Tag Archives: godland

Process: Godland Trade Paperback Vol. 6

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Godland, as an ongoing series, has ended, but as a creator-owned series it will always be part of my life. I’ve just finished the artwork for the wraparound cover for the sixth and final trade paperback collecting the final 7 issues of the series. It starts with a pencil drawing:

Trade6coversketchsmall

If you want a textured line, rather than a smooth line, you can ink the drawing with a pencil. I did a tighter pencil drawing:

trade6penciltight

No matter how much practice I get with a brush or pen, it will never catch up with the facility and control I have with a pencil. “Inking” with a pencil feels more natural, it’s easier, and I prefer the results to inking with actual ink. If you want a line with character, pencil is the way to go. Next step is to mess around with digital color and you’re there:

godlandtrade6coverflat

 

 

Godland Finale

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TheEndGodland

I just approved the printer’s proofs for Godland #37. It will be in stores December 11, 2013. If you’ve never read an issue of Godland before, please start with this one. Godland Finale is a heady, intoxicating, hyperactive comic that nothing, not even the preceding 36 issues, can prepare you for. The closest I can come to describing it is as a fusion of two of my favorite Futurist comics: Hunger Dogs and Dark Knight Strikes Again, but even that doesn’t do it justice.

GodlandFinalSpark

One of my favorite things about collaboration is the way the sum of the parts add up to something that could not be achieved otherwise. The collision of the various elements have created a visual reading experience that is genuinely new, the likes of which may never be seen again.

I want to thank my co-creator Joe Casey, colorist Brad Simpson, Letterers and Graphic Designers Rus Wooten and Sonia Harris for making this “Very Special Issue” very special. Also, thanks to Jonathan Chan and the Image Office for getting this Finale into production as quickly as was humanly possible.

See you on 12/11/13.

Process: Finishing Godland

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I’m finishing Godland, with just a few pages to go. This project represents a big chunk of my life and I’m finding it difficult to finish. With less than 10 pages to go, why is it taking so long? There are multiple reasons. I think I don’t want to let go of my last remaining connection to that nostalgic world of old-school, serialized, wednesday crowd comic-book-comics. A more pressing reason is that sales of Godland reached a point where I was no longer earning a royalty check. As of issue #16 I was making the comic for free.

I continued making the comic out of love, but I soon found other projects that I loved more: American Barbarian, Final Frontier, Satan’s Soldier and Mystery Object. Godland was exactly the kind of comic I wanted to make in 2005 (Kirby-esque pop art with as close to a “mainstream appeal” as I was comfortable with), but it isn’t 2005 any more.

In many ways, Godland had become a hobby not a job. For me a job takes precedence over a hobby. Here’s my solution, how to get myself to finish these last few pages: make Godland into a job. Make a schedule and something to sell at the end that’s worth my time and effort.

I’m breaking my policy of not selling Godland original art. You can view my progress here. I’ll post updates for the progress of the art. When I finish the page, it will be available for sale.

Here’s the rough layout:

Godland037060roughs

Here’s the pencilled version:

Godland037060pencils

What I did was flip the rough layout over, put it on a lightbox, and do the tight pencil on the other side of the bristol board, changing and editing as much as I feel is necessary. Since I ink Godland myself, I don’t need to make the pencils as tight and refined as I would if someone else had to ink it. At this stage I’m basically giving myself instructions in my own particular visual shorthand.

Next up: Inking.

For this phase, I turn the page over again and erase the layout that I started with. I then start inking on the frontside, with the pencils on the back side of the page, that way I’m more free to interpret the pencils rather than merely tracing them. So on the back of the board is a pencil drawing, on the front is the inked. I have a friend who displays pieces like this in a frame with a glass back so either side can be viewed. Here’s the finished art:

Godland037060flat

It’s on 14″ x 17″ bristol board. If you want to purchase the original art, here’s the Etsy link for it:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/154558618/godland-finale-page-60-original-artwork?