Lord Jeoffa Wants You! ... Join the winning side!

“A world of savagery… super-science… and sorcery…”

If anyone was a kid in the early 80’s they may recognize those words.  It was the opening to the old Thundarr the Barbarian cartoon.  I’ve often said that Bigfoot… was a hybrid of Conan and John Carter of Mars, but I can’t forget the other not so classic works of Thundarr, Yor, the Hunter from the Future and even a little old school Beastmaster.  It was looking to all of these influences that I went into this project with the goal of making a world to rival anything you would have found on TBS back in the day.

During the first arc, the “super-science” takes a backseat, but scattered throughout the world there are definitely elements present.  Most notably, these guys…

Introducing Lord Jeoffa’s foot soldiers (or “flying disc soldiers” as I presented them to Andy at the design phase.)  You really can’t have a savage world of hopeless odds if the villains don’t outnumber, outgun and simply outclass the heroes at every turn.  And when you have a legion of technologically advanced flying storm troopers (the Nazi type,) what can you do but cower in fear from the wrath above?  

Well, most people would cower in fear anyway...

Until next time!

Have a good one, 

Josh S. Henaman

More Ups, less downs... all things Wondercon

Well, Wondercon 2012 has ended and I’d have to say it was well worth the trip out to Anaheim. 

With a stack of business cards and a few copies of the book in hand, I hit the floor with two goals.  Try my hand at networking and gather some good old-fashioned reconnaissance. 

Before I get into the recon, I’d like to say the networking went rather well.  I met a few publishers, put the book in some hands and made contact with a few folks who will no doubt be a welcome source of information and inspiration as we move forward. 

As far as reconnaissance goes?  The future, my friends, is most decidedly digital.  No, I’m not saying I’ve given up the pursuit of print, I’m just saying that the buzz of the panels seemed to be all about digital and what it means for price ($.99 vs. $3.99), access (no more Wednesday-only releases) and the potential for new readers (did you see that kid with the new iPad?) 

For a little more on the potential for digital go and check out www.markwaid.com and download the free PDF for his short story “Luthor.”  If you’re curious, it simply shows you that a comic doesn’t have to be one page/several panels, but can literally unfold cinematically with all the tension and involvement of a great thriller (that’s not to say a print comic doesn’t, he’s just pointing out that digital comics aren’t bound by the old rules.)

So, when all is said and done, I came away with a few things. 

1) Sam Humphries is poised to rule the world (http://samhumphries.com/)

2) Chip Mosher is the go-to guy for all things digital (having sat through three panels he moderated, I’ve come to the conclusion that www.comixology.com is damned lucky to have him as their VP of Marketing and Business Development.)  http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/03/18/the-digital-comics-price-fight-chip-mosher-vs-mark-waid/

3) Christina Strain has put out a beautiful book titled The Fox Sister  (http://www.thefoxsister.com/news.php)

4) Steampunk is everywhere.

5) Other than one awesome Hulk photo, everything I photographed looked like garbage (blurred, too many bystanders and one dimly lit snapshot of what looks like the inside of my pocket.) 

So what’s on tap for the (near) future?  We’ll keep you posted!

In the meantime… Up next… Let’s get back to some character reveals!

Have a good one,

Josh S. Henaman

The Waiting Game

Updates, updates, who’s got updates?

Look no further. 

Well, that’s not entirely true.  We’re still in that holding pattern of having sent the book out to publishers, so there’s nothing new on that front.   

Ah, the waiting game. 

Yep, and if it’s anything I’m horrible at, it’s waiting around.  So in the meantime, I’ve been doing some research on the whole self-publishing idea.  Granted, there are a lot of factors that go into self-publishing your own comic and I quickly realized that I didn’t know squat.  

Thank God for the guys over at Comixtribe. 

These pros have been there and lucky for me, they documented everything.  If you have a moment, go and check out www.comixtribe.com.  More specifically, take some time out of your day and read up on “Bolts & Nuts” by Steven Forbes.  If you ever had a desire to educate yourself in the self-publishing world, then envelope yourself with the information these gents put together (and no, this isn’t some “Hey, check out their books!”  The information they put together truly is invaluable.  And yeah, check out their books if you want.) 

Right now, I’m on Week 49 of Steve’s posts (Financials!) and currently working up a long haul budget that’ll take me up to issue #4, so it’s back to plotting, planning, and with any luck… no procrastinating. 

Oh, and I sent the script to issue #2 to Andy, just so he could get a feel for it and his response?

“Wow, that’s a lot of action.”

And when your main character is a sasquatch… that can only be a good thing. 

Until next time…

Have a good one,

Josh S. Henaman

Who's Who... Part III

Time again for another character reveal…  Or in this case, not so much as a character, but an entire race.

What we have here... is an Avianna.

While only briefly seen in the first issue, the race of Aviannas plays a big part in issues five and six… and beyond. 

Hunted and sold as “entertainment”, an Avianna, with its bright plumage and docile nature, is as frequent a sight within a slave labor camp as a vendor hocking his latest illicit wares.

Out in the wild, they’re a little harder to locate.  Found primarily within the Turonian jungle, the Aviannas can often enjoy a long life of play and communal living… that is, until the poachers arrive.

Equal parts dove, parrot and geisha, the design of the Avianna race was handed over to Andy with only one caveat... "Please don't give them any weird, backwards harpy bird legs."

Oh, and as a fun little tease, the chapter in which the Aviannas play a big part?  It’s called… “Black Market Death in the Jungles of Turonia”…

Until next time…

Have a good one,

Josh "Bird Legs" Henaman

The Science of Bigfoot

This week we thought we’d give you a little insight into Andy’s artistic process, his tools of choice and more specifically, his breakdown of Page 2.

So why Page 2?  Take it away, Andy...

 =================================

“Page two was the very first page I did for this issue. It seemed like the best opportunity for me to get comfortable with the character. On my second or third time reading the script, I write little notes to myself for each page and panel describing what I feel are the key aspects. So this page read something like: Splash. Bigfoot-sitting-armor-old/tired (I do this because if a script is super detailed, I could get intimidated and possibly confused. In the end, I'm not leaving any of the writer's direction out, I'm just creating a shorthand for it). 

At this stage, I'm also looking for any sequence that jumps out at me for any reason at all. And the first three pages seemed like a fun way to get started. 

LAYOUT:

Bigfoot: SOTE was the last assignment where I did all the work without digital assistance. Now I do everything but the inks digitally. The layout phase was usually done in a sketchbook or on a scrap of paper and with whatever pen or pencil I had on hand. 

At this stage I'm having fun and trying to work as quickly as possible. Just so I don't find myself picking away at something that doesn't matter yet.  

Since this page is of Bigfoot sitting on a rock, stargazing, I was able to knock it out pretty fast.

PENCILS: 

Once the layout is approved, I use the fancy printer I stole from my mother and print the image out on 11x17 inch, 3-ply, smooth bristol board. I like the smooth board simply because of the way the pencil feels on it and the style I use to ink my own pencil work.  I use non-repro blue pencil solely due to the fact that I won't have to erase anything when I'm done. 

My main focus is to have fun or at least give the illusion that I had fun. That's what I've noticed about the artists I admire most. There is no way for me to know whether or not they had fun, but their work always feels like they had fun. With this page, I had a lot of fun and finished it pretty quickly.

INKS:

Undoubtedly my favorite part of the process is inking. I have no reasoning why, it's just the most fun for me. Everything is laying there on the page and all I have to do is figure out how I want to finish it. 

I loved using a No. 3 Raphael brush and various nibs, but unfortunately I'm so clumsy that I always found a way knock over my ink bottle and ruin pages, clothes and carpets. So now I almost exclusively use a Kuretake No. 55 Double Sided Brush Pen (Hard and Soft). I like it because the brush end is rubber-like and never loses its point. It's also super flexible, so you can get a significant line variation from it. And the hard side can fit all of your crow quill needs. One hundred per cent of this page was inked with that pen.

COLORS: 

Tom [our colorist] is good at everything. We went to The Kubert School together and I became a big fan of his immediately. So when I got this job, his was one of the names I mentioned right away. He's someone that I knew would make me look better than I am and I'd probably learn a lot from. I never had many notes for him and was impressed with everything he did for this book."

========================

Excellent!  Thanks for the insight, Andy!  Down the road, we'll talk to Tom and get a feel for what it takes to make a page snap!

Until next time... 

Have a good one,

Josh "Stuck with his Stick Figures" Henaman

Who's Who... Bring on the Bad Guys

Not to be dismissive...  but if your hero is a certain sword-wielding Sasquatch, then you better be damn sure his rogues gallery is up for the challenge. 

Enter the fiery-skinned, horned daemon of the desert…  Korovan Muspin. 

Standing a good foot taller than Bigfoot’s already massive 7-foot frame, Korovan is a former warlord of the scattered tribes and now serves the great Lord Jeoffa, enemy of the Children of the Blue.

Intelligent, ruthless and ferociously unforgiving, Korovan is more than the muscle.  He is Lord Jeoffa’s will incarnate. 

No wonder his weapon of choice is a warhammer… all the better to bludgeon our heroes into submission. 

And we haven’t even gotten around to introducing Lord Jeoffa…

Until next time...

Josh S. Henaman

Format?! We don't need no stinkin' format!

Well, we do actually. 

Since we’ve already seen the first three pages of finished artwork over on the Facebook page, we thought it would be cool to share how it looked on the written page. 

Before we get started, we just want to point out that what you are about to see is what Andy works with when the script is handed to him.  Sometimes he'll get a photo reference and sometimes a lengthy follow-up email with some additional thoughts.  Mostly, he'll get the following and blaze a trail from there.  

Page 1:  

You'll notice that there really is no dialogue.  Only sound effects.  However, even without anyone speaking it rambled on for a page and a half.  

So let's take a look at it with artwork!

Page 2:  

Before you scroll down to the image after the following text, take a moment and read the words on the page.    

A pretty straightforward page, no?  

This is what Andy came up with...

The tag team of Andy with the colors of Tom make this piece one for the wall!  One of these days we'll have to get an in-depth analysis on their process. 

Page 3:  

This one rounds out the preview.  

And voila!

There you have it.  Battle-scarred, weary and with a little bit of desolate loneliness thrown in for good measure.  It was all written out, but it needed some great craftsmanship to bring it to life.  

Until next time...

Have a good one!

Josh S. Henaman