You Can’t Always Fight Your Demons. Sometimes It’s Better To Sit Down With Them And Have A Quiet

The music I created for Veil of the Gods has been a wonderful journey in itself. You know, the long term plan is to transform the graphic novel into an interactive experience and an online game. So the music is very important. The track we used on the first two promo videos wasn’t the one I’d originally planned to include. This melody came to me in a daydream while I was trying to figure out a problem with a font. I picked up the low D whistle and the melody just burst out. I hadn’t actually played that instrument for about a year so I was really surprised. It was like the flute was just aching to be played again. The whole track took only a few hours to orchestrate, record and mix. And I’m pretty happy with the result. Here’s the short version without the flute.

The Japanese woodblock artist Hiroshi Yoshida ( 1876-1950 ) has been a huge influence on my approach to creating the graphic novel- Veil of the Gods. When I was researching the origins of graphic stories I found myself inevitably drawn to Japan where the art of graphic storytelling has been perfected over many hundreds of years. I’ve never seen one of Yoshida’s prints in the flesh, so to speak. I’ve only ever looked at them in books or online. I’d love to drink in the colours up close… Here’s a few of my favourite pieces by this master.

Inspiration.

Kawase Hasui (1883 – 1957) Snow at Shiba Gate (1936)

Inspiration.

‘The Stars Are Right’ by Jennifer Hrabota Lesser.

Inspiration.

Konjikido in Snow, Hiraizumi, Hasui Kawase, 1957

Inspiration.

Salamandrine Man In The Wastes (Illustrator Wayne Douglas Barlowe)

Spirit paintings have taken up all my focus in these last days.

Veil of the Gods is just about the most challenging project I've ever been presented with. Lucky I love a good challenge. ;) For the first time ever my deadline has passed and I'm not yet finished- though I'm very, very close. I never liked to word deadline anyway. I've been relaxed about getting behind schedule because I just had a feeling everything was happening in it's proper time. It's turned out I was right to be relaxed. In the last 10 months since I've been working full time on this graphic novel, technology has advanced by leaps and bounds and I've been blessed to be in a position to keep up with the latest developments. It's now possible to create a larger file across a few different publishing formats. So we've decided to make some massive changes to the layout of Veil of the Gods. Thank you to all our supporters for your patience. I'm sure this is going to be a beautiful piece of work. The first chapter has been extended from 30 pages to nearly a hundred, rounding off the first part of the story very nicely while introducing some of the main characters and leaving a little mystery to start the next chapter. Creativity is such a mystery. It all happens in it's own time...