Jen, Mikki, Dazen & Khan

SECRET ENGINES Part 1: A Manual of Heavenly Inventions

DON BOSCO writer

FAYE STACEY artist

There is an ancient teaching that can provide the people with great wealth

and create a glorious society for all. But an evil sect is determined to prevent this from happening. They want to use the inventions of Emperor Yu only for their own power and profit. Four teenagers are forced to confront

this dark conspiracy. Can they master the Secret Engines and defeat this evil power? Can they save the people they love?

Copyright © Super Cool Books 2014 www.SuperCoolBooks.com

studio@SuperCoolBooks.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, locations and events are either the product of the author's imagination, or, if real, are used fictitiously.

Made in Singapore

SKETCH BOOK SECRET ENGINES is the first collaboration between Don Bosco (Singapore) and Faye Stacey (UK). Here are some excerpts from their pre-production work. All sketches and designs by Faye, based on the original story concept by Don.

Wouldn't you like to make up thrilling stories about these characters?

Clockwise from top: Lady Zhang, Dazen, Jen, Mikki and Khan. The main characters are a fun loving bunch, but when there's trouble they're not

afraid to jump in and help their loved ones.

Stern, pompous and greedy: that's definitely the look of evil. Clockwise from top: Master Fei, Stanley Song, and the suit worn by the alchemist Elder Huang's soldiers. We wanted to establish that they belong to a powerful

secret society that goes back for centuries, and these costume designs really helped to convey this.

Planning the pages! Here's a selection from our first round of thumbnails. From these loose sketches we could tell if the panels would unfold nicely.

Top left: Lady Zhang reveals the truth about their parents and reminds them that knowledge is power. Bottom right: The confrontation inside the Shadow

Library. Fact: Don wanted a full fight scene that stretched over three or more pages, but then decided to save this for another issue.

The cover was the last page to be completed. Faye had a few interesting

ideas for this, and we ended up using elements from the top right and lower left versions. By this time we both knew the characters really well, and we

had already spent so much time setting up the SECRET ENGINES story world, so we were able to do this last bit quite quickly.

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Welcome to Faye's cosy work area.

CREATING THE GREAT WALL OF BOOKS How artist Faye Stacey put together the magical world of SECRET ENGINES ABOUT ME Hello! My name is Faye and I'm a freelance artist based in the North of England. I studied illustration at Norwich University of the Arts; I've always loved comics and always dedicated a lot of time to reading and studying them, getting involved in local groups and founding my University Comic Society while I was there.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD COMIC BOOK Anything that the audience feels a connection to or leaves them desperate to find out what happens next. A good sense of pacing and well developed characters are vital, and while amazing artwork can really enhance the experience of the reader, some of my favourite comics haven't had the best drawing in the world. DESCRIBE SECRET ENGINES A gripping mystery rooted in history and adventure. It sounded fun, with a well thought out storyline. When I studied the characters I was excited to see opportunities for some really interesting character designs. HOW I WORK I spend a good deal of time studying the script, seeing how much text I'll need to fit in and trying to pinpoint what the key event of that page is. I then create very small and rough thumbnail images of each page, trying to design the page around the event that I have identified as the main one. I go on to measure out and sketch a full scale version of the pages on paper. I then use these as a guide for creating the final artwork, whether I'm inking over the top or scanning in and drawing directly into the computer. TOOLS I USE I have these amazing Palomino Blackwing pencils – they can be a little expensive, but they're great to draw with. I measure everything out with a good metal ruler, as the plastic ones don't often give you a very good line. After sketching out all the figures and buildings, I then scan it in and paint it digitally with a graphics tablet. I use a couple of programs to create artwork – all of the painting is done on a neat little bit of software called Easy Paint Tool Sai, and for finishing textures, straight lines and whatnot I use Photoshop. BIGGEST CHALLENGE Books. I drew so many books for this comic – it wasn't particularly difficult, it was just a little arduous. But I really wanted to give the library the large and impressive scope it deserved, and I'm really glad I did, because it has really lifted those pages. I just went a little crazy from the sheer number of them! VISIT ME http://www.fayestacey-illustration.co.uk http://pondicherry-baby.tumblr.com fayestacey@hotmail.com

WRITER SPOTLIGHT

Don's story ideas are so fantastic, they sometimes explode out of his head.

THE TRUTH ABOUT SECRET ENGINES Hear about it from writer Don Bosco, the wonderful wizard of words. ABOUT ME Greetings! I'm Don and I live in Singapore. I started this publishing studio Super Cool Books in 2011 with the Time Talisman series, about three kids who find a magical talisman that sends them 150 years back in time. Since then we've done a lot of other fantasy and science fiction stories, and also launched our own iPad app. Do check it out, we'll be including some SECRET ENGINES stories in it.

HOW I BECAME A WRITER When I was really young, maybe ten or eleven years old, I used to copy the panels in my favourite comic books and try to create my own stories. Later, just before I entered university, I wrote about local bands for some magazines, and that was my first proper writing experience. Eventually I would work on books, websites, TV shows, comics, etc. Even though I've been writing for a little over 20 years, I'm still always learning new stuff along the way. HOW SECRET ENGINES STARTED I was at a friend's office and he had this intriguing illustration, it showed a bunch of kids gathered around something bright and magical. He didn't really know what the illustration was for, it belonged to some other people who used to work there. I thought the drawing looked really cool, and I started to wonder about the characters. Over time the ideas just grew on their own, and eventually this became SECRET ENGINES. I wanted to develop a series of stories set in this world, and not necessarily all in the same format. Perhaps a novel, some short stories, an interactive book, a video clip, etc. Also, a friend of mine is interested in developing this into a short animation, I'm curious to see how that might turn out. CHOOSING AN ARTIST I was looking for someone who could read the script just once and right away have all sort of interesting images come to life inside their head. Also, someone who has had enough training and experience to finish a whole work of sequential story art. Some artists are great at doing character designs or pinups, but find it hard to sustain a story over a few pages. I was really glad that Faye agreed to work on this. Thanks, Faye! :) DEALING WITH WRITER'S BLOCK I convince myself to write just one sentence, anything at all. After that one sentence, I'll convince myself to write just another one. And then one more. Usually at this point the ideas will come rushing in, and the words will flow naturally. If not, I'll give up and go play my guitar instead. ADVICE FOR ASPIRING WRITERS Find out what you really love, and then become good at writing about that. I love mystery and adventure and reading and friendship, and no surprise, that's pretty much what SECRET ENGINES is about! VISIT ME http://www.supercoolbooks.com studio@supercoolbooks.com

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