Working things out

With the amount of work I've been given and the amount of school work pilling up, I had to choose one or the other. School has to come first, so for the time being I had to drop Saguarrior for the time being because I was not being paid. However, this gives me an opportunity to work on my new project "Sins of our Fathers." That name isn't going to stay, but that is what I named it back in 8th grade. Till I get some more on this project, I'm going to leave you with this. But be excited! I have a great staff working with me on SooF. Sounds silly, soof -

Here is a picture I drew for my friend of Lion-o from the Thunder Cats!

Gifts from Typographists!

I have two separate people working on the typography for the comic. These are both 15 minute sketches done by the candidates and I have to choose between them. If you leave a comment you can vote too!!! Feed back is awesome!

Candidate 1:














Candidate 2:

Playing Games

Fable 2 just came out and I have barely done anything on the comic. My excuse is that I'm waiting for the two possible typography artists to get back to me- but honestly I should be drawing up my pages. Don't buy a really cool game until your done with work. That's all for this week. Next week- tons more for you.

Laying Out the Pages

After I received the complete story the first thing I did was laid out the entire comic in thumbnails. Same size I did the layout for the cover art. This way you can see all your layouts side by side. See if you have too many of one layout, if you need to change a page or two so it doesn't get redundant for the reader. Here are the sketches I did for the layouts.

I don't want to give away much of the story, so you can't make them bigger, but this is the general layout of the comic all in all.

I did these simply with pencil and pen. I wouldn't suggest using a good pen, seeing as how I ran out of ink and these are just for me to look at - kind of upsetting. Here is a close up of one of the panels. It's an action scene and wasn't that strong when I first laid it out.

After I looked through the comic I found panels like this and drew them on an 8.5" by 11" to see if I could spruce it up a bit. This is what I came up with.

Now that I drew it on a larger scale I can see that I need to fix the middle panel a lot, make him quite a bit bigger, and I can also see that if I even the bottom two panels out more it could help with the general aesthetics of the page. I went back on my smaller layout and fixed it in pen, which I had drawn in pencil.

After laying out all the pages I can now redraw some of them so that they won't be so consistent in design. That way the reader gets a little more variety of layouts. Due to the fact that this comic is new I also tried to stay away from anything too extreme so there would be no question on losing the reader in some spots. After we establish a fan base and story then we can get some cool layouts drawn like in the work of Ed McGuinness. 

(By the way) I draw the initial sketches with a blue col-erase pencil, also known as a non-photo pencil, so that it just won't show up when I scan it in as an illustration. Or I can just drop all the blue levels and threshold the image to make it all black and white. 

Ahead of the Game

After I received the first rough draft of the story line the second thing I did, after sketching out the bad guy, was come up with layouts for the cover. This is called being ahead of the game. Even though you may not know the entire story line or even what the writer or higher ups had in mind for the cover, your first idea should always be sketched out. Even if it is a terrible idea, and you know it, be sure to sketch it out on a piece of paper. 

This insures that your initial idea, good or bad, will be out of your head and leave you free to think about your other work. Plus, you can always come back to it later and touch it up if it's a good layout. 

I would not suggest starting by looking at other work. I would suggest trying to be as creative and original as possible. After you have 4-5 original sketches, search the net for your favorite comic artist and see how he approaches covers. Mix it up with someone you don't know and see if you can't come up with something innovative and different.

I did a few sketches, just using the idea that Saguarrior would be fighting a new mysterious nemesis, but then I ended up choosing this design. As you can see I started out real small, this is no bigger than a business card.

Secondly I drew another small sketch to see how it would work with the title and comic tag, then did some crude coloring.

Finally, after I was happy enough with my layout I drew a 8.5" by 11" drawing with some more crude coloring, just so I could get the idea out of my head. To go the extra mile I even opened up Illustrator and did a mock up of what the title may look like, and added it in. This also helps me see that I may need to move the skull over a tiny bit, or just change the overall direction of the figures. The brown square is where the LoS Comics logo and issue number go. 

I think it's pretty aesthetically pleasing, and I came up with a cool new way to shade Saguarrior while I was drawing it. Going the extra mile is never a bad idea. Now I have a fresh mind to think about my sketches, and I also have a cool layout to play around with when it comes time to draw the cover. 

FYI! This is for my personal convenience. I'll only show my co-workers when the time comes to discuss potential issue covers. :)

Starting work with the Writer

After you land the job you should be introduced to the writer you'll be working with. Typically you'll be working with a seasoned writer who has been working on the story line since dirt existed. But thankfully when I met the writer I found out he was fresh to the team, like myself. So the first thing I got in my inbox was a rough sketch of a bad guy and a short story line explaining why he was who he was and how he became it. 

This is what I got.

I read the short description of his background. Disgruntled worker gets blown up at a chemical plant while working after hours. The explosion turns him into burning flesh / x-ray skeleton thing who is constantly burning. That was the basic jist. So instead of the tribal loin cloth he is wearing I switched it with a half burnt up hazmat suit. Other than that I just tightened up the skeletal structure, took away his jaw (in the writer's story) and stylalized the flames a tiny bit. 

This is my sketch.

Just to be thourogh I cleaned up the blue and had my color artist (Brad Elliott) do a rough coloring. In the final version we'll add a few things and change the colors a bit, but it was nice to take our sketch a few steps further, just to impress the higher ups. Typically you won't choose your color artist but because of the smaller project I got to choose my partners for the visual aspect of the comic.

Character Interpretation

After you land the job with your amazing drawing skills, the first thing your employers want to know is how you interpret their character. This is where research helps a ton! Not only did I go buy the first two comics they had in circulation, but then I also went ahead and bought a booklet they made of the origins of Saguarrior. I read up on as much of it as I could. If your applying for something such as Marvel to draw for, lets say Wolverine, I suggest you find some comics from Marvel to buy and find out as much as you can about his origins. If you think he's just a blood thirsty killer then Marvel will be less likely to hire you over someone who understands the deep rooted issues in Wolverine's past with the weapon x program which makes him the very grumpy guy that he is. 

After I read up on his origins I explained to my new employers what I thought of him. Mainly touching on the idea that he is a veterinarian and from that would assume that he cares for every living thing, animals probably more than humans... but every living thing none the less. Because there are only two issues out it would be really hard to misinterpret the ways of Saguarrior. However, with other established characters such as ole Wolvy, you really want to hit the nail on the head to impress your possible boss. Everyone wants to get their point across, and if you don't know what that point is your s.o.l. Sketches to help further your idea for the employers character is a must!

 I only brought a few considering the circumstances, but for big companies I'd suggest at least 2 full bodies (front and profile) with at least 10 different expressions, and anywhere from 2-3 action shots of the main character you'll be working with. As a bonus I also brought 2 sketches of a possible bad guy I came up with. Don't over whelm your employer, just show them that you are excited to be working on the project. 

Here are 2 sketches of Saguarrior, one of him in an action pose and another of 2 expressions. The next one is just a concept for a silly bad guy that might be fun to play around with. Make sure you always include a color sketch as well, just a good idea to have one.

Applying for the Position

I first heard of Saguarrior through Chris C. who came into my 7th grade class and showed my friend Brad and I his work. We thought it was the coolest ever, and then 8 years later I saw another drawing of this "cactus man" at Brinn's Automotive.

To make a long story short, I chatted it up with the artist who did the drawing and eventually made contact with the creator of the character and comic.

This is where people skills are key in making and maintaining good relations. While waiting for his call I sat around and drew sketches of my interpretation of the character and found other pieces I'd done personally to show. Here are 4 examples of my sketches and drawings I brought to the interview.

(click for larger image)

The first two are just illustrations I had done on my own. The last two were based on different interpretations I had of Saguarrior and two separate styles in which I could portray the character. It's always good to bring more than one idea to the table. Once I sat down with them at the interview I told them what I wanted to bring to the table. They had mentioned that they had rushed the first two, so I told them that I would take my time and try to give the Saguarrior franchise a more modern and professional quality. It's all about being friendly, even when saying unfriendly things.

Do say, "I'd like to bring my talents into this group to work with yours and further your image and ideals potrayed by the characters in the comic."

Don't say, "Your stuff sucks and I can do better." 

After looking through my drawings, they said they'd love to have me on board and the writer said he would send me a rough idea of the story I'd be working with. Also, a little brown nosing helps a ton.

In the next installment I'll show you some more sketches and character development.

Great Beginnings

This is my new and hopefully exciting blog about the adventure of creating a comic. I was hired by LoS Comics to illustrate and layout the first installment of "the Path of Saguarrior" series. LoS Comics has already come out with two issues of Saguarrior which are in circulation locally (Murray, KY.) My story is separate from these two, considered a side story, but we'll talk semantics later on.

Here is the cover to the second issue for reference to what I'm working with... (This is not my work.)





















When given this opportunity, the first thing I did was look up technical "how-to"s. Just wanted to know the technical side of how to create a comic. But I couldn't find squat! (excluding books I'd have to pay for) In response to this dilemma I decided to keep this blog as a comprehensive log of the process in which I attempt to create a professional, shelf ready comic book. With the help of my ink artist, Austin Madding, my color artist, Brad Elliott, and the story written by B. Charles Shelby, we will attempt to get our product on the shelves of comic shops across America.

So, if you're looking for instructional step-by-step on the process of creating a comic then this blog is for you. I'll post pictures and explanations of my steps along the way.

So, welcome to my Comic Quest. Hope you enjoy!