Can You Tell Who Did What?

It Begins? Yes, what a bitch!

We've undergone a little "phoenix in the ashes" this New Year and have found time to actually progress in what will eventually be our web comic. I s'pose many projects experience their own version of a hellish production and certainly ours has been more a case of the ADD (with college thrown in there somewhere) than anything, but we've found the time to actually get somewhere again.

Today we sat down for a few hours and discussed the scripting and layout of the panels. I actually did my own storyboarding to make myself feel productive while Anton did his own thing, and much better I might add. He got about three pages done. I picked at two visual ideas that I had and was astonished that what I had drawn wasn't nearly as cool as I imagined it. Ain't that the way? Anyhow, we amused ourselves while trying not to get too distracted with good results.

Later on, after we parted ways, I went out to see the new Tim Burton flick (Sweeney Todd) and had a chat with a friend of Anton and I's named Matt. You'll be sure to hear more from him --he's in the damn comic! I was explaining the premise and complicated plotting that I have overshadowing what will be the comic's main story. He said that from what he saw of our work that it would be difficult for the reader to stay involved and want to know what comes next. I don't think he was calling the material boring, but found it a bit long-winded for the web comic format.

I immediately thought about my frustrations of not wanting this project to be like other web comics, and how stubborn I've been to not write in the school of the 1-2-Punch. Still, as Anton (and Matt respectively) have brought up, it would be really hard to keep people intrigued if we updated with transitional pages that didn't have a point (or a laugh), so we'd definitely need to have the small punch-lines to keep reader traffic, well, consistent.

This reminded me of WHY we decided that Hookah was the right premise for doing a web comic, because it allowed for side-stories to mix it up a little without being entirely unfocused and primarily flavor-of-the-week topic humor. That, and it would allow for guest writers to easily pop in and share an entertaining story, if we were to do that (which we will). So, the compromise and POINT of this entry...

...The main story will be presented in chunks or issues (like singles!) to make sense. Also, by doing this, it'll make up for the ridiculous down times like you see in comics you go out and buy..ahem, Blade of the Immortal. You'll have side stories posted a couple times a week --a la web comic--and, you've got the best of two worlds. Hur-fucking-Ray!

~ Corrick

With Thunder

.....Yeah.... feels good... sooooo good.... Im off to do the next page.

I'm not feeling any spirit at all...none...at all.

I’m working on it no shit, she was really pretty and I had to draw her, now I am back to the grind. I swear!!!

The world is a strange place, let's keep it that way.

Well, after the child hood crushing movie Transformers, I felt the world was in need of some kind of beacon of hope. Well, seeing as Gordon has my Bat-Signal, Ill give you the run down.

Transformers sucked, I went and got the cable for the scanner, I got a job working with an Advertising Firm, so they gave me the means to get a digital tablet so I can draw the comics right on the comp, no middle steps. The story is fleshing out well and were on a roll. After tonight… well this morning, because its like 4:30am on the forth of July, I am going to leave you with the first glimpse of page one of the web comic, not the story arc, but something that made us both giggle like idiots, its in the back ground of the image above, that was all drawn, colored, and lettered, in less than an hour, on the new huge ass digital art tablet. Hopefully it will get the bad taste of Transforms out of your mouth, and if you liked the movie… you are the people I pity.

Later Days

~Anton

I have to believe in gravity for it to make me fall.

Then I realized I could turn into a dinosaur at will. It’s a valuable life skill.

So we had a really nice work meeting last night, we got a lot mulled over, the fleshing out and direction we want to take characters as well as the motives of the main players of the story. It felt good to sit down, each of us with out notebook and work out some of the hard facts, even if it is not information that will be given in the story, it helps us to have a back ground on the characters that we can refer to, not to mention once you start giving them a pass its like breathing life into them… feels kind of like being a god… you will see how funny that comment is if you stick with us for a while.

I have managed to find the tablet I want to get and I think I have located a cable that will get my scanner working, I know I know, its been to long as it is, and there are people just salivating for the sweet, sweet art, but I can only promise you that when you finally get a glimpse at the coveted book of concept art you will be so overjoyed it will have been worth the wait.

I will leave you with some really great inside information, we now have a set cast of main players, and that makes the production art just spill out like blood in an old school samurai film. Ok, ok I admit I really wanted to have an excuse to say something about samurai, I like them.

On last thing before I go, Its time for me to pimp some great art, this installment it will be an animated film, actually the last few seconds after the amazing animated film known as Hellboy: Blood and Iron is worth ten times what you pay for the DVD not only do you get another amazing adventure about the worlds greatest Pulp investigator, but you get a wonderful surprise.

Later Days

Thunder from under the floorboards

So its one of those grin and bear it moments. Its hard to be an artist in this day and age, not hard to pick up a pencil and draw, or to lay some ink on the page, but to really create something new and fresh. That’s what I hope I’m doing with this web comic. Most people don’t understand it’s a two-person job. Its not just having a bad ass writer, as is the case with a lot of the web comics these days, the sub par art and there poop jokes really don’t appeal to me on a level that I give a shit about. I prefer the hard lines of some random artist who does it for the love of the craft. I’m with those guys and girls, ladies don’t think I am leaving you out I know there are a shit ton of talented lady artists who never get any credit, don’t worry I will do my best to bring my S game to the comic, as well as toss in a shit ton of art links for your sites because I think the underappreciated artists need some credit and I want to do my part.

Ok off the soap box, I’m working on the first month or so of the story arc, were having some issues with hammering out exactly how we want the opening to go, and that’s really what has been holding me back, I have seven pages worth of panels drawn, I am holding off inking them because I would like to do it in the computer so I can play with line depth, and I need a new scanner cable and I would like to get a tablet bought before the next week or so runs out. I’m using a really simple style but I think the lines are really important, and I’m also applying a lot of detail with the misty back grounds and the color choices because I want the smoke and the whole vibe of the comic to feel like it is both real and related story, as it reflects in a lot of ways the things that happen in mine and C’s life.

I’ll leave you with the last peace I was able to scan before my cable got shot, and sometime in the next week I will throw up a bunch of conceptual art so you can see the development of the characters and maybe Ill do a little contest if I am feeling spry and willing to put some time in on extra art, but I will more than likely be hit with a rolled up Hellboy comic and told to go back to drawing, and yall have seen the movies, you know what happens when he gets that rune thing around my hand, I kind of have to do what I’m told.

Later days

~Anton