comment number four

Sound like the worst title ever,  well it is.  I am writing these blogs to the imaginary comic fan in my mind,  but they are rants.  My rants.  I guess that is want a blog is.  I want this to be a little more.  Because making a comic is an adventure.  And I also believe in comics.  They are the medium of the moment.  I ride my bike all over town every day,  and there are these two streets that I have to cross all the time,  sixth and seventh.  They are busy four lane,  one way streets.  You always got to kick back and wait for the light to change.  and as I am perched on my bike I think,  none of these people racing by me in their cars read comics,  but each and every one of them could find a comic/graphic novel that they would enjoy.  That might be too optimistic.  I give comics to my brother all the time.  He reads them.  But I do not register any enjoyment from him.  Of course he sometimes inhales them in the same manner he inhales a hamburger,  in three bites!  so it might be a comment on his ability to enjoy things in general.  As I was saying,  even though people are always getting them out of the library,  they are still pretty much underground.  Which is sad.  I think it should be as common for someone to have a collection of picture books as it is for people to have word books.  And granted the style and subject matter is not as varied,  but that is what we should change. In the next decade I think the production and consumption of comic should explode.  Explode.  Did I say EXPLODE.  And why not,  all people need are stories,  and they are easier to read then books.  Nobody reads much any more.  So where are people getting their stories.  Movies and TV.  Which, I don't know if you've noticed,  happen to SUCK.  Movies are the biggest billion dollar industry of unoriginality I can imagine.  And TV is only starting to look good to some folks because their standards have been so completely decimated by endless CGI explosions and hollow plots in films.  I will sometimes get stoned when watching a flick,  and if it is a modern one,  my brain is shocked by their trite and stupid attempts to manipulate my emotions.  Now I can dig a classic flick.  I recently watched the sweet smell of success, with Burt Lancaster and the recently deceased Tony Curtis,  Phenomenal.  I got stoned and was sucked right in.  One of those gems that I love stumbling across.  Oops,  I got completely side tracked.  Let's get this train of thought moving again on comics,  comment number four.   The big industries are still predominately producing flashy super hero stories with oddly proportioned characters.  That's where we,  the small guys,  step in.  I just approved my proof at the printer today.  And ya know it didn't look too great,  there are still some spelling errors,  I forgot to write in that I wrote and drew the second two stories,  the edges aren't all perfectly straight,  the pencil smudges couldn't be taken out completely,  the title letters aren't well defined and sort of blobs into each other.  But you know what,  it looks like my comic,  at the stage that I am right now in my graphic development.  To me it is gorgeous.  Like Dorthy coming home to Kansas after escaping Oz (Hollywood),  my meager little home is mine,  and I love it.  and you need to do that.  Draw your stories,  and strive to make them great,  but accept yourself,  and where you are at.
   Maybe one day I will start to get this blog on track.
      Signing off
                   JulesBoy

Still Adapting To This

Damn,  Hectic last three weeks,  and it is only two days till one of my bosses Iumei has her baby.  But I have found some time to try to squeeze my ideas out.  Also in the news of my life,  I got the comic book to the printer!  Unfortunately the only person who really Knows is Gen because she helped me scan the originals,  or rather she scanned them while I stood around.  I am sure I mentioned it to my other friends,  but making comics is much more of a personal thing for me,  which is one of my main motivations for wanting to move to Portland.  I work on comics allot,  but I think about them all the time and that becomes this private side of myself that is really why I started this blog.  Back to the issues at hand.  I was going to talk about concealing your lines or flaunting them,  I don't want this to be a strait tutorial,  'cause that's not what I am interested in.  I want it to be more about what it takes to pull a comic book out of yourself.  What thing you have to figure out technically and then the things you go through emotionally.  Because it is an Adventure,  but how do I convey that.  O.K. o.k.,  concealing lines or flaunting them;  One of my all time favorite comics is Akira.  It is a set of massive volume after massive volume,  but if you look at it panel to panel it is never ending action,  So when you sit down with the colored comics or a much larger black and white volume,  you are unlikely to get up,  unless your house is on fire,  and then you probably have time to finish another page,  and another,....    So it has that wonder full absorbing quality.  It also is beautifully rendered,  I mean immaculate and gorgeous.  That would be my definition of concealed lines,  when you look at the panel the image is all you take in,  everything is rendered to the degree that they exist in your mind.  That is your mind doesn't think that's a drawing of a gun,  it just sees a gun.  Now when people,  non professional comic book artists attempt to draw their own comic they are often let down by their inability to render an image to that degree,  ie it reads as what it is.  Don't worry too much about it.  As long as the reader can recognize that it is a gun they can read the comic,  I try to choose what gun I am drawing and draw a recognizable smith and Wesson,  or snub nosed 38.  Smith and Wesson is not a good example,  I should be more specific,  what model and make,  get a picture.  But always remember it doesn't need to be perfect it needs to be recognizable.  I think that might be my most important lesson.  ( I don't know if I have said this already )Your favorite artist drew for a looong time before they did what you love.  My example of this is Frank Miller,  Ronin,  was my fave of his.  Before he got as stylized as Sin City,  or Dark Night.  He was still doing allot of line work. But if you go back to his Daredevil days you can see him still developing,  his human build is correct but it doesn't look nearly as cool as once he really found his style.  And he was still a professional artist with a major title to his name.  I always thought Kirby would draw these weird panels sometimes,  and he was the godfather of the silver age.