I've got BIG NEWS for everyone who is looking forward to the Raising Dragons Graphic Novel.

    For the next 30 days or so (until May 23rd, 2013), I will be holding a kickstarter project campaign for this book. What does that mean? Kickstarter is a venue for crowd funding. It means, that people are given the opportunity to financially support projects, and as a token of gratitude, they can earn really unique rewards that are not offered anywhere else.

To find out more about what I'm referring to, keep reading!

 

    Illustrating this entire graphic novel is a lot of work. I have successfully completed three pages, which are located at the end of this post just for you. But that still leaves 147 more to go. Summer of 2014 is going to be here before I know it, and in order to have this book finished on time, I need the resources and funding that can only come from you, the fans.

    The RAISING DRAGONS GRAPHIC NOVEL is now on Kickstarter.

    Kickstarter's policy is ALL OR NOTHING funding. If my minimum goal is not met, then no money trades hands. It protects everyone that way. There very little risk for the person who pledges.

    This project will only be funded if at least $15,000 is pledged by Thursday May 23, 1:26pm EDT.

    If you pledge to help this project you won't go unrewarded. I'm offering some prizes that are really one-of-a-kind.

    There is the opportunity to be illustrated in the graphic novel itself or have an exclusive 4 page bonus story featuring you and the main cast of Raising Dragons.

    Other prizes include signed copies of the book when it's released as well as a rare chance to get a limited special edition copy of the book with lots of extras.

    Finally, the top three prizes include my original drawings and the benefit of having both Bryan Davis and I come to your town for the launch party of the book, sometime next year.

    Look through the list of prizes for yourself! Hurry, some of them are limited in quantity, so once they're gone that's it!

    To show my appreciation for your interest in this project, I will share 3 pages that are a part of the final book. Please enjoy what you see. If you help fund this project, there will be more. I guarantee it.

    I can't stress this enough. I need your help. If you are unable to contribute financially to this project, then I ask for your help in promoting this project. Please share this post, or the link to the kickstarter project directly to your friends and family.

• http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jamesartville/raising-dragons-graphic-novel

    Let the world know. It's now or never! We have less than a month to get there, and I believe we can do it. Will you help me?

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    I had the honor of illustrating a 5 page comic to serve as the prologue of this new and upcoming game. To see these comic pages and learn how to become a part of this cool project, click the jump!

 

    As you can see from watching the video from the Stony's Revenge Kickstarter project page, this new game is like a combination of asteriods and pin-ball, mixed in with power ups and humor.

    What did you think? To be honest, this is the first time I've ever illustrated a sci-fi comic. Next up, a Star Wars fan comic! Just kidding...

    As you can tell, the story is comical and the fun. If this project is fully funded, the creators are interested in expanding this story into a full graphic novel. I cross my fingers that they would consider me again.

    Their goal is to raise $10,000! This may seem like a lot to ask for, but the nice thing about Kickstarter is that anybody can pledge, even as little as $2! So, altogether, we can make the difference and be a part of the making of Stony's Revenge.

    I wish them the best of luck. They have until Saturday, May 4th to raise their minimum amount of funding. Because I had a part of this project, I ask that you please take a look for yourself and consider pledging for this project.

I would appreciate it very much :)

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    2013 came and already it's been going by in a blur. I'm sure before I know it summer of 2014 is going to be here, and the Raising Dragons Graphic Novel will be finished. I am looking forward to that. I am just as anxious to pick up a copy and read it as any other fan of the story.

    To those who are interested in the development of book, I'll give you a sneak peak of my latest efforts:

    I have been steadily working on the thumbnail sketches that reflect what each page will look like.

    A graphic novel is sequential art. The story is told through panels, or 'windows', with a scene and they are accompanied by word bubbles with text. The panels are arranged sequentially and read from top-left to bottom-right (like a book). 

    These pencil sketch thumbnails are the foundation from which I will reference from when I draw the full size pages. I expect to be starting this process soon.

    In the meantime, I will like to share some exclusive insight on the design of the Mighty Clefspeare. For those who are unfamiliar with the story, he's a dragon. Raising Dragons is a fantasy story, with knights, maidens, and you guessed it, dragons!

    Clefspeare is one of the primary characters of the story. His design is pretty iconic in the eyes of fans and everyone has an image of what he looks like in their own minds. As an artist, it's hard for me to please everybody. No two fans imagine the same thing. But the most important thing for me is to make sure he matches the original description in the book.

    According to the book, Clefspeare is a red dragon. Everything else was trial and error. This character design took me the longest to finalize. It was necessary and I hope that the end result is satisfactory to both the author and fans alike.

    Clefspeare is not the only dragon in the series. But I'm not going to spoil anything beyond that. There are still more character designs that need to be finalized and I am looking forward to drawing Merlin and King Arthur next.

Look for another update in the near future!

    The day after I published my Christmas post, I was blessed with the birth of my third child. A girl, born on December 26th 2012, was named after what my wife and I agreed to be a very elegant and strong name, Korra. Her full name is Korra Grace Ville.

Pictures and some new drawings just for you after the jump...

 

    I'm not going to deny it. The name Korra was inspired by the hit Nickelodeon animated series, The Legend of Korra. My family and I were fans of the original Avatar: The Last Airbender.  In so many ways, it's my all time favorite animated show. I love the art, the story, the characters, screen writing, and more. They simply nailed it, for kids and adults alike.

    The sequel, Korra, was much more grown up while still being appropriate for children's television. The main protagonist, Korra herself, is arguably my favorite character in that series. She's headstrong, but doesn't compromise her values. She puts her family and friends above herself, and really comes around in the end and fulfills her destiny. I love when characters undergo development and actually grow by the end of the series. I am looking forward to Book 2 being released sometime in 2013.

    Now, I don't expect my daughter to be anything like Korra from the show. Aside from the inability to bend the elements, my other children have been pretty good in nature. But they are only 2 and 3 years old, so I may have to wait. My oldest son, Raphael, will always be associated with the red Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, and my oldest daughter, Ellie, was named from the bakery girl from Harvest Moon 64 (my wife's favorite game of all time).

    My cat was named Link and our current rabbit is named Peppy. I'll give you +10 points if you can tell me what video games those names were referenced from. :)

Yes, I am a nerd, and my family will have to suffer for it.

    This is December 25th, 2012. I want to say THANK YOU to everyone for reading the thoughts on my blog and for viewing my illustrations. Merry Christmas to you on this fine day!

    I want to celebrate today by showcasing my early work that was Christmas themed. Because this is another entry in my Blast from the Past series, the following illustrations are very rough and overall low in quality. But hey, I was young and a novice. We all had to start somewhere :)

Now, I hope you enjoy these Christmas themed illustrations:

    The first image features my flagship character, Starglider. I believe I still used Microsoft Paint, and maybe Arcsoft Paint Studio for this one, the days before Adobe Photoshop. I did not illustrate the background. I remember using a snow scene from a battle background image from the RM2K software. You can tell it was stretched vertically.

    The next one is a simple image of Mary holding Baby Jesus. I was in a hurry, and I didn't bother with a background or anything. I used the polygon lasso tool for all of the shadows, and you can tell I was in a hurry because the curves aren't very smooth, but jagged. I believe I dedicated this one to my high school youth group at church.

    While visiting family in Mexico, I came across a statue of Mary and Joseph holding Baby Jesus. This image was inspired by the decorative piece. My old JUMS signature sticks out like a sore thumb. >_<

    This illustration was dedicated to my wife to be, Shiloh. Starglider is holding Shiloh's character, named Mococo. I never did color it, but I believe I did that because of printing issues. Black and white is much less expensive to print than color.

    Although this isn't Christmas themed exactly, it is a winter illustration. I featured Shiloh's Winter before in another Blast from the Past post. This is one of those pieces that I would like to draw again.

    My wife, Shiloh, was the one who drew this next piece. It was a nice surprise, and I had a good time coloring it for her. It was 2007 that I really started coloring lineart and adding highlights on the lines themselves, and not just the color area. But I skimped out on the background again. It's simply an Adobe Photoshop cutout filter on a photo of a Christmas tree. Tsk Tsk

    Shiloh and I both drew this one. This was one of the first illustrations that I starting using Corel Painter Essentials Pro. It's funny now, 4 years after drawing and coloring this that my own wife is now pregnant with our third child on Christmas Day. Her due date is the 26th. Anytime now...

    I'm beginning to see a trend here. This last illustration was drawn by Shiloh, too. She drew this image for me as a gift. Christmas 2008, Shiloh was 5 months pregnant with our first child. This made a very special Christmas Card that we gave to our friends and family.

    Thank you for viewing my old illustrations. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Be safe and see you next year!

    Without a doubt, I have been very busy this past month. One of the exciting new projects that I am blessed to be a part of is the Raising Dragons Graphic Novel. Since my last update, I have finished all of the concept art for the heroes of the story. This includes Billy, Bonnie, Walter, Jared, Marylin, Carl, Catherine, and Mr. Hamilton.

To see their designs, hit the jump!

    As a gift to the fans on Bryan Davis' Facebook Page, my wife gave me the idea to create an image with all of the characters lined up. During the process, we decided to make the image into a desktop wallpaper size, like so.

    For your downloading pleasure, below are links to the image in various dimensions for you to use as your desktop wallpaper. The Graphic Novel will not be ready until 2014, but hopefully this will help with the wait. From me to you:

    I ask for your continued patience as I am steadily working on this project, day by day. It's a lot of work for a single illustrator. Luckily for me, I have help. The script has been approved of by Bryan Davis himself, so we're good to go with the adaptation. It's going to be a tight squeeze, fitting the entire book into a 150 page graphic novel. But it can be done!

    As of now, I am in the process of thumb-nailing the panels. I am drawing the entire book, page by page, panel by panel, in a rough pencil draft that will serve as a foundation and reference when I actually draw the pages in full size format. It will be a great way to start the new year!

    CHRISTMAS is almost here and I want to personally wish you and your loved ones a very special Holiday. As for me and my family, we are expecting the birth of our third child any day now. Her name will be Korra Grace, and she's due on December 26th...the day after Christmas.

    To celebrate the festivities, I present you with an illustrated Christmas Story that I made for my work at BatteryStuff.com. It was very enjoyable making it, and I hope you enjoy watching it, too. Just to let you know, I am the 'techie' who can't figure out how to turn on the POWER. There's a little truth to the story :)

   
    2012 has been a great year for me and my family. I am totally excited for what I will be doing in 2013. A large portion of my efforts will be to continue working on the Raising Dragons Graphic Novel. I appreciate all of the fans  support and best wishes. Thank you all very much.

Greetings and Happy Thanksgiving Season!

    Earlier in the month, I made an announcement that I have the privilege of illustrating the graphic novel for Raising Dragons, written by Bryan Davis. So far the reception has been wonderful and I love reading the positive comments from the fans. Clearly people love Bryan's stories and I have an important task of not letting them down.

    I am currently in the process of working on this massive project, one that will take me well over a year to accomplish. I've prepared an update of my work after the jump!

    I have been busy drawing for the past few weeks, almost everyday. I may be an illustrator, but before this project I have not drawn this consistently since high school art class. But this is what I want to be when I grow up, so I am one step closer to my dream.

    Here is my design for Billy Bannister, the protagonist of the story. Billy is called "Dragon Breath" by the kids in school, and rightly so. His breath is a force not to be reckoned with. I won't give the story away, but there is so much more to him than meets the eye.

    If you recall from my previous Raising Dragons fan art, I have started fresh with my designs. Billy has reddish brown hair, and it's pretty messy. He wears his favorite pair of cargo pants, and a sweater.

    I was lucky and his design was approved of pretty early from my concept sketches. Just to let you know, I am working closely with Bryan Davis himself on this project. Therefore, each design is being approved by the author himself before finalized. This is good for both fans and for myself.

    What you see here may differ from Billy's depiction on the original cover, but my designs are based on the actual descriptions in the book, not the previous book covers.

    Walters design is my wife's favorite. He's quite an unforgettable character in the story. He wears a baseball cap early in the book. Like Billy, I was able to get it right the first time.

    With these illustrations (and the graphic novel itself) I will be using cell-shading for the designs. This will differ from most of my other digital illustrations, which have a more 'canvas paint and airbrush' look. This is for several reasons:

    First, the time spent on shading the colors is much less time consuming.

    Second, the style is more appropriate for a comic book...AHEM sorry, I mean graphic novel. That's much better.

    Like many American artists, my style has an influence of the ever popular Japanese manga. For character designs, this means an emphasis on eyes, simple facial features, and sometimes, exaggerated expressions to convey internal emotions visually.

    Bonnie's design was the most interesting of them all, so far. I think this is because her look is pretty iconic in the series. As far as my research goes, she's the most popular character in the entire Dragons in our Midst series to be drawn by other fan artists.

    Her light blue sweatshirt was pretty important in drawing her. No hoodie, no pockets, just a simple sweatshirt. The design for her wings is still in development. I have the struggle of making them large enough for her to fly while carrying another person, yet being able to fold and fit hidden in a backpack.

    More of that to come at a later date.

    Trust me when I say, there's a lot more work to be done and it will keep me busy for a long while. I look forward when I can do this as my full time profession. I have more designs for the rest of the cast to finish, and I will post them in my next update.

    If you want to be keep up to speed on the development of the Raising Dragons Graphic Novel, please follow my blog. I also recommend becoming a fan of Bryan Davis on his Facebook Page as he also posts updates on this and other projects of his.

    One year ago, almost to the day, I originally posted the question: Will there be Dragons in Our Midst? If you read the original story, my encounter with Fantasy author, Bryan Davis, was a moment that literally changed my life. For the better.

    I presented him with a gift, and we spoke about the possibility of a graphic novel adaptation for his story. He really liked my artwork, and my wife and I are huge fans of his stories. I even illustrated some sample pages as part of my proposal. Now, one year later, it all comes together...

    Bryan contacted me and asked me if I was still interested in drawing Raising Dragons, the first book he wrote. I didn't have to think twice about that answer. I enjoyed drawing Dragons in Our Midst fanart so much, how could I turn down the opportunity to illustrate an entire story featuring his amazing cast of characters? Plus, I get to draw dragons! The boy in me who loves adventure jumped for joy.

    To be honest, I feel very honored for this opportunity. It will really be my first published work, and a giant leap in the direction I feel is God calling me to walk in. Raising Dragons is a great story, and I hope I can do it justice. I know there's already a large fan base and I will do my best to draw true to the story and characters.

    Illustrating the entire graphic novel is going to be a lot of work. Consider all of my other pieces of artwork as second priority. I will post updates on my progress and some behind the scenes information as I go along. But do not expect the entire book to be ready until 2014.

    For some of you that may be a long wait, but please consider that I will be the only artist involved and I still hold down a job as a graphic designer for BatteryStuff.com.

    There are many stages in the development of producing a graphic novel. Currently the script is being finalized and I am still working on the concept art. I hope you enjoy what you see, understanding that these sketches do not necessarily reflect the final character designs.

Now, time for me to get back to work. Wish me luck.

Written by: Shiloh Morgan Ville

    It is finished!! Woo hoo! Wow, did we underestimate the time and complexity of this project. A reminder to ourselves for future projects, don’t draw bookshelves with tons of detail! It is so tedious to color… but I have to admit it looks pretty good.

    So in case you don’t know what this illustration is all about, I’ll give you a quick reminder. This is part 3 of our tribute to my favorite author, Bryan Davis. The first post talked about why we came up with this idea and showed the pencil sketch. Part 2 talked a bit about Bryan Davis and his career, and of course we revealed the lineart, AND now you see the final thing!

    I mentioned last time that I had no idea what to write about… and I still don’t! James and I have been working so hard on a project in our spare time that our brains are fried. For now, you are spared from having to listen to me ramble. YES! So, simply enjoy the very very cool illustration of Bryan and his dragons, by James Art Ville.

What are you waiting for? Go get one of Bryan's books and witness a battle between good and evil that you'll never forget!

Written by: Shiloh Morgan Ville

   
    My husband decided that I should write Part Two of the Bryan Davis Tribute. He said it was to “keep the theme” but I’m pretty sure it’s because he’s being lazy. :P I don’t blame him. It’s enough work to create an illustration let alone think of an entire piece to write about it. Especially when rambling does not come easy to him as it does to me. ;)

    Honestly though, I have already gone on about how cool of an idea it is for James to illustrate Bryan at his desk, with the story he writes on his laptop coming alive through his imagination above him. (Eventually there will be clouds and swirls of colors around the dragons to show that they are not just floating there but almost dreamlike). And I have already explained that we are doing this piece because Bryan is someone we both respect as well as my favorite author. So what else should I say?

    Well, I know there are at least a few of you reading who aren’t familiar with Bryan and his books other than the fact that I keep mentioning him. So Part 2 will acquaint you with him better. So please, enjoy!

    Unlike myself, Bryan Davis did not always dream of being a writer. For much of his life he was a computer professional. He began writing as a means to teach his seven kids how to create stories. Since Bryan and his wife Susie home-schooled their children they wanted to create a fun, hands-on way to teach writing. One of the stories they worked on was based on Bryan’s dream about a boy who could breathe fire. This project would eventually turn into Raising Dragons, the first of a series of fantasy books that fans absolutely love.

    Most writers cringe at rejection. Some even quit trying after a harsh word about their work. However, the true professionals persevere. Bryan Davis received TWO HUNDRED rejections before finally landing a contract.

    When I met him over a year ago and excitedly showed him my manuscript, Bryan calmly took a look at my work, pulled out a pen and began editing the pages I had shown him. I am familiar with having my work critiqued but sometimes a hint of nervousness creeps into my expression. Bryan saw this and brought out his giant stack of two hundred rejections. He reminds his fans and friends that are aspiring writers to persevere even when rejected (and to always work at improving their writing skills!)

     Bryan signed on with AMG publishers and has been their top writer ever since. His books have sold more than a million copies and have been distributed to several different countries as well as being translated into other languages.  Not to mention his books have won different awards such as the Clives Staples Award. Most exciting to the fans, however, is that Bryan’s first book, Raising Dragons is currently being considered for a movie! This has had the fans speculating for more than a year. You can keep up to date with the progress on the fans facebook page: Bringing Dragons In Our Midst to the Big Screen.  There is also talk of a potential graphic novel, which my dear husband has been auditioning, so to say, to do the illustrations. Nothing has been confirmed on this, yet.

    If you want to know more about Bryan, check out his website, Davis Crossing! Or if you want to speak to him personally, leave a message on his Facebook page. He is one of the few more well-known authors who actually manage their own Facebook and respond to each fan’s comments. This is something that his fan’s very much appreciate and hope that he will always have time for such personal connections.

    Now that you have gotten know a little more about Bryan Davis, wait patiently or impatiently for A Tribute to Bryan Davis: Part 3. The digitally painted masterpiece on which I have no idea what I will talk about! XD

Bibliography:  All facts from this article were found from Bryan Davis’s website, hearing him speak or the most recent article about him written by Family Fiction Edge. All photos were borrowed from Bryan Davis’s Facebook author page.