I started coloring the scans of my comic book short story “Tsalosha” a while ago. The intent is to prepare it and a couple of other stories to be printed together in color (probably from the POD company Ka-Blam). I’m not expecting it to be a huge money maker, but it’s getting the things out in front of the audience some more.
The character of Tsalosha is one of those creations that just appear in the imagination and say “Hi! Here I am.” I was never quite sure what to make of him. I wrote a very very short story, then a much longer short story (which was intended to be the first in a series about the character). And then in 2002, when a group of friends put together a black & white comic book anthology, it seemed to me that sequential art might be the best medium for his story. I hired professional comic artist Gordon Purcell to do the pencils and he recommended his frequent inker, Terry Pallot. They did a great job, and I appreciated it. Gordon even showed me some things about my character that I hadn’t realized (Tsalosha is a Trickster figure). We got some attention when we put the book out.
And there it sat for quite some time.
I recently started thinking of a color book with my comic scripts gathered together. And it seemed worth while to get “Tsalosha” colored. Except that I couldn’t afford a colorist. So it finally occured to me to try my hand at doing it myself. I did some beginning pieces, coloring my own art (like the Taliessin drawing, or the hobbit one). I’m never going to be the world’s greatest colorist, that’s for sure. But… I’m not too bad.
Anyway, because I’m a novice at this, it’s taking a while to get through the 8 pages. I only work on them one or two days at a stretch, since there’s so much writing I need to work on. But I’m making progress, and as I practice, I get a bit faster.
I decided to show off just a little, and post a version of the first page of the story. It’s got the credits on it. And it actually features the story antagonist, Elrashke (a strong fella with anger management issues), not Tsalosha himself.
Once it’s all colored, I might post the whole eight pages online on my website, but I haven’t decided about that yet. For now, here’s a first look at the color version of the story.
(I do have to say that one aspect of the story, a crucial aspect, is going to look better in color. Not that Gordon did a bad job – NO! He did a super job, given that the original publication was going to be in black & white. But working in color, in Photoshop, I’m going to be able to show this crucial aspect in an added dimension. I’m pleased with the possibilities.)
