Daze of the Triffids

There are little maple trees all over the yard. In gutters, under small piles of leaves, in the garden. Hundreds of them. This is not an exaggeration. And I suspect this is going on all over the Northeast. Apparently, it's forest season. And I stride manfully and pluck them out, one by one.

It's a cheap feeling of power, being able to root an entire maple tree just between the pointer and thumb of one hand, but I take that feeling where I can get it.

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Anyway, La Semana del Arte! continues, with some more preparatory sketches from "Renunciation."

Remember to click for bigness!


More poses with the shovel. It looks like the body english is getting a little aggressive in that bottom one. Working out some issues with that shovel, I think. Definitely out of character.


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This one refers to itself as "The Spirit of Barren Harvest." Like the Spirit of Christmas Present, only for farmers, and not nearly as jolly. A good sign that something has gone very, very wrong in your life, if this is standing in your kitchen.


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A two-page spread from the 'thumbnail' mock-up of the complete story. Most of my comics start life as one of these - I am aware of the severe lack of drawing goodness, but the point is to get the storytelling worked out first, and then do the purty pictures. Still, I may keep that dirty look the farmer gives the spirit in the second to last panel.


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Yet again more poses with the shovel, still, only this time it's a pitchfork and the whole thing has a lame disco air about it. He's also looking kind of pissy, which isn't really a character trait I associate with our farmer. This is the first time I'd worked out the wardrobe, though.


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Mugshots. First, he has a mustache, then he doesn't. Magic! The face in the upper right is a 'final,' and is the one I'm using for the comic. Inspired by a quote from some depression-era photographer about the 'harsh faces' of her subjects.


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Inside the barn, where the farmer has an encounter with a territorial rooster. I'll no doubt assemble some photo reference for the final, but I do like to do these atmosphere sketches so I can nail down how I want the comic to feel. This is a lot closer in tone than any of the others, which are all either a little or a lot too cartoony for the story.


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And here's a prep sketch from "The Fox:"



The basic layout is there, but it's clear I hadn't quite nailed down the style contrast. Also: I'm deeply embarrassed by the lameness of the 'Dave-in-Coat' in the lower right hand of the page, but I'll take it as evidence that at least my sketches have gotten better in the intervening decade+2. I know I've seen a more advanced prep for the first page of "The Fox" lying around somewhere; I'll have to see if I can track that down for the 'archives.'

The only reason I really like this one is because it's drawn on the back of some really, really old school computer paper, which my parents used to keep in a wok for scrap paper.

That's it for today. Sorry if it's a little blah - maybe I'm alone in this, but I always found these 'process' sketches from other artists pretty neat. Tomorrow, I'll put up something a little more complete, for those who prefer their art a little more cooked.

D.

Renunciation

Had class tonight. Not a class I'm taking, but a class I'm teaching, a 'how-to' for comics - only given what's going on in this class, it's not an accurate descriptor to name what I'm doing in there 'teaching.' Oh, well. It's still an enjoyable experience, but half the class is falling in love and simply giving up drawing, as a result. It's a little odd, because the two lovebirds are classic overachievers, but when they get together, they give each other permission to lay back. I was hoping they'd channel their talents and feelings into some kind of extra-cool collaborative effort, but that's not in the cards.

Anyhow, one of the reasons I started teaching the class was to urge myself to return to comics as well, and it's nice to see that I've successfully broken through some of my old barriers. That's happened to me before; when I was in college, I took my junior year off (and spent time with the B.U.M.'s, which is an anecdote for another time) - and in that entire 16-month period, I only did one drawing; an incomplete self-portrait - which seems appropriate, now that I think about it. But, somehow, when I returned to school the next year, my work had improved measurably on many counts. Hard to explain just how that happened, since many of my hang-ups were towards the technical end of the creative spectrum, and that's not the kind of thing you just 'get' by marinating. You really have to work at these things. Perhaps I was sleep-drawing all that year?

Here's the initial prep sketch for the first page of the 10 (or so) page story I'm working on:


(click images to embiggen in a new window)

Drawn cold one night at the hospital - my wife (henceforth known as 'Yesenia') had sliced her finger while cooking. A pretty common event for us both, sadly. Which is why I prepared this time out; I brought my sektchbook, actively trying to generate story ideas. Blissfully, the first sketch came wrapped up with an almost complete plot and theme, which is another rarity for me.

A little difficult to see what's going on there, but maybe the next phase will clarify:



Don't know why (that's not true, I do know why), but the image of this depression-era farmer resting his weight on his shovel with the wasted fields around him and his home in the near distance really sparked for me. As I noted before, it's rare that an image comes to me whole - and when it does, I do my level best to get it out of my head intact.

In between the first and second version of the image, you can see that the farmer has gained a wardrobe - most notably a hat and a vest - and gone from assuredly holding the shovel erect in his left hand to using it to support his weight.

Today, I finished up the pencilled version:



Lousy scan, but you can kinda-sorta see that he's now trying - and failing - to dig out an old stump. Another detail that seemed thematically just right when it occurred to me. In my story outline (written after ruminating on the first sketch for a few days), I simply note: "A farmer works in the field. The few crops are withered and the ground is dry and dusty." Evocative, sure, but writing 'working in the field' and drawing the act of working in the field are two very, very different things. I trusted that I'd come up with some actual real farming goodness to add convincing detail, but 'working' can mean just about anything, for heaven's sake. I should've just drawn him balancing his books out there, or, I don't know, giving handjobs for green stamps. Farming and Prostitution are the two oldest professions, aren't they? And having our hero reduced to such sad circumstances would have really added a layer of poignancy to the plight of the dustbowl farmer.

Anyway, went with the shovel and the stump. I guess that means that I can get the comics code seal?

There's also the addition of a four panel floater, which will alternate sound-fx of digging ("Chut") with a close-up of the shovel ejecting dirt and debris. And the vague farmhouse has now become my house, because it's period-appropriate (built in 1915), and because any time you can draw something from life and not have to make stuff up is time saved.

I got about half the page inked tonight - but I'll hold off posting until that's complete. I'm also thinking of doing the story instead in watercolor with a sepia tinge. Watch this space.

D.