I've been looking forward to this assignment, and I think that I have made a lot of progress throughout this section, so it will be interesting to see how it all comes together. I started the assignment by doing my own research into comic covers. I tried to vary my sources to see the options available. I wanted to avoid falling into the trap of simply emulating the style of Marvel and DC; there are so many other varieties out there. However, that didn't mean that I couldn't learn from them.
I started with covers from the Planetary series [3]. What I liked about these covers is the wildly different styles for each issue, before you take into account things like variant covers. This seems to be a conscious decision, and each cover ties into the mystery that the team look into, and in so the artists have been able to emulate a particular genre each time.
So next I went on a crawl through comics that I own as well as a selection of others from artists that I am aware of.
What I found interesting was the different aspect ratios used. Only two of my selected images seem to have the standard American format. 2000AD seems to opt for a standard UK aspect ratio, the published graphic novels vary. The vintage horror comic seems to be wider, despite it being an American comic and the self-published comic is A5, presumably because this is the easiest size to print at home and staple bind.
For this assignment, the brief wants me to create an image that is 37cm x 24cm. Given it describes that at 70% reduction this should equate to "the size of a standard American comic book" I am assuming that this refers to the American 11"x17" drawing page standard.
The assignment mentions a typical visual hierarchy to covers. Specifically:
A logo or title, hand-written in an appropriate font, which takes up the top quarter of the cover. This format developed from when comics were placed in ‘spinner racks’ where only the top part of the cover could be seen easily.
A main image which is the focus of attention, which will feature the title character or characters.
Secondary images such as insets or a corner box showing the main character.
Captions or ‘blurbs’ that tell the reader what they might expect inside the comic.
Speech balloons or sound effects.
Whilst I can see these examples in Tales from the Crypt, I think that having all of these items is actually somewhat of an anachronism. All of the other covers have some of these elements, but not all of them. The closer to a weekly issue the comics are, the more information seems to be present (like the 2000AD comic above). This is because these have to essentially advertise themselves. As the comics got to trade collections and then graphic novels, their approach becomes more like a more traditional book cover.
An exception I have noticed is when comics are intentionally emulating a pastiche of vintage comics, such as with Tank Girl. Parson uses additional elements like speech bubbles and captions to create a vintage look much like the Silver Age comics of Marvel etc.
As a member of his Patreon, I have been able to get access to more of his working process. Take a look at these covers, both at (digital) pencils stage:
In both of these examples, I can see how he first lays down static elements like the title and in this case the "Martin & Parsons Present" caption at the top left. This gives him a known space in which to put his content. Both of these covers focus on the main protagonist, and the first also includes supporting characters. The specific additional elements of the first cover also give a hint to the storyline. The cover itself reads much like a movie poster.
Next, I have a breakdown of the process from sketch to finished article. This time you can see more clearly how the artist uses a standardised page template used by most comic publishers (often in non-repro blue, these are in red). This gives the artist awareness of where the 'safe' space is - space meaning at no risk of being chopped off! Outside of these are the risker areas of the trim and bleed. The trim line is where the mechanical guillotine will trim the printed page, and the bleed is the maximum dimensions. You will often see more modern comics use 'full bleed' panels or even full spreads. I believe this was originally inspired by Japanese Manga comics who use the technique extensively. The trick will be to make sure that all the important additional aspects like titles, text, captions etc are within the trim line, ideally in the safe area.
I took note of all the changes that happened at each stage, noting how the artist tweaked, added and removed elements respectively. For my cover, I thought that I would like to continue with my own proclivity for a retro vintage feel, but which elements of the visual hierarchy would depend on the content. So the next thing was to begin my design process in my sketchbook. The biggest issue for me was what to draw about? I could go back to one of my other characters but that didn't fill me with a huge amount of inspiration, so after some mindful time, I started to jot down ideas. Taking some time to meditate actually really helped and I didn't only come up with one idea, I came up with a few ideas that I found really exciting. Not just for the assignment, but ideas that I would be tempted to actually turn into something real.
I ended up choosing the idea with shaman - in my research it appeared that (while not always agreed on) many translate the etymology of the word shaman as "Those Who Know" This seemed like a good basis for a title, which made this idea my leading choice. Again, using my sketchbook I started by sketching down thumbnail compositions for my cover.
I opted for a composition that had a more urban setting, which gave me a chance to place the characters I would need to create into some kind of context. I next moved to digital to lay down some roughs. I had a hard time getting the perspective not only correct but useful to the composition. You can see above where I couldn't get it right digitally, so I quickly doodled the composition down to mentally work through the problem. Then I went back to my PC and finished my roughs.
I increased the number of characters, as I liked the line the three heads made in the composition. The composition's perspective is different to the thumbnail's - I think I like the thumbnail more, but this was one that I could work with so that was more important to keep momentum. So next I added a new layer and started to lay down some pencils. I had started to do some character design in my sketchbook but given my time constraints, the better approach seemed to be to 'learn by doing' and experimenting with the characters on the page. Given I had decided to work digitally, this gave me a lot of flexibility to experiement.
I made a number of adjustments to my roughs and tried to factor in how I might use the space for text and other elements. Taking inspiration from the other artists I had researched earlier, I thought it might be useful to put the elements on the page, even as placeholders so I could see how things would work with them in place.
I started by coming up with my own handwritten ideas for the title, but I then stumbled on a font that had just the right kind of tribal feel that I was going for. This was useful as it would allow me to more easily move and edit the text. I opted for "They Who Know" as the title as a slight variation, but I thought it sounded better and seemed to link to our characters more directly. I also created a fake bar code, using contemporary comic issues as a cue, and adding my own design interpretations.
For my characters, I tried to represent shamanic practices from around the world. This meant I had to do a good deal of research to find and understand them, and then take essences of the shamanic cultures and represent them in my own way (but which was also hopefully culturally sensitive and respectful). I really enjoyed this part and I was able to play around with lots of different interpretations.
A lot of the visual information seemed a bit flat and uninteresting, particularly in the foreground. So I adjusted the middle character's pose (the arm seemed too extreme) and then added in some visual interest with the exposed brickwork and more intricate spirit 'flames'. I thought this was a good place to build on, so I moved to more tight inks.
I wasn't exactly sure how to approach my inks - my pencils had moved to a more semi-realistic approach again, so I decided to go with that. The story didn't seem overly comical so tonally it made a lot more sense. I experimented with using some rougher pens here and there, as well as using more texture in some of my inking, like the asphalt of the road and pavement. I left off the spirit flames at this point, as I had an idea on how I might be able to render these.
I decided to add the flames using a vector object, which would allow me to control the stroke using a vector brush, I then added in a pixel starfield within the shape. I liked this option and I was able to use a blending mode on the title to allow it to stand out over the spirit flames. While I was in my vector mode, I took the opportunity to quickly design and add a traditional comic corner box in the top left. This meant I could worry less about adding too much detail in that corner, just like the barcode allowed in the bottom left. The street sign was just recoloured, as it was actually a vector object, and I tinkered with what text to show. As a black and while image it worked pretty well, but I didn't feel comfortable using a lot of spot blacks on my characters - this is something I am going to have to practice as I am missing out on a really useful skill. So given that in this format it ready as fairly light, open and flat, I needed to add a sense of dimension using colour.
I started in a very traditional manner of creating a flats layer - I actually split this into foreground and background to give myself some breathing room with organising other aspects. I duplicated the flats layers; having them as a reference would allow me to use them to select specific elements even after I had started to render on another layer. On my duplicated layers I then laid down the actual palette I wanted to use and set the local colours of all my elements.
Obviously, this is quite flat but I was happy with the general feeling of the piece. I think I could have made better choices with the male character - his facial hair and top seem too close to me. But this was something I could fix when I started to render in the details. On top of the colours, I added patterns, manipulating them to generally fit the perspective. This brought the middle character to life in particular. I also added in detail and texture to the wall. Then, using a multiply layer, I added in shadows. I actually changed the base colour for my shadows to try and tie in with what I thought the ambient colour would be in the road vs the alley - I had an idea of the spirit flames being a light source, so made the alley shadows more green than the road area, which was bluer to reflect the blue sky.
While the shadows definitely gave a sense of light sources, I also needed to add in highlights from the key lights. The foreground in particular was going to be tricky as I had light sources coming from the road, the spirit flames and the middle character's eyes! This took a great deal of experimentation and trial-and-error with the colours I selected, the blending modes, opacity and even the brush selection. Very tricky! I also used colour holds in the background and the man's face to soften the overall feel. The holds in the background also allowed them to recess (particularly with the atmospheric perspective I had added before).
I then added a glowing effect to the flames using a bright overlay with a gaussian blur. I had at this point also reconsidered my street sign - I made it an actual sign and moved my name to the (now dark) bottom right corner which seemed to balance things.
I showed the work to other OCA students to get feedback and critique. One of the things that I could see that I wasn't happy with was the girl's jacket was dark leather, and this means that it didn't have a lot of contrast with the dark tarmac of the road. Some of my fellow students also noted that the red buses seemed comparatively bright, and unsurprisingly contrasted heavily with the blue/green tones of the rest of the piece.
So, using my flats to select, I was able to create a non-destructive adjustment layer for each of those elements. I first changed the jacket to be a lighter value and tinkered with the hue and saturation so it still worked in the context of the piece. For the buses, I kept the hue so they felt authentic but knocked back the saturation and luminosity to try and get them to fade back into the background a bit more.
I think the jacket definitely worked better, and everyone was happier with the buses. This did make me think about the palette - which I had not planned, and if I had it may have felt more 'together'. To address this I experimented with adding in a lens filter to the whole piece, choosing a reddish colour to add some warmth, homogenise the colours and contrast with the green spirit flames.
Whilst it definitely tied things together better, it made some things too orange, like the street sign. I adjusted where the lense filter sat in the order of layers within the file so it was under the sign, but over the other elements. This gave me my final image which I am really happy with, and I am glad I took the time to experiment with the colours and other options along the way. I plan to reflect on this section after I have received my tutor's feedback so there will be another post for that in due course.
I have really enjoyed this assignment and I have learned a lot about process in general, and my preferred process in particular. I still have a lot to think about and address so I look forward to contemplating that soon - hopefully it will also give me a chance to tie this in with my exercises for section five which I am keen to get cracking on!
References
Awwwards.com. n.d. 30 Stunning and Inspirational Comic Covers. [online] Available at: https://www.awwwards.com/30-stunning-and-inspirational-comic-covers.html [Accessed 3 August 2021].
Berry, D., 2019. I'm on a Boat. 1st ed. Self-Published, p.Front cover.
DC Database. 2021. Planetary/Covers. [online] Available at: https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Planetary/Covers [Accessed 3 August 2021].
EC Comics, n.d. Tales from the Crypt No. 24 comic cover. [image] Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0e/2e/e8/0e2ee840597fe16160ac2184b32ffc27.jpg [Accessed 3 August 2021].
Image Comics, 2021. Crossover #1 Cover. [image] Available at: https://cdn.imagecomics.com/assets/i/releases/578925/crossover-1_ef5b65035d.jpg [Accessed 3 August 2021].
Martin, A., Martin, L. and Parson, B., 2020. Tank Girl. 1st ed. London: Titan Comics, p.47.
Padua, S., 2016. The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. 6th ed. London: Penguin Books, p.Front cover.
Pomery, O., 2020. Victory Point. 1st ed. London: Avery Hill, p.Front cover.
Rivera, P., n.d. Amazing Spider-Man #592 Variant - Wolverine Dali Art Appreciation. [image] Available at: https://assets.awwwards.com/awards/images/2011/12/comic_22.jpg [Accessed 3 August 2021].
Thorogood, Z., 2020. The impending blindness of Billie Scott. 1st ed. London: Avery Hill, p.Front cover.
Ward, C., n.d. Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor. [image] Available at: http://www.cjwardart.com/c1tqniyujf4pa20etcqu7dzi9v9beo [Accessed 3 August 2021].
Willsmer, T., 2021. 2000AD, (2240), p.Front cover.
All other Tank Girl images ©Brett Parson and used under the educational fair-use copyright policy.
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