For Any Rotarians Out There...

The "Illustrated Biography" (AKA: comic book) of Rotary International founder, Paul Harris, made it's debut within the pages of the Rotarian magazine in December. Now available as a stand-alone comic at their website.

It's an interesting story, even for those of us who are not active Rotary Club members. I am very proud of how my artwork turned out, and it has piqued my interest in exploring more ways to use comic book art to reach different audiences. The world of "graphic nonfiction" has really seemed to take off since I worked on the Ronald Reagan graphic novel back in 2006. The glut of last year's Obama related titles and comics like the Female Force series from Bluewater Productions seem to back that up.

I have some definite ideas about what works and what doesn't with these books. What do you think, my friends?

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...