Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Five Things I've Learned in the Last Two Years

It's anniversary time. I started this blog two years ago, so time for some reflection. Here is a list of things I've learned about the practice of making comics.

(I was going to write "Two Things I've learned in Two Years", but that wouldn't be much of a list, would it?)

#1 Everything takes longer than you think it will
On the project level, this is pretty obvious; it's hard to judge how long a given project will take unless you've done a lot of projects like it. Even if you've completed a similar project before, your mind remembers it taking much less time than it actually did.

This also applies to the overall project of building a following. When I started this blog two years ago, I figured by the first couple months in, I'd have dozens, if not hundreds of followers (Stop laughing). After two years, I have a whole eleven followers on this blog (and I love each and every one of you!). Yeah, this is taking a lot longer.

I think the sub-lesson here is that the amount of completed work is more important than just random blog posts. People are more attracted to things you have completed rather than talking about your process (Which is mostly what I've done up to this point).

#2 Finishing things is important
Finished work is what gets you attention, not sketches or doodles. I look at my body of work online, and I don't know that it really shows what I'm capable of. It doesn't present me as the artist I aspire to be.

Also, I've learned more from projects that I have actually completed. The lessons learned doing my first zine for CAKE 2012 directly applied to my mini-zine, "Orbital Plumber". I'm using lessons learned from that on my next project, "Stories from this Solar System".

I draw everyday, even if it's just a doodle, but that is no substitute for putting my nose to the grindstone and finishing something from  beginning to end.

However...

#3 You're allowed to abandon things
I realized lesson #2  pretty early on, which made me vow to never give up on a project. I intended to stick to it no matter how flawed or underdeveloped. While admirable, this attitude might not always be beneficial.

I have two examples of this. 

The first is "Bone Dog". When I first started drawing Bone Dog, I envisioned it lasting years and years and hundreds of pages. I had a story lines sketched out that I knew could keep me busy for years. 

Then I changed. When I started Bone Dog, my biggest inspirations were George Herriman (Krazy Kat), Winsor McCay (Little Nemo in Slumberland), and Sergio Aragones (Groo the Wanderer). I still love all those artists, but I've also been  exposed to so many great new artists that influenced me: Brandon Graham and the whole Prophet Crew, Farel Dalrymple, Ken Garing, Morgan Jeske, James Stokoe. There are also the "New to Me" artists: Moebius, Enki Bilal, Miyazaki (Specifically, Nausicaa).

All these artists opened my mind to more things that comics could do or be. Not that I was limiting myself, it just didn't occur to me that I could do the kind of stuff they were doing. After that, I just didn't want to do Bone Dog anymore.

The other example of me abandoning a comic was "Phantom Kangaroo". The problem with this one was that it started as an interesting idea without knowing where I was going with it. I drew the first three pages (and an incomplete fourth) and wrote some scripts for the rest. Some versions of the story went 5 more pages, some went 10 more pages and I think I even  had a 35 page version.

The problem was I had no idea where it was going when I started it. I thought the germ of an idea would be enough to grow it into a fully realized story. I should have worked the idea a while more before I even started.

#4 No one is paying attention and that's a good thing
For as long as I've had this blog, I bemoaned the fact that I had a hard time building a following. I mean, that's the point of this blog, right? 

When think about it, it's actually a pretty good thing. If I had garnered a lot of fans quickly, there would be pressure to keep them happy. I've changed a lot in the last two years, and no one has really noticed. If I did have a "core audience", I'd be at risk of losing them.

Right now I have the freedom to figure out what I want to do without a lot of people watching and potentially being disappointed.


#5 Progress is upward, but not straight.
There are days when drawing is easy. I picture something, put my pen to paper, and it more or less comes out. Then there are days when drawing is hard. Really hard. Those are days I feel like the last two years have been for nothing. Then the next day, I bang out something that I never imagined I could do, ever.

Doing art is just like that, I guess.


That's it for now, class. I'll be making some changes to the blog int he next couple weeks, so stay tuned.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Can Someone Explain This to Me?

I liked the Image series "Debris" that came out last year. It was a little heavy on the hero's journey/ Mono-myth stuff for my taste, but it was fun and the art was really good. I even did fan art for it!

The four issues of "Debris" were recently collected into a trade paperback. I was surprised to see how differently the lead female character was portrayed on the cover of the paperback as compared to the comics.

Here's what I mean: Here is the cover of the first issue featuring the protagonist, Maya:


And here is the cover of the trade:


Can we see that one more time? (this time with the cover of issue #3):


 
The cover artist for the trade is not the same artist for the book. OK, fine.

But I thought the depiction of women* in the book was pretty respectful. Maya was young and attractive, and sure, wore tight clothing, but she was at least drawn realistically.

I was happy to see a more realistic portrayal of a female character. It's a little sad now to see that character all sex-potted up. Fishnets and a flowy evening dress are not practical for fighting giant robots!

Also, she's straddling a penis-shaped pipe! Seriously!?



*(There was actually more than one woman! This is what we call progress in comic books.)

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Workspace Upgrade!!

So here is my desk/ workspace as I last posted it (around October of last year):


And here is my desk now:

Getting that cork board changed my life.

Not really. But it is nice to have somewhere to put things. I was tired of taping things to the wall.

Also, my wife painted the bedroom. No more gross yellow.

Plus! I have a new computer. My last computer was purchased back in 2005, so I was overdue. I mounted the monitor and stored the CPU under the desk so I could keep my drawing board. Not pictured is the Wacom tablet I also bought. I'm pretty happy with the whole set up, but it's given me a lot of new tools to learn (Including Manga Studio 5) 


Anyway, I'm still working a with traditional media. Here are a couple sketchbook pictures:
Astronaut looking over alien landscape.

Astronaut looked terrified and amazed.
Both of these are studies for a new comic I'm working on at the same time as I finish my Mars one.

In other news, my lovely wife has taken up blogging. You can now find her at Projectophile! I've been blogging for a long time, but she is already blowing me out of the water with her blogging proficiency (It probably has something to do with the fact that she's a way better writer than I am).  This one about mid-century modern houses that will kill your children has been particularly popular.


Monday, January 21, 2013

Mars Story, First Three Pages


I still have a bit of work to do on these, but I had such a positive response when I posted the first page that I figured I'd post what I have done so far. I have about 5 more pages to do on this story.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Orbital Plumber







NOTES: I made this for the Middle Coast Zine fest here in Chicago a couple weeks back. It's a micro-mini, meaning that it's 4.25" x 5.5" (Basically one sheet of paper folded twice). This is why the lettering looks so big now.

This is based on a true story, apart from the space aspect of it. One of my childhood friends is a plumber and this actually happened to him. Instead of stale sanitation crystals, it was a dried trap letting sewer smells in the house.

Also, I finished this, photocopying and all in about three days, which is some kind of record for me.

Friday, November 30, 2012

A Study in Style

(Or: What I Did Over Did Over Thanksgiving Break)

I've been thinking a lot about personal style lately.

Whenever I practice draw (i.e. Not for a finished piece), I always prefer to draw from real life (or more often, photographs) rather than copy another person's work. There are a lot of artist I respect, but I don't want to have their style, I want my own style. I assumed that if I just keep drawing what I see, eventually, my personal style will just magically form (Like Venus from ocean foam).

I'm starting to rethink this ridged method and came up with a little drawing exercise (I'm can't be the first person to think of this). I drew a page from a published comic, but I tried to emulate another artist's style.

Two of my favorite artists are Sergio Aragones and Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, at least), so I decided to do Akira in the style of Sergio Aragones.

I picked a page out of Akira at random (I just googled image searched "Akira pages" and picked out one of the first ones that came up).

Here's the original:

 
And here is mine:
 
 
 
 

 
I did this while traveling to St. Louis, so I didn't have much in the way of Sergio reference material. I think it ended up looking more like something by Roberta Gregory (which isn't a bad thing) or maybe Jim Davis (which is bad).
 
Also, the perspective in panel #3 is way fucked up.
 
I'm not sure what I learned about my style. I was a fun exercise. I enjoyed it. I stretched my drawing muscles in ways I never had before. I think I'll do it again but different artists. Why not?
 
Last Minute Edit: I just remembered I did something like this before.
 
Speaking of St, Louis, I dropped off some mini-comics at Star Clipper. If you live in St. Louis and want a copy of King Crow Comics #1 (for only $1!), head down there.



Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Hey! It's my Birthday!

 It's also Halloween, so candy and cake all around. My wife made me this card with the help of my daughter. My wife asked her what I like and drew whatever she said. I have to say that my daughter is pretty observant. Note that she said that I like my "Comics Books".

 
That I do!
 
The Show playing on the TV is Doc Martin, my current Netflix obsession.
 
My wife also go me this: 

 
Drawing Words, Writing Pictures, Part 2: Mastering Comics
I've only had time to flip through it a little, but it looks great. I'm looking forward to really digging into this one.
  
Also, I know I haven't posted here in a while, but I assure you, I am working on comics!
 
See, here's my messy, work-filled desk:
 
 
And here is a work-in-progress:


This takes place on Mars, in case you were wondering.
 

Speaking of Mars (and I'm a total jerk for not bringing this up earlier), but my friend, Dave has a cool webcomic called Free Mars that you should check out.

Also, he's doing a kickstarter! So go buy in! Now! Do it!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

I have tumblr... and I'm not afraid to use it!

I was originally going to title this post, "I have a Tumblr and I (don't) know how to use it!" Either way, replace "Tumblr" with "gun" and you have a line from cheesey action film.
 
So yes, I finally took the advice of several people and got myself a Tumblr. It can be found at http://scottkroll.tumblr.com/. I also have it as a permanent link on the right bar of this blog.
 
I'm not 100% comfortable with using it yet. I will be putting up a lot of sketches, for sure. I have a lot of little things that I draw that I don't think warrant a full post here on the blog proper. 
 
I would appreciate the advice of any avid Tumblr users, so please send any comments or suggestions my way ASAP.
 
In other news, I read almost exclusively Sci-Fi comics now. I didn't intend this to happened, it just did. It probably started with Brandon Graham's Prophet (here's a great article about why you, too should be reading it) and to a lesser extent, Saga.
 
Anyway, a couple weeks ago, I ordered this trio off of Amazon: 
Medusa Chain, Orbital #1, and The City of Shifting Waters

  
There all pretty good, but man, Orbital is so cool. I'm shocked that more people in the US aren't talking about this book.
 
I'll reserve more in depth reviews for a later date. I'm bringing this all up because I've been writing and drawing more sci-fi themed stuff lately. It's a radical departure from what I've done so far. I don't have much to show yet, but it's coming.
 
For now, enjoy this drawing I did of a robot sky-diving:
  
 
 
Just kidding. That is a drawing of my ear doctor's special ear camera/ microscope (sort of like this one). It's cool: she stuck this camera in my ear and I could see what she was seeing on a big monitor on the wall. and you know what, the inside of my ear is disgusting! Anyway, I think it looks like a sky-diving robot.

Also, I have nearly perfect hearing, so I have that going for me.

Finally, There's a new free newspaper coming to town? And the plan to publish comics? (from their website, emphasis is mine):

The Proof is an experiment. What if we had our own newspaper? Could it be free but support itself? Could it increase instead of decrease the space for comics? Could it treat its contributors like human beings? Could it survive without advertorials, junket interviews, content outsourced to robot aggregators, or whatever new awful profit-maximization scheme comes next? In short: could we make the kind of publication we would like to read and then hire ourselves?
 
Hmmm... I wonder if they want to publish a story about a kangaroo based in Chicago?

Friday, August 3, 2012

Sci-Fi Team Up (Explained)

Sorry, no Phantom Kangaroo today. Page 4 is still on my drawing board. I did however contribute to the Challenger's Assemble blog today.

The Theme was Unlikely Team-Ups. Here is my contribution:


I feel like I should explain this one a bit. Both comics are published by Image Comics.

Planetoid is about a mercenary (Silas) who crash-lands on a planet where he must fight for survival against evil robots.

Debris is about a young woman(Maya) who lives on a post-apocalyptic earth, which happens to be ruled by.... you guessed it... evil robots.

Seems like a perfect team-up to me!

The similarities don't end there. In their first issues they both:
-Fight giant snake robots
-wield impossibly powerful firearms
-wear ponchos

These two comics are the Weeds/ Breaking Bad of the comic world.

Don't get me wrong, so far I think they're both great books. I just think some of these similarities are uncanny.

If you want to see more there is a preview of Planetoid here and preview of Debris here.



Thursday, July 12, 2012

What's Next?

So now that I don't have CAKE hanging over me, I have to decide what my next goal is. I had apparently been thinking about this before the expo, because I recently found a note that I written to myself.

I don't actually remember writing this note, but it is written in my nigh-illegible writing style. Plus, it's all things I've been thinking about.

Maybe it's a note sent through time by my future self trying to influence my past (present) self on his (my) next steps.

Anyway, the first thing on the list is "Clean Rapidiographs[sic]" which I have done! It looked like this:

Messy business, that was.

Here's the story on these awesome pens. My old upstairs neighbor was an architect who had to buy a set of these when she was in architect's school.

Here's the thing though, architects have these things called computers now. I know I'm probably disappointing lots of people who still picture architects sitting over massive drafting tables using pens and compasses, but most of that type of work is digital now. Point is, these poor, insanely expensive pens sat in her storage space, unused. I somehow convinced her to loan them to me shortly before she moved out of the state.

Of course, part of the deal was that I had to clean them. Which I have. Thank you, Tracy.

The second thing on my list is "figure drawings". I think this is in reference to an idea I had to do 50 figure drawings in 50 days so that I could learn to actually draw people in a reasonably realistic way.

Hmmm.... I may still do this. I'm not sure anyone whould want to see me do it.

The last item is "Phantom Kangaroo" which is a comic that I've been working on. I guess I was reminding myself to finish it. Those of that have a copy of King Crow Comics #1 have already read the first three pages. For the rest of you, I will start posting pages here for you starting tomorrow! In the meantime, here is a one-panel preview:

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

What do I do all day?

No, I don't make comics all day. Hopefully someday...

Anyway, this article has been going around Internet quite a bit the last couple days: The Busy Trap . Note this passage:
More and more people in this country no longer make or do anything tangible; if your job wasn’t performed by a cat or a boa constrictor in a Richard Scarry book I’m not sure I believe it’s necessary.
Here is my response:

You probably don't know what a "litigation support manager" is, and honestly, I don't feel like explaining it. Let's just leave it at this:



Thursday, June 21, 2012

Post-CAKE

The road to CAKE has been traveled and I have returned from my hero-journey a changed man.

Joseph Campbell-inspired ramblings aside, CAKE is over. It was a great experience. It wasn't always what I expected it to be, but it was fantastic none-the-less.

First off, I have to thank the organizers and volunteer staff. This was my first show and organizers did a great job of making me feel welcome. As a newbie, I never felt lost or confused.

The best aspect of anything like this is of course, the people. Seriously, I know I sound trite but there were a handful of people who made this totally worth the cost of admission (meaning the cost of the table and printing). I've heard and read it more times than I care to say, but making comics is a lonely business. Especially when, like me, you hardly know any people who make comics. To be in a big room that is full of makers just like you is a sublime experience.

So without further ado... here is a LINK DUMP!! (In no particular order).

My neighbors at the show, Shane O'Shaughnessy and Julia Barr (sorry can't seem to find a link to her stuff) were very cool people. You can find Shane's book, Spuds Malone, Private Eye here. Shane and Julia's superhero erotica, GLAM BANG POW is available.... somewhere....

My other neighbor, Joel "Crave" Maxine, Jr, was another great person who I really enjoyed spending two days with.

Eric Taylor was not actually tabling at CAKE, which is really too bad. He knows a thing or two about comics and gave me a phrase that has been in my head since he uttered it on Sunday: "Can't draw? Just rock-star it." (Sorry, that's a bit of a paraphrase and also way out of context).

Roxy Drew, two tables down, had a cool book about a mutant dog called Futur Dog.

Emi Gennis gave me her comic about the Collyer Brothers that was really great.

Reid Psaltis can draw crows way better than I can.

It was also great catching up with my old friend Olivia Arrow who hung out my table a bunch on Saturday.

I'm sure I've forgotten someone. With so many great comics artists around, that's easy to do.

I didn't take many pictures, but here are a couple:

To my left:

 To my right:

My table again:

My wife brought the kids down on Sunday, which was a nice Father's Day treat


Also, I sold  bunch of books. And people seemed actually like them! (I forgot to mention I printed a book of comics? Stay tuned, more on that later.)