Creating a Graphic Novel : Art – Food – Photography

Awesome food photography in low lighting conditions by Toshio. Following on from the Char Kway Teow post, having a nice hot charcoal fire adds something very special to meal.

Street vendor cooking char kway teow over a charcoal fire :

Close up on the wok and the charcoal fire :

Dusk follows Eve and her vampire benefactor, Ash through a dark underworld. The graphic novel is divided into four volumes written by David Doub and pencilled by several artists.

Can you provide a brief synopsis?
What’s Eve role in the story?

Eve’s original concern was holding her marriage together, despite the abuse she endured at the hands of her husband. But when she is taken into the sordid, supernatural world of vampires and foul magic, Eve finds a new life . . . one she doesn’t want to leave.

What about her vampire benefactor, Ash?

Ash wishes nothing more than to return Eve to a normal life, but she chooses to remain in his service. Dusk is a collection of stories about Eve and the challenges she faces upon choosing a new life in a dark world. It is a supernatural action/drama done in a dynamic blending of the sequential art styles of the American comics and Japanese manga. Several artists lend their talents to illustrate these stark noir tales of vampires and unrequited love.

Interior :

How long have you been into comics?

Well I’ve always been big on comics. Everything from American Superheroes, to Asian Manga, to European comics. I tried to make a living at computer technology because I had an aptitude for it, but I didn’t love it like I love computers. So I’ve slowly been trying to make comics, but as things have happened in my life, I’ve found myself going more and more into comics full time.

What was your motivation for this series?

The core of it is I like to tell stories. Even if there isn’t a story to be told (like say a bad video game), I end up making up a story in my head to make sense of it all. I find that I like the medium of comics to tell stories the best. The mixture of visual with words frozen in static motion seems to allow for some many potential opportunities that I can’t really imagine in other mediums.

Now why I did a vampire stories, is mainly because I like a story with a darker, harder edge to it. I like the sharp contrast of good and evil and the gray areas between and I think the vampire mythos is a great vehicle to explore such topics. I feel such stories have some “weight” to them because there’s a sense of consequence and tension in such stories. That said, I recognize and respect the vampire’s sensual and romantic appeal, but that part of it doesn’t interest me as much as the aspects of damnation, redemption, faith, and moral ambiguity that vampire stories have in them.

How did you find an artist?

Well, the best resource I found was Digitalwebbing.com. It’s a great place to look for artists and actually the rest of the art team. With a comic you also have to find an inker and a letter as well as a penciller (and also a colorist if you’re doing your book in color). So from the web, I’d ask for artists looking for work, and then we’d talk about the comic and they read over the script and if there interest was there, they’d do the book. And interest in the book is very important, because starting out, I have no money to offer to pay an artist up front so everyone who did work on the book because they liked the story and believed in the book.

Was the production process difficult?

Yes! For me, I wasn’t just the writer; I had to be the editor, art director, and the marketing department all into one. At first I though I had enough passing knowledge in those areas to make do, but you find out real quick how lacking you are in certain skills. I had to learn on the job as it were, but luckily I knew people and have friends who knew things and were more than happy to give advice where they could.

I’d say the hardest part was getting the files ready for the printer. Again I thought I knew enough about Photoshop and image manipulation to make print ready files, but I was wrong. Printing is a serious skill and I now have a healthy respect for people who go to school to learn such things.

Congratulations on self publishing Dusk!
Would love to see you expand on Eve’s story in future editions.

For more information or to purchase :
Amazon Link

Love Free Comic Book Day! I’ve seen Cookie Monster taking care of a cookie shop but today I saw Elmo catching up with the latest in comic news! Looks like he’s excited with the new direction that Spider-man may be taking.

With a sale on at my local comic place, I picked up (in addition to the free comics) :

• True Story Swear to God : This one goes to 11 by Tom Boland
• Ultimate Spider-man Volume 1 by Brian Michael Bendis
• Ultimate Spider-man Volume 2 by Brian Michael Bendis
• Wolverine : Enemy of the State by Mark Millar
  

Can’t wait to get started on reading all the new comics! So much to read and so little time. Hope everyone enjoyed their Free Comic Day. Feel free to leave comments on your new additions to your collection!

Interview with the creator Vitor Cafaggi.

This strip is one of my favourites. With all the problems the various goblins (Green Goblin, Hobgoblin, Demogoblin etc.) have caused him, it only makes sense that he has some phobia of them.

Looking for a photoshop tutorial to colour your artwork? From Sean’s original post, he was kind enough to do a step by step breakdown of the process involved.

Red Sonja Colouring Process by Sean Harrington

Step 1:

This is the initial pencil sketch that will be the basis of the picture. I don’t bother with really clean lines as you can see, since most of the lines won’t be visible in the final picture. I darkened it a bit in Photoshop so that it will be easier to see against the background color.

Step 2:

Speaking of the background color, here it is! I put the lineart on a multiply layer and the background color is on a layer underneath. This is the layer I’m going to color on.

Step 3:

Now I lay down my first and darkest skin tone. I’m using a standard soft-edged brush in Photoshop. As you can see, I’m not really defining much with this color; just a few places where the darkest shadows will be, like under her chin, where I use hard-edged brush to make a stronger line.

Step 4:

Next lighter color coming up! With this color I begin to add most of the major definition to the body. I’m still using mainly a plain soft-edged brush for most of this, just switching to a hard-edged brush to define the lines of the body, such as under the breasts and around the bend in the leg. It’s important not to define things TOO well, because if you do, it will leave very sharp contrast between the dark and light colors, which doesn’t look very realistic. Take a look at some photographs of people, and you’ll see that the definition of the features and muscles, etc., is actually rather slight. Less is more, as it were.

At this stage I also start erasing and lightening some of the lines, as I don’t need them anymore. You can do this by painting white with a brush on the lineart multiply layer.

Step 5:

Now it’s time to add the main lightest skin tone. This color is used much the same as the previous color, just bringing a little more definition to the body all with the standard soft-edged brush. When you’re picking colors to use for skin tones, this is the color that is going to be most representative of the skins’s final appearance, so choose it first, and base the darker and lighter gradations off of it. Oh, and go ahead and get rid of the remaining lines at this point, too. You shouldn’t need them anymore. I leave the outer outline because I like the look, but you can get rid of it too, if you like it better without.

Step 6:

Now it’s time to add highlights to the skin. Ordinarily it’s good to keep these fairly muted, but in this case I used a heavier hand with them to give the appearance that she’s sweaty. I assume that slaying a horde of bloodthirsty barbarians would make one sweaty, but I can’t say so with absolute certainty, so if you know otherwise adjust your highlight intensity accordingly. I also added a slight reddish cast to her nose because I think it looks good, but do as you wish.

Step 7:

Now it’s time for hair and makeup. Yes, makeup. She’s not just a barabarian, she’s a barbarian PRINCESS, after all. You can buy brushes that simulate strands of hair which makes coloring the hair easier, or you can just do each strand individually with a really small standard brush if you’re a purist or a cheapskate.

Step 8:

Now for the armor. The best and easiest way to get good metal effects is to lasso the different parts of the armor, paste them to a new layer and use layer styles to get a look you generally like then merge it back down to background layer and touch it up a bit with the brush. If you’re a purist that disdains styles and filters and such…well, you’re on your own.

Final Picture:

Add a spiffy background of your choice and voila!
Here are the colors that I used:

Background:
R= 123 G= 46 B=0

Step 3: RGB 157 – 83 – 39
Step 4: RGB 183 – 110 – 64
Step 5: RGB 217 – 142 – 90

Highlight colors:
RGB 250 – 173 – 103
RGB 251 – 199 – 147

Sean is also one of the most impressive artist I’ve seen and has done some amazing digital colouring works. His Red Sonja showcases his work from sketch through the colouring process to finished product.

Initial Sketch :

Colouring :

Final Product

How long have you been drawing?

I’ve been drawing pretty well my whole life. Being an artist was all I really wanted to do when I grew up. In 2004 I started up an art studio here in Virginia with my brother John, and I’ve been working at it ever since. So, although I never grew up, I did become an artist. I’ve also worked in advertising, which I never dreamed about when I was a kid, but it made pretty good money.

Is there anything particular style you try to achieve?

Realistic and dynamic is my goal, although whether I pull it off or not is debatable. I try to capture the feeling of motion with my pictures, like it’s moving even though it’s a still picture. My favorite things to draw are people; faces, bodies, muscles, I could do that all day. I really don’t like drawing backgrounds at all, so I tried 3D modelling them a few years back, and it was a lot of fun and I thought it suited my style well so I add 3D elements to my pictures whenever possible.

Did you receive any formal training?

I’m completely self-taught.
Just like Pink Floyd, I don’t need no education.

Wow! That’s impressive.
Who would you consider your influences?

Adam Hughes, Travis Charest, Paolo Serpieri, Alphonse Mucha, Howard Pyle, Masamune Shirow, Kenichi Sonada, and of course Frank Frazetta like everybody else in the fantasy art biz.

Thanks for your time!
The Red Sonja piece is absolutely amazing.

For more on Sean check out his website :

http://www.Harrington-Artwerkes.com/arthome.htm

26 year old Jennifer Tanner has put out an amazing series of webcomics! Similar to Puny Parker, this one chronicles the life of a young Doctor Octupus.

So tell me a little about yourself.

I like bagels with cream cheese, thought-provoking movies, big loyal dogs, warm fleece blankets, Captain Picard, and the smell of summer after a thunderstorm. I don’t care for Mexican food, the sound of a screaming baby, winter weather, huge crowds, or the dentist chair. To unwind, I like to meet up with some good friends for a girl night out, check out the latest movie in theaters, visit the museums downtown, window-shop, or raid some tombs. You know – the usual.

Raid some tombs? And that’s the usual? Anyway moving along . . how would you describe your artwork?

I’d like to think of my artwork as an extension of my personality – light, comedic, and uncluttered but with darker undertones for the times it’s necessary. I’ve always preferred working in black and white/grayscale rather than color – I’m not sure if that’s completely based in the kinds of art that has influenced me over the years or if it’s more because I’ve seen a lot of bad art trying to hide behind eye-searing color! Pencils have always interested me more than fully inked work because to me, the rough pencil on paper is the illustrator’s voice and soul; unpolished and vulnerable. There is nothing better to me than a few perfectly placed pencil strokes on a stark white piece of paper.

When did you start drawing?

I started drawing when I was old enough to hold a pencil and continued all the way up through high school until I was faced with the question of where to go to college. At the time I didn’t know you could make a career out of comics, I thought it was just something people did on the side while still holding down a regular job. I attended The Savannah College of Art and Design and majored in Sequential Art (comics!). It was definitely a worthwhile experience and I learned a lot while I was there, but the learning process hasn’t stopped just because I graduated – it’s never ending!

Do you have any favourite comics?

Bill Watterson’s “Calvin and Hobbes” and Terry Moore’s Strangers in Paradise” remain my two favorite top collections of artwork on my bookshelf. I read through them all periodically as a refresher course in what I believe makes a great comic artist – the ability to generate so much emotion through so few facial expressions, the importance of not taking the world (or yourself) too seriously, and the power of a great story teller to drag you out of your world and plunk you firmly in their own; forgetting that what you’re reading is purely fictional.

Onto Boy Genius . . I love the strip! I’m slowly working my way through the archives. How did that start?

The hub-bub around the release of the second Spider-Man movie spurred me to take the iconic figure of Peter Parker and twist it around into something I loved to do anyway – to look at the world through a kid’s eyes. Life’s problems are all relative to your individual situation, so what is catastrophic to a kid is probably menial to an adult, and somewhere in-between there lies the humor. Taking these kids who are all eventually going to grow up into super heroes or super villains and putting them in everyday events was ridiculously funny to me. The dynamic between the different personalities of Peter and Otto was just too good to pass up.

What kept you going? (and why did you stop?)

There was no shortage of funny when I considered the situations I could put the characters in, even though most of the time the comics had little to nothing to do with their individual super powers. It was all so absurd and made me laugh even as I drew it. I eventually left Boy Genius on the back burner because there were other dusty art projects that needed love too – and at the time I felt I should try to develop my own characters that weren’t copyrighted by Marvel!

Any particular favourite moments in Boy Genius?

I’d have to say I really love the strips concerning simple conversations between Peter and Otto, but my all time favorite strip is probably the mistletoe one – Otto presents a piece of mistletoe for Rosie’s consideration, but discovers much to his chagrin that it’s merely a sprig of holly. Guess who misinformed him?

Hehe . . I loved that one too. (BTW it’s the showcase piece!) How do you search for more inspiration?

Just remember that creating art should never be a chore – the minute you realize you’re bored of writing a comic or feel fresh out of ideas, step away and do something else for a while. People can tell when you’re bored of your own work! Inspiration will find you when you least expect it. Take criticism with a grain of salt, and draw, draw, draw. There is no such thing as drawing TOO much.

Thank you so much for your time!
And letting me show off one of your strips!

For more on Jennifer Tanner check out her website :
http://www.jennifertanner.com

More of her art :
http://www.silver-sehkmet.deviantart.com

Emergency Zombie Kit so you’re always prepared.
This was so brilliant I just had to share it.

Interview with the creator Vitor Cafaggi.

Always wondered what type of imagination, Peter would have. It’s nice to see him win once in a while even if it’s just in his head.

Michael Bridges who previously completed a Heath Ledger tribute piece, has recently finished a Three Jokers piece showing Jack, Cesar Romero and Heath. Check out the progress from sketch to final product here.