måndag 30 september 2013

7. Three colours

And this id how the original image became.

I had decided to use black and one other colour. I am not sure of the exact colour but at the moment it is this bluegreen color.
So I have black, bluegreen and white to work with.

I like to set up limits and work within that. The work get more creative in a way.

In this panel I have an open bubble. I tries as much as possible to open up the panels, not get them boxed in all the time. You should feel the limits of the panel but not always need to use all 4 four lines.

The story use three other kind of styles, depending on the how it´s told. I will explain more about that tomorrow.

söndag 29 september 2013

6. The Line

A  comic has the storyline and the words that are told and spoken. But most it has images that are the base of a comic. In a textstory the pages look almost the same. You can have a different font and size and decide if you want to use more space between the words.

But with a graphic story the images sets the feeling of the story. And that can be done in so many ways. It starts from the way the character look to how you plan the panels. Yet it has to be readable. But you choose if you want to have a fast reading or if you want to slow it down. 

I have choosen to tell my mainstory with a thick and rough line. I use a brush and black ink. I really like to work the brush where you in one stroke can go from a thick to a thin line. But I can´t controll it 100 % so somtimes it goes the wrong way. But that´s also something i like. Sometimes things happens that I did not plan but I prefer to instead of undo ( I don´t do this digital ) I tries to make it work.  All these "mistakes" makes the image more alive I think.

lördag 28 september 2013

5. Where it all happens

Panel. In Swedish language
This story is happening in the north of Sweden. It´s winter. It´s cold, snowy and dark.

The idea is more that you shall feel the enviroment rather than understand it. I don´t draw so much details it´s more  roughed out so you understand if you are inside or outside.
By not being to detailed I hope the reader will create their own surroundings in their minds. Often used in theatre.

The most important place in this story is the bridge.  We will get back to this manys times in this blogg I think.

fredag 27 september 2013

4. The Characters

The Dad
This story has three maincharacters.
Then there are four more which has a bigger role to play. When designing a character you can keep on for many hours to find a good design, but somehow it´s not until you set him/her in action that you really get to know the character. It´s the same with all storytelling ( I think ).

When you are in the "real" story and situation you get to know that character and learn how  he/she should behave. It´s not so much about the shape of the nose it´s more to understand the personality.

Characters is what I like most to work with. To dive into the soul of a character and to find out who he or she is.

torsdag 26 september 2013

3. Words

I also write stories of my own for other project ( animation, comics, books ) but now the words where all there from the start.

First I had to do a very rough plan for the story to see how long it could be. I was aiming for not more than 150 pages.

And when you start to study the script closely and get involved in the characters these words become their voices. And through these words you get to know all the characters. The story has a character who never speaks but he is around.

And you also realize that sometimes you need to have pause ( silent panels ) between the dialogue. And you also have to find out why they say these words and what they are doing. And if the power of the words works best with a close upp image or if you can use an extrem overview.

I wanted every word to be important. If not I could remove it.

onsdag 25 september 2013

2. The Play

Rough sketch from the comic.
The Play by Henning Mankell was written over 20 years ago. Since I read it in a theatermagazine it has been in my mind. There was something there I wanted to take a closer look at.

It was much work to adapt the play to a graphic script. Much dialouge has to be removed but I never added any new dialogue. ( Well, maybe a few words in the end. )  I just did choose what to keep.

The dialogue in the comic needed to be limited to be able to make a good flow. And some words were made into action.

tisdag 24 september 2013

1.The Start

Today I start this blog about my work on a graphic novel. It´s a project that has been with me for many years but Ihave had problems in getting the time to finish it. Now is the time to do it.
The graphic novel is based on a play by Henning Mankell. The english title of the play is "Bridge to the Stars".  The Swedish title is "Sanningen om den Samvetslöse mördaren Hasse Karlsson".

The comic is planned to be about 150 pages and to be finished in summer 2014.
In this blog I will show you how I work and what happens with the book. If it finds a publisher etc.
I will do my best to upload content almost every day.

I hope you want to follow me on this journey.

/ Mattias Gordon