A Gravemaidens . . . Comic Strip?! See My First Attempt at Sequential Art

This is something new and totally different than a lot of my other posts, but I’m really excited to share it with you! Especially given my spotty posting schedule.

(Expect reviews for Crier’s War by Nina Varela, Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett, The Library of Lost Things by Laura Taylor Namey, Resurrection Girls by Ava Morgyn, and The Light at the Bottom of the World by London Shah . . . soon. I’m a bit a lot behind, heh.)

Today though, I’m talking about Kelly Coon’s upcoming fantasy debut, Gravemaidens. If you haven’t heard of Gravemaidens, it’s the start of a fierce fantasy duology with strong sisterhood themes.

Kammani’s sister Nanaea has been selected as one of three sacred maidens to join their city-state’s ruler in the afterlife. It’s viewed as an honor, but Kammani sees it for what it is.

A death sentence.

To save her sister, Kammani schemes her way into the palace to heal the ruler, but what she finds will put everything she knows at stake.

Doesn’t it sound exciting?! I’m really excited to read Gravemaidens when it comes out next Tuesday, October 29th! And in anticipation, I have something really cool for y’all . . .

I was so excited to read that I did something I rarely do:

I read the excerpt.

And oh gosh, it’s already so lush and beautiful, picking up the real thing will be so exciting! (You can read the excerpt here!)

I felt so inspired, that I turned part of Gravemaiden‘s excerpt into a comic strip.

Which . . . was a lot more work than I imagined, and I have mad mad respect for sequential artists and anyone who makes these. This took me almost five hours to make, and it’s not even that many frames?

I first sketched it out on paper, took a photo, and started redrawing the lines on Photoshop. That alone took me a little over three hours. Oops.

It took me another two hours to shade (literally only three colors), but I’m really proud of how it turned out, especially because this was my first serious try at making some sequential art.

The storyline shown is a very, very small part of the story (like . . . three paragraphs of the excerpt, honestly), and I’m wowed by anyone who makes the art and writes it, because condensing must be hard.

So, without further ado, here is my Gravemaidens comic strip! Art by me, story by Kelly Coon.

It’s so small, but took so much time. *cries*

What did you think?! Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter (@VickyCBooks) or Instagram (@vickywhoreads)!

And don’t forget to check out the rest of awesome bloggers chatting about Gravemaidens this month and the next few below! From interviews to reviews and other creative posts, there’s a lot of cool content . . .

What did you think of my comic strip? Are you excited for Gravemaidens?