ROOT & BRANCH part 3 wrap up

Oh god, I suck. I'm the worst Blogger in the world. I'm going to go for a running dive behind Paul Caggegi's words, which basically translate as, all blogging and no work it's "all steak and no sizzle."

I have been so busy it's insane. I worked all Labor Day weekend, busting my ass. I did have a small break where I headed out to a pool party Sunday at the house of the writer/producer of "Scary Movie". What was great is while I know a bit about Hollywood and how it works, my accent means I'm able to ask all the questions about people that I want. See, if I had an American accent it's almost assumed that I should know what a "talent manager" is and how that differs from a publicist or even an agent (fyi they plan a client's long term career). I can ask all the details I want without appearing stupid. It's great. And people are so happy to chat about their jobs.



Apart from the pool parties I'm powering through part 2 of Into The Wild. I hope you enjoyed part 1 (chapter 101). It just went online HERE. I'm very happy with it. But I will chat more about it when I get to it (sometime around the next Olympics probably). I'm so busy that the only reason why I sleep and eat is because it reduces my productivity if I don't do so. My only real breaks are heading to the gym with my housemate and neighbour (my housemate has lost 3% body fat in the last month! He's really stuck to the eating plan and weights routine I gave him).

I shouldn't even be blogging! By body is wracked with the guilt of procrastination as I type this. I have to have the entirety of part 2 done by Friday and I'm only 5 pages into the 12 pages story. Oh, did I mention I also have a full time job and have to do 6 pages for that also?

Anyway, enough whining about the present, let's whine about the past.

ROOT AND BRANCH 3

PAGE 1

I loved drawing Root and Branch part 3 (R&B3). I've said it before and I'll say it again. It was so much fun. I'm so glad they asked me to draw Sabine for Into the Wild too. I think it will have a really nice visual consistency for the reader. R&B3 was drawn in about 5 days. 5 days to draw and colour 6 pages was a really tall order for me. Remember, I had been drawing the previous two parts also as well as my other obligations. My energy was waning.

But, I got to draw Bennet! I think I've drawn him more than any other cast member and I still find him really tough. Jack Coleman has a very unique face, where the balance of the features is so delicate, that if you get the smallest thing wrong you've just drawn some random with glasses. "Random" is a word I picked up in London off Nat and my mate Matt.

I envy the more cartoony artists like Ryan who just seem to smash out his likeness effortlessly. *sigh*

But as I mentioned, I knew that Bennet would feature in part 3, so I made his presence pop a little more in part 2. The Tale of Two Cities was requested for in the script. I'm not sure its significance, as I haven't read the book myself. But the SHEINDIE CLASSICS label was my shout out to the tirelessly enthusiastic and supportive Sheindie. His shout out was well overdue. I can't think of anyone else that's been so supportive and helpful and hadn't got a shout out.

It was Ryan Gibson Stewart who found me the reference for the cells. I made sure that Bennet's cell was arranged exactly how it was on the show (each alternating cell mirrors the one preceeding so it can be a bit confusing).

I loved making the cloning process gross. Most comics have such clean powers, I looked forward to diryting this up. The point where Sabine cuts the cord (I spent ages finding just the right hideous yellow/green colour for the liquid spilling out) and the ecg monitor flatlining was an idea suggested after by Zach Craley.

PAGE 2

The reason why the shirt was open on the clone on our right was to show his belly button. There was some question on the boards as to whether they had belly buttons or not. I figured they must because Sabine would freak out and notice otherwise. Unfortunately in the drawing I forgot about this intention and ended up covering up the belly button. Eeediot!

I'm extremely happy with the bloodstained glass effect, and hope that it was still readable for the reader.

The main difference with Root Julien (RJ - as he's known in the scripts, Duplicate Julien is known as DJ) is that he's supposed to have a tattoo of a tree on him somewhere. I totally forgot about it, and luckily, so did NBC.




When I did my signing at Orbital Comics comics I drew a raffle for attendees to see whose likeness would be incorporated into the comic. I was going to do two things. If they looked the part, then they would be cast as an agent, in fact an agent who gets shot by Sabine. If they didn't look like an agent (ie a kid) then I was going to put them playing on the road as the cars drive by in page 5. But Luis was awesome and posed perfectly as the shot agent. I also managed to sneak two more Bennet likenesses in (I just couldn't help myself!).

PAGE 3

Ryan again found me reference for what the company corridors look like. When I did the set tour I was lamenting to Ollie how I would have loved to have come in and shot these for reference. I don't know if anyone noticed, but there's shadows of the company agents behind those doors.

The agents in panel 4 are Donna, Thompson, Devin and some random dude. I find it interesting how Devin's look has changed from the sketches we were given. In the one I was given Devin practically has a beard he's so grizzly. I loved the design. I don't like smooth faced Devin as much.

I also really like how Sabine cupping RJ's face came out. I think it's a great moment. There's intimacy in their hands and eyes, but their bodies are far apart to show that they don't really know each other.

PAGE 4

It's when I read this bit I knew for a fact that Julien was totally unlike the clone guy who fights Adam. Ollie and Zach were really smart to take the time to totally explore RJ's cloning ability. Remember I was talking about making powers gross? Well I wanted to go overboard here. At the point of the clone's separation I overlayed multiple textures of varicose veins, raw meat and all sorts of horrid stuff. If you look at panel 1 you can see eyeballs and all sorts of stuff growing. I heard somewhere that eyes are the most complex part of the body, so I figured they should be grown first.

The last two panels have two of my favourite Juliens. I just think I drew him really well here. And yes, it was a challenge to keep covering up this naked guy. I really didn't wanna see or draw RJ's "special little clone", you know?

Notice how Donn'a not shooting at him here? I figured that if Donna was there to shoot at him then she would have hit him with her special telescopic powers. So anyway, as far as I can determine there's still a naked Julien running around John McClane-style in the Company basement (i can just see it written on some dead Company agent - "Ha Ha Ha - now I have underwear.").

Now there's a story I wanna write!

PAGE 5

I was trying to figure out what car Thompson would drive. Now I'm not a car head myself. Cars for me get me from A to B. If they can do that in a bit of style, then all the better. So I found this Audi. I remember the boards getting some activity from people saying they'd join the company if they could score this Audi. Wow. Four stylish wheels and you're ready to bag, tag and brainwash people. Are morals that thin these days? =)

I ended up adding all these trees and folliage around the bridge. I figured that if they just fell in a clear ravine then Donna would just pick them off from the bridge. Little would I know that - Oops! Almost gave away a spoiler. =)

You can see that a great deal of the movement of the cars is created in the colouring stage with blur effects.

PAGE 6

I was so tired by this stage. I'm about to tell you a secret and you mustn't tell anyone. I had one day to colour this entire story arc. Normally I would have had 7 days to draw this, but I lost one day organising my visa in Paris, and another day as I was jumping on a plane to LA Sunday morning. My taxi was coming at 8am.


So it's 11am on Saturday and I have til 8am the next morning to colour all 6 pages. To give you an idea, Annette says she can colour two pages a day. I had to do 6! I worked until 7am that morning. My poor sister had to pack all my bags for me (and she did an incredible job - I pulled shirts out of the bag two weeks later and they didn't have a single crease in them!). I started page 5 by about 2 in the morning and I was so tired by this stage. The night scenes on these pages look murky and horrible because of this. I just couldn't figure out how to make it work. I'd already been in front of the computer for 15 hours at that stage.

There was also some question on the boards as to which character the driver was and what future role he would play. Honestly, he's just my mate Brett. In the labels on my navigation bar you will find under one of the older ILLUSTRATION tags an invite that I did for Brett's 30th birthday. Brett also commissioned me to do my Havok and Wolverine. He's one of the biggest fans of my work (the fact that he knows me yet is still a huge fan of my stuff takes me aback daily) and jokingly asked why he hadn't appeared in a comic yet. Almost all our friends had. He emailed me this aside as I was supposed to draw page 6 and so it was game on. He got such a huge buzz out of it. In fact it was trying to do him justice that kept me awake while colouring this page at 6am.

And that's the end of R&B3! And they lived happily ever after. Or they did until INTO THE WILD where it all hits the fan.



Oh, as a point of trivia, HERO/ROEsian from the 9th Wonders boards sent me a PM about some stats he'd compiled. He had put up a TOPIC which was a bunch of links to different sites that HEROES fans would dig. Apparently my blog is the most clicked from there with 18,547 links from there. HERO did the math, and that if my counter down the bottom of my site is correct, then that means that about 43% of my hits have come from there. Damn, ROEsian, you have single handedly made my site look respectable Thanks man! But you can look forward to a special "thank you" in INTO THE WILD part 2.

I will talk about TRUE BLOOD next then onto INTO THE WILD.

Thanks for being so patient with me.

ROOT AND BRANCH PART 2 PAGE 2

Unsurprisingly, everyone who knows has been hassling me about the details of my HEROES set visit.

At this point, some of you might be asking, "Wtf?!"

<- The final coloured artwork for ROOT & BRANCH.

A little background... I recently drew the three part arc for HEROES written by Ollie Grigsby and Zach Craley called "ROOT & BRANCH". What made the creative process of Root & Branch unique was that I was in communication with Ollie and Zach while I was drawing it (I think we hunted each other down on Facebook and then wandered into emails from there). They answered questions, made invaluable suggestions and together we created a synergy that fueled my drawing. While we spoke about the book we also got chatting about other things. I found out that Ollie had spent a great deal of his childhood in Melbourne, Australia going to a school a 5 minute drive up the road from me!

Our conversations culminated with Ollie inviting me to the HEROES set last Friday.

<- Line art work for Root and Branch.

As an initial caveat I will say to not expect any spoilers here. I'm not discussing a thing, for two reasons. One is that I love my job and I'm not risking it for anything. The second is my real answer; there are so few things that are truly brilliant and will have a lasting effect on us, (and HEROES is one of them) why spoil them? Also, cameras weren't allowed on the set so I wasn't able to take many photos. But I will try to paint an accurate picture of what it was like.

It was 2:45pm when I finally found Sunset Gower Studios. I was half an hour late! Why the hell would I be late to the HEROES set? Just as I was leaving I got a phone call from Lauren (my editor) asking me if I could help her out and draw a cover for a comic for the new HBO series TRUE BLOOD. Hell yeah! Emails ensued and layouts had to be done. That and traffic explained my tardiness.

Making my way through security I parked my car where I was told and wandered around aimlessly looking for the mysterious HEROES production office. I asked the bemused people working at the massive studios where I should go, and eventually found myself right where I started - outside the unmarked HEROES production office, a narrow four story building. But the lack of signage didn't last long.

<- Grey toned art work for Root and Branch.

The thing that hit me as I walked out of the elevator into the seemingly empty production office is the incredible amount of pride the staff have for the show. Magazines, articles, photo clippings, posters, prints and print outs adorn almost every vertical surface only giving way to plants, hinges and beautiful, massive canvases of Tim Sale artwork from the series. The burning railway image took my breath away.

I see the names on the door as I find my way to what looks like some sort of waiting room. A number of doors led off into various rooms. A huge plush office in warm browns catches my eye. A large leather backed arm chair for a visitor blocks most of my view into the inviting room. I notice the name on the door, and my eyebrow arches, "Tim Kring" it says. "I'm here, I'm really here!" I think.

I utter a cautious hello. I wanted to announce my presence as soon as possible, I didn't want to get kicked off the studio lot nor end up in Guantanamo Bay. A voice from a nearby office replies. A lithe man with a shock of sandy blonde hair, red tshirt and jeans comes out and introduces himself as Zach Craley. What great luck! He introduces me to DJ, the production assistant he was chatting to.

Zach takes me upstairs into a large conference room. A large square table sits in the middle of the room running almost wall to wall. But what dominates the room are dozens and dozens of hand-written speech cards stuck to two large whiteboards on two walls of the room. They are flanked by sketches and other design images. It was the writing room. Inside was Ollie the HEROES script co-ordinator, a tall, relaxed guy with glasses and straight brown hair. Ollie pointed to his own corner of the room where he spends all his time wrangling writers and scripts. Ollie introduces me to Harrison and Chris who had also written graphic novels I had drawn. I mentioned I felt like the town bike. Everyone's had a ride.

I ducked off to the bathroom and couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. A huge teetering volcano of comics mounted precariously beside the basin has exploded comics onto every horizontal surface.

When I got back Ollie started one of the greatest tours I've ever been on.

The first bit was one of two major highlights for me. Ollie took me upstairs to meet the writers.

Here is where everyone was! First up was Chuck Kim who co-ordinates the online comics. I regret not having more time to chat to Chuck as he seemed like a fun, really switched on sort of guy. He was deep in conversation with another gentleman but he took a couple minutes of his time to speak to me. He asked me to let him know when I'm free next and I said I always make myself free for HEROES.

When I stepped into the next room I think I did a double take. Sitting behind a large desk was comic book superstar, Jeph Loeb. As I stood there in the doorway agape, a nerf dart impacted into a collage of HEROES images clipped from magazines on the door behind me. Jesse Alexander apologised and shook my hand with a big grin as he collected the dart. Aron Coleite, the new writer of the Uncanny X-men shook my hand and I thanked him profusely for getting me the gig with HEROES. Aron beamed with energy and looked great having dropped a lot of weight. Joe Pokaski was seated on a couch around the corner to the right and smiled, "You know we read the boards and the 9th Wonders fans really love you."

I was stunned, "I guess all I can say is that there are better artists and worse artists than me on the team, but at the end of the day, I think I can confidently say that none of them care more about HEROES than I do. And I guess that comes through in my art and my posts."

We chatted for a bit and when Ollie mentioned we should be going, I asked the four guys if they would indulge me a fan-boy moment and if I could have a picture with them. They said only if it ends up on Facebook. So here's me with my writing heroes:


Ollie asked me if I wanted to go see what they were shooting now. I was stunned! We went on set and I met Adam Armus (Producer and writer of that episode) overseeing a scene in the Bennet house with Sandra Bennet (Ashley Crow) talking to a woman whom I will not identify. One of the things I have to explain is how thoroughly, meticulously and convincingly detailed all the sets are. It was a pleasure to walk around the Bennet house set (I was mainly sequestered to the living room and garden) and see how the production team had solved a hundreds of tiny problems.

Adam was lovely and we had such a fun chat. He explained what was happening and patiently answered all my questions despite being only halfway through his 12 hour day. The intern (another Zack) offerred me his seat so I could watch the scene on the monitor as it was played out. What a buzz!

From there Olllie guided me through a multitude of sound stages and sets. Unfortunately the Deveaux rooftop was dismantled at the time, but Isaac's loft was relatively intact with its huge nuclear mural on the floor. I marveled at the Primatech corridors and the level 5 cells. Bob's office was overwhelming in its meticulous attention to detail including files and folders on dozens and dozens of people with godsends.

Then came my second highlight. As we came across another set I noticed that this one was densely populated. I stood in a hallway looking through into a room and could swear I recognised the man standing in the next room. It was Zachary Quinto. Sylar himself. He was talking to someone who had their back to me. When she turned around I recognised the petite blonde as Hayden Panettiere (Claire). I was shocked and elated at seeing these two. Then from around the corner walked Jack Coleman (Mr Bennet) to complete the trinity! They proceeded to block out a scene with the director and crew. I asked Ollie if I could go closer and he shrugged a confirmation. I edged around and joined the rest of the crew. They proceeded to play out a very, VERY interesting scene that made me break out in a huge grin with its implications.

I was so into it I barely noticed that they had all left. Literally, one second they were there and the next they were gone. I don't know how to explain it. I saw their heads across the parking lot and I regret not stalking them for a photo, but I was restrained by the veneer of trying to act like a professional.

Buzzed, I had seen everything I could possibly want to see. I profusely thanked Ollie and Zach (who had joined us later) and set off from the set. Before I left I asked them about getting future access to sets that are included in the comics. The possibility of being able to shoot reference of the actual HEROES sets would be an incredible opportunity and take my artwork up another level. They couldn't see why not and said they would float the idea to everyone else.

EULOGY: I was also regretfully informed over the weekend that comic book superstar, Michael Turner passed away from cancer at the age of 37. Michael embodied the 21st century's new wave of dynamic, powerful art sweeping across the comic book scene. I found Michael a fascinating artist as I disagreed with every technical choice he made, yet I loved his work. It was a juxtaposition that left me captivated by his brilliance. One of our brightest stars has gone out too soon and we're left to bask in the incredible legacy he left us.

ROOT AND BRANCH: PART 2 PAGE 1

A HUGE FAVOUR: Ok, I've never really thrown this out to everyone, but I need some help. I just got shown the latest copy of Previews. Previews is the book from which all comic book stores order their comics. Now, obviously most of you are going to be very happy to hear that the second HEROES hard cover has been solicited, which means you can order it and get your little hands on it in October. Now, there's one more thing I'd like you to order. On page 172 is the solicitation or ad for my first comic: ZERO G! I'm asking all of you to please go to your local comic book store and ask them to order in a copy for you. It's only US$3. I don't see a cent, I just want it to do well. So what you need to know is:

- Zero G on page 172 of Previews
- Where your local comic book store is

Thank you! Now returning you to your regularly scheduled blogging...

Apologies I haven't been blogging. I have very little time to myself during the day. On Monday I had to pick my fellow artist and art director on Zero G, Chris Moreno from LAX and it felt like I drove him all over LA to get him home. I looked at my journey on a map after and noticed that I had indeed driven all over LA. I went from the south to the far north and then back south. I was exhausted. Three hours in the car got me a nasty case of driver's tan on my arm.

Yesterday was more fun. I was invited by Top Cow to go see their premiere for WANTED at 2pm at a private cinema at Universal Studios. I sat between a good friend of mine, inker Rick Basaldua and superstar penciller Joe Benitez (Titans).

WANTED is off the charts. I thought they took the graphic novel, toned down the gratuity and the super-heroics and created a really fun, smart movie with a new twist and a great, satisfying ending. It has an excellent structure and the performances are fantastic. I heartily recommend this as I guarantee you will see stuff that you've NEVER seen before as the special effects are off the chart.

Continuing my brush with Hollywood, I met a guy by the name of MARC SAMSON who is a fantastic matte painter and concept artist who worked on Superman Returns, I am Legend and a bunch of other big Hollywood productions. He invited me down to his studio today so I can watch him work. I was really excited, but I had to cancel to because I had to redraw a cover for HERESY (also solicited in previews - yeah, when it rains it pours.) I had already drawn a cover, but I had an epiphany and realised that it was so similar to what the other artist did. Inspired I attacked it again, and with the help of the Spacedog team I put together a cover that I think is stunning. I can't wait to show you. Anyway, I had til the end of the day to get it done, and I finished it at 630pm on the dot. Close call.

As if that wasn't enough, tomorrow I'm heading off to meet Ollie Grigsby and Zach Craley on the HEROES set! I'm so damn excited. I have no idea what they're shooting, but I can't wait to see. I wonder if I'm allowed to bring a camera. It would be a crying shame if I'm not.

My second week in LA and I've gone to a movie premiere, met an elite special effects artist and heading down to the HEROES studio. Surely I can't keep up this pace?!






Anyway, Root & Branch part 3!

<- I can't remember this guys' name, but I met him at the Alan Moore signing. He really put the pressure on with a flying Nathan on the inside book jacket! I'm quite happy with how this one turned out.

I really do love this second part. We had some scripting issues but Zach and I turned problems into challenges and cranked up the pressure and quality. I think part 2 is my favourite part. Part 1 warmed me up, and I was so rushed for part 3, but I got to really take my time and enjoy part 2.


<- This guy was a designer who did these t-shirts in England. He asked me to do the HEROES logo and sign the tshirt. I was honoured. I then whipped him up a smart little Hiro.

As you can see, page 1 is largely a digital painting. That means there's no linework. I've included the line work layer here so you can see what I just painted. There is no way I could do something like this with Annette. It's too much of an overlap of both our jobs. So flying solo it was fun to do this. Actually it was arrogant and terrifying. I was fueled with confidence from the digital painting I did of the backgrounds on part 1. Feeling like the big man, I thought I'd have a smack at the title again. Thank god it turned out well! I'm so proud of how it looks.


<- Another Peter. Poor Milo, got a great haircut and worked out and no one wants season 2 Peter.

It really came alive at the final stage where I placed shadows and blurs on the final layer to create a sense of lighting and movement (it's so hard to make a car look like it's moving when it's not racing along at a million miles an hour - but with some dust and subtle blur effects it really works).

I remember being so happy I called my sister over to have a look. She just smiled not quite sure what I was talking about. What I was talking about was the lighting in the car down the bottom - I love how convincing it looks.

Now where my sister did help me was on Sabine's makeup. She taught me how to do makeup on asian girls. Here's a closeup so you can see my sister's magic (without the lighting I love). On the upper lid she suggested a deep dark purple blending out gently towards the eyebrow. Then she said I should work a silver/grey from under the eyebrow towards the upper lid. The silver also ran around the inner part of the eye towards the nose (but I kept forgetting this bit later) A light gloss for the lips and a slight rouge to the lips and Sabine was ready to kill some clones. I normally just fudge makeup, but given my sister is Eurasian like Sabine she was the perfect person to ask. I really felt it brought Sabine to life and my sister and I were both very happy with the result. From this point onward I really felt like I got a handle on drawing Sabine. I think she looks really consistent and convincing from here until the end of part 3.

<- A flying Nathan from a different angle.

As a final thing they asked me to add the licence plate code. Luckily I just copied and pasted it as it's actually a password for some file on some site. Those whacky HEROES kids!

I will post when I can, but with all this galavanting around LA, I'm a little behind on my pages this week. Redrawing the cover (losing a day) didn't help. But as I always say, the pain is fleeting, the pages are forever.

Don't forget! Please order a copy of Zero G. If you really love me, you will grab all four issues and watch it get better and better and better. You can take that to the bank!

ROOT & BRANCH: part 1 page 5

I have no idea what sort of post you're going to get today. My head feels like it's been wrapped in a alcohol-soaked heshen sack and beaten with a dead penguin. I've been staring at house listing in Los Angeles for the last 3 hours. I'm trying to find somewhere within a walking distance to work so I can put off getting a car.

I know, I know. I have to get a car. It's just going in the "too hard" pile right now.

But lets get back to page 5.

Oh man, if Ollie had been sitting next to me while I drew this he might have scored himself a punch to the face. I mean, who fills a cell with six identical versions of the same guy and then asks for all their shocked reactions in the next panel? I'll tell ya who! If Doctor Doom got together with Adolf hitler and wrote a comic, that's exactly what they'd write. Something to torture the poor bastard who's already going grey and losing hair. It's not enough that I feel like a dirty old man hitting on twenty year olds, now I look like one, and it's all because of pages like this! It's pure sadism on a page!

Right there people!

Sadism!

Right there!!!

Think about it! Body language, perspective, shading, personality and clothing all on a deadline! And they all had to look alike! Amnesty International would have a field day with this sort of inhumane treatment of a human being. Alright, alright. Maybe that was a little harsh. I'll ease off the coffee and get more sleep.

But it did make for a couple of really nice panels. It's a tough ask, but I think I stepped up to the plate and hit a solid one.

<- Future Hiro. Can you spot what's missing kids? That's right, his soul patch! Not that anyone else on the day picked me up on it. Should this dude ever hunt me down again, I will be more than happy to beard up our favourite Japanese time traveller. I think Peter S drew Julien in red in his sketches, but I decided to make him green. Green as in branches, green. Mis en scene eat your heart out baby!





<- Now this is a totally awesome request. Young Linderman! A first time for everything. God, I really enjoyed drawing this. I'm particularly proud of the third panel. Firstly, I like the cliff face. It's a fresh and convincing texture. Secondly, as you can see, the entire background is a digital painting. What the hell is a digital painting, you might be asking yourself? It's basically when I don't use linework. I just paint in colours. Because my brain works in blacks and whites I find this very difficult. But I'm particularly happy with the scale and scope of the final piece. I think it's the clouds that get it over the line.



<- This is Luis the winner of the cameo competition for Part 3. If you check out the security guard who gets shot you can see that's Luis. To add to this man's total coolness he asked for a picture of Hana. I was so buzzed that he not only knew who Hana was, but that he wanted a sketch of her! The last panel was fun. My initial layout had a much closer shot of the clone, but NBC asked me to pull back out. I did so, and it was a good call. It sells it much better. And any panel where you can spray blood all over someone is a good panel. Chalk that up with withered squirrels. Blood sprays and withered squirrels. If anyone asks, THAT'S what the HEROES universe is about.

FACEBOOK: I've been getting heaps of people friending me. If you wanna say "Hi" just drop me a line and mention you know me or my stuff or Heroes. There's amusing photos and heaps of places to waste time.

<- Matt Parkman is easily my favourite character next to Hiro. While this is ok, I should really sit down and make him a signature likeness for me.

ROOT & BRANCH: part 1 page 4

Oh god, I have no idea what's going on. It's all gone to hell in a handbasket! It's chaos and anarchy in a big nfi sandwich. I think I posted about the wrong artwork in my last post. All that stuff about the chase through the Congo? Well, that's supposed to be this page. So to return you to your synchronised viewing pleasure I'm going to go back and uh... comment about page 3. Cos that makes sense doesn't it? I figured the alternative would be to swap the posts around, but I figured that would just confuse regular readers even more. And I'm guessing you're already treading a little nervously down this rabbit hole, you don't really need me playing musical chairs with my posts.

I must have been so jet-lagged to let that one slip through to the keeper. How do I write about the wrong page? Don't ask. Ah well. If blogging was a Mensa test, I totally failed.

<- A solid Claire.

All right! Page 4, um 3. Christ almighty I'm an idiot. This blog is about to turn into one of those stupid Choose Your Own Adventures. You know the ones with the numbered entries that say, "If you want to go left go to page 13, if you want to eat the orc remains go to page 99, if you want to get a life go to page 42"?

No idea what I'm talking about? I'm on my own? C'mon, thrown me a geek lifeline here. Anyway, remember this post but I'm going to be directing you to the one below to check out the artwork.

<- What the hell is wrong with my Peter's?! They look really ugly. =(


PAGE 3

I really had a ball with this page. I think it's one of the best pages I've drawn. The trick here was making sure that we knew who they were attacking yet not showing the guy's (clone's) face until the big reveal in the bottom tier of panels.

PANEL 1: I particularly like Thompson and Donna in this panel. I think she looks cool and looking back on it I love all the detail on their little bluetooth headsets. I also really dig the snow. It just sells the entire panel for me.

Obviously tasers don't make this sort of visual discharge. I know if they did all my mates would have one and we'd be zapping each other constantly. It would be like some sort of version of Punk'd on 10,000 volts.

<- A Hiro saves my dwindling self esteem. Two mediocre sketches in a row saved by this one.

PANEL 2: Here's a bunch more shout outs to all the SARMY kids who helped promote my recent Orbital Comics signing. AshZ is on the cork board for sending out a email to everyone. Lee Ann (Ororo) gets a big plug for organising it all and being just so all round awesome.

I love the movement in the panel. Biance looks so light and athletic. I really dig her movement. On the far left is a homage to cricketing great Merv Hughes. I'm not a cricket fan, but the guy is an Aussie icon. Some people commented that Devin looks totally different. I had no idea he'd appeared before. I just went off Peter's design sketches keeping pretty much to what he'd drawn. I did pretty Bianca up though. He drew her in a skirt. I ended up giving her a costume change or her super power would have been to show you what colour underwear she was wearing.

And lastly, I'd like you to just ignore the clock on the right...

PANEL 3: Some people thought that Sabine has a forcefield here. As I mentioned somewhere, whether you have to decide between the company violating their one of us, one of them policy or me screwing up, you should probably go with the latter. Those bullets are supposed to be hitting the wall next to her, and I regret not drawing it in more detail.

PANELS 4-6: These panels were tough. I had to make sure that he was recognisably the same guy. If that wasn't apparent then we'd lose our whole reveal. I'm pretty confident it worked.

Ok, now come back here and keep reading!

PAGE 4

I do have the layers for page 4, but I'm only really going to show you the black and white artwork. There's a funny thing that colourists do which I guess could be called "protecting the linework" and it's something Annette is very particular about.

Basically, if she sees that I've put a bucket and a half of effort into the artwork, she will do whatever she can to make sure that the reader is aware of all the detail that I've put in. She will try and keep the visual effects to a minimum and let the artwork breathe and strut its stuff center stage. Myself? Once I'm done with the line art I couldn't give a damn about it. I pumped that little baby out days ago, time to move on! I'm going to make a great father.

<- Sylar. Much better than the last ones, but I'm still trying to channel my inner Zachary Quinto.

So this page is a great example of me spending heaps of time on the line work and drawing trees and leaves and branches and roots and vines only to cover it all up with lighting effects. I'm so irreverent about it. If I was a smarter artist I would have just not drawn the bits I was going to cover up. But we've already established that you're not reading this because you're expecting to get intellectual smacked upside the head by my genius. Hell, I can't even post in order. There are kids watching Sesame Street that would probably do a better job of this than I am. Thank god I'm not competing with any other applicants. I'd be out of a blogging job and living in a virtual refrigerator box eating digital trash from the recycle bin out the back of McDonalds' website.

LA: Day 2 in LA. I've been made really welcome at Spacedog. I'm staying at Lauren's until I organise my own place. I should really get onto that instead of posting.

HEROES: Part 3 of ROOT & BRANCH is up. You can find it from the 9th WONDERS link HERE.

ROOT & BRANCH PART 1 PAGE 3

Ok, I'm not gonna chat for hours here. If I do daily posting to catch up, I just don't have the time. That is, unless you don't want to read any more HEROES comics from me as I deliver part 3 late and get fired.

I'm loving this story arc. Ollie and Zach have totally pulled out all the stops here. I'm finding it really easy to draw too. I think having a character as interesting and as easy on the eye as Sabine makes it a lot of fun too. I just read part 2 and the dialogue and art just came together to create something greater than the sum of its parts. I love part 1, but it doesn't hold many surprises for me when I read it lettered, as there's minimal lettering.

I read on the boards somewhere that people are getting tired of not reading stories with any consequences to the show. Let me say this:


<- This guy saved my ass later and brought in a HEROES magazine! I like this style of Claire that I draw. It's cute.

1. I was given a bunch of character designs from Peter Steigerwald to work from. Of which I used four. I was told that some of these characters are going to be cast. Maybe it's some of the characters in this story? So there! You're possibly reading back stories on characters you will soon watch.

2. Bennet is in the story!

3. Zach and Ollie are part of the writing crew on HEROES and have delivered a great story. Read the story! Enjoy the story! Stop trying to judge it solely on how it fits into continuity.

<- Yay! Another Hiro. I never get sick of drawing Hiro.

Some random notes and thoughts:

In my haste I flattened all my layers! I can't show you the step by step for this page. Sorry!

Panel 1: Donna is carrying a beretta 9mm rather than the standard issue company gun (the Infinity). I later contacted Ryan and he told me what they actually used. I made corrections in part 2.

Also, no one will ever notice, but I actually found photo reference for a young Eric Roberts to draw Thompson Jr.

<- Not my best Sylar. I just went totally blank on Zachary Quinto when I drew this.


Panel 2: This panel also ends all the shout outs I did. I got some emails from a bunch of people wondering why they weren't included in these shout outs. There's a couple reasons:

1. I can't abuse this opportunity I have. I can't go saying "hi" to everyone I know. I would love to, but not only would it make the ones I do meaningless, but the more times I do this, the more chance I have of them being caught by NBC and squashed. Did we learn nothing from Spiderman and season 1? Say after me now, "With great power..."

2. I specifically thanked all the people who helped me promote my recent Orbital signing. I firstly put the word out to Lee Ann (Ororo) who then conscripted Ashz to do a mail out and got Kurt (themightytruk) to do an official admin's post on 9th Wonders. Nat and Noo also offered to take photos and video. So this was my special "Sarmy/Orbital" thank you issue.

I also decided to do a Merv Hughes homage in panel 2. He's a famous Australian cricketer known for both his skills on the field and his drinking ability. I'm not a cricket fan, but his face is an Aussie icon.

<- Peter. I'm still trying to remember what he looks like. It's funny, I think almost everyone wanted season 1 Peter. Poor Milo hit the gym and got a haircut for nothing.


Panel 3: I screwed up here. I thought it would be obvious that his bullets are just missing all around her and that she's just shooting wild with the taser but such was not the case. People on the forums thought that she has her hand up extending a forcefield. She does not have a forcefield. If she did, I'd make it bloody obvious. So obvious, you'd be like, "Hot damn! That's one serious forcefield!"

Panels 4-6: While I tried to keep to the character sketches that Peter sent me, I do have a nasty habit of "prettying" people up. Julien was not as good looking as I eventually drew him. I also (accidentally) probably made him look a little younger than his 44 years.

Facebook: Friend me up. Say hi. Chat away on my photos and art there.

ROOT & BRANCH part 1 page 2

Before I launch into talking about page 2 of part 1, I should firstly thank everyone who came to the Orbital Manga signing I did yesterday. From all the awesome, lovely fans who heard about it from forums and Facebook, to those who just wandered past. From those who came down the road to those who came from outside, London... Thank you. One gentleman came all the way from Manchester, a journey I'm told that could take up to four hours!

Congratulations also to Luis who won the competition. He will be appearing as an agent in the third part of Root & Branch. He was such a great sport and really went for the poses and feel of the action despite the crowd of people who were in the shop at the time. That took a great deal of courage and it's going to pay off in spades! Thanks for being such a great sport, Luis.

<- I'm starting to work on Super-Hiro. Photo by Nat Wells of NOTHING MORE

And thanks also to my great hosts at Orbital Manga: Damien, Finn, Hanna, Kip (and the other asian dude who I never got your name!). And lastly, the biggest thank you to Emily, the marketing guru for Orbital who did such a great job promoting this. It's thanks to her great work, on such short notice (merely two weeks) that I had such a great and busy day. There's nothing more terrifying than the prospect of turning up to your own signing to find that the only thing you can hear is the empty echo of your own footsteps. Emily made sure that wasn't the case.

After five hours of signing, the lovely Emily comes over with a shy grin on her face. She looks at me, "Can I ask a favour?"

<- Noo and I double team Super-Hiro. Photo by Nat Wells of NOTHING MORE

"Anything you want."

"I know you're really tired and you've been drawing all day, but I was wondering if you'd draw a picture for the shop?"

"Sure!" I grinned.

She then pulled out this massive A1 piece of cardboard. I gaped at it. Shocked. I hadn't worked on anything that big in years! I was curious if my pen and ink skills still had it going on. It was a challenge and it was terrifying. She wanted me to draw Hiro. Luckily one of my fans had left me a HEROES magazine and I was able to blend a couple of the faces to get the look I wanted. I then drew the body. Now the trick to working on a piece this size is to step back from it constantly to check your proportions. You just can't see it up close.

<- A very tired Jas shows off Super Hiro. But I was so tired, so I just drew away and crossed my fingers. I conscripted the very talented and steady handed Noo to fill in my blacks. Eventually I roused myself to step back and look at the piece. I was horrified! His arm was so short it was ridiculous! I cursed myself as I had already drawn it in ink. I stared and thought and stared and thought some more. What the hell could I do?! How was I going to fix this? Emily, Noo and all the onlookers watched in dismay. I asked Hanna if she could get me some liquid paper (Tipex as the poms call it), and she said it was no problem. Noo turned to me, "You're not going to cover it all with Tipex are you?"

I grinned and shook my head. Inspiration had struck.

I drew in where the arm should be, blending most of my rogue lines into the lines of his jacket. He already had a heavy shadow on his right side, so I just broadened that to absorb what I could. there was only one line, the outer thick line that was the edge of his arm to go. I stared at it. I was reluctant to use any whiteout at all. Eventually it hit me! I could turn that thick line into a stripe on his jacket! If you look carefully you can see where the arm used to be. But if you can spot it without me telling you, you're doing damn well. Noo and Emily exclaimed that while the piece was impressive, it was made even more so by how I fixed the arm.

And BAM! Here ya go! One Super-Hiro. I would say this is the best piece of non-digital art that I've done. It took a couple of hours but it was worth it!

At the bottom of the Root and Branch pages I'm going to start posting all the photos of all the sketches of everyone.

I also promise to post super regularly to catch up to Root & Branch part 2 which just got uploaded today (but my posts may not have all the writing). Did anyone catch part 2? I cut my teeth on part 1, and I really think I kicked some butt on part 2. I'm so damn proud of it.

But part 1, boy Ollie Grigsby knows how to trust. Look at this page. No dialogue. It's all just me, and I totally appreciated his faith in me.




<- A Claire sketch I did that morning to warm up on my likenesses.

Panel 1 is pretty straight forward. Ollie didn't mention what the clone would be doing so I just figured he'd be sitting in front of some communication equipment. That way he's up to no good, right? If half my mates had that stuff they would just use it to "back up" all the porn on the internet.

Panel 2 is the first installment of the screwed up clock. Two things happened here. I explained one of them on the 9th Wonders forums. The first is that I calculated and re-calculated the timezones that many times I probably checked the wrong notes. The other thing is something very few people know about me. I really struggle to read analog clock faces.

<- This dude looks like the actor Jurgen Prochnow. I tried re-create that Claire I drew that morning.

Embarrassing I know. I'm just a little retarded like that. The other thing I can't do is a subtle wink. When I try to wink it's this ridiculous face-scrunching exercise. Nothing subtle about it at all.

Anyway, panel 3! I like the depth from the lighting behind the trees. And Sabine looks cute too. A poster on 9th Wonders mentioned specifically how great my women look. I'm so glad, as women are the thing I find hardest to draw.






A Hiro! Tough to compete with the big one, but it's my first of the day, and my first one in a VERY long time.

















This dude was awesome. He comes back later and gave me a lot of laughs both times. He asked for a Peter. Boy my Peter's were rusty! I couldn't remember if his lip went up or down, and I know I used to remember how I did his eyebrows but I forgot.




OTHER NEWS: I just got my visa approved! I'm off to LA Sunday. I'm so excited!

FACEBOOK: If anyone else is on this time-wasting nonsense, feel free to friend me up. Just please let me know you know me - or that you don't. =)