Tuesday, May 22, 2007

HANA part 2: Game on!

Well, well, well. Here we are at the end. But I'm still chatting about page 6 of part 1. I fell like everyone's talking about the next election and I'm still lamenting JFK's death.

As a homage to part 2, here's my image of Peter and Nathan. My friend Lee played the part of Peter Petrelli, and I played Nathan. I sent this to him and his wife to thank them and show them their contribution for their hard work helping me out. This is what the black and white toned art looks like before I go in and do my colours. I'm going to be drawing like this in the future. I can't tell you how quick and fun it is. I can't wait to see what Annette does with this sort of art!

But if you have any questions about part 2, please let me know. I'd like to know what you want to know. The only thing I will say about part 2, is did the 9th Wonders readers find my "shout out"? It's a tiny, very hard to find "easter egg". It's so small because I had to make sure it didn't disrupt the story and that the editors wouldn't kibosh it.

Anyway, page 6 was one of the easiest page to work on. It looks full-on, but really it was very simple. The toughest thing was the layout and the direction. The original script direction looked like this:

Splash Page - Hana PUKES out email addresses. Wi-fi signals. Radio transmissions.

So my initial sketch looked like this:

But as I worked on the earlier pages, I thought, wouldn't it be cooler if she was upright and vomiting these things like a volcano? I mean, it's not like radio-transmissions conform to gravity in any direct sense. I sent along this layout:

NBC really liked it, and off I went. The key to this sort of image or effect is texture and layers.

First up, is the lineart. Here it is. As you can see, there really isn't much on this page. It's all effects. On the far background is the sky. I found a nice photograph of a swirling storm and blurred and played with it. On top of that I added the mountain range, again, slightly blurred to pull it out of focus. Over the mountain range I airbrused mist and clouds to give it more depth and make it look less like a photo. Then came my shaded grey texture layer and lineart (see Peter and Nathan above for an example). Over that came the colours for Hana and Bennet and the snow foreground texture. Right now it looks like two people enjoying a sunny day on a snowy mountain.

Then comes my airbrush layer for Hana and Bennet, adding dramatic and extreme lighting from Hana's digital purge. The first of my special effects, the halo around Hana's mouth is here. The base of the texture is a computer generated liquid metal design that I found somewhere. I selected it, coloured it a golden yellow, and then added a vertical motion blur. The next layer is a bunch of nonsense digital text for texture all overlayed with the SCREEN layer effect. The final effect is a great airbrushed blast of white energy shooting upwards. Lastly is the snow added over the top for drama and depth. This was one of the fastest pages that I did.

COMPETITION: I haven't judged the entries yet, as I haven't watched the final episode. Expect the winners to be announced tomorrow night. What I will require from each of the winners is who they want drawn, and any basic direction from them. I will then mail out an original signed print to them. Everyone else can pick one up at the San Diego Con. If you give me names and details beforehand, I might even mail them all off in the US while I'm there. But the idea is that these are supposed to be portraits for the fans at the San Diego Comic Convention.

17 comments:

Unknown said...

Awesome Peter/Nathan. You just get better and better. As always, thanks for the backstage pass -- your blog is the best. I keep giving the link to people. 8-)

Anonymous said...

Great stuff Jason! Your attention to detail is astounding!

I caught the shout out! Thanks for thinking of us!

Anonymous said...

Wow. Just wow. This was an amazing graphic novel, Jason. The last page had me in total awe - it was absolutely stunning. Absolutely fantastic work. :D

Anonymous said...

So yeah, you pretty much rock, Jason. :)
Part 2 was AMAZING! Well worth the wait. Seriously. The final page... gorgeous.
As for the breakdown of page 6, I loved this page, it had a really big sense of... emotion, I guess is a good word. For some reason I thought of the sound effect from "The Matrix" when Neo first enters the real world and the silvery stuff is going down his throat... Yeah, random. lol. I liked that you put the snow in there, too, it made it seem more real. :)

Anonymous said...

Again, I love how you captured the likenesses of the characters/actors so well on that final page! Didn't expect to see Hana getting ready for the launch though! :)

I had thought about a virus as the culprit at one time, but I forgot that line o' thinking when I entered the contest... Bummer.

Thanks for getting to do the artwork on some of these graphic novels. It's amazing what you can create! Also, thanks for the 9thW shoutout in the first panel of this page! How fun!

Anonymous said...

Ugh, I dunno what I thought about the Satellite having a virus as a self-defense, or Hana being infected by it, for that matter. On the other hand, I love Snowcrash, so I can accept it. (c:

Anyway. You didn't do the writing. You did the art. And the Art was Magnificent. Spot on likenesses, and your usual clean style of art with attention to detail.

Were you given any screen caps for that last page, or just descriptions or were people would be, what they'd be wearing, and whatnot?

Great stuff again, Mr Badower. Well done. (c:

Anonymous said...

I think the choice to have her 'vomiting' upwards spot on. Otherwise, it would have looked, well, odd. :D

I love reading and seeing how much thought and time and work go into these comics/GN's. It makes it much more enjoyable, to see the thought processes behind them.

Keep up the good work. Do you know, will you be doing more Heroes GN's... I mean, I'm sure you will be, but have they given you your next job, so to speak?

Anonymous said...

Vertical vomit beats horizontal hurl any day.

Flit said...

Loved the shout out, it was kinda cute. But IE? I suppose Micah's a young geek, he hasn't quite run away from IE yet. evil thing *pokes it*

I loved this page, it was just so beautifully done, and thanks for going through what you had to do to get the effect! Multiple layer goodness, like a mortal sin cake :D You work round St Kilda, you have to know what they are.

This comic was just brilliant. Fantastic job. And, even though you don't get a say in the writing of them, well, not much, I didn't mind the virus thing. You made Hana look pretty while her face was bleeding out. Talent, mate, pure talent. I hope you land more of these comics, they're just such a delight to look at :D

Anonymous said...

I wanted to thank you for doing such an amazing job on all of these. You rock and I hope there will be more!

Do you know if NBC plans on releasing a collected tpb of them all? I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

Kelly J. Crawford said...

Vertical vomit beats horizontal hurl any day.


*snicker* Funny, Ryan. Very funny...

Anonymous said...

Jase, that portrait of Peter and Nathan is bang on. I really hope they collect all of these Heroes webstrips and publish them in printed form (they may already, I haven't been keeping up).

It's a high-profile project and you're knocking it out of the park man, congratulations and more power to ya.

Darren Close

Anonymous said...

I love this version of Peter and Nathan (before coloring). It's really powerful in this form. (Aside: I've grabbed it to keep on my own computer. May I have your permission to use it in public places, like Facebook/etc? I'll credit you, of course.)

Hana looking up instead of down was absolutely the right choice. This way, it looks like the information storm is being both sent and received--which seems more accurate to me. And the "glow" in this panel is just stunning. As I mentioned a few days ago, the arctic sequence was my favorite part of this comic.

And then there's the new one. WOW, Jason. Just WOW. Great work. (Thanks for the shout-out, too! I had to go hunting for it; missed it the first time through. But it was worth the hunt.) I do hope we can get nice poster-versions of the last page.

CurlyMarie

Anonymous said...

I just had to comment and say that these last two comics were amazing. Should I take the ending to mean that Hana's mind "lives" on as data floating around the Internet or something similar?

Also, not to nitpick but you have Hiro stabbing Sylar with the wrong sword. He gave Ando that sword in Japan and stabbed Sylar with a sword that had a red handle, I think. Either way, great work. I hope to see you work on more Heroes comics this summer.

Anonymous said...

Trying for the third time...(due to computer issues)...
Your work is incredible Jason...
I am new to the whole 'Heroes' phenonomen and therefore viewing your graphic novels - having just started watching the series a couple of weeks back on a tip.
However, I must say its becoming rather addictive.
It seems from reading the comments from your loyal fanvase, that there is an ongoing obsession with the capturing of a true likeness of the acots tot the characters in your work.
Hey, I'm a newby to the viewing of art created for this context, but from a completely different perspective, I don't think the true likeness thing is such an integral elememt in making the strength of your art work.
While I completely appreciate and empathise with your extreme attention to deatil and the intense artistic obsession you refer to in your working processes, from personal experience, I think it can quite often be in the mental and physical space of the unknown where one's art can truly evolve into interesting and unexpected new territory.
So ti the snow scene; this is my absolute favourite from this chapter. It is such an incredibly powerful scene that you hacve created.While form the narrative I understand Hana's adverse turmoil, your visaul language evokes an experience of spiritaul awakening with her body arched skwards in complete surrender to the force that is traveling through her.
Your work holds a beautiful painterly-like quality , with the way you emplot the technique of layering. In both this scene, and others in this chapter and part 2 of Hana's death, your use of light is sublime.
Do you know the work of the 19th Century Greman Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich? The quality of light you create in your imagery reminds me of his Gothic like landscape paintings that are both intensely morbid yet hauntingly beautiful.

ps. love the latest monochromatic work

Anonymous said...

Hey Jason, what a nice finale. I really enjoyed as usual when it comes from you. I really loved the last page, and as I'm printing every comics, I was thinking of using this finale page as a cover. But the problem is that there is the dialog box that ruins everything. So I was wondering if you may have a link to this page without the Samantha chatbox. I would be very great.
Thank you :)
A French fan.

jasonb said...

polson: thanks! I figured, the just squirmed around in mid-air for my pic. =)

bu11dog: woo! Like the Uluru desktop? I think that was on Micah's desktop last time too.

mellasjello: welcome! I loved the last page too. Can we not make pride a sin right now?

acidburn133: Hahahah! If you can "hear" a sound effect, then i've more than done my job.

hero: Yeah, Hana changing is my favourite panel and where I truly stepped up as an artist. Perhaps it was the inpiration? Yay! You found the shout out too!

thanners: The first Jessica was a bit weak. But I'm happy with the rest. I got screen caps. I will post what I got.

bozinka: No news on more graphic novels yet. I'm snowed under, but I will send an email anyway.

rgs: LOL! Not everyone has the "guts" to puke upwards.

flit: Oh yeah, Firefox all the way here. Woah! Let's clarify what sort of "work" i do in St. Kilda (fyi for others, St. Kilda is known for having a purchasable hetero and "rainbow" night life.)

angelwolf: thank you and welcome! I believe there are plans for a collection. Anyone got any details?

Darren: DUDE!!! Hi! Thanks so much!

curly: use away! As long as you don't sell it, do what you want with it. Thanks for asking. I prolly shoulda signed it. I'd love posters of the final page!

anon: Thanks! Yeah, Wireless ex Machina. I know! Wrong sword. I couldn't make it out on the screen caps, and so I just drew his normal sword. I even researched it. =(

anon: thank you for all your thoughts. I actually drew a better likeness of Niki for page 10, but the performance was poorer. So I relied on your theory and went for the weaker likeness. I'm looking at Caspar David Friedrich now. Thank you for your kind words about my lighting. I'm obsessed with good lighting.

frenchflo: I not only have it without the text box, I have it with the HEROES logo too. Email me at grael23@yahoo.com and I will send you a monochromatic version of the cover.