Hello everyone! For this edition of Sketchbook Saturday I'm highlighting a unique collaboration between myself and fellow artist, Bruce Gerlach! Check out Bruce's blog Tattooed Sky to check out more of his work. Bruce supplied the artwork for panel 2 of TOACM #56 from 10/14/10.
A few weeks ago as I was finishing the plotting of the WEIRD TALES storyline I had the idea that it’d be cool to depict this “flashback” scene I’d written in a completely different art style that mine. The great comics artist John Buscema instantly came to mind – in particular his Conan work. So I put a call out to some of my comic artist friends to see if they’d be willing to contribute a panel. Bruce answered the call.
Here are some highlights from our collaboration. Enjoy!
DENVER: CAN YOU HELP A FELLA OUT? I’m looking for someone who can draw in a more 60’s/70’s Buscema style to do a panel for an upcoming installment of my TOACM webcomic to act as a contrasting “flashback” panel with a Thor-esque character of my own design. I would need (1) panel approx 7"wide by 4.25"tall (which will be later cropped to bleed) in b&w (i.e. inked). This panel will depict the coup de grâce blow as the Thor-esque character is defeating a great evil force/presence...
BRUCE: Hey Denver, if you haven't found anyone yet, I would be more than happy to provide a panel for you. If so, let me know what you need. I think that sounds like fun and I love the Buscema Conan stuff, so that would be cool to try my hand at his style. Did you have any particular pose or perspective for the panel? I can almost see a typical Buscema stance for Vic. I'm in. Sounds like fun!
DENVER: Great! So you have a.jpg of VIC (a), his sword (b), and the "evil force" (c) in its apparition state in the background -- the smoky shape in the sky. This panel should be thought of as more of an illustration: how to depict an epic battle between gods in a single drawing... Maybe you could send me some thumbnails/sketches in a couple days to LMK what you’re thinking as far as the drawing is concerned and we can hash it out more that way. I don't want to be too "editorial" -- I want to let you breathe and do your thing as much as possible as long at the illo serves the story. You know?
A. Vic Torrious Character Sketch
B. Roman sword
C. Spirit of The Dark One
BRUCE: Here are some very loose sketches (d) for Vic fighting the evil force. Did you have a preference as to the direction that Vic should stand? Obviously, the creature will take up most of the background, so maybe a straight forward view wouldn't work too well. Plus, did you want to show the tomb beneath the force and the statue, as well?
D. Bruce's initial sketches
DENVER: I'm really digging this low camera angle shot here (e) -- by keep the camera low the Dark One looms over us and Vic and looks more all-encompassing and dangerous. The isle where this battle occurs is the same isle that is in panel 6 of TOACM #50 as far as its general shape/form. It’s a rocky mass and it would lend some sense of foundation to see some of that as a minor element to the composition which I leave entirely to your discretion.
E. My notes
BRUCE: Here are the tighter pencils for the panel (f). I wanted to show you what I had so far before I start inking. I just noticed after I scanned this that I didn't put his cape in, so I could always have it flowing up higher, so that it doesn't cover up too much of the back and lose some of that.
F. Bruce's tighter pencils
DENVER: Looking good! See the attached .pdf file (g) for more notes. So cool! Thanks a million! My only concern is with my narration boxes. I know I have to edit my narration dialog down (a lot) for this panel...ahhhh...
G. More notes from me.
BRUCE: Do you think that there is anything that could be done differently to make room for the narration? Without knowing just how much room you'd need maybe the top left and bottom right could be used for the narration boxes? I dunno, just a thought...
DENVER: Attached is a .jpg (h) that shows (IMHO) the available narration text box area. I may not use it all, but I just want to be realistic about the usage. The only thing I can say about making adjustments on your end would be maybe extending the Kirby krackle and Dark One spirit up and over to the left slightly just in case I need to shrink the panel to fit. Does my diagram make sense?
H. Re-sizing suggestions
BRUCE: How's this (i)?
I. Bruce's size re-adjustments
DENVER: YEAH! That gives me tons of narration room and doesn't diminish the figures at all! Great work!
BRUCE: Cool, I'll get to work on inking that then!
DENVER: Great!
BRUCE: How's this (j)?
J. Bruce's inks
DENVER: Thank you! I sure appreciate it! The panel looks good! If you could get me a 300dpi version that'd be great! Keep in mind I will probably "color" this to fit with my typical TOACM style too. I'm really geeked for this one to post! I really dig collaboration and I can't say enough how much I appreciate you volunteering your time and effort to help me out with this piece!
BRUCE: I'm glad you like it! I enjoy collaboration myself and don't really get to do it much, so I was more than happy to help out. Thanks for letting me!
DENVER: Thanks again!
From there I would take Bruce's work and add some details to the sea, the isle, and the sky (including some cool lightning) -- after which I gave it a halftone pattern (k) to drum up a cool "old comics" kinda vibe over the background.
K. Halftone pattern
Next I gave the panel some "torn paper" edges and a "worn paper" screen (l) for the final touch.
L. Torn & worn paper effects
From here I'll drop this into Adobe Illustrator to letter!
I hope you enjoyed this look into the process!
-Denver
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