Wednesday, December 19, 2007

what happened?




heres black and white pages from "loose ends", the first ive worked on in over a year- im happy just to get out alive. still dont know what going on with them, wont figure it out until Rico goes to town. he finishes the page in ways i wouldnt have imagined, better than i imagined, and different (distant) enough that i can see them a little more clearly. whatever accidents (happy or not) i run into on my own, the best ones come from having his sensibility and skill in the mix. its just hard to surprise yourself, you know? things happen out of the blue that seem pre-determined in the rear-view. anyways, blah blah blah, it was fun figuring these pages out, im starting to see where they came from. last month i was at SCAD's Comics Art Forum, the students in Atlanta and Savannah spun me-they were a whole full spectrum of styles. Schweizer, Olu, Cale, Cara, Doug, Hunter (Wook Jin), Justin (links to the right for those ive found) shook up the true north of my compass. they cartoon, their personality comes through. other influences that came out: the attack modes of Eduardo Risso, Alex Toth, and Brian Stelfreeze, who seem to kick ass without breaking a sweat . where i flounder they focus: find the contour line, spot blacks, move on. heh, does that seem super obvious? if so, its been lost on me. i may lose it again. Olivier Coipel, the way he flattens out perspective looks more real than 3 point madness, sometimes its barely there. The Gorillaz. Ed Tadem and Shawn Crystal, comrades who spill blood and still produce, much admiration.

ps ill prolly erase the clouds on page 1, and paste a map in the first panels of page 2.

7 comments:

mike freiheit said...

these look nice. you seem to have settled into something that looks really comfortable. i like how the machinery looks sort of scrappy but sturdy.

are the panels going to be these kind of shapes? it'll be fun to see rico really add some nice colors.

mike freiheit said...

P.S. I'd rather see how you draw a map than see you paste one down.

Shawn Crystal said...

B
You Rock. You showed me how to put my personality in my work, not the other way around. The cycle continues. I stand in awe.
Blood Spiller #2

.ed_ said...

you're full of that sweet talking sweet talk, sir. I'm still trying to catch up to Dirges in the Dark, and you know it. these new pages are a regularly scheduled (and much needed) kick in my ass. thanks as always, Mr. Comics.

Jason Latour said...

Comics Brunner is the best nickname evah. I think I still have that IM conversation saved somewhere :)

-J La

Olumuyiwa Ajagbe said...

the 18 wheeler! I love it when you can see time moving through a page. The 18 wheeler creeping closer from one panel to the next, dopeness! Your pretty loose with the inking, looser than i imagined. great stuff so far!

chris be said...

hey all, thanks for the support, i definitely feel out on a limb.
mike- heh, it looks comfortable, and is mostly, and that makes me uncomfortable! think i used to cram too much in, but now that im trying not to, that means its "less". heard less is more, but i worry im not bring it enough. will see what can be done about the map sir, didnt give it much consideration, you have a point though.
shawn, ed, j-la- aw shucks. yall are getting goofy.
olu- thanks! its always surprising how far little stuff like that goes, the truck was an afterthought but ends up getting noticed more than stuff i really sweated. as far as looseness....still reaching for that sketchbook quality- too loose?