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.