Herman's Hogan, page 2

Here's the finale.

I started with the title, because I love the name Herman, and I love the Hogan, (an earthen style Navajo home, 'natch). A combination sure to draw laffs everywhere!

Herman's Hogan, page 1

First page of a little comic ditty. Done to entertain Blair's six year old siblings. And all of humanity.

My apologies to the Navajo nation.

The Horror

Someone else does a caricature of me. Better than the one Stephen Silver did of me.
Of The new muli-image caricatures, The Silver caricature is one a lot of you saw at the con. The Gary Meyers caricatuire is an attempt at recreating from memory all the awful aspects of the Silver caricature. Liver spots, balding, mal shaped nose etc.

Sketches Over Scotland ... ;-)

Greetings, everyone.

Here are some of the sketches that resulted from the Scotland trip ... I tried for about one a day, so what I did had to fit around mountain climing (Stac Pollaidh, est. 2000 feet tall), hill walking, a ferry boat trip, beach jaunts, etc. BTW: the weather was in the balmy mid-80s and only two days had any rain. Scotland! The vacation paradise!!

Check out PitchScribbleRant (my blog) for another five sketches ...

Feedback welcome.

Superthunderstingcar!

A BBC parody of the "Thunderbirds" by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Dead on!

Robots with Brains and Men in Uniform = No Good

I'm lazy. I just posted this on my robot site too...But it's a drawing!!! I've had a little down time so here's the product of that.

Muppets That Skrbbl might Like

Here's the URL for more of them...

Chewbacca

Darth Maul

Pickard, Chunk and Frankenstein

Making up for no Tuesday sketch

Did Someone Say It's "List Your Loot Day"?

I got some Bud Sagendorf "Popeye" comics, some Marge's "Tubby" comics, a bunch of "Adventures of The Fly" comics, a Gumby comic by Bob Burden and Rick Geary, two Mark Schulz books of drawing, the Dok Whitson sketchbook, a Moebius book, and a Howard Pyle book of drawings and paintings, from which I take my inspirational quote of the day: "Throw your heart into the picture and then jump in after it."

A Curious Collection of Creatures

Found this weird stuff over on Pink Tentacle

Gensou Hyouhon Hakubutsukan (”Museum of Fantastic Specimens”)

HellBoy Animated Slide Show Translation

All these things will probably be on the DVD of the animated show eventually. So this could be looked at as kind of pointless. I got a lot out of it because by the time I strained my eyes to both transcribe and then type it, I had digested the content. Especially having to reconstuct sentences almost like a crossword puzzle. I had to skew the images to "correct" them from the awkward angle. I used a lot of guesswork on the text that goes with the "KEEP THINGS CONFINED" Imagery. I've included the photo I worked with to see if you guys were better at digital correction/enhancement. Check it out.

Keep Things Confined

KEEP THINGS CONFINED

"Untranslatable. Here are fragments..."
1.Mignola _ _in claustrophic to heighten the tension of our stories
_ _ _ _ narrow _ _ through _ are not _ more than
_ _ _ _ crowded_ _ _ _

"The one I can't translate is found at the bottom in original form. Try your digital wizard skills on it. Here is the rest of the captions that I can make out for these illos..."



2.We will not use the same techniques of using pattern to change the shape of the screen but instead use scenic elements to suggest a different frame shape.

3. Here the corner of the hall pushes the characters to the right, packing them into a smaller space




4.Scenes of tight locations or crowded spaces also give our explosive scenes more impact

5.The narrow hallway can show only asHellboy enters the narrow access having conditioned the audience with a series of confined areas. The reveal of the major area is stronger to the contrast.







"The last sentence is also largely guesswork. Take a stab at it yourself"

MIGNOLA INSERTS

MIGNOLA INSERTS

1. In the comics, little insert panels are used to focus attention, emphasize a theme, slow the pace and any number of other reasons. Although we're dealing in film, a similar technique can be used.



2.BUILD SUSPENSE
A woman needs to burn an herb to drive back an ectoplasmic monster. She's startled as a tentacle reaches for Hellboy. Insert a snuffed match falling in slow motion. The viewer knows she dropped the match without seeing it. He has time to anticipate horrific consequences and he's frustrated because the reveal is momentarily held off. After the quiet of this shot, the action of the next scene of Hellboy trapped in thrashing tentacles is more powerful by contrast.




3.FORSHADOW EVENTS
Earlier in the sequence before Hellboy enters the room we get a glimpse of ectoplasmic tentacles and a withered hand. The VO dialogue must connect with the scene. Girl " It all went crazy on him." Hellboy "Could you be more specific."






4.EMPHASIZE POV
We know exactly what Hellboy is concentrating on as a fan coyly drops down revealing a smile with way too many teeth.

5.ECHO THE STORY THEME
This is often used in comics when an insert shows statuary or a close up of a painting. Specific sculptures are used because of their history. The mythology depicted or their pose comments on the action. Don't just make up statues to include.

LYRICAL HORROR

LYRICAL HORROR

1.Mike Mignola often chooses a symbolic or poetic juxtaposition of images to create mood defying the usual mundane logic and realism of graphic storytelling. Creating mood horrific or otherwise, is one of the key challenges of the scenes.



2.Sometimes it's what you don't see that sets a mood. There are times why we don't want to see the final moments of a vampire or a werewolf center stage. But in this case , watching the hand dissolve to bones as leaves fall and the bird begins to sing says that the monster's death affects the life of the village in general. Beauty and life have returned to their world.




3.When dealing with the mythological entities Hellboy sometimes slips from our reality into a dramatic place of symbols and icons.

Here statues fill the background as Hectate talks to Hellboy about his destiny.

View Bram Stoker's Dracula by Coppola to study the film makers stylistic approach to the depiction of horror.





4. Sometimes a flashback is used during exposition to put the current situation in perspective. Instead of cutting to a seperate scene, the images can play out behind the speaker like a green screen matte. Or this sort of scene can be used as a transition to a longer sequence.

Although the techniques must be used wisely, being clear does not necessarily mean literal.

The Claustrophobic Close Up

THE CLAUSTROPHOBIC CLOSE UP

1. Close ups in Mignola Comics often crop off part of the head. This increases tension and almost makes the audience a coconspirator as if they are leaning in close to hear what the characters have to say.




2. Refer to the comics and observe how sometimes the top of the head is gone and other times the chin. It's not just a matter of cutting close. What is left in and what is left out causes a different effect.



3. Cutting off the back of the old astronauts head while including the instruments that crowd in on him gives a greater feeling of discomfort. Putting him to the side also weights the left side of the frame, creating interest.





4. Even if the character on the right is talking, cropping his head turns him into a framing element . Focusing our attention on the other guy in an interesting way.

5. Comic staging usually has to leave room for word balloons. We want to use some of that staging even without the dialogue blimps.

Caption Contest

Winner gets a Benefiel original. Loser gets 2 originals. Just kidding. I'm not authorized to give away Scott's art. I can mock him though.

Hey. That message about going to my other Blog. Forget it. Heres the same data on Mignola dispensed in a nice clean way. Halfway down the page (plus a smidge)
http://hellboyanimated.typepad.com/hellboy_animated/2005/11/index.html

TAG GRoup Shots

The ravages of age have only skipped one guy. Must be diet. It's a shame to move the SWEET LAD OF LIBERTY off the top slot for this but I guess it had to be done.

Sweet Lad of Liberty, Issue No. 1, Page One

Just for fun.

It's a bad page for a variety of reasons, like the confusion of the panels, the way everything's too crowded, and the color. I was experimenting with color. I started with felt-tip markers, but the last panel was done on computer.

I think I have a lot to learn. Please help!

(This was drawn on big 18X24 paper--that let's me use my whole arm.)

Friday Lunch Details

So here is what I know so far:

Friday Lunch

time: 1:00pm-?

place: The park behind the convention center (Ellis could you please edit this to the proper park and add a link to a Google map?)

FROM ELLIS See that park on the map . Meet there at 1pm. We'll sort it out. MARINA PARK not Petco park, whatever that is. That's the Ballpark isn't it? Marina Park, by the Charthouse Steakhouse.

Who and food order:

davischino: Pepperoni Pizza
Book Artists:
skribbl:Pizza-pepperoni buffalo wings or whatever
scottybuncake: sausage or pepperoni/Ellis' head on a platter of some sort.
rickart: Brown Bag
krayonzilla:
dokart:
pod-boy:
mrgoodson: Half Veggy, half Hawaiian
tom_moon: Brown Bag
TopCat: Haggis- on vacation (have fun Tom!)

Did I miss anybody?

We will mob Scott's table in artist alley (EE-04) around 12:45 leaving at 1:00 and walking down to the park

Krayonzilla will order the pizza's/drinks using his wonderfully donated coupons after we get all of the information. I was thinking Ellis would handle the money but after some thought I will pick up the tab. Okay?

Please edit this and add the proper information. Cool.

PS Rickart, MrGoodson, Scottybuncake, Podboy and Krayonzilla have my cell number. If you other guys want to contact me (thraxisjr@aol.com), e-mail your number and I wll call you back or get it from the other guys.

Creeves

This is Creeves. No backstory. Just a name and a pic-chah. Have fun at the Comic Con, everyone. I'll hoist one to you all over in the land of bagpipes, haggis and single malts. Look for more postings on Aug. 7th.