HOME | DD
hde2009 — TF Mosaic - Contempt
Published: 2010-04-05 09:46:57 +0000 UTC; Views: 1135; Favourites: 17; Downloads: 0
Redirect to original
Description
My latest Mosaic, written by the shiny personage that is Mr. Michael Priest with some additional beating into-shape by yours truly.Nick Roche and James Roberts have got nothing on us - we're poised and ready to eclipse the dynamic duo with our own mini-series any minute now. Wreckers? PAH! Just wait till you see our awesome new book - it's got goth robots, robosex and a load of characters who were dead last time we checked all walking about as if nothing ever happened. Plus, we introduce a new character called PROWL, who is a dark Jedi robot, wears an eyepatch and talks like Johnny Depp. As Captain Jack.
How can it NOT get signed? *
I wondered how this would go down. It's a kinda mish-mash of retro and modern styles, with some poster-art influence and lots of nice dirty tones and textures.
Each panel was constructed in SketchUp before being printed, inked, scanned and then composited and coloured on the final page. Sounds like a lot of faffing, but it's actually a lot quicker than it sounds. In fact, I reckon it's the quickest I've produced a Mosaic.
Gonna try to up my input into this wonderful scheme.
* All complete BS. Sucked through a hamster. Backwards.
Related content
Comments: 55
Feel the love!
It's interesting ~ all of the different styles you have here, with the gray scale and Sunny being the one with the bright color.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Woo! This strip still gets comments? I'm amazed!
Glad you enjoyed it. It was actually a fairly easy piece to put together.
Everything was built in 3D in Sketchup, right down to the people and the trees and lamp posts. I slipped a paper texture under the inks after I'd done those by hand, and then just started daubing shades of grey onto the page. There are some coffee-stain brushes used here too, as well as judicious use of Photoshop's dodge and burn tools.
Manga Studio is one of my favourite 'post production' tools right now, and that's what I used to add the dot and line tones.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Nice. Sunstreaker spotlight. Dude really needs a hug.
lol.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Why thankees! Really glad you enjoyed it.
Love the avatar, by the way!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
This is really cool - I love the washed out colors and the er... dotty thingies (it's called raster in Danish)
I don't see the mistakes though? (no cookie for me then... 
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Raster, huh? Not heard that term for it before. I know the effect by the term 'screentone'.
There's mistakes. Oh yes! Several pretty embarrassing ones that I only spotted after the piece got submitted. I generally drop the ball here and there as I'm working on a piece (and I think everybody is allowed to) but there's a couple of real head-slap moments on this one!
I'm gonna leave it to alla youse fine folks to find 'em, though. Never let it be said that I can't take my lump like a man.
These cookies have a sell by date, y'know - and they're starting to look mighty tasty...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Aw, now I'll be staring at that page all night...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Heck, go for it! Do it!
Here's a clue - the one I'm most infuriated by is somewhere in panel 2...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I thought it might be panel two, but I'm not sure what it is...?
Something about the dash board? Maybe you think the steering wheel is in the wrong side? It's not in my country
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Aha! Close!
The steering wheel thing was one where I scratched my head for all of a few seconds and went 'Ah, screw it! It could be anywhere!' - at the time, the location hadn't been set (it was Mike's suggestion that we ground the story in a set location at the last minute) so it wasn't a huge issue.
Nope - what I missed was... wait for it...
THE REAR VIEW MIRROR!
It's not there! At all! ARRRGH!!! And it's usually the sort of detail I lob in without a second thought! INFURIATING!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Haha! I noticed that there wasn't one, but I didn't see it as a mistake
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
A couple of folks who saw this when I put it in front of them for critique spotted it. One of them INSTANTLY (see why I go to these guys?) - but there was actually some interesting conversation about whether a Lamborghini actually HAS a rear view mirror (I'm pretty sure they must do) and if so, what does it look like? Is it a traditional one, or stylised?
And then we good-naturedly got into the whole 'Ah, but he's an alien robot in disguise' debate, where they suggested he doesn't NEED a rear view mirror.
Sheesh - you wouldn't think so much could spin out of a rookie mistake like that, would you?
Still, I learned from it, and got some other great advice into the bargain.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Haha - I DID think "well what would an alien robot in disguise need a rearview mirror for anyways", and I then decided, that he probably didn't and forgot about it. Wow! What a geek I am 
Sounds like you got some good critique there!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I'm gonna say the absent rearview mirror was Sunstreaker's mistake, and not mine.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I'll testify to your sanity in court...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh THANK GOD! I wasn't looking forward to facing that jury all alone!
'The accused - how do you plead?'
'THE GIANT LAMBO ROBOT MADE ME DO IT!!!'
Yeh. not the strongest defence I can think of.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Hm. Maybe the insanity plea is the way to go about this?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yes!
Once they show me a load of Rorschah tests and I answer the same thing to every one, they'll have to believe me!
'Defendant - what do you see here?'
'A horse.'
'And here?'
'A horse.'
'This one?'
'A horse'
'What about this one?'
'Another horse. DEFINITELY a horse.'
'Are you sure?'
'Yes.'
'Really?'
'Absolutely.'
'You're quite sure you don't see two naked women repeatedly stabbing an unconscious man while he bleeds to death on the ground here?'
'Well, yeah. But I'm not gonna tell YOU that, am I?'
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Haha - that reminds me of an exercise in word association that we did in second year. This girl kept coming up with horses and saddles and stuff like that to match the words! Boy, did we have a lot of fun with that!
Some of those Rorschach thingies are just MADE to see blood and death and stuff. Some of them are black with red smears in them...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I think Rorschach tests are a tool for use in almighty frame-up jobs.
'Psst - Larry. The boss is leaning on us to put someone away. Show this schmuck the scribbly ink drawings of eviscerated corpses and watch him squirm as he claims all he can see are kittens. Instant results, my friend!'
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I may just get a pack of card and slap black and red ink all over them willy-nilly, then send them out as a deck of proper Rorschach test cards.
Think of the fallout!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I can do that! I'll quickly flash 'em in front of a random cross section of death-row inmates and drum up the report material I need.
Aw, dang it - I just spilled my blackberry juice on the kitchen floor - and now I'm convinced I'm in love with my own mother and need to murder the postman.
The power of psychology, huh?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Wow. Good thing you didn't spill strawberry jam in there too...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yeah. [Munches on jam donut] Could'a been a disaster!
[Blob of jam falls onto the countertop. HdE stares at it for a moment, grabs sharpest steak knife and goes on killing spree.]
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I WAS considering doing a 'Misery' strip where there's a certain time on a certain day where HdE refuses all his calls, won't meet his friends at the pub, won't watch TV or read his comic book... because THAT'S the day when he goes into his cellar and tortures the media critics he's stashed down there.
Kind of like the 'Saw' movies, but with less objectionabe content. Still really gory and bloodthirsty, but, y'know, they're critics, so who cares?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yay! Blod! Bloodthirsty me? Noooooooooo 
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I promise to do an out-and-out, grand guignol blood-'n'-guts-fest Misery strip one day. Just for all you splatter fiends!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Nothing questionable about that at all, is there?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
How about I introduce 'mirror universe HdE' - and the two of 'em engage in mortal combat - TO THE DEATH! DEATH, I SAY!!!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Okya - I just need to work out how to stick a little goatee beard on the evil HdE now...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
You have to! Evil doubles ALWAYS have goatees...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Either that or they're foreign. I could write him in a s HdE's evil twin, Hd le E.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
lol - everybody should have an evil twin!
Hmm... Kijara would probably have a NICE twin...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Pretty sure I AM the evil twin...
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Hoorayz for Sketchup! Glad to see it worked out for ya!
I gotta say, the interesting thing is that, in this and the other stories you and Mike have done, you use the same art style. Do you switch your drawing style depending on the collaborator?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I just like to try different things all the time. I don't think I've yet found one style or method of doing this stuff that I like enough to keep going with.
Sometimes, I'll see something like 'First Impression' on paper and think to myself 'Oh! Humour!' and I'll do whatever I can to bring that out. I think that worked out well - even if some folks weren't keen on the art, EVERYBODY got the jokes, and it got a pretty warm reception as a result, I think.
Props to Mike for being a dream collaborator on this one, though. I saw the script about the same time as I saw the one he did for 'The Roar' (Mike's backlog is the stuff of legend!) and back then it didn't appeal. But a bit later, I was looking for something to really try something different with. I asked him if he still had this script handy, and he did, so we got to work. I specifically mentioned that I wanted to really play about with it, and he was cool with that.
It may be my imagination, but I think he actually got to like it more as the work went on. One thing's for sure - when so much of the art is made up of textures and screentones that aren't yet applied, the work files don't look very impressive! I was grateful that he had the patience to stick it out.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I'm gonna use one of those blanket praise terms I'm afraid.... AWESOMENESS!
I did some research on this character last week as I knew naught of him before besides the fact he's a big yellow robot who's not Bumblebee. From what I have gleaned so far, this and your earlier "First Impression" strip serve as the perfect introduction to him.
Can I comment on the art at all? If so it would be to make jealous sounds about your mastery of sketchup and gorgeous angular art style.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Feel free to jabber away like the clappers on this one, bud! And while we're at it, let's play the 'spot the rookie mistakes' game. There's a couple o' almighty cringers that nobody called me on yet!
As far as Sunny's concerned - whoo! IDW did a great job on that boy! From C-list character to major player in the blink of an eye!
Plus, he's cool, coz he's yellow. And hez gut big earz.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Can't spot them myself. As far as I can see sketchup is totally working out for ya. Everything looks perfick. Though to be fair your perspective was quite good before, you're a whizz at the technical stuff. I had a go with sketchup a while back but couldn't really wrap my head round it. Shame cos I need all the help in that area I can get.
Your characterisation is great as well. The supporting fleshies, although only "extras" to support Sunny's rant, all have distinct characters rather than being caricatures.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Cheers, m'man.
SketchUp is all about approach. For this Mosaic I built a rough model of the street and randomly placed in details like trees and fences. Print that sucka, ink it and BOUM! You have a production!
I did try to give each of the passers by a bit of unique character. It was tough to do, knowing in advance that I'd be going with some highly stylised art. Thank god for those close-ups, eh?
There's a cookie for whover spots the two REALLY BIG art gaffes first.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
My thoughts on this piece expressed @ TF:M's still apply:
Pure.
Epic.
WIN
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Cheers!
We worked it over a fair bit to get it to the standard it's at. I look back at it now and see a couple of rookie mistakes, But then, ya gotta look forward, not back...
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Really liking this style HdE, has an indy comic feel. Story is very good too, great characterization on Sunstreaker.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Glad you dug it, fellas!
I can only take so much credit for the writing, though. The premise and the bulk of the dialogue was all Mike's. I just tried to make things more conversational.
Cobbling this one together was a lot of fun - it went together pretty easily, a few hiccups notwithstanding.
(I'll, uh... never work with screentones again!)
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
| Next =>