Imaginator Press

Prehistoric Art Stream: live event going on right now! (Friday, February 8) Graphic novel colorist Tod Wills is having an art-a-thon to support the Kickstarter project. He'll be livestreaming creating prehistoric art all day today, at least until he crashes, and giving away prizes!

Check it out here: http://bit.ly/14YyAx3

Hi everyone, from Clare Bell. I wanted to personally thank all of our 94 backers and I hope you're enjoying the art development sneak peeks and other perks. We just hit 50% funding in the last hour! You are helping me realize the very long-held dream of bringing the Named series to a new generation of readers and fans. [See the Kickstarter project here.]

Lew Lashmit created this amazing picture of Ratha as a gift to Ratha fans, to celebrate the Ratha's Creature Graphic Novel:

This gorgeous picture is available in a variety of sizes below, for use as a desktop or mobile wallpaper, or as your Facebook cover photo. I love it so much that I've already set it as my wallpaper on both my computer and my iPhone, and will be adding it to my Facebook profile shortly.

It's been an exciting week since launching the Kickstarter project to raise funds for the Ratha's Creature Graphic Novel. The Named series fan community has really rallied around, and the support for the project has been amazing. Everyone has been posting words of encouragement, spreading the word, and backing the project. We were really excited to discover that the Kickstarter staff selected our project as a Staff Pick! We are now 24% funded: almost 1/4 of the way there!

Jessica Alvis (*seasaidh on DeviantArt) has issued a challenge to all Ratha fan artists. Here's what she posted:

Hello everyone! I would like to start off by personally expressing my immense enjoyment over the news that Clare Bell’s masterful work has the WONDERFUL chance to become a graphic novel. So I would like to propose another “Ratha’s Challenge”, so to speak. There are no prizes involved with this, except knowledge that you will be helping to launch one of our favorite books into a novel. So what I am suggesting is for everyday that the kickstarter is still up, we all do a drawing of to celebrate its possible creation. When you do this, post a link to the kick starter page with your image and explain what you are trying to do and what the series is about. Who knows? Maybe we will generate some excitement and anticipation, which might equal donations! There may be Ratha fans out there that do not know their destiny yet! So please, help with the cause and promote the kickstarter!!!!!!!!!

Here's Jessica's picture that she posted for the first day of the Challenge. (All pictures in this post link to their source).

For Day 2, Jessica posted this lovely picture of Ratha enjoying the sun in a rare peaceful moment:

The Kickstarter project to raise funds for a Ratha's Creature graphic novel is now live!! Visit the Kickstarter project page here. Please support this project with a pledge, and help us spread the word!

The work the artists and Clare Bell are doing is amazing so far, and the graphic novel is going to be fantastic, if we can raise enough money to move forward with it! Here's a sample page created by the team to show you just how fantastic it's going to be:

Sheila Ruth

A message from Clare Bell about the Ratha's Creature Graphic Novel:

The Ratha Graphic Novel is picking up speed, just like those rocketing 64 mph cheetahs in the Cincinnati Zoo video (gorgeous! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qJXrq53tj5Q ) . Sheila and I wanted to email thanks to all the artists who submitted samples, and invite them to be part of the "Many Faces of Ratha" artist showcase. Now that we have done that, we can now announce our final artist team.

It's official: Clare Bell and Imaginator Press have signed a contract for the Ratha's Creature Graphic Novel, so we are moving forward with the project! We're so grateful to all the fans who have supported Clare and the books; it's because of you that Clare's books are back in print, and it's because of you that we're moving forward with this project. There's still a ways to go, however, before we can realize the dream of a graphic novel version of Ratha's Creature, and we're going to need you more than ever. This post contains information about our planned Kickstarter, and how you can help. If you are an artist and interested in being considered to illustrate the graphic novel, information about how to submit is in this post.

What is Clare Bell's cat Dannycat looking at in the picture below? Could it be...rough storyboards for a Ratha's Creature graphic novel?

We need your help! Please fill out the graphic novel survey at http://imaginatorpress.wufoo.com/forms/z7x3x5/. Everyone who fills out the survey by April 30, 2012, will be entered to win a $25 gift certificate to the bookstore of your choice, online or offline. Please share this with your friends! Anyone can fill out the survey even if they've never read any of the Named series books!