Change of title - The Timesmith Chronicles

Met up with Curtis Jobling last night for a curry. He was up in Saltburn doing another school project.We spent the night talking books, especially about his imminent launch in January. We also discussed Yard Boy and he pointed out how the title reminded him of Yardies -

During the 1950s, the British Government encouraged immigration to the country to fill existing job vacancies. Within the Caribbean community, new arrivals from Jamaica were sometimes referred to as "Yardies" due to their perceived lower financial status, though the term could also be applied with nostalgic affection. In the following years, gang violence or behaviour on the part of Jamaicans became known in wider British society as "Yardie culture" and the participants "Yardies". The terms "Yardie gang" or "Yardie gun violence" were largely used by the British media to described violent crimes in London's black community. The gangs in London are specifically known to have occupied and operated in their infamous grounds of Brixton, Harlesden, Stonebridge, Hackney and Tottenham.

I'd never really considered this, but of course first impressions really count. I was aware that a Yard Boy in America is someone who cleans out your yard or garden.

I told him that it was part of the Timesmith Trilogy, something he really liked. He suggested using that up front, and have the title as the secondary line. He suggested The Timesmith Chronicles, and I suggested Sorrowline.

So its not Yard Boy any more, its The Timesmith Chronicles, Book One, Sorrowline. Sounds good. Yard boy will still be used inside the book, but not as the title.

Anatomy of a Werewolf

I thought I'd post a few drawings from the Wereworld trailer we finished in September, just to shed some light on the process. The images started life as rough pencil sketches which are cleaned up until they resemble inked artwork. I used to do inking for comics using a brush and ink, so just using the pencil is a little bit easier. The principles are the same of course.
Once I've got the pencils up to the level where I know they'll scan well as solid blacks I move over into digital manipulation. The images are scanned and the contrast tweaked so that the blacks are really black and the rest is a clean white. Then its time for some computer colouring. The animation was quite stylised and didn't need too many drawings to pull off the finished piece. For example the shot of the claw was just one drawing which was chopped up and animated.

The chest rip was three drawings: a before and after, plus a hand. These were animated using After Effects and a simple mask to reveal the cut flesh does the rest.


The screaming face was two drawings - one for the face and one for the teeth. Both were stretched and distorted in After Effects to give the impression of movement and growth.