Creating a Graphic Novel : Art – Food – Photography

Dusk follows Eve and her vampire benefactor, Ash through a dark underworld. The graphic novel is divided into four volumes written by David Doub and pencilled by several artists.

Can you provide a brief synopsis?
What’s Eve role in the story?

Eve’s original concern was holding her marriage together, despite the abuse she endured at the hands of her husband. But when she is taken into the sordid, supernatural world of vampires and foul magic, Eve finds a new life . . . one she doesn’t want to leave.

What about her vampire benefactor, Ash?

Ash wishes nothing more than to return Eve to a normal life, but she chooses to remain in his service. Dusk is a collection of stories about Eve and the challenges she faces upon choosing a new life in a dark world. It is a supernatural action/drama done in a dynamic blending of the sequential art styles of the American comics and Japanese manga. Several artists lend their talents to illustrate these stark noir tales of vampires and unrequited love.

Interior :

How long have you been into comics?

Well I’ve always been big on comics. Everything from American Superheroes, to Asian Manga, to European comics. I tried to make a living at computer technology because I had an aptitude for it, but I didn’t love it like I love computers. So I’ve slowly been trying to make comics, but as things have happened in my life, I’ve found myself going more and more into comics full time.

What was your motivation for this series?

The core of it is I like to tell stories. Even if there isn’t a story to be told (like say a bad video game), I end up making up a story in my head to make sense of it all. I find that I like the medium of comics to tell stories the best. The mixture of visual with words frozen in static motion seems to allow for some many potential opportunities that I can’t really imagine in other mediums.

Now why I did a vampire stories, is mainly because I like a story with a darker, harder edge to it. I like the sharp contrast of good and evil and the gray areas between and I think the vampire mythos is a great vehicle to explore such topics. I feel such stories have some “weight” to them because there’s a sense of consequence and tension in such stories. That said, I recognize and respect the vampire’s sensual and romantic appeal, but that part of it doesn’t interest me as much as the aspects of damnation, redemption, faith, and moral ambiguity that vampire stories have in them.

How did you find an artist?

Well, the best resource I found was Digitalwebbing.com. It’s a great place to look for artists and actually the rest of the art team. With a comic you also have to find an inker and a letter as well as a penciller (and also a colorist if you’re doing your book in color). So from the web, I’d ask for artists looking for work, and then we’d talk about the comic and they read over the script and if there interest was there, they’d do the book. And interest in the book is very important, because starting out, I have no money to offer to pay an artist up front so everyone who did work on the book because they liked the story and believed in the book.

Was the production process difficult?

Yes! For me, I wasn’t just the writer; I had to be the editor, art director, and the marketing department all into one. At first I though I had enough passing knowledge in those areas to make do, but you find out real quick how lacking you are in certain skills. I had to learn on the job as it were, but luckily I knew people and have friends who knew things and were more than happy to give advice where they could.

I’d say the hardest part was getting the files ready for the printer. Again I thought I knew enough about Photoshop and image manipulation to make print ready files, but I was wrong. Printing is a serious skill and I now have a healthy respect for people who go to school to learn such things.

Congratulations on self publishing Dusk!
Would love to see you expand on Eve’s story in future editions.

For more information or to purchase :
Amazon Link