Illustrating Kingdom Come as a Graphic Novel (An illustrator's diary)

 

What the Cover looks like.

30/9/13: Extremely disappointed in my productivity rate, I’m such a slow worker and I do believe it’s down to a lack of technical practice. None the less I’m beginning to question if I could ever possibly have work as a storyboard artist or graphic novelist, seems like a pipe dream.

01/10/13: A tutor seems pissed off; it’s kind of nice to see them care about their students. Today I bought a recycled paper book for its muddy neutral looking tone. This’ll help me draw not just shadows but highlights too. It’s a step forward for me and its hardbound so it is good looking enough for if I ever decide to sell my studies, However, I’m on my third year and my still life studies do not relate to my projects. That’s not good, I’ll be best to merge the two fields. 

02/10/13: I’m starting to believe that I will not enjoy working in colour for a comic book, even artist tend to have a colourist who works separately, instead I’ll work in monochrome emphasising the values. Let people dare judge me for it. See right.

03/10/13: Found a website that specialises in comic book font downloads. Their licence allows the fonts to be used in non profit projects or self published comics. http://www.blambot.com/

08/10/13: Was feeling incredibly stressed so I decided to not go in college. I should have called in but I was afraid of being admonished over it. Anyways I’ve got what I need at home for the moment. I also now gained a new trick where if I’m drawing a symmetrical image I’ll draw one side then in photoshop I would duplicate and reverse the other side of the image to make it whole. It’s just a handy trick that saves time.

11/10/13: Okay, I got a headache and the deadline is around the corner. This entry is going to be personal. In the past I have been taught to be pragmatic but how far does that take us? We have to adapt sure, and that’s what I am trying to do but it’s my choice to bite off more than I can chew. I took a BA Hons course to challenge myself and to learn. I’ve had an epiphany and that’s really not to worry and just go with the flow. Before Christmas this will be one for the portfolio.

14/10/13: Observing the speech balloons I found they look kind of wonky due to using a ruler on a Wacom Cintiq. I think I need to make the speech balloons in illustrator with the pen tool. A simple point and click for straight lines would make it easier for me.

29/10/13: I’ve decided to go with a rough look to my drawings, my tutors say that there’s a charm and energy to it that is lost by not loosening my hand and obsessing over clean and bold lines, which is actually more challenging when it comes to drawing. I’ve been looking at my old sketches and the work of Ashley Wood. See below.

Making a Graphic Novel from the work of J.G. Ballard

 I've been working on adapting J.G.Ballard's novel Kingdom Come into a graphic novel. You can still see in these images that it isn't finished, some are missing tone and the speech bubbles badly drawn. This easily solved by having the magic wand tool and quick select mode of the brush tool to cut areas of the dot patterns/tone. The speech bubbles are easily done in Illustrator with the pen tool, I found that to be the most effective, at first I was using a ruler with a wacom cintiq and that really was a bad idea in retrospect, the quality of line and time proved wasteful. I do consider my work as an illustrative approach and I do not see myself as an author of this work, this is an adaption of the novel, Kingdom Come.

I actually have made a diary as I went through the project so I'll find that document today and post that asap. Meanwhile the goal of this project was to test my practice in story telling and sequential art for an audience that would enjoy Ballard's writing enough to see his ideas elaborated with visuals. I was conscious of having non-descript characters wear faces inspired by Edvard Munch's The Scream Painting, so to bring out existentialist tones that I found was in the book.

Hopes and Fears (Part 2) Meeting Clients

This seems like the No. 1 hope and fear, it's important to know what work you can do and what you enjoy doing as there are businesses that can take you on board, the trick is knowing who you can gel with and who will want you. The AOI has their own client directory that they published, it's important to have one, and to make your own directory if possible. As an illustrator we have to help create or maintain the existent image and/or sensibilities of our client and their products/service. Below are a lists of tips for myself and those who are starting out; followed with useful website links, To one up what Laurence Fishburne said in that movie no one remembers, "I can only show you the door" but there's many more doors out there.

 

 

Advertise yourself:

http://www.linkedin.com/

http://www.peopleperhour.com

 

Go client hunting if you are a freelancer:

https://www.elance.com/q/how-it-works-freelancers

http://freelanceswitch.com/

 

Illustrator Directories:

http://www.3x3directory.com/

http://www.directoryofillustration.com/

 

Have your portfolio seen:

http://www.deviantart.com/

https://www.facebook.com/

http://dunked.com/

http://carbonmade.com/

 

Possible hosts for your own professional website, safe for a portfolio:

http://www.wix.com/

http://www.weebly.com/