Friday 24 June 2011

A new fire burns tonight


Light the stokes and burn the oil, a new project begins today with another comic plan though this will not be a collaborative story like the Fedora comic nor will it be based in 30's Chicago. Rather it is to be set in the Old American West. Though should others on this group wanna do a story that could all be bound into one book one day then go for it, would be cool but I shall press on with my story which I have nearly perfected and should hopefully get a rough and perhaps a script done tomorrow or by Sunday.

Monday 16 May 2011

Fella's what can I say?


We did good guys! I have to say this has been the best creative experience on this course so far and it has been an outstanding pleasure to have created something with you guys that nobody can ever refuse. Congrats all round!

It's been pimpin'!

Thank you

I'd love to say again: Huuuge thank you, guys, I enjoyed this project big time and I love the final book, looking forward to see it printed in colour and on proper paper tomorrow. Thumbs up for assessment tomorrow!

Sunday 15 May 2011

Tim Sale


Comic book artist Tim Sale, was an appropriate source of inspiration for this project for his monochromatic images and dynamic compositions with his images. He also has a much looser approach to drawing which I found inspiring and incoperated that aspect into the line work of my drawings as I knew I didn't have time to do very tight precise images for this module.

I love the visuals for this game which is presented primarily in a monochromatic black and white tones, using lighting, film grain effectsto create an eerie atmosphere, often associated with horror genre. It's dark presentation is comparable to film noir and German expressionism.

Geoff Grandfield


Geoff Grandfield was perfect to look at an artist that has done work for crime novels. His work incoperates the aesthetics of a film noir visual, with the greys adding a feel of colour through its contrasts with the stark black and white despite their of course being no colour present. Also has a vintage feel with the visual look being somewhat reminiscent of old art deco posters with its bold precise geometric shapes, that being minimalistic convey alot of information with simple characters within a moody composition.

Bruce Timm


Bruce Timm was another source of inspiration with his visuals being art deco inspired. And visually it suits the context of a 1930's setting with his miminalist angular style is heavily based on his passion for 50's 60's era comic books and art deco architecture.

Darwyn Cooke


Darwyn Cooke is another artist whio is quite similar to Bruce Timm with a clear inspiration from 50's and 60's era comics, though he does more comic based work whereas Bruce does mostly animation. His work on the Parker series proved most influential as it was a crime based novel so compositionally it would be similar to what we would aim to capture in our comic. His backgrounds tend to be quite simplistic in nature but again the viewrs mind can fill in the gaps and fully create what is being suggested by the line work.

Friday 13 May 2011

Thursday 12 May 2011

Testing typeface


Hey guys! Do you think this typeface works? Much love, Benj

Wednesday 11 May 2011

Printing & reproduction

As our comic draws nearer to completion (yeeeeeah boys!), there's a few things we'll need to consider about the printing process.
  • What is the page count going to be in total with all our pages, are we going to add extra?
  • Is there going to be back covers as well as front covers?
  • Are we going to print A5 or American Comic book format (17x26cm)?
  • What type of paper are we going to print on?
  • Are we going for high quality (e.g. from The Hub) or just normal Uni printers?
We probably need to get the whole thing together in InDesign by Sunday evening to print on Monday.

Take care guys =) See you soon

Info on my story so far...

Technicality wise I have used market deco from da font website as well as bellerose for title type. Also stroke on the bubbles is 10. Also Benj 'red' does not scream curses instead i have left it silent since i felt the images and monologue carry and convey his emotions more than a verbal outburst.

Monday 9 May 2011

Carlo

There you go, Benj, here's the idea of Carlo's character, as I mentioned before, is a silly looking guy, big forehead, Lennon look-like glasses, rather big ears and silly hat. I guess he's wearing cheap suit, classic shape, nothing complicated.
For the purpose of our comic I'll be only using the part of the third page in the red square. I had to shrink the conversation between these two characters to save some space, it didn't really deserve page and a half, that wouldn't be necessary.

The rest of the third page is here, as I said, I squeezed it into three panels, rather dedicate a whole page to it.

And here's the fourth page and beginning of the fifth one:

Sunday 8 May 2011

Roughs for 'Easy Money'

Here's the roughs for Lawrence Shaw's chapter. I'm still pondering over the mysteriously absent page 10...hmm.







Thursday 5 May 2011

The street of death




Benj this the street where the car chase shooting is held

Link to Illus course blog

Also, could you guys please attach a link to illustration blog our year shares? I can't get there for some reason, thanks!

Ondrej's rough

Hey guys, here's the first double page spread I promised to post on the blog and also another version with a little test using the colour I chose. It is an initial idea, nothing finished yet, but it could give you an idea what it's going to look like. I also like different approaches we chosen for each one's process of building the imagery. Such as Dave's really really rough roughs ( eh..? ) and then taking them to nicely clean and neat finals, Benj's complex roughs and rather similar yet more pimped up finals and finally me - I'm going to get those roughs done in rather finished way, then blow them up and retrace them on lightbox ( thanks for suggestion Dave, I think it suits me and the way I work ). Good job everyone, I can't wait for the final outcome! Good luck and remember - IMAGES ARE OUR FRIENDS!!! :-)

Tuesday 3 May 2011

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Another nice example of the use of the 9 panel layout. Good stuffs ya!


WATCHMEN - Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons




































The good old Watchmen, will they ever successfully colour it? Anyhew, it uses a 9 panel layout, something good to look at. Yeeeah!

BLACK ORCHID - Dave Mckean and Neil Gaiman





Black Orchid, found it in the library. It's a cool graphic novel written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Dave McKean. The panels are nicely laid out and the shots are well angled. I like how Dave McKean blends black&white with colours. Check out the panel with the guy lighting his cigarette, I was going to do that too! Anyhew, hopefully this is useful.

Roughs - Pages 1-4


Hey boys! Here are my roughs for pages 1-4, still haven't conquered the next eight pages but thought i'd better post something! Muchos love

Story update on Red

I have now cut my story from 16 to 12 pages and i am no longer doing a double page spread for the car chase sequence so that wont cause problems that would hamper the indesign process. Also the death of the bank clerk is cut out and the whole thing where the clerk sets the alarm off during the robbery and the argument between big six and dint as those parts arent necessary to the story and probably slows it down. So im back on course baby!

Monday 2 May 2011

...and more of Mike Mignola

Hey I finally made a scanner work, just needed a while to warm up! So there's few more scans from the Batman meets Jack the Ripper comic ( this time the actual inside of the book ). Just a little note: Mignola is responsible for a pencil drawings in this one, inks are done by P. Craig Russel and David Hornung is the colour artist. Script was written by Brian Augustyn.



Mike Mignola

Interesting guy to look at, mainly known for his Hellboy comics, but I got to know him through rather older Batman comic, where the Batman encounters Jack the Ripper, from 1989. I'm sure you're aware of that, but there is ( or isit still...? ) a book shop down the old market, where you can find some pretty nice old comic books for a bargain price really. Worth poppin down there I think.

And few images from Mike:




Not like it's going to help us in any way...

...I mean reference-wise, but just look at this beauty :-) Thinking about sequel of our little thing going on, I would call it "The Musician" :-)

Saturday 30 April 2011

Little document, if you find a time to watch...

I found these series of documents on youtube, rather by accident, but still...worth watching, loads of references on realtionships between each one of the mobs and police and government. I didn't watch it all yet, gotta go to work now, but looks well interesting, so if you fancy it - dig in! I'm posting the link on the first one, others can be found on the right hand side column, ie part 2, part 3 and so on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRIN7UqAr2g&feature=related

Italian Mafia slang

I know this wouldn't be exactly relevant to you guys, but I found few sites with Italian mafia slang vocabulary. Most of the words used are similar or event exactly the same as used for general mob slang, but few nice exceptions can be find as well significant particularly for Italian gangsters. I'm still working on detailed script, getting little bit behind, but hopefully I will catch up over the weekend, and I'm aiming to get the roughs done by monday afternoon. I still need few more photos to be done for which I will need you to see on monday. Could you also bring the camera in for this, please? That would be brilliant. Keep on doing hard work as we've been doing it so far. Looking good so far, right? Have a nice weekend, see you on monday!

http://www.onewal.com/maf-glos.html
http://www.fanabala.com/
http://pixelmafia.org/speak.html

Friday 29 April 2011

Chapter 1 Red letter/monologue.

Dear ‘Kitty’
I’m scared. I don’t know what to do with my life without you next to me. I’ve been thinking back to the Barwick bank heist, that time we got some old friends to help us out. Fred ‘Big six’ Whalley and Harvey ‘dint’ Egan.
Though I haven’t had any business with them for a few years, they were the most reliable people to get the job done.
And we had that job planned like clockwork, and the whole heist almost went off without a hitch. I guess we were so blind to success that we got careless.
I don’t know it, happened so fast. But you could always keep a cool head in any situation, you who is so strong and fiery. I guess those qualities is what drew me to you, to be around such a woman...
This job was gonna free us from our sins, and no one was gonna stop us. Still I couldn’t help but feel that something underhanded was going behind the works that someone wasn’t being true to us...
All I... all we could think of was the future we wanted, to be free from a life of crime and to be honest folk happily together. But that was never to be...
This one fool shattered that dream with a bullet. I never knew anger like this, to kill a man with such vengeance in my heart. He will not slip away from me, for this Lawrence Shaw is a dead man... yes I know everything about him and were to ask how I know, well let’s just say I rebuffed a ‘dent’.
I must go now, word is he is trying to leave Chicago but I’m gonna make sure he leaves in a pine box!
I will always treasure our time together, you are my light and my world, and don’t you ever fade away.
I will always love you.
Rick.

Chapter 1 Red

Fedora
A Gangster story
Chapter 1
‘red’

Chicago 1932
Barwick Bank
A forward shot of Rick ‘red’ Blaine, holding a gun at the audience in a mid close up shot.
Red: this here is a stick up
An overhead shot of the entire bank, showing all four of the gang members surrounding the bank and having all the bank’s occupants pinned down, with Anna standing close to ‘red’, with the other two members armed with Tommy guns having the whole bank covered.
‘Dint’: Ain’t anybody gonna move here!
‘red’ talking to the clerk: Now! Open up this vault old timer!
The clerk, looking nervous, scrambles for the vault keys and leads ‘Red’ to the vault door.

Whilst ‘Red’ is taking care of the vault, Anna proceeds to the cashier desk with a bag pointing a gun at the clerk in a gesture for him to fill the bag with the money in desk.
Anna: you! Fill it up piker!
The clerk opens the vault door ‘Red’ has a gleam in his eyes seeing all the money. He then beckons over Fred ‘big six’ to fill up the bags with the money.
‘Red’: Excellent work sir, hey! ‘Big six’ get over here we hit the jackpot here
The gangsters become preoccupied with getting all the loot that they overlook the clerk going for the alarm, to which he sets off.
With the alarm going off the gangsters become startled with Fred ‘Big six’ looking at the clerk with contempt at the guy blowing their deal.
‘Big six’: You’re dead meat pal!
‘Big six’ raises his Tommy gun upon the hapless clerk, who is spared by ‘Red’ intervening by pulling his gun down in disarming fashion.
‘Red’: No Fred!
Fred ‘Big six’: But he...!
‘Red’: No we don’t kill civilians even if they are a wet blanket!
The rest of the gangsters regroup and make their exit from the bank.
Anna: Thanks for all your cooperation folks!
‘Red’: c’mon Kitty!
The gang make way to the getaway car which is a 1932 Cadillac V16 Phaeton, which has a body paint of a dark red and black.
Fred: What’s the matter ‘Dint’ nobody home or something?! Or are you just a dumb mule!
‘Dint’: Hey I only got one pair of eyes I can’t see every single tom, dick and Joe in the whole bank at once!
‘Anna’: will you boys dry up till later!
After a quick argument between ‘big six’ and ‘dint’ the gang get in the car, with ‘Red’ in the driver’s seat, and Anna next to him with ‘big six’ and ‘dint’ at the back of the car. They then begin to drive off.
Some people from the bank come out to see their captors escape with the clerk raving to people on the street to stop the car.
Clerk: Stop that car!
Just then a group of pedestrians coincidentally get in the way of the getaway car, and police sirens can be heard coming closer to the bank. ‘Red’ stops the car as he can’t consciously kill innocent people but beeps his horn to get them moving.
The clerk jumps onto the passenger side of the car in an attempt to stop the car.
Clerk: Now I got you, you sorry fools! Now pull over!
At this Anna pulls her gun and shots the clerk square in the face. The clerk’s body falls off and the gunfire and dead body scares the crowd away for the car to get past them. The police cars are now nearly upon the gangsters.
‘Red’: OK guys give ‘em some crossfire!
‘Dint’ and ‘Big six’ load up their guns and get into position of exchange gunfire with the police. The police open fire without any warning on the gangster’s car, and the guys give returning fire. Anna and Rick both look at each other with no fear for their situation and a loving gaze with her reaching out to touch his face. Amidst the gunfire Anna suddenly screams out in pain having been shot in the shoulder. Rick now shocked looks ahead to see Lawrence Shaw shooting at the car. Enraged he swerves the car.
‘Red’: You’re gonna pay for that you Bastard!!!
He drives the car straight at Lawrence who dive’s away from the oncoming car. Angered at missing we wants to try again.
Fred: ‘Red’ get your head in the game here! We still got all of Chicago on our tails we still gotta run!
‘Red’: but...!
Fred: don’t worry I think I can stop the bleeding just drive boss!
‘Red’: I’m gonna get that sonnuva bitch I swear!
The chase continues through the streets gunfire blazing, and they pass an ominous alley (Where Ondrej’s gang are bootlegging).
‘Red’: I got something to put those pigs in the gutter!
The car turns to a short street, with the cops still on pursuit. ‘Red’ deploys the car’s oil slick and then ‘red’ does a sharp turn to exit the street, the cops do the same but loose grip on the oil and they slide into the street and crash into each other. With the pursuers out of action they drive on back to their hideout, with ‘Red’ looking at Anna who is unconscious fears the worst for his love.
Here's a rough version of Detective Shaw's story, it's a bit all over the place but I'll sort it out. Lets get this ooooooon boys!

Easy Money (Chapter 3) – Script – Lawrence Shaw

Shaw’s apartment

Birdseye view shot of detective sat on the end of his bed, leaning over – Fan slightly obscures view

Close up of detectives face, eyes are obscured by a fedora, an unlit cigarette sits between his lips. The detective raises a Zippo lighter and lights his cigarette

Detective Shaw exhales the smoke from his cigarette

There’s nothing like a smoke to remind you you’re still alive

He stands up and walks over to a desk a few feet away from the bed. On the desk is a small stack of bank notes

Easy money is dangerous business, especially when you’re dealing with the mob. I don’t like to get involved with their kind of business but this time was the exception

It all started with a dame, damn I’m a sucker for a fine woman.

Shot of Shaw at his apartment door with a woman facing him through the doorway.

She said she was looking for her brother, didn’t know where he’d got to. Turned out he was with one of the smaller Sicilian gangs who are bootlegging on the West side. I followed a few leads and found him, but that wasn’t the only thing I found.

Shot of Detective Shaw hiding behind some crates in a warehouse. There are trucks in the courtyard and several men are unloading moonshine from the vehicles.

One thing led to another and eventually I was persuaded to part with what I knew

Shot of Shaw at a table in a bar with another man who is sliding money across the table to him in an envelope.

Someone out there is going to be damn pissed when they find out they’ve been set up, by then I’ll be out of town.

Shaw walks to another point of the room with his hands in his pockets.

But that’s not the only run in I’ve had with the mob…

The Bank Robbery - Flashback

Soon after the doors of the train open, Detective Shaw steps out onto the busy platform. He makes his way towards the steps that descend to the street level and as he descends he lights up a cigarette. Shaw walks along the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets, occasionally removing his right hand to take the lit cigarette from between his lips before placing it back again. He takes a turn down a smaller side street and stops to buy a newspaper from a street vender. Shaw continues to walk down the street as he casually flicks through the days paper, he comes to the end of the small street and gunfire catches his attention. Up the street, a group of gangsters are pulling off a bank heist and are making their getaway. Shaw lowers his paper and notices the getaway car heading in his direction, he throws his paper to the ground, reaches inside his coat and draws his .38 Special. The getaway car increases in speed as it continues down the street in the detective’s direction. Shaw steps into the street in front of him and aims his revolver at the speeding car. The first shot penetrates the car’s windscreen on the driver’s side and whistles past the Mob leader’s (Rick ‘Red’ Blane) left ear. The detective quickly readjusts his aim and takes his second shot, this time the bullet hits the passenger (Anna Bacall) on the left side of her collarbone.

Shaw’s apartment

Trying’ to be a damn hero for just a few seconds could’ve got me killed. And I bet that son of a bitch who pulled the heist has got me on his list

Shaw picks up a suitcase from the floor and throws it onto the bed.

I’ve got a train leaving from LaSalle Street in an hour

He opens the case

I’ve got to get out of Chicago, lie low for a while

The telephone rings, Shaw turns to look at the phone before walking over and hesitantly answering it

…Hello

There’s silence and then the line goes dead, a worried expression appears on Shaw’s face. Shaw hangs up the phone

This can’t be good

He rushes about the room grabbing items and then thrusting them into his suitcase, shirts, trousers, underclothing, and other personal possessions. The detective puts on his trench coat and turns towards his desk

A silent line only means one thing

Shaw opens his desk draw and pulls out a .38 Special, he flicks out the chamber, the weapon is fully loaded.

I’m not taking any risks

He holsters the weapon and grabs his keys from the desk before picking up his case from the bed and heading for the door.

Shaw opens the door and exits closing it behind him. As he pushes the key into the lock a figure appears to his right at the end of the hallway. The figure is dressed in a suit and has a firearm at his side. The detective turns to find another figure at the other end of the hallway dressed similarly also holding a firearm.