Beneath the Moaning Red Oak Boards

The late October air hangs heavy in the bedroom, already weary of the approaching dawn. Silence clings to every untouched surface, its hold unbroken save the frenzied clicking of an insomniac at work on his computer. The art student is awake.

He runs his fingers through his patchy beard, pondering what to type. Perhaps a joke to open with? He shakes his head, instead settling on a pretentious impression of his early morning ennui. "That'll let them know how sensitive I am", he says to himself in what he fancies himself a solemn manner. Then he decides to abandon the third person pretence because the joke is starting to become stale.

I finished the first sample page this morning.

 It's not exactly golden, but I only had two days so I guess it could be worse. If I can convince Michele to let me publish it as a webcomic, I'll be aiming for two updates a week, giving me about a day longer to produce each page. With no slip ups, the whole story should be finished in around 8 months. However, I really need to redraft the script again before beginning production, not to mention finishing inking my short and figuring out hosting options. At this point I'm beginning to get delirious from sleep deprivation so I think it's time to wrap this up. With any luck, I might just be able to squeeze out one more page before the hand in on Thursday.

Upon the Graves of Our Forefathers

Today I finished thumbnailing the comic. Final count: 73 pages. With under a week until the deadline, I am either going to have to make some sample pages and create the rest as a personal project, or invent some kind of temporal inhibitor device that allows me to continue working as time stops for the rest of the world. Right now I'm banking on the latter.

Here are the thumbs (apologies for the poor quality):

So I have a lot to do. Too bad I'm abandoning this project for tonight to work on my other comics. Hooray for poor time management!

Every Time the Phone Rings

So yesterday I went and got lost in the New Forest. I won't easily forget the stench of blood in the air that clung to my clothes like cold sweat, nor that haunting howl as night began to fall. The trees are like a cage when the sun starts to set.

Anyway, guess who took pictures!

I also  tried my unsteady hand at reportage drawing again, with disappointing results:

All in all, it was a fun trip. Would not recommend visiting on a full moon, however. In other news, I finally started working on adapting the script to thumbnails:

The script draft is only 18 pages, but comic books have the page conversion rate of dog years so the final count will probably be more like 60. Yeah, this is going to be a long haul, guys.

Like a Ghost or a Whisper

I've been working on character designs, and I think I've settled on the protagonist's look:

 I guess I should talk about what influenced the visual style. I'm used to working in a more conventional style that's slightly less basic:

But the content of the narrative lends itself to an art-style that's more childlike and deceptively cutesy. This works for two reasons. One, it appeals to a younger demographic, and two, when the weird, messed up junk starts happening, it isn't too scary to alienate viewers but creates this odd juxtaposition of spooky and adorable. A lot of this is directly influenced by the work of Pendleton Ward, specifically his show Adventure Time.

 Adventure Time is like a bad acid trip recounted by a ten year old, and I think its zany/creepy nature is largely what makes it such a universally beloved show. It's this kind of visual creativity I want to utilise in my own work.

Above are images from Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, an astounding animated film that I've loved dearly from childhood. Much of the imagery is similar to that present in Michele's story, making it a natural influence on this project for me.

This is an extract from Bryan Lee O'Malley's Seconds, which honestly has nothing to do with anything other than I love it to bits and hope some of its greatness will rub off onto me somehow.

This is Noelle Stevenson's cover to the first issue of Lumberjanes, another forest-set comic that has a great sense of humour and fun. Stevenson's artstyle is an undeniable influence on this project, though I'm also hoping to capture the same spirit and energy she presents in her work.

That's about it for now. Tomorrow? Into the forest! (If I can come to terms with my fear of public transport and social interaction, at least.)

His Shadowpuppet Audience

I finally finished the first draft of the script. I can't post it here directly without screwing up the margins, so here's a .pdf file. In the meantime, here's a titlecard concept:

I feel like it's pretty dynamic. Thinking about removing the bar in the "A" though. Maybe that would make it too illegible? Anyway, here's a quick cover mock-up as well:

I really hate the custom brush I used to create the forest canopy with, and the pose in the centre image is all kinds of messed up, but I like the use of silhouettes and outlines. Could do with some gradients and textures though. Also need to play around with the basic compositional structure to see what looks nicest.

I wonder if I could just stop breathing and disappear completely.

Illustration: a Tragicomedy in Three Acts

Recently I attended a workshop designed to make me re-evaluate my understanding of mark-making by utilising experimental processes. This essentially amounted to drawing with sticks dipped in ink and smearing acrylic paint with random crap. Yes, illustrators are basically just five year olds but with fancier pens.

This is a sketch of Lord Okkoto from Princess Mononoke, drawn with dried pasta and a twig.

Don't even know what this is.

Another sketch of Princess Mononoke.

Finally, a doodle of a boar in plain old pencil.

 This workshop really taught me a valuable lesson: "if it bleeds, we can kill it". Something that will hold me in good stead for years to come, I'm sure.

Carrie White Burns in Hell

Once again, I come crawling back. This time as a university student. My brief for today is to adapt an orated story into an illustrated narrative. I'm approaching it in the vein of an Adventure Time-esque comedy/fantasy. Working title?

My notes are as follows:

Finding the Narrative:

I felt the version of the story Michele told lacked narrative structure and coherence, and needed an emotional centre and character arc. Characters and motifs would be introduced with no call back, making them superfluous, and the story shifted perspective and themes frequently and without point, leaving the overall narrative stilted and unfocused.

It also lacked a major dramatic question; in the first act it appeared to be: "will the protagonist make it to her grandmother's?", until it was interrupted by the perspective shift in the subplot involving the two lovers, changing it to: "will the lovers live happily ever after?". This was quickly answered ("no"), but we aren't given any resolution as we then return to the girl's story. She experiences her climactic ordeal in true mythic fashion, however we are only half way through the story. The narrative then shifts again, with the major dramatic question being: "will the protagonist sever her ties with her family and find happiness with her new one?".

It seems we actually have three stories here: a girl finding her grandmother, a couple torn apart due to copulating out of wedlock, and a woman having to choose between her husband and her family. This is the cause of the narrative inconsistency and in order to centralise it, the elements must be condensed into one story with a single major dramatic question.

I have chosen the first story as it has the most promise for characterisation and is the most suited for visual storytelling My version is a coming of age tale centred around  the protagonist's emotional journey to reconcile herself with her mother's death (mentioned in a throwaway line in the original). This is embodied by the various feminine figures she encounters throughout the story, both good and bad, who equip her with the resources she needs to survive without a maternal figure.

The Hero's Journey:

I have adapted the story to fit the monomyth structure conceived by Campbell and Vogler. They posited that you can separate a narrative into specific story beats:

(Ordinary World) The hero is introduced in their typical surroundings. This equilibrium is thrown out of balance by the (Call To Adventure), where the hero is given a quest or task that requires them to leave their ordinary life behind. (Refusal Of The Call) The hero is initially reluctant, fearing the threat of the outside world, but, after (Meeting With The Mentor), they become motivated into (Crossing The Threshold) into the Special World of unknown rules and threats. On the way they face many (Tests, Allies, Enemies) before making the (Approach to the Inmost Cave), passing a second threshold. Here, they face a (Central Ordeal) and metaphorical death and rebirth, finally receiving a reward (Seizing the Sword) for their efforts. They then face the daunting (Road Back) and cross the  final threshold (Resurrection) back into the Ordinary World, creating a new equilibrium (Return with Elixir).

If we then apply this to the basic storyline (Ayiline journeys to visit her grandmother after her home becomes unsafe. Along the way, she grows strong enough to survive on her own, and eventually rejects her domineering grandmother in a generational conflict. She returns home having dealt with her maternal abandonment and is finally ready to start a new life with the allies she's made on her journey.) we have a similar breakdown with the blanks filled in:

(Ordinary World) Ayiline lives with her father in a cottage in the woods. She is young and meek and still grieving the death of her mother. (Call To Adventure) When a strange man takes interest in her mother's key necklace, she is forced to flee to her grandmother's house in Hollowdell, the neighbouring village. (Crossing the first threshold) On the way, she is chased by a giant red boar and loses her way, taking her feet off the beaten path and finding herself alone in the forest. (Refusal of the Call) Rejecting her mission in hopelessness, she comes upon the motherly Lady Death and the children of the forest who console her into receiving the call (Meeting with the Mentor). After spending the night, she encounters (Tests, Allies, Enemies) including the shapeshifting Prince of Snakes, Solomon, and an abandoned cemetery haunted by demon spawn. (Approach to the Inmost Cave) Eventually, she finds her grandmother's village in flames after a wedding gone awry. 

(Central Ordeal) She makes it through a wall of flames and finds her grandmother's house; a wretched, charred shack surrounded by dead trees. She enters and finds her grandmother covered in blood. She begs Ayiline to help her escape because she fears the townsfolk will blame her for the wedding disaster, and she complies. Chased again by the red boar, Ayiline carries her into the forest, where she stops to rest. Alone and safe at last, her grandmother reveals herself as a witch, and begins to suck away Ayiline's life energy from a second mouth hidden under her shawl. As Ayiline's life starts to fade, she is rescued by Lady Death in insect form. Her grandmother dead at her feet, Ayiline finds herself changed into an aged old crone. (Seizing the Sword/Resurrection) After despairing, she sees a wall of water ahead of her, and, when passing through it, becomes magically rejuvenated. (Road Back) Standing before her is the man obsessed with her necklace. He tries to take it from her but she uses it to trap him behind an ornate Oakwood door. Amber morning dawns and birds return to the trees. She is then greeted by a tall, dark stranger who reveals himself to be Solomon in human form. She gives him her key and tells him she doesn't need it anymore. (Return with Elixir) The two return to her home to tell her father of their journey as autumn blossoms in the canopy above them.

Approach:

I find this story best suited to a dark yet child-friendly aesthetic that is simple and colourful enough to not alienate younger audiences, but twisted enough to appeal to adolescents and (potentially) adults. This should also be achieved through use of humour. I want the story to be told in a very organic way, as though it were imagined on the fly by a hyperactive ten year old girl. This will be conveyed by the modern colloquial dialogue and the deliberate use of anachronisms.

Characters:

Ayiline - our young heroine. She nurses a painful wound brought on by her mother's death. This is the central motivator of the story. She carries a key around her neck that is sought after by everyone.

Gmo Crone - Ayiline's mysterious grandmother. Ayiline is anxious to meet her as the last remaining connection to her mother, but is disillusioned to discover that she's a villainous witch who wants to steal her youth. She represents negative maternal energy.

Lady Death - A spirit living in the forest who acts as first a threshold guardian and then mentor and ally to Ayiline. She represents positive maternal energy. She acts as a mother to nine children who died in the forest that sometimes take the form of skeletal butterflies. In the climax, she claims the life of Gmo Crone after she tries to steal Ayiline's youth.

The Woodsman - A vengeful merchant who desperately wants Ayiline's necklace for himself. He acts as the herald or catalyst, forcing Ayiline to flee her home after he catches wind of her. He can also shapeshift into a boar (the tusks resemble his moustache) and chases her relentlessly. He represents negative paternal energy and the callous nature of the forest.

The Blacksmith - Ayiline's father. He represents positive paternal energy.

Solomon, the Prince of Snakes - A shapeshifting serpent Ayiline meets, who eventually becomes a love interest. She chooses to give him her key, showing both her love for him and her personal growth through the journey.

Themes:

Aside from the obvious themes of death and feminine anxiety, injury is a central theme in the story. The Woodsman is introduced with a lame leg, Gmo Crone is badly injured and needs Ayiline to carry her and Lady Death's floating body is in pieces. The name Ayiline is derived from the verb "ail" meaning " trouble or afflict (someone) in mind or body." and the suffix "ine" meaning "of or pertaining to". This references her emotional injury caused by maternal absence and is illustrated visually by the white streak in her hair that disappears after she is rejuvenated when seizing the sword.