reMIND - graphic novel sketches

[Dubu]

wow 130 pages! how long have you been working on them?

[maximunki]

Amazing project, I really admire your commitment (as well as your awesome drawing skills, of course).

[brubaker]

@ HerrleerzeichenS - I'm glad that you found some of this information helpful. Let me know if you have any specific question about making a GN. I'll try to help out as much as possible. I know it's a hard path. And thank you for your compliments. Your facial studies are really great BTW.

@Delmar - Thanks for the smiley sun face! And thanks for your comments! I'm very happy to hear that my experiments are enjoyed by others. Wow, your sketchbook is amazing! I love to unique moods you set in your paintings! Great character designs as well.

@ColorExcursion - Thanks for the comments. Glad you like it so far.

@luness - Man, your work just blows my mind. Your creatures are so unique and creepy. It reminds me somewhat of Wayne Barlowe. I love it. You have a good point about the line weight. I'm so far along at this point that I might have to try that in my next GN. Thanks for stopping by though.

@Mischeviouslittleelf - Thanks for your honesty. I'm trying to preserve the line art as much as I can in the color but something always gets lost during that coloring process. That's why I love sketchbooks and the making of books!

@Ivan Turcin - Thank you again!

@Jephyr X - Thanks you too.

@Dubu - I've been working on them for about 3 years now. I am hoping to get all the coloring finished within 6 months. I just might be able to get this thing done by 2010.

@maximunki - Thank you very much! Your face paintings are so nice!


Here are a few more pencil drawings to add to the mix.

[Jamie Romoser]

Awsome updates really cool Seeing the thumbnail images to the final work is inspiring id love to see more of them.
keep up the great peices
till next time -Jamie

[Tmza]

Great stuff here.

[SaintLConcept]

shit ...this is greatttttt. u're subscribed man lol, one question , what exactly did u use for the linearts

[Edictiv]

You've got a really neat style. Your stuff seems to be on a professional level!

[ValUST]

Love your drawing style, especialy the cat , you really love this project and it totaly shows in the beautiful drawings. Colored pieces look amazing! Can't wait to see the final outcome, defiietly going on my shelf.

[Dibujio:Guru]

Hey Jason hows it going man..

What i seen so far is really amazing once again man beautiful line's and mark's that bring the character alive in every scene.Like emotion and personality is every where in the drawing's man your putting a lot into this and it show's.I hope when this is done that you never stop working hard man...Also when your are done are you going to be selling it online or at some local book store's?

[serio]

nice comic stuff in here. Strong line.

[brubaker]

@OmertA - Thank you so much! I'll try to update this with a bunch more pieces that show the progressions. I'm glad you like them.

@Tmza - You have some great environments in your sb. Thanks for stopping by.

@Art4All - Thanks for subscribing! My line art is all pencil. To be specific, it's all mechanical pencil .05 thickness. I light table most of my finished work onto bristol board or even better - Ingram 12 or 16 Field Size Bond Paper It's great for the animation lighttables too because it has acme punched holes for registration. This makes it easy to trace over your sketches. I love the characters in your sketchbook!

@Edictiv - Thanks. I try extra hard to make it look professional. But it takes me way to long to draw this stuff. Glad you like it! Keep up your great sketchbook too!

@ValUST - Thanks for the vote of confidence! This project has been a labor of love like you say and I'm glad it shows.

@Dibujio:Guru - Thanks again for your support. I look forward to seeing what you end up starting as well. I will be selling it mainly online, I think, and also at conventions. But we will see. Things always change.

@serio - Thank you! Great anatomy drawings in your thread.


Sorry I have not posted in a little bit. I got a freelance job on the side of my regular job and it was CRAZY. I painted 120 storyboards in 3 days. My eyes hurt. I don't have my computer with my art on it here so I can't post any of my work tonight but I can post an updated list of things to think about when starting a graphic novel. Here is a link:

Before you start your graphic novel.

[SaintLConcept]

WOW!, thx man ur giving away lots of info here ,been very useful especially for noobs like me ;p thx a bunch ,
the link is awesome thx a bunch for sharing ;p
ow , btw u're workin storyboard now ....would really2 love to see them, pleaseeeeee post them here so i can enjoy staring ur work all day lol

[NickyBeats]

holy crap brubaker, 120 storyboards in 3 days??! i would have no eyes left at all! thats a hell of alot of imagining for such a short time. did your brain just give out on you after it was all said and done? my hats off to you sir! keep up the hard work, it will all pay off!

-at least for me when im buying your book!

[midknight523]

again, great work

[Giorge]

very nice , funny comics

[Mex]

wow, last color page and wips are super greate! and i like your cat more and more )))

[escape2mars]

Wow, Brubaker. Nice SB. I tried doing a comic book once so I know how labour intensive it is, but it was a lot of stop-and-go, and my style kept changing. Eventually decided comics weren't for me, but I admire anyone who sticks with it. Much respect.

The thing I like about your work is the line-work. It's simple and communicates well, but at the same time doesn't get crowded and crazy.

Question: How do you keep your style from changing over a long duration working on the same book? Do you use model sheets?

[DesignNoob]

hey great stuff. i try to be comicartist to, but this is real impressive.

[DesignNoob]

question :" did u just us computer to draw it or do u skatch ur thing and draw cross?"

[MoKhi]

I love the new pages. I can't wait to see more.

The one with her reaching for the tool is my fav, though the space she's in is a little confusing. At first I thought she couldn't possibly fit in there.

[brubaker]

@Art4All - Hey, thanks for the love. I would post a few storyboard frames here but I can't because they are for a movie that is not out yet. Plus they are REALLY sloppy and I'm not proud of 'em.

@NickyBeats - Haha yeah my eyes felt like they were going to quit on me. I ended up doing another batch of 45 boards last night and the night before. Yesterday was a 16 hour day and that's just down right STUPID. I was suppose to finish some more today (Monday) but I just didn't have it in me. Plus I need to spend some time on my own stuff!

@midknight523 - Thanks again!

@Giorge - Thank you as well!

@Mex - Hope you still like the cat after you see today's post. It's a sneak preview of where the book is going.

@escape2mars - Thanks for your compliments. To answer your question about how I keep my style from changing over a long period of time - Believe it or not, I don't have any model sheets even though I know I should because I use them everyday at work and know the importance of 'em. I guess my style has just evolved into this style over the years and so it kinda comes naturally to me when I'm not told to draw in a specific style. I do have a few images that I keep referring to in case I don't think a character is on model. But to tell you the truth, I feel like the characters do change as the pages go and I am kinda just accepting it at this point.
For instance these 2 new drawings are about 18 months apart and one is using my wife as reference and the other is a bit looser and from imagination. You can start seeing a subtle change in the style I think.

@DesignNoob - Hey there, I'm not sure I understand your question but I think you are asking if I use a computer to draw or not. I draw it all on paper and then scan the roughs and lay them out in Photoshop to get my pages looking the way I want then I print them out and trace them on a light table. Rescan and re-composite in Photoshop. I then adjust my pencil lines with Brightness/Contrast to make them nice and dark like you see here. My colors are all painted with paints and then scanned and manipulated in Photoshop too.

@MoKhi - Thanks for the comment. Yeah that space is pretty tight and confusing. I had to draw it plenty of times before it looked right to me.


Here are some more sketches. This is a frame from later on in the story so it might give away some plot here.

Hey, does anyone have any thoughts about if I should try to find a publisher or just self-publish. I have heard some interesting thoughts lately claiming that finding a publisher is a better way to go not only because they pay for the printing but also because it's more respectable for the artist. I'm not sure though, I've always admired the guys who self publish first before finding the right publisher. Any thoughts?

[DesignNoob]

hey there, i just read my message again man i dont know what mood i was in, but after 10 hour painting my brain seams to be off
yes my question was if u just use photoshop or if u use pencil and scanner.
thx, i think u are an original

nice work, nice work. i can lern a lot from this

[eparts]

thanks for dropping by my SB. Your stuff here is nice! I like how your comic is turning out - the story seems really interesting. Your blog for it is very inspiring as well

keep up the great work!

[Bergulf]

Nice comic. Really fresh original style and good storytelling. I have seen your stuff at penciljack too (I lurk there).

Regarding your question about whether to find a publisher or self-publish I think finding a publisher is better. I agree with the people you have been talking to that say it’s more respectable for the artist, I think it’s a better way to get exposure too. I suggest you try sending your comic to a few publishers.

Nothing wrong with self publishing though, one can make a pretty good product this way. I am no expert by any means but I am planning to make a comic myself and my plan is to try and get it picked up by a publisher first but if that fails I’ll print it myself. I know several people who publish their own comics and some of them have gathered a decent fan base but its hard work doing all your own marketing and I find it difficult to believe that the recognition could be the same as if one was published by a well know publisher.

[brubaker]

@DesignNoob - I read your question again. That was a great laugh. I know how it feels to be wiped out from staring at the computer for too long.

@epart - Glad you visited my blog and liked it. I try to keep good info on there so it's nice to hear it's appreciated.

@Bergulf - I hear what you are saying. I talked with Image last year but I wasn't impressed with them. I also talked with ASP the publishers of Mouse Guard and they were interested. I really like them because they are small but have really nice books. Here is their website: http://www.archaiasp.com/

I might as well try to work something out with a publisher first like you are going to do. What publishers are you thinking about approaching? Any suggestions?

[gutss]

woah.

this is awesome! and really educational, I love looking through here and learning new stuff. it makes me motivated to start on the stories that have been floating around in my head the worlds in these panels look just too fantastic. I seriously want to read this. get to work!

[Bergulf]

I have been doing a fair amount of searching on the web for publishers but there are tons and I’m not sure which ones are the better choices. Can’t really give you any good suggestions at this time. I am aiming for a English language publisher because I prefer to write in English and the Swedish comics market is comparatively very small and quite narrow( although getting broader) when it comes to which styles and genres get published. I am going for a fairly realistically drawn action horror style comic and I don’t think that would fly too well, but who knows.

I was reading about a Swedish comic artist (peter bergting) that got his big break with Image so I checked them out. You say you weren’t impressed by them, any particular reason? ASP look interesting.

[Dibujio::Guru]

Digging your last post man the cat looks like he ready for war lol


Hey quick question good sir ...How would you start off in going about putting together a novel/comic book type.Would you use basic sentence story paragraphs or is there another way to go about writing down your story the right way for a novel/comic book?


Like for example comic book's are scene base would you write for each scene or write down what they would say first or figure out a scene first and then go that rout.But if it's a novel/comic book how would you go about doing so....?

[brubaker]

@gutss - Thanks for your comments. I hope to see some of your stories soon!

@Bergulf - I might be writing off Image too soon. Lots of people have suggested that I try to publish through them so maybe I'm wrong. I was contacted by Image about a year ago saying they were interested but they never wanted to talk about contracts. They just wanted me to send them everything I had. Then they got all upset when I asked to see some sort of typical agreements that they make.

I also have a few friends who have published through Image and they seem to like 'em. But there is very little incentive for Image, from what I can see, to try to push your book because they make their money up front from what I understand. After they are paid what the contracts state then the rest goes to the artist. This may sound good at first because you could make a ton of money if your book is successful. But in other words they make more money by getting tons of artists to publish their work through them and if 99% of the artists books go nowhere then it means nothing to Image because they already made their money on all the first sells.

I'd rather have a publisher who will make a cut of the profits so that they have a reason to try to advertise the book and help the artist get popular. All the best agents make money if you make money and I kinda expect the same of my publisher.

Like I said, I could be wrong but that's what I've come up with for Image. Although I never did see any sort of contract yet. I've just heard about them.

[brubaker]

Hey quick question good sir ...How would you start off in going about putting together a novel/comic book type.Would you use basic sentence story paragraphs or is there another way to go about writing down your story the right way for a novel/comic book?


Like for example comic book's are scene base would you write for each scene or write down what they would say first or figure out a scene first and then go that rout.But if it's a novel/comic book how would you go about doing so....?

Man, this is a interesting question. I think it really depends on how you work best and I can't say my approach is the right way to go either. But what I tend to do it write my stories as a one page treatment to start things off just so I have the overall arc in mind. Then I just start writing each scene from start to finish and throwing in bits of dialogue that might come to mind. But I don't focus on the dialogue until I am drawing the pages. I'm also having a writer rewrite the dialogue for the finished book to make sure it is really spot on. I hear that Mike Mignola does this with a writer with his comics. He draws it all and has the main story written but then hires a writer to come in and professionally write his narration and dialogue.

One thing I would suggest looking into if you haven't heard of it is looking into The Hero's Journey by Joseph Campbell. I heard a lecture on the guy last year that really opened my eyes to the story telling process. I haven't read the book yet. He basically broke down thousands of fantasy/fairy tale stories and compared all the good ones to each other and came up with a little blueprint or guide to think about when trying to solve story problems. I know I'm not giving the guy the proper introduction but it's a "must study" if you haven't heard of him before. Here is a little resource link I found but there is tons more info on his process online.

http://www.cerritos.edu/fquaas/resou...sh102/hero.htm


Hope that helps a bit. I'd love to see what you start making! Thanks for the question!