Almost exactly five years ago we started a Nightlight story line called Grace. I still think this is a beautiful little story and seeing as this is the anniversary, I went looking for my old sketches.
Here's a look at some of the artwork I did leading up to making the strip.
Jerry and I have spent a lot of time thinking about the Nightlight universe and I am confident you'll see us go back to it. The basic hook is that there are monsters under the bed and these creatures prey on children. We've discussed between the two of us the who and the why of that part but it comes later. The important part is that each household has an appointed guardian whose job it is to defend the home from monsters and they must do this work in secret. When we originally came up with Nightlight we thought about Dad's defending their families. We read bedtime stories and tucked kids in and in was interesting to imagine those rituals as actual rituals meant to ward off monsters. I loved the idea of Nightlights who imbued totems like blankets and stuffed animals with defensive magic. With Grace we started to think about the Nightlight universe more and we wanted to tell the story of a different sort of guardian. Grace is someone who has this responsibility of Nightlight thrust on them very young. It's fun to think about who the Nightlight is in different families, it's not always who you think. Honestly, the story of Grace just makes me want to tell more stories in this world. Jerry and I have talked at length about an old woman, maybe a Nun who oversees an orphanage. Trust me when I tell you, this is one bad ass lady.
-Gabe out
