Moving ahead - Slowly
As January will soon come to a close, I am reflecting a bit on the journey of my soon to be 1-Shot comic "Me & Pete". I decided in December ('07) to go for this comic as a kind of primer to my big title 'Dosta City'; a 4-issue mini series I wrote in 2006. This 1-shot is to be a catalyst of sorts to propel me into doing the art for Dosta City in that, it will get me in the habit of drawing everyday. (I do work full time, by the way)
I began by writing the comic - more of an outline really. It only took about an hour to take my thoughts and throw them on paper. I'm throwing in my sense of humor, body language and a kind of poke at the seriousness of comics today. It's just a fun little story - 24 pages - of 2 friends' thought processes. As shown in another post, you can see it has something to do with superheroes, but don't be fooled. It really gets to the heart of the charactors, and who they are deep down.
Ok, enough banter... What a learning experience this has been! First, this is my 1st attempt at many aspects of this medium. I have never done sequentials with exception of 3-4 panel strips, and have only done a few of those. Setting the mood, "camera angles", body language, motion, pacing... you name it, it has reared it's head! As of today, I have completed 14 pages of pencils - and the pages will stay pencil - it's fairly detailed. I have 10 pages to go, but in the 14 pages I have completely re-done 3 full pages to better tell the mood and setting. For another 3-4 of the 14 pages, I have added scenes within the already "set" layouts to capture a shift or mood. And I think only 1 page has just disappeared - period. I felt it was repetative, and needed to go. Having removed that page however allowed me to adjust pacing in the early part of the story, and will allow me to slow down, and explain better the last few pages - where i will have to do another completely new page or two - more slow downs.
It's OK though, because I am learning, and if we are not learning, we are nothing. My original goal of having this comic pencilled in a month was unrealistic, and arrogant - At least I'm learning
Until next time~
PBT
I began by writing the comic - more of an outline really. It only took about an hour to take my thoughts and throw them on paper. I'm throwing in my sense of humor, body language and a kind of poke at the seriousness of comics today. It's just a fun little story - 24 pages - of 2 friends' thought processes. As shown in another post, you can see it has something to do with superheroes, but don't be fooled. It really gets to the heart of the charactors, and who they are deep down.
Ok, enough banter... What a learning experience this has been! First, this is my 1st attempt at many aspects of this medium. I have never done sequentials with exception of 3-4 panel strips, and have only done a few of those. Setting the mood, "camera angles", body language, motion, pacing... you name it, it has reared it's head! As of today, I have completed 14 pages of pencils - and the pages will stay pencil - it's fairly detailed. I have 10 pages to go, but in the 14 pages I have completely re-done 3 full pages to better tell the mood and setting. For another 3-4 of the 14 pages, I have added scenes within the already "set" layouts to capture a shift or mood. And I think only 1 page has just disappeared - period. I felt it was repetative, and needed to go. Having removed that page however allowed me to adjust pacing in the early part of the story, and will allow me to slow down, and explain better the last few pages - where i will have to do another completely new page or two - more slow downs.
It's OK though, because I am learning, and if we are not learning, we are nothing. My original goal of having this comic pencilled in a month was unrealistic, and arrogant - At least I'm learning
Until next time~
PBT
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