Sunnyville Stories Episode 7 Thumbnails

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Max West

Production on the seventh episode of Sunnyville Stories “By Any Other Name” has entered production.  At the time of this writing, I have not yet completed the thumbnails for episode 7.  It is shaping up to be a shorter story however as opposed to episode 6, which is a total of 44 pages.  Anyway, I have some thumbnails to share with you.   Continue reading →

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Different Mousetrap Press

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Max West

I have a brief announcement to make, readers.  Sunnyville Stories is going to be produced and published here on by Different Mousetrap Press – a publishing company under my ownership.

Yes, I’ve done it.  In the morning hours of Monday, January 6, 2013, I created articles of organization to form a limited liability company and have mailed them to state government offices in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Within a few more days, I will be an LLC within the state of North Carolina.   Continue reading →

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Sunnyville Stories Episode 6 Press Release

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Max West

Episode 6 Cover

 

For immediate release

For further info, contact Max West, maxwestart@gmail.com

THE PLAY’S THE THING IN SUNNYVILLE
Max West Releases Sixth Installment Of His Comics Series

A rewarding story awaits readers in the latest episode of Sunnyville Stories, the exalted comics series by perceptive creator, Max West.

Sunnyville Stories, an independent comics series, is a slice-of-life comic centered around
the idyllic hamlet of Sunnyville. This sixth story “Squeeze Play” adds more to the
harmonious universe of Max West’s astounding imagination.

In “Squeeze Play”, the energetic youngsters of Sunnyville, led by Rusty Duncan and
Samantha Macgregor, organize a theatrical production of Cinderella in honor of
Sunnyville’s founding. Unfortunately, wacky mishaps confound their every step and
even local bandits, the Weasel brothers, turn up to cause trouble. To top it all off,
beloved music teacher Ms. Mason is in danger of being fired from her position should the
play not go well. Will our energetic heroes press forward and see that the show goes on?

The writer-creator of the series, Max West, resides in Greensboro, North Carolina. He
holds a degree in creative writing from Baruch College and also has trained at the highly regarded School of Visual Arts in cartooning and drawing classes. His line work is
down-to-earth, yet his compositions show a clear creative vision.

“Not only have my artwork and storytelling improved exponentially,” says the intrepid
Mr. West, “But I’m having so much fun creating and revealing more of my worlds to the
interested readers of the world.”

Sunnyville Stories episode 6 is presently available as a 44 page magazine sized comic at
Indy Planet and select retailers for US$4.50. Also available are earlier works of
Sunnyville as well as the very first Sunnyville Stories trade paperback. The whole first
episode of Mr. West’s pulse-pounding series is available absolutely free on the official
Sunnyville blog. Discover why Sunnyville readers keep coming back for more.

For more information, more art and weekly updates, be sure to check out the official Sunnyville blog at http://www.sunnyvillestories.com

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Where to get Sunnyville Stories

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Max West

So you want to know where you can get a copy of my books as well as my other comics…

Don’t forget that prints of my artwork, both Sunnyville and others, are readily available on DeviantArt.

Amazon carries paperbacks; you can also get all of my titles on Amazon Kindle on the aforementioned link.

You can always get a copy on Indy Planet.  Print copies of my individual comics are available there as well as copies of my trade paperbacks –

Sunnyville Stories Volume 1 (ISBN 9780615653921)

Sunnyville Stories Volume 2  (ISBN 9780989069601)

Sunnyville Stories Volume 3  (ISBN 9780989069625)

Von Herling, Vampire Hunter  (ISBN 9780989069618)

New Jersey-based mail order company, M&T Comics and Cards (run by the gregarious Mike and Lia), also stocks Sunnyville Stories, both the individual comics AND the volume 1 trade paperback.  (NOTE: I cannot link to them directly as they stock adult material.)  In addition to finding their website on Google (look it up!), you can write to them at: M & T Comics and Cards, 440A White Horse Pike Ste 114, Atco, NJ 08004

These locations also carry Sunnyville Stories Volume 1:

Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street, New York, NY 10012, Phone 212-334-3324

Empire Books, 1827-B Spring Garden Street, Greensboro, NC 27403

Great Stories, Uxbridge, MA (still trying to get an updated mailing address here; you’ll need to do a Google search.)

Carmine Street Comics, 34 Carmine Street, New York, NY 10014

If you like your comics in digital format, a selection of individual comics is sold on DriveThru Comics too.

Are you a library that would like to acquire Sunnyville Stories for your collection?  Please get in touch with Brodart Books.

The company that publishes Sunnyville Stories is Different Mousetrap Press LLC and is represented by the book distributor BCH Fulfillment & Distribution.  In addition to supplying online retailers and brick-&-mortar bookstores, they also deal with Ingram and Baker & Taylor.  If you’d like to carry Sunnyville Stories trade paperbacks, please get in touch with them.

CAVEAT: All information here is subject to change without notice.

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Research and your local library

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Max West

When a lot of you artists and writers out there need to do research, the first thing you probably do is go to your desktop, laptop, or tablet and pull up a search engine – probably Google if you’re anything like me.

Indeed, the Internet is a boon to all of us as we have a universe of information instantly at our fingertips.  But there’s another source of information that you should not overlook in this day and age.  That is your local library.

I know what some of you are thinking.  “Dude, get with the times” some of you probably just said out loud or are saying in your head.  Nowadays, a lot of you think that the Internet is THE definitive and only source of information you need.   Continue reading →

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How Failure Can Help You Succeed

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Max West

I’m continuing on with my planned move to North Carolina.

What I wanted to talk to you about was how failure can be a boon to you.  The blog has talked before about dealing with failure.  Failure is a part of life and has to dealt with at some point.  But failure can help you as well.

If you fail at something, it brings you one step closer to success.  How does that work?  You basically learn what does not work and from that, you can plan accordingly and adjust your strategy.

It’s sort of like how a baby learns to walk.  Every time a baby attempts to walk and fails, then the baby’s just one step closer to learning how to walk.

When you fail at something, review it.  Learn from it.  Figure out what you did wrong.  Talk to other people and get feedback.

Dealing with failure isn’t easy, but if you do well enough, you may be able to help figure out a way to success.

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How to Deal With Trolls

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Max West

Now I have to deal with a big subject.  If you draw comics or you surf the Web in general, it is something you have to face sooner or later.

You will run across people who are not nice…or who are complete, unintelligent Neanderthals.  What I mean is that you’ll have to know how to deal with trolls.

Like it or not, they are and always will be out there.  Some will post up rude comments or send you emails on your comics works saying things like “you suck” or “you draw like an inept three year old”.  Some will become even more vicious and are not above using profanity, hurtful insults, and outright prejudicial slurs.

So, you want to know how to deal with trolls?  I have a very simple solution for that.   Continue reading →

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Sunnyville Stories Episode 6, page 3

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Max West

Hello, loyal readers.  This blog post is going live as I’m over in the Tar Heel State (that’s North Carolina to the uninitiated).  Today, I’m going to share another inked page from Sunnyville Stories episode 6.

Remember the pencils to page 3 of our story?  I had a considerable crowd shot there of the Sunnyville Junior Theater Club.   Continue reading →

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Sunnyville Stories Episode 6, page 2

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Max West

I’ve got some more inked pages here to share with everyone.  I’m 3/4 of the way done with Sunnyville Stories episode 6.  It may be delayed however until the end of the year.  Why?  I’m going to be taking a trip for personal reasons and this is obviously going to cut into my work time.  But enough about that – let’s get onto the pages.

Episode 6 page 2, top panel

Like I said before, the inking process makes the images much more crisp than when rendered in pencil.  Contrast this again to the original pencils I did for page 2.  Continue reading →

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Sunnyville Stories Episode 6, page 1

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Max West

I’m down to inking the last quarter of pages of Sunnyville Stories episode 6.  Today, I thought I’d share with you some of the pages I’ve gotten finished and inked.  I’ll compare them to with the pencils to show you the differences between them as well as the necessity of inking in comics.

Take a look back at the first pencils I did to episode 6.  Go on – I’ll wait.

Now, let’s compare that to the inking I’ve done.

Episode 6, page 1 top panel

The pencils looked quite faint. These however look A LOT MORE crisp and defined. I reiterate that pencils do not reproduce well and that’s why inking comics is very important.   Continue reading →

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