Posts Tagged ‘homeschool’

Homeschool All-Stars cover

Written on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 [permanent link]

I’m in the homestretch for the homeschooler book! I’m hoping to get it to the printers this week. One of my favorite parts of making a new book is drawing the cover, which is a great moment to try to draw all the inside contents together.

This cover is a tribute to the Justice League of America comix I grew up on. Every year there would be a 2-issue crossover story featuring a whole pack of heroes, so their busts would appear around the edges of the cover to promote the story. To do an homage to that kind of kitchen-sink cover was a fun way for me to get out front more of the one-page bios. (I’m hoping this book will also sell at gift shops in the various museums dedicated to these folks.)

Unfortunately, this stage of the creative process is also the hardest for me emotionally. It’s where I don’t feel talented at ALL! Near the end I get really frustrated as I pull back and see the difference between what I have in my head and what appears on the page. (This used to happen even near the end of much shorter projects, such as the daily black and white political cartoon I drew from 1995 to 1999.) So I’m diving back in and trying to sharpen things up in these last few days — kind of a marathon runner’s last gasp push to cross the finish line strong!

Tags: Bentley Boyd, biography, Chester Comix, George Patton, graphic novel, history, homeschool, Teddy Roosevelt
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Back to School!

Written on Monday, September 28th, 2009 [permanent link]

Welcome back to the future – if you’ve logged onto the Chester Comix homepage this month for the first time since school ended in June, you’ll see a lot of changes and a lot MORE content! Awesome designer, artist and Man About The Globe Brian Korte worked with me closely all summer to make this site easier to navigate and more fun to visit. THANKS, BRIAN! (Brian has his own fantastic business: making works of art out of Legos! Please visit his site to see his spectacular work: www.brickworkz.com)

My own calendar for the fall will see a lot of booksignings to support my newest title, the choose-your-own-path “Revolutionary City,” but no educational conferences. Those are a fun way to meet new educators and see the countryside from my little PT Cruiser, but for now I’m putting my oomph into national distribution networks. If your school has an account with Ingram Booksellers or Follett Library Resources, you can now get Chester Comix from those outlets.

I’m also drawing LOTS of new material! Over the past two years the chorus of teachers asking for a World War I book has grown, so that’s on my plate. The manuscript is done and being reviewed by historians now — I’m hoping to have the book published in time for the new World War I wing opening at the National Museum of the Marine Corps this spring.

I’m also trying to get a book about famous people who were homeschooled done within the next two months. It’s a nice survey of one-page biographies — people from General George Patton to President Woodrow Wilson to anthropologist Margaret Mead. It’s fun for me to also stretch myself towards subjects that I wouldn’t normally cover under the original mission of Chester’s stories (U.S. standardized test material) — in this book I get to profile non-Americans like Mary Leakey and Beatrix Potter! Here’s a sample rough draft page from the upcoming “Homeschool All-Stars.”

Tags: Ansel Adams, Bentley Boyd, Chester Comix, comic book, graphic novel, history, homeschool, rough draft
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