(Not so) comic book v0.2

A sample panel reduced from 1200 to 400 pixels wide.  I may add in more texture detail later, but for now, I'm experimenting with tools, workflow, and style.  The real challenge will come from establishing shot panels or splash pages.

(Not so) Comic Book

I'm not a fan of comics, but I can put one together.   Recently, I had a vivid dream and decided with some tweaks to make sense and tie ideas together, it made a pretty decent storyline.  Rather than write it out, I wanted to preserve what I saw, so I sketched what I saw in my mind's eye.  After the first few shots, it became apparent it was going to be a lot more than I wanted to organize, so I decided on a comic format to preserve the visuals.  Drawing at 4096x6144 (2:3), I've (digitally) penned 8 sequenced but unfinished pages.   See if you can understand what is occuring with this low-res mockup.

Flesh Eating Mutant Zombie Paramilitary Monkey

 A few years ago, I created this 8.5x11 inch printer-ready halftone shooting target for the local Project Appleseed group using pen and paper, a scanner, and GIMP.  However, you don't have to be woman or child that gets free rifle training in order to enjoy it - anyone with a desire to bullseye can, and now you can too.  Fire at will, netizen!

 

Around the same time, I'd been digitally sculpting with Sculptris, so I thought I'd try to make a 3D version of the 2D drawing.  Turned out all right, but considering the model is all triangles and thus has no topology, it is unsuitable for animation.  When Blender3D updated to the 2.6x series, I finally could understand the UI and see the potential within after much flailing with 2.49 and 2.5x.  I soon appreciated it's most excellent snapping tools to retopologize the static mesh so it could be animated.  I'd not got very far if it weren't for Jonathan William's modeling tutorials at CGCookie.  Later, I discovered the Blenderella series on Youtube, but I digress...

Matte painting for Experience: Jungle

In the past, I volunteered as a matte painter for an amateur film so I could have a means to increase my skill.  These are a few examples:

Shot 17-9 composited background.

Comparison of the camera footage for shot 17-9 and the background composited behind the actor.

 

 

Deconstruction of composited background for shot 17-9.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shot 15-7 composited background.

Shot 15-7 lo-res camera footage and composited background comparison.

Shot 17-2 composited.

Shot 17-2 camera footage and composited background comparison.

Shot 17-6 composited background.

Shot 17-6 camera footage and composited background comparison.

The Nameless Freedom Fighters: 3D Sets

Line art and concept art activates creative juices, but I'd like the end result to be either be entirely 3D (ala Pixar animation) or live action with all the wiz-bang digital production provides. 

One of the methods I use for story ideas is to alter interesting photos, imagine a situation with characters, and determine what motivates them to be there.  I may overpaint the photo, paint it entirely with modifications, or build a 3D model of the interesting traits and fill in the blanks.

I recently used Blender for the latter process and animated a sweeping camera following a character and it's escorts (represented as retangular boxes) inside what could be a prison, compound, bunker, observatory, etc.  You can get a sense of the environment in this crudely rendered 42 second shot.

The Nameless Freedom Fighters: Whips and Jungles

I'm working out story ideas and sketched one of the simpler shots.  Our yet-to-be-named hero is chased through an alien jungle on anti-gravity Racers by a Gang whose members prove their worth by death defying feats.  Rather than use projectile weapons to stop our hero, Adepts lasso the mechanized machine like a Rodeo Calf and swing to their prey for the up-close kill.

The comic-book style sound effects seemed appropriate for this frame, but it could also be turned into an animatic for a cartoon, 3D or live action version.

The Nameless Freedom Fighters v0.11

If this were to become something - a comic strip, a cartoon, a series - what kind of story would I want to see?  How do you take a balloon project and turn it into something exciting, dramatic, funny, entertaining, and memorable? 

I'm not a cartoon or movie aficionado, but I like stories that are character driven over a wide story arc.  For example, I can draw upon the discoveries of Nikoli Tesla for the energy specialist, imagining him of Croatian descent with a calm composure, yet seemingly crazy to those around him - even members of his crew, and not necessarily because of his specialty.  Bam!  Instant tension with character arcs built in.

Why would these characters band together?  It can't be just for fun or profit - they need an ideal.  They need a belief to make them stick together through all the troubles they'd endure.

The greatest trouble I see throughout history is the belief that people can run your life better than you can and will use force to achieve that end.  People take sides around this belief.  Mind you, most tyrannical lackies and their serfs believe force is justified, but that's what makes it interesting - both sides believe.  The outcome is decided by whose beliefs are stronger.

The current idea is the Freedom Fighters develop tech and aid the oppressed.  Since this is science fiction, the story isn't restricted to humans... or Earth, time, space, or dimensions for that matter.  Quantum physics could be an interesting way to play out battles.

However, what if the team thinks the oppressed is the oppressor?  Or the oppressed is being played by the oppressor?  That would put kinks into the team's credibility, especially towards the Leader, even from within the team.  Team members may become skeptical of new clients, or worse, skeptical of their leader, further fracturing the team, then sides are taken... oh, the story potential.

When characters are introduced or removed as the adventure unfolds, it creates new opportunity to shake up the team.  It may occur due to curiousity, natural interest, opportunity, burnout, rejection, a change of heart, a new love, betrayal, birth, or death - the list goes on.

With this in mind, I imagined a smaller crew, perhaps early on or after they've lost former crew members.  Being idealistic, they may mismanage affairs and desire someone better to interact with the public, so what better way than to juxtapose a posse of strong willed heroes against a petite woman to boss the crew around and keep them on task and on time?  Some team members may not like this new style of running their House, or project skepticism from the Leader onto her, which pits the group against itself.  Will it break the team?  Will bad behavior become worse?  New behavior develop?  More tension, more story...

The Nameless Freedom Fighters v0.1

My Nephew asked me to make a cartoon version of his High Altitude Balloon Project crew, so this was my first concept pass. From left to right, manufacturer/welder, communications, visionary, energy, and programmers stylized after Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.  RIP Steve.  Rot in hell, Bill Monsanto/Xe/Blackwater.

We roughed out a 30 second intro cartoon, which then spawned ideas about what these characters do, how they met, personalities, conflicts - you know, group dynamics ala Joss Whedon </worship>.  Since the first sketch was based on real 7 head high humans and the story expanded into science fiction, I opted to for the 7.5 to 8 head high hero physique. 

There are more sketches on the way, with new characters, villains and environments. 

Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc, created in GIMP v2.6 + Wacom Bamboo tablet.

This wasn't meant to be historically accurate, but symbolic of a woman who puts on armor to fight, uses love as her primary weapon, but backed by the sword if things get dicey.