New Approach

Going back to my roots now. Finishing the List, I decided to try and stretch my other influences and techniques. I relied a lot on using a lot of black in the List. It was set at night most of the time, but I digress. I've grown more comfortable with not inking and while I did enjoy Tom Bonin's fine inking, I missed inking.

I'm sure this is true for a lot of artists; inking is one of the most enjoyable processes to creating artwork. I enjoy it. It got me thinking. I liked doing the List while I was doing it, but now just mucking around with my own stuff, I don't think I'd be able to use the same approach in any recent new work anytime soon.

When I began to analyse it further, I used to do a lot more with layouts. I used more white. Even in my 24hr comic challenges, I made it my agenda to do this. It made things more interesting. From a reader's standpoint it was different, and from my own perspective for process, it made it a lot more interesting.

I then made it my prerogative to challenge myself to do everything I didn't do in the List in my next works. You know, just to balance it out a little. It has been 5 years after all. It's ingrained into everyone's expectations/perceptions as well.

It made me realise that these contrasts to my work on the List, are really what I was doing before (after my manga phase). I suppose it's more that they were never used in the last 5 years, I'm doing this. Using negative space more effectively; designing layouts to be more interesting than just merely to convey storytelling; composing self-indulgent scenes; and just experimenting more without a defined structure. Particularly on the last point, I do miss a lack of structure. Planning a story, deconstructing it down to minimum, adding another story to interweave, scrapping a story, going bat-shit post-modern and ending up with something that doesn't even resemble what I first started with.

A lot of this stuff is influenced by (a lot of) josei manga, alternative Japanese and American comics, and European comics. In my next works, you'll probably be seeing a lot more of this. To probably only to a select few, you'd know what the fuck I'm talking about. My earlier work is a lot more harder to come by, and some of it not even published. Going back to my roots, so you may or may not know what to expect, but at least it will be a little different than what you're used to.

See. I said I'd be back.

Thought I'd talk a little about my writing process for a short story I'm working on at the moment. It started off as a fairly straight forward affair as far as the plot is concerned, but as it began to take shape, it was apparent I was growing more dissatisfied with it.

The story as it was seemed a little flat. While you could consider it non-standard, it wasn't particularly remarkable. I was happy with the concept, but I think the execution isn't all it could be. If I left it as it is, it would reek like a Deviant Art comic. Full of fanciful art, flat storytelling, relying too much on exposition (well, not in my comic, but I want to rag on DA a little) and a shock ending for juxtaposition you'd see a mile away because that's in at DA.

I didn't want the high notes of my comic to be the first and last two pages of my comic, and the rest to be filler. It's standard at the typical mainstream publishers at marvel and dc to write that way, I tend to like my own writing to be more experimental, a bit challenging for the reader, and try to leave room for the reader to interpret the story in their own ways.

Then I watched a movie called What is it?. I'm going to preface this by advising that the movie isn't very watchable. I doubt even if you read my stuff or have similar tastes to my own that you would sit through that movie. It's really uncompromising. I appreciated that. I'll leave it at that. The point is, that I really inspired me to approach my story again differently; from disparate directions.

I began to form new ideas. I could still use the existing story, but use it as a sub narrative over a more ambiguous and surreal counter-narrative. I would use them to weave a rationale behind my theme for the short story I'm working on.

Moral of the story: Don't be precious with your work. Be prepared to shit all over it. For art.

For people in Sydney; I'll be heading over there for Supanova. I'll most likely be at the Oztaku booth. Come say hello.

Forwards to the Horizon

So over a year has passed since this blog has last been updated. In that time I've completed the final installment of The List comic. It's been a long 5 years with Paul Bedford and Tom Bonin, but I did enjoy it all.

Throughout the production of this story we have been getting feedback from our readers and I am really grateful and happy that it's been positive. It's great that our readers have enjoyed the book as much as they have

While I do enjoy being a starving artist, I don't intend on staying one for a prolonged period. Please support us by getting a comic (or three now that it's completed): http://www.thelistgraphicnovel.bigcartel.com/

I have made more progress in regards of the anthology I've been mulling on for the better part of 5 years. Work is now underway on the first of what I hope to be many anthologies. There are four of us in this project, based on our respective aspects. I'm being intentionally vague, but I will elaborate at some later point, just not right now.

It is intended that this first anthology be the precursor for the following ones. It is to set the benchmark for the others. It also will allow me to practice in publishing and putting together a book.

You may have noticed that the blog has been updated to look less horrible than it was before. One of the first of many things on my agenda that has been addressed.

My absence on this blog is something I intend on rectifying. I will endeavor to update this on a weekly basis. Of art or at least of some noteworthy news.

Until next week (see what I did there?).

Gonna renovate this site. I already dislike how it looks design-wise only a half year on now.

2010 is a new year and decade. I have a new job. I have income to support my anthology idea, however now have less time to devote to it. Woe my tribulations!

Other news soon to be updated:

                                      - My Anthology project details

                                      - The List update

                                      - Wonderful art! Mine of course.

                                      - Sarcasm. I'm not even joking about that.

                                      - ...and more useless personal insight into my meaningless life!

Cheers

Henry

Don't want to talk too much.

Here's some stuff from the List:





And some more commission work:

 

Says it all doesn't it. The Australian government in it's infinite wisdom has decided to pursue this "Clean Feed" and actually implement this idea of censoring the internet on the pretense that it is "protecting children". Sure it is. Just like banning the sale and use of knives because someone got stabbed with one. Trying to kill a fly with a nuke. Et cetera.

This topic was discussed on the tv show ‘Insight’ a while ago, and the main argument is that it protects children.

 

Well, power companies don't administer you house's power sockets and amperage to prevent electrocution because you're so lazy/negligent as a parent to mind them and your children yourself; why should it be the same for the internet?

 

If you are unskilled to set up a computer in such a way, DON'T have the internet installed in your house. For some reason, people are able to stop their children from stealing the car and going joy-riding, but when it comes to the internet no one can do anything about it, can they? I suppose any parent that buys a computer, sets it up in their child's room, connects to the internet, and doesn't monitor their child's use of the internet really means that parent's are completely helpless and have absolutely no control in the matter. 

 

For fuck's sake, you can stop your children swallowing paint, playing with knives, playing with fire, but for some reason the internet is just beyond the average parent?! No. It’s not. The onus is on the parents and not the state. I don’t want my internet suitable for 3 year olds and below only, meaning the rest of us are reading the Wiggles instead of BBC news.

 

Also, the proposed 44% reduction in speed will cripple the economy. For a nation that has one of the slowest and least progressive broadband in the world, to decimate what little speeds it has, conflicts with the proposed federal initiative to enhance our broadband, where it is already acknowledged as integral to the nation’s interests economically and socially.

 

It is not the government’s role to censor its people. They can and will enforce the law, but censorship serves no just role. You can enforce the law fine without harming the public doing so.

 

As for the prevention of crimes, it’s fairly evident it won’t do anything aside from make them use more underground methods (even still using the internet), why doesn’t the government spend more time and resources preventing these crimes and inforcing the law than censoring the internet. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather the issue of some child being abused should be addressed first rather than the matter of the internet, because it just happens to coincidentally be a distribution tool. I’d liken the situation to banning a model of car because it is used often for bank robberies. But maybe that’s just silly, as the government cares more for its populace control rather than enforcing law and order.

Fun shit. Exams are over and that has freed up quite a bit of time for me, so naturally I’ve been going out and enjoying the weather and not doing any comiking. That time is now over. I am crying on the inside, I assure you.

 

Time for comiking. It is long overdue. But I like comiking, so not really such a bad thing really. :)

 

I’m doing ‘The List’ pages too, but I have to scan those, and I’m not near a scanner.

 

Here’s a panel for a short promotional commissioned comic instead, that I am spending way too much time on. I think that this delay is produced by a tendency to be perfectionist for every detail. Hey, now that a lot of time has elapsed, I have no choice but to deliver the quality, eh?

 

Getting much appreciated support for the Anthology idea I have. Looks like that pipedream of mine that’s been bobbing in my head for the last few years might very well go somewhere, and dare I think get done. Funding looks like it will be covered. I might be able to afford to boost the production quality, although I’d say that’s a premature statement as I haven’t gotten around to getting printer quotes just yet.

And because I like transparency, I’ve put this down.

From what I conceived of it at the moment:

-         Title has not been created yet. Expect some weird name.

-         10-15 contributors

-         Invite only for first round artists, and then it’s open to others if room is available. I think this is would ensure that the quality of the work is there. At the moment, I have a fairly large shortlist, so it’s going to be hard culling it down to a mere 10-15, but then again, it also depends if anyone is up for being a contributor.

-         10-20 comic pages each

-         Full colour

-         I wouldn’t mind A5 size, but it’ll probably be the same size as another anthology called Gelatin (smaller than A4?).

-         Optional theme: Psychosomatic

-         Each author has 1-2 little pages dedicated to their biography and description of works (and pimp out their websites/contact details/whatever else).

-         Tentative 3 book anthology, where the first one will determine if the others will get done as well as if further print runs are required

-         Initial print run will be 200

-         Glossy dust cover jacket (I initially wanted a matte finish without a dust cover, but after seeing this done on another anthology where it really worked, I wanted to do this)

-         Glossy interior pages if budget allows

-         I’ll try to promote it as much as I can before its release and after, by flyers and whatnot during conventions. To help generate interest, I’ll try to include it with my works, and probably encourage other contributors to do the same if they go to cons, or to include it with their works as a freebie.

-         Each contributor gets one copy.

-              Each contributor retains the right to their work, but for the first edition, I'd like the first printing rights to include it in the anthology. For further print runs, the agreement has to be renewed with the creators for the right to print for each subsequent run.

-         I’d like the sales price per book to be around $25-$30

-         The idea is after printing costs and excluding contributor copies (at cost per unit), each contributor (including myself as I’d be a contributor) will have equal share in profits. So that means whatever is left over is split evenly amongst however many contributors there are in the book.

This can be done either as a lump sum payment when the first print run sells out or included on a per unit basis and paid in instalments after certain predetermined sales marks are made. I prefer the former as it’s less complicated for me. ;)

Maybe I’m a bit naïve, but I think that 200 print run is doable to sell out, and after printing costs are recouped, I don’t see why anyone who contributed shouldn’t be able to have profits (even if I do run at a (hopefully minor) personal loss for myself).

-         If further print runs are required, all contributors have to consent to a second printing (per book if it gets to that). If it’s not a full consensus, then it does not go ahead.

 

 

These things will most likely change during the course of the production, and this is by no means a complete list inclusive of all contingencies. So far this is an idea at its roughest design stage.