Finished pages...almost.

It's been a while since I put up some real work. That's not because of laziness, it's because SCAD's facilities are currently shut down for the holidays and until I get access to the EPSON Expression 1000XL (which I would buy one for myself...but it's about $2500) I can't post any of the latest work.

So below are some familiar samples of the first 13 pages (the prologue and Chapter 1). These are the completed and finished renderings of the pages. Of course, the word bubbles aren't in place, but I will have some example of those for you soon.

Stay tune!

The Head and the Car

This is mostly a note to myself rather then to my viewers, but recently I came across two Florida mysteries that I believe would make FANTASTIC sequels (down the road of course) to "Flagler's Few"

The first I heard while on my latest Ghost Tour in Saint Augustine. The tour guide, Andy, spoke of the famous indian chief Osceola, who died in South Carolina, but who was held in the Castillo De San Marco in Saint Augustine. A doctor assigned to Osceola, Dr. Weedon, who later became a friend decided that at the funeral of the great Seminole, he would remove his head for scientific purposes (as well as to scare his children with). Down the road the head was dedicated to a museum up north where it soon became "lost" though it is believed to be used as a relic in a "secret society". For my books purpose...what if the head HAD to be returned to Saint Augustine...or what if it never really left?

The other story comes from my latest listening of the Paranormal Podcast, where Jim Harold interviewed Tom Ogden who authored "Haunted Highways". Ogden refers briefly to the car James Dean was driving when he was killed in an accident. Sir Alec Guiness claimed the car was "evil" and hence the car had been the subject to many ill-fates and accidents. While the car was on loan "IN FLORIDA" it somewhere disappeared. Any number of stories I could adapt for the car to mysteriously appear in Saint Augustine...

Keep in touch for latest finished inks!

A Night at the Pirate's Haus

Hey everyone, so I just wanted to catch you all up on my whereabouts. I just finished rough drafting the first three chapter's of Flagler's Few and I'm heading back home for the holidays. I managed to get off from giving tours the weekend following Christmas.

I decided to finally take that trip into Saint Augustine and stay at the Pirate's Haus Hostel. So far it's been a fantastic experience. I was a little concerned at the beginning, having never stayed at a hostel and the idea of sleeping in a dorm room with complete strangers was a bit disturbing. I called the Info center just to get a second outside opinion (despite the countless positive reviews on the site) and was told it was a top knotch place. Especially if you're looking to stay downtown for cheap!

I could have stayed at the beach house, but driving 30 minutes extra into the wilderness of the beach house community (by myself) didn't fit well with me.

I've enjoyed my stay. I've been wandering about the city snapping photos for reference, specifically stuff that had a direct connection with specific scenes. I also decided to go on a ghost tour. Usually my experience with tour guides in Saint Augustine have been iffy at best, but the guide (who had a big old white beard and went by the name Andy) was a master at the craft and we struck up a few conversations. We mostly talked about the history of both Saint Augustine and Savannah as well as how we delt with tourists.

Andy himself is a fictional writer having scribbed a few books and currently working on a series. I also ran across another series based out of the Ancient City entitled "La Vida Vampire" about a vampire ghost tour guide living in the city. I haven't read it yet, but the synopsis sounds interesting and I plan to check out the "competition". :-P

Right now I'm sitting in the kitchen of the Hostel, chatting it up with a French family here visiting their daughter who is interning in Miami as well as several VERY LOUD little girls from Sarasota. I'm busying myself on finished pencils and still plan to have the 3 chapters finished before February of next year.

More to come, and hopefully Jim Harold of Paranormal Podcast will have our interview up soon, so everyone be patient with that.

Happy Holidays!

Inspiration...

One person I cite constantly as an inspiration to my work is the famed artist, Edward Gorey.


Gorey, an American born artist, was well known for his macabre style of cartooning. His works are collected in the Amphigorey (his most commonly known work) but he is the talent behind a numerous amount of fiction, novels, advertisements and short animations.

Much of Tim Burton's work is obviously influenced by Gorey's distinctive whimsical (yet morbid) subjects. For example, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories written by Burton displays many similar characteristics to Gorey's work.

My first acknowledgment of the artist came at the age of 6. When I used to stay up to watch the PBS show Mystery! hosted by Vincent Price. I was a fan of Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes mysteries, but I think I was most excited by Gorey's animated opening for the Mystery! show.

Years later, as I sat down to start the designs of the book's characters and set about a general direction for the story, the first artist who came into mind was Gorey. I felt his creepy, spooky and sketchy style was something that would lend itself to Flagler's Few PERFECTLY! I set about collecting as much as I could on the artist and tried as best as possible to assimilate (but not copy) his distinctive pen and ink style.

Any dumby in the field of art will tell you inspiration is one of the key driving forces to a successful artist. It's how you get the masterpieces you see today, from Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" to Picasso's "Guernica". Fascinating enough, Gorey himself mentioned in an interview late in his life that inspiration for one of his final works came from the show Batman the Animated Series.

If that isn't a sign comic books inspire all forms of art...I don't know what is!

Flagler's Few: The Movie

As a treat, I've decided to release some stills from the 2005 smash hit film Flagler's Few starring Michael McVicar, Jujuan Burton, Nick Dean, Talon May, Yvonne Droese and Candice Fallin. It is also the directorial debut of the one and only...ME!

This was the very beginning of Flagler's Few. Usually the book proceeds the film, but in this case it's vise versa. The film took over a year to make and was shot entirely on location in Saint Augustine. As you will notice from some of the choice photos below that a lot of the character designs are similar to the actors, and in some cases the actors personalities shaped the characters themselves.

I hope you enjoy these photos. I didn't want to release too many of them for fear of giving away the story, but as the books progresses I may release more.

Also, one final fact. Flagler's Few premiered at Gator Cinema in Gainesville Florida in August of 2005 to a full theatre. In it's ONE-TIME midnight showing it sold more tickets then The Brothers Grimm did the entire weekend (as stated by the theatre manager). In hind-sight of seeing the film...I'm not to sure of that was such a great compliment. :-P

The film was dedicated to my father, Albert Rene Frattino, who passed away the same year.