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