Thursday, February 26, 2015

There's a lot going on with Ghiroy these days, mostly in my head and in notes I'm taking. While all that work on Delve Deep didn't lead to a comic, it wasn't a waste of time. It showed me the kinds of things I needed to do to get where I need to go. Having seen Scott McLeod, an old friend, speak recently, some gears started turning that haven't in awhile. I think I was going about Delve the wrong way; I was trying to use existing structure to dictate the story I was going to tell. Instead of having a story -I- wanted to tell, I was trying to construct one based on a formula. While that works for Hollywood, it doesn't work for me.

Out of nowhere, better ideas started to tumble out for Ghiroy. In a matter of a couple of days, I had a structure for the overall story, questions which popped up were just as quickly and logically answered. I have what I hope is my Pamina. I've been looking for so long. Ghiroy is meant to be a love letter to RP gaming, especially the world I've been able to play in for the last 30 years. There have been other inspirations, too. A book I got a few months ago about the work Maurice Noble did on the Warner Brothers cartoons has me thinking more seriously about the whole comic and my approach to it. This is what led me to the image above. There's a lot of talk about color there, both for backgrounds and characters. I realized that I'd chosen colors based on preconceived notions and not on what would work FOR those characters. So I've made some readjustments for the general coloration of the three majors. Mikilo, for example had his skin tone darkened which brings out his eyes which also more clearly focuses attention on his face. Also, because the character is meant to be an elf, and very long lived, I didn't want him to be wearing bright colors as washed out colors had more a suggestion of a slow burn. Ghiroy, on the other hand, is done in much warmer colors. He burns bright and hot. Short temper, intense. Francesca, too had most of her clothing toned down, but I left her with brighter lips and eyes that pop to suggest that while she, too is generally on the level, when she explodes, it's in little, intense moments. That's how her magic works as well. So basically, I've been trying to think a lot more about WHY I'm doing what I'm doing. Art is all about choices. To me, art that's less successful is art that has been made without making enough actual choices or decisions.

If the comic goes where I want it to, it's likely to be big. Perhaps as much as 4-500 pages. This will mean years. This is a good thing. I've really wanted a big project and this one is starting to flow just like the old ones. I'm hoping that, as I learn things from various sources, I'll get better and be able to produce the kind of comic that I'll not only be proud of, but one that others might be interested as well. So art might be less frequent for awhile, at least that which I post online. This one has to have at least an outline, a color script and breakdowns. Can't do it in the old style of just -doing- it. Here's hoping.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

While working on the story aspects of the comic, I decided to up the ante on the background style for it as well. What little backgrounds there were in the first 30 pages really weren't up to snuff. They were kind of style-less and lacking in detail. While there doesn't have to be tons and tons of detail in every panel, and in fact I'm thinking seriously of keeping it very minimal in close ups and two shots, there really should be a goodly amount for establishing and pulled back shots. So I worked on this for awhile today. Shingling the roof was a pain and likely more work than I really needed to do. I also think this is too fussy and the timbers and such need to be thicker. Still, this is more like what I think is needed for the comic.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Haven't updated in too long. There's probably only a couple pages left for the skater mouse story, but I've been dragging my feet. There WAS a trip to Boston in there and work's been very tiring lately, too. Also, I got to see an old friend give a talk on his new graphic novel. That seems to be going really well for him. It's already been optioned for a movie. He also made me think about Ghiroy. I stalled on Delve Deep partially, as I now realize because I was trying to -make- a story instead of tell one. I had a structure and I was trying to make characters and details to fit that structure instead of tell something I wanted to tell. Ghiroy is meant to be a love letter to gaming, playing certain characters in our RPG for decades. That's stuff near and dear to my heart. As such, I think I'm more interested in it and tied more deeply to it. Sharp was sort of like one of those characters, but more image than depth. Ghiroy, or Crow Cooper is based off a character I began playing in the middle 80s. Though he's more or less retired, he's the favorite of all I've ever played. He is my fantasy. So telling a story about him feels more personal. And, if I can manage, the comic will also be a metaphor for something else. In any case, I've gone back to writing or at least plotting it. I'll likely start again. I don't regret the 30 pages I've already done and will have to redraw. They got me to a place I can really begin. So. Here's a page of just Ghiroy posing for no reason other than to draw him, and a page of goblins as there's going to have to be monsters. Goblins are a great, generic dungeon monster.

Monday, February 02, 2015

Finally got another page of this done. This one was a biznatch. I had to do a lot more masking, cutting and editing to get the lines in the background to work properly with the transparent word balloons. My own fault. It's because I don't plan these things out ahead of time. I could have had a lot easier time but no. That's ok, it was still fun to draw. We're nearing the end. Another short story about nothing at all.