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.
French 7XT – Page Two
Written on April 22, 2010 at 4:59 am, by admin
Here’s the second page of Seven Extraordinary Things, in it’s original format…
…but not it’s original language.
As before, anyone who finds mistakes in my French, please point them out to me.
French 7XT – Page One
Written on April 15, 2010 at 5:21 am, by admin
Pour mes amis français.
Here you can see how the story was orginally laid out for the printed page.
Since French is not my primary language, I welcome any comments or suggestions on the translations. Praise and encouragement is also welcome.
Merci.
My Process of Complication
Written on April 12, 2010 at 6:41 am, by admin
When I started Seven Extraordinary Things I told myself to establish a style of drawing and inking that was simple and quick to execute.
With that in mind I kept my initial drawings uncluttered…
…my first ink lines were clean…
…and unadventurous. So far so good.
I added blacks to separate foreground from background…
…and thought, “It might be nice to cut some detail into the black areas with an erasure tool”…
…Hmmm. That’s fun. Sorta like scratchboard. Now maybe I’ll add a bit of local texture and some shading on the figures…
…ah, what the hell? May as well put some shading in the background.
Now I’ve managed to complicate it. This work flow quickly led me to creating panels like this:
I remember hearing someone say it takes two people to paint a picture: the artist holding the paint brush, and someone standing next to him with a stick to make him stop when the painting was finished.
Chapter Four of 7XT
Written on April 8, 2010 at 4:32 am, by admin
Today I begin posting Chapter Four of Seven Extraordinary Things. Greg’s personal relationships evolve. Complications and reversals lie ahead, as well as a little sex and violence.
Thanks for reading.
Clickable Content
Written on February 16, 2010 at 8:29 am, by admin
In the Chapter section we’ve added the feature where you can click the image you are viewing to advance it to the next image. Hopefully this will make reading experience more enjoyable.
I would like to thank Anna Zschokke from Vienna for emailing me this suggestion.
You can still move through the panels by using the navigational controls (below the image), the page buttons (above the image), or the thumbnails (at the bottom).
Chapter 3 of 7XT
Written on February 11, 2010 at 7:28 am, by admin
Chapters One and Two are complete. On behalf of the entire staff of sevenextraordinarythings.com (both of us) I would like to thank everyone who has visited the site so far, and especially those who are following the story.
As we get into Chapter Three I encourage people to send in their comments, questions and observations. They can be written on our Facebook wall, posted in the Journal section or emailed to me directly here. These would be helpful as we continue to revamp the site, and as I labor to complete a new visual narrative to follow this one.
Cheers,
Doug Lefler
