Jack of FABLES:Gary Does Denmark;Pencils and (some) Inks

I've a little free time so let's catch up on the rest of JoF#21. The breaks have been posted, so let's look at the pencils and inks (which I got to do myself for the first time on this series).Notice the inking is a little tentative until I recalled that I really like using a brush (Series 7).
Again, I apologize because the organization the files is very disjointed and I've consumed the better part of the day tracking jpegs attached to emails sent into DC/Vertigo. So bear with me.

Matt's (Sturges) story about The Pathetic Fallecy's ill-fated production of "Hamlet" takes place within the security boundary of The Golden Bough camp BEFORE Jack arrived. So I imagine that those days were filled with such manufactured distraction for the inmates. If you're from the Chicago area and have attended the Ravinia Festival, I imagined a beautiful Summer night, lawn seating and some streaking.



Note here, that this is a different layout from the printed version. Editorial nixxed this layout as too cluttered.














Here's a sample of Alex Wald's color work. He's up for an Eisner this year for Best Colorist: SHAOLIN COWBOY. Alex did this as a sample to land some other work at DC/Vertigo. Great work,no?







This is only the scan of a partly finished spread. Jealous?







H.E.

Paulina Ona Mah Mina

This is a mysterious photo taken on the now destroyed Paulina Street Station. Where's the camera I took this with? IN MY MIND!!!

Seriously, Who Let This Evil Fuck In?

Having six pages cut from a report on the impact of climate change on health because his office doesn't feel the science is accurate? IT'S FUCKING SCIENCE! How accurate is your Policy Making, Dick?

"Sex and the City:The Movie"

...or "How I Went To See The Ultimate Chick-Flick With Six Gay Men And Six Straight Women And Managed To Stay Sane"




Believe me it was tough. But I was a trooper. A Sooper-Trooper. The company was what made the difference. The movie was funny enough and I got the jokes. I like the show...But 2.5 hours really taxxed the hetero wiring.
The audience was a "Sea of Vaginas" as Riley put it. Vaginas really weird Gay men out. I said that if any "rogue wave" should occur during the screening, that the boys should just stand back and let me handle it.
I know...I'm REALLY brave!
h.e.

Jack Candle (Issue#22 Stand-down)

I'm methodical. Much of the managing of drawing an issue of Jack relies on method;initial script read;re-read notes;breaksdowns (another passive read through, here. Fuck!) Light roughs, tightening...

This keeps me in the "flow" if you can call it that. So when I confront the gap between issues it helps to spin-down for a few hours. Here's the art I made as JoF#22 showed it's heels. Inks will be posted soon.

M and the Zoo 2

After intimidating a driver whose car CLEARLY was not going to fit into the cubby-hole spot along Cannon drive, we (M, her Echo and myself) slid into gap between Jeep and Chevrolet and proceeded to the Zoo;after no small amount of gloating ("Think you can come from Montana and park here?!...Bitch,please!"). We were really hopped up on Razzles.
Here's M, beaming next to the spot. I completely adore her.



Yeah...It's like this ALL the time.


Ducks. Ducks Fucking. Fucking Ducks. Well, fuck-a-duck.
M ALWAYS gets a great show at the zoo!


So it is officially Summer,even if the weather here is a little unco-operative.
Of course I'm not ready. People are being assholes in traffic. I hate you surly fucks; makes me thankful for -10 windchills sometimes. A plague on your Hearts!
None of that anytime soon, though. I've been too fucking busy to get outside much. I've just put Jack#23 out the door and I'm now experiencing that void that leaves me at a lose of purpose. I'll work on commissions and some other projects that have been back-burnered. Hart your commision goes out this weekend, so you can call off the hounds. Oppy, your piece will get put in the mail. Migs, patient Migs,
there's something extra for you for the long wait.

Hail, Fabledom!

WTF, Akins?!

That scramble was TOTALLY my fault. Uploading of images was reset to "right" and I missed it. So deal, yo! :~)

WTF, Blogger?!

Um...sorry about the mishmash below readers. So deal, yo!
I'm not reposting this bitch!

GARY DOES DENMARK(Jack of FABLES#21)

So Shelly and Angela were awesome enough to let me ink myself on this issue.
This helped keep me busy and vouchering while the script for the next "live" issue of Jack (#22) was being polished.
FYI, my faithful desktop computer has been having ethernet port issues, i.e.-the port is fried, so that's why my blogging has been scarce. I'll begin to make up for that here.
Anyway, my scans for this issue are all over the place, across several compooters and in email that I really, really don't feel like rifling through. So forgive the spotty, incomplete recounting of this issue.
So let's start with the spotty, incomplete recounting of this issue!


The Pathetic Fallacy at the footlights...
despite the purpose of the Golden Boughs camp, I imagine that a night like this could be lovely enough. There was a good deal of research done to nail the period dress. Though the color didn't ring true to the style of the period, the era pegged 1590-1600.


Here's the first pass at the break for the big spread on pages 2-3. Note that the actual page was changed in the end. Shelly and I fired shots across one another's bows over this page; which is healthy. In the end I serve the Culture of Fables, and therefore the Editorial Culture. Plus she had a good point.


Gary as Star and Author of the work got to make a dashing Hamlet, sorta.Glad I didn't go through with the hat!


Mister D got to wear his usual get-up, with original hat, for the first time. The hat was always a bit too much for the pages of the regular comic.
And the revisions begin!!!



Getting to ink this myself, I was excited to have some meaty night-scenes with lots of lighting from below on Paul Bunyan. Ink yourself saves on the amount of penciling across the page me thinks.
Here's the revision for Page 11. Pages 10-11 follow. Sorray...
Told ya.



MONSTER!







Following are some work-up sketches for the issue. Some days or weeks before I had the full script. Note how miscast Alice is as Ophelia; she's in the gowns of a lady of the court. God I'm stupid sometimes. It was pointed out to me by an actress who does a good deal of Shakespeare, that Ophelia is a "lovechild"...Tha's right, a disgusting, fragile hippie of the day. Wicked John, needed no alterations.





Zach Baldus did a terrific job as fill-in cover artist. He needed to know about the detail of Gary's princely necklace. This meant I had to come up with a better idea than the scrapings that were available on the pages. I drew this just for him. Let me share the mo'.


So there it is. Gary Does Denmark. Matt Sturges is brilliant for even attempting such a feat as reworking the Bard, let alone setting it at the GB with so many characters. WTG, Matador!
I'm currently pencilling and inking another fill-in slated for 2009. It will be terrific, trust me!
Hail, Fabledom!