Welcome everyone! Thank you for taking time out of your normal web browsing schedule to stop by!
I was put on this rock we like to call Earth to tell entertaining stories — that is my purpose in life — and I am proud to finally unveil The Pure and Hidden Truth to the world wide web!
The Pure and Hidden Truth is a sci-fi/fantasy “dramadey” about a pair of paranormal investigators with some hidden truths of their own that you’ll have to keep reading to find out!
The site launched today on Halloween to fit with the themes of the comic and I went a step further to upload the first 17 pages to give you all a good taste of things to come. From now on the comic will update every Friday and first Monday of the month with the newest page. Over time this site will grow and expand — So keep coming back and grow with us!
If you are new to webcomics you can check out the first page by clicking here or you can click the “First” button down at the bottom of the most recent page. You can also check out previous pages by browsing the archive located on the side panel and clicking on the thumbnail that comes up!
Thanks again for stopping by! And don’t forget to come back!
Hey everyone, just wanted to let you guys know that I’ve been getting some pretty positive feedback lately and I’m very proud of what we’ve pulled off so far. Our praise can only grow more if we do our best to get the word out. I haven’t gone full throttle just yet in promoting the site but I plan to begin a major internet marketing campaign starting in January. Right now you can help by voting for “The Pure and Hidden Truth” by clicking on the two voting buttons located on the right hand side of the site every day. Yeah, seems pretty daunting but trust me your votes could help bring this site more visitors.
As far as the news goes, let me take the time right now to point out that I have made a revision to page eight and added the title of this current story’s “episode name” if you’d like to call it that. You are currently reading “Friends in High Places.”
iT’S BEEN ONE MONTH SO FAR!!! November has been a great month for our comic. We debuted October 31st and it took only 30 days to pull in readers from all corners of the globe — spanning every continent and their sub-regoins. And the best part is that December is only going to get better
Well today is December 1st and not only am I going to top off this great month with the latest page update but I want towish a special person named Kristine a Happy Birthday today!!! Now I know all of you folks around the world have no clue who this woman even is well let me tell ya — she’s a bona fide sweetheart who’s intelligent, determined and strong, she’s great with kids and has what we Spanish describe as “un corazón de oro” (heart of gold) as well. Ladies and gentleman from all around the world, she is indeed a very special gal not only me but those around her. You may not know her but please join with me in the celebration of her birthday, she’s one of the most deserving people I know. May many more great birthdays bless her in the years to come. I love ya Tin Tin!
In other news I’d like to let you all know that I’ve made an ally in the webcomic world – Lynn French, she is the creator of the Dark Red webcomic that you can find a link to on the Links page. She also does a comic using photographs of actual actors and I consider her to be a true pioneer in that regard to longform photocomic storytelling for the web. Hopefully Lynn and I will be among the top photocomic creators out there. Our hard work and vision is definitely deserving. So check her comic out, she’s got a healthy and entertaining archive and a premise that will definitely hook you.
So that’s it for today folks. Stay tuned this month as I hope to start putting things in motion to bring new features to the site to make your trip here even more fulfilling and entertaining. Oh, and please vote if you can!
“A Pure and Hidden Christmas” is a Christmas Special that I pulled together real quick as a treat to the readers. It is a five page story that starts December 20th and will run until the 24th! So make sure to tune in all week next week for holiday goodies from yours truly! Next Friday will continue with the normal update schedule in the “Friends in High Places” storyline.
Just wanted to say it has been a great month so far and I’m loving the attention the comic is getting. Things can only keep getting better from here! Keep the comments coming, I love to hear from you guys!
First off, I want to let everyone know that the CHARACTERS page is up! So stop by the page to get a gander at some of the background info on the characters you’re following along with in the story…and some characters that come into play a little further down the road!
The Pure and Hidden Truth was featured in an article over at the Examiner.com this week! Click here to check it out and see what the reporter had to say. I must say, I was a little flabbergasted with the idea that I was actually reading about myself and something I had accomplished. Sure, I had been in the newspaper before for a few accomplishments from my teens but those were mostly related to good leadership in school and work related conduct (I was the model student apparently!) But in my years I’ve never been formally recognized for pursuing and realizing my dreams. Now THAT is an accomplishment ladies and gentlemen and I’m hella proud of myself. Not many people can say the same unfortunately and hopefully this is just a start for myself to help inspire others to do something with their lives.
Hey folks! Man, this blog sure has been late, let me tell ya! I’ve been incredibly busy lately wrapping things up with Act I and getting Act’s II and III underway simultaneously production-wise. It’s been very hectic and not to mention mentally exhausting! But hey, I’m still alive! So that’s good, right?
2009 is going to be a big year for The Pure and Hidden Truth. Not only do I foresee this year as us becoming a major contributor to the web-comic world but I see us also gaining notoriety as a very popular and successful photocomic. I have no idea how this will all come about but all I have to do is make it a goal and I’ll see to it that it happens. It’s how things work here on my ship.
First off let me add that I added the cover art to The Pure and Hidden Truth. It’s not much but in all honesty I couldn’t make up my mind in time for the comic’s launch but I ended up using my original design anyway! You can find it here or by going back to October’s archive. I also added a few new links to the links page that you should check out — one link in particular you should check out is the link to Consuelo Dee’s website. Consuelo is another actress I’m working with who you play a character that appears in Act II and beyond in the PHT series.
Act I will be wrapping up on April 10th so expect the series to start throwing you for a loop and keep you begging for more. I plan to take a 2-3 week break and start Act II on May 1st — during that break I plan to show various behind the scenes photos and promo materials as well as Act II teaser materials. I also encourage any fans to submit any fan art or even a guest comic page if you’d like and we could show it up here. Just drop me a line as I’d like to hear from you.
Another thing I really want to do this year is really network my way around the web comic community and build strong working relationships. We’re all in this together so why not be there for one another?
That’s about it for now. Don’t forget to vote and stay tuned everyone!
So not too long ago I got the crazy idea to try and self-publish the “Friends in High Places” comic. With its final version most likely going to clock in at or around 200 pages when it’s complete I realized that it is going to be HELLA expensive to have printed. And I’m not a very wealthy person — yet, of course ;). So what I’m going to do is separate it into three separate books, that features Acts 1, 2 and 3 respectively. They’ll also include bonus material and interviews and all sorts of extra goodies. As well as revamped pagework!
We got a few rough copies of the first book and they look absolutely great. It was one thing for me to see my characters come to life before my eyes during actual shooting and the formation of the pages, but it was another beast altogether when it came to seeing my comic in the flesh and in my hands! I really want to get copies circulated — somehow — not to build a fortune though, but to hope that it crosses the right person’s desk and they go “I want to finance this project!”
Ladies and gentlemen, The Pure and Hidden Truth is a one-way ticket to fun, adventure, mystery, romance and even dash of action and suspence. Borrowing from every branch of the paranormal tree there will never not be enough stories to tell. And believe me I want to keep telling those stories so long as I’ve got the will to do so, and I believe my cast would be willing to stick by me. I really want to make a living doing this as my craft and I want my cast and crew to be better compensated for it. They deserve it. We all deserve it. And you all deserve well-deserved storytelling that’s deserved and… I totally lost my train of thought. HAHAHA!!!
Bottom line is that in the end we’re gonna need your help. Keep spreading the Truth. The more people know about this comic the better chances I have to keep this boat afloat.
I need your help, Dark Red and Night Zero needs your help too. Please help by spreading the word for some very deserving photocomics. From this day forward I mark the beginning of the Photocomics UNITE campaign! Lets not beat around the bush here folks. Photocomics are definitely a minority in the webcomic world. And the good ones and even halfway decent ones are few and far between. Half of the e-mails I get from new readers who become regulars mention to me how they never liked photocomics before until they gave mine a glance. I used to be the same way until I saw it can be done with class. We may be a minority but together we can make ourselves known, heard and maybe even successful. I’ve been flirting with the idea of starting up a site that members can join up along with other quality photocomics. If you build it…they will come! Say it with me now, “if you build it…they will come!”
You’ve heard it right here folks, The Pure and Hidden Truth will soon make its debut in the live action realm as a short demo reel. If you’ve been reading the page commentaries with my page updates every so often you’d seldom come across me rambling on about how things were hard to have come across in comic form. Well, I am adapting a live action television show script to make this comic after all!
Man, I must be giving May a hard time to deserve a smirk like that, haha!!
Listen up guys, I’m a news cameraman/production technician for my day job, so I am more than well-versed in the trials and tribulations associated with producing any kind of visual entertainment. The Pure and Hidden Truth was meant to be a TV show but I couldn’t do that with the resources I had at the time. BUT!!! Times have changed and I think I can pull at least a “little something” off. As a gift to you guys I’m putting together a “Proof of Concept” demo reel of the characters and situations straight out of the comic! This will be a 2-3 minute film where The Pure and Hidden Truth will finally come to life and you guys will get a small taste of what I had in mind! Remember when I announced I was going to do that “Christmas Zombie” short film a while back? Well — reason you hadn’t heard much about it was because I scrapped that idea to do this instead. Displayed here are some of the first few screen grabs from the piece. Ladies and gentlemen, here’s you’re first look at what Dakota will look like onscreen! Notice the shot from the comic we lifted? Check out page 21 and compare just for fun!
Dakota has a diverse arsenal to choose from but she's never without her trusty blade!
This project is already shaping to be a great project for me and the cast to do on the side, and you all — as our readers — definitely won’t be disappointed either! If you think this is the ONLY thing coming your way then you all are so SORELY mistaken! Stay tuned folks because as time goes on I’m gonna keep rolling out more new and exciting things to come your way which will expand on the world of The Pure and Hidden Truth and make you’re experience here at this site all the more wholesome and fulfilling. Dare I say that the newest level of webcomic immersion and interaction will be born on this very site. Now, hey, that’s a pretty bold statement from modest old me, but trust me when I say this — you all as my readership will never get the experience you will soon get here from any other webcomic on the entire world wide web! Me? Cisco? A revolutionary? Who would’ve thought!? I am so excited! And you should be too! This is going to be a great year!
Chime in with your comments, I want to know what you think!
Dakota seems to be spying on someone.... I wonder who??? *snicker* Any guesses? Haha!
My sister Nikki got married yesterday to my other roomie Kurtis! She’s not my sister by blood — she’s my room mate — but she might as well be my sis. I just wanted to congratulate them both here on this site and let you as my readers know that without these two great people I wouldn’t even be the crazy guy I am today!
They both took me in when I needed to move out on my own and I’ve been with them ever since! I’ve seen their ups and their downs but I’m glad to see that through all that hard work that it finally paid off with with yesterdays ceremony which I got to take a part in! If you guys can, please join me in congratulating them and wishing them a wonderful life together in the future. I owe them a great multitude of thanks and if you like this comic then you should too!
The Pure and Hidden Truth now has its own YouTube channel! It’s actually been around for a little while now, but I’ve had the official announcement sitting on the back-burner while I was busy working on other things. Now that most of what’s been holding me back is out of the way I can get the gears turning again on this new edition to your experience here at the site.
I’m a news cameraman and studio production technician by trade. That’s my job — what I’m paid to do — so it’s only natural that I bring you guys video to watch, right? Since the beginning I’ve always wanted to give you guys more than just the comic and here’s just ONE of the ways I’m going to bring you all more. The benevolent, all-powerful and magical web-master, Mark, is actually working on a new site design to accommodate all the extras I’ve been dying to add to the site — a video section being one of them — so in the interim I set up this YouTube page to serve as a placeholder for our stuff as well as an outlet to help pull more traffic!
The first video you all really need to check out is the MEET THE CAST VIDEO! This is your first chance to actually see the core cast of “The Pure and Hidden Truth” be themselves! I love it because most webcomics can’t go so far in depth with their work, but we here at TPHT can because it’s more than just someone drawing artwork — I’ve got a living, breathing and crazily silly cast all around me! And it’d be a crime not to share these guys with you!
Another more “serial” kind of video project I’ll be putting together is a behind the scenes show which is currently being called “Under the Covers with The Pure and Hidden Truth,” hahaha! I know — I have a thing with long titles, I have no idea what’s wrong with me! The “first episode” for this can be seen down below. It was more of me being a goof ball so you can get to know me better because I feel with most webcomics you don’t get to know the guy or gal behind their work too much. And quite frankly I don’t like that so I’ll make sure you guys know who I am! It was fun to put together though! In the future, expect to get to know what really makes TPHT tick as well as how the whole thing comes together. Expect cast and crew interviews and more! The behind the scenes show will be a fun addition to the site!
With shooting wrapping up for the “Friends in High Places” storyline I’ve actually been looking forward to doing photocomics in the future. It may be a while afterwards for us to get underway with the next story but I will be prepared with a new camera.
Right now I’m actually selling the camera that I used for about 75% of “Friends in High Places.” I would like to keep it for the sentimental value and the fact that it was the camera that literally started it all — but in today’s economy I can’t really afford to have stuff laying around I’m not using.
I have since upgraded to a Sony Alpha D-SLR camera. Really nice camera and it is going to be the major workhorse behind The Pure and Hidden Truth from here until eternity.
I’ll be honest with you right now and be the first to say that the camera really matter when it comes to making a photocomic. With the FZ50 I used 3-4.5 megapixel shots for my panels. The main reason I upgraded to an SLR (single lens reflex a more “professional” camera) was to have a faster continuous speed when shooting. There is hardly any posing for my comic. Most of the shots you see are the actors just acting out the scene and following my direction as I take continuous shots of the action. I just choose the clearest, most crisp shots in the end. The fz50’s burst shooting pales in comparison to my new camera and that was the main reason I upgraded.
If you shoot in my style of “pose-free” shooting then I recommend a steady hand and a fast camera. If you’re just breaking into the gig and don’t really know what you want then I totally recommend the FZ50. It’s the best of both worlds.
