CHRISTMAS BREAK IS COMICS MAKING TIME

I've had an idea in mind for a longer comic story for a while. I'm aiming for something in the 18-24 page range.

Time off work for Christmas means I can concentrate on this. I started by collating all my ideas for it today. I now have enough to be getting on with, and if any more occur to me as I go along, I'll add them.

I'll start writing and laying out the story tomorrow.

MARVEL STAR WARS EXPLORERS: Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #19

Cover by Brett Blevins.

I'm guesting on the latest episode of this fun podcast, with hosts Brian Rudloff and Sam Stovold.

Discussing Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #19; "Dragon by the Tail" by Larry Lieber, Vince Colletta, Robbie Carosella, from July 1984.

From the website: 

"As Indiana Jones... fights a dragon, David Robertson returns to the cast to share with us his Skeleton Crew scribblings, to join us in a test of our collective Henry Jones Sr. knowledge, to determine at what point the supernatural becomes too supernatural for Indy, and to go Star Trekkin' across the universe... on the Starship Enterprise under Captain Kirk." 

Have a listen here.

COMICS Q&A

I was contacted out of the blue this week by a comics student who had picked up some of my books at Dundee Zine Fest last month. He wanted to ask me a few questions for his research.

James Ingle: What aspects of an image/ a story do you think comics or graphic novels are able to convey better than plain text?

David Robertson: Better than? I’m not sure it’s better, but something that comes to mind is in text you are able to very effectively build a picture in the reader’s mind cumulatively through evocative language and passages. In a comic you can aggressively startle the reader by presenting an image that was unexpected. This is typically done after a page turn, but can be done all in one page if the balance is properly calibrated (see “Hoovering” Of course, I’ve maybe lessened any intended surprise by telling you look for it). This comics process is perhaps more brutally effective in a particular instant.

JI: When you have an image in your mind that you wish to convey in comic form, how do you think this process differs to if you were writing it down?

DR: It’s completely different means to achieve a similar end. If I want to draw a building, I imagine what it looks like, or get reference materials, then use lighting, or other visual effects to set the mood and scene. If I want to write about it, I start making up sentences, with varying levels of metaphor, description, poeticism, whatever, depending on the purpose.

JI: I understand that some of your publications feature comics that are written by you, but drawn by other artists. How often do you feel the images you have outlined are recreated as you had them in your mind’s eye? Is this ever the case or is everybody’s interpretation different to your own?

DR: There is often a case of the artist’s interpretation being different than my own. What I’ve learnt to do is let go of specifics of how things look and convey only the information in the script that is necessary for the storytelling. So putting it crudely, if I want James Ingle to cross the street waving to someone, that is what I will write. I will leave what the street looks like and other details open to the artist’s preferences. If it is important that the street or James look a certain way, or something happens in a certain fashion, I will be clear about that. I try to dictate nothing that is outwith the purpose of the story.

One thing that is a balancing act is that I like to sometimes have the subtextual point of a story come together in a reader’s mind as they take in the panels. This is often controlled by what is drawn and how it’s drawn. Now, I like to have the artist experience the story and “get it” in a similar fashion, to hopefully enthuse them about drawing the story. However, I also have to explain what I’m up to to them, and there’s a kind of “spoiler” that comes about there. These kind of processes are continually being refined.

JI: Thinking especially in terms of adaptations of novels, do you think it’s possible to assign a figure of exactly how many words of plain text a particular comic panel is worth, in terms of recreating the original setting description/action/dialogue or anything else that occurs in the original story?

DR: No, it’s going to be different and vary wildly depending on level of detail and purpose of the adaptation.

YOU GET WHAT YOU GET at OPTICAL SLOTH

Kevin Bramer has written on You Get What You Get over at Optical Sloth.

"David always draws a few of his stories, so you’re obviously going to get his style for those, but several other stories were by people I hadn’t seen before, making this issue really stand out. Not that that would matter much if the stories were garbage, but good news everyone! There were some pretty solid stories in here too."

Read the article here.

You Get What You Get is available here.

SIGNALS colours

 Digital colours on the comic today.

I also made line art and grey tone versions, to give my editor options.

SIGNALS inks and blacks

Inks done, and blacks spotted today:

SIGNALS pencils

A couple of days off is an opportunity to get a comics page done.

Script, layout and pencils done today for a story with working title, "Signals":

YOU GET WHAT YOU GET at DOWN THE TUBES

John Freeman has written on You Get What You Get over at Down the Tubes.

"...there’s an undefinable nature to David’s work, they have a quirky, rather haunting appeal. I particularly enjoy the wide range of art styles, very much a snapshot of some of the best current and rising talent on the independent zine scene."

Read the whole thing here.

You Get What You Get is available here.

YOU GET WHAT YOU GET at ALMOST NORMAL COMICS

Warren "Wee" Elliott has written on You Get What You Get over at Almost Normal Comics.

"It’s an entertaining variety of stories with just as diverse and interesting artwork, a real joy to behold with a true indie feel."

Read the whole thing here.

You Get What You Get is available here.

YOU GET WHAT YOU GET Previews: 5 of 5

My latest comic is released tomorrow. Here are the fifth in a week long series of previews.

An Unusual Occurrence. Story, art: DR.

Result. Story: DR, art: Mike Sedakat.

Playing Drums. Story: DR, art: Tom Stewart.

Rocket. Story: DR, art: Sam Stovold.

Pupil vs. O.T. Story: DR, art: Andy Strachan.

Mystery Shopping. Story: DR, art: Cherish York.

You Get What You Get will be available at Dundee Zine Fest 11am-4pm tomorrow at Art Angel. Hope to see you there!

Thereafter it will be available here.