good thoughts. I am hoping to work on the layout of some scenes this weekend, as soon as I have those in a sendable format I'll send them your way. Also, I realized that it might be good if I filled you in on the changes in the story and where else I see the story going that hasn't been written yet.
So expect those to appear on this blog soon.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
More ideas
I picture the prologue reading like a novel, with the text hand printed on roughed-up parchment, or scroll like material - then illustrate major scenes from the prologue in a sketchy fashion. Frank Miller, and other graphic novelists have done this in their books as well. Often in the batman novels, they will include important documents or case files at the beginning. I can see your prologue serving as the opening legend for the tale to come (very much like the opening scenes of (don't laugh) disney's beauty and the beast).
As far as page size is concerned, I would think that a slightly smaller page size would lend itself to the timeless feel of the story- going with more the physical size of a novel, possibly even binding the book in a hardcover. However, the downside of reducing the page size is that we would limit the space for the story to unfold graphically, and hardcover versions are expensive. Therefore at this point, I would opt for the standard size.
I agree with you that there is a lot of room within the drawings and layout to be original and break assumptions. And, I think that the layout of the book should follow the style of the artwork. Therefore, our first goal should be to determine the graphic style of the book. Would you send me a specific excerpt from the novel that you would like to see a draft of, and I will work up some ideas for that scene. Also send specific suggestions or advice for how you picture the excerpt being laid out. I think that this is our first hurdle in the novels artistic development.
As far as page size is concerned, I would think that a slightly smaller page size would lend itself to the timeless feel of the story- going with more the physical size of a novel, possibly even binding the book in a hardcover. However, the downside of reducing the page size is that we would limit the space for the story to unfold graphically, and hardcover versions are expensive. Therefore at this point, I would opt for the standard size.
I agree with you that there is a lot of room within the drawings and layout to be original and break assumptions. And, I think that the layout of the book should follow the style of the artwork. Therefore, our first goal should be to determine the graphic style of the book. Would you send me a specific excerpt from the novel that you would like to see a draft of, and I will work up some ideas for that scene. Also send specific suggestions or advice for how you picture the excerpt being laid out. I think that this is our first hurdle in the novels artistic development.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
A graphic novel has limitations:
1. A page is 8 1/2 X 11.
2. You have to draw things.
3. Frames... the drawings have to be separated from one another somehow
4. Dialogue bubble/blocks.
Creativity in what we make will be done within the confines of these limitations. There is a lot of room within these boundaries to get people off balance by doing different things. There is for sure a "cliche" comic book look. I have been asking myself lately how to get people to stop thinking "comic book" and start thinking "graphic novel." Being original within the limitations is one way to do that.
1.You can change the page size (but why? and to what? The idea is to break assumptions and to get people to judge the work on its own grounds.)
2. There is tons of room within the drawings to break assumptions and be original. I think this is one of the key places it can be done. I went to Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago to flip through comic book art and made judgments about each on in about 2 seconds of flipping through the art. People don't expect realism in the images - they expect cartoons, which is also different from something stylistic like Frank Miller.
3. The images have to be separated somehow. I think the question to ask on each page how can the look of the frames on this page serve the storytelling, be visually appealing, and creative?
4. I have been working on the prologue and putting long sections of narration in it, so it reads almost like a novel with illustrations more than a comic book. The prologue fits large blocks of text better than other sections will, but it for sure is one way to break people's assumptions.
1. A page is 8 1/2 X 11.
2. You have to draw things.
3. Frames... the drawings have to be separated from one another somehow
4. Dialogue bubble/blocks.
Creativity in what we make will be done within the confines of these limitations. There is a lot of room within these boundaries to get people off balance by doing different things. There is for sure a "cliche" comic book look. I have been asking myself lately how to get people to stop thinking "comic book" and start thinking "graphic novel." Being original within the limitations is one way to do that.
1.You can change the page size (but why? and to what? The idea is to break assumptions and to get people to judge the work on its own grounds.)
2. There is tons of room within the drawings to break assumptions and be original. I think this is one of the key places it can be done. I went to Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago to flip through comic book art and made judgments about each on in about 2 seconds of flipping through the art. People don't expect realism in the images - they expect cartoons, which is also different from something stylistic like Frank Miller.
3. The images have to be separated somehow. I think the question to ask on each page how can the look of the frames on this page serve the storytelling, be visually appealing, and creative?
4. I have been working on the prologue and putting long sections of narration in it, so it reads almost like a novel with illustrations more than a comic book. The prologue fits large blocks of text better than other sections will, but it for sure is one way to break people's assumptions.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
This new found authorship power may just go to my head...
Hey, I figured out how to post, and not just comment.... Yay!
Awesome photograph, by the way. I think it would be really sweet to be able to use edited photographic scenes as backdrops for the book. The trick is making that work seamlessly with the characters, because there are plenty of ways to make it look ridiculous.
I will be off for a couple of days early this next week, so I will try to post some more brain storms.
Awesome photograph, by the way. I think it would be really sweet to be able to use edited photographic scenes as backdrops for the book. The trick is making that work seamlessly with the characters, because there are plenty of ways to make it look ridiculous.
I will be off for a couple of days early this next week, so I will try to post some more brain storms.
I thought as we talk about style of art we can put up images we like/think might be a source to draw from.I like this one... not sure why. There is something about the softness of the light. It looks like it could have been in a comic, but it is a photograph.
Also, can you make your own posts on here? I thought i invited you to be an author, but if it didn't work I can invite you again.
Friday, October 17, 2008
i can do you one better. I was planning on outlining a few pages then using Comic Life, a program on my mac, to put together the pages in more than a sketch form and even get some images off the web as stands-ins for the pictures I have in mind. Then I will just save those as pdf's and send them your way. I will be working on those soon.
The pages I have done are really rough, and I expect them to change a lot. So that is one challenge. Another challenge that keeps coming into my mind is: why put so much time into something that isn't even complete, and may never be AND even if it is complete there is a chance it won't be a compelling story or a good final product so why put so much time into it? I think my outlook on that one is that I am looking at this as a fun project to do to explore storytelling and comic book making. How does that sound to you?
I'll send you those files soon.
Question: How do we talk about what the pages should look like?
Question 2: What are you thinking so far as the style of the art?
The pages I have done are really rough, and I expect them to change a lot. So that is one challenge. Another challenge that keeps coming into my mind is: why put so much time into something that isn't even complete, and may never be AND even if it is complete there is a chance it won't be a compelling story or a good final product so why put so much time into it? I think my outlook on that one is that I am looking at this as a fun project to do to explore storytelling and comic book making. How does that sound to you?
I'll send you those files soon.
Question: How do we talk about what the pages should look like?
Question 2: What are you thinking so far as the style of the art?
Thursday, October 16, 2008
What is this?
James, I was thinking about the comic book and had two images in my head that I thought "hey it would be great if I could show these the James and tell him my thoughts about how they relate to the comic book" then I thought a blog might be a good way to accomplish that.
I've been working on the comic book more recently. I went back through and re-worked the story to fit the form of a graphic novel and I've done that up to the point where the written version stops. I've changed a lot, and there are some things character-wise and image-wise that I am really excited about.
That was last week. This weekend I put a stack of printer paper in a folder and have been starting to plan out the actual page layouts. I've realized a few things since then: 1. I am an awful artist. Man, I suck. I am sitting in a coffee shop right now with the pages i've done spread out on a bench in front of me and I am embarrassed for anyone to see them. We are talking stick figures and little dots and scratch marks. 2. There is a lot of theory that is going to have to develop if this project is going to become like what I am envisioning. questions like "how do you arrange the frames in the page?" and "how do you put text on a page and deal with dialogue?"
I've got some thoughts on that and (if this blog idea doesn't turn out to be a dud) maybe we can work some of that out on here.
Thoughts?
I've been working on the comic book more recently. I went back through and re-worked the story to fit the form of a graphic novel and I've done that up to the point where the written version stops. I've changed a lot, and there are some things character-wise and image-wise that I am really excited about.
That was last week. This weekend I put a stack of printer paper in a folder and have been starting to plan out the actual page layouts. I've realized a few things since then: 1. I am an awful artist. Man, I suck. I am sitting in a coffee shop right now with the pages i've done spread out on a bench in front of me and I am embarrassed for anyone to see them. We are talking stick figures and little dots and scratch marks. 2. There is a lot of theory that is going to have to develop if this project is going to become like what I am envisioning. questions like "how do you arrange the frames in the page?" and "how do you put text on a page and deal with dialogue?"
I've got some thoughts on that and (if this blog idea doesn't turn out to be a dud) maybe we can work some of that out on here.
Thoughts?
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