After weeks of discussion and serious preparation, I am happy to announce that The Pandora Project is open to the public starting today! Careful, this is a long post, but I guarantee you that it's one worth reading.

What is The Pandora Project?
PP is a project created by Litindir and I. The project's goal is to form a group of artists and colorers that will work with each other to create an amazing end product: a very visual and stunning graphic novel. What we present to you today is the storyline we wish to pursue, along with character descriptions and basic artwork, presented by Lit himself. Note that this is a serious project and, if you wish to join, will be challenging at times. However, that does not mean the project won't be fun. If you participate in this project, there will be many more opportunities for advancement that will be open to you.

The Story
Jack was known as the world's greatest magician, and used his powers for entertainment purposes. He was, indeed, loved by everyone. However, his lover, a sorceress named Pandora, wanted him solely for herself. One night she trapped Jack in a box and warned everyone to never open it, “lest a terrible doom will come upon us all!”
Two Thousand years later, Jillian, a tomboyish girl known for her angry outlook on life, finds Pandora's Box and opens it, releasing Jack from his cage. However, something happened to him during that two thousand years. The isolation has split his personality into two: The young-looking, childish Jack, and the serious, and often gloomy, Black Jack. When Jack(rather, Jacks) sees that the ruler of the known world is Pandora, the same lover who trapped him two thousand years ago, he goes out to make things right, but also for revenge.
During this adventure, Jack and Jillian meet up with Peter Piper, a pickpocket whose family was cursed to only talk in alliteration with P's(Perter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, and pilfered from Paul Piper, Peter Piper's papa). They will also meet up with enemies like Midas King, an assassin for Pandora known for turning his victims into gold and melting them.

This story intertwines fantasy(magic, as well as Jack) and sci-fi(the futuristic setting) in a way never done before. The plot is much deeper than the summary suggests, but I can't go into much more detail without giving anything away. I can say, however, that there are plenty of twists and turns and possibly a love triangle.

The Characters


JACK(not shown)
The world's most powerful Magician, known for using his powers for entertainment purposes. Known as the Jester in the past, Jack was trapped inside of Pandora's box., leaving him in solitary confinement for 2,000 years. This lead to a schism in his personality, creating two new characters, Slap Jack and Black Jack. Jack is mature, but a prankster also. He loves to teach and watch others grow. He was deeply in love with Pandora.

SLAP JACK
Jack's “comedy” personality, known to be innocence incarnate. Childish in many ways, this personality is very cheerful and optimistic. Loves to joke around, as well as discover new things. Slap Jack's appearence is younger than Jack's, with a comedy mask as a left shoulder plate.

BLACK JACK
Jack's "tragedy: personality, known to be very pessimistic and dark, also spiteful at times. He is best compared to a war-torn hero, who has seen too much in one lifetime. He acts very old, and slumps in his posture. Takes things very seriously, and has a darker appearance than Jack's, with a white, ghastly face. Black Jack has a tragedy mask as a left shoulder plate.

JILLIAN
A tomboyish woman who had her childhood taken away from her at an early age, Jillian is wanted by the police for her several hijackings. Has a very sarcastic tone, and rarely smiles. However, when she does, she is seen to be quite beautiful. She meets up with Jack after opening a box which reminded her of a childhood toy she always wanted. Jillian follows Jack simply because he interests her. Not much is known about her past.

PANDORA
Pandora is Jack's ex-lover and sorceress from two thousand years ago. After Trapping Jack, she takes over the world, with no opposition. Her ring is a source of energy which has kept her alive this entire time. Due to her reign, magic has become a thing of the past, and no one remembers what it was like before she was their leader. She uses a spell to keep her youth, however, she has a tendency to cancel the illusion when she is alone. Noone is for sure why she trapped Jack. Did she ever love him the way he loved her?

MIDAS KING
Midas was Pandora's butler as long as he could remember. However, he realized that Pandora had a secret and blackmailed her for wealth. Pandora, in turn, gave him what he desired: anything he touched turned into gold. Soon it became a hell on earth for Midas, and was forced to retreat to Pandora for a cure. Now, to rid the curse, Midas must serve Pandora as an assassin, for who knows how long. He rarely speaks, and always acts in a professional manner. His two best known characteristics are his black clothes and his bald head.

PETER PIPER(not shown)
Peter Piper is a pickpocket who pilfered precisely like Paul Piper, Peter Piper's Papa. Err… I mean, Peter is a thief who's family has been cursed as long as they could remember. It's been said that Pandora was the one who cursed the Piper family, but noone knows for sure. He acts like an ordinary man, who was forced to lower himself to stealing, for his humiliating curse prevents him from gaining any ground in the business world. He has a sense of nobility in him, even though he is dirt poor. Peter meets up with Jack and Jillian after attempting to pickpocket Black Jack – an unwise decision. He decides, after his encounter, to do something with his life, and follows the two on their adventure. He is a tad bit dirty, and is known for not cleaning himself up, due to his lifestyle.


The Project Details
So, now that you know more about the story we wish to follow, we would like to ask you to join us in making it into an amazing graphic novel. The way it would work is like this:
We will have teams of artists and colorers working on different upcoming scenes of the G.N. This will not be a random assignment of teams; rather, we will, along with you, choose who would be the best partner for the job. If you are not comfortable with one's coloring or artistic style, we'll find the best one for you. When the teams are final, we will discuss the entire story in detail and work together to create, once again, something very visually stunning with an amazing story.
So, in truth, this post is about recruiting you to the team. We have laid the entire work out for you, and have planned many steps ahead. If everything goes the way we(in we, I mean the entire project team, not just Lit and I) have planned it, who knows what will happen? Maybe this project will become bigger than anything we ever imagined!

So, if you are interested, you can reply to this thread showing your work, preferably uncolored if you are an interested artist. However, if you would rather talk to the team personally, you're always welcome to PQ us or email me at media12inc@gmail.com. The reason we ask you to post here is to raise awareness of this project by keeping this thread on top. But, as mentioned before, if you wish to talk to us in private, you are greatly welcome to do so!

If you yourself are not interested, but know someone who might be, please do recommend them to us or vice versa. We're willing to look at anyone who's interested

So, in conclusion, I apologize for the very long post. However, I wanted to show you The Pandora Project as a whole, and wish to invite you to be part of it. We need you to make this successful. Something like this is possible, and it can be done. Don't mistake us for some random community project that has only half the drive needed. Lit and I are serious about this project, and will proudly display our passion to show that we are for real, and so is this project.

If you have questions, don't be afraid of asking. If you have any suggestions or advice, we ask you to talk to us in private, to retain a sense of professionalism on this thread. Thanks for reading!

Mike Schmitz,
Writer

EDIT: We are currently looking for colorers! contact me for more info.

Veritas
What is The Pandora Project?
PP is a project created by Litindir and I. The project's goal is to form a group of artists and colorers that will work with each other to create an amazing end product: a very visual and stunning graphic novel.

Hello everyone.

I am Litindir, the other co-creator. I am going to be an artist, and I will now post a sample of my artwork so that colourers can see what they will have to deal with.



As you can see I use very significant black lines, and you could actually colour my images using only the filler tool. We would however be happy to find colourers who can work with shades as well.

After Veritas' long post there isn't much left for me to say. We need people, and that's what this post is for.

So go ahead and join!

Niklas
Artist

Hi there,
I'd like to join. It appealed to me that you seem very determined and have planned way beforehand. So I'd like to contribute linewok.



You stated your goal is a visually stunning work, so I added background to the characters I inked first (that's why they're standing a little odd in relation to the carpet).

I hope there will be many more participants! Good luck!

I just sent you a PQ. Thanks for your interest!

We still have positions open, and would like to recruit some colorers. Remember, we need you to make this possible!

Im up for this, EXCEPT, My Im good with the drawing, inking, scanning part, but when it comes to coloring and stuff like that, which I do on the computer, Ima lost cause… if you would still like my help tell me how you want this to go.

well, before we can ask you to join, we need to see some of your work. Do you have any uncolored work you're willing to show us?

For all others reading this thread, we really need colorers. So, if you wish to help us, but can't draw/color, recommend us to someone!

You want to see my drawing skills? No problem, I may have to post it later on today because, I will be very busy, but you can expect something, If it is okay with you, I will draw slap jack, and see what you think of it.

Okay well heres a quick sketch, without penciling, sorry my hand was shaking rapidly for some reason so you can notice the errors I've made, everything else will look much better if I do this. Also, sorry about the gigantic picture, I was sort of in a rush resizing this. But I vow anything else I do for this project won't be like this, or at least I'll try my best not to.

You know, I don't really get it - if you want to join, why don't you show what you really are capable of? Somehow… if I might compare it to a job interview - you don't show what's your under-average capacity, but your best.
So, please take your time and show us what you REALLY can do!

And here we are, finally some art.


This is one scene I'm personally very excited about and a lot more thought than it really looks like went into this image. Frontal view? Backsides? How much should they still be connected? A horizontal or vertical format?

And I'm imagining that the comic version might have more dramatic lighting and a lot more swirly magic beams.



Black Jack. Tragedy so rules over Comedy.

Yay for swirly magic beams. Glad you joined. I like the design of the Black Jack pic alot, do you mind if I get my inspiration from it? I think it fits into the future design just perfectly.
I'm curious, how would this look in the “Elaine-comic”-style?

Sure…which is strange as I'd been using your art as something to aspire to.

That is an interesting question. I think I'd play up the shadows a whole lot more and put weird textures all over the bricks. And Jack would look pointier, with grasping, vampiric hands. It'd be really funny to do something like that as a filler sometime.

Go for it. The maxim is: visually stunning, we're not restrained to one style. See you in the PandoraProject forum.

Well, this is yet another amazing artists added to the project! though I've said it privately, I wish to speak it publicly as well: Welcome aboard! including you, we currently have three artists for the project!

We need colorers! If anybody is interested, contact me and we'll see if we can get you involved! The more colorers, the merrier!

#Verit