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Nim and Kelby, drawn by Brianna Garcia April 23, 2016 17:29

From Jess: 

One of the artists that Chris and I like to pester visit with the most during comic conventions is illustrator, storyboard revisionist, and color stylist Brianna Garcia. Her drawings are fun, joyful, and utterly beautiful, and she herself is such a pleasure to talk to! We'd been wanting to commission her for quite some time, and we finally asked if she wouldn't mind drawing two of our Rescue Sirens: Nim and Kelby. Luckily for us, Brianna agreed!

Working with her was a breeze; after we briefly described what we were thinking about, Brianna went off and came back with four awesome sketches of Nim and Kelby being BFFs (best fins forever) together. The hardest part was choosing which version to bring to final!

(Click to enlarge.)


Any one of them would've been amazing, but we finally decided on the second of the four sketches. The endearing expressions and the poses that showed off both girls' mermaid tails helped make this our favorite, so Brianna cleaned up her drawing and gave it a striking paint job:


Gorgeous, isn't it? Chris and I are so happy that we had the opportunity to commission Brianna -- her take on Nim and Kelby couldn't be cuter!

To see more of Brianna's wonderful artwork, check out her Instagram and Tumblr.


WonderCon sketches March 30, 2016 11:11

From Jess: 

In between our continuing work on the next stories in the series and the reprint proofread, Chris and I made the time to drop by WonderCon, held this year at the Los Angeles Convention Center over Easter weekend. You know the saying: all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy -- and, as we have to remind ourselves, getting out and getting inspired is so much better for the quality of your work than just keeping your nose to the grindstone all the time. Fortunately, WonderCon was a font of inspiration!

Toting a 9"x12" portfolio full of Bristol and character reference sheets, Chris and I visited a few of our favorite artists and asked if they would sketch our Rescue Sirens. While two of the artists took their pages home to work on them after the convention, we came away from the show with a trio of wonderful new drawings, each wildly different from the next but equally delightful.

 

 

First up: Pippa, skillfully sketched by HBO Digital Products production designer Claire Hummel. Chris and I are pretty convinced that Claire is magic; she can draw anything from a mermaid like Pippa to an armored triceratops to a gorgeous rocky landscape to a Disney princess in painstakingly historically accurate clothing -- and she does it all so quickly! Plus, Claire might actually love the National Park Service more than we do (which is saying a lot), and talking to her is always a pleasure. We were so happy that she agreed to draw one of our girls, and pleased as punch that she chose Pippa! You can see more of Claire's fine work at www.clairehummel.com.

 

 

Next: Maris, stunningly illustrated by freelance visual development artist Casey Robin. We've been wanting to find an excuse to collaborate with Casey for ages now; her artwork is adorable, her enthusiasm is infectious, and she draws gorgeous mermaids and fairytale creatures. While Chris and I generally suggested that each artist we approached draw the mermaid that she or he thought would be the most fun, we really wanted Casey to draw Maris. Lucky for us, Maris was the mermaid that Casey wanted to draw, anyway! And, as you can see, her graceful colored pencil illustration turned out perfectly. For your daily dose of sweetness and light, visit www.caseyrobin.com.

 

 

The last of the three commissions that we collected from WonderCon, another sketch of Pippa, is from an artist new to us: Chrystin Garland (also known as Lady Garland), a comic book artist currently working on the "Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems" miniseries! We learned of Chrystin's cute, quirky work from Casey Robin; both artists contributed to the recent "Curiouser & Curiouser" and "Sweetheart Show" galleries, and Casey said that Lady Garland would be the perfect person to draw bubbly, boisterous Pippa. She was right!  =)  We're crazy about the high energy and cartooniness of this piece, and Chrystin herself was a joy to talk to. To see more of her art, including her work on the "Adventure Time" comics, check out www.ladygarland.com.

How cool is that? We love seeing our lifeguard mermaids drawn in other artists' styles; it's so much fun to discover how other people choose to interpret our characters, and we can't wait to receive the final two sketches that we commissioned at WonderCon when they're finished! As soon as we have them, we'll share them here on the blog as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr. In the meantime, we hope you've had a marvelous March!


The "Rescue Sirens" anthem February 29, 2016 16:18

From Jess: 

Happy Leap Day! It's hard to believe that February's already over (and with an extra day, even!). Chris and I are still hard at work on the next stories in the "Rescue Sirens" series, and we're also going over "Rescue Sirens: The Search for the Atavist" with a fine-toothed comb in preparation for a reprint in paperback.

For today's blog post, I'd like to share the song that I wrote for the first book. The Rescue Sirens anthem is written as though the Sirens are singing to the humans they're tasked to protect, and it's one of Pippa's favorite things in the world -- she looks for any excuse to sing it.

 

"Rescue Sirens Anthem"

Ever since the days of old
Legends whispered, stories told
By sailors daring, brave, and bold
A tale fantastic to behold…

Out there on the blue horizon
Spy a tail and a pair of fins
You’ve heard our names; you know our kin:
Mermaids, you call us, or sirens

Whatever the name,
Our aim is the same:
To make the beach safer
Than it was before we came

If you’re out too deep
If the current’s too strong
If you’re in over your head
Treading water too long
If you can’t see the shore
And the waves are getting higher
Don’t despair; we’ll be there
Rescue Sirens

It’s our job to protect
Your fragile human race
And to help you make the ocean
An even better place
We have a lot to teach you
And we still have more to learn
That’s why we study up above
And we all take our turn
As Rescue Sirens
Rescue Sirens

Stand on the sand
Look to the sea
Reach out your hand
You’re safe with me
Stand on the sand
Look to the sea
Reach out your hand
You’re safe with me

If you’re out too deep
If the current’s too strong
If you’re in over your head
Treading water too long
If you can’t see the shore
And the waves are getting higher
Don’t despair; we’ll be there
Rescue Sirens

Oh, we’ve always been there
Rescue Sirens

"Rescue Sirens" in 2016 January 25, 2016 16:11

From Jess: 

Happy 2016, everyone! Chris and I have had our heads down since the holidays, working hard on the next stories in the "Rescue Sirens" series--yes, stories, plural.  =)  "Rescue Sirens" is like a friendly hydra: we think we've tackled one story, but then three more spring up in its place! It's a good problem to have, but it does mean that we have less time to devote to social media because we're writing on multiple projects simultaneously. Thank you all for bearing with us during our occasional absences!

Our initial plan for the second book in the series was to revolve around Echo (one of my favorite characters to write), but what was supposed to be a short little story about Maris grew into something more substantial, and, due to the fact that her story comes before Echo's chronologically, Maris has temporarily stolen the spotlight. (How very like her.) Echo's book is still being written; we just realized that Maris's story was bigger than we first thought.

Authors are always talking about characters taking on a life of their own. I used to think that was an exaggeration, but writing "Rescue Sirens" has taught me otherwise: these characters absolutely go off in unexpected directions, and sometimes it feels like we're following them more than we're writing them.

At any rate, we hope to finish both stories by the end of the year, life and schedules permitting, so keep your fingers crossed that we can pull this off. We have a few other, non-novel projects that we'd like to get going, as well (like some awesome new T-shirt designs!), so we hope that 2016 is an even more exciting year for "Rescue Sirens" than 2015 was!