Sunnyville, Editing, and Auteur Theory

Posted on December 21, 2013 by Max West

Today, I thought I’d talk shop about the deeper processes behind my work.

For much of Sunnyville Stories, I was drawing on my own personal experiences and taking influences from the medium of comics itself. Newspaper comics, as you all know, have been my primary influence. Much of my artwork is quite simple. But lately, I started to take an interest in art films. The art film is a type of film that is meant to be more artistic, expressive, and personal as opposed to the commercial mainstream cinema. Sunnyville is an alternative comic, which is to mainstream comics (superheroes) what art film is to mainstream film. So I see Sunnyville as being on par with various art films like My Dinner with Andre, Blade Runner, Barton Fink, and so on. Continue reading →

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Episode 9, pages 5-6

Posted on December 20, 2013 by Max West

I have more pages of Sunnyville Stories episode 9 to share with everyone.

Sunnyville Stories episode 9, page 5

Now, the plot gets underway once Rusty meets up with Sam and the Tanuki siblings.

Sunnyville Stories episode 9, page 6

I usually draw the Tanuki’s hands and feet with a pure black. I felt however that making their hands all back made it look more like some big blog. That hurts the staging, so I switched over to using scribble lines rather than spotting blacks for the hands and feet. I honestly feel that it works better. On another note, there’s an Easter egg here – check out the poster in the window inside of the center panel.

That’s all for today.  Please purchase copies of Sunnyville Stories and tell everyone you can about my work!   Tell your library that you want Sunnyville Stories – we are carried through Brodart, Ingram, and the library division of Alibris!  Don’t forget that you can still get Sunnyville Stories Volume 1 for Kindle as well as paperback. Check out the book’s Goodreads entry for other retailers as well as libraries carrying it! If you’re looking for super deals on Sunnyville, check out Direct Textbook for some excellent prices!

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Sunnyville Stories Episode 1 Cover

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Max West

Today, I’d like to show you something that came about as an accident. As you may know, the very first episode of Sunnyville Stories was never originally published in single issue print form. It’s free to read here on my blog. It’s also collected in the first volume of Sunnyville Stories. As a result, I never did create a formal cover for Sunnyville episode 1.

I wanted to remedy the situation but had no clue how to proceed. Continue reading →

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Episode 9, pages 3-4

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Max West

I have some more pages of Sunnyville Stories episode 9 to share with you today. I’m still working on that story as well as planning out the third volume of Sunnyville Stories. On top of that, I’m working out my game plan for next year – but that’s a whole other post.

Anyway, on with the show. Continue reading →

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Episode 9, pages 1-2

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Max West

I have some finished art to share with everyone today. After much work on both Sunnyville Stories Volume 2 and Von Herling, Vampire Hunter, I’ve finally gotten back to work on Sunnyville Stories episode 9. I have a few pages of art ready to show. Continue reading →

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Inking Episode 9

Posted on November 23, 2013 by Max West

A couple of notes here, loyal readers – first, the Library of Congress has received the copy of Sunnyville Stories Volume 2 that I sent to them. It’ll probably take some time for them to process the book and add it to their shelves once they do what they need to do on their end (I am a participant in their Preassigned Card Number program). Besides the honor of having Sunnyville Stories on the shelves of the US Library of Congress, this will be a boon for getting public libraries to carry the book. As a reminder, I’m still holding a giveaway for the book – enter on Goodreads by December 15, 2013 for a chance to win a copy!

Moving on, I’ve resumed work on Sunnyville Stories episode 9. The pencils were just finished yesterday and I intend to get back to the inking. Once this gets finished, then the content for Sunnyville Stories Volume 3 (due out in 2016) will be halfway finished. Continue reading →

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Sunnyville Stories Volume 3

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Max West

Now that Sunnyville Stories Volume 2 has been put to bed, it’s time to start planning the next couple of books. While I am working on other things, I also have my main priority. That will be Sunnyville Stories Volume 3.

At present, I don’t even have a mockup cover to show. The book will be scheduled for release around January 2016. The book will collect episodes 8, 9, 10, and 11 plus bonus material.

I want to see about having some bigger print runs made but that will cost money. To fund the third volume of Sunnyville, I’ll be using Kickstarter. I’ve backed some projects on Kickstarter but have never used it myself for funding. However, it’ll take some time for me to learn about Kickstarter, research everything and develop a game plan. It won’t be until at least sometime next year that I start my funding drive.

Stay tuned for more information on the upcoming books as well as my planned Kickstarter campaign.

In the meantime, purchase copies of Sunnyville Stories and tell everyone you can about my work!   Tell your library that you want Sunnyville Stories – we are carried through Brodart, Ingram, and the library division of Alibris!  Don’t forget that you can still get Sunnyville Stories Volume 1 for Kindle as well as paperback. Check out the book’s Goodreads entry for other retailers as well as libraries carrying it!

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Peter and Company

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Max West

I wanted to tell everyone about a neat webcomic that’s also available in print format! It’s called Peter and Company.

Peter and Company Title Image

The series is reminiscent of Calvin and Hobbes. However, I’d rather not try to describe it here. You’re better off checking out the page yourself and reading the individual comics.

Print copies of the book are freely available on Amazon. However, from now until New Year’s Day 2014, you can get the first volume of Peter and Company for just US$10 plus shipping & handling.

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The Whimsical Worlds of Max West

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Max West

I have a brief announcement to make.

In January, my company will be putting out an anthology of my work for the Amazon Kindle format – to be available of course through Amazon.

The title of the work will be The Whimsical Worlds of Max West.

This anthology will be a collection of various other works I’ve done. It will include a zine I did back in 2007, various gag cartoons, and vignettes starring Hilda and Richie, other characters of mine. Stay tuned for more details!

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On Isolation

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Max West

I’d like to talk to you about something. It’s a recurring theme in my works. Do you know what that theme is? It’s isolation. It turns up frequently in my creative work.

The theme of isolation is prevalent in Sunnyville Stories. As I’ve explained before, Sunnyville is a very remote village surrounded by wilderness. There’s nothing but trees all over and there’s a feeling of being cut off from the outside world. Time seems to stand still in Sunnyville. However, it’s not just the locations in my work that are isolated. It’s the characters too. Continue reading →

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