Monday, June 04, 2007

HANA PART 2: One Giant Step


This was one of my favourite pages of the whole series. First up, it's totally different to everything else. Aron's script jumps scenes faster than a video clip, yet is held together by a narrative tighter than Noah's love for Claire.

My main goal was to communicate a child-like sense of wonder without dismissing the danger. I’m especially happy with the picture of the young Hana in panel 1. I don’t often draw children, and I think she looks great, and she has real personality to me. As I joked in an earlier post, “I just drew the cutest kid… EVER.”

I enjoyed the minimalism of the second panel. There’s a fair amount of detail and texture on the house. The house itself is based on a photo of an actual house I found in Tel Aviv. That’s how authentic I was in my research.

In panel 3, I wanted you to believe with her that for a split second she can fly. That an umbrella and faith will hold you aloft despite the unimaginative laws of gravity and physics. I love the overblown clouds and dream-like light. I think it lends to the nature of the flashback without actually having to use clumsy visual tools to tell you it’s a flashback.

The final panel is easily the weakest. It still does the job, but it’s not a great piece of art. It just does the job. I like the crop. I think it gives you more of a sense of motion, that any second now (perhaps if you turn the page) she will fall into frame. It’s an unusual storytelling choice from me, but I’m quite happy with it.

As an aside I heard a flattering conversation about me from some professionals I admire. It’s not often you get feedback in this business, especially feedback that labels you “hot” and “new”. It really made my day.

Off to work on the Emperor!

COMPETITION: Acidburn133! Email me your HEROES picture requests! I’d like to get started this weekend.

APPEARANCE: I’ve been invited as a guest to ARMAGEDDON EXPO in Melbourne in October 2007. My name’s not on the list yet, but I will be there with my good mates David Wohl (Witchblade, Darkness co-creator) and Christian Berenek (SE7EN: lust).

http://www.armageddonexpo.com/

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

The lighting is so... ok, speechless. I just love the flow of this page, seriously. It's beautiful, and for some odd reason, "beautiful" just doesn't seem to fit with comics in my mind. Awesome, amazing, uber cool, yes, but beautiful... not usually.
One can tell immediately that it's a flashback, thanks to the color of Hana's pants, lol. And I don't think you were over exaggerating at all when you said she's the cutest EVER, lol. Kids are hard to draw and you did a wonderful job.
I'm loving the house, too. Very pretty. Kind of random, but again with the grass! That looks like a pain, but at least it's not quite as much as there was in part 1.
Oh, and sorry I took so long to reply - I'd somehow missed that post, but it's sent now.
And it's still so weird to read "Noah" in relation to Bennet/HRG, haha. I remembered one of your blogs where you called him Mr. Bennet, and said that you wouldn't call him HRG - something tells me you knew his name before us, lol. ;)

Jolls said...

The praise you earn is... well, praise you earn! I, like a lot of other HEROES fans, enjoy your work—it's nothing short of fantastic! I'm glad I found your blog :D

I'm actually participating the Make Your Own Comic contest for HEROES, and I'm a bit nervous at starting off... care to bestow some advice on a lowly fan? :P

In any case, keep up the good work and I'll be dropping by regularly for cool updates!

Rinibini said...

Glad that you are feeling better and hope that the hot tea helped!
This was also one of my favorite pages because of the almost serene quality of the location... okay okay so she was falling off the building and it should have been suspensful but it was so pretty and air-ey and light. You did do a great job on the little girl and I like the last panel a lot. I think it adds a nice difference in storytelling that always makes your work fresh and exciting to read. As always... good work!

Anonymous said...

The shift from storytelling in the present to Hana's flashback is very clear. The change in color throws us immediately into another time and place, but you connect PresentHana with ChildHana by shooting them from the same angle--both profile left, at the far right of the frame.

And I also think the third panel is beautiful. It's got both a sense of joy and a sense of fear and despair. I don't know how you got those opposing emotions in there, but you did it! And it's just pretty to look at on top of that.

Glad to see you're feeling better, too!

CurlyMarie

Anonymous said...

I loved this page when I first saw it, and still do now! You really did a great job at both comics and i'm definately a huge fan.Kida are definately hard to draw, but you did it great (Even your baby Nathan was good ;) )


Oh hey BTW, you should totally come to the next Armaggedon over here in NZ *cough*Wellington*cough*. *hint hint* ;P... I'd be there in a second!

Anonymous said...

Jason: re: signed prints of your last panel on Heroes GN finale - to benefit Greg Grunberg's charity ---
I just heard from Greg's manager who wants you to call and says it sounds great and 'do able' -- Please contact Sheindie via 9th Wonders! site for contact info. I know that I (as well as your multitude of fans) will purchase a signed print, knowing that the money is going to a terrific cause. Thanks again for your hard work and for keeping in touch with 'us' through this blog and the 9th Wonders! online Heroes site.
Sheindie (hope you're feeling better)

Kelly J. Crawford said...

Glad you're feeling better, sweetie, and pleased to learn that you want to help out Greg's charity by selling signed artwork. I appreciate your compassion and sensitivity to the needs of others. You're a "good egg" as they say.

KJC

PS: If you have a moment, please go to my blog and listen to a podcast interview I did with 'Sci-Fi Talk' webmag. I mention your work with Heroes and my hopes to work with you on my project someday soon. :-)

Anonymous said...

The photos for this blog entry are not appearing for me now. Other entries are good.

BTW, you definately deserve the praise. Nice drawings. Keep it up!

jasonb said...

acidburn133: I didn't know his name. But I knew he had a name. And HRG was just so stupid to me when we knew he was at least Mr. Bennett. It'd be like calling Peter: Fringe Boy.

Jordan: Welcome aboard! Advice? Keep it simple. CLARITY is most important; make sure you can understand the story. Don't try and dress up crap - try another creative angle.

Rinibini: I didn't want it to be suspenseful. I wanted you to think like kids do. You know, that silly logic: that if you believe HARD ENOUGH you can make it happen. That she fell not because of gravity, but because she didn't believe enough.

curlymarie: wow. Smart. You're right. If you hold up page 10, it's the same angle on Hana for this page. Heh.=)

Dreadman: Man, i'd love to leg it to Wellington, even if it was to just hang out with you. But getting the time off work would be too tough with my American trip this year. Let's not even talk about cost!

Sheindie: You rock! Thanks so much for following this up. It looks like everyone else put this in the TOO HARD basket.

Kelly: GREAT interview! Congrats! Everyone, go listen. It's so inspiring. You can almost taste her passion for her creativity.

miami: still having trouble? Lemme know pls. =)