Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Back in the saddle again (I hope)

Wow...

It's been a long and testing summer. Without trying to make it sound too much like I'm making up excuses for my sudden disappearance, the summer of 2009 has pretty much been the low point of my 28 years as a human on this planet. Seriously though it could be much worse, but since the beginning of July, I've been hit with a flood of really depressing events. From the death of a close one to a severe injury that keeps me from practicing virtually any sport, it just seems I’m paying the bills for all the good karma I’ve spent. But hey, that means it can't be worse right?

Enough with the complaints and on with the news: I’m currently digging deep in my motivation to get this thing on the road. I’ve fallen way back on my current schedule because of my slacking off but I’ve continued writing and thinking this project still. I also picked up my pencils recently and got back to drawing which is always a good sign.

My estimate is that I’m roughly 20% ready from publishing the first page to the open public. Initially, I set January 2010 as a deadline but this is virtually impossible to meet given the fact that I’ve been practically inactive since May.

I still have a lot to practice and I didn’t yet find a comfort zone in terms of weekly schedule. When I’m comfortable with my rhythm I’ll try to draw a few pages and if I’m happy with the results, I’ll be posting and you’ll be reading ;)

Cheers.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Leo : Inked

Title says it all.

This is the second step in my process.

The idea behind this step is to give definition to the raw lines done with the pencil. It's also a lot easier to work with when it comes to colors and shading since the lines are on a whole different layer than the background.

Only one good news this time around, from start to finish, it took me less than 2 hours. That's a 300% improvement over my previous similar work. Have to admit though that Leo is a bit easier to draw considering he has a lot less hair...



Colors should come as soon as tomorrow since it's so easy to do.

Also, if you're wondering why the eyes don't show up behind his goggles, the only reason is that I'm not sure how I'll be doing the "glass" effect as of now. So I decided to draw the lines but leave the details out.

By the way the file's name is supposed to be "ink" not "pencils"... I know but I'm too lazy to change it.

Cheers.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

War vet

I'm going to do a small segment here to show the evolution of a piece on the blog.

First, the sketches. So let me present to you Leo :



The concept of this character revolves around having lived a very tough life. He's a war vet who has completed many tours of duty, and just about anything that could have gone wrong in his life went so, except lose it obviously.

Nevertheless, he's still alive and tough as nail. Ten years ago he had baby girl with a woman who ultimately hung Leo out to dry. The girl, Saunie, is now what drives Leo to stay alive.

To sum it up, his daughter is just about the only good thing that happened to him.

Visually, the character should look like he's gone through hell. He's about 50 years old and he's still very fit physically and mentally. Of course he's not the soldier he was back in his 20s but what he lost in quickness and strength, he gained in wisdom and toughness.

Cheers.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Instant cloud and other stuff...

Wow,
I didn't realize I had to moderate the comments and publish them in order to see them on the blog. Sorry to all of you who gave feedback to my work and thank you very much! I appreciate it!

Also, a cloud! It's actually the very first piece of background I did... What surprises me the most is that it's not that bad. I did followed a quick tutorial to give my ideas on how it could be done though but hey, I ain't doing this for the pretty landscapes. Anyway I'm sure some kind of style is going to grow on me in time... The good news in all this is that it took me like 15 minutes to do this. If you're as amazed as I am you're probably having a seizure as of now.

Behold!



Cheers!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Colors!

So last update was almost two weeks ago. There's a simple reason for that: I wasn't satisfied with the results. One thing's for sure... I Don't really have a problem with coloring, lighting and inking. It's the damn shadows! Ever since I had my tablet, I've been trying to find a decent way to draw shadows. And the sad truth is that I'm still not 100% sure about the product.

I mean some of these are believable enough. To be honest, if I posted them here it's because I think they're pretty enough to be on this blog... Still, there's something not right and I've been trying to put my finger on it for the last week or so.

The progress :
-About 6-7 hours to draw the facial expressions and be happy with them;
-About 6 hours to ink;
-4 hours total to put color in them (I had to start over a few times because of layer mix-ups)
-Aaand a good 20 hours or so to mess with the shadows and lighting.

So you can immediately see where the problem is. And think about it: I was doing shadows on something I'm already way better at than anything else, and that's the human body. That makes me extra afraid of landscapes and objects.

In time my friends... in time.



Cheers.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Yeeeep! Lied again! Twice!

Okay I'm off to a bad start.

-First I lied about post length;
-Then I lied about everything on here being sketches;
-AND I lied to myself about never finishing drawing after 11h PM.

I was so caught up with the techniques I'm developing to draw quick, accurate and realistic characters that I began to grow over-optimistic. Yes, the kind of "optimistic" that robs you of your precious sleep. It happens to me mostly when inspiration takes my brain hostage and forces me to draw until the juice is all out.

So here's my thoughts on my progress to greatness so far:
1.Clothes, skin, hair, lighting, color and eyes are not going to be problems;
2. Guns... I made an oath to myself to draw REAL weapons... that's going to be a problem. I have to draw them much much much faster;
3. Vehicles... I have no stinkin' idea how that's going to work out so yeah, it's going to take some time;
4. I have yet to produce any kind of background, much less forests or ruined cities. This is what frightens me the most. I'll have to read tons of comics to find a quick way to draw something half-decent and learn the shortcuts...

To sum it all up, it's only now that I realize I created some kind of a ferocious beast... It's going to test my patience... and my girlfriend's. Love you honey :)

So ANYWAY, I present to you... Cassie :



Go nuts.
Cheers!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

What? More portraits?

Thaaat's right! But this time it's the other way around. Women! How clever!

Also, I was messing around with my comic books to get some pointers on how to ink properly. I guess the skills will come in time. I still think there's some improvement over the other drawings.



Cheers!

Monday, March 16, 2009

More faces for the manly man in you!

OK this one's for the ladies. Next up, a bunch of dudes.



Cheers!

Faces, faces, faces...

New sketches!? Huzzah!!

Indeed, since I managed to get everything on my computer up to speed I decided to get acquainted with Photoshop CS4. I picked up where I left off 2 years ago and the results are quite pleasing to me.

As you can see the results aren't super incredible but considering the time I spent drawing them it's actually promising. These portraits are mostly just an exercise in style as I'm still trying to find a good compromise between quality and quantity.

Enjoy!


Cheers!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

So I lied........

And I’m so very truly sorry about it. I totally forgot about the need to explain the premise of the storyline… of some sort. So the first post won’t be the longest, this one will… maybe.

Now I’m having a hard time figuring out what information I should share in this entry. Let me explain: I strongly believe that any told story should start with a very solid background. Sometimes it’s easier to create (historical reenactment or modern day drama) and sometimes it’s that much harder (science fiction or fantasy). I think the further you drift from our reality, the more time it takes to make it real.

That being said, I have about 20 pages written on Burn Every Village. To my estimation, those 20 pages are absolutely nothing compared to the content this world has to offer. I try my best to write about every possible aspect I can think of: from the protagonists’ quirks and habits to the world they live in at large. I constantly question myself on the purpose of everything I write and I rearrange it accordingly.

Here’s where I have trouble giving up info. I have absolutely no idea what the common man/woman in that world is supposed to know. What constitutes general knowledge? But there’s hope for me. For the moment, this blog is all about the look and feel of the graphic novel! There, I just bought myself some more time to think about it!

Here’s what you all need to know:

The story is set in 2065. Since the early twenty-first century, mankind began its descent in the downward spiral as a series of wars and global economical crashes paved the way for worldwide chaos. About 60 years latter, only a few true heavily fortified cities stand strong. The rest of earth’s inhabitants are left hung out to dry as they desperately try to survive. And while these cities house only the elite, they also need normal folks to do the dirty jobs. These people come from outside the cities, but are granted payment for their service. They are affectionately called “murks” (short for mundane workers). The rest of the world has to rely on the wastelands’ economy to make a living.

I call it the wastelands but it’s far from being the post-apocalyptic landscape you’re used to see. The best example to describe it would be the ghost town from the movie 12 Monkeys or I am Legend. Although the vast majority of the world is in ruins, some settlements have risen from the cities’ ashes giving shelter to whoever is alive outside the cities.

Our protagonists are a band of jolly survivors, battling against all odds to find peace on this wretched planet:
  • Nate is their leader, a resilient 30 something man with a very curious talent for surviving the rigors of the wastelands. He is surrounded by people from varying backgrounds with aptitudes in different domains.
  • Leo is the muscles. He’s a 50 years old war veteran with loads of experience.
  • Leo has a daughter named Saunie, a 10 years old who follows him everywhere.
Note to the reader: there’s bound to be more characters as some of them are still in the works but you get the general idea.

Next up will be updates on characters and sketches.

Cheers!

PS : To those of you who are close enough to me to know more about the story... hush please!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

And then there was Blog

Welcome to Bits n Arts,
you have found the small intarwebz turf on which I will drop bits of art, sketches and other fun stuff. You'll mostly see crap about my upcoming web based graphic novel preemptively named Burn Every Village.

This is in fact a test ground for people to bitch about the concept artwork I'll be doing for the project. Who knows, if I have time in the near future you might even be able to see some stuff completely unrelated to the Burn Every Village project. But seriously, don't count on it. Procrastination's my middle name.

Now let me cut the fat and explain straight up how this is going to work:
1. This is likely the longest post you'll see on this blog (unless I feel like ranting?);
2. I'm decent in English but I'm french-Canadian so bear with me please. I'll correct any mistake you guys will point out but I have feelings too and I appreciate kindness;
3. Don't expect to see awesomely polished drawings here as they will all be scanned sketches (99% of the time anyway);
4. Really, I expect everything on here to be flooded with criticism so go nuts. I do hope everyone could stay civilized though so you're invited to bitch, but keep it about the sketches please.

Have fun.
I'll update as frequently as I can.