About

Plaidstar is the name of the imprint I made up for my first self-published book, Becoming Marlo, which incarnated into print form in April 2015 after a year and a half of writing, editing, drawing, and designing. 

When I made Marlo, I had no idea what, if any, future projects I might undertake. It was a little daunting when, like mere weeks after I printed and announced it and started trying to get it out there, that people were asking me about my next project. Next? Couldn't I just enjoy having made this thing for a bit?

Anyway, a little over a year later, I am in fact working on a new thing. And it occurred to me that starting a blog whose sole purpose was to put Marlo out was maybe a bit shortsighted after all. So I'm reinventing this blog as a place where I can talk about whatever creative projects I'm working on.

But I don't want to erase what Becoming Marlo meant to me when I created this blog. So below you'll find the original "About" statement. Because I'm sentimental, that's why. 

I daydream in technicolour.

Becoming Marlo, my first self-published book, kind of started with a conversation about my hair. Well, you could say it actually started a little bit before that, but I'll get to that. 

One bitterly cold day in January 2014, I arrived at work brandishing rainbowy streaks in my coif. A colleague declared "You dyed your hair!" to which I replied "Nah, I just woke up like this". (Let me be clear that this was before the #wokeuplikethis Twitter meme in which I do not participate.)

The proverbial light bulb appeared over my head. We've heard of the urban legend about people's hair turning white overnight after enduring some dire emotional trauma. But what if your hair turns rainbow coloured overnight? Maybe that's how clowns are born.

  
I wrote the story immediately. Normally I write in screenplay format - I think visually and it's how my storytelling happens. But I was afraid that if I wrote it as a screenplay, that nothing further would happen with it. I have several screenplays that remain in a drawer having never seen the light of day. I didn't want that to happen to Marlo. I didn't have the resources to make an animated short film, but I wanted Marlo's story to be told.

Since I had very clear mental images of Marlo and his world, I decided to draw the pictures to go with the story. Nearly a year and a half after the first inspiration occurred, Becoming Marlo became a reality.

I think it's important to note that I was listening to a lot of David Bowie during the creation of Becoming Marlo. Not long before the hair dye conversation occurred, I had begun another creative writing project (The Bowie Project) in which I endeavoured to listen to all of Bowie's albums and blog about the experience. So his music was basically my personal soundtrack during the seemingly endless hours I spent drawing, inking, and colouring the illustrations for Becoming Marlo. With both projects happening simultaneously, it was impossible to not draw some inspiration from his work. 

And since David Bowie is the reason I dyed rainbow streaks into my hair that fateful January day, you could say that's where this story really began.

******
 

 
***Inspiration also provided by the likes of Neil Gaiman, Tim Burton, and Vincent Van Gogh***