Here's that big news I was talking about!
I got a gig doing an official HEROES webisode!!!
I'm a huge fan of the show and had just finished the first book of ZERO G (my new comic). I decided to wander by NBC's website for the show and see what they had going on there. I noticed the comic webisodes and really enjoyed them. I then remembered that I knew Aron Coleite (one of the producers, and writer of my favourite episode, "Six Months Ago") as I had art directed a comic of his. I thought I'd shoot Aron an email, congratulate him on the show and send him some art from Zero G. I also asked how one gets a gig doing the webisode comics.
Aron emailed me back and said he'd forwarded the email onto the editor at Aspen Entertainment who contract the artists for the webisodes. Frank from Aspen emailed me immediately and said he liked my stuff. He asked me if I'd be interested in doing a six page story. The only catch was the TIGHT deadline - I got the gig saturday afternoon and the story was due (fully coloured) the following friday.
I contacted Annette (my uber-colourist) and it was GAME ON!
I take about 10 hours to draw a page, I managed to get it down to 6 hours per page for this. That made 36 hours on top of my normal 50 hours a week... it was a BIG week. I basically got to work at 930am, left at 8pm and then had dinner and drew from 9pm til 3am every night. Annette and I managed to get it done, and there were high fives all round.
I'm incredibly happy with it. I would have liked tighter likenesses, but what can you do when the clock ticks that quickly? It was such a huge buzz drawing the likenesses - especially Hiro. Sylar is such a tough one. He's a real chameleon. Zachary Quinto has an incredible range of expression, and it's so hard to capture. The image I posted above is my favourite (and also shows you the black and white artwork that Annette coloured).
You can go here for the comic, it's EPISODE 20 and called ROAD RAGE:
http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/novels/
10 comments:
Hey Jason, let me be the first to give you a big congrats on the newest online webisode . . . I've been following Heroes since day one and was REALLY excited to see the extra effort that NBC is putting into this. I was particularly impressed with your work on this one and I think it might have been the best comic to date for the show! Here's hoping you get to come around more often and work on future webisodes!
best online comic so far! your depiction of Sylar is far more haunting (and hauntED) than in the previous comics where he appeared
plus, you've verified a couple of things that have been debated since the first few weeks of the show -- always a plus!
wow! great job as always jason! i was actually really surprised and excited to see you name in the heroes graphic novel list page in wikipedia. keep up the good work
Imagine how pumped I was when I got the script? Ice powers! Charlie's memory! First appearance of Zane Taylor!
I got to establish and define so much. It really was an honour. Despite the tremendous amount of work, I practically needed to be sedated with all the excitement.
Frank has put me into the rotation of artists. I don't know what that means, but I'm dying to do another one. I'd do these weekly if they'd let me.
Jason,
I'm a huge fan of HEROES and have read every online graphic novel tie-in related to the show, including "Road Kill". I must say I was extremely impressed with your drawings and Annette Kwok's colorings. So much so that, for the first time ever, I printed out the entire comic in high quality on glossy paper so I can show my associates your work. You and Annette make an awesome team.
I have a TV series in development, and although it won't be on the air for quite some time (maybe 2 years), we are planning for a graphic novel tie-in series, along with video games, fiction novels etc. I've been searching for an artist & colorist who could take the stylistic approach I have in mind for the comic series and put it down on paper exactly the way I've envisioned it. If "Road Kill" is any indication, I think you and Annette have hit it bang on (i.e. soft, muted colors, detailed facial expressions, the use of computers to simulate movement and light glare). Absolutely brilliant work!
I'm going to keep the two of you in mind, and when it comes time to make preparations for the graphic novel tie-in series, I hope you (and Annette) will be available.
KJC
http://www.showbizprgirl.blogspot.com
http://www.showbizmediaservices.com/blacktower.html
Those are some incredible humbling comments Kelly. Thank you so much. I haven't seen it printed out myself either! I should really do so.
Please, keep us in mind. You can always contact Annette and myself through this site. That's a phenomenal amount of work on the BLACK TOWER. Keep us in the loop how it's going.
Well, thanks for your kind words about The Black Tower, Jason. I really didn't think you'd take more than a fleeting glance at the presentation.
I know you and Annette work for SpaceDog & Top Cow, but because they are not accepting new story ideas, I am presently preparing a comic book series pitch for Nick Barucci at Dynamite Entertainment. I really hope that you and Annette are not contractually bound to work exclusively for SpaceDog/Top Cow, Jason, as I want to encourage Nick to hire the dynamic duo of Badower & Kwok for my project.
I've bookmarked your blog, and you can do the same with mine, if you'd like to keep tabs on The Black Tower project. I'm sure you and I will be communicating on a somewhat regular basis in the months and years ahead, regardless of whether or not we end up working together. :-)
KJC
mail@showbizmediaservices.com
jas... always been very proud of you... seeing you do something you love so much and do so well is a dream come true for both of us!... not to mention i adore this show and thrilled i can live a little joy through what you are doing... thrilled for you and hope you knock em dead... i get the feeling youve got so much more in you and youre holding back!... im letting the fans out there know thats theres so much more in this guy and to this guy!... you are far too humble jas... and to that Rude Chick in the club?.. Your loss badly!... stay well old friend, alby...
I think you did an amazing job on this.
I know it was a while ago now but I really wanted to say how great I think this is.
I saw just one image (Memory for Trucking) on some other site and immediately had to see the rest. I was so impressed that I immediately went and bought the first graphic novel on the strength of Roadkill - I needed a printed, glossy, permanent copy! Your work is what introduced me to the whole GN Heroes phenomenon, and has made me really excited about comics, which hasn’t been the case since I was little!
This was the first time I'd seen any of your work and I was blown away by it. I have never seen anything like this in comics before and I've always been disappointed by so many graphic novel or comic tie-ins that I've leafed through and had trouble recognising the characters. Not so here is it?!
I am so impressed by how close a likeness you have maintained throughout Roadkill, and you didn't need to point out that you studied Sylar's body language closely - it was something I picked up on and appreciated straight away - honestly this really was like watching a continuation of the television series. Yes, it's so impressive because you are right about Zachary Quinto having such a wide range of looks and expressions, he does seem to change so much throughout the series, so kudos to you!
Sorry for the rant, I just think this is amazing!
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