Metropolis tone and color

In a (not completely successful) attempt to save time I employed the grisaille technique for the final stages of the Metropolis project. Grisaille involves painting first in grayscale and then overlaying a transparent color wash. The idea is that by being able to focus on value removed from color considerations, one will be able to crank through the initial stages of the painting very quickly. In my case, I didn't push my values far enough before adding color, and this resulted in some of the panels looking washed out and underdeveloped. (I used the color blending mode in Photoshop.) That said, I think the more simplistic look of the colored page is acceptable for sequential art. A good exercise if nothing else!

Missing You, Metropolis

The first two stages of the Missing You, Metropolis project I've been working on the past few weeks. Graywolf Press hired me to produce a graphic treatment of the title poem from a soon-to-be-published book by Gary Jackson. The book focuses on the interplay between the imaginary worlds and characters found in comic books and the very real, often difficult experiences of the author growing in rural Kansas. The concept is to depict snippets from the poem in the format of a page from a graphic novel. This 6x11" illustration will be included in the first run of galleys sent out to editors, reviewers, etc.

The rough illustration is intended to demonstrate my visual concept to the client. Once this is approved, I redraw the panels and refine my linework. (Thanks to my aspiring photographer buddy Diarmuid Kelleher for helping me snap a few reference photographs for this stage of the project.)