"DORIAN" HITS THE TOP 10 ON AMAZON!!

I am very happy to announce that the graphic novel version of my animated film, "DORIAN" is currently in 7th place on the Amazon.com Top 10 Gay & Lesbian Graphic Novel List!

It took a year and a half to make the film (plus some months of pre-production planning), and it's great to see the work having a life beyond its initial incarnation and being so well received.

Thank you to all who have bought it. Enjoy ;)

"SUMMER BOYS" UPDATE

Nearly five months of silence on my part. I promise, I've been most busy.

While getting through this deplorably long, cold winter, my beacon of hope was "SUMMER BOYS". Though unfortunately I did have to face the harsh reality that: Animation takes a LONG time to complete... and to be done properly requires a staff, which requires a lot of money, which requires... I just had to admit my limitations.

Now that didn't mean scrapping the project entirely. I did play with the idea of releasing the episodes that I had worked out and storyboarded as a web comic series, and releasing new issues digitally every few weeks (beginning Memorial Day Weekend, when the Fire Island share season kicks off) but found that I didn't want to have to work keeping a "buzz" sustained throughout Labor Day.

At last, I decided to release all of the stories together in one complete package - a Graphic Novel; just as I did with "DORIAN" last year.

It is two thirds finished. I will soon be creating a Facebook page for it, and beginning to drop little teaser scenes from the work. Patience and perseverance are the pillars I push myself to climb daily as I near the finish line. My hope is that people will enjoy it. When I get frustrated and thoughts of giving up start to rear their ugly heads, I remember: I want people to enjoy it, and I keep going.

"DORIAN" (2013) film trailer

"DORIAN" (Version 2.0)

After completing my initial draft of "Summer Boys", I decided to put it away for a couple weeks and let the work simmer. It's always best to add a bit of distance and come back fresh to see with clear eyes: what's good and what needs improvement.

In the meantime, I took another look at "Dorian" and decided that the first graphic novel I made over the summer -- which really wasn't a graphic novel so much as a photo collage of stills from the film -- I went back and really polished it up and have re-released it on Amazon.

For example, below is a side by side study of a thumbnail sketch depicting the first page. A lot more text (and character dialogue) has been added, fleshing out the story in a way that was previously missing.

BELOW IS THE LINK TO THE EBOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/DORIAN-GRAPHIC-NOVELLA-VERNON-BAUER-ebook/dp/B00GY4V8OS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1386124476&sr=1-1

"Conversations with Mother"

So, in the entertainment world, there are lots of great ideas pitched every day, and very few which actually wind up getting made into something.

Attached is a cartoon I made from a bit of dialogue by Broadway playwright, Matthew Lombardo (Tea at Five, Looped, High) which we may yet one of these days turn into an animated sitcom pilot, but other projects (and life in general) do seem to keep getting in the way!

Still, it's very cute and well worth sharing.

DEMO REEL

NEW PROJECT!!

The next big project is upon me: An animated series following a group of housemates doing a season in the Fire Island Pines, called "SUMMER BOYS". The target release date will be around Memorial Day 2014. Attached are several photos of the early pre-production planning stages.

Right now I am focused on taking the plot outlines I have scribbled down and turning them into storyboards. I understand this may be different from how other animators/illustrators would work as I haven't given much thought to what the characters themselves are going to look like, but I think I've always been more interested in plot than character. The characteristics of the characters can be informed by what they do, their experiences. So now is the time to create those experiences. 

I am building an 8 episode story arc that will cover the Memorial Day to Labor Day season. There will be an episode for the 4th of July, the Pines Party (a big circuit party held each year in Fire Island), etc. 

I kept a journal following the creation of my last project, "DORIAN", largely so I would have a model to follow, or learn from my previous mistakes, when I endeavored onto my next. As I go through this new process & frustrations arise (as they inevitably will), I shall go back to my earlier texts and compare experiences.