Early Blight sketches (Patreon)

My current story, Blight, started in my sketchbook during my sabbatical. Here are the very first drawings:

The question with Destroy History stories now is whether it's a Shelley story or an Esther story. Both have different approaches, different assistants, and unique personal styles which open up storytelling possibilities. Here you can see various abandoned early possibilities. In particular, a good punning title rejected because I was not making it about horses!

Shelley resists the bleak 1970s grainy TV play setting while Esther would absolutely lean into it. But pretending a story exists in its entirety and exploring it, effectively through play, helps me find what I like about it, shapes that might work. As you can see, I went full Nosferatu, and I am sorry to say that you will not be getting Nosferatu roaming the Yorkshire Dales.

This is the first page featuring Peter the vet, whose shape, a sort of rugged Redford, felt era-appropriate to me. I was looking for a soft solidity. Again, that prompted an Esther story rather than a Shelley, because I could play him visually against her monochrome angularity.

(Note: I think DEFRA only came in with New Labour circa 2000, I remember it being MAFF when I was at university. This is raw scribbly brain work here with zero research.)

When Blight is winding up in November I'll do a big sketchbook post, as I worked on it this way for ages. Esther's pyjamas, endless covers, farmers for days. What goes in early on tends to pay off in what comes out later - I can't put too high a price on enthusiasm.