April 26, 2010
Written on April 26, 2010 at 7:46 am, by admin
This morning I’ll address a few questions and comments.
I’ve had requests to add a forum to the site. It’s in the works now, but I’m installing it with trepidation. When I was single, working at Disney and living in an apartment I was rarely home. I decided to purchase an answering machine so that all of those people who wanted to get in touch with me had a way of doing so (this was the dark ages before mobile phones). After installing the device I looked forward to returning home and seeing the red light flash. It was two weeks before this event occurred, and the message left was for John Musker, who had been my roommate but got married and moved out two years before. I cursed this damn machine. Better to fantasize that people wanted to get in touch with me than know with certainty that no one did. Putting a message board on your site is like installing an answering machine that no one may want to call.
My earlier post Favorite Drawing Books sparked debate on the merits of Burne Hogarth’s Dynamic Figure Drawing. When I first showed this book to my High School art teacher she looked at me sideways and said: “You do realize there are no human beings on the planet who actually look like this?” I replied that the same could be said for the figures in Bridgman’s The Complete Guide to Drawing from Life. Her response was: “Yes, but Bridgman is good!” Still, I learned a lot from Hogarth and refuse to take his book off my shelf.
I got an email asking if there was a reason why Claire (in Seven Extraordinary Things) always wears polka dots. The answer is it started as a visual signature. We first meet Claire when she is eleven, and don’t see her again until she’s all grown up. Polka dots and dark curly hair were my way of creating continuity. As the story progressed I found I had a lot of affection for the character and decided she was worth the extra trouble of drawing a pattern on her clothes.
I’ve received inquiries from people who want to know how to sell their film ideas to Hollywood. My short answer is “don’t”. Develop your idea into a complete story first, with a beginning, middle and end, and characters that have first and last names. But this topic is probably worthy of a separate post, and if there is enough interest I’ll share my thoughts and experiences on the subject.
Rough Sketches and Rehearsals
Written on February 22, 2010 at 12:36 pm, by admin
I once had a conversation with a director who just completed a frustrating day on the set. A young actress he was working with had delivered a heart-wrenching performance in a scene where she watched her father die. Unfortunately she did this during the rehearsal and was never able to recapture the moment when filming began.
“It was stupid of me to let that happen,” the director said. “Rehearsals are not performances!”
On set in a Slovakian castle
It was a lesson I took to heart when I started directing.
It’s also one I think about frequently when I’m at the drawing board. I’m fascinated by parallelism in art; how principals from one discipline can be applied to another. For instance, if your intention is to create inked drawings, then the inks are the performance and the roughs are the rehearsals. Artists have different opinions on how tight they should make their roughs before the finishing work begins. If someone else is inking your pencil drawings then the answer is usually “pretty damn tight”. Even if you’re inking your own work, a lot of professionals feel it best to leave nothing to chance. Others think you can save valuable time by doing the cleanup work last. But the most compelling argument to me is that by leaving something to be discovered in the inking stage, your line can have more vitality. The ink line is the version of your work most people are going to see. It’s essentially the same as saving the performance for when the cameras are rolling.
How much work should you put into a rough sketch, or a rehearsal? The answer to both questions is relative to your level of experience. In the above mentioned example of the frustrated director, the actress he was working with was talented, but hadn’t done a lot of professional work. I believe she was anxious to show she could deliver the emotion. And she did. But only the people on set that day got the benefit of witnessing it. She learned from this incident (I directed her many times in the years that followed and never saw her make the same mistake again).
Seven Extraordinary Things was my first graphic novel (although I’ve been drawing professionally for decades) and I wasn’t confident about inking. I tended to refine the drawing before I committed to the final line.
Oddly enough, I didn’t refine the shading. Most of the black and white contrast in the panels came as a surprise to me. It had been my intention to keep the inking simple. I didn’t succeed.
The objectives for sketches and rehearsals are exploration and structure.
Rehearsing a scene with Colin Firth and Aishwarya Rai
When working with actors you spend time exploring possibilities. What might the character have been doing before the scene began? What if this sequence was about revenge? Maybe these two characters had been sweethearts in grade school. You discuss options and opportunities with your cast before, during and after the time you work on the staging. I find I get the best results when I give actors precise blocking (enter on this word, turn to face her at the end of this sentence, leave the room as soon as he starts to reply) but with the disclaimer that it is only a starting point. In most cases this kind of dictatorial staging frees actors from the mechanics of a scene and allows them to concentrate on their performances, but it works best when your cast knows you’ll be flexible and not force them into something that feels awkward.
With drawing you want to explore poses and compositional placement. You can try drawing an arm in three different positions to see which one feels strongest. The structure are the things like perspective, anatomy, the folds in clothing, and those difficult ellipses that will make that coffee cup look like it’s sitting on the kitchen table. Work out all of the mechanics, but leave a little to be discovered in the final stages, so finished art looks both spontaneous and solid.
An actor came to me right before we were going to shoot a scene where he had been captured by three beautiful female spies (it was that kind of a show). “Do you think I’ve slept with any of them?” he asked.
“Every one,” I replied.
He nodded and stepped in front of the camera.
Revealing Characters through Dramatic Situations
Written on February 8, 2010 at 7:04 am, by admin
I got this responses to “The Rat-Catcher’s Son” from my friend Josh Becker:
I want to know what happens next? I think Bartholomew went out to his horse to get his sword and is coming back for Tom, whom he knows put the rat down his shirt. Now, what will Tom do when he’s confronted by the greatest swordsman in the realm (I just assume he is)? What will Sarah do? Which brings us around to another lesson in character development. What if previous to this incident we learned that Tom doesn’t feel worthy of Sarah’s love because A. he’s the rat-catcher’s son, and B. he doubts his own manhood (rats scare him; girls scare him; everything scares him). Now, Bartholomew returns with his sword, points it at Tom and states, “I’m going to kill you!” OK, who is Tom really? Is he a man or is he a mouse (or a rat, as the case may be)? An interesting character not only does interesting things, but when they’re put into a dramatic situation they reveal themselves.
Josh and I worked together in New Zealand, directing episodes of Hercules and of Xena. More about him at www.beckerfilms.com.
The Rat-Catcher’s Son
Written on February 1, 2010 at 6:43 am, by admin
Click here to return to the Home Page of this site, where new panels of Seven Extraordinary Things are posted daily. New readers to my online graphic novel can begin here.
Do Not Create Characters That Are Interesting
Written on January 29, 2010 at 12:32 pm, by admin
This sounds like heresy. Why wouldn’t you want to create characters that are interesting? Isn’t that the point?
When I began writing my process was simple. I put a sheet of paper into a typewriter (yes, a typewriter) and commenced writing. I created an adventure where people said things, did things, and stuff happened to them. When I finished that first story I gave it to a friend. “Hmmmm,” he said. “Needs better characters.”
I hunted down books on writing. One of them was the excellent Art of Dramatic Writing, by Lajos Egri. I read it cover to cover. I dutifully created back stories for the players in my drama, filling their lives with complications and tragedies. I defined their desires, their fears and their fatal flaws. With all of this in mind, I returned to my typewriter. It came as a bitter disappointment to find none of it made my story better. None of it even made my characters more interesting. Where did I go wrong? Had Lajos Egri lied to me? Was there some concept I missed?
Yes. A ridiculously simple concept. To explain what it is I’ve drawn a short visual narrative called “The Rat-Catcher’s Son”, which I will be posting Monday, February 1st, sometime in the morning (PST).
Character Design – Using Reference
Written on January 20, 2010 at 12:07 pm, by admin
When designing human characters, or primarily human characters, it is often useful to base their appearance on a specific individual. This can either be someone you know, or someone you know of. One great advantages of drawing an original story is that you can cast anyone, famous or obscure, living or dead, in any part you choose. However it’s a good idea to avoid outright portraiture, or caricature unless your intention is to let the reader know who the character is based on. I get around this problem in a clever way. I can’t draw likenesses well. Never have been good at it. Still, having someone in mind for a character makes you draw them in a specific way. Being specific is always a good thing.
When picking people to base your characters on (we’re only talking about physical appearance at this point) it’s good to keep the concept of unexpected juxtaposition in mind. Using Buddy Hacket as a model for a professional assassin would be a more interesting choice than using Max Von Sydow. In film and theatre we call this casting against type. It’s an idea everyone in Hollywood is familiar with, but few are willing to practice.
I’m reluctant to offer my own work as examples (there are other people who design characters better than I do), but my work is handy and I don’t have to get permission to use it. Alfred Hitchcock as the inspiration for this hunter –
In Seven Extraordinary Things I based the character of Ken Ryan Smith on Ray Bradbury. When I was the age of the protagonist I was lucky enough to know the famous science fiction author. Maybe “lucky” isn’t the right word; it took detective work at the local library to find his office address, a carefully written letter and a detailed drawing of a triceratops to get a reply from Ray. The inspiration I got as a result of our association was worth the effort. I may not have learned anything about drawing from him, but I learned about writing and creativity.
Unexpected Juxtaposition – Part One
Written on January 7, 2010 at 5:52 am, by admin
One way to create a memorable title is by placing two opposing concepts next to each other.
Slum Dog Millionaire
The Accidental Tourist
The Blackboard Jungle
The Grapes of Wrath
It’s not the only way to create a title, but it is a good way.
The concept of unexpected juxtaposition is applicable to many facets of art and literature. In writing (with words) it often takes the form of a metaphor; a figure of speech in which two unlike objects are implicitly compared without using “like” or “as”. Some examples are “Time is a thief” and “All the world’s a stage”. Metaphors can also make effective titles.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
A simile compares unlike objects, but it does use “like” or “as”. “Blind as a bat”, “run like the wind” (both of these are clichés; don’t used them in your writing).
Unexpected juxtaposition can be used effectively in both designing and developing characters. Take two or more disparate elements and combine them in an unexpected way.
It is a way of developing characters. Not the only way.
It can also be applied to the development of a character’s personality. Unexpected juxtaposition can result in “quirks” (such as a private investigator that knits in his spare time) or something more deeply rooted in the character’s nature (a concert pianist who is a serial killer or a curmudgeon who writes romance novels). As with a good metaphor, the objective is not to combine elements that don’t fit together, but that fit together in a surprising, yet ultimately truthful way.
Unexpected juxtaposition is a useful tool in the design and development of characters for your stories, but there are many others.
