When I was eight years old, I got an assignment at school: create a character, then write and illustrate a story about them. My story was about Drendel, a cartoon duck who had a heck of a time dodging hunters, speeding traffic and angry bears while trying to get to a skating rink.
As time went on, I continued to draw and Drendel continued to evolve. He gained a family, grew a bit taller and acquired a signature red sweatshirt. He made his way into paintings and claymation films and onto schoolroom ceiling tiles – and all the while, I continued to concoct a new story for Drendel and his family.
Eventually, I began my four years at Savannah College of Art and Design and Drendel came right along with me. I pursued my sequential art degree, not with dreams of becoming the next hot artist at any comic book studio, but of someday self-publishing my own Drendel stories. I was (and continue to be) heavily influenced by the Jeff Smith way of doing things. After graduating, however, I found myself on another path; one which turned my web design hobby into my full-fledged career, while Drendel became more and more of a “someday” idea.
Well, that someday is here, and I’ve decided to repurpose my former personal blog/freelance portfolio into (as the tagline below the logo reads) “a production journal” that fulfills two purposes: 1.) chronicle my development of Drendel’s story and 2.) motivate me to continue that work on a regular basis. I hope you’ll follow along as I work to bring Drendel’s story to life! I’ll be back with more soon. In the meantime, I’d love for you to leave me some comments and share this with your friends!