First cover

Here is the current version of our cover for the first story in the Willoughby series.

Update from J. T. Smithwick

I have now written a total of five stories for the series about Willoughby: the Dragon from Suburbia. Of these five stories two are being readied by Dahl with illustrations for publication. 
In the fourth story there is a meeting with a council of dragons to determine the fate of Willoughby. What will his fate be? Will the background of Willoughby enter into the decision? Do the dragons have to contend with the situations that are present in the series, Game of Thrones ? And how might these situations impact Willoughby? And what would be the effect on Clarence's life as he finds himself drawn into world that he could not imagine exists?
In the fifth story the return of Willoughby to Clarence's neighborhood causes comedy.
Let us know what you think of this so far.
 

J. T. Smithwick

Thoughts from the author

The question often asked is “Where do you get your ideas?”

The answer can range from whimsical to factual to bewilderment.

I tend toward bewilderment.  However in the case of “Willoughby: The Dragon from Suburbia” I can state that it was a television program from the 1960's.  That program had stuck in my mind due to the fact that I thought it was so bad.  I am referring to “Mr. Ed”.  The program, for whose who do not know about the program, was about a man who had a talking horse in the barn behind his house.  But in thinking about “Mr. Ed”, I thought that it might be a better idea to have a story about a man who had a dragon in his barn.  At least I liked the idea.

So “Willoughby: The Dragon from Suburbia” was born.  I originally wrote it as a short story and submitted it to a small magazine devoted to fantasy.  After a two or three month wait, I received the short story back with a rejection form.  I was not certain how to proceed when I had the thought.  I had seen graphic novels and was impressed by them.  Why not do this short story as a graphic short story?

I contacted Dahl and asked him if he were interested.  He said “Yes” and started to work on the look of the series.

Hopefully soon we have the first in the series up and then you can decide whether or not it is a good idea.

J.T. Smithwick

Willoughby sketch

Here is our first post about our little dragon. I wanted to show a bit of the process that I am going through to develop this story visually. Soon, the author will weigh in about his process writing and developing the literal story but let's start today with a working sketch...