SHEDYRA Project: Week One Update

Well, the summer is over and School is in full swing. Today I had my first meeting with my Advisor for the SHEDYRA Project. It went really well, and I am looking forward to the meetings yet to come. Garry is an amazing artist and a fantastic teacher. His perspective on art, design, and comics are INVALUABLE and very wise and experienced. I am so glad I have him to guide me as I attempt the heretofore unachievable marriage of ART and STORY into the ever elusive comic.

I wanted to highlight some of the research I have been doing and tie it into what Garry and I talked about.

WRITING- storytelling visually is such a challenge. In writing novels or short stories, you can take all the words you want telling how things look or what someone is thinking. In comics, much like film, unless there is narration you are limited to dialogue for words, trusting to the visual perception of the viewer or audience to pick up the rest of the story. Storytelling visually can be extremely powerful when done properly. I learned about visual storytelling in SCOTT McCLOUD's book, UNDERSTANDING COMICS. He outlines history, theory, and deconstruction of comics and visual storytelling in an unparalleled way.

Garry helped me to think about Jakayla's motivation, who her family is, what her journey and her gift are all about, as well as how the other characters relate to her. In writing I will be utilizing the amazing skills of my wife, who has a degree in writing and never ceases to amaze me. Her suggestions led me to the fantastically successful process of chronological storyboarding.

DESIGN- Garry has helped me define my style, a sort of retro-animation simplistic but dynamic style. We discussed the value of thick and thin lines, and how to suggest form and proportion without excessive detail. The creatures and characters I have designed are great, but what part do they play in the storytelling process? In comics it has to be both visually interesting and narratively relevant. We also discussed the SHEDYRA logo type and graphic.

ART- we talked about my choice to do the art on square bristol board, which was recommended to me by a comic book artist named DAVID PETERSEN. Garry taught me how the square page can take eye movement in any direction, as opposed to the more straightforward eye direction caused by the rectangular, traditional comic book. The art will be penciled, inked, and scanned, followed by (I hope) full coloring in PHOTOSHOP and ILLUSTRATOR.

Another resource I learned about is an amazing program called Google Sketchup I heard about in STAN LEE's HOW TO DRAW COMICS. This program is amazing and is going to help me produce the epic architecture I hope to portray.

AUDIENCE- Among the topics of discussion, my intended audience was brought up. As most of you know, I am intent on creating comics for those of my generation and their families, people who appreciate the things I grew up on like cartoons and Tolkien. I want these comics to be safe for parents to read with their children, and to not only tell a fun and interesting story but promote the values and morals that matter most. I want the readers to be taken in from the cover on, and watch as a great story unfolds, characters grow, and amazing things happen. I want them to rejoice, mourn, and jump with the characters.

Thanks for reading. From here on out the updates will be weekly! Thanks for following this journey with me.