For obvious reasons…
Comic Book Influences 2: Jamie Hewlett
Everyone knows who Tank Girl is. Right? And Gorillaz?
Here’s Jamie Hewlett.
I like Hewlett because he’s got a great sense of character design.
A Very Delicious Photo Essay
Saturday morning cartoon party!
Comic Book Influences 1: Mike McMahon
I want to briefly touch on some of my favourite comic book artists – ones that have influenced my art in some way and whom I aspire to rock as hard as. I’m not going to yammer on, though. It’ll be more like a photo essay. Except drawings instead of photos.
Because if you want to know more about Mike McMahon, you can go to wikipedia or The Art of Mike McMahon website, from whence I swiped some of these images.
“Mutomaniac” was never finished. Pity.
Apparently M.M. got started on Doctor Who comics.
I feel that The Last American miniseries was his best work. It looks like he took a lot of time and care on this one. Look at those lines! Each one has its own character. And a bold yet prudent use of blacks.
Funnybooks
I’ve already shown you my character designs for the Spaceship Zero comic book.
Now I’m gonna give you s’more: thumbnails and script.
Steve gave us samples of actual comic scripts that he has worked on, including MEK by Warren Ellis. The three he gave us had similarities but the format differed somewhat. Basically, comic scripts are a lot like TV/movie scripts. Mine is very loose because at the moment it’s just written for my own reference – so I know who is saying what and how many balloons it’s going to take up. Skip it if you want. There’s pics below.
SPACESHIP ZERO #1
By Toren AtkinsonPAGE ONE
Panel 1.
CAPTION: Antarctica, 2023
WALTERS: Professor Ashton, Im John Walters.
ASHTON: Dreadful.
WALTERS: Uh, I hope the trip wasnt too uncomfortable.
ASHTON: I despise flying. Where is the site?
Panel 3
WALTERS: Its about one mile southwest. We couldnt pitch camp any closer due to
ASHTON: Are we to travel in that thing?
WALTERS: Yes. Weve prepared a room and a meal for y
ASHTON: I would like to go immediately.
Panel 4
(beat)
WALTERS: Certainly.
Panel xxx
IN THE HALFTRACK
WALTERS: I gather from the Commodore that this vessel is tied into your project in a very profound way.
ASHTON: Seemingly
WALTERS: Well youve seen the data weve sent so far. Steveston took a carbon dating reading on the hull but the results were
ASHTON: completely meaningless.
Panel xxx
WALTERS: Well the surrounding ice is DEFINITELY thousands of years old. And if the ship isnt SpaceCorp then its a good goddamn replica. Im no ship buff, but from what Im told its a hopper.ASHTON: The images you sent didnt transfer very well.
WALTERS: I apologize for that. We couldnt get any clear, wide shots due to the weather. We took some this morning but of course thats no
ASHTON: Has anyone been inside?
STEVESTON: Were just clearing the hatch now, Professor Ashton.
Panel xxx
WALTERS: This is Heather Steveston, Professor.
STEVESTON: Heres this mornings readings. The tanks are apparently spent. Just residual traces of xenon as you can see.
Panel xxx
ASHTON: Is that it?
Panel xxx
STEVESTON: Hold on to the rope, Professor. Well have a much better view at the bottom.
Ashton slips?
Panel xxx
(Big shot)ASHTON: Good heavens!
Panel xxx
(C.U)ASHTON: It cant be.
STEVESTON: What is it, Professor?
ASHTON: Those tines . Staggering!
WALTERS: What about the tines?
STEVESTON: Theyre not standard to the Mark V Space Hopper, I know that much.
WORKMAN: Thats got it, Jensen.
Panel xxx
ASHTON: Let me through!
WORKMAN: Woah, hold up there, sir. Give the metal a chance to cool.
Panel xxx
(Walters produces an open box of ray guns)WALTERS: The commodore insisted we carry these, Professor.
ASHTON: What on Earth for?
Panel xxx
Walters shrugs
ASHTON: I have never in my life discharged a firearm.
WALTERS: Commodores orders.
ASHTON: SIGH (takes a gun and holster)
Panel xxx
This metal is rather deteriorated.STEVESTON: That coincides with our readings from this ice.
WORKMAN: Okay. Here are some torches.
Panel xxx
They move through the hulk by flashlight
Panel xxx
STEVESTON: Looks pretty intact to me.
WALTERS: What level is this?
STEVESTON: Reactor is up one more. Readings are normal.
Panel xxx
ASHTON: Hmm. I wonder .
WALTERS: Weir, do you have that cable ready?
Panel xxx
WALTERS: The T6 has completely lost its charge and the heads are shot. Give me three minutes.
STEVESTON: Wheres Ashton?
Panel xxx
Steveston looking for Ashton
Panel xxx
STEVESTON: Ashton?
ASHTON: Its here. This is it. The entire module. Its staggering. Its completely impossible.
Panel xxx
Power comes on revealing the BTL Drive.ASHTON: Completely impossible.
PAGE FOUR
Panel xxx
Ashton and Walters in dim room
WALTERS: Yawn! You want something to eat? Professor? PROF!
ASHTON: No, for heavens sakes, Walter! No!
WALTERS: Walters. John Walters. Well I do. Download is slow going. Ill bring you something back. Give a yell on the blower if you need anything.Panel xxx
Monitor reads: 7 LIFEFORMS IN DECON
ASHTON: Hello, whats this? Walter, look at this. Eh?
Panel xxx
Ashton on computer.
DATA FILE CORRUPT. REPAIR / DIAGNOSTIC / EXIT
BIOSPEC INTACT
DECONSTITUTION INITIATEDPanel xxx
Ashton watches as decon does its thing
Panel xxx Ashton reacts to deconstituted thing out of frame
Panel xxx
Hand reaches for gun
Feel free to comment/proofread! One of the most challenging things for me is arranging the characters and the word balloons so they flow properly, naturally, and clearly. It’s actually pretty difficult to do that and still keep the panel compositions interesting! As you can tell from the text above, when I wrote the script I didn’t really know what panels were going to be on what page, except for page four. Here are the almost completed first two pages.
I think at some point I’ll take some reference photos of poses in winter coats. Any volunteers? Who wants to be in a comic boooook?
My Brain Hurts!
I had a terrible migraine yesterday. For some reason, my migraines seem to come with some regularity – in between the 27th of the month and the 7th of the next. I’m positive is meaningless coincidence, but it’s been interesting to track them and I will continue to do so. What there does not seem to be is any kind of strength predictability. Sometimes I will get my aura which precedes the migraine, and the headache itself can be practically shrugged off. Other times, like yesterday, it will be completely debilitating, I have to leave work, I’ll climb into bed for five hours and keep a bucket nearby just in case I have to throw up (I didn’t yesterday). When my migraines were years apart I wasn’t too worried about them, but I think I’ll head down to the doctorb (the ‘b’ is for ‘bargain’) this week and see if he can prescribe me something*, because for all the good the Extra Strength Tylenol Ultra for Headaches and Migraines did me, I could have shoved them up my ass.
*plus I can get my passport photos signed!
Movies of 2006
That I saw:
4/10
Silent Hill
Snakes on a Plane
5/10:
Art School Confidential
Nacho Libre
Curse of the Golden Flower
6/10:
Clerks II
The Departed
For Your Consideration
Miami Vice
7/10:
Inside Man
Superman Returns
X-Men: The Last Stand
Who Killed the Electric Car?
Sophie Scholl
Thank You for Smoking
The Illusionist
8/10:
An Inconvenient Truth
Little Miss Sunshine
9/10
Deep Sea 3D
Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny
Missed/Missing:
The Queen
World’s Fastest Indian
Pirates of the Caribbean 2
Why We Fight
Volver
Casino Royale
Last King of Scotland
Children of Men
Pan’s Labyrinth
Manufactured Landscapes
Letters from Iwo Jima
Jesus Camp
Stranger Than Fiction
I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M GOING TO TAKE IT EVERMORE
Two years ago we were invited to play PAX. As is often the case with my band, we had some staffing difficulties and due to a last minute dropout we had to cancel PAX at the eleventh hour, which sadly they haven’t forgotten about. We’ve got some great supporters out there who want us to play PAX this August (and I want to, too) but the short answer was “no.” I feel a general undirected anger and need to vent about that – not anger directed at PAX, it’s hardly their fault – just about the situation and how it came to be. And anger about the fact that even if PAX said “yes,” as much as I’d like to take control of the situation there’s just nothing I can do about the fact that there are three other people in the band and a border crossing involved, and I have no power over those forces. So mixed in with that frustration is a little bit of relief. It would suck even worse if they said okay and then despite my best efforts we fail to pull through again. I think the answer is: NERDY SIDE PROJECT! In fact that could be the name of the band. Who’s in? Must have a valid passport and driver’s licence! It’s even better if you live in Washington – because that’s where your equipment would have to end up! Talent optional.
The Passport Dilemma
Do you think I could just waltz into my doctor’s office and say “sign the back of my photos and application and charge it to my CareCard”?
Spaceship Zero: The Comic
The comic book production course I’m taking at Van Arts is pretty good so far. I dropped $90 at Loomis but I didn’t really have to. I just wanted the good brush, the aluminum cork-backed ruler, and a few other things. Has anyone heard of the Aames Lettering Guide?
As I may have mentioned, the other kids in the class are kind of weird. But then, that’s comic geeks for you. Oh wait – none of them read comics. So that is weird. At any rate, I’m learning, and making decent progress. We had our third class last week, and we talked about storytelling and whatnot. Steve is always apologetic for the amount of handouts but I think it’s great. That way I don’t have to commit anything to memory! His teaching style is mostly to just go over the handouts and he usually does so verbatim which kind of useful but I’d rather get something on top of what’s on the handout, but I guess if there were more information he’d just put it on the handout to start with.
I handed in my character sketches for the four pages I’ll be doing. This is really just the prologue for the big story (will I ever finish it? Who knows) so the only main character present is Professor Ashton. But there are a few supporting characters. Here are the results:
Soon I should have some thumbnails for you all.
In other news, I’m nearly done Guitar Hero II on HARD, much to Stewie’s chagrin. Hey, it’s not my fault he leaves it in the living room and then doesn’t play it. He says if I finish it before him he is going to charge me. So I’ll just get 99% through Free Bird and then hit the reset button.
Does anyone know what causes that ‘BZZZZZZZZZZZT-BZT-BZT-BZT-BZT” sound that I hear in my headphones when I pass a certain place in the city on the Greyhound, and that I hear in my computer speaker when my cell phone goes off nearby?
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