Leigh Dragoon
ldragoon@spidric.com
Proposal for BY THE WAYSIDE
Adele Davies has always been sure of two things in life: that she doesn't need
to be told what to do, and that she can handle anything.
She's wrong on both counts.
Born into a family of exorcists, Adele has never been able to meet
anyone's expectations. She has spent most of her young adulthood in and out of trouble with Triune, the company
her family works for. After the company forbids her to perform exorcisms, Adele takes on an
under-the-table job. When things spiral out of her control, resulting in the destruction of the client's house,
she goes on the run with her assistant, Maddie, and blackmails Liz, a fellow mage, into hiding them out.
BY THE WAYSIDE updates, in black and white, twice weekly. The first story arc, which is
finished, introduces Adele and
Maddie, and covers the circumstances of their first meeting. The current storyline,
Book II, begins 6 months after the events of Book I, and introduces Liz. You may read the
first 21 pages of Book II here.
Please note that this proposal
is for Book II, which is written to stand on its own, and not
Book I, which was more of an experiment.
I am a professional human factors web designer, and I perform all the design and coding functions on both the
Spidric website
and Byzarium.com, a web-zine I co-edit. I am well-versed
in the use of image-editing software such as Photoshop, Painter, and Fireworks.
I am accustomed to meeting deadlines. I also have experience working with a comics publisher.
Over a 1-year period, I created a series of 4-page Japanese lessons for SakuraPakk, an anthology
comic published by EigoManga.
As a long-time comics fan, I couldn't help but notice that in many comics,
female characters were often too perfect, or flawed in "cute" ways. They
were always armed with a witty comeback and the perfect outfit. There seemed to me to be a dearth of
female characters who stumble, can never think of the right thing to say, and hurt their
friends in a moment of selfishness. I feel strongly that it is important to create
girl friendly comics that show girls and young women who are far from perfect, and who fight against
these imperfections, sometimes rising above them and sometimes not.
In keeping with this, I feel BY THE WAYSIDE'S main strength lies in its characterization.
Adele is far from a perfect person. She is often selfish and makes a lot of
rash decisions. Maddie and Liz are flawed as well: Liz in that
she has effectively closed herself off to other people, and Maddie in that
she tries too hard to be liked and please others. It is the interactions of these
three people, and the way they affect and change each other, that I plan to explore in BY THE WAYSIDE.
I discovered Girlamatic after reading 'Smile', and the comics available on your
site are exactly the sorts I would recommend to girls. I feel BY THE WAYSIDE
would be a good fit. I hope you will consider allowing it to join the ranks of excellent
artists you have gathered.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Leigh Dragoon
ldragoon@spidric.com
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