I'm still alive, here's proof...

.....but for some reason the colour's screwed on these uploads!

Not sure why. The last image here has uploaded okay though, probably because its black and white!

Anyway, believe it or not but together with a 58 page storyboard this work got me through my MA stage assessment. It looks much better when the colour's correct, honest...

Not sure where to take it all now, if at all. Basically I have these choices:

a) Shelve it and do something new that I've written. I would probably go for a simpler premise and story line (gotta work faster this time!).

b) Shelve it and adapt an existing story line (by a real author) into comic book form.

c) Start a second draft, which will probably mean a complete overhaul of the characters, setting, everything. This might just end up being the same as option (a).

d) Do any of the above but also turn it into something new....I'm considering learning how to use Flash to create something interactive. The only problem here is that I don't want to do something gimmicky that isn't quite a comic and isn't quite an animation. I'll have to take a look at what's already out there and read up on some current theories and ideas (Scott McCloud, hello again) to inform my opinion.

Currently looking at options (a) to (c)...reading some short stories (only Kafka so far, gonna take a look at Thurber, Poe and a few others too) and also reading Stephen King's 'On Writing' to get some more hints and tips. On the comics front, I'm desperate to read Dave Mazzucchelli's newbie and Jason's latest. Both have been ordered but have not yet arrived.

Next I'm gonna have a go at ripping my 1st draft of Paper Cuts (is that really the title?) apart, world by world...

I keep imagining my final work for this course to be a simple silent narrative with some super strong tight sequences drawn to the best of my ability...I wanna impress after all. Kinda like what I did with 'How the Rhinoceros Got his Skin' but a billion times better. But maybe it's dangerous to keep picturing something when you haven't even got a clue what it's REALLY gonna be about yet. Gimmee back my guitar, I'm sick of this visual storytelling shit....

More sequence designs...

...from me sketchbook. I'll try not to leave it 3 months until I post again next time!

Long time no post!

Haven't put anything up for a while. Here's a sample of what I've been up to. Mainly sequence designs, character designs and storyboards...

Kitty and others

More sketchbook stuff. The 'Hello Kitty' toy has inspired a new character for my graphic novel...I'll explain all in my next post I promise. Too late and too tired for that sorta thing right now.

Losing control

Here's an attempt at how one of the major scenes planned for my comic might pan out. A girl arrives on the scene and becomes an obsessive focus for the protagonist, whilst also making his imaginary world spin out of control. This event triggers the main drive of the narrative, causing our hero to struggle with his inner feelings and as a result attempt to claw out of his imaginary world.
I'm not sure how successful the above pages are. I'm a little embarrassed by some of the dialogue but hopefully this can be refined. The bottom page depicts the antagonist of the story rocking up to tease our hero. I'm still uncertain about whether he should be a co-worker or perhaps another library user...hmm.

Doodle designs

Playing with doodle ideas. The top third of this drawing is probably the most successful, where I've introduced little frames into the body of the drawing. This could be a way forward for how some of my comic pages might look. The bottom two thirds are more or less just mindless messing around!

New moleskine innit.

A self portrait I did on the way to visit my mother for Easter break (from my reflection in the train carriage window) .