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CORA2 :: teaser images

Here are a few images from various pages throughout Cora vol.2. Color proofs should arrive today. The book is on target to be delivered July 14th and will go on sale on the blog shortly after that!

R&I technical issues

Blogger is failing to redirect the R&I blog to the custom URL roseandisabel.com, so for the time being I have moved the address back to roseandisabel.blogspot.com (roseandisabel.com is not accessible at this time). It has been almost a week and Blogger has not fixed the problem, so I'm looking into Wordpress (and potentially getting an actual site up and running), so please stay tuned.

UPDATE: (6/23) Redirect has been fixed.

-T

CORA Part 2 :: Cover

Down to the wire

The date for Cora Part 2 to be delivered the printer is rapidly approaching. June 15th is the day that all material has to be uploaded. It's an intense time and I'm still scrambling a bit trying to get the book done. The B&W pages have gone out to a couple of folks for notes and I'm busy incorporating those as well. It's really important to me that I share what I'm working on and get opinions and suggestions from others. For me it's not good to work in a total vacuum.

The panel below is an homage to Norman Rockwell. I grew up with books of his stuff around the house and the panel is based on a painting of his that has stuck with me over the years. In designing the old man's home for the Cora book, the image kept coming back to me as a source of inspiration. It is one of my favorites of his; I love the layering of space in the Rockwell -- looking through a window and through one room into the next where activity is taking place; dark is played against light, where the light (and active) area is a significantly smaller portion of the composition. There is also a bit of Rosemary's Baby influence in the panel below, from the shot when Mia(?) is on the phone and her face is hidden from view. I can't find a still of it at the moment, but will upload it once I find one.

CORA2 update 5/26/09

Zeroing in on getting all the pages cleaned up and ready for paint...this can be a tricky time because it's the last opportunity to do last minute changes before committing to color and final pages.



I just recently decided to rework the last few pages of part 2 because I sort of "phoned it in", mostly due to lack of research material relating to the scene. I found some reference the other day and wrestled with myself whether to redo the pages, two of which were finished already. Better judgement won out, because 1.) the scene is more historically accurate (to some degree at least) and therefore, more interesting and 2.) My conscience is satisfied because I did the right thing. "Do the hard work" is a good motto when producing work that you want to be 100% honest with. I see lots of work out there (esp. in the motion picture business) that is lacking in honesty -- much of this stuff is released during the summer months. wink wink.



I always try my best to be 100% honest with my characters because they are the story. They are going to have moments of pause, of strength, and of weakness; they are going to have moments of triumph as well as failure; they are going to make mistakes and hopefully learn from them. They are going to emote; they will be proud, and at times stubborn. This is how people are. The tough part is getting to the core of what makes people people and representing that on the comic page. A difficult task indeed but worth the hard work.

Isabel in Montana Territory

Page detail from the new book. Montana in 1888 was still a territory, and wasn't admitted to the Union until late 1889. Although I haven't visited the state, the photos I've found while researching show a beautiful and incredibly diverse landscape. I hope to incorporate as much of it as possible, which may result in some artistic license as far as locations go...The story will continue through Wyoming (Territory), and perhaps parts of Colorado and New Mexico, where I'm planning the story's climax to take place.



Status: 30 pages are done, but need some color work still.
11 pages to clean up, and 7 layouts to go.

BTW, it's been a while since I talked about film-related stuff, so I'm planning to blab a bit about that in the next post.

Movin along...

It appears I like to wait until the last minute to begin these undertakings. The scenes for chapter 2 of Cora's story were conceived quite a while ago, but it seems I need the dangling sword of press time hanging over my head to actually begin producing in earnest. The production of the book is now a 7 day a week affair, but that's what it takes to get these things done at this late stage. I work best under pressure, and am happy with the way the pages are turning out.



The beginning of the clean up phase is always a struggle. I made a conscious attempt to push the drawing style of the book, by working looser and introducing more black to shadow areas, territory I have been intimidated to venture into previously. What resulted is a lot of difficulty finding the sweet spot where everything flows smoothly, so I went back to the exact process I used on the first book and am much happier. I'm realizing once again that artistic development and evolution should be natural and not forced. I feel myself heading in new directions artistically and it is a result of trial, error and discovery. If you feel yourself in a similar situation, don't force it; let it happen naturally.



Thanks to everyone who has left comments, sent emails and supported the books through blogs and websites, and the retailers who are carrying them. It means a lot. Cheers.

Second pass (UPDATE 4/23)

The layout (first pass) of CORA book 2 is almost finished. In this first pass, all of the layouts are drawn, a lot of the dialogue is written, and pacing issues are worked out (for the most part). In the second pass, the layouts are refined, rough color ideas are laid down in preparation for the final clean up and painting phase; dialogue is re-written, layouts modified and the storytelling and shot selection are pushed.

Below is the first page of the new book, showing the first (layout) pass and the second (rough) pass. The first pass was merely the idea of an owl over a black background. For the second pass the positioning of the owl has changed and the black background has changed to color with a graphic accent in the left corner. This is close to the image that will be tied down for the final.

UPDATE: directly below is the final page. There is still an issue for me to resolve with the bottom left side of the owl; I'll choose whether or not to address this later after the pages are all finished.

final


second pass


first pass

Closing in

I have 3 pages left for layout and dialogue and then finishing will start on book 2 of Cora (actually, there is a 6 page intro to a new character that needs to be figured out that I'm saving for later that will open book 2). I've been having a lot of fun writing the story and working with the new characters. More updates and images coming soon.

6 1/2 weeks to go.

Emerald City Con & page layout

Derek Thompson and I will be exhibiting at the Emerald City Comic-Con this weekend in Seattle at Booth #606 under the name E-VILLE PRESS. I'll have all 3 of my books (ROSE and ISABEL 1&2, CORA 1) and Derek will have his MONSTER ANNUALS as well as Storyboarding DVDs and original art. Swing on by and say hello.

Here's one of the latest rough layouts for part 2 of Cora. I'm getting a chance to write some fun dialogue here which I'm enjoying. More to come soon.

CORA2 - WIP

A work in progress page from book 2 of Cora. This is the level I've been working at for the rough layout of the pages. It's in this phase that I do a lot of visual "thinking"...trying things out in a loose and fast manner that is visual instead of just words on a page. I'll slug in temp dialogue that gives an idea of what needs to be said, but mainly I try to let the visuals tell the story as much as possible.

Portions of the book (like book 1 of Cora and Rose and Isabel) will be told without words. It's a kind of storytelling I like a lot. I like to let the dialogue back up the visuals, not the other way around. This particular sequence requires some dialogue, but only enough to emphasize what I hope to tell visually.



15 pages left to lay out, then back to the beginning to make changes before starting the next pass of (tighter) roughs.

Moving Forward

Hit a major roadblock over the weekend, a particular story point relating to Rose's legacy. After several hours of trying things out on the page and discarding lots of drawings (a bunch of which I really liked but had to scratch), I decided to pack up, head home, sleep on the idea and come back fresh in the morning. The next day a new idea surfaced which was better than any before it, and I was back on my way.

When it comes to story, sometimes it's best to just walk away and let sleeping dogs lie. Your project will always be waiting for you when you return. Don't be afraid of it and don't let it rule over you. It's easy to become overwhelmed in the face of a story crisis, but there's always a solution, it just may take some time to arrive.



status:
22 pages rough
6 done

Research :: Lilith

From what I've posted before, it should be no surprise that the folk-legend Lilith will have something to do with the Cora story. I have been researching her for quite a while, but just recently I heard about this Warren Beatty film based on the character. I check out a lot of things looking for nuggets of inspiration, so I'm curious what this film is like. I'm working on Lilith's intro to the world of Rose, Isabel and Cora right now, for Book 2 of the Cora series (which will be released in July 2009).


Another surprise to me (which any fan of TV's Frasier probably already knows) is that the Lilith in the show actually has ties to the legendary character (or so Wikipedia tells me).

Yuki7 (WIP)

I jumped at the opportunity when Kevin Dart asked me if I could contribute my version of his creation "Yuki7, International Girl of Mystery" for an upcoming book project of his. This illustration is still a work in progress and I'll still be tweaking it for another day or so before I have to turn it in. I had a lot of fun doing this...thanks Kevin!

Blogger issues...

Normally, roseandisbel.blogspot.com is set to link directly to the domain roseandisabel.com. Apparently, there is a problem with blogger that is not allowing this to happen and is showing the blog as missing. In the interim (while this is hopefully being fixed) I've gone back to the original blogger domain, until the problem is resolved.

Grr.

Back to Work

It's a warm up day at the new studio space, getting comfortable with the new setting and equipment (mostly CS4). It's not unlike moving into a new apartment or house, where the first few nights are a little restless. I've got the general outline of book 2 set up and I'm starting to drop in rough pages here and there. The organic method of writing I've described before is already starting to lead to some nice things. More to come soon.


status: 12 pages rough, 6 done.

Wondercon 2009

A quick reminder that Derek Thompson and I will be exhibiting at WonderCon in San Francisco in a few weeks. Here's the info:

WonderCon 2009
w/E-VILLE PRESS
Booth #920
Moscone Center South
San Francisco, CA
27 Feb to 1 Mar
2009

See the sidebar for more upcoming shows.

Back on the Horse

After a year of technical difficulties and resultant issues described in the last post, I'm settling in to my new studio space and getting ready to start hammering out book two of Cora. Photoshop CS4 is great so far, especially since it's working with the multi core Intel Mac.

On the first Cora book, I used a brush that varied opacity based on pen pressure. I went to look for that in CS4 and found it missing, because it's been BUILT IN TO THE BRUSH! This is great news. The brush has an even better feel than it did before. The building up of lines feels much more natural too.


More updates are coming as I get going. Thanks to everyone out there for all your support of the books and on the blog.

-T

...On A Lapse of Creativity...

Well, I've done something I haven't done before on the 3 comics I've produced. And it's bad.

I've allowed so much time to lapse where I haven't worked on the new book that I've become disconnected with it. This is a dangerous place to be because it gives self-doubt a chance to take up roots and threaten to ruin the project. The mind starts to over think and become irrational. Some of the negative and self-conscious ideas running through my head during this time have been:

"Is this the story I want to do?"
"I don't think this is me anymore"
"I'm tired with this storyline"
"It's boring"

Now obviously, none of these are true. But it was inevitable they would appear at some point during a project of this length.

What I've done with the previous 3 books is to never allow this to happen; to continue moving forward, no matter what. Live with the story and never let it get out of your head. The positive thing about what's happening now is that it's identifiable and can be turned into a call to action. It's time to mix things up, look in new directions, and think outside the box. The deadline I've set for myself is a terrifying one, but nothing is a better motivator than imagining myself with nothing new to show at festival time. Especially when the ideas are there, hibernating under a blanket of inaction.

As a creative person it's good to feel this way because it lets me know I care about the project, the characters, the story, and very importantly, the people who are going to be reading it. I'm going to figure it out and come July 09, the second part of Cora's story will be released.

Wal-Mart plans superstore adjacent to Civil War battlefield

From SFGate:

"Wal-Mart wants to build a Supercenter within a cannon shot of where Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant first fought, a proposal that has preservationists rallying to protect the key Civil War site.

A who's who of historians including filmmaker Ken Burns and Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough sent a letter last month to H. Lee Scott, president and chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., urging the company to build farther from the Wilderness Battlefield."

Historians fight Wal-Mart over Civil War site

I did extensive research of the events leading up to and including the Battle of the Wilderness for Rose and Isabel. Combined with the Battle at Cold Harbor, they are the battles around which much of the story revolves. I never got a chance to see the physical location where the battle of the Wilderness took place, but I hope Wal-Mart is stymied in its attempt to build so the historical site may be preserved.

"Preservationists regularly square off against developers in Virginia, where much of the Civil War was fought. This dispute, however, has stirred an outcry similar to the one in 1994 over the Walt Disney Co.'s plans to build a $650 million theme park within miles of the Manassas Battlefield. Disney bowed to public pressure and abandoned the project."

HUD

I've been on a bit of a James Wong Howe kick lately, having watched "Sweet Smell of Success", "Hud", and "Seconds" most recently. Howe is a master of the art of cinematography and has contributed to an impressive catalogue of films (of which the three listed above are just a sampling). The shot below from "HUD" I found particularly arresting; all of its visual elements are hard at work here (Howe went on to win the Oscar for Cinematography for Hud, in addition to an earlier Oscar win for "The Rose Tattoo").

ROSE 1888

I'm still trying to figure out what 46 year-old Rose is going to look like in the Cora story...here is one of the many designs I've tried so far. I'm not happy with any of the ones I've drawn up to this point and I feel it's going to take a significant amount of outside-the-box inspiration to find what I'm looking for.

I've been questioned several times about Rose and her role in the new books, which I haven't said too much about other than 'she will be back'. The image below is probably more what she'll look like during the "Wild West" era, around 1876 or so, pieces of which will be shown throughout the Cora story.

Once I find what her look will be, I won't be posting it here. That will be a surprise to be revealed in book 4 or so.

StoryCorps - Every Story Matters

Today, StoryCorps is sponsoring its first National Day of Listening, an initiative that encourages people to record and preserve a conversation with someone important in their lives. (A do-it-yourself guide is available at www.nationaldayoflistening.org.)

"We live in a society where so many people feel like they don't matter," says Isay, 42. "And one of the underpinning ideas of StoryCorps is that every story matters."

So much of my life is spent telling stories. I tell them visually with storyboards at work, through writing and illustration in comics, and verbally with my friends and relatives. It's great to know that something like StoryCorps is around to remind us all of this gift of human interaction.

Quick post for this week: The Look

Here are some examples of "looks" from The Assassination of Jesse James. I love subtlety of expression; many times it says so much more than a broad expression or reaction. I look at this kind of stuff all the time when I work. My favorites are the undefinable expressions that lie somewhere between familiar attitudes.