Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The Final Hurrah

As you may know, Bonds is being compiled into a trade paperback. This means fixing typos, adding sketches and even creating three more pages of storytelling to fill out the narrative (more on that later).

All of this on top of my teaching load at SCAD, which mercifully ends this week (more on that later as well!).

But I'm now in the mental space to worry about the blog, and for the next couple of weeks, I will post Bonds progress as it completes. However, no worries, Scars will continue to be posted as well. For now, enjoy this pencil sketch and mark July 7 on your calendars when the Bonds trade hits the shelves!

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/image-july-2010-solicitations-100428.html

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Page 16 - Look Out!


We're chugging along! Soooo close to being done with the first issue. I can't wait to hit the last page. And then get cracking on issue 2!

We get our first glimpse of the love of Ridley's life, the precocious and adorable Emma. Ridley was waiting to catch a sight of the first car he'd ever seen, but didn't count on setting eyes on Emma as well. We used a Panhard & Levassor model for our antique car - it would have been around in England about that time. That was probably the trickiest research that we had to do for the whole book. There aren't many reference shots around for this particular model, but we did find one that someone had restored, which was very lucky. They look like kind of a pain to drive. But Emma and her dad don't seem to mind.

And! Drama! No wonder the woodsman was so upset on the last page. Snatching the poor princess off her feet like that, HOW RUDE. Will the woodsman turn into a Man of Action? Is that dark silhouetted Scars really behind all this? Find out next time...on page 17!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Page 15 - First Glimpse of Scars!


See, we still do comics! :)

Lots has been happening over here at Chez Perpetual Flights. But, we're still plugging away on Beautiful Scars. Only a few pages left to show you! Wow!

I like this page a lot. Lots of action happening! We've got Ridley the daredevil on the lookout for whatever is coming over that hill, and our first glimpse of Scars in Maddie's imagination. Looks pretty frightening, doesn't he? Well, something is exciting the Woodsman, but you'll have to wait til the next page to see what's got him so upset...

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Grad School

It's been a while since I've posted! Thanks to my lovely partner for taking over while I buried myself in grad school work.

I was in Dallas/Ft. Worth last week with the Hartford Art School and it was a blast. We met a lot of fantastic illustrators, and it's so nice to immerse yourself in a group that thinks the same way you do. 100% illustration 24/7, man. It's the good life.

We had an assignment where we had to execute an illustration based on our experience in Pasadena (the last contact period we had). Well, let me tell you - that trip was a life-changing experience for me, not in small part due to the trip to the Disney Archives and seeing Mary Blair's concept work for Alice in Wonderland in person. And Eyvind Earle's backgrounds from Sleeping Beauty, just lying on a table. Just right in front of me. People, it was like a religious experience for me. I briefly contemplated making a break for the door with them under my coat, but decided a life of crime was not for me.

I felt like I needed to pay homage to that part of the trip with my piece. I feel sometimes that California is one big movie set, with all kinds of characters. So, I decided to do my own "adventures in Wonderland". I wanted to do something more interactive than just one flat piece, so I made it three-dimensional. I made myself as Alice, my program head as the White Rabbit, and then a couple other characters to interact with each other. I wanted to do something semi-sequential, so I did three panels that become a sort of triangle that stands up and forms a sort of "playset". Each side has an overhang which characters on strings can hang from.

Unfortunately, I shipped the piece back to myself before getting on the plane, and never got a good shot of it set up, so I'll have to wait til the Fed Ex guy shows up to show you the final setup, but I can show you the backgrounds. When it makes its way back to me, I'll take some photos of the finished piece.


This is my first panel, representing Pasadena with the rose gardens. I put in a Kenton Nelson-inspired lady in the background since we visited his studio. And an In-n-Out burger sign. Because they are delicious.


This is my second panel, based on a trip we took to Hollywood (and a ridiculous tequila bar). I love a place with good Mexican food, and Pasadena had it in spades. Yummers.


My third and final image. I think this one is my favorite. I took a little liberty with the Hollywood Hills and put in a beach (the one thing I didn't go to, but wanted to!). I have the castle in the back as a little nod to my Disneyland trip.

I loved the patterns and the repetition in this whole piece, it got very addictive. I had so much fun with this, I can't even tell you. Stay tuned for the whole shebang assembled with characters!

ETA: I uploaded the wrong versions, duh... so, these are the seriously final versions. There's not much difference but there is to me!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Page 14 - Danger Lurks Ahead


Welcome to North Carolina. I'm on break from SCAD and Guin is in Dallas showing off her latest illustration (more on that next week). But even though I'm off from teaching (at least for this week), I get to relax by working on comics.

On this page, we finally get to introduce Scars the Troll into the story. Here, you can tell that he is a pretty tough customer. We can also see young Ridley climbing a look-out tree in a monkey like manner...

More importantly, you get to sense how we are using two storylines against each other. The emotions on the top tier–determination and apprehension–are meant to set a mood on the storyline beneath it. Guin and I are trying to have the grandfather's narrative affect the granddaughter's imagination. Since we are not relying on balloons for the B story (Maddie's Fantasy story), the acting has to be spot on. The Princess, and the Young and Old Woodsman are nonetheless oblivious to the danger that lies ahead.

Next post... the danger that lies ahead!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Bonds Trade Cover

The folks over at Image Comics have decided to collect the three issues of Bonds into a trade paperback. The good news for me is that I got to create a new cover for the event. The bad news for me is that I had to do this the weekend before finals week. Well, art is about energy and focus. So I looked at this as an opportunity to see what I could do in 48 hours...
So, it always starts off with a sketch. A dozen to be more precise. As potentially the last illustration I would create for Bonds, I had to think about what I wanted to say. If you can say it in words, you have a shot to illustrate it. For me, Faith's path of vengeance meant that she collected souls. The tattoos represent every soul she killed, but for the cover I wanted to somehow show the people who were also important to her story...we are, after all, who we let into our lives.
Originally, I wanted to riff off of the Coles Phillips fade-away technique. But I decided that I wanted portraits of her family and foes to emerge from the shadows. I also wanted to have the Wolf Spirit's head turn into fire. These two elements, shadows and fire, seem to best represent Faith's life and death.

For the final trade which should be in the stores in early July 2010, I also plan to create a new prologue to the story. But this will have to wait until Scars 1 is completed... And I thought that I received an illustration degree, not an MFA in Juggling!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Cover Up! Final Cover


Tah dah! The Final cover. We still need to add cover indicia (publisher's logo, chapter number, etc.), but you'll see all of this when it hits the stands. All and all, this was a fun (yet necessary) diversion. Back to interiors next week!