Thursday, May 24, 2007

HANA PART 1: I eight Hana

I think it was Curlymarie in the last comments that mentioned the transitions from one panel to the next. This is an aspect to comics that I really love. I get to create incredible visual effects without having to know all about lenses. My camera's focal depth is infinite and hell, it's a lot faster too.

It's not incredibly evident here on this page as this is more of a "vignette" page - a series of loosely related scenes. But I'm going to talk about it more on the pages where it's really relevant. The only logistical story to this page is that I lost the original 300dpi artwork. What you see is a recovered 150dpi version. Basically, while I've redrawn chunks it's lost about 20% of its quality. =(

The notorious page 8. Notorious for so many reasons.

First up, after scouring the 9th Wonders boards I became aware of a wave of dissention about the "classic" way that comic book artists portray sexy women. Huge boobs, tiny waists and inflated lips that would make Angelina Jolie jealous and clothes that resemble nothing more than two band-aids and a cork. I constantly try and ground the comics in the same world as HEROES and I wanted Hana to dress right. But I'm a guy, therefore I have no sense of fashion. So I ran a competition asking the 9th Wonders forum members to nominate dresses and outfits after I loosely described the scene.

Vanessa's original sleek design won the day and the competition: to dress Hana herself.

This page is rife with "easter eggs" and injokes so let's get into them.

PANEL 1: As I've mentioned before, Ryan Gibson Stewart has tirelessly supported my quest for the perfect details. His research on this project was thorough and unbelievably helpful. I asked him to find me a Nathan Petrelli ad. He listed every episode featuring Nathan's political campaign, a bunch of websites and eventually the grail: the Nathan Petrelli For Congress tv ad. The ad you see on the cab is a screen cap from that. I also wanted to add another injoke and Ryan directed me to the Corinthian website where I put together a billboard ad. As thanks I mentioned to him that I would put an "easter egg" into the comic for him. He jokingly asked if it could be green with blue stripes. So I named the nightclub after him, "RGS" and it has green and blue stripes. =)

PANEL 2: As mentioned in a previous post, thie panel features the winning dress as well as all the runners up. I didn't want to just highlight the winner. So many people had put so much effort in.

PANEL 3 & 4: So the script says Hana is drinking with some guys. In the next panel she kisses one of those guys. I was going to run a competition for the guys on the 9th Wonders getting them to compete to kiss Hana. Then I thought, "Bugger that! I'm winning that!" Hell, it's the most action I've seen all year. Later this year I'm heading to New York with two mates of mine. I figured if she's drinking with me, chances are that she's going to be drinking with the guys too. So the big guy on the left is Mitch and the guy pulling the "face" is Simbo (also model for Sonny from Zero G).

HEROES SIGIL: I almost forgot. It's funny how you guys all loved the HEROES symbol on Hana's earrings and ring. The note I received from NBC asked me to remove the earrings. The page I've uploaded here shows the page with the new earrings. For some reason I kept the ring. For some reason they used the old page. I hope no one got into trouble over this.

The last thing I've done is shown you my tonal layer. As you can see, it's not just tracing photos. Skilled Potatoshoppers out there will be able to overlay the art over the tonal layer and see what I colour over.

Lastly: People on the 9th Wonders forums have mentioned Greg Grunberg's tireless work for Pediatric Epilepsy. If anyone can put me in touch with him, I would be happy to donate the artwork for the final page of part 2 for his cause if he can clear the legal issues.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great page, and not just for the obvious reason. :) Thank you by the way, not only for immortalizing me, but for inspiring my newest nickname, "Nightclub".

I'm not sure how to get ahold of Greg Grunberg, but his charity's site, Pediatric Epilepsy Project, might be of some help. Also, Tim Sale can probably put you in contact with him. You can reach Tim at his message board, which he responds to about as often as you respond to your blog. Finally, Greg Beeman is another option. He's not as good about responding to his blog, but it might be worth a shot. Tim Sale is probably your best bet.

Rinibini said...

I'm sure everyone will agree that this is probably one of the best pages because of all the easter eggs in it. Again... GREAT JOB! When are you heading to NY?

Anonymous said...

I love all of the in-jokes. And this was the perfect page to mix them in on.

I have to ask this, though. In the third panel, where is Hana's other finger?? I'v pored over this page, thinking about it from every angle imaginable, and it still looks to me as though Hana only has three fingers. Is that a mistake, or am I missing something?

The pre-color illustration layer that you posted is interesting. It seems so dark--it's actually hard to see the details of the faces. The color makes a huge difference.

CurlyMarie

Anonymous said...

Re:blog comment posted Tues 22nd MAy...Glad to hear you looked up the German painter Casper David Friedrich...what are your thoughts on his work?
I apologise for the terrible spelling on my last comment( I know, no one takes a bad speller seriously - but hey I was in such a rush and this guy next in line for the following time slot was hassling me to move on -I really can spell )
Anyway,once again, I really like what you've done with the lighting affects on this page...yes, your obsession with this element of your imagery really gives it a certain moodiness. More specifically, your use of light for these nightclub scenes evokes a rather subtle, erotically charged atmosphere without being altogether tacky or distasteful in the way you've created the scene...
Another artist that comes to mind in relation to your work from a perspective outside of 'comic world' is the Australian contemporary photographer Bill Henson...his work is incredible...you probably know him already...? His work is seen as rather controversial by some, but I adore his incredibly dark and moody night landscapes....that are dramatically lit and oozing with a certain velvety aura...
...So, on a completly different tangent, I'm intrigued to know what goes on at these U.S comic conventions that you speak of in you recent blog?

Anonymous said...

Ok, I thought MySpace sounded good, but Ryan's suggestion of Tim Sale would probably be a good place to start :)

Anywhoo, I love this page. You've compared it to a filmed scene, but without the video cameras, and I can't agree more. The transations have a sense of movement, but without dragging it out too long and it really makes for an interesting scene.
I love the first panel, the amount of detail is astounding, and it still really sucks that you lost the 300dpi version :S
And thank you! Thank you for not drawing a "classic" comic Hana! The dressed up Hana in War Buddies Pt.1 was just too much, I thought. Stana doesn't have proportions anywhere near that size! haha. The dress is, of course, beautiful ^_^ As I mentioned before, I love it, but would never be brave enough to wear something like that, haha.
Also, it's entirely awesome that you posted the different layers that you use. I was kind of curious as to how you were doing the coloring, and that's a nice insight :)

Truffula said...

Hi Jason

I am currently working on a submission for the Heroes comic contest, and I'm getting frustrated. Perhaps you can help - I'm wondering what process you use for doing the comics. I see the pencil sketches and then the line art and then the finished product here on the blog, but I'm curious as to what programs you use for inking and coloring.
I mentioned at the 9thwonders forum that you have totally been my inspiration to start sketching and getting back into my artwork, so any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. :)

Thanks, and keep up the most excellent work! :D

Peace,
Truff

Anonymous said...

popping by this neighborhood to say hi, and asking if your other projects are getting attention, since you are working hard on giving us heroes fans the great stuff. Looking at your archives, and seeing your blog the first time when you said hi to the 9th after GN 20, you did have some. How are they coming along, or are they?