SUM QUOD SUM - wrap up party

I think my absence is best typified by Noo's lymerick on my Facebook wall:

There once was a dude called Badower,
Who once used to blog by the hour,
But he stopped a while back
And now we've lost track,
Which has caused more than one fan to glower...

Thank you to everyone who wrote in with emails wondering if I was ok. Let's just say I've been kidnapped into "girl land" and blogging kinda fell by the wayside.

Alright! Tomorrow my story written by Jim Martin and coloured by Annette Kwok goes up. It's a prequel piece to the next online series they're doing and it was a bunch of fun. I got to draw ANOTHER shower scene (for god's sake... I'm going to get a reputation) and some cast members.

But let's wrap up SQS. I don't have space to post all of Annette's beautiful colour work, but if you'd like to see it in all its glory go HERE. I'm just going to post the pages where I have something to say.

PAGE 1

PANEL 1: Again I was smashing out the backgrounds as hard as I could. I'm so happy with not only the composition of the top panel but also the way Trafalgar square looks here. Annette did a great job of helping the tiny figures pop on the final page.

PANEL 2: The reference photo for panel 2 was funny. I think I played Claude and Abby and Ollie played themselves. On today's episode of Heroes, Claude Rains will be played by Jason Badower (cries of Boo! And hiss!)

PANEL 3: One of my favourite pics of Claude that I did. It's totally solid. Annette did such a great job of making him look wet from the rain.

PANEL 4: I'm very happy with this panel. I think is has nice performance and lighting. And it makes Ollie look like a superhero for carrying Elle.


PAGE 2

PANEL 2: You can finally see the undistorted line art. Annette has real issues obscuring my art, but I insisted. She's one of the most respectful artists I've ever worked with.

PANEL 3: I do like the performance here. I think that Lee's hand around Abby's back foreshadows the dramatic choice they make later.

PANEL 4: It kinda looks like her, but it kinda doesn't. I'm not sure what happened here. As a side note, I generally used reference from Veronica Mars rather than Heroes as I prefer VM's lighting as it's closer to my style.

PANEL 5: I like both these likenesses, and I think Ollie captured Claude perfectly in this entire comic.

PAGE 3

PANEL 1: Was it necessary to draw all these people outside the Globe Theater? Hell no. Did I enjoy it? Not really. But I just felt it needed to be done to add some "budget" to the scene. I felt I drew Claude the best on this page. I was so inspired by Ollie's dialogue. It just perfectly captured Claude. I could "hear" Christopher Eccleston saying every line. His lines really informed my performance and portrayal of the character.

PANEL 2: Annette noted that I drew over 200 people here. While I did a bit of copy, paste and subtle changing, she still coloured them all!

PANEL 3: If you've never been to St Paul's Cathedral in London, you simply HAVE to go. I was awestruck for about 3 hours as I wandered around what is one of the most magificent building I've ever been in. The Whispering Gallery is amazing. I do regret drawing a skirt on Elle here. I don't think she's ever work a skirt. No idea what came over me.

PANEL 4: Rob Beck mentioned to me that he thought the pickle was a distinctive London landmark, so I tried to squeeze it in here. Man, that background took some time. It's a great Claude again, but a mediocre Kristen. She's so hard to draw!

PAGE 4

PANEL 1: I remember Ollie commenting to me that I must have enjoyed myself a fair bit drawing a bikini fight. I said I might have enjoyed it more if one of the girls wasn't his fiance. It made it a bit weird.

PANEL 2: But seriously, I actually try and shy away from the cheesecake. I think there's enough guys out there doing that. Someone should bat for the other side. I like to try and hope that the beautiful women I draw make the scene attractive enough without them poking their asses out or lavishing cleavage everywhere. I'm a little upset with Elle's pose here. It looks a bit awkward. But I drew and redrew it and I just couldn't get it to work. Eventually I just had to move on. As you can see, the Annette Kwok special effects house was in over-drive. She basically did EVERYTHING.

PANEL 3: I love her pose here. When I was working with my model, I asked her to imagine that her hands were covered in oil and that she was checking on a friend who had fallen over.

PANEL 4: Oh man, could you actually imagine falling like this? You'd break both your wrists.

PANEL 5: Ollie and I worked on Root and Branch together (see the navigation links on the side). And in one bit there's a bunch of bullets flying at this woman just missing her. I made a bad call and instead of drawing the wall being hit by bullets I drew it all in shadow. To some people it looked like the woman was being protected by a forcefield. I mentioned to people that when I draw a forcefield you will know about it. In his infinite creativity, Ollie managed to give me the opportunity to draw a forcefield. But as you can see from comparing the black and white art to the coloured artwork, it's all the Annette Kwok Magic Show. I did nothing!

PAGE 5

PANEL 1: I'm including the coloured version of this page so you can see the Annette magic at full work. I basically just showed her what space the forcefield should occupy and she did the rest.

PANEL 2: This is one of my favourite pics of Elle. And if you scroll down you can see the awesome forcefield that Annette designed up close. Look at my art, then look at how much more it would hurt with Annette's colours! If you look carefully you can see the wedding ring on Abby. This further deepens Abby and Lee's relationship and helps explain his dramatic choice in panel 4; he has to side with his wife/fiance.



PANEL 3: I remember actually watching and studying Forgetting Sarah Marshall just so I could draw Kristen Bell's body as accurately as I could. Yeah, it's a tough, tough job.

PANEl 4: I love this shot of Abby and Ollie. What I found hilarious was the 5 o'clock shadow that Annette gave Ollie. In reality, he's like me... a bit of a baby face.

PANEL 5: I love everything about this shot. It had to sum up the emotional weight of her loss as well as their intimacy and Abby's hurt. I also love the way Ollie scripted the sequence with Abby protecting Lee. I think it's a great scene.





PAGE 6

PANEL 1: If the panel has Claude in it, chances are I really enjoyed drawing it. He's just so easy and distinctive to draw. I really felt I couldn't do wrong with him after a while.

PANEL 2: I like this pic of Elle here.

PANEL 3: The money shot. I was going to have her looking at us, but somehow I liked the distanced look more. Ollie and I went over and over this sequence. Initially Lyle opens the door in this panel and Elle shocks him in the second panel. Then when we saw the footage, Lyle is lying around the corner from the door. Unless he bounced off a wall or something there's no way he could be lying there if he came from the door. So instead we came up with this sequence. No need to explain how or why, she's just there and he's already unconscious.

PANEL 4: I was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to draw a great Lyle. As it is, he turned out pretty well. So we added the family photograph on the left side so there should be no doubt in your mind as to where we are. This is easily one of the best pics I've drawn of Claire and Noah. I will post it separately sometime.

I was a bit disapointed that they released this after the airing of Eris Quod Sum, as I felt these events were a prequel to what happened. If you did read this before seeing the show, then I think you probably got more out of it. When Claire and Sandra come home, you already know what's going on, which (I think) creates more tension. It's like knowing that the serial killer is in the house in a horror film.

Alright, from now on, I'm posting Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays unless I mention otherwise. That's the schedule and I'm sticking to it!

Again, thank you to everyone who wrote in to either kick my ass or just check that I wasn't chopped up in someone's refridgerator somewhere.

INTERVIEW: Part 2 of my interview with House Petrelli can be found HERE.

COMPETITION: I will sorting out who did and didn't get their prizes this week. If you were a winner, keep your eyes on your inbox. If you're not sure if you sent me an email or not (ie. I didn't reply) please send it again!

NEXT: Jim Martin, Annette Kwok and Jason Badower. Don't forget to watch HEROES tonight!

RADIO INTERVIEW

I swear to god, I'm like the work experience kid. I'm an idiot.

The interview is TODAY (thursday) 4pm on RMIT radio on 90.7FM. So if you're in Melbourne, tune in!

Full blogage tonight.

20 Questions - the second half

It was my friend Nicola's birthday a couple weeks ago. Nicola and her husband Lee have been so incredibly supportive of me and my art. They have both also helped model for me (Nicola played the doctor in part 1 page 2 of BLACKOUT).

Nicola is probably also the heart of my art critique team. Her insights have always been valuable and I appreciate that someone has that good an eye for detail.

Anyway, she's a huge Invader Zim fan, and an even bigger Gir and the "Doom Song" fan. So I just had to draw Gir or her birthday. I love his messed up little green dog suit with the disturbingly wandering eyes and stupid little tongue. And I'm pretty happy with how stoned my piggy looks.

Happy Birthday Nicola!

***

INTERVIEW PART 2

11. Were you aware of the show before you started working on the online novels?

Yeah, absolutely. I really enjoyed it, but working on it gave me a new-found appreciation and respect for it.


12. How often are you requested to illustrate those online graphic novels? What is their importance among the other works of yours? Is there any sort of contract or formal agreement determining any average production or a minimum of work?

There is no contract between me and NBC. In fact, I liaise directly with Frank of Aspen comics. I think they throw a lot of work my way because I was fast and reliable. I stepped up a lot of times, bailing them out the fire. I know there were some production issues with War Buddies. One artist was supposed to draw the entire arc, but that artist had to pull out for some reason. Frank asked me to step in and I churned out that story in record time thanks to Annette my colourist.

Right now I'm on a little bit of a hiatus working on my graphic novel, Zero G. But I can't wait to finish it and get into some more HEROES work. I really think the comic stories this season have been a lot of fun and I wish I could have drawn any of them.

13. Even though they are novels of a few pages, we guess they give you plenty of work to draw them and do the illustration. How long does it normally take to have an edition done? How does this process work? Meaning, you first have all the drawings done and then put the colors on them at once, or do work each piece/page individually? Do the digital process has a great importance in your work or doing the job using you own hands is still the most important in your opinion?

Generally, I get 5 to 10 days to draw a 5-6 page HEROES project. The first stage is layouts. I send over scratchy little thumbnails that indicate where characters are going to be and where the panels are going to be. I also indicate speech balloons. Once NBC and Frank approve these. I then get onto the artwork, generally the timeline is so tight that I have already started drawing while waiting for layout approval. I just hope that there are no problems. When working on the Death of Hana and Blackout (both comics coloured by myself) my art process seems to be a little bit more organic and less structured. My driving factor is expedience and speed. When working with Annette, I make sure to draw everything down to every tiny detail. When colouring myself, I realise that sometimes it's faster to paint stuff than it is to draw it.

At the end of the day, the computer is just another tool. It's taken me 4 years of working with it to get better and faster than I was by hand. That was a huge sacrifice. So anyone who thinks they can just pick up a computer and just press the "make better" button had better think twice.

14. Do you work directly with the writers and have the chance of giving opinions and suggestions, or is the script complete and finished already when you get it?

The script is completely finished by the time I get to it. With War Buddies I was only getting one episode of the time, which meant I had to ask who Dallas and Austin were. That was cool getting to know weeks before anybody else. With the Death of Hana, and Blackout I received both parts all at once.

I try and add what I call an "easter egg" in all my comics. Something that only the hardcore fans would appreciate. So keep your eyes out for these.

15. In the novels, the characters features - and traits - and the real actors' are pretty much alike. In Blackout you have three characters never seen before on the show. Are you asked to draw any relevant or specific characteristic of any actor, because the character might be on the show at some point?

If the character will later turn up, I'm usually told very specifically what to draw. Although, sometimes I'm not told! With War buddies I assumed that Dallas and Austin were important characters to the continuity of HEROES so I asked who they might be. I was glad that I did. With characters that are unplanned to appear in the future I'm allowed to draw whatever I want as long as I stay within the writers description. In Blackout, the Primatech agent and the kid are all totally designed by me from Mark Sable's direction.

16. Are you inspired or influenced by some artist concerning this feature accuracy quality in you drawings?

The accuracy is inspired by the show. For example, when I drew Blackout. I modeled for Mohinder myself. I watched a couple of episodes and really studied his character and his body language. I studied what he was like when he was earnest, sad or hurt. All these emotions that he is communicating through the comic I modeled off the actor's performance. I'm very particular about little details like this


17. What is the character you like the most in Heroes when it comes to drawing? Why?


When it comes to fast sketches, I really like drawing Hiro Nakamura. I just can't seem to get him wrong. I really enjoy these fast sketches as they capture something about the character. When it comes to the comics, I really want to draw Peter Petrelli. I think Milo is a cool looking guy and I haven't had a chance to draw him much.

18. Which character would you like to be drawing, beyond those you have already done?

As I mentioned, Peter Petrelli would be my favourite. I wouldn't mind drawing Niki/Jessica more as the few times I have haven't been totally satisfied with what came out.


19. Why? Is he/she your favorite character on the show?


Actually, Matt Parkman is my favourite character on the show. I really enjoyed Greg Grunberg's performance. I find with Hiro I'm laughing a lot at him, but with Matt, I'm laughing a lot with him. The character is genuinely funny and Greg's performance really grounds him.

20. And i couldn't end it without asking this one: What can you tell us about next novels? Is there any scoop for us? Is there anything exclusive you could tell us?

I wish there was, but right now I'm a little out of the loop. But I can't wait to get back into the HEROES comics! This season should shape up to be a really good one. I'm sure they've learnt a lot from the first season and I can't wait to see what they unload for the second season. And even if I knew anything, I would only give you the tiniest hints. I mean, why spoil something so beautiful?

JASON BADOWER SIGNING AT COMICS R' US (UPDATE)

The HEROES graphic novels were supposed to be in Wednesday, but they've been delayed. I've just got off the phone to Matt (the owner of Comics R Us) and he says they should be in by Friday afternoon. So note, the FRIDAY SIGNING TIME HAS CHANGED:

COMICS R'US CITY: 9th November 2pm-5pm
COMICS R'US CHAPEL ST: 10th November 12pm-2pm

I will have a new print run of sketchbooks ($15) and I will be doing sketches ($10) and autographing the graphic novel (free of course!). I hope to see you all there!

20 Questions - the first half

So these are my initial designs (which I've ditched) for the SARMY peeps. Upon reviewing them weeks later, I just didn't like them. I thought they were weak pictures. So I did some new ones. I sent them to keke182, so if any of you haven't seen them yet (and I haven't heard anything either) you can hassle her/him.

As I said, when I went back to these, I just didn't like any of them. They just didn't scream, "Sylar" to me.

***

Anyway, what follows is the original English transcript of my interview for 9thWonders.net:

1. What made you begin to work with comics, acquire a taste for it?

I have always loved comics. I had a pile of comics since before I can even remember. What got me really seriously into comics as a profession is that, I guess at heart, I'm a control freak. I love the idea that I can control every part of the story that I'm telling. I can show you what the characters look like (unlike an author). I can voice their thoughts and I can voice their dialogue. At the end of the day, it's just me and the page telling the story. I find it very primal and very immediate. Especially with the Heroes comics! Working on them is very inspiring. We draw it one week and it appears online the next! It's so gratifying to get that immediate fan feedback.

2. Which comic books most influenced you, in your career and personal life?

I guess comic books have always been known for their superhero characters. It's what I grew up reading anyway. So I guess the greatest influence on me was that moral structure. I like to think that if there was any influence, it's that I still have my integrity. For example, at the last Armageddon Expo I was approached by a great number of fans wanting to buy my prints of the characters. Unfortunately, I don't own the rights to these characters. NBC does. In fact, NBC has paid a lot of money for those rights. While they would never find out about me selling these prints. I would never do it. And so while the fans are asking me to quote a price for the prints, really they are asking me to quote a price for my integrity.

3. Which artists have inspired you on that job?

I am a big fan of Frank Quitely and John Cassaday. Colouring wise, I guess I have adapted techniques from Adi Granov. My goal is to make the comic book look exactly like the show. Similar angles, similar lighting. I tend to go for a more dramatic colour palette, but that's just my own personal preference.


4. How's the feeling to work to one of the most famous TV show?

When I got offered the job I was pretty excited. When the script actually came through I almost shot through the ceiling. I ran around like Hiro, screaming at the top of my lungs. One of the biggest buzzes was again at the Armageddon Expo. I had a queue of people two and a half hours long waiting for a five-minute sketch from me. That was the most disarming amazing incredible experience. I expected to be listening to crickets and watching tumbleweeds go by. To have this many people know of my work and be big enough fans to wait that long absolutely blew me away.


5. Recently we've been seeing some new versions on Comic books for the big screen (classic ones such as "V for Vendetta", "X-men", and recently announced "Watchmen") and TV (like the newest "Wonderwoman"). What do you think about this interaction between comics and other Medias?

To me it's all about bringing in new readers. If each one of these movies can bring in 1% of their audience to pick up the comic book associated with that movie then I'm happy. New readers mean more people for me to tell my stories to. And that's what I love about HEROES. It's brought so many new readers to comic books. I have received so many personal messages from people saying that they never looked at comic books or took them seriously until they read my HEROES stuff. And that's my goal: to bring more readers into comic books. There's some great stuff on the shelves. We just have to point people in the right direction.


6. And what do you think of this twist, because now you have a TV show (Heroes) becoming a comic book, opposite to what has normally been seen.

Again, it serves the purpose of my goal. Even more so, actually. I think it's great that one established media helps out another established media. Especially as comics aren't taken as seriously as they should be. It's great to have a TV show, that is taken seriously give comics a huge nod. And let's face it, look through season one, the number of comic book references are huge. From direct reference, to homaging stories, it's all from comic books. And yet the way they've written it, you take it all in your stride, and you take it seriously.


7. Heroes' comic books are going to be printed out on real paper, what do you think about this idea?

I am so excited to see the HEROES graphic novel, it's not funny. When I heard about it at San Diego I ran around hassling all the DC comics post-production guys. They all guaranteed me this book would be of the highest quality. Mainly I finally get to point at something and show people what I've done, rather than sending them to a URL.


8. Comic books have been losing their power and space lately. How strong do you think they still are today? Do you think Heroes and other works we've seen on TV have helped revitalizing the genre as whole somehow?

I think it's always been an underdog media. Its main problem is it's too closely tied to one genre: superheroes. While I love superheroes, we need other stories and thats why I really like HEROES. It's walking the line between the genre dominating comics and good drama that dominates audiences.


9. Heroes did a real good job, and we think it's one of its greatest merits, gathering Comics Universe big names, such as Jeph Loeb, Tom Grummet, Alex Ross, Jim Lee, and, of course, yourself. What had effectively attracted you into it?

I think I already answered my own question as to why I'm into HEROES, and quality is a huge factor of that. It is really well-written, really well shot, and really well directed and acted. What more do you ask for in a show? I think they've been really smart to work with the people who are driving the comic industry at the moment. It's tough to walk the fence without a hand from either side.

10. And how did all started for you with the show? Was there really any kind of selection process, or was it more like an invitation?

I knew the producer Aron Eli Coleite beforehand. In fact, I had art directed one of his comics. When I was between jobs I was watching an episode of HEROES and I saw his name on it. I was shocked! I sent him an e-mail congratulating him on the show. He asked me what I been doing. I showed him. He asked if I wanted to draw one of the HEROES comics. Of course I said, "Yes!"

The script came within two hours and I couldn't believe it. Apparently the last artist had pulled out at the last minute, and they were struggling to find a replacement. It just so happened that I waved my arm in the air at just the right time. That was episode 19: Roadkill. I threw my hat into the ring with the editor Frank, and said if there's any more of these I'm up for it.

and in case you missed it:

JASON BADOWER SIGNING AT COMICS R' US

With the new HEROES graphic novel out, and as the major contributing artist, I will be signing at:

COMICS R'US CITY: 9th November 12pm-2pm
COMICS R'US CHAPEL ST: 10th November 12pm-2pm

I will have a new print run of sketchbooks ($15) and I will be doing sketches ($10) and autographing the graphic novel (free of course!). I hope to see you all there!

UPDATE: There *might* be a delay on the graphic novels til later Friday afternoon. I will keep you updated. But right now, these times and dates still stand.

Justah Sayah Noah!

INTERVIEW: Those fine kids at 3heroes.net who do a rocking Heroes podcast threw Paul at me to do another interview post San Diego. You can find it here as episode 28.

Paul really kicks some ass. He is getting so much better at interviewing. Afterwards I asked him about his preparation, and he basically had 4 words on a page: San Diego, Zero G, Blackout. (the G doesn't count). I think it's a really tight interview that flows so much better than the first. There's some waffling about comics in general, but we nail it down to some HEROES action eventually.

Here's the episode summary from their site:

Jason tells Paul about his time at the San Diego Comic Con.

• 
  

• He also discusses the comic book the Watchman, and his worries for the upcoming film.

• We get some scopes on his next Heroes Graphic novel. That is exciting for us geeks, because "we like to know first!".

• He updates us on his upcoming comic, Zero G.

• He talks about what he'd not like to draw from the Heroes world.

Ok, enough shameless plugging. Onto the art.

Mr Bennet. Pngaou's actual request as first place winner. Claire was just the bonus I threw in. You know, as you do. 'Cos I have all the time in the world. I whipped up a Claire and solved world hunger. "Whipped up a Claire"?! Is that even legal? Anyway, I will post my solution to world hunger sometime when I have more time.

When I showed Ryan the Mr Bennet in some dodgy burger place in NY, he thought the Bennet was fine. I was convinced that there was something wrong. And not in that "mole on Cindy Crawford's upper lip sorta way". Upon closer inspection I've divined that his head is too big. Not Ryan's. Mr Bennet's. Noah. Whoever. You know what I'm talking about.

So I've shrunk his head, and it looks a little better to me. Next up, I will post the joint image of Mr. Bennet and Claire. It's a sweet picture. "Sweet" as in nice and cute not "sweet" as awesome or sugar-filled. Ok, maybe a little.

UPDATE: Mohinder is almost done. I'm sick of drawing hospital rooms. One and a half more pages left! If any of you have questions for me, Ryan is doing an interview with myself and Blackout writer Mark Sable. You can chuck Ryan some questions here.

I promise not to look. =)

I'm looking forward to hitting the boards and saying, "Hi!" when I'm done with Mohinder.

INTERVIEW!

As I mentioned recently, Paul from the 3Heroes podcast contacted me on my blog. I followed his links (as I do on most of the people who comment on my blog) and found the 3Heroes site where I began listening to his podcast. While I really enjoy Emily and Kay, I found Paul hilarious.

I posted on his blog that he would be welcome to drop me a line if he needed anything. He emailed me asking me if he could interview me. I was stunned! My first propper interview. Previously I had text pieces focusing on me, but never an actual interview where people could hear me! As most people who know me have realised - I'm not shy of the sound of my own voice. I have lectured, done countless amounts of public speaking as well as charity motivational work for under-privileged children and teens.

So we made a time to do it last Sunday. Late last Wednesday evening, Paul saw that I was on Skype and asked me if we could do a test. We chatted as he played with software. Then he asked if we could do a test interview. Well one and a half hours later at 2:30am, we finished the impromptu interview!

We were totally unprepared! Paul and I just chatted, and he emailed me back a day later saying that it was everything he needed and we didn't need to do Sunday. I was stunned, but skeptical.

Last night I listened to it, and I really enjoyed it. I realised I can't answer a question directly, but we both did a reasonable job of not only staying on topic, but having a really high-energy conversation. Paul was fantastic, and listening to it, I still can't believe that it's the first time we had spoken!

As a note, just in case any of you are fortunate enough to ever be interviewed, here's the one lesson I learnt:

REMEMBER THE QUESTION: Ramble if you've got a good story, but remember to answer the question. There were a couple times I got a bit lost and crawled up my own ass.

You can find the interview at:

3HEROES.NET

It's episode 18. It's pretty clearly marked: Interview with Jason Badower.

Enjoy! I'd love to hear some feedback.

PS. Why did I upload this image? To prove that I can draw Ali Larter after my miserable effort on page 9. =)

My first interview

Right so a couple months back I did the invite for a friend's 30th costume party (I went as Superman - no you can't see the photos... ok maybe sometime in the future). I don't usually do this sort of thing, the time it takes just isn't worth it and most people don't appreciate it. Neither of that was true for Brett. Thus the pic to your left.

Brett's standing on the fallen bodies of heaps of superheroes. You might be able to make out Superman, but Batman, Wolverine, Spiderman, Tomb Raider, Wonder Woman, Elektra, Daredevil and the Hulk might be harder to see. But they're there. Again, you're going to have to take my word for this.

The invite really did the rounds and found its way to a bunch of designers starting a new online magazine featuring Melbourne artists (thanks Michelle). They really dug my stuff and asked if I would do an interview and small portfolio.

Here it is. My first ever text interview (I've been interviewed on film for a bunch of things in the past):

http://www.melbournepixel.com/_prelaunch/01/i01a05_jason.html

I had fun and really appreciated the exposure. There's also some funky art from previous projects. If anyone sees anything they like there and wants to see more, drop me a comment and I will see what I can do.

NB the last pic is the INNOCENTS first cover with the Gwen Stefani head.