The collection of my workmanship

[WendellThornhill]

Do the Associates have a base of operations? Or are they a loose network of the Symbol's friends?

A good question.

The answer is yes and no. There is a location where they all CAN come together to meet to discuss things, but being that they each have "normal" lives, it's not like they hang together every hour of every day. They come.together as a group only when a situation requires it.

[WendellThornhill]

More of STARWING.

[WendellThornhill]

More of The SYMBOL.

[WendellThornhill]

After a long day of work, I like to enjoy a glass of red wine and relax with a good book to read (graphic novel or comic book) to help me unwind. I'm currently reading Marvel's Secret Wars and DC's The Justice League: The Darkseid War, because I'm very much familiar with the characters, histories and their respective "universes," to which they belong and I enjoy following their ongoing adventures. Based on the intriguing concept and art of a [new] comic book from an independent creative team however...I ventured out of my "comfort zone" of familiarity and purchased the first issue of a relatively unknown comic title called "Celflux, Reluctant Heroes."

I must say that so far, I am VERY glad that I began my journey into the universe of these characters and their current adventure, as conceived, designed and presented by Everard J McBain Jr. and Dixie Ann Archer-McBain. With its curious premise and captivating artwork, I am very much looking forward to issues 2 and 3, as well as every issue thereafter to see how this storyline unfolds.

Keep up the great work Mr. and Mrs. McBain and congratulations on the (2) AshCan awards.

[GemGfx]

I saw the name on the thread and recognized it and came to the thread to check out your work. I was going along admiring your character sketches of The Symbol and Starwing. I am really feeling the raw sketches as they are the most dynamic and really show the energy of the characters. I searched for, found and subscribed to your YouTube channel. I think the characters have great potential and with some work can be really strong. Keep at it. Work on the character development and you've got something good here.

So after checking out your work I come to the end to leave a comment and what do I find, but your Celflux "plug" as you put it. I don't think I can adequately express how much it means to my wife and I to see our work appreciated by someone. When you pour yourself into something, you give a part of yourself. Then you put it out there to the world, and hope for the best. It really encourages you when it resonates with just one person. Thank you again for the encouragement.

I'm going to share this if you don't mind.

[WendellThornhill]

Everard,

First, I sincerely appreciate your reply and helpful info therein concerning my character creations and designs. Between the characters you mentioned specifically (The SYMBOL and Starwing), it's The SYMBOL who I've investment the most attention into, for it was his creation and story, which revitalized my artistic need to create comic book characters again. Starwing on the other hand, although much older in his [original] creation is simply a "fun" outlet for my enjoyment of Adobe Flash animation; I don't have too much of a desire to tell the story of his existence, origin, mission, etc. Once finalized, I fully intend to "share" the full story of The SYMBOL to the masses though, because I humbly believe that it has depth beyond being just an action/adventure about a man in spandex and an Old Glory designed cape foiling terrorism and fighting crime. I will be sure to keep YOU posted particularly, Everard, because I will value your feedback, derived from your very apparent creative professionalism. Speaking of which, I suspect that you will come to really appreciate my superhero group, GEMINI 5, because like your team, they also are trying to work past differences, even hatred in order to exist and function as a team by choice, not as a group by circumstance. I'm purposely keeping their story, member images and the such on the "hush/hush" for now, while I establish (and explain) the universe(s), in which my characters exist. I'm building something very large behind the scenes and it's taking an unexpected amount of time to get it all together for its "Get it right the 1st time" first impression...thank goodness I'm a patient person.

Concerning my plug of Celflux...I believe that it's well deserving of it; although I am but a simple comic book fan and modest artist at best whose endorsement of Celflux, unfortunately does not carry nearly as much weight as a plug from someone like...George Perez or Jim Lee, for example. More so than the property itself, I am more impressed by the professional presentation of it as a whole and it's highly inspirational [to me] to see such passion and talent take shape in the form of the Celflux series. In your property, I can envision the tangible manifestation of my own characters/stories and in that...you've succeeded (purposely or accidentally) in encouraging at least 1 reader to follow your example. Thank you.

And yes, of course you can share my original "plug," as well as anything else I've posted here concerning Celflux.

[GemGfx]

I was just discussing this in a group on Facebook and I thought I would share some of the same thoughts here.

When my wife and I decided to create Celflux, we did a lot of research. Yes, we researched self-publishing options and so on, but that wasn't our first bit of research. What we did was we looked at our shortcomings and deficiencies in this field that we were planning to enter. Neither of us were professional writers nor was I a professional artist. I used to draw way back when but that was a long time ago. So we went on the hunt for free online writing courses and I watched a lot of drawing, digital art and comic book inking and colouring tutorials. (We're still doing this, because there's a lot of room for improvement.) From the very beginning, we realized that it's hard work. So at that time our motivation came into question. Why are we doing this? Then it dawned on us, that it wasn't to get rich or make it big, though we would be glad if that happened, but the motivation was simply to create the book and tell the story. To quote one of my contacts on Facebook Alan Cole " just the idea of creating something, something you can hold in your hand." I would add, just the idea that this is something you created. This is yours. That was our motivation.

So believe it or not, we are just as excited when someone tells others about Celflux, as if someone purchases a copy. If huge sales had been our motivation, we would have been off this train a long time ago. But it wasn't so we're still here to see slowly, drop by drop, good words being spoken about this labour of love project that we put together. The news is spreading as people tell others about it. That's a great boost to us because it means people think that Celflux has some "worth" for them to want to share it with others. So what you did here, is our real payday.

In relation to developing your character, feel free to contact me and I will share with you what I know. I'm by no means an expert in this field, but I might be able to point you to the experts. I look forward to it.