02.25.09 Above is another illustration based on "Biting the Sun," by Tanith Lee, representing the second half of the book. And below is a portrait of my dear friend and moral support, Daren.
Woohoo! My goal is to get enough funds and artwork collected up for the Philadelphia comic con. If anyone feels like commissioning me to do any artwork to help out with money-raising, now's the time.
I'm currently obsessed with Mike Mignola's work. It began with Fahvrd and the Gray Mouser, then I decided to finally pick up a Hellboy comic. I fell in love instantly and ended up devouring most of the series within a week of beginning it. (Thank you Daren for letting me borrow your collection!)
What I love about Mignola:
-His use of darks/lights. The balance between the two is so nice, especially taking into account his dark subject matter.
-He keeps things simple, yet detailed at the same time.
-His story-telling is ingenious because of his succesful use of darks/lights, his use of camera angles that best tell the story, and his dialogue and actions. It is easy and exciting to follow every single story I've read so far. Only once or twice have I had to go back to a previous panel to figure out what the hell was going on. Badass!
-His imagination.
-A technical aspect of his story-telling that I've noticed is that he often throws in small panels that remind the reader of something that has previously happened in the story. For example, he may draw an establishing shot and a page later he will draw a panel with part of that establishing shot in it to remind the reader of where they are and what the mood is. Another example is when the characters in the book mention the lillies that grew out of Hellboy's blood, Mignola draws a panel of lillies to visually remind the reader of what happened in a previous issue and to also set the mood. He is constantly visually reminding the reader of important story elements and I love it! These strategically-placed panels also help determine pacing. The more he puts these panels in, the slower the pacing is. In fast, action-packed scenes, he leaves the reminder panels out, unless he wants the reader to slow down and think about what is going through a character's head.
I completely agree with del Torro when he say's "Mignola is a genius" at the beginning of "Conqueror Worm," and I plan on incorporating Mignola's storytelling into my skills.
We'll see how that goes.
Projects I'm working on: That dude's sci-fi webcomic (thumbnail sketches shown below); a short comic based on one of my favorite dreams; and possibly a 4 issue story that Dan Crosier wants me to draw a few months from now.
