images. Connect the iPhone to your computer and do the following:

1. Launch iTunes then click the Photos tab and select “Sync photos from:”
2. From the pop-up men choose the folder where you have saved the i mage.

Finally on your iPhone:

1. Go to the Photos section.
2. Select the picture so it is displayed full screen.
3. Tap the icon in the lower left corner of the screen. If you don't see the icon, single tap the picture to display the menus.
4. Here you can select if you want to email the picture, save the picture as a wallpaper, or assign to a contact.
5. Save the image as a wallpaper.
   
6. Select Done to complete the process.
   

First preview

This the beginning of 'Stolen Suns' an exclusive graphic novel for the Iphone and other mobile devices that will be published through Iverse Comics.
It is a mystical rock 'n roll revolution or maybe an existential soap opera epic.
Through this blog you will be able to follow the development of the project, catch exclusive news, get free goodies and learn about the backstage stuff.
Stay tuned!
In the meantime...
Here is a peek at a few pages:

More coming soon.

Stolen Suns is written and illustrated by JM Ringuet.