HOME STRETCH!!! possible help needed...
 

so..quick update.

I just got the email from the LAST guy we needed art from and hes going to be sending it to me probably tonight. once we have that on hand, everything is done except for the lettering on my pages, which ED is working on.

but really, this is like practically finished. I think we are hitting 70 plus PAGES in total. guys..this is an awesome achievement and something I think we will all be proud of being part of.

now..for the part that we need help. I haven't been able to get a hold of the guy that's doing the cover. I'm NOT writing him off yet. he IS a working pro and stuff comes up and we all understand that. but I haven't heard from him in a bit and so I want to start coming up with options if we cant get the drawn cover by the artist.

so..my question would be..what could we do? is there anyone out there that's good with photoshop and graphic design? maybe something with "digitalwebbing.com presents" and the title "Hellboy MONSTER MASH" in big bold text?
maybe someone could put that together and take cut scenes of some of the various pages and put them around the text in places?

I don't know..im not good at figuring out that stuff. I wouldn't mind the cover just being big bold words saying HELLBOY MONSTER MASH or something like that. but it would be nice to have it in color.

I am VERY open to any suggestions and help about this part. I will keep trying to contact the artist and hopefully that's still an option for us. but in the case where we need to come up with a different option..tell me what you think would work.

ROB

70 Pages? :eek::eek: Damn...

BTW It'd be possible to put the title text in while pdfing the thing using InDesign or something similar, but cutting the images together, that's completely beyond me.

I don't know if simply putting the words and nothing else on the cover is a good idea though; we need something that grabs attention right away. A proper cover would go a long way towards that.

I agree a proper cover is best.. that's why I liked the idea of a pro artist doing it for us. if it turns out the artist isn't available..i don't know what else would be best. I don't know...we will figure out something.

I kinda like that. the simplicity of just having HB face there. I do think that if we are going to shout out the website here as where it originated from, we should have it spelled out specifically tho. like maybe across the top of the page... like

digitalwebbing.com
presents
HELLBOY
MONSTER MASH

Obviously the hellboy and story title would be bigger and the focus.

GAH.. anyone have any connections to any pro artists...? I KINDA wonder if I should approach Renae De Liz again. shes a supporter of the website. she might be up for it again. tho her and her husband might not have time to do non paying stuff..i think they are having a rough time at the moment. I don't know.

do any of you follow artist Lewis Larosa...? I follow him on Instagram and he recently put up these sketches. holy crap do these just look SPOT on. he has taken the specific design look and anatomy that Mignola puts into the character with his stylized art, but also makes it looks a little more real-ish. it totally LOOKS like mignolas design. jeez. makes me feel like my horrible renderings of hellboy on my pages needs to be completely reworked.

anyway... I just thought these were incredible and wanted to share.

https://orig00.deviantart.net/4e0e/f...01-dc6wc84.png


https://orig00.deviantart.net/78d9/f...01-dc6wc3n.png

yeah..i think that would look better. I mean..im open to all suggestions. I'm not a graphic designer.

oh that I agree with. but I mean..we aren't selling anything. id imagine we are okay. but like you are saying.having it say homage or Fan book or something. maybe having "digitalwebbing presents" isn't a good idea because isn't that the exact title of a book that's actually been put out? we wouldn't want anyone to think its another issue of that actual book. so using a specific title to say "FAN" book or whatever is probably the best idea.

We could rework the wording for that a bit, maybe turn it into:

Hellboy: Monster Mash

A fanfic anthology by digitalwebbing.com

OR

Hellboy: Monster Mash

A digitalwebbing.com fanfic anthology

Instead of "DW presents", put that black bar with our address at the bottom. I also think using the whole website address would be better, since not everyone would know what DW is and seeing the whole address will (hopefully) drive more traffic to the site, which is after all how this whole thing started out.

Love it

^Might be too wordy. Overcrowd it and the ring of a good title goes away.

"Digital Webbing Fanfiction: Anthology Homage: Hellboy: Featuring: Monster Mash?"

Less is more for something like this, so a more straightforward title would be better IMHO.

Also, Introducing and Featuring are used before a character's name, not a book title. "Monster Mash: Featuring Hellboy" is accurate, "Hellboy featuring Monster Mash" isn't. It would have to be "Hellboy featuring IN Monster Mash" which doesn't have the same ring to it.

I still say keep it simple. Either -

Hellboy: Monster Mash

A digitalwebbing.com Fanfiction Anthology

OR, like Rob suggested -

digitalwebbing.com Presents

HELLBOY: MONSTER MASH

A Fanfiction Anthology

So, to summarize, remove “Featuring”, and “anthology homage”?

I also feel like the "featuring" has got to go...The homage thing..I think it should go, but if it needs to stay for any kind of legal reason, I could see that.

cover
 

How about something like this - i incorporated the design from a Hellboy book from DarkHorse.

[IMG]http://i1379.photobucket.com/albums/...pspwxtmcqz.jpg[/IMG]

^ Putting Mignola's name there could be troublesome, even in a fan work. Can't say for sure, but still.

Other than that, I think that one works.

EDIT: Tiny nitpicky suggestion - Could maybe add an "A" before "Digital Webbing Fanfiction", changing it to "A Digital Webbing Fanfiction", since this is a one-shot.

But I do agree with the overall design. Keeps the title simple, throws our name and logo on there, makes it clear the contents are a fan creation.

yeah, i just grabbed a logo off the internet for placement. Mike's name doesn't have to stay. This is basically a mock up and once everyone decides on a cover design (if they choose this one), i can go in and replace the images and logo in photoshop with high res versions and cover image if need be.

I wouldn’t put “A” on there. As it is it lines up with other DW works. Also, who’s to say we won’t do another of these sometime soon.

I think we should get ED involved in this...as this is HIS website and if we are gonna be slapping his sites name around and we are all worried about potential legal troubles...we needs his input. he IS a pro after all and I'm sure he has advice in regards to this. he may NOT want us slapping his logo on this thing as its not an OFFICIAL book like some of the past stuff hes published thru here.
even using the official hellboy logo might be a bad idea. I don't know....


also..as far as the cover, I just got emailed by the cover artist..hes still 2 weeks out before he will be able to show us anything. so it could be even longer. I would still like his contribution for sure..but I don't want to put this on hold for 2 weeks or possibly more now that its all done and done(well..99% there.) which is why I was putting out feelers for what to do.
so..we still have some time..im waiting for ed to letter MY pages anyway. and then we needs to get this put together in PDF format..which SSTIGER offered to help with.
we need to come up with some kind if inside front cover content. I'm thinking a list of all contributors and maybe a small paragraph explaining what this is.. I could write that maybe?
and I also have an idea for a cover drawing..i want to start banging that out soon... it may work. it may not. and by the time its all put together anyway..maybe the original cover artist will have had enough time to come thru.
I just want to get this out there for all to see soon. being so close..its hard to now be impatient to share it.

so..i think getting EDs input on the cover and what we can or should NOT do, so as to not put him in a difficult situation is best. ill message him right now and see what I can find out.

rob

So....what IF this is the first of many more fanfiction anthologies? What if the next featured character is Batman or Spiderman? What text format the cover must have in order to avoid a legal lawsuit? Just asking.

I agree we need Ed’s input

he responded to my message and said hed come take a look and chime in when he could.

I like keeping it out of the mainstream, myself. I’d rather do something with the indie characters (but that’s just me).

It might be fun to do a Locke and Key fan fiction where each story has a unique key... that would be interesting.

How about MONSTER MASH Featuring HELLBOY?

THATS an idea...

that was kinda my thought as well...not mainstream characters. but there are so few INDIE characters that I know and LIKE. but doing a batman story doesn't REALLY interest me..(for example). BUT..the proper set up could make it interesting.

me personally...I like the idea of Matt Wagners GRENDEL or personally Erik Larsens Savage Dragon is VERY interesting to me. especially cause he crosses his guy over with ALL kinds of different characters. I bet if we put together a book like this with Dragon in it..he would get a genuine kick out of it. and hes also pretty easy to get a hold of on social media. anyway..thats just my thoughts.

I also have no idea what "a locke and key" thing is...someone has to explain that one to me.

either way...that's a ways off. getting ahead of ourselves. maybe look at doing another one of these at the end of summer? unless everyone else is on board so quickly.

rob

How about a nice MEGATON MAN anthology!! That guy always cracked me up and he's the perfect vehicle for poking fun at things. I'm sure more than a few of us are probably friends of Don Simpson's on Facebook....

Grendel is a great idea. I love Dragon too.

If you haven’t read Locke and Key you owe it to yourself to do so. It’s fantastic.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locke_%26_Key

No, I meant since it's a standalone story (Issue #1 of 1, not #1 of 5 or anything like that) but, y'know, eh, whatever. Like I said, it's a tiny nitpick.

I'm beginning to feel like we should just pick a title by vote, because otherwise we'll be here all week mulling this over. :laugh:

7I wouldn't mind to do a Judge Dredd, a Conan the Barbarian, a Jonah Hex, a Wolverine, or a Batman. I like the anti hero not the hero, neither superheroes.

I second any of these choices. I grew up on Conan, John Buscema is one of my all time favourite artists. There was an issue of Savage Sword that he both penciled and inked that was breath taking. I would draw a Conan comic in a heart beat.

I'll do anything that gains me more experience and collaboration with superior artists such as yourselves. DW My Little Pony meets Leatherface?? DW: Toxic Avenger meets Archie? I'm on it! lol

I’ve got it; the ultimate throw down: Alien vs. Predator against the most fearsome foe of all—-Strawberry Shortcake!:p:har:

My thoughts... I think this needs to look much different than anything associated with the print publications. We want to make it clear this isn't something that is actually printed and sold, but instead a collaboration with forum members on a project.

So with that said, if we put Digital Webbing on it, it needs to include the word "forum" with it. Also, let's keep the spider logo off of it as well. Less confusion, the better. The reading public out there does get confused on unexpected things; for example, there were countless times readers thought the name of the publishing company was "Digital Webbing Presents" instead of "Press" because I put the title up on the comic's top bar.

Hellboy AFTER Monster Mash would be best so it doesn't cause confusion on whether it's a Hellboy comic but instead a forum collaboration featuring Hellboy, if that makes sense.

I think I might take a shot at putting something together if no one minds? I have a few ideas after reading Ed's input...

anyone can do anything...multiple options are great. and we can all decide which way will be best.

just remember everyone...we are waiting on cover ART as well.

MONSTER MASH
A FAN FICTION ANTHOLOGY
Featuring: HELLBOY

By members of the Digital Webbing Forums.

Here is a cover idea based on Scribbly's wording - for condideration.
[IMG]http://i1379.photobucket.com/albums/...psecthgtcl.jpg[/IMG]

see that looks kinda cool

I’m wondering if we shouldn’t use the official HB logo. I’d bet Mignola has that trademarked.

Definitely trademarked. And it makes it look too legitimate. Since it isn't..... would be safer to remove.

Try that with a Disney logo.....cease and desist letter