Friday, October 23, 2009

The Rotarian

It's been quiet here on the ol' blog, mainly because I've had a surge of much-needed work this Autumn. In September, I started working on my second comic book story for Rotary International's The Rotarian magazine. Readers of this blog may recall that last year I drew a 16-page feature about the history of polio and the fight to eradicate the crippling disease.

The new story, which will be featured in the December issue of The Rotarian, is a biography of the founder of Rotary, Paul Harris. Like the polio story, this is a 16-page story appearing in the magazine, that will also be appearing as a stand-alone pamphlet sometime next year. And even cooler: I drew the image for the magazine's front cover this time...



I am very psyched about this story, for several reasons. Most of the story takes place around the years 1890-1910, and I loved drawing the period. I enjoy doing the research and trying to give an air of authenticity to the drawings. The first part of the story is pretty moody and atmospheric, and I used a lot of heavy shadows and a monochromatic color scheme to convey that.

I'm not sure how much I can show here on my blog, but here are a couple of teaser images. I'll probably post more in December when the issue is published...



The folks at Rotary International have been great to work with, and they are very excited about using the comic book storytelling form as a means to reach more people with their messages and causes. I'm looking forward to participating in their NEXT foray into "Graphic Journalism," as they like to call it.

But right now, I have a POP-UP book to color! More on that later...

5 comments:

Don Hudson said...

That is some sweet art! No signature on the cover?

Steve Buccellato said...

Thanks, DH! I should do another post showing how this cover progressed. Originally, it was drawn from a different angle, and Don gave me some valuable input.

biblioxplorer said...

Love your artwork!! I was a Rotarian Cultural Scholar to Japan in 2006; thanks for your work with this great organization. Hope the graphic novel on Paul Harris becomes available to the general public. I would love to add that story and the one on polio to my elementary school library. Buon lavoro, cj

Steve Buccellato said...

biblioxplorer: Thanks for the kind words!

The Paul Harris bio will be reprinted as a stand-alone comic/pamphlet, and I believe it will be available next month. They did this with the "Polio" story, as well.

I'm pretty sure you can order copies of these Rotary Comics from their website, if you want them for your school library. Try this link to pre-order the Paul Harris bio (75 cents per copy):

http://shop.rotary.org/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=79&products_id=510

And this link is for "Amazing Stories of Polio:"

http://shop.rotary.org/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=&products_id=498

Thanks for commenting here! I love the feedback!

chummy's mum said...

Loving the old timey sepia tones. Beautiful work!