Fred Lang's Art Thread Options

[Fred Lang]

Thanks again, all!

Went to the doctor and got some good medicine--should be back at the drawing board tomorrow for Bounty Hunter PAGE 3!

[MasonEasley]

Hope you feel better Fred. Keep up the good work.

[Fred Lang]

Alrighty--back from the dead. I decided to thumb out the entire remainder of the script--Pages 3, 4, 5 and the optional 6th page. Remember, these are thumbs, and if a leg is out of place, it's just a placeholder for a much better leg...in theory. *haha*

Notes for each thumb page, and explanations for changes I made occur just above the page I'm referencing. Onward:

PAGE 3

Panels 1, 2, 3 and 4 are as described in the script. I changed what Panel 5 calls for by splitting into an action/reaction pair of panels. Door pops open in Panel 4, N'Cur walks into the structure in Panel 5 (I imagine him muttering, "No time to kill you--this is my stop", or something equally witty). I did this to set up the detailed interior at the beginning of the next page as a satisfactory reason for the reader to turn the page to Page 4. I hope that having N'Cur walk literally off the page (and to the next one) into a mysterious dark interior was a good way to get that page turned...



PAGE 4

Panel 1 got a slight tilt for dramatic effect as N'Cur is visually "sucked into" the panel, striding angrily toward Tal, underworld bad guy who owns the bar. Tal is listed in this thumb as "#2", and is seated on a tacky throne, surrounded by bikini alien babes and bodyguards. Panel 2 is a nice establishing close-up of Tal, who will be wearing a sort of "Mudd's Women" outfit-cravat, collar, and fluffy cuffs, etc...oh, and for kicks I'll be adding a mech/prosthetic eye/face/forehead plate. Panels 3, 4 and 5 get the holographic imager from N'Cur's hands to Tal's hands without the use of speed lines, which I personally avoid whenever possible. So I broke it down into 3: N'Cur tosses some kind of device, 4: Close-up on device so that the reader can really see what it looks like, and 5: Into Tal's hands with the overhand catch and annoyed look in the same panel, because I figured that Tal would be a little irritated at having something just thrown at him. Panel 6 is Tal looking smug while looking at the holo-image of the girl N'Cur is here to save. For Panel 7, I didn't show Tal snapping his fingers to order the displays to light up, figuring that this shot of N'Cur surrounded by the displays would be enough. I think the reader would probably understand that Tal ordered the displays to change without giving the order its own panel.



PAGE 5

This one is my favorite page so far. Panel 1: Tal gloating. Panel 2: N'Cur activating...something. Grimly. Panel 3: A cute little "PING" noise as the holo-image of the pretty girl turns into a cute little skull-and-crossbones icon--and Tal's reaction, compared to his face in Panel 1--priceless. I intentionally made each panel the same size, flipping the view between Tal to N'Cur and back to Tal again--*bump* *bump* *bump*, if you will--to set up for the BOOMSH! of the little thermite bomb in panel 4. Because I've already established N'Cur as being on the "left" of the scene and Tal on the "right", I have to keep that the same through this entire set, so having Tal on the right of his panels and N'Cur on the left of his--in my mind--keeps them in their places within the scene. That *bump* *bump* *bump* pacing just kills me. I grin a little every time I look at this one. Panel 4: BOOMSH! The thermite grenade/holo-emitter goes off, blowing charred bits of who and whatever was around it onto the ground in little sputtery bits. N'Cur blasts backward with a quick burst from his jets, flipping backward. I chose a straight side view because SO much was happening here, and I needed to re-establish where everyone was so that the fight can happen clearly in the reader's mind as the story moves on. Panel 5: N'Cur lands. Some of the crowd in the background are readying to fire, some are putting themselves out, some are panicking. Heh.



PAGE 6 (Optional)

I couldn't resist a splash panel of N'Cur finally letting loose with that gun he's been carrying on his back for the last five pages. I'll probably tweak his body so that he more dynamically fills the space, adding lots of aliens / victims / thugs / laser blasts / explosions all around him--note the rough compositional lines I've added all around--those will be filled in with real elements that will keep N'Cur framed properly in the scene--I HOPE.



NOTE:

I'm heading back home to Texas from December 1-6 to soak up some good Texas cooking at a belated Thanksgiving. Hey, how the heck do you think I became the 6'2", 255lb. guy I am today? Cheetos don't do it...Texas cooking does. ;-) Anyhow, I had hoped to get the pages all done before I left, but with only 3 days and 4 pages to finish, I'm probably not going to be meeting that goal. If I hadn't gotten so darned sick, I would have certainly made my self-imposed deadline. I'll do what I can as we prep for the trip and return after December 6 to hit these hard and get them finished.

I'm really looking forward to these. Fun stuff.

Comments, folks? Lemme know!

Fred

[Fred Lang]

Thought about these pages...and I have a plan. From my DA page:

I'm headed to Texas from December 1-6, and I've got 4 pages of "N'Cur: Bounty Hunter" to do.

Now, I don't have any sort of external deadline for these--but leaving for Texas without having them done is kinda irking me, so I'm gonna try something.

I'm going to treat the next three days like a "pro" schedule. I'm going to bed now (9pm), and I've got my alarm set for 5am. I'm going to see if I can't draw through these 4 pages in the 3 days I have before Texas.

That means that I'll have a 16-hour work day for the next 3 days to do 4 pages that I've already thumbnailed. I'll wake up at 5am every day, go to bed at 9pm, and do my best to see those pages done in those hours before the Texas trip.

I think it'd be wise to begin locking in the idea of "WORK" hours now, and creating a real work day for myself with regard to pages in order to get a feel for what my page rate would be as if I'd been hired by an imaginary company.

Tomorrow's only mandatory break is to put up some interior Christmas lights and get out little tree up and running. I think it'll be a good break from sitting and drawing, anyhow.

You'll know how it turned out if you see pages posted here with some regularity! *haha*

Alright, off to bed in preparation for some good page work tomorrow.

Exciting!

Fred

[Bill Nichols]

I'm proud of you, Fred, for establishing a plan of action and I hope you're well on your way by the time you read this.

[Ron Fortier]

I totally second Bill's comments above. Your dedication to this process is truly commendable. And let me add the fact that the space opera genre is certainly your cup of tea. Keep this up and you'll be a working professional in no time flat.

[Cary]

Fred, where in Texas are you going? We live in Austin and love it there. Have a good trip and enjoy your stay!

[Fred Lang]

Fred, where in Texas are you going? We live in Austin and love it there. Have a good trip and enjoy your stay!

We're landing in Austin, heading to Gatesville, then back to Austin on the 5th to visit with friends until we fly out on the 6th. We love Austin!

[Fred Lang]

And thanks, Bill and Ron. It's going slowly, but well.

[Bill Nichols]

Just giving you a head's-up that I mentioned you and this thread on the next Sketch Magazine Podcast. Keep up the good work,

[Fred Lang]

Got halfway through Page 3 and wasn't happy with it for some reason, so instead of bogging down in fixing it, I went on to Page 4. I promise that 3 will get done, but I was happy to have the other pages to turn to when I locked up on 3. Off to bed, and back up at 5:30am tomorrow for Page 5. Whee!

Today I was able to get the dishes done, have dinner with my wife at Mel's Drive-In, take a walk in the neighborhood, and get 1 1/2 pages done. Not bad for the new guy!



This post has been edited by Fred Lang: Nov 28 2010, 11:36 PM

[Fred Lang]

Just giving you a head's-up that I mentioned you and this thread on the next Sketch Magazine Podcast. Keep up the good work,

I know! I sent you a message saying "thanks!"--it was a shock to hear my name while listening to the podcast! And you can't get better press than having you casually mention me--I really appreciate it! And hey, no pressure, right? ;-)

[Bill Nichols]

Actually, you're mentioned in the one that should go live today, too. Watching you go through this process should be educational to others who are looking to do this. Keep it up.

No worries, just encouragement.

This post has been edited by Bill Nichols: Nov 29 2010, 04:58 AM

[Fred Lang]

Page 5. Still sick--can't even talk today. But dammit, I GOT THIS PAGE DONE! RAWR! *faints*

Something that I think helps me is that I spent 15 years making command decisions and getting things done. Though comics art is absolutely a creative enterprise, it's also very much a business. That business has deadlines and responsibilities, and I can't treat sitting at home in my sweat pants listening to Slayer any different than putting on my uniform in my previous job as far as "getting the work done" is concerned. The jobs are different, but my responsibility to create quality art (or as close as I get) pretty much on demand isn't less because I'm having fun while doing it.

Just my two copper pieces.



This post has been edited by Fred Lang: Nov 29 2010, 10:46 PM

[Ron Fortier]

I look at your work and it just nails me to my core. It's because of art like this that I dreamed of writing comics as a kid. It's a dream that continues to nourish me. Looking at these pages is pure fun.

[Fred Lang]

I look at your work and it just nails me to my core. It's because of art like this that I dreamed of writing comics as a kid. It's a dream that continues to nourish me. Looking at these pages is pure fun.

Ron, I don't think I've had a nicer compliment. Thank you.

Now on to Page 3!

[Fred Lang]

And here's Page 3! Now you can read Pages 1-5 in chronological order. Sorry about pushing 3 to the back--there was something about it I didn't enjoy as much--and I still don't quite know why. Regardless, skipping it and going on to the other pages gave me some breathing time until I had to visit 3 again, making it much less painful once I got started.

There *is* an optional 6th page in the script--a full-on, blasting-of-everything-and-everyone by N'Cur, but I have to prepare for my flight to Texas, so I just won't be able to tackle that and get to Texas with everything I need for the trip.

I'm pleased that, though sick for pages 3, 4 and 5, I stuck it out and got the job done. I just had to see if I could do it.

Anyhow, here ya go:

[Ron Fortier]

Mission accomplished, Airmen Lang. Somebody give this guy a cigar!!

[Bill Nichols]

One word: Wow.

[Fred Lang]

Back in SF from vacation in Texas and without a project to work on. A loose concept for a less than 10-page story hit me while on vacation, and it's stuck in my head. Guess I'll start working on it tomorrow. Never scripted before, but I love the concept (and it's only a few pages), so we'll see where it goes.

Modern-day doppelganger creation in San Francisco. No costumes. No high-tech. Just a neat little slice of life horror story...

It'll be fully rendered in Black / White / Gray Tones using Illustrator CS5 after layout pencils in Photoshop CS5. Vectors rock, by the way.

This post has been edited by Fred Lang: Dec 7 2010, 07:24 PM