Tyler Gibb – Writer, Director, Editor, Filmmaker

So I found this groovy new start-up site called DeviantArt.com…

I kid. DeviantArt’s been around almost as long as I’ve been around, I’ve just never really gotten around to posting any of my illos there.

I recently learned that if you’re really hip to the scene, you call your illustrations “illos.”

And I am hip.

So, yeah, DA (more hip abbreviating), is an upload site for illos. And what with me doing a lot of illos these days, I thought, why not use that resource. Why not.

You can find me at tylergibb.deviantart.com. I’ll be uploading some Mankind drawings periodically and maybe some sketches, we’ll see how it goes. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll eventually get around to digitizing my old school old-school drawings from back before the interweb was even around.

Past few days have been nothing but graphite and paper… Graphite and paper.

As I’ve said before, the Mankind project goes beyond the pages of a graphic novel so making a little promotional trailer seemed like a fun thing to do. Frankly, I’m not sure that the book will be able to live up to the sound and lights show that is this trailer… But how is that exceeding-of-expectations different from any other trailer?

I should stop talking now.

The trailer is now up on YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook and G+. If you like what you see; if you think Mankind is something you can get into, spread the word. This could be fun.

It’s up.

And, in case you hadn’t noticed, things are a little brighter around this little weblog nook of the site as well.

I wanted a bit more of a resumé type of landing page for the ol’ homestead. There’s still life in those old moving drawings, I reckon, and I’m hoping one day something can be made of them.

Also, I’m sure you’ll notice, there’s a bit more Mankind action up there as this project has sort of moved to the forefront around here. Lots more on that soon, including an answer to the question: Did you actually make a trailer for a comic book?

If you spot any glitches in the new design, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

With my weight poised behind Mankind I’ve decided it might be good to spiff up these digs. So I’ve been working on a new TylerGibb.com website. And by website I mean splash page which is essentially all this site amounts to. Well, and this blog thing. I suppose I’ll have to spiff this area up a bit too. It’s kind of dark in here.

Normally whenever I apply my web coding to a new webpage on my Mac then I can expect a certain amount of discrepansies when viewing the design on a PC. However, this new design prompted no cross-platform errors!

It’s the little victories.

The new web environs will be up in August.

You’re busy, right? You’ve got a lot on your plate. So if you had to choose, would you rather read a 90 page script or check out a full colour comic book?

Exactly.

I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire these days. That’s writer-speak for having a lot of scripts lying in a lot of inboxes waiting on a lot of producers (assistants) to do the unspeakable and actually read an original story.

And that’s all well and good. But I’m not a wait by the phone type of guy. I like to actually do things. Create things. New things. But after a while – a dozen screenplays in three years or so, as it turns out – you kind of get tired of pushing the same boulder up the same hill. And after pushing the most recent boulder up the most recent hill I sort of got to thinking; maybe I’ll try something different. Maybe I’ll experiment a little.

Now a screenplay is a screenplay. You can’t really mess with the format. It’s the blueprint to make a film. But what good is that little blueprint if it’s sitting in some inbox somewhere being avoided by a neophobic executive? Short of it being an adaptation that brings with it a built-in track record, there’s nothing that sets one screenplay apart from the next, except the pitch.

I’ve already relayed the power of the visual presentation in a previous post and that was really where I started when thinking about what to do about a project called Mankind.

Mankind is a genre script. Post-apocalyptic / zombie-but-not-really sort of thing with a unique spin. It’s the kind of visceral material that begs to be more than just words on a page.

After considering illustrations I started thinking about storyboarding some key scenes. Anything that could exploit the visual cortex of film executives rather than trying to get them to read. Then I figured, if I’m going to do storyboards, I may as well make them nice. Add colour… Dialogue… By the end of the thought process I’d turned Mankind the screenplay into Mankind the six part graphic novel.

I get carried away, gimme a break; it’s why I’m good at what I do.

So what is Mankind? It’s all of the above. And I want to share it with you. What’s the point in making a bunch of cool stuff if I’m not going to put it out there. Like the good old days.

And I’m going to do more with these social media tooly things too. To the best of my abilities anyway. That’s the long and the short of it. So unless you have an aversion to horror, disease, the apocalypse, rampant killing, rape, cannibalism, arson, guns, knives, explosions, diesel engines, inter-racial lesbian pregnancy, sex-toys, gallows humour, full frontal male nudity or chicks in bikinis then by all means: Friend, fan, follow; do whatever it is you do to get strapped in…

The journey of Mankind begins now.