Written by Nicole Mackenzie
All good graphic novels begin with a great story. Ray’s descriptive, action packed and funny script made my job easy. The next step was developing upon Hayley’s Defence Kidz characters. Both these components allowed me to draw upon (he…he…he) my experiences growing up as a defence kid and defence spouse, supporting, living and laughing with our three defence kidz as they struggled and shone, inspiring me to create the designs for these characters.
I particularly enjoyed the challenge of producing the designs for the world of Defence Kidz, as well as creating additional characters to help tell the story. Once the designs were complete, it was time to thumbnail the manuscript.
This was a quick way to tell the story in panels, laying out the pages so that they flowed, were visually interesting and readable. Then, I got feedback from the team, with their ideas adding more appeal and interest to every page.
Once this stage was approved, I was able to clean up the pages on my computer, adding text, speech bubbles, tones and colour making each page engaging.
Creating a cover enhanced by their direction was a very exciting stage in the graphic novel process. I am so pleased with the final look and finally the files are off to print! I hope you enjoy reading our Defence Kidz graphic novel as much as I did creating it!
About Defence Kidz: When their families are posted to the remote military base of Snakebite Cove, five very different animal friends come together to uncover secrets, survive wild adventures and solve a long-forgotten mystery lurking just beneath the surface of their new home town. Calling their group the Defence Kidz, they begin unravelling the mystery of Snakebite Cove, one dangerous secret at a time!
Nicole Mackenzie is a senior designer and illustrator who has worked with Disney, DAVE and SLR.