“A whimsical new twist on the genie legend! This book is gorgeous!” -Jeff Smith author of Bone
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You Wish © 2024 Jeff Victor. Published by Top Shelf Productions, an imprint of IDW Publishing, a division of Idea and Design Works, LLC. Offices: Top Shelf Productions, c/o Idea & Design Works, LLC,
14144 Ventura Blvd, Suite 210, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423 USA. Top Shelf Productions®, the Top Shelf logo, Idea and Design Works®, and the IDW logo are registered trademarks of Idea and Design Works, LLC. All Rights Reserved. With the exception of small excerpts of artwork used for review purposes,
none of the contents of this publication may be reprinted without the permission of IDW Publishing. IDW Publishing does not read or accept unsolicited submissions of ideas, stories, or artwork. Editor-in-Chief: Chris Staros. ISBN 978-1-60309-532-7
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Visit our online catalog at www.topshelfcomix.com. Printed in China.
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I created the idea for You Wish back in 2011, and it’s gone through many permutations as I searched for just the right way to tell the story. Presented here are some concepts in which I was trying to nail down the look. Some of these old drawings are very tough for me to look at, but I’m sharing them here to hopefully shine some light on my artistic process. I knew Avery needed to be lonely, dreaming of a better life just out of reach, so I initially thought I should set the story near an airport, but the gas station in the middle of nowhere seemed to work a lot better. As you can see in the picture on the left, Avery originally discovers the lamp in her attic. I changed the classic genie oil lamp to a more modern lamp in a later draft, since I thought it would be more original, and it wouldn’t feel so out of place in the American Southwest.
Here’s some early concept art of Avery and Gribblet exploring the genie world. Avery was more of a teenager in this version. The whole Arabian Nights aesthetic mixed with Vegas-style neon was my first instinct as far as the design of the city, but I abdandoned the idea, as it felt too “science fiction.” Some details stuck, like the genies all having multicolored magical contrails.
Creating a world from scratch is one of the most challenging yet fun things an artist can do. When I first sat down to create the world of the genies, the sky was the limit. I abandoned the Arabian Nights aesthetic, as I felt it would be too obvious, so I tried to brainstorm other interesting shapes and building arrangements. Because genies can fly, it seemed natural that their cities would be built vertically, with structures on top of structures.
Process
Here’s a look at how I moved through the steps of creating each page: from rough sketch, to inks, to flat colors, then to full colors and lettering. See if you can spot all the changes I made at each step!
I hope you enjoyed this peek behind the curtain to see my process for creating You Wish, and I hope you’ll come back for more adventures!
—Jeff Victor
Jeff Victor studied art and design at the University of Kansas and has worked as an illustrator for animation and video games ever since. Some of his clients include Netflix Animation, Hasbro, Funko, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Warner Bros. Animation, HBO, Hallmark Cards, National Geographic Kids, Crystal Dynamics, and many more. Jeff has self-published five art books. His work has been displayed in galleries all over the world and featured in Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art. He currently resides in Los Angeles and shares an apartment with two awesome cats. This is his first graphic novel.
Thank you to everyone who has read this book, supported my artwork, and stuck with me over the years. It means so much, and I’m so grateful to each and every one of you. Thanks especially to my parents, who have always rooted for me and encouraged my art. Many thanks to my friends for their support, notably Joseph Schneider, Michelle Field, Joe McCabe, and Maria Oglesby. Lastly, a major thank you to Chris Staros for believing in my work.
What if you found a genie’s magic lamp, and rubbed it only to discover that YOU were the genie? “Magical, charming, gorgeous, funny and heartfelt! Jeff Victor’s You Wish is the kind of graphic novel I wholeheartedly wish I had growing up. Aside from the glorious art, get lost in a fully realized world full of magical characters and charming lore. You will wish it would never end!”
-- Jorge Gutierrez
Director of The Book of Life and Maya and the Three
$14.99 US | $19.99 CAN
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