Cereal and Pajamas Anthology!
Back in August a good friend of mine Will Caligan approached me about doing a short story for an anthology that he was putting together. I was a little hesitant at first as I'm not fond of drawing comics. I guess it's the lengthy process of drawing things panel by panel. It's weird as I love storyboard, and animation itself takes way longer than any comic possibly could. The short story could also be anything you like, so the freedom to create was foremost appealing. I'm not much of a writer so I mentioned to Will that I'd like to take on a co-created character of his. He hooked me up with the writer and we put our heads together to get something that wasn't the normal fair for comics. I really wanted something human, with feeling and emotion upfront. This way, the story would be more personal to the reader, and it would test my metal at showing emotion in my art. The story itself starts with the hero, Leo, chasing an arch villain through a mid-income residential type area of town. Leo corners the villain and to get away the villain blows up the lower lvl of an apartment. Leo then has to choose between getting his man, or saving the innocent people trapped inside. The rest of the story follows Leo, saving the residents of the building. After he brings out the last person, he finds out that two children are still inside. Exhausted, Leo runs back into the apartment. He finds the kids, but as he runs towards them the floor beneath him breaks and he falls into the fiery floors beneath. Leo awakens in a hospital, only to find out that the children he so desperately tried to save didn't survive.
As I said, I really wanted to bring humanity into the comic, to show that he is a vulnerable character with flaws. I hope that it shows in the art to come.
Due to commissions and contracts I had no time to color it, so I was stoked to find out that Luxun (Silas) was interested in coloring it. See the pin up above for his awesome work. Keep an eye on him, as he will be a rising star soon enough in the color biz. Stop by his Deviant Art page to get more juicy pics that he's colored up, Luxun's Gallery
The pages will be fully colored by April 1st, and then off for printing. I plan to be at the Chicago Con this year with Hen, Mike, and Tim Kelly so we'll have plenty of copies for sale there. And as a bonus, Jack Lawrence of ATOM, Lions, Tigers and Bears and Darkham Vale fame will be doing the cover. HUZZAH!
I'll post some completed pages next month :)
Cheers
Dapper
3 comments:
Wow, Luxon's colors really do your linework justice in that pin up! Can't wait to see an entire BOOK of it. The story sounds very gripping, too. I've been reading "Story" by Rob McKee, and it's been helping me understand more and more how important story is, regardless of how it's drawn/animated/filmed, etc. It sounds like you guys did a great job, especially with your unconventional but human theme. Maybe I'll see everyone again at CCC if work lets me!
You have real cool characters!! AWESOME WORK!!
Very cool dude!!!
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