ART OF DAVID PAUL POWERS by JasonSrebnick - Flipbook - Page 6
Introduction
I’ve been sketching and doodling, cartooning and illustrating, for as long as I can remember.
Growing up I was encouraged by teachers and my parents to got to art school. Sadly, that never
happened but I never lost my love for drawing. Or my love for film. Or my love for storytelling. I
used to love leafing through concept art books. “Art of” books. They’re a dime a dozen now
(though no less beautiful), but back in the day, they were difficult to come by. The first one I
remember was the “Return of the Jedi Sketchbook” with concept art by Joe Johnston, Nilo RodisJamero, Norman Reynolds, and of course the incomparable Ralph McQuarrie. Their drawings
blew me away. And intimidated me. I was nowhere near being in their league (I’m still not). They
were and are the masters.
When I set out to write the David Paul Powers trilogy, I found myself sketching out what different
characters, creatures, aircraft, vehicles, landscapes and scenes from the story might look like. All
of these helped me in the storytelling process. I was world building and my doodles, illustrations,
cartoons, and paintings helped inform that process. More than that though it was a symbiotic
relationship where the drawing informed the writing, and the writing informed the drawing.
Now, in no way shape or form am I suggesting the images in this book are anywhere near the
works of legends like Johnston or McQuarrie or their predecessors or their contemporaries (too
many to name). However, when all was said and done, upon completion of the first book in the
trilogy I found that I had well over 2,000 drawings in some form or another. Some were quick
pencil sketches, others more fleshed out. Many were “cartoonish” as my natural tendency is to
draw in that style. Others resemble what most would consider a proper illustration. Lastly, I did
attempt some “paintings” of sorts. Landscapes and key scenes mostly. Many of them in a
vector-y, cartoon-y style which I’ve come to enjoy.
Before fingers ever touched down on keyboard keys, I saw the story as a movie in my mind's eye.
Not in its entirety but key scenes would jump to the forefront while I was daydreaming. As time
went on, I was seeing a more complete movie in my head. I constantly doodled and sketched out
this movie and when fingers finally did make first contact with keyboard keys, I wrote the story in
what I call a “cinematic novel” style (basically a screenplay/novel hybrid) because, if I have my
way, it will be a movie or series one day.
I cannot tell you how invigorating it is to sit down and sketch out what you see in your mind's eye.
Sometimes, as with any art form, it can be frustrating but mostly it’s straight up fun. At the end of
the day the purpose was for the doodles to inform the story. This explains why I didn’t fully flesh
out every idea or drawing to the point where they were a proper concept sketch or painting. I’d
still be writing if that were the case. I write slow enough as it is never mind polishing up thousands
of drawings. This is not an excuse, just reality.
And so, this book contains a very large sampling of all the art that went into the writing of the
cinematic novel. It will give you a peek inside the world and story of David Paul Powers and
The Quest for The Child Crystals - Episode The First, The Adventure Begins. My hope
is it will prompt you to want to read the cinematic novel. But a bigger hope is that you just enjoy
my doodles; all of them in various styles and in varying states of completion.
Jason Srebnick
June 27th, 2023
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