Chuk's Comix Blog

Production Update

2005-02-16T17:37:00.000-05:00

I ink slower than a snail inching its way through a puddle of Nyquil... the first page is still only 3/4 of the way finished and in dire need of heavy retouching.

Seriously, I haven't inked pages in awhile and I think my "chops" have flown the coop. I start out very hesitant, yet a little excited to be working. After about an hour, including short breaks, I might start to get into "the zone" but that's when I get a bit too sure of myself and start slopping the ink around. By the end of the session I'm hating every line I put down. The next day, of course, I look at it and think, "That's not as bad as I thought. Sure, Anticleia's head is the size of a buffalo's, but I can fix that." This will take some time to get used to again. I'm sure once I get going and ink a few more pages things will come easier. Or not...

Page two is pencilled, but I showed them to my wife and our friend, Damien, and they both agreed that the last two panels where Odysseus climbs into Mestra's lap look too sexually charged. The character's faces change way too much and also have a tendency to be too big for their bodies. Again, the chops: flown. Again: time will tell. Persistence is key.

I had planned on creating character sheets for all the major characters, but I felt that it was just another attempt to procrastinate and avoid drawing the actual book. Now I see why pros make character sheets: otherwise the characters end up looking like a hundred different people. Back to the lab...

So, that's where it stands now. I need to get all the scraps of paper I have with sketches of Mestra together and create a distinct visual shorthand for her face. Perhaps some characteristic can be carried from her human form through to her eventual metamorphoses and show that this, whatever this is, is Mestra. Like a particular birthmark, or hair-style maybe. I'll have to do young and old Mestra character sheets... And then, eventually, one for every major character... Right now I should stick with the characters in the first twelve pages:

Old Mestra
Anticleia
Odysseus
Dryads
Mestra's Guards (4)
Young Mestra
Mestra's Nanny
Mestra's Ladies of the Court (3)

Then... Erysichthon (Fat)
Erysichthon's Councilors
Erysichthon's Guards
etc. etc.

Bye for now, I've got work to do before my loinfruit wakes up from his nap. Then again, this is stuff I could do while he watches Dora the Explorer...

Oh, by the way: be sure to check out the erudite comments Richard Slay has been leaving here. It's good to know somebody's interested in this obsession of mine.

Stay Moist,
Chuk

Not My Small Diary

2005-02-10T20:39:00.000-05:00

Well, here goes nuthin'
I finally got that PC to cooperate long enough to upload a picture to photobucket.com.

I hope this works. It's a couple pages from a small press book published a few years ago, but hopefully it will give you an idea of my general cartooning style. Tommorrow, I'll try to wrangle those big 11x17 pages onto the scanner and show some of my more current work... Enjoy!

Production Update

2005-02-10T19:09:00.000-05:00

I've been occupied with drawing something for my wife for Valentine's Day and working on something for her friend, Jill.

Jill says she'll pay me a hundred bucks if I draw her as a super-heroine, so I'm putting off work on Ery & Mestra for this sure-money deal. I've swiped a Wonder Woman cover and traced it onto bristol board to start with. I'll see her this weekend to finalize her super name and super suit. This shouldn't take too long...

I've inked about half of the first page. It's looking good, but I'm slower than I'd like to be. I realized that it only really takes me about two hours to pencil a regular page, but about twice that to ink. I really need to cut down on the cross-hatching when it isn't necessary. I tend to noodle around with it way too much.

Scanner update: It works with the ancient Sony VAIO, but that dinosaur isn't logging on to the internet for me. It's so damn buggy. I'll do my best to get it working so y'all can see the artwork and offer some real critique.

Overall, I'm not producing nearly as quickly as I ought to be. The only solution for this is to exorcise the personal demons of procrastination and excuses which prevent me from working on this project at every available opportunity. Excuse me while I invoke the gods of comix and banish these dastardly bastards. (Either that or I should stop re-reading Alan Moore's Promethea every few weeks...)

Be good to yourselves,
Chuk

Production Update

2005-02-02T19:52:00.000-05:00

I'll throw these updates in periodically to keep you all informed, but mostly to shame me into working faster...

So far, I have almost all of it broken down and it clocks in at 58 pages. There are sections that will almost certainly be expanded. For instance, I haven't written the Dryad's quest to meet Demeter yet. That should go for at least 8 pages. Plus, if I stuff in the Autolycus love-interest, who knows how long that will be. Regardless, the beginning is pretty well set, so I've started in on pencilling.

Page One is about 3/4ths of the way pencilled. I start by blobbing in basic forms with a non-photo blue pencil, then I meticulously draw as detailed as I need to with an HB (black #2) before I letter and ink it.

Page Two is just the panel borders in blue pencil.

Pages 3 and 4 are a two-page spread and that glorious thing is pencilled.

Page 5 is about 3/4ths of the way pencilled.

Page 6 is blank...

I know. It sounds wierd, but pages 3 and 4 were supposed to be pages 1 and 2 until I had this great idea to have Mestra tell the whole story to her grandson, Odysseus. I think it will pull in more people who have at least a passing knowledge of Greek myth. They can put two and two together and know who in the hades Mestra is in relation to what they already know.

My scanner is still collecting dust, but once I get it working (or spend precious pennies at Kinko's) I'll post some pics. (For all you know I could draw worse than a spastic lemur.)

So, that's where I'm at right now. More later as this story develops!

Chuk

(Not Very) Quick Synopsis

2005-02-02T18:59:00.000-05:00

Essentially, the story is about King Erysichthon of Thessaly who, because of his own greed and disregard for Nature, is cursed with an insatiable hunger. In the end, when he is unable to find enough food, he actually devours himself. That's the basic story, but I've added in a bunch of stuff to make it more interesting.

Here's more detail:

Instead of beginning the book with Ery chopping down the tree, I want to start off with the Dryads (tree-spirits) travelling to the big sacred tree for some kind of pilgrimage. Mestra just happens to be travelling in the same direction (she's coming back from a pilgrimage of her own) and she meets up with them. Most of the other humans travelling with Mestra can't see the Dryads and they think she's nutty. The tree-spirits tell her they are worried about rumors that the king, Erysichthon, has plans to chop down the forest.

Erysichthon does indeed decide to cut down the sacred (world) Tree, or grove of trees, which had been consecrated to the goddess, Demeter. (She's the goddess of the harvest, corn and barley, etc. the Mother figure.) Ironically he wants to use the lumber to build a grand Feasting Hall. One of his wise men tell him he's crazy and so Ery kicks the guy out and makes him go do the work of a ox -- pulling the plow.

Mestra gets back and pleads with him to leave the forest alone, maybe build with rocks or something. He tells her she's too young, naive, and female.

He goes to the forest with 20 big dudes with axes. Nobody wants to be the first one to cut the Tree. Ery gets mad and does it himself. The Tree cries out and *bleeds*. Everybody but Ery thinks this is bad juju, yo! Ery kills a man who gets in his way, then challenges anyone else to stop him. Just then, Niccipe, the priestess of the Grove, steps up and tells Ery that if he cuts down the Tree he'll regret it the rest of his short, miserable life. (How many warnings has he had now?) He ignores her and kills the Tree anyway.

Niccipe explains to everyone there that this Tree is more than just wood and leaves and water -- it's the Sacred World Tree -- Odin hangs from the top, Jesus hangs at it's center, Buddha sits at the bottom --- it's the Tree of Life, the Tree of Knowledge --- it's like chopping down the connection between heaven and earth.

Ery's really screwed up now, right?

Anyway, after Ery chops down the trees, these two Dryads from the beginning are the ones who go and narc on him. I want to stretch out their trip and make it a kind of adventure within an adventure. The area this story was supposed to have taken place is also the area where Centaurs come from, so I'm going to have the Centaurs go with the Dryads to meet the goddess, Demeter. Along the way, they'll have to overcome obstacles and all that. I think I'll have Hades, God of the Underworld and Son in Law/Brother to Demeter be the bad guy here. (He's jealous that his wife, Kore, had to return to her momma.)

Then, once Demeter knows what's up, she sends these two Dryads in her flying chariot to go fetch Famine. Famine is this scraggly hag with saggy boobs and big, black, rotten wings. She's all dirty and flies are buzzing around her and all that. They find her scratching at the ground in this remote mountain area (Scythia) where nothing grows. The Dryads tell her their story and Famine agrees to help her sister, Demeter. Famine flies back to Ery's castle and sits on Ery's chest, infesting him with a deep insatiable Hunger. While he sleeps he has nightmares about food.

He wakes up hungry like a stoner with the worst case of munchies ever! No matter how much he eats, he's still hungry. He loses his kingdom piece by piece until he and his daughter, Mestra, are begging for scraps in the street. The crops have failed and the Famine has spread to the whole kingdom. Erysichthon becomes so desperate and deranged that he sells his own daughter to buy more food. She appeals to Poseidon, the god of the sea, who grants her the ability to shape-shift into any form.

She returns to her Father and begins a recurring cycle of selling herself, transforming into a horse, bull, bird, etc. to get away, and then returning again and again to her Father. The story ends abruptly with Mestra not returning in time to save Erysichthon before he devours his own flesh. (that's gonna be fun to draw!)

In my version, Mestra returns Erysichthon's remains to the site where the orginal grove of trees had been. Both Mestra and Erysichthon are redeemed and forgiven by Demeter. Erysichthon transforms into an acorn and is planted as the new sacred (world) tree.

What do you think? Interesting? Boring? Retarded? Amazing?

Now, here's where I'm getting stuck. Specifically, I'm wondering:

1) What happened to Mestra's mother (Erysichthon's wife)? This would go a long way toward explaining the motivations and psyches of both characters. Maybe the only Mother figure should be Demeter, but she's really only seen during that part when the Dryads narc on Ery. I think maybe Erysichthon's disdain for the God/desses should come from their inability to save his wife from Death. What say you?

2) Why do you think Mestra would return again and again and again? Pity? Loyalty? What obliges her to do this? Is it a cultural thing? It's never adequately explained in the original sources. I'm probably going to go with a combo of pity and loyalty.

3) Should I worry about a love interest for Mestra? There's already enough going on -- maybe I don't need to complicate it more... Maybe she could fall in love with one of the dudes she sells herself to. It's like "Forbidden Love" and all that, because she can't waste time chasing guys -- she has to save her Dad from himself. Maybe that's what keeps her from returning on time in the end? Hmmmm... Maybe the dude she's interested in just happens to be Autolycus, King of Thieves, her future husband, back when he was just a young upstart Prince of Thieves... neato!

Got any ideas? Help me out here people.

Obligatory Introductory Post-ory

2005-01-28T20:15:00.000-05:00

Well, I was just about to write an intro post for this thing when my boss walks in and tells me that even though I've been doing a good job, he just can't afford to keep me employed... I lost my job! I ain't got no job! I'm unemployed!

I had been considering quitting anyway, but now that I've been laid off I can collect unemployment insurance! Sweet! They don't give you squat if you just quit. I'll be making not-quite-as-much, but we'll be okay as long as we can make up the difference with eBay and/or money from my art.

Art. That's what this blog will be about. Me and my art. I draw, you know. I'm a cartoonist, I let the pencil do all the work. That's my trick.

Eventually, I'll find a way to post some of my cartoons, illustrations, and various and sundry comics projects. Currently, the scanner I have seems incompatible with the computers I have... Bummer. I'll have to figure something else out.

I've been invited to join The Project at http://www.cultureshockcomics.com/theproject/project.php
Thanks to Mike Short and Ryan Twombly for recommending and inviting me, respectively.
I hope to make some great friends and contacts and art with you all.

Next time, I'll get into the details of the graphic novel I've been working on. Too much to write about now.

Email me with any questions!

Bye.