Geekboy

He stands in front of the wrought iron gates, large imposing structures affixed to large stone columns, the only visible break in the large stone wall that hid St. Killians from the street and the outside world. Ivy had been allowed to grow over the walls in areas, softening the cold face the school presented to the outside world, though it did little to assuage Cornelius’ worries. He is alone, young, not yet 12, and he stands there with one battered suitcase where his grandfather dropped him off a few minutes ago. He’s been standing there in front of the closed gates since his grandfather pulled away in his old pick-up truck, his younger brother waving good-bye until they turned the corner and were out of sight. He turned from the direction they disappeared and faced the gates, and there he stood, staring, waiting.
A car pulls up a bit up from the gates, and a family gets out. A boy, a girl and their parents. The boy looks to be about the same age as Cornelius, and he is dressed in the school uniform of St. Killians, shiny and new. Cornelius looks at his own grey sweater and black pants, scuffed shoes. If the holes along the seams down near his wrists weren’t clue enough, the lack of emblem and stripes was also proof that Cornelius wasn’t done up proper. He looked at the familial scene as it played out on the sidewalk, mother fussing over her son, father grabbing luggage out of the car trunk, sister skipping around them all. He looked wistfully, unaware he was even doing so. He did not resent them their familial pleasures, he did not look with envy upon the boy’s new clothes and several suitcases, he merely observed what was different from his own experience. He was not without familial love, he had the love of his Grandfather and rarely seen Aunt, but that could not replace a mother and father’s love. So he looked, and wished in his secret heart unaware to himself that the scene that played out before him was starring him, and not the unknown boy.
The family now appropriately laden with luggage approached the gates. Even the young girl helped, carrying a small bag that was still obviously a struggle for her. She refused the offered help of her father, she wanted to be part of this, wanted this connection with her brother, with her family. The mother smiled at Cornelius as they walked past. The boy also looked with the open curiosity of the young, but his attention was divided by negotiating the large suitcase he carried. The father pushed open the gates which had been unlocked the whole time, and the family entered through the gates, and up the gravel drive that lead to the front of the school. A large imposing building, several floors high and done in a style that betrayed it’s age. St. Killians had been here a long time, and the arrival of new students was nothing new to these halls. The family was getting closer to the stairs that led up to the impressive entrance of the hall. Cornelius picked up his suitcase and followed.

Geekboy Page

I haven't really done any work towards the Zine lately, but I'm hoping that'll change next week. But yesterday as I was listening to an Ed Brubaker interview (or Brian Michael Bendis maybe) I had an idea for a page, (story comes later) and had to quickly draw it. The last few panels could be arranged differently, and I might do a bit on work that, and the set-up and the following pages need to be right, but I really liked this page idea.

Original Publication Cover, Mr. Ted Issue 1

Because I haven't done anything for awhile, I thought I'd put up this piece I found while I was cleaning my room up a bit. I don't think I actually have any copies of the original comic I printed, which I sent to friends who had left Brisbane, but I've got this at least.

20 September 2009

Had a discussion with Tim about the Zine, with him expressing interest in contributing short stories. So we'll see what he offers up. Probably not going to get Zine done before December though with upcoming Prac. hanging over my head.

17 September 2009

15th September 2009

So I started my shift with trying to clean up my drawing area in the shed, but gave it up as an impossible task, so ended up working at my desk again.


My intention was to work on the script and finish roughing out the final pages, so I worked on that.



I first did some dialogue for the pages I'd drawn.


I went and made myself a drink as procrastination, which is a vital part of the creative process.


And did some sketches based on what Bocce might be like.


Then worked on getting to the end point of this issue, where I knew I wanted to end.


It isn't finished yet, I still need to work on those final panels, working out on how many panels on the page or indeed how many pages, but I felt like i got somewhere today.

Mr. Ted

So this is the first issue where I'm having to totally generate new material for the "Mr. Ted" comic. Up to now I've at least had the story roughed out if not previously drawn. "Mr. Ted" changed direction in the writing of it a while ago, and was going much more epic, but when it came time to start doing it alpha llama llama, I felt like I wanted to go back to the original direction, and just make it a fun, crazy comic. So right now I'm not really sure what long-term plans there are for it, just the next major story beat, which is where we're up to now.


So I knew I wanted to keep the story moving, but having also suffered a death in the family, not want to just pass over the grief or have a character act unrealistically. So I was trying to find a balance in showing that kind of inertia where nothing really seems to matter in comparison, but also keep the story of Ted trying to escape moving, and I think I found something which is close, though if I was really trying to be accurate, it would be a few issues still of sitting around grieving.
Anyway, I roughed out some stuff in my notebook till I came up with a story, aiming for about 5 pages, though it may need to expand.


I took those rough ideas and started trying to transfer them over to my other notebook which i use to rough out the pages in A5 size, just trying to get an idea of how they'll look in the Zine.


One of the problems I've noticed so far is that my framing isn't leaving enough room for word balloons. I think that's because I actually haven't written a script yet, just got the plot or story beats worked out roughly. I think my next step is going to have to be finalising a script.



And that's where I'm up to so far, just did these over the last couple of days.

Covers

I had planned on doing a variety of covers for Issue 6, but that fell by the wayside as the deadline approached, so instead went with a close-up photo of our cat. I thought I'd like to continue that theme so tried to get some C.U.'s of a dog I was housesitting with and also some nice head shots of my cousin's baby. I haven't decided yet which way I'm going to go. I tried to do a head shot of a giant tortise for Issue 6, but didn't think it was clear what it was, so maybe I'll try that for Issue 8 or 9.
I also had plans on changing th back cover series, but what I wanted to change it too is a series of paintings that will actually require a bit of effort, so have decided to keep going with the back cover robot for a bit longer. These are some initial ideas/sketches.

First Things

So I thought I'd show the process behind Issue 7 of alpha llama llama, a Zine I started with friends to show off my comics and hopefully other stuff. I think it's mostly me now though, but I guess we'll see what happens together as this issue comes together.
Stay tuned.