On August 10, 2010 · Comments Off on A couple more Hereville sketches
Back when I was selling the self-published comic book of Hereville, folks sometimes paid extra for their comic in order to have me do a drawing on their title page. (A similar offer is now available for folks who preorder the hardcover book). Sometimes these sketches would be requests, other times I’d just choose a theme myself.
Anyway, here are two more of those sketches. You can see a whole bunch of Hereville title page sketches here on Flickr.
And the second one…
Barry: Oh wow. (Looks around, sees Jake.) Hey, Jake, look at this layout.
Jake: Oh? (Picks up book, looks at page.) Wow.
This is from “Space,” the fourth volume of Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix series, originally published in 1969. The layout device, which on this page emphasizes the group coming together as a team but eventually emphasizes each character’s separateness, is continued for many pages of the book.
It’s hard to describe Pheonix, which I’ve so far read the first five volumes of. Each volume is a story that stands entirely on its own, set thousands of years apart from the other stories, some of which take place in prehistory, others in a science-fiction future — but through reincarnation, the same characters appear as different people in multiple volumes. The ambition and scope of some of these stories is jaw-dropping. If you’re going to read just one, I’d recommend Karma, which is the best one I’ve read so far (and, some people say, the best manga ever created).
(A lot of Pheonix would be rated “R” if it were a movie, due to occasional nudity and also some extreme violence at times, so if you’re a kid you should check with your parents before reading it.)
One of the comics I picked up at Stumptown was Lotus Root Children, by Wei Li.
(SPOILERS below!)
Image from Lotus Root Children
Li told me that he was inspired by the documentary “China’s Stolen Children.” As you might expect, the approximately 50 page comic tells a sad story, but Li tells it very well. The main character is a child trafficker. She doesn’t personally steal the children; she takes care of the children between when they are kidnapped and when buyers for the children are found. During this time, she mothers the children, with genuine affection, and also brainwashes them to forget their prior lives. The character was believable and — despite what we learn about her in the course of the comic — likable, although I wanted to know more about her and her background. How did her life reach this point?
Li’s artwork is nice; he uses very lively brushstrokes both for the linework and for the coloring, which I enjoyed. The underlying drawing isn’t always assured — the anatomy seems a bit shaky sometimes – but it’s good, and I’m sure it’ll get better as Li goes on. (His new project, The Old Woman, looks great — you can see preview artwork for it here). The layout approach is also a little inconsistent; early on, Li plays around a little with breaking up a three-tiers-per-page layout, while in the last half of the book he hardly ever strays from it, and I don’t see any story-based reason for the change in approach.
But I’m nit-picking. The art is very well-done and shows potential to get a lot better, and the writing is ambitious and interesting. Li is definitely someone who believes comics can be more than fight scenes, and I’ll be looking for more of Li’s comics at future cons.
I do have one actual complaint, which is that the paper version of Lotus Root Children is in gray tones that are rather muddy. Later on, I checked it out online — and discovered that the art was drawn in color, with rich blues popping the characters out of greenish graywash backgrounds. It looks twice as good with the colors. So while I’d hate to deprive Li of sales, I’d recommend reading Lotus Root Children online instead of buying the comic.
Although most of them don’t come up in the graphic novel (which I’m working on, really!), Mirka actually has a lot of sisters. Just one brother, though. Anyhow, I thought this sketch of all the siblings would be fun to post.
On October 17, 2008 · Comments Off on More Hereville Title Page Sketches
Remember, you can own a paper copy of “Hereville” of your very own!
For folks that pay extra, I do a sketch on the title page. Each sketch is different. Here are two sketches I did recently; you can see a bunch more here.
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Remember, you can own a paper copy of “Hereville” of your very own!
For folks that pay extra, I do a sketch on the title page. Each sketch is different. Here are two sketches I did recently; you can see a bunch more here.
Continue Reading…
Remember, you can own a paper copy of “Hereville” of your very own!
This is my personal favorite of the title page sketches I’ve done so far… there are two more sketches below the fold.
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There’s another sketch below the fold….
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For folks who buy paper copies of Hereville and are wondering what you get if you spend the extra for a title page sketch, here are a few examples….
I’ve been drawing on computer so long, drawing with markers on paper feels very odd. 🙂
I’m purposely not erasing all of my pencil construction lines; I always love seeing those in other people’s work (I have a Walt Kelly cartoon on my wall in which his blue pencil lines are very clear, and even show where he changed his mind about panel order).
More title page sketches under the fold…. I’d be very interested in knowing which ones people like and don’t like.
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The second printing of Hereville will be delivered on Thursday!
So just a reminder — you can order them here, either for $15 for an unsketched copy, or $30 for a copy with an original sketch on the title page. Here’s an example of one with a sketch:
You can also buy an electronic copy for $5.
