Puzzle - The Graphic Novel

Last Christmas I was asked by Andy Farrow of Northern Music Co to work on Devin Townsends latest project. This turned out to be a huge box set project with a movie, double album, loads of guest musicians and producers, a novel, beanbag toy and more, that more being a graphic novel. As you may know I’m a huge geek who loves comics and graphic novels, I’d always wanted to work on one so this was a dream, it just got better after talking the project over with Devin and finding I can work in my favourite style and use what ever I wanted to tell the story ( a story we worked on together) following a brief outline of the thought process behind The Puzzle concept. I went away and story boarded a rough plan and expanded the story to fit my puzzle story (not giving too much away you’d rightly guess it involves coffee and biscuits) After more zoom meetings with Devin we finalised the full story and I started to play with the art. Getting to use whatever I wanted to tell the story is my favourite way to work and this book contains collage, paint, pencil, glitch textures, clay models, 3D rendering, photography and even baking to create the atmosphere and tell the surreal story of The Puzzle. From Devin... "What is The Puzzle? The Puzzle is not meant to be an album. It is meant to be a musical and visual synopsis of the most messed up and stressed out period in my (our) recent history. 2020 and the Pandemic affected us all in one way or another and like many of us, I found myself isolated and having to find a way through the storm.” The novel went down so well with the label that it was added as a stand alone item as well as in the box set with an extra 1000 copies being printed. Two of the pages were also made into T-shirts for the pre-sale release. SPEC: - 96 Page Graphics Novel, 300g/m2 softcover, half matte with UV Gloss finish. - 170g/m2 gloss pages, wood free paper. -Written by Mark Leary & Devin Townsend -Artwork & Design by Mark Leary