Preview da Pages

The deadline is whooshing towards us... and as the grindstone scrapes along some artistic noses, sparks of visual delight are dropping our way.
Below are sketches, inked drawings and even some complete and coloured panels that the contributors towards Beginnings are happy to tease us with.

By Ele Jenkins. Lineart for 'Heartland' written by Tom Dullermond.

Sneaky-peek of a panel drawn, inked and coloured by Emma-Jean Stewart. 

 A few inked scenes from Katie Ryan's 'Feather Whisker'

A claw-chewing panel by Mike Perry

Pre-ordering of 'Beginnings' for a puny $20 is available right now through our Indigogo Page or by contacting us directly at beginnings.anthology@gmail.com

The ACT comic group as a whole would love to thank our many talented contributors. Now put your noses back on them grindstones thingies! 

Wanted: Cover Artist

We are seeking submissions of concepts/art for the cover of the Anthology.

We need to make a decision by the end of the month, and the finished artwork would be needed soon (within 10 days) after that.

You don't need to have anything in the anthology to be considered - just need to be Australian and/or living in Australia.

Concepts/​Art and/or questions should be emailed to Beginnings.Anthology@gmail.com ASAP

Please help us spread the word!

Scott Snyder 22 Page Critique - New Year's Day

That's right, on New Year's Day the Beginnings Anthology will be offering one lucky person the opportunity to get 22 pages of their comic script critiqued by Scott Snyder for just $250.

Scott Snyder is THE premiere DC writer blowing up right now. USA Today recently named him the top comic writer of 2011. His creator owned series, AMERICAN VAMPIRE, won the Eisner for best new series. When DC relaunched with 52 new #1s, they asked Snyder to spearhead BATMAN (one of DC’s three biggest titles, and the head Bat-family book) and they also gave him the illustrious task of making SWAMP THING a headlining book again.

When it comes to superstars on the rise, none are bigger or better than Scott Snyder.

If you have ever read any of Snyder’s work, you’ll understand how much he understands about comics, and how good he is at creating them. He even teaches comic at a tertiary level in Long Island. Here is an opportunity to have DC’s biggest new creator look over your 22 page script and give you some honest and impressive feedback.

This is a steal at $250 – you’ll get one on one time with one of the titans of comics right now. I can’t think of any better way to spend your leftover Xmas money.

This perk goes live at midday on New Year's Day (Sydney time).

Hit up the Beginnings Anthology IndieGoGo page and get your money in as soon as this perk goes live, this one will not last long. Enjoy.

Steven Sanders' Five Fists of Science Original Art Perk

Choose this page or any you desire.

Steven Sanders is a great artist. This much is fact. He’s worked on a number of Marvel titles (S.W.O.R.D., Generation Hope) but back in the day he cut his teeth with a little OGN called Five Fists Of Science. Steven drew the pages and the words came from Matt Fraction. For just $150 you get the chance to own a page of original art from this book and the best part is you can choose any page you like.

If you’ve ever read Five Fists of Science, you’ll know there are plenty of crazy pages to choose from. There is so much fun in that book and the only problem will be limiting it to just one page. Pick your page, drop your money, and enjoy the treasure that lasts forever.





EDIT: we have this perk on sale - until our funding campain closes on Saturday 21/1/12 (Sydney time), or until someone snaps it up!

Mark Andrew Smith 10 Page Script Analysis Perk

Why should you want Mark Andrew Smith to read over your script pages and give you feedback on them?

Firstly, he’s the writer on a stack of fantastic projects so you get a guarantee he knows his stuff. He’s currently writing Gladstone’s School For World Conquerors. It’s one of the best all ages comics going right now – simply superb. He’s also written crowd favourites Aqua Leung, The New Brighton Archaeological Society, and The Amazing Joy Buzzards.

Mark’s credentials at Image Comics should put your mind at ease as to how he’ll treat your pages.

On top of all this, and possibly most importantly, Mark was the editor on the volumes of anthology comics titled Popgun. He’s actually critiqued and guided scripts professionally, and toward Eisner award collaborations, so having him look over your work cannot be a bad thing at all.

If you were ever wondering how to get an Eisner winning editor to look over your work then this perk is for you. It’s a steal at $100 to have Mark make notes on your work and help you improve in any way. Your money will also help an independent anthology get off the ground and that’s always appreciated.

Now, don’t just sit there gobsmacked, hit up the site and lay your money down for a great opportunity. For this week only there’s a 10% discount so it’s only $90. Enjoy.

Achievement unlocked!

Dear Everyone

We officially made our funding goal on day 8 of the campaign; raising $2000.

This will cover the cost of fundraising, the cost of printing; and will have a couple of dollars to put towards a convention table and a book launch.

Ideally, we would like to be able to bring the anthology to more than one con (given that we're from Canberra, choosing between Sydney and Melbourne is a bit like choosing which parent you love the most!), and we'd like to launch the book with a bit of a bang.

With this in mind, let's not stop campaigning just yet. There are still some incredible, amazing, super perks available (which have been donated by industry professionals), and, of course, pre-orders of the Anthology!

The cover creative process

Sometimes ideas pop into your head at 4 in the morning and you think “I need to put this down on paper or risk losing it”. Its the classic conundrum where you weigh up sleep versus creativity.
This happened to me recently and is the story of how we got our mock up cover. On our last monthly meet up I was talking with Emma, Ryan and Robert about the fact that we needed a mock up cover. This could be our final cover or serve as a placeholder until we had one that was suitable.

I started thinking about it and there were a few things that I wanted to highlight:
* That comic creation is a collaborative process
* That we have more women attending the meet ups than men.
* I wanted it to be catchy

I started racking my brain about what to do and that evening spurned on by the2 pints I had had at the Wig and Pen I started to draw and....nothing. Well nothing I liked.
So off to bed no good would come of sitting in the loungeroom past mid night ferociously sketching. Then at 4am it happened. I had the idea of what to do.
I got up, my girlfriend thinking it was because I needed to go to the bathroom, and sketched out the idea on a page.

After a long day of work, I should point out I did not return to bed after I was done, I then played around with drawing it in Black and White- I was not happy with the results.

The sketch had a fluidity that was missing from this piece. So I decided to add colour.

I essentially tried adding colour to the piece as it was. I began to look at it and I HATED IT! It wasn’t what I wanted. Sometimes this happens.
I said to myself how do you want this to look on the page?

And how do you want it to look on the stands? This was a more important question as a cover need to be striking.

I decided that I’d take a stab at painting it with a brush. No pencil lines. No Safety net. What I was wanting to do was to get a sketchy feel to it, buuuuut mostly I was wanting to warm up to tackle to final piece.

What I ended up with was the final piece. I was happy with it- to the most part and hit send to my fellow contributors.
Sometimes you get an idea at 4am and sometimes you just have to let go and just have fun with it.