Writing a graphic novel..

At some point in our lives, we all ask ourselves, 'how do you write a graphic novel?'. Well it is actually really easy, you just need a couple of conflicting characters in some sort of setting and let them..conflict with each other... But if you put that amount of effort into your GN, it would be shit and no one would read it. The trick is trying to do a decent job. Trying to give your vision the respect it deserves and execute it in the way you want it to be. But that can take a lot of work, and you could end up with no comic which is what I've got at the moment. A year and a half into this project.

How do you write a graphic novel?

I've been googling that question for a couple of days - trying to get some tips out of other artists doing the same things. Its surprising that the most reoccuring theme in all of the blogs and articles is'nt something like talking about story structure/plot etc. Its more about surviving the self-doubt and anxiety that comes with the job. Somedays you get nowhere and you don't know what the fuck to do. Which makes you feel like shit. And the only thing you do is just think about it. Do nothing and think about it.

"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task." ~William James

I found a website full of procrastination quotes the other day and most of them sum up a lot for me.  If you don't get down to brass tacks, you are forever hanging back in some fucked up space. But its what artists have to do!! You gotta go through this phase of stagnant bullshit in order to get on the road to creation. This is especially true for young inexperienced artist who have yet to find their creative process. I watch this amazing talk by John Cleese on creativity. He talks about an open and closed state of mind. An open state of mind is all about creating. Its the state of mind wee kids have when they're playing in the garden. There is no time restrictions, no chores or real world problems to distract their wondering minds. Close state is the way you think when you have to deal with the real world. Pay rent, get a new filter for your car, get insurance for your shit...It completely destroys any creative thought. Obviously you need to survive in the real world so you can't always be floating around in la la land. What Cleese talks about is isolating yourself in a time/space oasis for a period of time. A place with no connection to the outside world. No flatmates around, no T.V, no cell phone, and no FACEBOOK (a concentrated version of our social life) and let yourself drift over to an open state of mind. For me, and a lot of others, this oasis is my bedroom. (I used to work in my studio but there are a lot of distractions). Like Cleese addresses, it takes a while to get your mind warmed up creatively but after a while, things start rolling. And it is this persistency and patience that gets shit done!




So yeah procrastination can get on top of you when your finding it hard to answer the questions your project throws at you.  So I guess a true statement would be to say, 'If you don't know the answer to your questions, be patient, don't get distracted and the answer will come to you. Going back and doing a bit of research always makes you feel better as well. 

I read an article about a dude who has been having trouble finishing his graphic novel. Well, finishing any project he starts really. Which is like a lot of us people. Unfortunately, sometimes its not good enough to dream, you have to make it happen too. But that is skill that can be acquired through a bit of understanding of your creative process.

Check it out:
http://www.austinkleon.com/2007/07/03/how-to-write-a-graphic-novel/

http://www.stopprocrastinatinginfo.com/procrastination-quotes.htm

Non Photo Blue/Non Repro Blue

I've finally found out what those blue pencils are called. The ones that are untracable to photocopiers and scanners... They're called non photo blue pencils. Repeat, non photo blue pencils. Now when you walk into your art supply shop, you can ask for them and not just "a blue pencil". Its the pencils animators, designers and comic book pencilers use. You don't need to rub them out, you can just ink over them and whamo they're untracable when scanned. Any old blue pencil doesn't work, it must be a certain blue that the copier can't pick up...

Plot Development.

 I found this article at Iconoclasticwriter.com. It spells out a pretty simple blueprint for a fiction story arc. I'm not reporting on much really... Still just desearching. But yeah, Carolyns site is a great resource when your focussing much attention on your story's plot and structure. She's got a lot of articles on this subject.
 http://iconoclasticwriter.com/traditional-fiction-writing-story-arc/

• Chapter 1: We view the normal world of our protagonist

• Chapter 2: An Inciting Incident occurs forcing the protagonist from his/her/its normal world.

• Chapter 3: The important Secondary characters are introduced and the tone and style are fully established.

• Chapter 4: The protagonist must make a life-changing (although he/she/it might not know it at the time) decision or choice.

• Chapter 5: The protagonist’s journey begins because of the decision or choice made. This is the 1st Plot Point.

• Chapters 6—9: Complications and obstacles occur as the journey begins and continues.

• Chapter 10: A crisis forces the protagonist to make another decision or choice that forces the story into a new direction. This is the Mid-Point.

• Chapters 11—14: The obstacles and complications become more complex.

• Chapter 15: New events derived from the increased complexities for a new choice or decision on the protagonist. This is Plot Point 2.

• Chapter 16: The new decision or choice makes the situation appear bleak.

• Chapter 17: The situation worsens.

• Chapter 18: The situation appears hopeless; this is the darkest moment.

• Chapter 19: The resolution where the character learns a life lesson and is changed.

• Chapter 20: The wrap-up where the reader sees the evidence of the change in the protagonist.
  
  Here is another great site with endless advice on screenplay structures:
  
  http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/screenwriting-structure-series-part-8-your-first-ten-pages.html
  
  And here is linda aronson's site. She wrote a book called screenwriting updated which talks about non linear story stuctures. The type of structure used in tv series when you have a bunch of characters each with their own plot that interweave with each other:
  
  http://www.lindaaronson.com/

GimmeMoreBananas.blogspot.co.nz

Heres a pic by Anton Marrast. I'm really liking the colours and car design. Cool stuff. Theres a whole lot of wicked artists found on this site. Go check it out.

http://gimmemorebananas.blogspot.co.nz/p/artists_23.html

 

The 'Deprogrammed' attack!

Pen and Ink, coloured in photoshop:

 

Black out.

I think I've got my line art down, but the shadows are still a challenge... I think the key is to not care about your lines, grow some balls and just make everything black... I think for future pics im gonna know from the get go, whats gonna be the big blocks of black. It'll help me sort out the balance between black and white and also I wont be pissing around adding detail to an area when I know its just gonna be all black.  ...

 ..So heres the pics: