This is the test script that I drafted to test out potential artists. I made it deliberately vague so that way the artist would have a lot of freedom. This would allow me an insight to their style and we could go from there.
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PAGE 1 FRAME 1
Exterior shot of a diner on a street corner to the left of a parking lot. Visible on the side of the restaurant is the name "King Solomon's reef"
PAGE 2 FRAME 1 top half of page.
A man sits at the counter of The Reef. He is wearing a dark blue suit, his hair short and light colored. The waitress is pouring coffee into his cup. She is wearing a t-shirt and dark pants. Her arms are full sleeve tattoos, her face is pierced. She is in her early 20s the man in his late 30s. The diner is a 1950s style greasy spoon. The place looks old and worn but clean.
PAGE 2 FRAME 2 BOTTOM LEFT HALF OF PAGE.
A newspaper is slipped against a plate. The paper is folded open to reveal the obituaries,, one name is circled.
PAGE 2 FRAME 3 BOTTOM RIGHT HALF OF PAGE
The circled obituary has a picture of a well dressed woman. Her face is stern but kind, her hair dark. She doesn't look old, just mature, hard to put an exact age to.
Rick Ashey: Adora Simry? Should I know who she is? And should I care? Aside from the whole "brotherhood of man" sense, that is.
PAGE 3 FRAME 1
Shot of man in dark gray suit. He is in his 50s, slender and clean shaven.
GRAY SUITED MAN: Oh, I think you will Rick...and her survivors will definitely interest you.
PAGE 3 FRAME 2
Overhead shot Rick holding the paper
RICK ASHEY: Oh, so James and Cyrus Kelley are her kids? I'm guessing she wasn't too thrilled with how they turned out.
PAGE 3 FRAME 3
Tight focus on the gray suited man, his smile humorless.
GRAY SUITED MAN: Got it in one, my friend. And unfortunately her death was not, despite what the obit says, "natural."
RICK ASHEY: Okay, I'll bite...so what got her?
PAGE 3 FRAME 4
Ricks's shocked expression as he drops his coffee.
GRAY SUITED MAN: The Dirty Poets wrote her a sonnet.
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Consider this an open audition. Think you can draw this? Try it out and send it to us, let's see what happens.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Forum Foolishness Part 1
Was over on the Cracked.com Pointless Waste of Time forums when I saw this topic:
How would you rewrite the Star Wars prequels?
Here's the short version: Darth Maul survives all 3 movies with Anakin fighting him constantly while Maul just fucks up entire neighborhoods just because Anakin had lunch there one afternoon. Sound good? Read on...
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Episode I: The Phantom Menace
In the first movie, Anakin is newly graduated from Jedi School and Qui-gon Gin is his training officer. He takes Anakin on the rough beats of the galaxy, rousting the smugglers, smacking the Twi'lek hos, that sort of thing. Then Darth Maul shows up on Tattooine where Anakin is from, and he just proceeds to lay waste to Hammerhead because it seemed like a good idea at the time.
When Anakin and Qwi-gon show up, they find that Maul was after Queen Amadala (played so subtly by Megan Fox). Anakin and Amadala fall in love and Qui-gon tells him to put it away, the Jedi are forbidden to marry. You marry the lightsaber in this line of work.
Anyway, Maul continues his little campaign of serious ass-kicking and since Anakin showed up, has decided it is his mission in life to kill Anakin Skywalker. Not for any real reason, mind you, just for g.p.
Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Anakin's lover Queen Amadala has been killed by his nemesis Darth Maul. Maul blew up her ship or something just to piss off Skywalker. This gives Anakin that really cool "alcoholic burn-out" vibe that was completely missing from the series. As he descends into ever more violent methods when dealing with criminals, Qui-gon Gin (played so ably by Independent Spirit Award winner Danny Glover) tells Anakin he needs to calm that shit down, the Jedi don't just execute people without giving them a trial first.
Senator Palpatine keeps interceding on Anakin's behalf which totally makes him look like a cool motherfucker who understands that life in deep space is rough. Senator Palpatine seems like the kind of guy who knows that being a Jedi isn't all acrobatics and trade negotiations, it also involves a lot of serious ass-kicking.
This makes Palpatine seem really cool until we learn that he is the Sith Master and Maul is just his apprentice. (Oh, SNAP, bet you didn't see THAT coming!) Here's the kicker: Maul doesn't know it, but Palpatine has decided that Maul is too ambitious, and maybe it's time for him to be replaced. Anakin is more powerful than Maul, and almost as good a swordsman (Darth Maul will, of course, be using his trademark staff) he is also a lot more stupid. So Palpatine is working the two against each other, priming Anakin to get enraged enough to CROSS THE LINE.
The Jedi Council calls Anakin in and tells him that his behavior is getting out of hand. Yoda is getting seriously irked about all of this violence and craziness. Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson for the win!) finally gets pissed and tells Anakin "The Force, motherfucker! Let it guide you!" and Yoda just shrugs and says "Yes, truth he speaks, yo." To help Anakin get his shit together, they pair him up with this guy Obi-Wan Kenobi who is the same age as Anakin, but much more level-headed.
Then we find out that Amadala isn't dead! She is either a clone (bummer) or she really did survive the assassination attempt (fucking righteous), but either way Anakin gets some booty! She learns she is pregnant, but doesn't share that information with Anakin who is a bit busy with this whole Clone War.
Maul then smokes Anakin's partner Obi-Wan Kenobi (oh noes!!!!) and this really sets Anakin's teeth on edge. It's on, now...no more Mr. Nice Jedi.
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
After Maul killed Qwi-gon in the 2nd movie, Anakin is a loose cannon. He doesn't know Amadala is pregnant, all he knows is his master is dead and Maul is going down! With Palpatine's help, Anakin learns how powerful the Dark Side truly is and how he can use it to destroy Maul.
What Anakin didn't know is that Obi-Wan, his partner, was secretly cloned by Palpatine to serve as the nucleus of his new Sith Lord army that would be taking over the galaxy after all the Jedi are wiped out by the Mandalorians led by mysterious assassin Boba Fett.
Anakin and Maul meet up on the lava planet where Maul has his headquarters. Palpatine gets Anakin to switch to evil and cut down Maul, thus taking his place. Unfortunately, right after he does, the lava shield goes out due to the battle and Anakin gets all burned up.
Amadala learns of Anakin's shenanigans and fakes her own death, hoping to raise her kids safely in hiding. It's while she is in labor that it is revealed that she is a clone and a poor one at that, she is slowly dying.
Vader doesn't know he has kids, doesn't know his love was still alive. And Obi-Wan doesn't remember ever owning any droids because HE IS A CLONE. He hides on Tattoine while Yoda hides on Dagobah, waiting for the day that the Jedi will rise from their ashes.
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Way better than that crap Lucas put out, if you ask me.
How would you rewrite the Star Wars prequels?
Here's the short version: Darth Maul survives all 3 movies with Anakin fighting him constantly while Maul just fucks up entire neighborhoods just because Anakin had lunch there one afternoon. Sound good? Read on...
********************************************************
********************************************************
Episode I: The Phantom Menace
In the first movie, Anakin is newly graduated from Jedi School and Qui-gon Gin is his training officer. He takes Anakin on the rough beats of the galaxy, rousting the smugglers, smacking the Twi'lek hos, that sort of thing. Then Darth Maul shows up on Tattooine where Anakin is from, and he just proceeds to lay waste to Hammerhead because it seemed like a good idea at the time.
When Anakin and Qwi-gon show up, they find that Maul was after Queen Amadala (played so subtly by Megan Fox). Anakin and Amadala fall in love and Qui-gon tells him to put it away, the Jedi are forbidden to marry. You marry the lightsaber in this line of work.
Anyway, Maul continues his little campaign of serious ass-kicking and since Anakin showed up, has decided it is his mission in life to kill Anakin Skywalker. Not for any real reason, mind you, just for g.p.
Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Anakin's lover Queen Amadala has been killed by his nemesis Darth Maul. Maul blew up her ship or something just to piss off Skywalker. This gives Anakin that really cool "alcoholic burn-out" vibe that was completely missing from the series. As he descends into ever more violent methods when dealing with criminals, Qui-gon Gin (played so ably by Independent Spirit Award winner Danny Glover) tells Anakin he needs to calm that shit down, the Jedi don't just execute people without giving them a trial first.
Senator Palpatine keeps interceding on Anakin's behalf which totally makes him look like a cool motherfucker who understands that life in deep space is rough. Senator Palpatine seems like the kind of guy who knows that being a Jedi isn't all acrobatics and trade negotiations, it also involves a lot of serious ass-kicking.
This makes Palpatine seem really cool until we learn that he is the Sith Master and Maul is just his apprentice. (Oh, SNAP, bet you didn't see THAT coming!) Here's the kicker: Maul doesn't know it, but Palpatine has decided that Maul is too ambitious, and maybe it's time for him to be replaced. Anakin is more powerful than Maul, and almost as good a swordsman (Darth Maul will, of course, be using his trademark staff) he is also a lot more stupid. So Palpatine is working the two against each other, priming Anakin to get enraged enough to CROSS THE LINE.
The Jedi Council calls Anakin in and tells him that his behavior is getting out of hand. Yoda is getting seriously irked about all of this violence and craziness. Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson for the win!) finally gets pissed and tells Anakin "The Force, motherfucker! Let it guide you!" and Yoda just shrugs and says "Yes, truth he speaks, yo." To help Anakin get his shit together, they pair him up with this guy Obi-Wan Kenobi who is the same age as Anakin, but much more level-headed.
Then we find out that Amadala isn't dead! She is either a clone (bummer) or she really did survive the assassination attempt (fucking righteous), but either way Anakin gets some booty! She learns she is pregnant, but doesn't share that information with Anakin who is a bit busy with this whole Clone War.
Maul then smokes Anakin's partner Obi-Wan Kenobi (oh noes!!!!) and this really sets Anakin's teeth on edge. It's on, now...no more Mr. Nice Jedi.
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
After Maul killed Qwi-gon in the 2nd movie, Anakin is a loose cannon. He doesn't know Amadala is pregnant, all he knows is his master is dead and Maul is going down! With Palpatine's help, Anakin learns how powerful the Dark Side truly is and how he can use it to destroy Maul.
What Anakin didn't know is that Obi-Wan, his partner, was secretly cloned by Palpatine to serve as the nucleus of his new Sith Lord army that would be taking over the galaxy after all the Jedi are wiped out by the Mandalorians led by mysterious assassin Boba Fett.
Anakin and Maul meet up on the lava planet where Maul has his headquarters. Palpatine gets Anakin to switch to evil and cut down Maul, thus taking his place. Unfortunately, right after he does, the lava shield goes out due to the battle and Anakin gets all burned up.
Amadala learns of Anakin's shenanigans and fakes her own death, hoping to raise her kids safely in hiding. It's while she is in labor that it is revealed that she is a clone and a poor one at that, she is slowly dying.
Vader doesn't know he has kids, doesn't know his love was still alive. And Obi-Wan doesn't remember ever owning any droids because HE IS A CLONE. He hides on Tattoine while Yoda hides on Dagobah, waiting for the day that the Jedi will rise from their ashes.
***********************************************************
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Way better than that crap Lucas put out, if you ask me.
Concept Art
Zya did some concept art over the weekend while we were playing some D&D with friends, I'll post a bit of it here.
Zya is also working on a full portrait based on a rough sketch she did, so far it looks spectacular, much like the one on our Facebook page, actually. In terms of excellence, not in content or style.
What you see posted above is just a quick sketch she did based on a test script that I hammered out to test prospective artists.as I mentioned in a previous post. The test script didn't take long to write, about 20 minutes I think, but I liked it so much that I am now thinking of expanding it into a 3rd project. All I need to do is find an illustrator...
Fortunately, the new school year is about to start and that means I will have a greater chance of finding illustrators here once Evergreen is in session. As I said earlier, it seems like every quarter they have one student who does a project in the comics medium, so maybe I can get them full credit for working on this project. Stranger things have happened.
Going to try and hit up Oly Cards and Comics today with a flier, and maybe Danger Room later this week. The Craigslist method didn't work out too well for me, but I am going to keep trying it.
No risk is no reward, as they say.
Zya is also working on a full portrait based on a rough sketch she did, so far it looks spectacular, much like the one on our Facebook page, actually. In terms of excellence, not in content or style.
What you see posted above is just a quick sketch she did based on a test script that I hammered out to test prospective artists.as I mentioned in a previous post. The test script didn't take long to write, about 20 minutes I think, but I liked it so much that I am now thinking of expanding it into a 3rd project. All I need to do is find an illustrator...
Fortunately, the new school year is about to start and that means I will have a greater chance of finding illustrators here once Evergreen is in session. As I said earlier, it seems like every quarter they have one student who does a project in the comics medium, so maybe I can get them full credit for working on this project. Stranger things have happened.
Going to try and hit up Oly Cards and Comics today with a flier, and maybe Danger Room later this week. The Craigslist method didn't work out too well for me, but I am going to keep trying it.
No risk is no reward, as they say.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Slowly Getting There
Well, got the Facebook page put up today, but couldn't get MySpace to let me make a business page. I likely would have figured it out but I didn't feel like messing with it. Zya might have access to an electronic tablet soon which will allow me to put up some graphics here and on our Facebook page so people will know we aren't blowing smoke here.
This project would go a lot faster if I had more disposable income for it. As it is, it will be an effort to get this started, but I sort of enjoy this guerrilla approach to things. I find it's not all that impressive when people of immense wealth start a news company or something. A good for instance of this is Arianna Huffington and the Huffington Post.
I've known vaguely who she is for almost a decade now but I have only been to the Huffington Post once. Seriously, I have only been there and the DailyKos one time each, and then years after everyone else had been there. They just never really interested me, I was getting my news and information from other websites and didn't want to spread too thin.
Recently I was reading Jameson Forester's book about blogging and its role in politics "Bloggers on the Bus." In it he spends a lot of time paying homage to Arianna Huffington. Notably the fact that Huffington started her blogger clearinghouse in the first place. Forester rhapsodizes over the fact that Huffington created the site and allowed bloggers (unpaid) to write their missives and post it there for free.
Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking the idea in any way. It was a smart business decision by the wife of a billionaire to spend some cash setting up a website that used unpaid labor to generate free content. Then she used her Hollywood connections to give A and B-list celebrities a platform to air their views to the world. This, of course, would make news worldwide with the celebrity-watchers who would then tune in to the Huffington Post to read the postings by the celeb in question to either praise or ridicule their views. A successful formula that has turned the HuffPo into the online equivalent of a physical newspaper.
And all of this traffic was generating sufficient ad revenue that the Post pays for itself.
I don't blame Huffington for starting her site, quite the contrary: I wish her all the best, success, and praise for it. But when you praise her, don't make her sound like a saint or a rock star (two diametric opposites, I know, but I believe the metaphor stands). give her the credit for being a brilliant business woman.
This project would go a lot faster if I had more disposable income for it. As it is, it will be an effort to get this started, but I sort of enjoy this guerrilla approach to things. I find it's not all that impressive when people of immense wealth start a news company or something. A good for instance of this is Arianna Huffington and the Huffington Post.
I've known vaguely who she is for almost a decade now but I have only been to the Huffington Post once. Seriously, I have only been there and the DailyKos one time each, and then years after everyone else had been there. They just never really interested me, I was getting my news and information from other websites and didn't want to spread too thin.
Recently I was reading Jameson Forester's book about blogging and its role in politics "Bloggers on the Bus." In it he spends a lot of time paying homage to Arianna Huffington. Notably the fact that Huffington started her blogger clearinghouse in the first place. Forester rhapsodizes over the fact that Huffington created the site and allowed bloggers (unpaid) to write their missives and post it there for free.
Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking the idea in any way. It was a smart business decision by the wife of a billionaire to spend some cash setting up a website that used unpaid labor to generate free content. Then she used her Hollywood connections to give A and B-list celebrities a platform to air their views to the world. This, of course, would make news worldwide with the celebrity-watchers who would then tune in to the Huffington Post to read the postings by the celeb in question to either praise or ridicule their views. A successful formula that has turned the HuffPo into the online equivalent of a physical newspaper.
And all of this traffic was generating sufficient ad revenue that the Post pays for itself.
I don't blame Huffington for starting her site, quite the contrary: I wish her all the best, success, and praise for it. But when you praise her, don't make her sound like a saint or a rock star (two diametric opposites, I know, but I believe the metaphor stands). give her the credit for being a brilliant business woman.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Photo studies at Sol Duc Falls
I am an avid photographer.
Most of my photos end up as reference for my paintings, although some simply need to be documented.
Much documenting was had during the overnight adventure to the wilderness area beyond the Olympic National Forest's Sol Duc Falls. The falls are truly glorious when the sun shines on them, gleaming white in three separate whooshes of glacier fed river that combine into a lovely salmon spawning goal.
The weekend's activity and old growth forest was perfect to capture backgrounds and body language of some of our story's characters. Dr V was very kind to oblige me in often having to halt suddenly as well as pose in a few directed settings. So much easier to translate the images in my mind to paper when there is a person holding still for me to sketch - less cartoony, usually.
We made our way along the westernmost coast line of Washington the next morning, and while the sun didn't break through during our lunch break at South Beach, WA, the fog between the waves and wind blown trees gave me some magical scenes to keep.
I'll toss in some more small pics soon as I can - sizing leads to artistic tangents!
Follow us as we wend our way into webcomics as a learning experience - Publishing and very cool merchandise to come!
Always the best Diva~Zya
Most of my photos end up as reference for my paintings, although some simply need to be documented.
Much documenting was had during the overnight adventure to the wilderness area beyond the Olympic National Forest's Sol Duc Falls. The falls are truly glorious when the sun shines on them, gleaming white in three separate whooshes of glacier fed river that combine into a lovely salmon spawning goal.
The weekend's activity and old growth forest was perfect to capture backgrounds and body language of some of our story's characters. Dr V was very kind to oblige me in often having to halt suddenly as well as pose in a few directed settings. So much easier to translate the images in my mind to paper when there is a person holding still for me to sketch - less cartoony, usually.
We made our way along the westernmost coast line of Washington the next morning, and while the sun didn't break through during our lunch break at South Beach, WA, the fog between the waves and wind blown trees gave me some magical scenes to keep.
I'll toss in some more small pics soon as I can - sizing leads to artistic tangents!
Follow us as we wend our way into webcomics as a learning experience - Publishing and very cool merchandise to come!
Always the best Diva~Zya
Saturday, September 12, 2009
It's way too early.
I didn't get a chance to post anything yesterday because after a hideous day at work I came home and had to run errands for another 3 hours then pack for a camping trip Zya and I are going on this weekend. It's Saturday morning, and I am awake and working at 6 am. I haven't done that since I was in the Army, and no, I don't miss being up this early on the weekend.
As soon as time permits I intend to do a couple columns on some of the comics that have influenced me over the years, as well as the creative teams that I most enjoyed. Today won't be that day, and tomorrow doesn't look too promising either, to tell you the truth.
In Project-related news, I have lost another potential illustrator which is disheartening to say the least. I am going to print some fliers and post them at Olympic Cards and Comics and Danger Room if Gabby and Kendra allow it (and I think they will be open to the idea), as well as University of Washington (my Alma Mater), Evergreen (Zya's Alma Mater), and St. Martin's University (because it is right here in town).
In the future, I would expect that Zya and I won't be posting much on the weekends, and one of us will be posting something each day. It might be directly related to our project, or it might be about the comics field in general, hard to say at this point. As soon as we find an illustrator we'll add them to the masthead if they are a full-fledged collaborator, so if you know of any feel free to email us.
ADDENDUM:
I just switched over to Cracked!.com (one of my favorite humor sites) and found this article from Jonathan Kirnak. I posted it here because everything in it applies to comics, but in comics the offense level is about 500X higher, at least for me. I will be returning to this point (hopefully) in my next entry, which I wanted to post yesterday but couldn't due to time constraints. So if you read Kirnak's article, you will have a preview of one of the reasons I stopped reading comics over a decade ago.
As soon as time permits I intend to do a couple columns on some of the comics that have influenced me over the years, as well as the creative teams that I most enjoyed. Today won't be that day, and tomorrow doesn't look too promising either, to tell you the truth.
In Project-related news, I have lost another potential illustrator which is disheartening to say the least. I am going to print some fliers and post them at Olympic Cards and Comics and Danger Room if Gabby and Kendra allow it (and I think they will be open to the idea), as well as University of Washington (my Alma Mater), Evergreen (Zya's Alma Mater), and St. Martin's University (because it is right here in town).
In the future, I would expect that Zya and I won't be posting much on the weekends, and one of us will be posting something each day. It might be directly related to our project, or it might be about the comics field in general, hard to say at this point. As soon as we find an illustrator we'll add them to the masthead if they are a full-fledged collaborator, so if you know of any feel free to email us.
ADDENDUM:
I just switched over to Cracked!.com (one of my favorite humor sites) and found this article from Jonathan Kirnak. I posted it here because everything in it applies to comics, but in comics the offense level is about 500X higher, at least for me. I will be returning to this point (hopefully) in my next entry, which I wanted to post yesterday but couldn't due to time constraints. So if you read Kirnak's article, you will have a preview of one of the reasons I stopped reading comics over a decade ago.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
All aboard~
Greetings, 'tis time I stepped up and added My contribution in words to what I affectionately call Project V; the blog is an ongoing journal and update of what's going on with our graphic novel, and sometimes what's going on with Me.
I am Ambrozya, aka Diva Zya and Art Director for the Project. I create fine art on canvas, 3 x 4 or so - large and not easy to carry around but very satisfying when shown in a gallery. Life for Me has always - from My very earliest memories - involved art.
My first masterpiece was the dining room walls, an epic mural in mixed media: permanent markers, crayolas and oil pastels. Dad probably had a better sense of humor about it, (His sister was a fine artist too) though I do remember having to rub the walls with cleaning stuffs for a long time until the shapes and faces faded. I was 4.
This month has been one of new beginnings, I've been doing new concept art with the Doc - that lovely brainstorming time where ideas flow into images from My fingertips.
As a full time very dedicated student throughout the school year with summer classes, having almost a month of non-academic days sets Me in a whirl of possibilities. I've got a series of sketchbooks that I am now going over to glean useful character sketches and backgrounds - pretty exciting, there's a lot to work with already!
I invite your comments and positive suggestions -
I have a few pics up at My Ambrozya artist facebook page and My deviantart.com page as well.
I am Ambrozya, aka Diva Zya and Art Director for the Project. I create fine art on canvas, 3 x 4 or so - large and not easy to carry around but very satisfying when shown in a gallery. Life for Me has always - from My very earliest memories - involved art.
My first masterpiece was the dining room walls, an epic mural in mixed media: permanent markers, crayolas and oil pastels. Dad probably had a better sense of humor about it, (His sister was a fine artist too) though I do remember having to rub the walls with cleaning stuffs for a long time until the shapes and faces faded. I was 4.
This month has been one of new beginnings, I've been doing new concept art with the Doc - that lovely brainstorming time where ideas flow into images from My fingertips.
As a full time very dedicated student throughout the school year with summer classes, having almost a month of non-academic days sets Me in a whirl of possibilities. I've got a series of sketchbooks that I am now going over to glean useful character sketches and backgrounds - pretty exciting, there's a lot to work with already!
I invite your comments and positive suggestions -
I have a few pics up at My Ambrozya artist facebook page and My deviantart.com page as well.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Advertising Rates and a Birthday Surprise
Today we celebrated Zya's birthday by taking her to breakfast down at the Spar in Olympia. After that she went to do some networking with a fellow artist prior to coming home and finding that we had plans to whisk her away to an indoor waterpark for a day of fun and frolicking.
While she was out, I did a bit more research on doing my own graphic novel, and today's focus was on advertising. Most of the resources I looked at covered pre-internet, or at the very least, pre-print media meltdown pricing. I'll need to sort out how much advertising space goes for these days on the web, and look and see what web-based comic aggregate sites are out there.
Oh, and I hear the Ed Brubaker is resurrecting Steve Rogers (the Original Captain America) sometime this year. What a surprise...do you think it will be a clone or a Life Model Decoy? Or will they try something even more stupid than that to completely destroy the most meaningful death in the comic medium for the past decade?
Now that Disney owns Marvel I have no doubt that quality will no longer be an issue that stands in the way of a profit.
While she was out, I did a bit more research on doing my own graphic novel, and today's focus was on advertising. Most of the resources I looked at covered pre-internet, or at the very least, pre-print media meltdown pricing. I'll need to sort out how much advertising space goes for these days on the web, and look and see what web-based comic aggregate sites are out there.
Oh, and I hear the Ed Brubaker is resurrecting Steve Rogers (the Original Captain America) sometime this year. What a surprise...do you think it will be a clone or a Life Model Decoy? Or will they try something even more stupid than that to completely destroy the most meaningful death in the comic medium for the past decade?
Now that Disney owns Marvel I have no doubt that quality will no longer be an issue that stands in the way of a profit.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
To Find An Illustrator
So I've been looking for an illustrator and I have already run into a couple roadblocks. I know I should have seen these coming, but I was hoping to find local people since Diva Zya met some comic artists at Evergreen University when she was a student there. So, I did what seemed logical and posted an ad on Craigslist.
The trouble was that I hadn't fully thought through what type of artist I wanted to work with, what would happen if I couldn't find a partner (which is what I prefer) and had to settle for an employee...things like that. Response to my ad has been less than anticipated, and most of the respondents are from out of state. One of the few locals who responded clearly didn't understand that "artist" and "illustrator" are specific terms that cannot be applied to someone who knows how to draw a picture, but we got that sorted out rather quickly.
Right now I am dealing with 3 rather promising people, I just need to write out a test script to see what they can come up with. If I like it, great we can see where it goes. If I am not impressed, then neither of us is out anything except time. Of course, this has it's own problems...do I do things "the Marvel Way" where I, the writer, just write up char descs, and spell out the plot leaving the artist to fill in the blanks? Or do I use "Full Script" method and lay out everything frame by frame?
If I am working with a partner, I don't mind saying that I would vastly prefer the Marvel Way. Not that I am going to leave my artist with the lion's share of the work, but I want to give them a great deal of creative freedom.
Conversely, if I am going to hire an illustrator to do the graphics then I am not going to tell them anything they don't need to know. I'll send them a frame by frame layout of the book sans dialogue, color, etc. After I get the art and they get paid, then I can use a graphics editor to add color (if I am going that route), dialogue, etc.
Each method has its assets and liabilities so we'll just have to see how it goes. The test script will be ready to go by Saturday, so I expect to have concept art from the potential illustrators about 2 weeks after that. After all, I am only sending 2 pages of script so it shouldn't take that long.
In the meantime there will be much researching going on. Stay tuned and feel free to send in any advice you might have, especially if you have ever done anything like this before.
Dr. V
The trouble was that I hadn't fully thought through what type of artist I wanted to work with, what would happen if I couldn't find a partner (which is what I prefer) and had to settle for an employee...things like that. Response to my ad has been less than anticipated, and most of the respondents are from out of state. One of the few locals who responded clearly didn't understand that "artist" and "illustrator" are specific terms that cannot be applied to someone who knows how to draw a picture, but we got that sorted out rather quickly.
Right now I am dealing with 3 rather promising people, I just need to write out a test script to see what they can come up with. If I like it, great we can see where it goes. If I am not impressed, then neither of us is out anything except time. Of course, this has it's own problems...do I do things "the Marvel Way" where I, the writer, just write up char descs, and spell out the plot leaving the artist to fill in the blanks? Or do I use "Full Script" method and lay out everything frame by frame?
If I am working with a partner, I don't mind saying that I would vastly prefer the Marvel Way. Not that I am going to leave my artist with the lion's share of the work, but I want to give them a great deal of creative freedom.
Conversely, if I am going to hire an illustrator to do the graphics then I am not going to tell them anything they don't need to know. I'll send them a frame by frame layout of the book sans dialogue, color, etc. After I get the art and they get paid, then I can use a graphics editor to add color (if I am going that route), dialogue, etc.
Each method has its assets and liabilities so we'll just have to see how it goes. The test script will be ready to go by Saturday, so I expect to have concept art from the potential illustrators about 2 weeks after that. After all, I am only sending 2 pages of script so it shouldn't take that long.
In the meantime there will be much researching going on. Stay tuned and feel free to send in any advice you might have, especially if you have ever done anything like this before.
Dr. V
Monday, September 7, 2009
Under New Management
Welcome to Electric i, the new home of Electric Aeons. Mogadishu Jones has kindly given us his site in exchange for allowing him to post here from time to time.
Who are we? I am Vesper Aeon, aka Dr. V, the head writer, editor, and production manager here at Electric Aeons. We are a nascent entertainment company that wants to create graphic entertainment. Specifically graphic novels and series that are good like they used to be. A place where characters mean something to the creative team, something more than a paycheck.
I will be assisted by Diva Zya who will be doing concept art, splash pages, covers, and storyboards. We haven't found an illustrator yet, but I am interviewing about 5 atm.
Zya will be displaying some of her stuff here as soon as we get it set up. Photos, drawings, portraits, sculptures...she does it all if she can find the time and the money for supplies. Going to get an ebay account set up to market her stuff I think, but one step at a time.
We'll post here as often as we can with news, updates, and notable events as we continue our quest to be successful creative personalities. God that sounded so stupid as I read it...left it in though to show that we aren't too stuffy here at Electric i.
Who are we? I am Vesper Aeon, aka Dr. V, the head writer, editor, and production manager here at Electric Aeons. We are a nascent entertainment company that wants to create graphic entertainment. Specifically graphic novels and series that are good like they used to be. A place where characters mean something to the creative team, something more than a paycheck.
I will be assisted by Diva Zya who will be doing concept art, splash pages, covers, and storyboards. We haven't found an illustrator yet, but I am interviewing about 5 atm.
Zya will be displaying some of her stuff here as soon as we get it set up. Photos, drawings, portraits, sculptures...she does it all if she can find the time and the money for supplies. Going to get an ebay account set up to market her stuff I think, but one step at a time.
We'll post here as often as we can with news, updates, and notable events as we continue our quest to be successful creative personalities. God that sounded so stupid as I read it...left it in though to show that we aren't too stuffy here at Electric i.
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