FINIIISHED

Wahey! I've finished The Tempest! That's 193 b/w pages and 9 colour pages, plus a cover illustration and various revisions/tweaks.
It feels great to have completed something so large, and I'm really excited to see it go to the printers. I'll be getting a copy of the proofs in a few days, and after all the checking has been done, it'll be a month or two before the actual shop release date. There's already a provisional page for it up on amazon.

I have to say, having completed the project, I now respect/appreciate Shakespeare in a whole new light. Previously, I'd only studied his plays for educational purposes, and never really enjoyed it properly, but the act of constantly referencing the edited version with the full version, and trying to deconstruct the prose and verse into images and solid meaning is a real eye-opener. If you want to do well on a Shakespeare-based exam, I suggest trying to edit down and illustrate a few famous passages! You won't forget those bloody quotes after you've had to create a character to deliver them! And you'll really appreciate the poetry of the language when you're bashing your head on the table thinking 'how can I create an image meaningful enough to replace this bit of what I previously though was just meaningless embellishment!?'.

Anyways XD I digress... I'm finished! And taking a short break from work, which is a pleasurable relief after 12 hour days 7 days a week for months.

Ok go

Amusing screen-shot of the day:



I keep on meaning to post up some character sketches or stuff I drew up for the initial stages of the project. I keep FORGETTING. Argh.

EDIT: What I find really amusing about that screenshot is that I've got a folder open called "scary monsters" in my taskbar XD (It's the David Bowie CD). That was unintentional, and it pleases me. XD

The on-going cover saga ...!

The cover (I think) has been sorted out! Hooray! I made up an entirely new one, and I'm quite pleased with how it ended up at the moment. I won't post it up yet ... maybe later, once it's been properly finalised. There could be alterations to the colours that need doing or some other edits ... I don't know. But anyway! There is something that works better! :D

One of the problems with the first cover was that I began to detest it after a while because I went back to it several times to do edits. I think that's always the way -_-; I still had a strange attachement to it, though ... it was one of the very first things I did for the project. It was the first time I drew out the dastardly donkey-head as well .... oh man. That thing gives me severe problems!

I might post up the production stages for the first cover at some point. Here, on a related note, are the thumbnails I originally sent to the publisher for the second cover designs. I added rough colour to them to help seperate out the elements of the picture ... my thumbnails ARE very rough after all:



The one we finally went with was number three! It was nearly number two ... but when I started to sit down to work it up a bit more, I found it was difficult on an odd level - that is, it felt too much like a re-draw of the first, and I thought it would be easier on myself to make up an entirely new one. Selfish maybe! But ... if it gets the job done ... and I think number three worked quite well. It's the most complex illustration I've ever done, though, I think -_-; Was fun to colour, however! I like colouring ... *^^*

TV/Cover/Etc.

Paul and I did interviews for a TV company today regarding the Manga Shakespeare series! I messed up and I expect I will sound incredibly stupid ....... I really didn't handle it very well. It was very difficult though, to be asked several questions on the spot ("Why did you choose to illustrate this page like this?" etc.) and try and give a coherant answer. Not really one of my strong points! We filmed it all in Paul's bedroom (we both work out of our rooms) because mine was too small to accommodate the lighting. Eeeep.

I think we'll be given a copy ... I guess it might turn up on YouTube at some point, but to be quite frank, I really don't want to see it D8

Currently, I'm re-drawing the cover for MND! I have cover pre-production stuff to stick up, but I think I should wait till I've actually got the new cover out of the way! Back to work ...

Can-can Fairies

Cool! I finished off up to page 66 yesterday! That's Oberon implementing his plan to get Titania to BEND TO HIS WILL MUAHAHAHA.

And actually ... I've been wondering about the characters I've got. Especially after reading around some reviews of the existing M.Shakespeare comics. A few times similar thoughts were bought up by the reviewers ... that is, how the characters have been handled, and how they have ended up. Obviously, due to the cut scripts, some characters have much fewer lines in this range of books. How they are portrayed therefore would be a mixture of the exact words they have to say now, and how they appear originally.

Hippolyta, for instance, in Act1.scene1, originally has a chunk of lines at the beginning (and then no more), although clearly she becomes distressed at the situation regarding Hermia/Egeus and co. ... this is only alluded to in a line from Theseus. As this line is cut in our version, I tried to make her appear a little upset in order to compensate for the cut. I'm trying to do my best to keep both versions of these scripts in mind at the same time.

Interestingly, one reviewer found he/she could tolerate Polonius (Hamlet) much easier with his reduced parts in Manga Shakespeare, whereas in the full texts he was found to be irritating.

Anyway basically, I've been stressing about Oberon since! I'm worried he's coming across as a bit of a villain! MND is interesting as there is really not a main character. Everything revolves around a bunch of characters quite equally. (So deciding what to put on the cover was really hard!). Oberon and Puck as a team are perhaps the equivalents of the morally-dubious-shakespearian-duo ... but then, they are not human in the slightest! (So, why should they carry human values?)

Oberon, to me, comes across as having vague benevolence. After rowing so hard with his queen he goes straight on to vowing to help Helena get her man. Perhaps he felt guilty for clearly being such a retard with misplaced values! Haha. But then there is evidence that his 'help' to folks is actually commonplace ... Theseus, Hippolyta, etc. Same goes for Titania!

He is a dodgy angel.

Clearly, as we meet them, they have briefly forgotten how to care for each other. Though the history between them is quite evident. Their arguments are so petty. CLEARLY they love each other very much! :D

Oberon is willing to try anything to get his way. Same goes for Helena ...

The misplaced values continue with Demetrius and Helena, then. (And Helena appears right away as if SHE'S been drugged up by this flower already! Wuaha! Jesus, she's like the ultimate fan-girl).

I read one review of a performance of Midsummer, and the actor's performance for Demetrius was considered sadistic. He could be played that way certainly, or he could be simply a bloke who just can't take the commitment! Hah!

A couple of reviews of Manga Shakespeare books seem to have avoided the idea that these are adaptations. They are therefore under the control of those involved as to how the characters are to be portrayed, exactly the same way every performance of Romeo & Juliet, Julius Caesar, etc. etc., would be very different.

It's a shame if one's favourite character comes across a little differently (I, for one, will be keeping gigantic tabs on Iago, should Othello be comissioned!!!!) ... but then, isn't a great deal of the interest in repeatedly seeing (or in this case, reading) a Shakespeare performance of this, that or the other, in seeing how it's been tackled ...?