Every Picture Tells A Story
Wow. It's been almost a week since my last update! Sorry about that folks. Life has been rather hectic around the ol'Copland homestead..... I'm still fighting my Christmas cold, I've played a few hockey games, we're getting the downstairs set up for Stewart's play area, attending family dinners, hanging with Stew and Jackie, watching Arrested Development and, of course, drawing. Anyway, you've got me now so........
I got my latest shipment, from DCBS, last Friday! Here's what was waiting within it's corrugated cardboard confines:
* Robotika #1
* Lone and Level Sands HC
* Elk's Run #4
* Eisner/Miller TP
* Following Cerebus #6
* Cerebus VOL 16 THE LAST DAY TP
* Smoke TP
* What If Daredevil......
* What If Thor......
I haven't had time to really cut into this stuff (see today's opening paragraph) but I've been working my way through the Eisner/Miller book, here and there. It's an interesting slice of conversation between two comic book legends. There was one particular part that caught my attention. They were discussing their enjoyment of drawing. Both agreed that as they worked through the steps of creating a book, from roughs to pencils to inks, it became more and more fun. It's the inking that is the most enjoyable, and rewarding, part of drawing comics, for them. Miller and Eisner believe that tight pencils are the worst thing a comic artist can do for his page. The pencils should leave room for the artist to draw with ink. The pencils should not just be lines existing to be traced.
This is the fence I'm balancing on. I need to make the inking part of drawing more fun to do. I pencil these tight pages and leave very little in the way of creative room for the inking. The inking has become a chore. Unfortunately, I can't start loosening up right now. I need to finish Empty Chamber first before I can change my working process. But, once EC is complete, I'm going to open up my pencils and let the ink tell some of the story. I imagine I will still try to keep it tight (old dogs and all that)..... just not as tight. Try not to worry too much, Kel.....
Anyway, I'll let you know what I think of some of these unread books as I get the chance to read them.
Last post's title was a song title from:
Eliminator by ZZ Top
Twenty year old turkey in a thirty year old tin.
I can't wait until tomorrow and thaw one out again, oh yeah.
I got my latest shipment, from DCBS, last Friday! Here's what was waiting within it's corrugated cardboard confines:
* Robotika #1
* Lone and Level Sands HC
* Elk's Run #4
* Eisner/Miller TP
* Following Cerebus #6
* Cerebus VOL 16 THE LAST DAY TP
* Smoke TP
* What If Daredevil......
* What If Thor......
I haven't had time to really cut into this stuff (see today's opening paragraph) but I've been working my way through the Eisner/Miller book, here and there. It's an interesting slice of conversation between two comic book legends. There was one particular part that caught my attention. They were discussing their enjoyment of drawing. Both agreed that as they worked through the steps of creating a book, from roughs to pencils to inks, it became more and more fun. It's the inking that is the most enjoyable, and rewarding, part of drawing comics, for them. Miller and Eisner believe that tight pencils are the worst thing a comic artist can do for his page. The pencils should leave room for the artist to draw with ink. The pencils should not just be lines existing to be traced.This is the fence I'm balancing on. I need to make the inking part of drawing more fun to do. I pencil these tight pages and leave very little in the way of creative room for the inking. The inking has become a chore. Unfortunately, I can't start loosening up right now. I need to finish Empty Chamber first before I can change my working process. But, once EC is complete, I'm going to open up my pencils and let the ink tell some of the story. I imagine I will still try to keep it tight (old dogs and all that)..... just not as tight. Try not to worry too much, Kel.....
Anyway, I'll let you know what I think of some of these unread books as I get the chance to read them.
Last post's title was a song title from:Eliminator by ZZ Top
Twenty year old turkey in a thirty year old tin.
I can't wait until tomorrow and thaw one out again, oh yeah.
posted by Jason Copland at 10:20 PM
7 Comments:
That's a great book. It fits nicely with 'Shop Talk', if you don't have that one already. I'm interested to experiment with the 'dirty water' technique Eisner talks about in there, especially after seeing how he applied it in 'The Plot'.
Try not to worry too much, Kel.....
I'll TRY not to.
:D
I love what I've seen of the loose style so far - that one little avatar pic - it looks good, has a lot of energy to it.
Noel is super loose in his style, he doesn't even use pencil for everything anymore, just inks over his roughs.
Oh, and is this your first time with Lone & Level Sands or did you rebuy the color? I love that book, just wondering if you've checked it out yet (and thanks for the Elk's Run support, obviously.)
Rob - I haven't read "Shop Talk". But, I'll look it up at work. Thanks for the suggestion.
Kel - I just don't want you to worry that I'm going to go all crazy on ya!
J-Rod - Cool that you like the looser look! I don't think I would work off my first set of roughs (which are very rough) but I could easily ink off my second set of roughs... instead of going and penciling them tight.
Yeah, I bought the first printing of LaLS but when I saw the colour previews and heard it was going to be hardcover, I HAD to pick it up! It looks amazing.
And the Elk's Run issue was excellent! I sat and read it last night. Those kids are up shit creek!
I'm hoping Speakeasy has their act together now and gets the rest of the series out on time. Kudos to Team Elk's Run!
As you know from reading the confused meanderings on my blog, I'm into all this "figuring out the process" stuff.
Nice post! I wanna hear more as you play around with it.
Kinski asks ...
Didya like Robotika 1 even more in color??? Except for some unfortunate lettering choices ... is so nice....
MM - You will be in the middle of that process! As I work through our story, I'll be sending you pages of roughs and inks all the time. You'll have to get another hard drive just to store them all!
I kid, a little, but you will see me work through pages from rough to finish stages. I hope you'll enjoy the ride! :)
Joe - I have to admit, I still haven't sat down with the book and given it the time it deserves. Soon.... soon.
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