Wednesday, June 22, 2011
no west to cross
No West to Cross preview pages by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
just finished the first issue for 215 ink, heres some highlights.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Tezuka vs Kirby
I just got to take a look at Osamu Tezuka’s “M W” which was awesome and so amazing because it is still shocking how ballsey it is even today (originally published in 1975 and just released in the states in 2007). To preface, I am not making any judgment calls on the material in MW, but it was shocking to see some of the things that were in it, especially for someone as famous as to garner the nick name “the godfather of Manga/Anime.” He called it his “anti-Tezuka manga” with a story involving Catholic priest who is sworn to celibacy with women, so he gets his jollies in the loophole of sleeping with a guy who crossdresses as a woman for him. There are scenes of implied sex with children and even scenes that suggest things with animals (like a whole page of the crossdresser wrestling in the tub with his dog – framed to always show both the dog and human’s full bodies even though the lower half of their bodies serve no importance). Things that are less explicit but you can tell are meant to make you connect the dots. Making such notably odd comics as Charles Burns’ “Black Hole” look like Sesame Street by comparison.
There were some questions I had about the inconsistencies in his choices about how overt to be with his rendering of the story. Some scenes seem so graphically violent (explosions which throw severed body parts at the viewer and a murderer sticking an unconscious victims head in a furnace) and yet other scenes, especially sexual ones will skirt around the overt images, and I’m not sure if this is the case in the original manga or just how it was edited for American audiences: Things like an image framed to show full naked bodies will fade to white towards their waists leaving only a line or two to describe any detail, and yet leaving this blank space to occupy at least ½ the panel. Similar scenes cut to pure abstract shapes moving with the character’s dialog over the. Certain sexual scenes will become increasingly dimly lit the longer the scene lasts until they are purely silhouettes. I also noticed oddities like entirely black word balloons – which I’m not sure what it is supposed to mean.
It’s such an odd mix artistically because Tezuka’s characters’ are so cartoony and exaggerated and yet the props like guns and backgrounds will be photorealistic unlike Kirby’s backgrounds which follow the basic style of his figures. This may be due to Manga’s approach of using assistants specific to items and not processes, like a motorcycle artist, or gun artists, instead of the American process of a penciler and a an inker or finisher. And while Jack “the King” Kirby is reported to have drawn 20,000 pages over his career in comics, Tezuka is reported to have drawn over 150,000 – almost just less than 8 times as many pages – though I believe Manga’s storytelling at the time was much more decompressed than American comics – something we’ve started to match pace with over the last 10 years. Both men helped write the stories they worked on, and created much of their country’s comic visual vernacular, as well as did many things outside of comics, not the least of which for Tezuaka was pioneering the start of Japanese animation. It’s startling to see how these two seemed so similar and influential, like peers to compare and yet so vastly different I in their output, both probably effected by the culture and processes they worked in.
There were some questions I had about the inconsistencies in his choices about how overt to be with his rendering of the story. Some scenes seem so graphically violent (explosions which throw severed body parts at the viewer and a murderer sticking an unconscious victims head in a furnace) and yet other scenes, especially sexual ones will skirt around the overt images, and I’m not sure if this is the case in the original manga or just how it was edited for American audiences: Things like an image framed to show full naked bodies will fade to white towards their waists leaving only a line or two to describe any detail, and yet leaving this blank space to occupy at least ½ the panel. Similar scenes cut to pure abstract shapes moving with the character’s dialog over the. Certain sexual scenes will become increasingly dimly lit the longer the scene lasts until they are purely silhouettes. I also noticed oddities like entirely black word balloons – which I’m not sure what it is supposed to mean.
It’s such an odd mix artistically because Tezuka’s characters’ are so cartoony and exaggerated and yet the props like guns and backgrounds will be photorealistic unlike Kirby’s backgrounds which follow the basic style of his figures. This may be due to Manga’s approach of using assistants specific to items and not processes, like a motorcycle artist, or gun artists, instead of the American process of a penciler and a an inker or finisher. And while Jack “the King” Kirby is reported to have drawn 20,000 pages over his career in comics, Tezuka is reported to have drawn over 150,000 – almost just less than 8 times as many pages – though I believe Manga’s storytelling at the time was much more decompressed than American comics – something we’ve started to match pace with over the last 10 years. Both men helped write the stories they worked on, and created much of their country’s comic visual vernacular, as well as did many things outside of comics, not the least of which for Tezuaka was pioneering the start of Japanese animation. It’s startling to see how these two seemed so similar and influential, like peers to compare and yet so vastly different I in their output, both probably effected by the culture and processes they worked in.
New published work
Dynast splash page sample by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
Dynast color samples 2 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
Dynast color samples 1 by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
I was the colorist for these pages and about 25pgs of the book Dynast:The Rise of Bherek White, which is to be published by Shatterday Comics. You can expect the book around July-Aug. I penciled the top page as a sample page.
Also in Aug Kord and Harley: 7 deadly sins, which I inked 1 1/2 issues out of will be published, you can find more here.
I also wrote a story for the Japan Needs Heroes anthology, called "Frozen Hopes" Which is my first writing exclusive project. Below is a sample page though the final will be colored.
Frozen Hopes Pg1 Letters by ~Master-Futon on deviantART
And lastly the 11'oclock comics anthology is debuting this week at the Summit City Comic Con, which me and James did the art for the Battle of Hastings story in it. You can find more about it here.
Which will feature the finished version of the below artwork among other pages.
Viking Battle by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
Monday, May 30, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Super Show 2011
Ghost Rider by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
Mirror Master by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
CGS Jamie D. Gift Art by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
Spider Jarusalem by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
Creature from the Black Lagoon by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
Bat Boy Portrait by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
Green Arrow Sketch by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
Had a great time at the show and even got to talk to Lee Weeks for a while.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Denver Comics Fest
Here's a few sketches from the convention.
Green Lantern by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
Nightwing Commission by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
Snake Eyes Boba Fett by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
DC Trinity by ~xaqBazit on deviantART
Here's a texture page I did for my students to show them the different qualities and types of lines you can make depending on your tools and purposes.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Post Megacon Update
Hey just thought I'd update after being back from Megacon. Me and James are actually in talks with a publisher for From Blood, so issue 1 was not at megacon this year though I did get a few commissions and sold a few prints. Here's one me and Jame's did just for fun.
Supergirl Megacon 2011 by ~JamesWhynotInks on deviantART
Also had a lot of fun getting to see old favorites like Hobbes, Patrick, Watts, James, Martin, and a whole slew of new friend's and contacts like Adam and Comfort of "the uniques," they also gave me a very valuable portfolio review and just talking to them about the philosophy of their work ethic really gave me a new attitude about working in comics in general. I also was able to spend only the money I made at the convention and managed, for the 1st time, to spend all of it in Artist's Alley. It went a lot faster but I really got surprised and how much good stuff was out there, and really took a chance with a lot of books that paid off when reading them - it was time for me to finally put my money where my mouth was, and it was great. There were also a few different people/organizations trying to raise money to help with the Tsunami Victims in Japan. One thing I'll be doing is contributing to the anthology for that very cause, which you can find here.
Other than that Paul Pope's comments on this panel really changed how I looked at my style, when he talked about Kirby as a "cartoonist" - which is usually such a shunned term to refer to comic artists who aren't doing funny books, but it's true. It's also the 1st time I've tried "indie spinner rack" since I normally listen to Comic Geek Speak.
I've penciled and inked two 10pg stories last month that will be published soon, and I'll give the details soon. I also just learned how drastic of a change in body language tilting a figure's head to one side or another can effect their mood/expression.
Supergirl Megacon 2011 by ~JamesWhynotInks on deviantART
Also had a lot of fun getting to see old favorites like Hobbes, Patrick, Watts, James, Martin, and a whole slew of new friend's and contacts like Adam and Comfort of "the uniques," they also gave me a very valuable portfolio review and just talking to them about the philosophy of their work ethic really gave me a new attitude about working in comics in general. I also was able to spend only the money I made at the convention and managed, for the 1st time, to spend all of it in Artist's Alley. It went a lot faster but I really got surprised and how much good stuff was out there, and really took a chance with a lot of books that paid off when reading them - it was time for me to finally put my money where my mouth was, and it was great. There were also a few different people/organizations trying to raise money to help with the Tsunami Victims in Japan. One thing I'll be doing is contributing to the anthology for that very cause, which you can find here.
Other than that Paul Pope's comments on this panel really changed how I looked at my style, when he talked about Kirby as a "cartoonist" - which is usually such a shunned term to refer to comic artists who aren't doing funny books, but it's true. It's also the 1st time I've tried "indie spinner rack" since I normally listen to Comic Geek Speak.
I've penciled and inked two 10pg stories last month that will be published soon, and I'll give the details soon. I also just learned how drastic of a change in body language tilting a figure's head to one side or another can effect their mood/expression.
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