Just got off the phone with Karl Stevens who had, yesterday, gotten the letter and "notes" I spent the week putting together on his first attempt at a "bridging page" in SDOAR.
One of the problems, he decided, is that a) he needs better photos, better lit and b) that it's not really fair to Tony to try to get him to sit for photos, where the light needs to be adjusted, etc. etc. at his store or to drag him out to Karl and Alexis' apartment to do so. Good point.
So, the solution Karl suggested is: is it okay to use Alexis or himself as the "store owner"?
Yes, that made a lot of sense, particularly when it came to the "costuming". If Tony wore a plaid or striped shirt (one of the secrets of the Alex Raymond photorealist school is plaid and striped clothing because it establishes irrefutable contour pretty effortlessly) but it didn't "work" -- well, how far away is Tony's closet to look for a substitute? In the case of Alexis, shooting the photos at the apartment, her closet is right there.
I don't know how long Million-Year Picnic has been in business -- they must be coming up on the million-year mark by now -- but we will now be ret-conning a woman owner! How 2016 is that?! Or maybe Alexis is an employee? Anyway, we will be using the front of the store for the first two or three pages.
The other thing that we've figured out is: instead of getting Karl to do a finished page and then my critiquing that, I'm going to get him to do photocopy mock-ups of the pages and critique those, since they involve a lot less working time lost if they need to be tweaked.
Further updates as they become available.
Help finance Dave Sim to complete 'The Strange Death Of Alex Raymond'
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Originally serialised within the pages of the self-published Glamourpuss #1-26 (2008 to 2012), The Strange Death Of Alex Raymond is an as yet uncompleted work-in-progress in which Dave Sim investigates the history of photorealism in comics and specifically focuses on the work of comic-strip artist Alex Raymond and the circumstances of his death on 6 September 1956 at the wheel of fellow artist Stan Drake's Corvette at the age of 46.
10 comments:
Dear Mr. Sim,
I am a long-time fan of your work. The art you turned in on Glamourpuss had a particularly profound impact on my own sensi/(a)bilities as a draftsman.
During my most recent search into the progress of TSDOAR I found that the problems you are experiencing with your wrist have lead you to try outsourcing the artwork. I would be very interested in producing an audition page for you as I believe I could replicate the style you are looking for.
You can find examples of my work at
http://hodtech.net/comics.html
and
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1235497&sk=photos&collection_token=1235497%3A2305272732%3A69&set=a.10104844822982713.1073741832.1235497&type=3
Mimicking styles has long been part of my approach to making comics, but photo-realism is closest to my natural style so I believe reproducing a strong Al Williamson is well within my range. TSDOAR is exactly the kind of comic I would love to illustrate and being a part of such an important project would be a massive honor.
Best regards,
Carson Grubaugh
This could (Quite nicely!) become an "all substitute-hands on deck" situation, with different guest artists working on different installments of the book.
--Claude Flowers
Carson's got some good chops, honestly. I was expecting something fannish, but he's got a nice style. Not as fleshed out as Dave's was, but his wrist works better, so...
In the spirit of Claude Flowers suggestion, I'd like to add my name to the mix. You can find samples of my art at http://jw-18.deviantart.com/art/Sketchbook-32-168923918 I'd be happy to help in any way I can.
I'll try that link again, it's http://jw-18.deviantart.com/
Man, I LOVE the idea of a different artist for each issue/chapter.
Different artists for different "chapters"…hmmm, where have I heard that before...
Thank you, Ray. I am glad someone took the time to look.
I realize that any out-of-nowhere solicitation for people to look at ones work is always going to seem very dubious in intention and usually leads to poor art but I am dead serious about contributing to this project and in my belief that I can produce work of the quality the book demands. Because I tend to do work with the intention of coloring I use a sparser application of line and blacks, but could easily adjust that for this project, thus making it more "fleshed out."
The closest I have ever come to the Glamourpuss style can be found in some of the work at http://hodtech.net/misc.-older-work.html
Best
Carson, you've absolutely got the chops. Very nice work.
Sorry, I've been kind of busy and I'm afraid I have no idea how to follow a link such as Carson and Jason have posted here. The best bet for you guys (and anyone else) would be to mail me clear copies of work that you've done that you see as being in the Raymond/Williamson mode.
We are talking WAY down the line even potentially. I won't even speculate on how long it's going to take me to finish the research/scripting on SDOAR and nothing is going to get drawn until that point (I explained that to Karl as well).
Sincere apologies for being so late getting to this.
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