Writing Portfolio

noreply@blogger.com (Ismo Santala) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:33:00 +0000

Comics. Illustrated prose. Words and images.

Four Stories

My ambition is to explore the vast resources of graphic art from full-on comics to typographically inventive literature. Two of the stories (The Keyholes and Promise of a Flood) are clear-cut comics, while the second pair (Waver, Flow, Anchor and Lovers Between the Lines) is closer to illustrated prose.

The Keyholes
The discovery of a magical keyhole leads to consummated teenage passion in a grand fin de siècle hotel.

Promise of a Flood
A shaman's home is invaded by a mystical serpent offering to spare him and his family in the coming flood. Unimpressed, the shaman releases a manic magical creature to get rid of the boisterous intruder.

Waver, Flow, Anchor
During a river journey, a Renaissance youth entertains his female companion with fantastical and dream-like stories.

Lovers Between the Lines
The flirtations between a young Victorian inventor and his teenage pupil go unnoticed by the girl's family. His newest prototype (a clunky information-sorting machine) and her library find (a sex manual) both play a role in the clandestine courtship.

Artists Wanted

In these four stories, images often take precedence over words, and I've written the scripts with the certainty that I can find illustrators and graphic designers who really want to sink their teeth into the material.

The Keyholes is a totally wordless comic. Promise of a Flood has some dialogue, but most of the story is told using silent sequences. Over half of Waver, Flow, Anchor consists of maps. The two voices of Lovers Between the Lines need to be coupled with masterful imagery, or else the story dies on the page.

Although I'm already working on the next batch of stories, it would be ideal to begin a brand new project up from scratch with a committed artist. And when I say "artist", I mean anyone who is involved with visual media: I want to work with illustrators, graphic designers, painters, photographers, and more.

Non-fiction

noreply@blogger.com (Ismo Santala) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 21:31:00 +0000

Latest addition: Josipovici's The Air We Breathe (13 November 2007)

The following reviews and interviews were written for The Modern Word, ReadySteadyBook and Spike Magazine.

Reviews

The Fate of the Artist by Eddie Campbell
Bouvard and Pécuchet by Gustave Flaubert
The Air We Breathe by Gabriel Josipovici
The Inventory by Gabriel Josipovici
Spione by Fritz Lang
Voice of the Fire by Alan Moore
A Disease of Language by Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell
Jeff Noon
The Good Son vs. The Only Daughter by David Sylvian
Blankets by Craig Thompson

Interviews