The progress of the weekend

Dear Miles Inada:

I would like to thank you for your inspirational suggestion to “Take our ideas and just go with them” in order to progress on our final class project. I took this concept and applied it to my decisions as they presented themselves, providing rational to FUCK off all this weekend.

For visual research I watched Princess and the Frog and stupidly but not regretfully agreed to watch Avatar, twice, and damn is that a long fucking movie!!!!

I also agreed to sit in a cramped car of five with a man being rushed to the hospital for extreme pain screaming at the top of his lungs with his horrified girl friend in tears next to him thinking that I would gain perspective. That same night, somewhere between the 1ish am attempted BNE and the 10am smoke out I lost (or perhaps gained, its currently debateable) a sense of tact-- an excuse for which I then proceed to waste away my one day off set a aside to find motivation and successfully complete my work.

A coward instead, I took the time to document the cats in the yard while enjoying the sun with them, only my camera had no working batteries in it or spares, and amoungst the multiple discards in the drawers and on tables, I poached a set from the dvd remote (a big no no), which still failed to fuel my camera. Somewhere in there I did manage to conjure up a true life short comic unrelated to my final project.

NAY, this is not meant to be negative. Despite the obscurities and the mysteriously disappearing time, I did manage to solidify a more complete concept for my project. During this time I did indeed find some inspiration as well as was reminded some important guidelines of living life, including allowing oneself to take as much time as necessary be it personal or for work, rushing isn't always the answer. Thanks again! =D

References and Documentation

Project Concept and progression

I anticipate my comic to be a representation of an idealized world currently envisioned in my mind.

This world is less inhabited than the current one in which we live. Perspectives will be from the creatures point of view and humans are viewed as strange animals whose purposes and reasons of life seem irrelevant and just plain pointless. In this world the life of one feeds of the life of another. (for example, the purpose of trees are to promote prosperity and to demonstrate love. If a tree fails, weeds resembling venus fly-traps will grow under it and choke out its roots and eat the seeds the tree drops, so the tree cannot reproduce). Additionally, the main characters will be creatures resembling animals crossed with other animals.

Project Progression and Hurdles:

Timeline:

· Currently working on character and environment development:

o This includes finalizing appearances and fitting characters into their appropriate roles. Also constructing the world in which the comic story will take place. Here I’m playing around with styles to find which I like most.

· Along side of this is creating the story:

o Here most of the ideas floating around my are being condensed and put together, in hopes of creating a smooth progressive and interesting story.

· Planning page layout and story progression:

o The use of an outline and thumbnails will enable me to begin laying out all the ideas and help determine the pace and progression of the story. Other things such as angles or mood will begin to be inflected at this point.

· Dialogue:

o Along side the outline and thumbnails dialogue will be chosen and laid out accordingly.

· Template:

o The next move would be to assess the size of my project both in length and page size. Since I plan to complete my work digitally, I will make a template that can be reused for consistency through out my comic book.

· Drafting:

o At this point, thumbnails will be translated into drafts and all drawings will be collected and placed in the template appropriately.

· Finalizing:

o All drafts will be finalized, including inking, cleaning up, and colouring. All work will be prepared for printing.

· Production:

o All work will be printed, copied, and bound into individual books.

Issues:

· Digital issues

o Understanding the scanner

o Developing a template

o Printing, ensuring the pages are laid out correctly for publication

· Creative issues

o Make the image on the paper match the ones in my head

o Writers block

o Confidence to produce a strong piece

· Personal issues

o Springtime distraction

o Procrastination

Visual Research

Visual research:

Hideyuki Kikuchi’s “Vampire Hunter D” illstrated by Saiko Takaki

I have enjoyed this work since high school, where I saw the animated film. I now have the digital manga on my ipod to enjoy from time to time. In the manga particularly I like his style of story presentation and the way in which he allows the drawing to primarily speak for themselves, relying less on a textual explanation. I also enjoy use of multiple angles in his drawing style.

Scott Hampton’s “Batman”

A fan of Batman since I was young, I was given a book with a collection of drawings of the dark knight and his world. Much of Scott Hampton’s work is in this book presented as images that consume the whole page. These images are very strong as attention to detail is found in the entire drawing. I enjoy his slightly dark style as well as the composition of his final images.

Tracyjb’s “Lackadaisy”

http://tracyjb.deviantart.com/art/Lackadaisy-Butterfly-51808873

I came across this comic browsing Deviant Art. My style is more animal oriented as I find animals easier to draw then people. I particularly enjoy the animated style and likability of the characters in the strip. Nonverbal cues such as facial expressions or body position have always been important to me in drawing as I believe they are essential to conveying much of the emotion intended in scenes.

Final Project Idea

Recently, between many personal life changes and conversations amongst friends, my mind has been going crazy about this alternate fantasy world. Finally after a good conversation, I am eager to put this world I envision into pictorial tangibility. One of the ideas for my final project would be to capture the happenings in the alternate world that are continually occurring. It is my hopes to complete the project in digital media. Sketches are sparingly being worked on, but mainly the concept still exists primary in theory.

The Story of Max