Finally! Meccanica #16!

Sorry for the delay, guys. School's been ridiculous. Anyway, without any further ado...



So I've been really experimenting the last couple of pages with treating each character's experience as both a unique segment of the story and as part of the whole. Does that sound pretentious and nonsensical? Here, let me try and make it easier to understand.



So back in the summer, I found the full run of Osamu Tezuka's Phoenix in Japanese at a university library. I love love love Tezuka - without him, manga basically wouldn't exist (I got a book of essays about him for Christmas!). Phoenix is probably his most ambitious and experimental work, and he did all kinds of crazy stuff with the comics medium.



One of my favorite stories from the collection is about four astronauts who have to escape their ship in four separate pods. Tezuka treats each of their individual stories in their own column, which join into larger panels when they bump back into each other. Probably the most daring thing he did was have pages with rows of nothing but black squares, indicating that the character had fallen asleep or, chillingly, had died.



Now, since I only have a page a week for Meccanica, I had to economize if I was going to do anything like this. So I divided this week's comic into rows, with each row representing a short period of time. Everything in one row happens in that one space of time. I also wanted the kids to progress from being alone - seeing as they've been a little testy in the last few pages to sharing a few panels together.



Did I kill the magic? The comics magic? Ehn, whatever. I had fun.

You're like see-though

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The State of Music 2010, Global Edition!

I find a lot of interesting music thanks to the internet. In the last month, I've obtained, in no particular order, Shirley Walker's orchestral soundtrack from the nineties Batman cartoon (there you go), a mashup of the Flaming Lips and Public Enemy (you're welcome), and background music from some of the World of Tomorrow ride at EPCOT (hee hee!). But aside from old remixes and uncovered gems, I get to listen to a bunch of insane stuff, most from just last year. And from all over the world, too! So without further ado, I present the State Of Music 2010 Link-Dump, Global Edition.

First off, South Africa! The three white redneck kids in Die Antwoord have perfected "rave-rap." Pay close attention to 1:12-1:16.



Korea! Apparently supergroups Big Bang and 2NE1 live in the Speed Racer movie.



France! Diam's is probably one of the most successful emcees in Gaul, and apparently, she's a lady and Muslim! Stop the presses! French rappers do seem to have a thing for deep, introspective, politically aware lyrics, though.



And now, back to America, where David Byrne collabs with a guy from Blackalicious! I don't know why most of these seem to skew towards hip hop - these all just seem so fun and different. A white girl needs a break from her David Brubeck and her Danny Elfman, you know? (Ah, what the hell.)



If you like my garden, you might like me

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I drawed a Lady Gaga!

Pop culture news comes a little slow here on this side of the Atlantic, so I'm only just catching up with all of the Grammy's hullabaloo. Honestly, I don't care all that much, except for two things. One, Pink's awesome Cirque de Soleil routine. Two, Lady Gaga.



I started off pretty indifferent towards Lady Gaga, what with the constant inundation of puh-puh-puh-Poker Face from seemingly everywhere, but in the span of only a few months I've just become fascinated by her. I think the outfits are a definite part of the equation, like the one on Sunday with a Jetsony dress and a head of banana yellow hair that was actually a hood ZOMG! and so is the weirdness. Now I get why Madonna was such a big deal. People love talented weirdos.
But she apparently loves her fans, and doing a good show. Just about all of her share of the funds goes to making outfits, many of which she designs herself. After seeing that Youtube video of her rocking out with Elton John on a piano covered with hands, I decided that I can't possibly hate this woman. So I drew her.



Sure, her outfit looks like it's made of mint chip ice cream, but I did this in, like, an hour. Someone needs to make a kid's movie one of these days and cast Gaga as a Monster Queen (a title I would consider fairly equivalent to Goblin King). Seems like a fitting career move for someone who wears brassieres made of disco balls and glasses made of razor blades. Think about, 'kay?

I want your horror, I want your design

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Meccanica Page 15!

Gasp! And in rushes the unceasing tide of plot! Life after the cliffhanger continues next week, as always.

I did a cool little side project this weekend, too, but I think I'll wait until later this week to spring it. Nothing crazy and not Meccanica-related - just for fun.

By the way, it's February! When did that happen? I gotta get started on all of those art contests with upcoming deadlines! In the meantime, watch the top 25 songs of 2009 mashed together into one megaballad.



Feeling down down down

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Meccanica #14!

Had to get this one done a little early, so here you go!



Not much happening around here - just getting used to another semester of school. Maybe next time I'll put up something cool.
Oh, wait. You guys haven't seen this, have you?



Love love love Pogo. Watch all of his stuff if you can.

And you thank your lucky stars.

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The Bard and the King - Kirby-designed costumes for Julius Caesar

The Kirby Museum - as in Jack Kirby, co-creator of half of Marvel's superhero roster - just posted images of costume designs Kirby did for a 1969 production of Julius Caesar at UC Santa Cruz (Go Banana Slugs!) In other news, there is a Kirby Museum, and I shall have to investigate this immediately.
But first things first.











Oh my god. 2010 is already wonderful! And what's more, they look so... timeless. I've seen enough period pieces to realize that the design of the film, especially the costumes, are never fully separated from the sensibilities of the time it was done. Chances are if a Shakespeare play was done in the 1960s, the costumes would give it away almost instantly.







But really, other than the palettes on a few of the costumes, I don't think you could temporally pin Kirby's design down so easily. And I've really never seen any designs quite like his. Kirby's most famous designs are famous because they're iconic - the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Captain America - but starting in the 1960s, his genius and ambition shot through the roof.



I think I might have to do a future post just about his sense of design circa-Fourth World, because it's somehow ahead of its time and yet impossible to imagine it without everything that came before it.



The accompanying photo does show something interesting though - in Kirby's designs, it's the regal, titanic people in the sketches that are just as important as the costumes designed for them. As awesome an assignment this must have been for him, his clothes never really seemed appropriate for anything less than superbeings. Which is a shame - but such is life, I guess.
Looking at these designs makes me think of all the other cartoonists who ought to be known for their unique sense of design alongside their storytelling skill. Maybe Moebius? Toriyama? We'll see.

I'm singin' 'bout a king

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New Meccanica for 2010!

Woo! New comics for all!



Sorry for the dry spell there, but there really wasn't much to update. I was working, but not on anything public yet. You'll hear more about it eventually though. In the meantime, we have Meccanica #13, the first for 2010! It's in a slightly different size, which'll mean less of a headache for the inevitable print version. I'm very excited about the story I've got coming up, though, so stay tuned!

When all will be revealed

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Happy Holidays! More Meccanica-related goodness.

Sorry for the silence around here, I was busy enjoying my time off. Here's a little something to tide you over for now, though.





They're tidings of things to come in terms of the Meccanica compilation I'm putting together. Hopefully it'll look rad when I'm done.
Okay, back to eating some Christmas Eve ham and finishing Arkham Asylum (what a great game!) Have a safe and happy holiday, and I'll see you again before the decade's out!

This can be the laziest, this can be the Swayze-est

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Just kidding! Meccanica Page 12!

Okay guys, never mind. I got the chance to do one more comic to run during our finals week, so I made Meccanica number 12 earlier than expected. Let's see what the menfolk are up to...



And while we're at it, here's something cool I found a little while ago. I tend to collect different art styles from various places online, from Slovakian book covers to Andes pottery, just for reference. Not long ago, I had been researching recent DS games (for Christmas presents, let's be honest), and I came across the recent slew of Final Fantasy releases. One of them, War of the Lions caught my eye, if only for the ridiculously gorgeous character designs by Akihiko Yoshida, which I later discovered were probably recycled from the original Tactics.
Check some of these out!













I got these guys, and all of the other designs showing off the game's job system (they're all great, really) from the game's original website, since I figured it wouldn't be up forever. I ought to show you some of the other stuff I've collected over the past few years - it's a pretty sweet collection!

I know what to show

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Last Meccanica page of the year! (probably). Also, more girls!

And here it is, the last Meccanica page for the paper this year. But don't fear! Meccanica will start afresh in January, and I'll still have plenty of updates in the meantime!
Like the below, for example. Kinda dropped the ball on the "once a day" concept, seeing as my last submissions were on Halloween. But only one thing can truly bridge the gap between the magic of Halloween and Christmas, and that's Tim Burton's filmography!



For your enjoyment, Lydia, Sally, and Emily. Lydia was also my Halloween costume this year, which was fun considering I'd been coveting Lydia's spiderweb poncho since I was five. But it was sad seeing exactly no one recognize its origin. People took me for Spiderwoman or a pumpkin. Feh! Is there no love for offbeat eighties dark comedies anymore?

Oh well, now that it's the season, time to work on Christmasy things!

Still chewing on a red rose

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Double Digits Time! Meccanica Number 10!

My little comic's all grown up - it's in the double digits now. And this is also probably the second-to-last one of the year... though I'll try to keep uploading a bunch of Meccanica-related goodies over the winter.

In other news, I have a favorite new music video, and OH MY GOD.



Tom Waits and Kool Keith, brought to you by the N.A.S.A. music project, and animated by Montreal studio Fluorescent Hill. Hot damn. I don't listen to Tom Waits much, but now I know exactly what they mean when they say he sounds like his voice was soaked in bourbon. I'm'na have to see what this new CD of theirs is all about - I've heard one other song off it, a crazy earworm featuring M.I.A found here. Looks promising.

I'll meet you down at the well.

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Meccanica, Numbah Nine!

And, voilà, page nine! Buckle yourselves, people, because next week it'll start getting a little weird.

I thought this week it might be a good idea to talk about how I put a page together. I start drawing the page on 11 by 14 inch Bristol board - the final page gets shrunken down pretty significantly to fit in the newspaper. I plot out the panels and gutters, and then get to work on the initial pencil with my trusty blue art pencil! I have no idea where I heard about this first, but drawing in blue is awesome if you scan your work and modify it digitally, because it's easier to blast out a crazy color like blue.
So when I apply the inks, the raw page looks like this:


If you look carefully in the bottom left corner of the panel, you can see some black "X"es showing through the ink wash. That's a note for me to completely fill that area in black. As a raw scan, though, it looks a little washed out. Let's fix that!


Every change in this panel was made in Photoshop. By adjusting the color levels and blasting out the blue (as well as any yellow from the paper), it's easier to select areas in the image as a pure black and white picture. That font is based on my handwriting, and I made it a year or so ago using an online service that is sadly no longer free. This is the first time I've used it on such a big project.


That's it! The final page ranks up at about 600 dpi. After the page is done, I create two different sizes and resolutions - a small one for the newspaper editor to use, and an even smaller, web-friendly size for the blog! And then the page is good to go!

She's a kind of friend indeed

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Italian Scrooge McDuck comics! Yes, really!

Today I want to share something very special with you. Very special indeed. While traversing a downtown market last weekend, I came across a table of pop culture ephemera - movie posters, German VHS tapes, and best of all, Italian Scrooge McDuck comics.
Let me repeat that for you. Italian Scrooge McDuck comics.
If you've never set foot in a European grocery store, allow me to elaborate. Disney comics arrived in the 1950s and they never left. You can still buy little comic digests of Mickey Mouse (Topolino) and Donald Duck (Paperlino) in the supermarket. When Carl Barks, the father of all things Donald, passed away nine years ago, all of Europe mourned.
Anyway, some Swiss kid (man?) in the seventies diligently clipped out these comics and bound them into shiny seventies-style book covers.



It looks like a Christmas present, and it is. A present from God. Check this out awesomesauce after the jump.

Okay, first of all, you may have noticed that this volume specializes on Scrooge McDuck, aka Zio Paperone, and his rival, the almost as filthy rich Rockerduck! This is not a weird Italian name, as I initially suspected. There is actually a character named John D. Rockerduck. Hell yes.



In terms of art quality, the contents of this tome can be hit or miss. I've scanned pages from the two stories I thought looked the best, and are probably by the same guy. This artist's name is probably lost to the ages, seeing as it's Disney's name that appears at the beginning of every story. I'll do some research, though - see who was drawing Paperone comics in Italy in 1975.



My Italian's still subpar, but I gather that Scrooge invites his nephews for a ride on his new ship, which is taking a voyage dragging some floating bag (of what? I haven't gathered) behind it.



Rockerduck wants to sabotage the voyage, so he sends the vaguely humanoid Beagle Boys (aka Banda Bassotti) in a tiny sub to follow them.



The Beagle Boys' expressions are pretty hysterical. And the lines are so sharp and well defined!



And look at the way Scrooge's boat is given some definition from a distance. I totally want to steal this guy's inking techniques!



Look how epic Huey/Dewey/Louie looks in panel four on the right page! "There's a red thingie heading towards the green thingie. I think we're the green thingie!" < / Galaxy Quest>



The guy's expression in the top right corner just makes my life.



Again with the epic backgrounds! Don't you realize you're drawing a children's comic, good sir?



Okay, ignore the somewhat questionable Eskimo stereotype for a second. It's 1970s Italy after all. The story actually get interesting here. After the Beagle Boys accidentally sink Scrooge's ship and they're left floating on that bag thing in the middle of the Artic Ocean, they wake up as they're saved by an Eskimo who warms his igloo with blocks of ice that can mysteriously catch fire. Turns out there's a nearby glacier made entirely of frozen petroleum! So that's what caused peak oil!



We now move onto the next story, with some pretty amazing "Did I tell you I love money?" faces on Scrooge there. The story's about, like, a water shortage? And another competition between Scrooge and Rockerduck to race to the Arctic, for real ice this time.



Another epic shot of one of the nephews at the montors - judging by the red parka, this must be Huey.



The solution to transporting all that ice back to Duckopolis (or wherever the hell they live?) Balloons. Of course! I love how they slurged on some paint-like shading on those icebergs in an otherwise standard four-color comic.



When they hit a rainstorm, the ducks camp under the icebergs - but discover the "rainstorm" is just the ice melting in the desert sun. Okay, here's why I love cartoon logic. Not only can a huge freaking glacier be buoyed by a hot air ballon, not only can it release enough water to be mistaken for a Class 5 tropical storm, BUT! The trail of water they leave behind makes a little path of verdant greenery in the desert. If only, comics. If only.



And finally, explosions! Who doesn't love explosions?



Face it, people, these comics are rad. I love them so much. Can't these be translated to English? America friggin' invented the magic kingdom, and as far as comics go these are pretty magical.

Tales of derring-do, bad and good luck tales (ooh-ooh!)

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Behold... Meccanica Page Eight!

And with that, we're up to page eight. How time flies.
Here's a fun thing Boingboing graciously directed me towards. Someone compiled a bunch of folksy covers of classic punk songs. If a Clash song covered by the Indigo Girls doesn't sound like something you'd be interested in, think again. There's some really original takes on songs you thought had been sung to death - I didn't even recognize "I Wanna Be Sedated."

Can't control my fingers, can't control my toes

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Meccanica, PAGE SEBBEN, y'all!

God, drawing Maimuna and Floor together is so much fun!

Spent the weekend working on various commissions and rewatching Death Note, which you may recall me gushing over more than two years ago. Good stuff. Goooooood stuff. If you have the time, go to Youtube and find the episodes - they're all there.
Speaking of which, I've also really gotten into a new series by the Death Note guys, called Bakuman, a manga about two kids who want to... create a manga. It's totally different, but still really entertaining. It's got a lot of inside knowledge about the brutal world of "getting big" with manga, but also pokes fun at the clash between following your dreams and "being realistic."



Good stuff all around. See you next week!

And if you should survive to a hundred and five

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