It's a snake!

One thing I really like about comics is the amount of things it requires you to draw! I remember my tutor at college saying that in order to draw comics sucessfuly, you had to be able to draw everything under the sun. He wasn't far wrong.

Over the past few days I've drawn an archer (as cupid), an Elizabethan lady, more stars than are in the night sky, a beach, a sunset over a sea ... (Oberon and Titania talk about a lot of pretty things as they argue).

It's a shame there hasn't been more time to draw the interior artwork ... I've had to change production method[s] to fit in with the deadline. The book is to be produced in approx. five months in total ... inc. colour pages, concept finalisation, cover, any misc. designs and everything else related to it. It's a squeeze. I hope it will be okay.

First Post (a bit late!)

Hey all! :) This is Paul Duffield posting. I'm the artist on The Tempest, a Self Made Hero 'Manga Shakespeare' book. About 5 mins before this post I finished production on page 133, so I'm already quite a way into the project... the idea of a production blog wasn't mentioned until recently, but better late than never!

So far The Tempest has been a great play to work on. The editing of the script seems to have gone really well, and makes a naturally smooth read. I personally think it's a play that suits being cut down, as the sparser script makes Prospero's manipulation of the extra, otherwise-transparent characters, even more evident. Definitely a play whose substance is in metaphor and not raw storyline.

Now's quite a stressful time in the production, with deadlines looming, and a fair bit to go. This blog will probably be a good place to vent a little! Most recently I've been illustrating the surreal sections in which Prospero summons spirits to scare Antonio and crew and to celebrate Ferdinand's love for Miranda. It was fun doing research into the aspects of the three goddesses - Juno, Ceres and Iris - that appear. I've tried to include as much informative imagery as possible, whilst giving them my own personalised look.



I also had quite a bit of fun doing the funny gribbly creatures which bring on the feast for Antonio and co (although Kate thinks they're really scary)...





Will post more as I continue! :D

Indroductions over.

I've almost finished Titania and Oberon's spat. (That sounds odd.) Personally I think Oberon is being a right dick. (But I like him.)

I had fun designing his costume ... it was the first one I kicked off with. I toned it down a bit in the end because he originally looked far too fetishy ... GESTAPO BOY! ... uh ... now he looks far more reserved.

I didn't want any of the fairies/elves to look terrifically nice. Fairies are quite nasty things, in traditional English folklore, anyway. Bloody Victorians made 'em all pansy and pretty. (I think? Somebody told me that anyway.)

If I'd had more time I'd have loved to have done every single fairy up in a kind of feral style. As it is they had to be quite simple.

I also might have based Oberon loosely on Trent Reznor ... but if that's not at all obvious, then that's ... probably a good thing.

And after babbling about Oberon, here's two pages with Titania:



Well, okay. One page.

In the next few pages I have to do, which I will do the roughs for tonight, Titania flounces off. And that's all the characters for the story introduced! (At only page 49, hahaha!).

Next up is more arguing from Helena and Demetrius.
This is a comedy.

THIS! IS! MIDSUMMERNIGHTSDREAM!

Posto Uno

Hooray! Fear my lack of not having time to design a layout and using a pre-made template! Uh ... well, it's probably nicer than one I'd make anyway :D

Okay: production blog of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Where am I now ... I'm just finishing off the first batch of pages, which were 01 - 35. I'm thumbnailing 36 - 66 right now. Current thoughts:

- There are a lot of people running around in this comic.

- Demetrius does not do hisself any favours.

Sometime soon (when I'm scanning some stuff, most likely), I want to post up the most incredible thumbnail I've ever done. It's incredible.