Concept imagery, using the monochrome character illustrations in coordination—Jane dominant, The Green Man secondary.
Bringin' words to life.
Come calamity or come calm.
Calamity (né "Seeing the Elephant") is a fast-paced, character-driven novel about the teenage Martha Jane Canary—The Wild West's notorious Calamity Jane—who, dead-set on revenging the murder of the rancher who took her in, rides through Hell and Wyoming with the murderous, alien Green Man. A memoir narrated in Jane's vulgar period language, Seeing the Elephant shows her transformation from a girl in need of rescue into a self-reliant and powerful woman more than capable of holding her own—and dominating—in a West populated with cowboys, murderers, posses on the hunt, tribes on the warpath, and terrifying alien psychopaths.
In support of the novel—and promotions aimed at agents and editors—a series of illustrations and support materials were created to express the rough-hewn style of the story and its protagonists—Calamity Jane and The Green Man. The style and format of these peices remains in development.
The first concept piece for the novel, executed early in the novels development when alien Green Man was the main character of the manuscript. Inspiration for the book was drawn from pulp Western and mass-market Western films of the mid to late 20th century—specifically the vintage Western film poster collection of the Booth Western Art Museum.
As the novel developed and the focus shifted to a teenage Calamity Jane, a virtual model was composed out of a suite of stock, product, and Holywood photos as well as sumi-style splatter shapes meant to both evoke the rough nature of the characters and the ink-based journalism inplied in the novel's memoir format.
The final monochrome vector of Calamity Jane—accompnaied by the title typeset in Bleeding Cowboys—executed in the sumi-style.
A virtual model of The Green Man composed out of a suite of stock and product photos (including the Nerf gun from my desk) as well as sumi-style splatter shapes meant to both evoke the rough nature of the characters and the ink-based journalism inplied in the novel's memoir format. Note: the image of the knife is a plot spoiler.
The final monochrome vector of The Green Man, executed in the sumi-style.
Concept imagery, using the monochrome character illustrations in coordination—Jane dominant, The Green Man secondary.
A custom printed leave behind for an agent, including a branded, personalized tag and custom-loaded USB drive including the manuscript, summaries and treatments, and a song list inspired by the novel.
Calamity: Being an Account of Calamity Jane and Her Gunslinging Green Man is a violent reimagining of a frontier legend and her alien gunslinger as they face off against extraordinary enemies in the Wilder West.
A temperamental, teenage outcast and a hardened, alien gunslinger burn their way across the West—living as outsiders, killing like outlaws, and surviving calamities of their own making. An unexpected pair of underdogs, they confront savage spacemen, avenging posses, and native tribes on the warpath—reframing the frontier legend of Calamity Jane with a gritty and witty sci-fi twist.
