Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben Simpson of Earth-2
I'd heard you mention the book, but I didn't know what it was until now. Did you write and draw/provide the art for it? Got any sample pages online?
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Yes. Go to the link Thudpucke put for images from the book.
Also davidmackguide.com has images and info.
Here is the newsarama interview:
DAVID MACK'S SHY CREATURES
by Koben Kelly
In the pages of Kabuki: The Alchemy, creator David Mack included in the story a children’s book named Shy Creatures. In an instance of art imitating life, the book actually exists. Children’s literature publishers, Fiewel and Friends, are putting the work out soon to be sold in your neighborhood bookstore. Newsarama had a chance to chat with Mack about the book, its creation, and his feelings about how it turned out.
Newsarama: So, Shy Creatures is both written and drawn by you?
David Mack: Yes.
NRAMA: Have you always been interested in producing work for children?
DM: I loved children’s books since I was a kid. I remember reading Peter Pan, and Alice in Wonderland as a child and being fascinated by the fanciful imagery. Before that, reading Doctor Seuss, and being inspired by the whimsical approach to storytelling and the imaginative creatures and layouts.
When I was in university, I had a Children’s Literature class. In the course of that class, I
created my first children’s book called My Invisible Friend. This was in 1993. I turned it in for my work in that class.
Later, in the second issue of the KABUKI: Metamorphosis volume (the story that comes right before the current KABUKI: The Alchemy series from Marvel), I incorporated the My Invisible Friend kids book inside the Kabuki story. So, you see that story page by page, in the context of that Kabuki issue, and it kind of acts as a whimsical subtext to what the surface story is about.
NRAMA: Did the story spring forth from your head fully realized, or were the seeds planted by the initial appearance in Kabuki?
DM: For The Shy Creatures, I wrote the entire story of it while I was writing the script to KABUKI: The Alchemy.
I had set a premise, in the Kabuki series, of incorporating children’s stories into the narrative of
the story. The story itself as a retelling of children’s stories. For instance, the first KABUKI volume, KABUKI: Circle of Blood, is a retelling of Alice and Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carrol. In that story, like in Looking Glass, each of the characters corresponds to a piece on the chess board. Like Carrol’s stories, Circle of Blood was the story of a child’s journey to an adult consciousness, or to use the Chess metaphors of both books, the journey across the Chess board from Pawn into Queen.
Volume 2 of KABUKI, called Dreams, alludes to some Japanese folk stories for children, including the Japanese Book of Hells.
In Vol 4, KABUKI: Skin Deep, where Kabuki is incarcerated into a maximum security facility for reprogramming or containing defective government agents, Dr. Suess was the central kids’ book reference.
And, in KABUKI: Metamorphosis, I had introduced My Invisible Friend to underscore the themes of that story.
So, when I was writing KABUKI: The Alchemy, where Kabuki is looking for a new line of work, I knew this was going to be the series that all of the references to those children’s stories paid off in and came to the forefront of the story, not just as subtext.
There is a moment in the story when Kabuki is given some children’s books that are said to have a hidden meaning beyond the surface layer. The story and themes in the books have a deeper ripple effect to their readers than just pure entertainment for children.
So, I knew I was going to feature one of these books in full in the context of the story. That book was The Shy Creatures. I wrote it in full while in the course of writing the second issue script of The Alchemy.
NRAMA: The artistic choice of style you made for Shy Creatures is obviously simple to process and accessible by young minds. Was this a new avenue for you to explore? I’ve seen plenty of different variations on your style, in both execution and medium, but I’ve never been exposed to such a, for lack of a better word, Seuss-like look to your art.
DM: I wanted the art of The Shy Creatures to be very simple and expressive. I wanted it to contrast the painted approach of the rest of the Kabuki issue. So, I rendered The Shy Creatures entirely with brush and ink.
Each double page of The Shy Creatures, is actually one horizontal page of 8 1/2 by 11 typing pager. I sketched it in pencil loosely, and then drew it directly in ink with a brush so it would have a spontaneity and expressiveness to it that I get from the quick rich strokes of a brush and ink.
On the Alchemy of Art DVD from herovideoproductions.com, it shows each and every page
of The Shy Creatures in its black and white original form. One of the extra features on the DVD is me doing a reading of the book directly from the original pages, filmed page by page.
It is just a really quick and simple and expressive way to work. I felt like it was a good way to express imagination, and would be effective in activating imagination in the reader. Imagination is much of what the story is about.
NRAMA: Tell me about the basic premise of the story.
DM: It begins in a classroom with children talking of what they want to be when they grow up. Doctors, firemen, teachers, etc. But, there is a Shy Girl in the class, and she wants to
be a doctor to the Shy Creatures. When the teacher asks what she means, she begins mentioning various mythological and crypto-zoological creatures, what problems they may encounter, and how she would help them.
For instance:
“What if the Chupacabra didn’t brush his teeth?
What if they all fell out so he couldn’t eat?
I’d make for him some dentures to get fed!
Then he could eat my vegetables instead!”
Instead of the Chubacabra’s fanged teeth, she makes for him some bugs bunny-type dentures just right to chew up her vegetables. And the visuals are of the Shy Girl romping around
with each of these creatures and helping them with their unique problems.
NRAMA: I love the image of the Shy Girl wrapping Bigfoot’s toe.
DM:
“What about Bigfoot?”, The Shy Girl explained.
“What if Bigfoot stubbed his big toe? That could
cause a lot of pain.”
“Bigfoot isn’t real!” the teacher would say.
“But I could help him anyway,”
the Shy Girl would cry.
“Besides, maybe he is real.
Maybe he is just shy.”
NRAMA: One of my favorites is when she makes the near-sighted Cyclops a set of one-eyed- glasses. Did you complete the writing and art before you pitched it, or did you want an okay from a publisher before attempting an all-ages book?
DM: Oh, I completed everything first so it would be just the way I wanted it. I put it in the Kabuki story the way I wanted it to work for that story. Then, I showed the Kabuki issue with The Shy Creatures in it to the publisher via my book agent, Allen Speigal of Allen Speigal Fine Arts.
In the Kabuki story, I had put the book on aged paper, as it was an old hand-me-down book in the story. But, now through Feiwel & Friends, it will be a full-size book on crisp and clear paper, and brand spanking new! It is also a nice artifact from that Kabuki story that exists in the real world as its own hardcover book!
NRAMA: You’re planning to debut Shy Creatures at San Diego this year, right?
DM: Yes. The book actually debuts in September 2007, in bookstores all over the country. But, there will be a very limited number of advance copies available for sale at the San Diego Con. Feiwel & Friends is the new kids’ book imprint from Holtzbrinck Publishing. They will have a table at San Diego with their sister company, First Second, and have the books available there. I will also have the books at my table at San Diego. I usually have a table at the Image Comics section, and I will be happy to sign the books for anyone who wants to pick up an advance copy. I will be signing at my table all day Wednesday – Sunday at the San Diego convention.
NRAMA: Have you gathered feedback from any kids on what they think of the book?
DM: Yes. When I first completed it, I sat out on my front porch, and read it to the neighborhood kids to see what they thought of it. They all drew pictures of the characters.
NRAMA: Are there going to be any attempts to get this into grade-school libraries?
DM: Certainly. Holtzbrinck Publishing is a large publisher with many resources and avenues. They publish St. Martins books, Feiwel & Friends, First Second and more. They will be showing this to teachers, public libraries, and book stores all over the world.
NRAMA: When I was a child, this would have been right up my alley.
DM: Well, that is the best response I could ask for! My goal was to make a book that I would love as a kid, and that I would love as an adult. Something kids and parents and teachers can all appreciate at the same time, maybe for some different reasons, and maybe for some of the same reasons.
NRAMA: Were you shy as a youngster?
DM: Not usually. I was often an outsider of any of the mainstream groups I was put into. I didn’t relate to 99 % of what was passing as the conventional culture, and I was very passionate about doing my own interests and pursuing my imagination. Much of this book is about these creatures that are very unique in their own way, but separate from the rest of the world. The Shy Girl brings all of them together, where their uniqueness is appreciated among each other.
NRAMA: Are there more all-ages works in your future?
DM: Certainly. In Kabuki, and as more children’s books. I intend to get My Invisible Friend published next. Although, I intend to redraw much of that one. I have some other kids’ books in the works as well.
You can check davidmackguide.com for links to The Shy Creatures and all of the other projects I am involved with. The site has updated news and art every day at 9pm.
Of course, check out the daily Kabuki that has a new page every day, from the beginning, to see some of the allusions to the children’s books I mentioned.
And, you can be my Invisible Friend at
http://myspace.com/davidmackkabuki.
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