My goal is to create a modernized film noir detective story filled with elements of action and adventure.
I will attempt to develop memorable characters through plot advancement and camaraderie. The characters will bond due to their shared cynicism and experience in the unnamed city of nightmares where they reside. During the course of the story, they will face challenges both mental and physical and follow a dark path through the oppressive danger on all sides. This project is mostly a practice attempt to train myself at drawing in various ways and positions and finding out how to combine writing and graphic into a flowing story. I don't expect this to be a great piece of work, but more of a learning experience to do something serious and time consuming later. I will also be training myself to work faster and not focus too much on individual frames or details but the story as a whole.
Timeline:
I plan to complete a 15-20 page chapter of the comic by the end of the semester, completing the first part of the story and bringing the first goal to a conclusion, while hinting at a further, larger goal.
By next Monday I hope to have a general idea or outline for the overall plot and a rough draft of the first 5 pages.
The next week I will fill out the outline and rough draft outlines of several pages ahead, while working on completing more pages as well.
Once I have the outline of the story completed, i can begin roughing out the rest of the comic and continuing to make final drafts of them.
I am also trying to develop a film noir type feel, emulating the old detective stories from the 40's and 50's....
....but adding a more modern twist, strongly influenced by Japanese manga.
I've been trying to find my own art style lately. It will just kill me if I try to emulate some perfect manga style, I need to find my own. My art definitely has strong influence from Japanese manga and anime, though. One such is the manga Dogs: Bullets and Carnage. An intriguing shoot 'em 'up with well defined characters and dark, mysterious undertones, it manages to create a well balanced mix of seriousness and comedy. The art is one of the most attractive parts about it to me, however. It's very flowing and smooth while still being somehow angular and realistic in the right amount. I'm using it as the main influence of the art and overall style of my comic.
I also really like the art style for the band The Gorillaz, (which I think was done by the same artist who did Tank Girl), it helped me initially when I was trying different styles in order to define my own.
I also really like the art style for the band The Gorillaz, (which I think was done by the same artist who did Tank Girl), it helped me initially when I was trying different styles in order to define my own.
