shaxper
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Posts: 22,860
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Post by shaxper on Jan 21, 2024 11:33:52 GMT -5
Since I redo all the image frames and the speech bubbles on the computer anyway, I started doing a few text-less pages a while ago. I'm not sure it's a good idea, because you do need space for that %$# text, and even with a general idea of where you want to put it, you end up losing details you'd have preserved if given the chance. Here's page 33 of The Fall of the Empire, mostly unencumbered by dialogue!  Your artistic vision continues to evolve in astonishing ways. It's not just how amazing your actual line work and inking have gotten, but also your artistic eye itself. This is unquestionably true art, and I feel privileged to get to see it. |
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Post by berkley on Jan 22, 2024 19:49:15 GMT -5
Looks great. I was just thinking the other day that I might do a re-read of the whole thing from the beginning but perhaps I should wait until the fourth and final volume comes out.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 3, 2024 14:38:15 GMT -5
Here's a bit of comic-book archaeology! I started The Orion Arm in 1978 as a reaction to my discovering the work of Philippe Druillet. I consciously tried to develop a new style that would make this story look different from the super-hero adventures a friend and I were producing at the time, hence the shading mostly done with little dots instead of feathering. It's unfortunate that I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag yet, because it meant that I eventually had to redraw the whole of the first book. That might have been a blessing in disguise, though, since it allowed me to modify the plot and make the story less like what a 14-year old would come up with. Here's the very, very first page of The Orion Arm, back when it was supposed to be a ten-page story!  Taharqua would make his appearance a little later. His name comes from my being a big fan of Egyptian history at the time, and having just read about that particular pharaoh. (His planet of Philae was named for the island temple in Egypt). Graphically, Taharqua was obviously heavily influenced by Ditko's Eternity; I eventually dropped that aspect but still think it looked cool!  All the inking was done with a Speedball C6 pen nib and Pelikan India ink (the kind they don't do anymore, although the company still makes ink). Little dots, little dots everywhere! I kept that shading approach for a long time, and it's only when I started using a brush (somewhere in Book 2) that I started using feathering. I rarely shade peoplke's faces with dots nowadays, though I still like them for backgrounds.
Under the Druillet spell, I had first given Rah a fantastic-looking chair (with horns and other baroque decorations). When I redrew book 1, the chair didn't fit the style of Rah's ship at all; you might recognize it as the throne of the tentacle-faced pirate who sets everything in motion by going to meet Taharqua. Speaking of our villain, here he is at the end of the book. looking more like a regular dude and less like a Ditko divine being. The background shows that in between pages 1 and 45, I had probably discovered Jim Starlin! And finally, something more recent... Although I suck at colour, I just might colour the whole series when it is done. It would probably result in more sales (like, five more) because many potential buyers go "oh, it's in black and white? Tch." I prefer B&W myself, and the pages were conceived as B&W art so I don't know how well it will go... but it's not as if it costs anything to try!  Meanwhile I have started work on the 35th page of The Fall of the Empire. I figure the book will clock in at about 120 pages, so we're already past the first quarter! (And if retirement can finally arrive, I'll have more time to devote to it. Another pandemic would do the trick too, but that's a pretty horrible thing to wish for!)
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
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Post by shaxper on Feb 4, 2024 14:21:50 GMT -5
Your art has certainly come a million miles from its humble beginnings but, honestly, your talent and your artistic eye are evident even on the earliest pages. I've no doubt Little Roquefort would be immensely proud to see how far his vision has come.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 5, 2024 14:31:42 GMT -5
I finished page 37 before page 36, so I'll share it here before it's uploaded to my own website! It's mostly digital art, using my XP-Pen tablet and scanned images. Plus lots of Affinity Photo effects!!! Here we explain how Zinzag society functions. They're a highly telepathic species, who usually form an extended net of minds that was initially managed by specially gifted individuals, until they evolved into such powerful minds that they transcended their physicality to become one central nexus. The connected Zinzags are here represented as the kabbalistic Tree of Life, where the most important one has the position of Tiferet, the sefirot corresponding to spirituality, integration and miracles. Thus, almost by accident, The Orion Arm and Barrington end up with similar references!  I wish I could retire now and spend all my time working on this!!!  |
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
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Post by shaxper on Mar 5, 2024 17:19:23 GMT -5
The connected Zinzags are here represented as the kabbalistic Tree of Life, where the most important one has the position of Tiferet, the sefirot corresponding to spirituality, integration and miracles. Thus, almost by accident, The Orion Arm and Barrington end up with similar references! If your work didn't already have my full and complete attention before, this certainly would have clinched it. Wow. Me too! |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 13, 2024 11:59:27 GMT -5
The origin of Taharqua is revealed...  The grey tones take a lot of time, but even if I was reticent to use them at first (they feel like cheating!) I must say they're growing on me. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 13, 2024 12:03:50 GMT -5
I won't produce a colour version until the whole thing is done (and even then it might not happen), but it's fun to make more tests! This is the second page of the first book.  |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 9, 2024 15:09:28 GMT -5
I started translating The Fall of the Empire today!  I figure I'll do it little by little, since it takes a lot less time than producing new pages. I can do it to pass a few minutes here and there. |
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