Tools: Pencils (H and blue lead)

Hat: All and None

After a series of (unfortunate?) events hindered my week 23 production to the point where a weekly update didn't even seem worth the effort, I return with a combined week 23-24 update. The good news: Chapter 6 is complete and I am now riding a considerable wave of momentum, which I'll need. Chapter Seven proves to be the most challenging chapter - not to mention the longest: the flashback sequence alone will come in at ten pages - and that's not counting all the explosions, battles, rescues, and of course, the inevitable plot twist - as every loose end up to this point will be tied up - except maybe for one reeeeeally big one. (Think you can guess it? Time will tell). Next Week: Fateful encounter.

Well, I got that facial expression workout this week, all right...not too bad, if I do say so myself. That is to say, there was a great deal of dialogue and exposition in these past seven pages I completed this week. The task becomes keeping still shots of peoples faces as they trade words, not always the most exciting of things to watch, interesting and engaging. I can't stress enough the study of film for those looking to sharpen their skills in this area. Study (not steal) the style of filmmakers known for carrying intense and memorable scenes of dialogue...artists like Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, Quentin Tarantino, Katsuhiro Otomo, Brad Bird, Darren Aronofsky, and plenty others are absolutely invaluable for anyone who wants to learn to tell a story visually.

Slow and stady. I hope to pick up the pace this week coming up...There'll be quite a bit of facial anatomy starting with the last few pages I completed before this update, and onward into the next portion of the chapter. The goal in comics is, generally, exagerration without overdoing it...meaning that it is often necessary to put more emotion or intensity in a facial expression to convey a lesser extent of it. This is because it is sometimes hard (depending on the situation) to capture precise, pure, identifiable emotion in the still image of someone's facial expression...it takes practice even in the world of film and photography, and it's that much more tricky in comics, where you're building it from the ground up. I hope to have some more examples soon.

As the final arc of the graphic novel draws closer, we're given another big piece of the puzzle in the opening scene of Chapter Six. To put it mildly, this is gonna be very, very nasty. I'm not particularly for or against high levels of violence and gore in comics (though it's true that some of my all time favorites happen to have no shortage of it), I'm always one to follow the story's own sense of direction...meaning that some scenes, by their nature and context and sometimes by the characters they involve, just steer themselves into a situation of conflict, physical or otherwise, and you have to once again ask that question that's always at the core of every good piece of story logic: "What might really happen here?" Of course, and especially in terms of a far out book with supernatural themes such as mine, what you might tend to stretch that key word "really" to hold the action up. I try to find my balance, and stretch without snapping, bend without breaking, and thusly, portray the graphic violence realistically without trivializing it. Same rule can apply to the profanity. Deliver it with skill and you weild a grenade's worth of impact in a single bullet. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Some weeks are just plain more productive than others, whether by personal, professional, or creative stumbling blocks. For example, it took me nearly a full week to complete the double page spread in pages 102-103, and yet I finished two full pages in the span of under four hours just this morning. I'd like to say that composition is one of, if not the determining factor in speed of completion of a piece (it would explain this particular instance), but even that feels somehow "wrong..." like it's an easily disprovable theory. I suppose further experience will give me further insight on this...I can only conclude at this point that I need to once again find a comfortable groove.

I'm beginning a montage, of sorts, which will be narrated by Cher, giving an overview halfway through the story, dealing with the passage of seasons and the progression into what I could call the next "phase" of the story, in which the plot thickens significantly and several things I've set up are explained and/or paid off. At the time of this update, the two page splash of pages 102-103 are still in progress (lots of bodies and lots of detail), but that's only the beginning of the montage. This will hopefully be a bit of a reward, some eye candy for the reader after so much exposition and dialogue. Sometimes the art just needs to breathe.

Yep...that's right. One hundred pages, brother. Aaaaand counting. I'm doing something very specific in this particular part of the story (I'll have more to show of it in the week to follow) - mainly taking a step back (perhaps a few slow steps, in fact) and giving a view of our cast of characters that we may have forgotten. My aim with SoulExodus in general is to present a very intimate portrait of a very small group of people, thrown against the backdrop of a disaster of biblical proportions. There are some schools of thought that I've been studying - and these are more specific to film than comics, though as I often say, the similarities are numerous - that would suggest such a premise to be just that - a premise, with no difinitive plot that could and should be threaded through it. That characterization, narrative, and backstory should be discarded for what I can only assume would be a very formulaic, linear, repetitive story otherwise. Although I may be mistaken in my understanding of this opinion, I have to say that as it stands in my mind, I couldn't disagree more. I've come to realize, through the work of many artists, authors, and filmmakers whose work I idolize and emulate, that character is essential, at the very least, to a story with an extended narrative such as the one I am telling. As both writer and artist, my method lives and dies by the assertion that if your audience doesn't care about your characters, they won't care what happens to them...and how do you come to care about someone? ANYONE? You get to know them. To me, it's really as simple as that.

I believe this would be the very first double page spread in the book (although I'm contemplating spreading several "cover" images across two pages). These are simultaneously great fun and highly nerve wracking, because of the balancing act of positive and negative space (negative space usually necessary for text and dialogue), as well as giving each character in the frame their own personality - giving the reader a reason to look at each person. Note the extremely loose pencils on the top pic versus the blue lines below. I moved very slowly and cautiously through this...despite the deceptive (and seemingly out of place) lightheartedness, it's an important little scene for several reasons that the story will make evident, and it had to be just right. The pics on the right are the wrap up to the flashback scene I began last week. I actually had to pose for the one below to get the right motions of putting on a jacket. I'll spare you the actual reference photo. You're welcome.

This week begins Chapter 5, and a particular flashback sequence that is near and dear to me because it sheds some more light on Neph's more distant past. Now, regardless of how some might personally feel about professional wrestling, I decided to go this route, partly as a device for characterization, and partly to tell a few wrestling stories of my own through him...in a way that wouldn't be depracating or condescending to that particular craft, as most fictional stories I've read are. Additionally, I was faced with the challenge of drawing, for the first time, a much younger, happier, more optimistic Neph (not unlike how Cher is shown in the flashback in Chapter 2), and how to depict that in his facial expressions and mannerisms. He's still the same tough bastard, but the absence of a few lines on his face and the presence of a slightly more naive smile tell a great deal...I'm sorry to say, the poor guy's in for a world of heartbreak.

Pages: 70-78...........Hat: Nada

Nine pages...now we're talkin. Storywise, an intense scene involving four main characters (three shown here), a shotgun, and a trailer full of exploded windows. An interesting problem this week: relative height. While I haven't done a formal chart yet (I suppose I'll get around to doing one eventually when I find the time) this is something I try to stay aware of. Something as simple as the height of a character actually adds a surprising lot to their persona. Unofficially, Neph stands about 6-5, Cher around 5-9, and Yana at a completely adorable 4-11. While I take the completely unprofessional approach of eyeballing the height differences most of the time, I am still trying to hold up a loose set of rules for where each measures up compared to the other, based on level of eyes, shoulders, and waist. As time progresses, I learn that these rules I originally follow only in passing are essential to the total package of the artwork.