Celebrity Photographer Allan Amato Kickstarts A Comic Called PUNCH

Photographer Allan Amato, who has captured stunning portraits of celebrities and personalities that include Stan Lee, Danny Trejo, Kevin Smith and Alicia Witt, is now ready to share his venture into writing with a comic book entitled PUNCH.

Red Dot Diva got to know about Allan Amato a number of years ago because she is a huge David Mack fan. David Mack, award-winning artist and creator of the best selling graphic novel KABUKI has worked with his friend Allan for a few projects like The Alchemy of Collaboration, where he would enhance Allan's photos with his brushwork, effectively turning the prints into unique mixed media collage.

Allan Amato shared that the writing of PUNCH took 4 years in the making, with patient mentorship from comic book writer, Grant Morrison. He is now ready to bring the project to life together with artist Jonathan Marks Barravechia, who has hand drawn the panels in the comic.

PUNCH is a supernatural tale about the life altering path taken by a Catholic priest called The Drifter after he had committed an unforgivable sin. He stumbles into a seedy bar where God (aka The Derelict) and the Devil (aka The Deceiver) battle for this soul. God  brings on his infernal Virtues and the Hounds of Heaven, while the Devil calls on the Seven Deadly Sins to the brawl.

In addition to the core creative time hard at work on the graphic novel, other fantastic well-known artists are also contributing to the project, like cover art or splash pages. These artists include Bill Sienkiewicz, David Mack, Jason Shawn Alexander, Jim Mahfood, Satine Phoenix, Satine Phoenix, Jaw Cooper and Stephanie Inagaki.

What is interesting is how Allan Amato has also visualised and cast actors for the characters in his graphic novel. For instance, Thomas Jane is the Drifter, and Ricky Whittle (Shadow Moon of Starz's “AMERICAN GODS” as The Deceiver.

With the help of Kickstarter, the project has already been fully funded for 48 pages. However, stretch goals are still running. If these are reached, the book will have extra goodies and expand beyond the current number of pages for those who pledge for the Hardcover or Limited Edition versions.

Check out for more info about PUNCH at http://inconvenientguide.com, and pledge for one of the Kickstarter levels in order to get a copy!

Kickstarter Project Signal Boost: "Temple of Art" Documentary To Unveil the Life of Artists

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"Temple of Art" is such an interesting documentary Kickstarter project that involves an astounding number of artists, like Bill Sienkiewicz, Jason Shawn Alexander, Jim Mahfood, Stephanie Inagaki, David Mack and Grant Morrison. And these are just a few people from over 50 wonderful creators who aim to unveil the life of an artist, what art means to them and how they connect with the people and world around them. The brainchild of "Temple of Art" (which incidentally started out as a 2-year photography project) is Allan Amato.

Red Dot Diva first heard of photographer Allan Amato through artist David Mack's social networks. Also, Allan Amato was the one who took an awesome black and white profile photograph of David, which was later used quite often as David's promotional picture when he here for last year's Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention (STGCC). The photo is in fact used again for this year's guest profile pic as David is returning to the island this September!

The project was launched just before this year's Comic-Con and the accompanying panel that featured Allan Amato as moderator, together with collaborators David Mack, Bill Sienkiewicz, Jason Shawn Alexander, Barron Storey, Dave McKean, Kent Williams, Grant Morrison, Ryan Graff, Stephanie Inagaki and Jon Schnepp. The room was packed to the brim with interested fans and media. (Unfortunately, Red Dot Diva had another media op at the same time and was unable to be there in person.)

Currently, there are a few more days left to the "Temple of Art" Kickstarter. To add a little boost to the fund-raising campaign and to bring more awareness about the project to this side of the globe, Red Dot Diva has asked Allan Amato to provide a little more details about himself and the unique project.

SDCC 2014: Diva's Top 5 Squee-tastic Famous People Moments

It is pretty obvious by now that it doesn't take very much for Red Dot Diva to Squee. In her opinion, there's simply no shame in being a multi-lusting fangirl. So long one doesn't get too creepy or abusive. Those types of behaviour are by far a big no-no. In fact, being a successful fan-person takes a lot of skills.

Pop-culture conventions are great places for collecting and having Squees. The blotting out of geographical barriers between well-known personalities and their fans (and sometimes press folks) creates many giddy celebrity moments.

From the planned to the serendipitous, here's a list of Red Dot Diva's Top 5 Squee-tastic Moments at Comic-Con 2014 (not in order of highest to lowest Squees):