PBT News & Info2008-08-20T01:31:35Zhttp://blog.paulbtownsend.com/atom.aspxQuick BlogBAM!tag:blog.paulbtownsend.com,2008-03-10:b7ec8c23-9668-4960-a1fa-30d924ceb5cePBTownsend2008-03-10T05:48:48Z2008-03-10T05:46:00Z I feel great about this. Finally finished!
More to follow~]]>Moving ahead - Slowlytag:blog.paulbtownsend.com,2008-01-29:30f821ec-9f4a-4ec2-b685-7746a49d5982PBTownsend2008-01-29T13:20:27Z2008-01-29T13:03:00Z"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]]>A new beginningtag:blog.paulbtownsend.com,2008-01-12:84efc42c-10cb-43f4-94ed-80a06649a805PBTownsend2008-03-07T12:50:19Z2008-01-12T07:52:00ZI would first like to welcome everyone to my new endeavor. I have had a few websites in the past, and have finally decided to create an all inclusive site. One that will house not only my automotive art and airbrushing, but my writing, comic creations and all around creative nature... www.paulbtownsend.com is coming soon!
DEC '07-JAN '08: I am currently working to complete the 1-Shot Comic "Me & Pete".
A little history of this comic: I actually created this comic for a now defunct magazine called The German Addiction. It was a clever magazine being published by Chris Bentley (CDJ Publishing) for all of the air-cooled VW folks. Up to that point, around mid 2005, The American VW scene really on had two mags dedicated to it; HotVWs and VW Trends. These were good mags don't get me wrong, but it seemed to b the same stuff over and over. Chris and I met through a mutual friend that is big into the V-Dub's and runs the SEVWC. Chris gave it his best shot and produced 2 great magazines. Around the pre-production of issue #2 however, I was given free reign to come up with "filler" for the mag. Thus, creating "Me & Pete". I created sequentials and single panel bits that never went anywhere~ But, I created an endouring little comic that I just can't let go of. [NOTE: While issue #3 was in production he decided to cut his losses and close the doors on that mag, and of course that was supposed to be the debut issue for the "Me & Pete" comic's first run.]
Initially, "Me & Pete" was created as a kind-of throw-back to "Krass & Bernie" by George Trosley, a cartoon that I sort of grew up with in CARtoons magazine that unfortunately closed it's doors in '91. {You can now see K/B in CarCraft magazine} All of their jokes, fights, and real life styled adventures had me hooked when I was younger, so I thought I could create a similar, yet differently styled, comic for this new mag. I had 2 guys, I had a garage (it was an automotive magazine after all), and I had stories. Real life stories of automotive related material when I had my 1st car, which was of course, a VW. Growing up, my best friend, who goes by Pete even though that's not his real name (long story), ...and we went everywhere in that Bug. Most of my teen years were somehow related to Pete and that car. Hence, stories galore~
Anywho... I sat on it for a while, then decided to do newspaper comics with my daring duo minus the VW's, just regular cars. I researched, drew, designed, created and refined, but to no avail. As one professional cartoonist viewing my work said: "It's just not politically correct enough. Two white guys, ...nothing racist, ...no political satire, ...just 2 guys working out of a garage..." Yeah, God forbid the funny papers actually has something in it that's just fun for 'Average Joe American'! Well, bitterness aside (cough), I gave up that fight pretty quick~ But as you can see, I did not let that stop me completely.
Coming soon: "The Many Adventures of Me & Pete: True Heroes?" will be coming your way. Just fun and funny, for the sake of being fun and funny. This issue gets to the heart of the guys thought processes. Pokes fun at "superhero" comics, and is really lots of fun!
I hope to get at least 2 more issues of "Me & Pete" out for Halloween and Christmas - hopefully this year(?)... Stay tuned!
You can see images of "Me & Pete" at my ComicSpace page!
FEB '08 and beyond: As soon as I get the M/P 1-Shot off to my colorist, I will begin drawing my long time project "Dosta City". Finally! More to follow on that~]]>
