Have Your Say: Judges Cover too Bloody?

In September the books will be produced for the official launch of the Word for Word Bible Comic. I am considering whether or not to revise the cover of The Book of Judges. Someone has suggested that having a bloody image on the front cover might not be such a great idea if it is going to be stocked in places where young kids will also be. 

This is the cover as it is now...

The question revolves around Samson at the bottom. He has blood on him and dropping from the jaw bones. 

So basically, the reasons to consider changing it are that smaller kids who see it might find it scary and therefore shops might not want to display it. 

Options...

I don't have time to completely redesign the cover, but here are a few options, with rough examples...

Keep it the same - vote for this is you don't think it's too scary and there is nothing to worry about. Reasons to keep it as it is are that it looks good, it gives kids the right impression of what is inside, and make it clear to parents that it's not aimed at little kids. Also, that's how the picture was designed and changing it could be a hassle and might be a mistake. 

Keep the same colours but remove the blood - This would be ok, but as his shirt is all ripped and there is already some bodies at his feet it might look strange that there is no blood, but then again a lot of films are violent but bloodless today. However, I think it's a bit boring compared to the others.

Make the blood into brown, like mud, instead - This idea came from a misprint I had of the cover that was dark. The blood was browny and so it would look like mud to a child but most people would realise it must be blood, in context. Two examples, A and B below.

A

B

Make him a red silhouette- In this option, he is still red but as he's not really coloured so it looks a bit like an effect not that bloody, but again adults will realise it is symbolic of blood. 

What do you think? 

Please add a comment below or on the social media platform you found it on. You are not limited to these choices, of course, please make all the suggestions you can, we love to hear your thoughts. 

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July Progress Report and Newsletter

Welcome to July's newsletter, especially to all our new subscribers! Below we look at the progress of the project, new blogs and videos, things you can give your opinion about and also opportunities.

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Progress

Well, this has been a manic month of creating the comic. In last month's update, we told you that we'd decided to pause creating the Book of Joshua and quickly start and finish the Book of Ruth.

All the team has been working super hard to get it done in time. Today I have just finished inking the last page of Ruth and now I just have to create the cover (see below) and add some finishing touches to several pages.

I'd like to say a big thank you to Ryan (colourist) and Leslie (colourists and print-ready expert) who've done a great job this last month, and especially to my wife who has had the kids a lot more than normal and all the nights alone while I stayed up very late to get more hours in. 

A few more pages of Joshua also got coloured this month too and the plan is to have that complete by Spring.

Note: Kickstarter backers from the Joshua campaign who put in a certain amount will all get a digital copy of Ruth sent to them soon, probably at the start of August.

Wanna be a Super Fan?

Do you want to be a super fan of the Word for Word Bible Comic? Are you really keen on the project and want to help it to succeed? If so, just add yourself to the super fans list (link below). 

There will be extra benefits but also a small (non-financial) commitment from you. Uh oh. 

We'll ask you to share things on social media, 'like' and 'comment' on key posts, add reviews on places like Amazon when the book is out, give me your opinions on things like the questions below or maybe even proof-read things for us. As a reward, we'll send you insider previews of characters and stories, little exclusive videos, maybe even physical rewards.

Sign up as a Super Fan: http://eepurl.com/b9gR3f

Have your say: Cover for the Book of Ruth

I'm about to create the cover for the Book of Ruth, and I have created a blog where you can give your opinion on which on you think is the best option or the best elements involved which I should use. I'd love you to look at the blog so you can see the picture more closely and comment there (or you can email me your opinion). The more information the better even if it was all negative. 

https://wordforwordbiblecomic.squarespace.com/blog/cover-for-ruth

Have your say: Bible verse to quote with the Book of Ruth

This one is a bit more of a challenge. In the Book of Judges at the beginning, we inserted a little verse before the story began. In that case, we used the verse "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but God weighs the heart." (Proverbs 21:2), which helps frame and interpret the meaning of the narrative of Judges. We'd like to do this again, if possible. It could be from the new or old testament, but we want it to be a little bit subtle so it provokes thought in non-Christian readers but will not put them off. Also, it shouldn't give away the ending of the tale as for some this will be their first exposure to the story.

Can you suggest a good verse to proceed the book to help to do one or more of these things?: Augment the story of the book, make the reader think philosophically, set the tone, speak of perseverance, loyalty, hope, righteous women, widows, or be a relevant proverb etc. 

Email your suggestions in to us, please. 

The Men's Conference I displayed at

Two weeks ago I had a stall at the Christian men's weekend called The Gathering. It went really well, despite the mud and the rain. I made a couple of important contacts, sold many of the pre-release special prints of the Book of Judges. Thank you to all who prayed for a good outcome there. 

Prayer Requests

If you are a praying person I'd love you to look at these areas we are seeking the Lord for, and either give a quick amen or to add them to your list for ongoing prayer support.

Promo - Please pray that the magazines and other media that we contact are keen to report about or review the comic in September so we can get the maximum coverage and that it will miraculously snowball so everyone can here about it.

Events - I have a huge New Wine event this month, as well as a comic con in Shrewsbury. Please pray the book sells well and I make good contacts there.

Financial- Since the start of this project we have been living by faith financially, we've been really blessed with the Kickstarters and gifts we've been given, but please pray God continues to carry us through as this time ahead is critical to the ongoing full-time nature of the project.

Have Your Say: [Now Extended] Choose a Cover for the Book of Ruth

EDIT: If you are reading this for the first time, I am editing it now to include the more advanced developments on the same post. If you are reading for the second time skip down to the coloured versions. Phase 2. 

In this short blog, I have presented three sketched options of the cover art for the Book of Ruth (below). It also gives you a sneaky peak at the characters in the book. 

Phase one: 

Please have a good look at these three options and tell me which you like the best by commenting below. If you like elements of more than one please include this in your comment. 

Please consider the composition, characters, items included, etc. I won't tell you my preference but I'll give you some notes about each 

All three use just the starting elements of the story, not the conclusion so as not to spoil the ending for those who have not read the story before, (grief, death and ears of barley, not love and marriage). Other themes I could include are famine, more death with skulls etc but I think this cover should be ok for younger readers as this title is likely to only be an advised age rating of 12+. I wanted it to be primarily females on the cover as so many other books in the series will have very few female protagonists. 

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Click to expand the image.

A: Has Boaz as a silhouette none of the others include him at all, Ruth's not doing much maybe she should be different.

B: Has the most unique composition. It's the only one to have death on the cover.  

C: The only one I got the ancient image into (the figures on the right, will be Moabite carvings). This one is similar to the Judges one, possibly too similar. 

Edit: Thank you to everyone who commented on these three, you are still welcome still do so, but also read on to Phase 2. 

Phase 2: 

I've taken the feedback from the first phase and developed the two options people liked more to include the elements people felt were important. I've added colours so you can see the difference or similarity with the Judges Cover (below) Again please have a look and then comment below. (See bear in mind, they are very rough still. I'm aware of the short arm, manly faces etc). Lastly, I added the logo and titles to both make it look closer to the finished piece, but also so we can see if it is too similar to the previous book with these extra consistent elements. 

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Image 1 (on the left) or Image 2 (on the right)

Image 1: 

• From the feedback people agreed for various reasons that the focal point should not be the death of  Ruth's husband, Naomi's son. But a suggestion was made to have Elimelek and the family starving and setting off on their journey .
• I wanted to Include the ancient images and decided to put then faintly on the path.
• The sunrise represents hope and a new beginning
• The roughly drawn animal skeletons on the middle talk of the famine in the land at the start of the book.  
• It has a strong composition and due to the colours it has a very different feel to the Judges cover. 
• This cover still has no Boaz, but he could be on the back cover. 

Image 2: 

• I changed Naomi to face forward to be a little different to Deborah on the Judges cover. She has her eyes open and her expression is/will be bitterness.
• Behind Naomi I added a barley field, which could also have the sunrise potentially.
• I adjusted Ruth to look more 'determined' than angry, with closed eyes and a clenched fist. 
• The Ancient images appear in a smokey haze the same a Judges.
• I squeezed Boaz in in the path looking back at Ruth. I might make him a white silhouette. 

Please comment below or on the social media platform you found the post on, even if it's just one letter, but I'll love to hear all your thoughts and opinions about it. 

For Reference here is the cover from Judges. 

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Progress Report: June and News!

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Joshua Progress

The progress on Joshua has been going on steadily, but its completion is not looking like it will be timely for our planned September launch. Particularly as organising a big launch and preparing everything for then will take much of the time between now and then. Here's how it stands... 

Hence, we put our heads together last week and came up with an exciting new plan...

The Book of Ruth

We are going to create the Book of Ruth ready for the September launch so that we have two titles ready to go and Joshua waiting in the wings already half complete.

Why? Ruth is a very short book, I storyboarded it last weekend and the comic will be 24 pages and the book 32 plus covers.

I've already produced 4 of those pages ready for colours and both colourists will be brought onto this project to help it get completed as soon as possible. However, they will also continue to work on Joshua when the ready pages of Ruth are complete.

I hope you're as excited as we are about this, even though it will push Joshua back into 2017.
 

September

As mentioned, we now plan to launch the comic officially in September. It will then be available on Amazon and other outlets and hopefully Comixology and other digital comic providers too.

In order for it to be successful, I need to get the news into all sorts of magazines, blogs, radio stations, a big social media presence and also forums. If you have connections to any of these or write your own blog, please help by posting about it then and helping me get in touch with those news outlets. Contact me at wordforwordbiblecomic [at] gmail.com if you have anything you can contribute to this.
 

Have your Say : What Translation, NIV?

People always ask me what translation I will use (in English). At the moment, I use the World English Bible (WEB). The WEB is very much like the ESV as it's an updated version of the American Standard Version (ASV) but it is public domain and therefore completely free to use.

However, I've always been keen to use the NIV (New International Version) as it is one of the most well-known modern translations available and one of my favourites. However, to use it would cost money if I self-publish. Below is a survey where you can help me by giving your opinion on if this is worth doing.

To give an idea of the cost if a book sold for £10, the profits received from that would be about £1.50p, and if I paid a royalty to the NIV that would be about 30p lost from that £1.50. So it's a big slice of the profits that I don't have to pay if I use the WEB. But, the fame and official nature of the NIV may make the project more legitimate and allow it to be successful where a relatively unknown translation could tank the potential of the project. It is the Bible after all.

Please click here and complete this 3 question survey...

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/VRSY2K7
 

Prayer Requests

If you are a praying person I'd love you to look at these areas we are seeking the Lord for, and either give a quick amen or to add them to your list for ongoing prayer support.

Promo - Please pray that the magazines and other media that we contact are keen to report about or review the comic in September so we can get the maximum coverage and that it will miraculously snowball so everyone can here about it.

Events - I have a men's event that I'm selling at this month, called the Gathering in Swindon and the huge New Wine event next month, as well as a comic con in Shrewsbury. Please pray the book sells well and I make good contacts there.

Financial- Since the start of this project we have been living by faith financially, we've been really blessed with the Kickstarters and gifts we've been given, but please pray God continues to carry us through as this time ahead is critical to the ongoing full-time nature of the project. 

Video Blog: The Long Day of Joshua Study

A study of some of the details within the Biblical story of Joshua 10. Approx 20-minute video, with links below it. 

Word for Word Bible Comic website...
http://www.wordforwordbiblecomic.com/

Monthly News Letter
http://eepurl.com/bzpR9f

Chuck Missler - Science Behind Joshua's Battle of Beth-Horon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9uyH...

Look at the passages side by side on BibleGateway.com
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...

Progress Report May

Welcome to May's progress report and newsletter...
 

Last week I sent this out as a newsletter, I've you follow the blog please get yourself added to the mailing list as next month I believe the blog version of the progress report will be just the chart and info about that. For all the news and updates please sign up to the newsletter here... 

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Colourists

During the Judges production I had two colourists working on the pages, but as I went on to the new book I only required one until I had enough pages to keep two people busy. So now that I do have enough pages, I'm welcoming back Ryan Esch to the team.

In the past couple of weeks, both Leslie and Ryan have produced some truly excellent work rendering landscapes with amazing skill. The project if very blessed to have their outstanding digital painting enhance its pages. Here are a couple of examples.

Ryan has rendered Ai, the town which I have recently been blogging about.

Leslie has rendered this view of the cliffs on the east side of the Jordan as the Israelites prepare to cross the river.

Progress

With two colourists working you can see the pie start to fill with “Completed” pages in two areas, as I have started Ryan in Chapter 7, just less week.

I realised that this pie chart is good in some ways, as it shows the proportion of the verses completed from the book, but is weak in regards to the proportion of pages to complete. For example, I am closing on half way through the pages “Drawn ready for colours” but the pie chart barely reflects this. Today, I am working on page 58 of the 122 pages of the comic but the pie appears only one third full. Oh well, never mind.
 

Events

Last weekend I exhibited at a small event in Weston Super Mare, called Stars of Time and it was held in a helicopter museum of all places! It was probably more of a film con than comics as I was the only comics exhibitor there, but never-the-less it went well, I made a profit which is good for indie comics exhibitors. I added a few new people to the mail list too (Welcome if that's you!).

I have a few more events booked over the summer, the first is at the end of June at The Gathering hosted by CVM (Christian Vision for Men). They have been very supportive of the project since the early days, so it'll be good to be there with the books to sell.

I just had confirmation that I will be exhibiting at New Wine this summer (end of July). It's going to be a big organisational challenge as it's two stints of five days, basically back-to-back, probably camping and being at the stall all day and evening throughout. It's a huge event though and so I am really praying it will help me release the capital in the last limited edition prints that remain, and get the project out into the world more.
 

Endorsement
 

To help me along at the Gathering I got in touch with Carl Beech about an endorsement for the comic as I know he is very keen on the project, having met up with him a few times now. Carl is one of CVM's founders and hosts of the Gathering events, a previous Elim senior leader and now UK director of the Message Trust). I'm very pleased to add his positive words to our endorsements page and to have with me at the next Gathering.

Prayer requests

If you are a praying person I'd love you to look at these areas we are seeking the Lord for, and either give a quick amen or to add them to your list for ongoing prayer support.

Guidance – Please pray the Lord would guide us on the right path in regards to publishing and distribution. Our options being whittled down, but if He has unexpected plans and methods to make them known, in order to help this project be as beneficial to His Kingdom as possible.

Progress – Please pray the work progresses smoothly, without blockages or obstacles like poor health, and that the Spirit continues to bless us in trying to depict the events how they really happened and were. That we can get the work done by the time we need to to launch well.

Financially – That ol' chestnut. Please pray the events we exhibit at will provide all the money we need to see us through to the best possible time to launch the project officially and have the capital to do it right.

Blogs

Below are a blog and a video I posted this month you may have missed...

Creating a map of Ai

Video Blog about creating a map for the comic.
 

Making Comics

A video about shortcuts and new ways I create a page.
 

Get your copy and more...

If you'd like to support the project by buying one of the last numbered limited edition copies created for Kickstarter backers or you want to get other exciting rewards, even become a big backer and have your likeness drawn into the book of Joshua, then please click below and check out our Mega Founder page. (It's the same as Kickstarter but there is no time limit and no waiting for your fulfilment.) 

Support on Mega Founder

Creating a map of Ai

Today, I created a new video showing how I made a map for the comic of the settlement of Ai, based on the real world location. View it below.  

The story is featured in Joshua 7-8

The previous blog researching Ai can be found here...

https://wordforwordbiblecomic.squarespace.com/blog/researching-ai

Progress Report : April 2016

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Heading home.

This update I'm writing after an exciting weekend at a local comic con where I had a stall. The event had about 3000 attendees, and was bursting with amazing cosplay, from Transformers to orcs, and Iron 'men' of every colour to Super Saiyan.

The responses I got from the people there were very positive, very few I spoke to dismissed it out of hand for being the Bible as you might think many people would. People were interested and could see the point of the project even if they didn't think it was for them. Interestingly, several times I was telling someone about it who'd seem pretty disinterested, but then at the end they'd pipe up with “It's not my sort of thing, but my sister/father/cousin would love this” and merrily carry off a leaflet.

We made a small profit selling the books, which is was pretty good, because as many indie comic creators will tell you, they more-often-then-not make a loss and the events are more about the exposure and making connections as striving for a profit. Plus, I'm also hoping a few extra sales from this my come in online over the next couple of weeks.

If you wanted to get a copy you can do so using this link...

• https://www.megafounder.com/the-word-for-word-bible-comic

 

PROGRESS

Well, the last month has been somewhat of a bad month. In my last update, I mentioned that I was just starting to get unwell, but as I had antibiotics from the doc I was hopeful it would be short lived. Unfortunately, I was off my feet for about 3 weeks! So things are a little behind for the Book of Joshua now, but there's nothing I could do about it so I have to just write a line under it and move on. Thankfully, is was well again this weekend just gone to get to the comic con. Phew!

Blog 

If you missed the research blog last month about the ancient city of Ai, you can find it here...

• https://wordforwordbiblecomic.squarespace.com/blog/researching-ai