A nod to SWEETS

I’m well on record as being a huge fan of Kody Chamberlain and attribute this very production blog to his SWEETS production blog, which I urge everyone to follow. I’ve also garnered huge influence from his art style. His loose, gestural images as well as his skilled integration of digital effects really speak to me.

Until SWEETS, his writing style was unknown to me. And, honestly, I’m still not sure I’d know it. Knowing someone’s work based on their writing seems more difficult to me that just “looking” at rendered art and recognizing who did it – but I suppose it can be done. That being said, Kody’s book is bound to hold merit by the simple fact that he wrote the dialogue that his “drawings” will be portraying. As the hand that arranged the shots, he knew when the illustrations were successful. The vision of many writers suffers in writer/artist collaborations. Perhaps the artist doesn’t fully comprehend or understand what the writer is trying to say. Maybe the artist doesn’t get the subtleties. When the writer and the artist are the same, it’s like the creator’s vision is being mainlined. It’s pure and the storytelling will be there.

One of the things Kody Chamberlain urged the readers of his book, SWEETS, to do was to read it again. I am and in doing so discovered things I initially missed or glossed over. The experience makes the book richer, even though you already know the ending. In the second reading of this first chapter, I recall initially having a difficult time, especially at the chapter’s end. There is a lot of information that comes at you and you’d best be paying attention. On the second reading, things are really clicking. This is definitely a book that requires two readings. And that’s a good thing.

Well, now I’m off for chapter two (and I’m really excited about it).