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.