Special Globe Guard 1 -rough pencilling/story done.

 

Today I finished the last rough pencilled panel for Earth Beat which means as soon as I get the projects that require lettering done I can get to work and finish the story that started in...1987.  

I had a very clear storyline in mind with clear twists and  conclusions. Along the way that changed drastically as a new story came to mind and even though on these rough pencils I knew the way the story was supposed to end...it has not. 

Yep, making the story up as you draw from panel-to-panel can be fun....it can also leave you with FOUR good plot twists that will not be used.  

It all means that I hope to get the two books that need lettering finished well before Christmas (look at me "Mr Planning Man" !!) and I'll work on the Earth Beat over Christmas. Now if only people were as determined to buy the books as I am to finish and publish them!

Panels and How They Make Pages (Only title I could think of)

 In the last post I showed how I draw panels "off page" so to speak.

14 panels for the start of the story make up 4 pages -though I may add an extra panel or two.  The end sequence consists of 10 panels and make 4 pages. Again an extra one or two panels may be added but there was a reason for drawing this end sequence quickly.

The story I had set out in my head to end this Earth Strike story (published in 1987) was a simple out-and-out fight against the villains and their hordes. However, I then realised I had a change to make to add a twist to that. 

Whoa! Not done yet.  You see at about 0400hrs one morning this week I was trying to numb my brain with You Tube when a whole new ending/explanation came into my head (as usual a fully drawn concept in my head). Now there are a couple twists and turns but this new ending added a slightly darker and more complicated slant.

I pencilled the panels roughly and added in the unedited dialogue because if I did not this supposed 20 pager might end up like The Green Skies where there was a mapped out but unwritten story that went into notes that eventually fell aside as I realised that changes to changes were a waste of time as when I started drawing things changed from panel to panel and page to page so that even the end was not one of the original three endings I had mapped out -in fact I did not really want the ending that happened because of what it meant for a character I really grew attached to.

At least with the end sequence of the SGG story roughly laid out I can try to make it the real final ending so it isn't just another super villain versus super hero end.

I ought to add that this is the page count IF I work on A3 sheets. If I work (paste up) on A4 you can double the page count.

Draw, Cut, Paste and Scan

 

If people have seen past posts on how I work they will know that, due to the eye problem, I moved to drawing from A3 paper to A4.  I also like drawing panels and then then cutting and pasting them onto A3 which gives you a lot of opportunity to design a page.  

Sales being what they are my cranky old Mustek A3 scanner cannot be replaced but that does not mean I cannot draw, cut and paste to A4 instead. Currently drawing panels on A4 copier paper to cut and paste onto A4 (unless I can repair the A3 scanner).  

My intention is to paste the panels on a page with background of some type and these unfinished SGG Earth Strike part 2 panels should work well with that and, no, I do not use a computer for art and so, especially as I do not have Adobe, I do not scan and paste to a page on that.

 I like the feel and look of the ink on paper and how the mind (I still about have one) can design a page "as you go along" and as an Independent publisher you can experiment. It is what I miss about the seat-of-your-pants 1980s where people like Myra Hancock produced lino cut art zines or Ben Dilworth experimenting with different paper types, printing on acetate or even using templates and auto car spray paint to put covers together.  I'm getting old and I have a HUGE box of 1980s zines that can still inspire since the 1980s were the Small Press Golden Age.

What A Way To Go!

 

The Year of the Werewolf Update

 

Okay, well at times I did not think that I would get there but despite all the things messing me about....

I have just finished erasing any pencil work showing on Year o0f the Werewolf  and everything is complete at 87 pages. Yep, I went and  did another big 'un -well, it is a comic album so 48-90+ pages is acceptable. Not one of my infamous 300+ pagers!   

 I'll start scanning on Sunday or Monday and begin lettering once that is done. Then I just have to letter the 130+ pages of Parallel Motions and then I need to finish the second part of the 1986/87 Earth Beat story for the Special Globe Guard first issue (issue 3 is already lettered).

Unfortunately I doubt I will ever get to draw any of the other stories I have in my head as I am only one aging old fart so it's a case of do what you can.  So stay tuned!