CREATOR SPOTLIGHT

Jehu and the Super Epic Elevator Ride

By Luke Lancaster

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Tell us a bit about yourself.

I've always believed there is a creative spark in everyone. It just needs the right outlet.

I spend my days in spreadsheets, analyzing financials for a large private-equity backed company. Before that, a software startup. Before that, commercial real estate. None of it scratched the itch.

I believe humans are wired to build things. To design, craft, construct, create. The tools keep changing but the impulse doesn't. Glif gave me infrastructure that finally matched what I was imagining, and I used it to build a visual story about a kid discovering purpose on a wild ride. That part doesn't feel unfamiliar at all. I'm still figuring out which floor I'm getting off on.

What's the project you're using Glif to create? What are the ideas behind it?

I am writing a children's comic book (think graphic novel similar to DogMan, Captain Underpants, etc) called "Jehu and the Super Epic Elevator Ride." It's about a young boy, Jehu, who discovers an elevator in a dark hallway of the library that is actually a time machine. Jehu uses the elevator to visit various stories from the Bible and gain insights that are commonly overlooked. Ultimately through his travels, Jehu will seek to answer one of life's greatest mysteries — why am I here?

What are your aims and intentions for this project?

I want kids to finish a chapter and ask a question their parents have to think about before answering. The best children's books don't talk down to their readers. They trust them with real ideas. Jehu is my attempt to do that with the oldest and most important questions humans have ever asked. If a kid walks away curious about why they're here, or sees an ancient story with fresh eyes, I will consider that a success.

How does Glif fit into your creative process?

My creative process is essentially:

1. Develop chapter outline in Google Docs
2. Use ChatGPT / Claude to refine the story, dialogue, etc
3. Panel planning / storyboard grid based on Google Docs outline
4. Use Glif to generate characters and background scenes — Glif sits at the core of the visual production stage
5. Import Glif components into GIMP for compositing and layers
6. Use Microsoft Word to draw speech bubbles over the GIMP images and save them as images — this gives me control over the size and shape of the speech bubble
7. Upload all the components to Canva for final page assembly

Has Glif changed what you're able to make, or how you can make it?

Absolutely. Glif has been the best tool I have found for character consistency. Consistency is extremely important for comic book illustration. As great as Nano Banana is, I was not able to find a way to consistently get the results I was looking for. Glif was somehow able to give me a more consistent version of my characters that I could actually use.

I've also just briefly explored Glif's other products like video creation with Veo 3. I am hopeful that I will be able to use these tools to generate short Jehu clips for teasers and possibly even mini episodes.

What does the back-and-forth between you and the tool actually feel like? Do you feel like Glif is something you direct, or something you collaborate with?

The back-and-forth with Glif feels very smooth and conversational. I think Glif can do well either being directed or as a collaboration partner, depending on how you use it. When I run into situations where I was not getting the results I expected, Glif is quick to offer alternatives and workarounds.

What do you plan on working on next?

My main focus right now is finishing the first Jehu comic book, which I expect will be 10 to 12 chapters long. After that, I could see myself expanding the series, hopefully. In the more distant future, I would love to create animated mini chapters or episodes.