I'm getting very close to finishing my thesis project at the School of Visual Arts. Over the last seven months I have been illustrating a diary that a friend, Chris Stanton, wrote. Stanton studied dramatic writing at NYU and received an MFA in screenwriting from USC. He currently works both at UCLA and as a screenwriter. Stanton mailed me the script for Nick Pope this summer asking if I would ever be interested in illustrating the diary. Chris' story was laughably awkward, heartfelt, and honest, so I agreed to illustrate it (even though i prefer to write my own stories). I have been doing a few cover ideas this week.
Nick Pope is a 100+ page graphic diary. It chronicles the everyday life of a neurotic teenager in 1987, struggling to understand his sexuality. There is pop-culture on every page from Miami Vice to Ellis' Less Than Zero to Dirty Dancing. Even the first line of the diary references culture reading, "I'm sitting in April's room. There's a poster of Adventures in Babysitting on the wall. She didn't take with her to college. Maybe she felt embarrassed?".
