Thursday, April 19, 2012

The future of Imaginos Workshop

Imaginos Workshop is a name we have given to a group of friends that came together through fate, or coincidence, or whatever you choose to call it. We are very different in age, race and personal history but the one thing that ties us together is a common appreciation of the arts. We are just a small chunk of a generation (or two generations, really) that grew up on some form of comic books, movies, television and every other form of storytelling out there. Since we were quite little we gained an appreciation for storytelling no matter what form it was packaged in. For me it was having my father read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy to me and my younger brother before we fell asleep at night. At that time I decided I wanted to be a movie director and make an exhaustive, line-by-line adaptation of the books and put it on the silver screen. Now I'm older and I do a lot more writing than I do directing, and some scruffy Hobbit-looking guy beat me to the task. Regardless, I have never lost my fascination with faraway worlds, and how they help to open my eyes to the world around me.


Mark Dudley, Founder and Head Artist at Imaginos Workshop


Sitting down and writing a comic book and a movie script is just the beginning. I do not know what the future holds, but I don't see myself ever losing my interest in these various storytelling mediums. What I would like to see Imaginos Workshop become is a community; a wide-spreading network of people that grew up, like us, listening to stories. If we get enough people together willing to produce those stories together there is no limit to what we can accomplish. I've grown up in the metro Detroit area and this has always been home to me. It is a city that's gotten a bad rap for a long time, and it is still hard to count the number of derelict buildings; forlorn husks of dried-out memories. But there is also an attitude of hope now that has been gone for a long time. People can feel instinctively that Detroit is coming back, and Imaginos Workshop wants to be there when it does. By then we want to be not just a group of friends, or a even a company. We want to start a Revolution. It starts with anyone who's ever picked up a paintbrush or written a short story, or feels like they could make a kick-ass movie about a giant monster attacking Manhattan. 


In the meantime, we are content to fly under the radar and work towards our goal. You can help us get there by reading our blog, or by "Liking" the stuff we post to facebook. If you see something here you like, please comment and start a dialogue. See that group of members to the right? Click on "Join this Site" and you can get updates on our activity. We need people like you to get to that place I've been telling you about. (For me, it culminates in holding a surprisingly heavy gold statue of a man in my hand). Ultimately, we want to blur the line between "fan" and "creator." If you have skill with writing, drawing, coloring or editing shoot us a line and we will get back to you. After all, we are still fans ourselves, making a go at doing what we love most.


Jon

4 comments:

  1. Let me know if you need any help with anything guys.

    I can't draw, I'm not good at writing dialogue, but I have some pretty good ideas for some stories that I would like to develop some day, especially dealing with alternate history and time travel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely. I don't see us losing touch anytime soon. And I LOVE time travel and alternate history. You don't need to write an entire script to get a "Story By" credit.

      Delete
  2. Awesome, Jon. For me it was my Dad reading C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia to my sister and I before bed. Nothing beats an amazing story / story-teller. People like you guys are the reason I am moving back to Detroit to work with small businesses and nonprofits. Let me if you need anything.
    - Kristina

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Kris. Those books were also hugely impacting on my childhood. People like you and Mike are the reason I have hope for Detroit. Young, hungry people with a lot of heart and talent are just what metro Detroit needs.

    ReplyDelete