What's a "Legendhaus?"

It's a good question, but you'll have to forgive my answer if it's a little vague. It's purposely so.

For one thing, Legendhaus is me. Who am I? I'm Steve Buccellato, and these days I'm calling myself a "Multimedia Graphic Storyteller." At least, that's the phrase I'm using this week! Telling stories with pictures is my passion, and Legendhaus is my new business concept based on a career built on visual storytelling.

A quick Google search will reveal that my professional background is mainly in the comic book industry, where I've worked as a creator (writer/artist), a pioneer in digital coloring and production, editor, and self-publisher. Throughout my career in comics, I have been very fortunate to work closely with, and learn from, some of the legendary top talents that industry has produced. These mentors have instilled in me a love and appreciation for graphic storytelling, which extends beyond the medium of comics to all forms of popular media and advertising.

Storytelling is communication. Graphic storytelling is a powerful means to communicate to a universal audience.

In recent years, while keeping a hand in the comics business and print publishing, most of my work has actually been in gaming, animation, interactive media, as well as illustrating conceptual art and storyboards for film and advertising. For these opportunities, I also feel fortunate.

Very often, I encounter people in these different industries who turn their nose up at comic books, considering that work to be inferior to what they produce in their field. Or at best, they find comics to be irrelevant or inapplicable to what they do. Most comic book professionals I know have had to battle this negative bias when trying to find work in other media. After many years, I'm still shocked by this attitude when I see it because, having worked in these different fields, I always see enormous similarities crossing over between media. In fact, the differences that nay-sayers get hung up on are often small things, like aesthetic style differences. For example, when it comes to storyboard art, advertising agencies still favor a style developed in the "Mad Men" era, with human figures drawn in proportions similar to those in fashion illustration. Why? No reason except that's what they are used to seeing, and younger Art Directors have been taught that this is how storyboards should look. That's a detail that has nothing to do with effective storytelling. Yes, each industry has their own stylistic criteria, but when you boil it down, the story is the thing, and all of us in the storytelling business have something to teach one another.

In all these forms of popular media, the goal is to entertain or educate by telling a story...to communicate a message or lesson.

Legendhaus is an attempt to highlight the common denominator in these different media: STORY. Every person, every business, every organization has a story to tell. Legendhaus is here to help clients find their unique story and tell it in a compelling, exciting and entertaining way. It's about designing creative content for all visual media.

Legendhaus. Story design solutions.

Does that answer the question? Leave a comment and let's discuss it!