Pregnancy and Puppets: I Made a Comic Book

While brainstorming what post to prepare next (mostly to distract me from a very slow day at work and a very volatile day for #Litecoin), I realized I had set aside a photo from my comic book. Since my interest in comic books was something I hadn’t mentioned (but could probably be inferred from my Illustration process post), I figured why not share it with all you lovely Steemians, too?

As I mentioned in my introduction post, I went to college for my BFA in Graphic Design and Illustration. Truthfully, I really just liked illustration. It was a competitive program, though, so when they offered me one of the limited dual-focus spots, I figured it couldn’t hurt. (For the record, it did hurt, but that’s a story for a different post.)

For our final semester, all graduating seniors were required to create a client based project for the Senior exhibition (a requisite to walk with everyone at commencement). Completely burned out on the non-stop, mock-up, client-based projects that saturated the Graphic Design half of my education, I decided to illustrate something instead.

I had been working on a lot of comic-based project over the previous semester and was really enjoying working with ink. So, naturally, I wanted to make a comic book for my senior project. In order to meet the criteria of working with a client, I decided to canvas my friend’s list for short stories and poems to illustrate. After picking my 3 favorites, I decided on 3 different inking styles to reflect each tale’s voice.

According to Google Dictionary, a chimera is “any mythical animal with parts taken from various animals.” I chose this title because each story represented a different “animal” fusing with others to become a more complex creature. I even incorporated the theme into the cover art by using #linocut, a legit letterpress, watercolor, and Photoshop to create the jacket.

Each story was done using some form of ink and digital color (my favorite way to illustrate). The first story was actually a a poem with a somewhat dark and mysterious message, so I went with a woodcut look derived from scratchboard. I kept the color palette very limited and flat since the ink work was already complex enough.

The second was a short, clever screenplay, and I chose to use my favorite tool, the Pentel Pocket Brush, as it reflected my most natural style. The digital color was fairly simple, but with a wider palette and the addition of highlights and shadows.

The final story was a concept developed by myself and my partner. It chronicles a man’s descent into madness, so I used very fine pens in a scratchy, messy manner to reflect the characters increasing instability. For the color, I used a limited color palette that I applied flat but then overlaid with achromatic pencil texture. The colors also become more saturated and abrasive as the protagonist slips further an further into madness.

The whole project was too large to finish in a single semester (the end product contained over 40 illustrated pages). I did, however, manage to finish about 12 full pages for the Senior Exhibition to display as a demo. Fun fact, I cut the deadline so close that I didn’t have time to get it printed at a professional shop, so I ended up binding the demos myself.

The whole process introduced me to crowdfunding, too, and I managed to get the printing costs funded on Kickstarter. The the financial obligation helped me to hold myself accountable to finish the project… Albeit almost a year after starting. That being said, everyone was super supportive and patient while I worked to complete it.

If you’re interested in checking out more about the project, the #ChimeraComic Tumblr page is still up. If you’d like to throw a little extra support my way and want to purchase a completed copy, the digital format is available via Amazon, and the print version is available through Blurb. I will likely be setting up a storefront (at some point) that will allow it to be purchased via cryptocurrency, as well.

Thanks again for checking out my work! I look forward to any questions or feedback you might have.

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Thanks for checking out my work! And, if you need more fun stuff to shove into your eyeballs, hop over and check out my YouTube channel, Chimp Skipper, or my online portfolio.

#art #illustration #comicbooks #ink #poems #stories #books #printmaking