STUCK IN THE MIDDLE PAGE 5

There will be OUT OF TOWN (my latest HEROES graphic novel that you can find HERE) action tomorrow. I know I said Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but rules are for crossing guards and physics professors. On the outer edge of blogdom we cut it sideways, do dessert before main meals and open presents before we read birthday cards. Basically, I figured that not only am I crazy proud about OUT OF TOWN, but STUCK is now dead to me. I've been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt. OUT OF TOWN is my new baby and STUCK has been dumped like yesterday's pinched loaf.

God forbid, I ever have kids. The headline would read, "Man's boredom leads to negligence and child manslaughter."

But, you know, I'm a child of the MTV generation and my attention span resides somewhere between a bee's dick and my sense of propriety.

So if this was a child, I would have left it on Jim Martin's doorstep in an old monitor box lined with packing material from comic books I bought on Amazon.


Let's wrap this up like Mills in a towel and move onto Claire, Noah, Mr Muggles, Sandra and Sylar.

As you can see, I actually stuck to my layouts for once. If you decide you care enough to wear out the scroll button on your mouse you can flick back and forwards to see I speak the truth. But the simple fact that I'm even trying to pose anything to you as "the truth" should be cause for concern, worry and in some cases paranoia. See your doctor if symptoms persist.


By about page 5 I'm usually pretty pleased with the likenesses I'm drawing. I take a bit of warming up (like an old car on a cold day), but you know, like a good pornstar, I get there eventually. I just find it hilarious that the story is usually over by the time I get my act together on the likenesses. Ok, maybe hilarious is a stretch. Mildly ironic is better, but in the Alanis Morisette sense.

NEXT: I'm planning on starting OUT OF TOWN tomorrow, and then going back to my regular schedule of Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays cos the outer edge of blogdom is just too hardcore for me. I prefer my blog regularity more softcore like a men's magazine. Any more of this crazy schedule and I'd have to shrink wrap this blog in plastic.

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE PAGE 4

Hey! It's Monday (well only by another two hours) and here's Monday's posting! Just like I said it would be here. There's a god damn schedule here and I'm sticking to it! Two hours has to count, right? I mean, if you were standing by a bomb, would you rather have an two extra hours on it or not? What about sex? Would you rather have no sex or two hours of sex?

See? You can do a lot in two hours. But I'm neither defusing bombs, nor having sex. I'm writing a blog post. But the time I'm defusing a bomb, having sex and writing a blog post, you know I'm cooler than James Bond... And I mean any of them, from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig. And this blog would be a whole lot more interesting - but perhaps less about comics then. I think there's a bit in The Game (which is actually a wonderful self-help book for shy guys and like any tool can be used or abused) where he writes a bit while having sex and includes all the typos. My sex-bomb-defusing blog is gonna be like that. But more awesome.

Anyway, I had a great weekend. Superbowl came and went while I sat in my room drawing. I had parties and things to do (no really, I did. Actual real life human beings invited me to stuff), but such was not to be. Once again, it was Jas locked in his little "Harry Potter" cupboard under the stairs drawing away. In some sort of misguided attempt at self help, I tried to convince myself that *I'm* the "Lucky One" and I get to draw and create stories and have these amazing opportunities while everyone else has to be content with watching football. And when I can't hear the drunken, effusive cheers outside, I almost believe it.

Almost.

Then I go back to crying.

Which is tough while you're drawing. I mean, it was tough when you did it by hand. You'd smear your ink or ruin the paper. But on a computer it's downright dangerous. Not quite as dangerous as defusing a bomb while having sex and blogging... but pretty damn dangerous. I mean, you could electrocute yourself! See? Drawing on the edge here people! Risking my life to bring you my art.

I guess someone should suffer for my art. Normally it's my models. Believe me, if you've ever been one you know what suffering is. Hell's gonna look like the day your internet went down after my attempts to immortalize you in digital ink.

For example, the model for this page had to get her kit off and pose in my shower for lots of photos. And I mean, LOTS... if you know what I mean. *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge* Say no more... say no more... if you know what I'm saying.

Ok, ok, I lie. That was the fantasy I had while drawing... pretending I had a model to work from. So apparently if I'm not crying while drawing, I'm hallucinating. But surely hallucinating about naked women in the shower is sort of normal...?

Yep, the rantings of a very sane man here. Feel free to back away slowly, and do remember to avoid eye contact. And no, you can't call 911 on someone just for reading their blog. Mental health services... maybe.

Warning... actual technical and semi-sound reasoning may follow...

The reason why the final picture differs from the layout is because there was no balance to the piece. I needed the two women (Tracy and Mills) to occupy the same amount of space and be similar proportions to suitably frame Ryan and really sell that "Stuck in the Middle" title.

I mean, god forbid that a story is actually aptly named!

NEXT: Stuck in the middle: Page 5. Also, my new HEROES story might go up tomorrow. So fingers crossed! But we have to finish Stuck in the Middle first. I'm sorry, but you can't have your dessert until you eat all your vegetables.

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE PART 3

I've been waiting for the dust to settle, and you know what? I don't think it will. So let's get this baby rolling. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we will have posting action.

I'm gonna finish off STUCK IN THE MIDDLE which should time us nicely for my new HEROES story - also written by Jim Martin. And let me tell you it's a cracker. Main cast, great dialogue and mysterious appearances. And to cap it off, some incredible colouring by Annette Kwok.

I hope you've all had a great ushering into the new year. I had an amazing time back in Melbourne. Huge shout outs to everyone who I managed to catch up with. And to those who I missed, I can't wait to catch up with you next time. Being stranded two hours outside of Melbourne made pulling together what little I had of a social life really tough.

Also I was drawing my butt off back in Melbourne. I'm still playing catch up. So, while I haven't been blogging, I have been drawing - and I have HEAPS to show you... and unfortunately, heaps more I can't. Well, not for a while anyway.

And even more awesome, in the meantime my blog broke 50,000 hits. I was waiting with baited breath for that! Grats to me! Wooooo!!!! Thank you to everyone for all your support. That's got me fired up like nothing else.

But let's get back onto STUCK IN THE MIDDLE.

I was so excited to draw Tracy and Nathan. I noticed in the script that they weren't mentioned by name, so I had to make sure I hit some really strong likenesses. I recently read Alitha Martinez's story featuring Tracy and Mohinder. Alitha has stepped up to another level. She has a very cartoony style but she hit Tracy's likeness spot on! This is no mean feat for me, as I found Ali Larter very tough to draw. Come to think of it, all the blonds on the show are tough to draw. Peter Steigerwald commented that he found Elle tough, I was glad I wasn't the only one. But Alitha made it look easy panel after panel.

I drew Nathan in shadow and then well lit in the panel thereafter. I was stunned as to how much better the one in shadow looked. So if you look at the following panels of Nathan he's always in shadow. I also went for this stylistic choice to reflect Nathan's darker path.

On panel 6 is an Easter Egg joke between a friend and myself. Simon Sherry and I worked on our very first comic book together, called ANTHOLOGY - yes, we were young and not very imaginative about the title. At least no one can plead misleading advertising, cos if we called it, THE MOST AWESOME COMIC YOU'VE EVER READ... we would have been totally lying.

But Simon dared me to draw Johnny Luck - the character I created for Anthology into a HEROES comic. I just couldn't find anywhere to draw this genetically altered dog soldier that wouldn't confuse readers. I was going to draw it on the side of the lighter, but I thought readers would read too much into it. get mislead and confused. I mean STUCK was about genetically altered soldiers to begin with! So I shoved his name on the side of the boxes of cleaning supplies.

As an aside, years ago I wandered into a supermarket and saw a line of toys directly ripping off JOHNNY LUCK! They had made action figures of 4 of the six characters I created and even got some dude to paint over my artwork for the packaging. I was stunned. People said I should sue. I just regret not buying them as it would of (at the very least) been cool to have action figures of characters I created. I wish I could remember what they were called.

NEXT:

Monday: Stuck in the Middle Page 4.

Tonight: Ollie Grigsby's bday party.

Maybe next week will be my next HEROES story.

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE page 2

Alright! Let's get contentious.

Let's talk about the depiction of women in comics.

To be honest, it's actually one of my favourite topics. I have a real issue with the depiction of women in comics. Ironically, it's not really about proportions. I draw my men just as ridiculously as I draw my women. And those artists who draw girls with massive, gravity defying orbs on their chest and pencil thin waists just slide over into the realm of hilarity and cartooning for me. Some people love that, and that's their prerogative. For me, it's not even sexy, titillating or even offensive. It's so far removed from reality that I access it on a purely visual level - ie. is it a good picture of what it's trying to do?

My real issue with the depiction of women is about context.

Is their sexuality or nudity being used to provoke only a sexually arousing action in the reader. If it is, then I have problems with it. If the figure manifests power, concern, worry, elegance, awe or something else, then I'm happy. But too many realistic artists have cleavage in your face and porn star mouths (you know, that vacant half hanging open look). And that bothers me.

I've also been given more stories featuring female nudity in the HEROES comics than any other artist. No, I haven't actually counted, I'm just making bold, generalising statements cos they suit my agenda. But let's look at the last six stories I've had to draw, and let me explain how I dealt with them:

INTO THE WILD part 1: "Catfight" between Sabine and Connie

I think Timm and Jim would be the first to say they were just having a laugh when they wrote the "cat fight". Their direction was cheesy and campy and VERY funny. But as I mentioned in previous posts, it was important to me that this fight create a sense of gravitas in our protagonist and antagonist. While it would have been funny to have drawn it as campy as they wrote it, I just think the context did our characters a disservice. This is my directional call, and perhaps another artist would have made it work, but I knew I couldn't. And as I mentioned, I'm pretty particular about the depiction of women in comics. I tried to make the fight look vicious and tough and brutal. Given the lack of offended comments, I think I did ok.

I even tried to do something smart with it. Sabine was wearing a red top (the opposite end of the colour spectrum to Connies's red top). So when we see the blue top, on a subconscious level the fight is actually bringing the two characters closer together visually as well as emotionally.

INTO THE WILD part 2: Connie and Julien in bed

Ok, so they're consenting adults and for the story to progress and have meaning they need to be intimate. This is tough, as we want to feel their intimacy without being exploitative. It is a bit racy though, with Connie having her bra still on and having it visable, but I figured we'd seen worse, a lot worse. It also wasn't a huge close up of her breasts, so I figured I was ok there. I like to think I exercised a fair level of discretion and tase when drawing this scene.

Annette's incredibly romantic lighting really helps sell the idea that they're making love not having sex or f@cking.




INTO THE WILD part 3: Donna in the bathroom

This scene had been previously established by the amazing Alitha Martinez. Seriously, has any other HEROES artist stepped up as much as she has? I don't think so. Compare her earlier work with her latter work and you will know what I'm talking about. She's doing some brilliant stuff!

Oh god, it would have been so easy to do some serious cleavage and leg shots here, but that would have been not only inappropriate but also distracted from the action beats. I'll be honest, my real problem with this whole story arc is the outfit that Donna wears. I just think it's inappropriate for a mission, but then again... it's designed by a girl (Alitha) so I will just take a big can of shut the hell up.


SUM QUOD SUM part 1: Elle in the bathroom

I include the coloured version and not the black and white version as I feel that the electricity is the focus rather than her nudity. Without Annette's amazing effects, it just look like a hungover naked Elle.

When designing this page, front and center is her expression. It's right in the middle and everything else frames it. I spent so long creating the feeling of pain in her eyes and on her face, but also manifesting a sense of "toughing it".

This carries over to STUCK IN THE MIDDLE'S shower scene, but I had the same mindset. During the course of our lives ie. bathing we are naked. The trick I find is to not have the woman in a sensationalistic, sexy pose, but to also acknowledge that she is indeed naked. She needs to be in a naturalistic position, but the appropriate areas need to be covered up. As soon as it looks like she's actively covering herself up we head into dodgy (er shady or sketchy) territory. I'd do the same for a guy, by the way.

And if you think this is a sensationalistic, sexy pose... well... let's just agree that you and I have very different lines in the sand.

SUM QUOD SUM part 2: "Bikini fight" between Elle and Abby

The beauty about this entire story arc was that I actually got to make suggestions and have Ollie listen to my thoughts. One of the things that I was wracking my brain on was how to have an electrocution incident without the chicks running around in bikinis. He had already done the rain, so that was out. There was a sensationalistic subtext that bothered me. But when reading through the story it just seemed really logical.

Elle needs to be someplace she can relax, and it has to have water. The jacuzzi seems logical. And what else are the girls going to wear?

So my challenge was to not sensatioalise it. I had to make the depiction of the characters realistic and not distort their poses, bodies or actions. I like to hope that I managed to erase any sort of sexual subtext to this scene without taking away from the beauty of both of the characters. It's a tougher juggling act than it sounds! But I think just being aware of this negates the sexualising effect.

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE: Mill's shower scene

This was really tough. The whole point of Mill's cameo here is to sexualise her in Ryan's eyes and thus let the incident reflect badly on him. It hopefully illustrates what a douche he is by giving him an unhealthily pervy streak. So I had to walk a fine line here.

On the one hand he has to find her sexually arousing, on the other hand I don't want to offend anyone with her nudity.

So I approached it in two ways. First up, I decided to make her pose as naturally as possible. I wanted her to look like a woman washing herself. I also needed to cover up as much of her as possible with her arms. I wouldn't normally raise my right arm like that to wash my right shoulder, but I didn't think it was out of the bounds of a natural movement.

The other thing I did was make her avoid any eye contact with the camera. This bit is really important. If she was looking at us it would be very sexually confronting. Instead I tried to have her off in her own world and very unaware that she is being looked at. I kinda hoped that it would make the reader feel a bit like a perv too. You're watching someone in a vulnerable state who doesn't know they're being watched. Perhaps that uncomfortable feeling that some readers felt is from that rather than the sexualising of her figure? Maybe you KNEW you shouldn't be watching her here and that made you uncomfortable? That reaction from you is what should make you also detest Ryan.

So, I tried to keep her pose as natural as possible, but Ryan's character needed to be served as a pervert, so instead I showed as much of her as I was comfortable. I remember the original framing was somewhere around where cut off jeans would hang on her hips. But it was just too much. I pulled back so we could see less of her. I felt this served him enough.

I ran it by a very close female friend whose opinion I value and she wasn't offended at all. I asked Annette's opinion before she coloured it. I mentioned to Annette that if she wanted to cover her up with steam to just go for it.

But Annette seemed comfortable enough with it to largely leave it as it was. NBC seemed comfortable enough with it to let it go through, so as far as I was concerned, it was mission accomplished.

Speaking of Annette, I thought her lighting and colour palettes were exceptional here. From the brown to the blue, to directing your eye to the hole in the wall on panel 4. It was all so brilliant.

NEXT: I doubt I will be posting next Monday as I will be landing in Melbourne that day (I leave Sunday night and arrive on Melbourne on Tuesday - er your Monday! 17 hour time difference plus a 15 hour journey - I end up losing 32 hours!). So basically unless Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown fires up the DeLorean I don't know how it's going to happen. I will try, but I don't like my chances. I will still make sure there's three posts that week though.

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE page 1

Well it finally went up to resounding debate and contention.

I'm going to talk more about the depiction of women in comics in my next post. But suffice to say, I tried to walk a line between providing motivation for the sexist protagonist and not trying to add to the copious amounts of cheesecake already pouring out every month from comic book companies. Some people mentioned the cheesy pose she was in, and I was like, "Really? You don't think that looks like a woman normally washing herself?"

Apparently not.

I ran it by a bunch of women with a really low tolerance for the sort or bullsh!t I was trying to avoid and they all passed it. But I understand there are people with lower tolerances. And I'm not going to apologise for offending you because I needed to provide motivation and justification for the sexist and offensive Ryan Hanover. Chances are, that the bit you're offended by is the bit that he likes. So consider yourself a good person. =)

Anyway, lemme talk about it more next post.

LAYOUT

Page 1 is Annette and I really pulling out ALL the stops. We both had a great deal of fun on this page. Most of the time when you're asked to draw things on this scale it becomes a juggling job. You're trying to juggle the energy and time you have against the number of pages and the deadline. In this case, because of Jim Martin's damn tight writing, it was just one page. This meant Annette and I were able to pull out the big guns and not worry about blowing our wads too early or runing out of steam. How's that? Three euphemisms in one sentence! That's gotta be a record.

As you can see from my layouts, they are arguably technically comparable to anything the average 2nd grader could pull out. I'm planning on moving towards crayons and finger painting with my next layouts.


LINE ART

Hopefully this would give the average 2nd grader a harder time.

I am a digital artist, and it's times like this that I really try and use my medium to its fullest advantage. One of the things I can do really easily is draw on multiple layers. Here I've used it to create as much depth in the image as possible. Panel one has 5 layers:

David Sullivan
David's foreground that he occupies
Midground between David and Rachel
Rachel Mills
Rachel's background that she sits in

By masking each of these out for Annette it allows her to create a real sense of depth. I actually did a fair amount of research about Fallujah and it's sometimes the worst part of my job. Some of the stuff I saw was incredibly disturbing. I mean, I'd rather not see bullet-ridden corpses lying in the middle of the street. I don't want to avoid the issues going on in our day and age, but I'd rather not see the images if I don't have to.

ANNETTE'S COLOURING

I can't stress enough Annette's contribution to the final artwork. The final page is a combination of teamwork between the both of us and she deserves an equal amount of credit. I find it very frustrating when she is left out of reviews and comments. Sure, my name comes first but that's the etiquette of comics listing credits in order of production rather than of importance.

I've asked this before, but if you ever enjoy the finished artwork to comment it, please don't forget to credit Annette also.

I don't know if there's a better example of Annette really showing us what she can do. This is one of the best examples of Annette being not only my cinematographer and special effects unit but also a great designer.

In each panel she creates a depth of field by either blurring out foreground elements that I masked for her (ie. the rubble on panel 2 around Mills) or adding smoke and fire in between each of the background elements. Her whole grounding of the page creates this incredibly intense apocalyptic scene. If you look up at my illustration of the last panel you will see it's basically just white. She creates the heat and the pain for our money shot.

Note also as she directs the eye around the page with the fire element. It starts medium in panel 1, troughs for a bit then peaks powerfully in the last panel. It's masterful work.

FRIDAY: Naked women & sexism in comics.