Construction of Experimental Frameworks (in Art)

by Max Miller Dowdle on November 5, 2012 at 8:46 am
Posted In: 24 Hour Comic, Blog

 

So I did the 24 Hour Comic Challenge this past Saturday and Sunday.  Wow, what a fun and demanding time!  I’ve done some endurance art before, but never a 24 Hour Comic.  That is, I’d never made a 24 page comic in 24 hours, a la Scott McLeod’s stipulations.  The event was held at Ultimate Comics in Chapel Hill, North Carolina where I met some great people.  Food and beverages were supplied and we comic enthusiasts brought nothing but our materials and ideas.  And I did it!  20 hours later (I finished early) I had a 24 page comic in hand.  Above is one panel from one of the pages.  I’ll post the rest in the near future.

I was completely drained and beat afterward, but I took a dog walk and had a moment to reflect on the experience.  Mainly I thought about how artistic endeavors, in fact most endeavors, can be likened to running an experiment.  By that I mean that when you set out to do something there is nearly always the dynamic of success or failure in play.  To ensure success one must assess the situation, and understand, or set the parameters for action.  Going into the 24 Hour Comic Challenge I had a few rules for myself.  It would be black and white (this was a stipulation set down by the event itself), it would be silent (I didn’t want to waste time mucking around with word bubbles, plus my handwriting is…interesting), I’d work in toned markers for ease of rendering, and it would be composed of nearly all splash pages holding a maximum of four panels.  I’ve found that the higher the panel count, the more dense a page is, meaning the longer the page takes to create.

Ostensibly you have an hour a page but there are all sorts of other factors to consider including breaks, mistakes and zoning out in the 11th hour.  Working in the wide, splash format meant that I was effectively working on two pages at a time and I’d have around two hours for each two-page section, giving me greater flexibility for completion.

When setting out to run an experiment (ie make a piece of art/tell a story) it’s important to remember to set limits for yourself.  The freedom of doing anything at all can be crippling.  Don’t be afraid to build those walls of idea containment, and you’ll find liberation that way.  But the real take-away with this is that the 24 Hour Comic Challenge is a very freeing experience.  You learn to just power forward and not worry about the small things that can irk you when you have lots of time to throw around.

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Shattered Update # 7

by Max Miller Dowdle on October 29, 2012 at 10:20 am
Posted In: Blog, Shattered With Curve of Horn

Twenty-one pages drawn, friends (21/132).  It’s been slow going, but that’s what happens when you do really detailed work, AND as I’ve mentioned I’m switching studios once again in two days, so things have been in upheaval here.  But, that doesn’t mean I’m not on track for a November debut.  Currently I’m looking at Sunday, November 11th.  Wait…you know what?  Screw it.  That’s a serious promise.

Two weeks from now on Sunday, November 11th (barring death or dismemberment) you will see the first page of Shattered With Curve of Horn!

Then, weekly updates (two pages every Monday), until we’re done.

In other news, I’m going to be working on my first 24 hour comic on November 3rd-4th and I’m pretty excited.  It’ll be at Ultimate Comics in Chapel Hill, NC.  I’ll post whatever it is I come up with here when it’s done.

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New York Comic Con 2012: Musings

by Max Miller Dowdle on October 22, 2012 at 8:42 am
Posted In: Artagem Library, Blog

So it was a bit over a week now that I attended the New York Comic Con for the very first time.  Wow, what a weird scene, and oh so crowded.  I don’t think I’d go back unless I had a table of my own.  I avoided talking about this last Monday as I was knee deep in tinkering with the new look of the website, and the experience of the Con was still sinking in.  But, now’s a good time to chat about it.  Below is the haul I brought back with me.

From top left to bottom right:

Starman Omnibus by James Robinson and Tony Harris

Hard Boiled by Frank Miller and Geof Darrow

Cradlegrave by John Smith and Edmund Bagwell

Sandman Mystery Theatre: Tarantula by Matt Wagner and Guy Davis

The Originals by Dave Gibbons

The Mystery Play by Grant Morrison and Jon Muth

The Heart of the Beast by Dean Motter, Judith Dupre and Sean Phillips

Loki by Robert Rodi and Esad Ribic

One funny story:  The booth where I got The Mystery Play, The Originals and The Heart of the Beast.  When I gave them to the guy to check out he was flipping through to figure out the price and he said, “Hey, good choice.  Oh, another good choice.  Whoa, three good choices.  You’re like some kinda…some kinda… connoisseur aren’t you?”  And you know what?  I kinda think that’s my approach.

I’m really concerned with finding the very best stuff out there.  Four out of the eight books I got directly because I read about them in the very excellent 500 Essential Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Guide by Gene Kannenberg.  This book is an amazing resource if you’re looking to broaden your tastes.  It’s broken up into ten genres (Adventure, War, Mystery, etc.) and each has fifty good examples of the best of the genre.  The other four books I got were all for very specific connoisseur-ish reasons.  The Mystery Play simply because I love Jon Muth’s artwork.  The Heart of the Beast because it appeared to be a very literary story, with excellent art.  Loki because the interior art was painted and had a fantastic look.  And Cradlegrave because the art and story appeared to be sufficiently creepy.  So there you have it, I seem to be a sucker for good art.  But I count myself lucky if the story ends up being just as good.

In other news I’m moving studios (again) at the end of the month, but I should be completely free to focus on Shattered With Curve of Horn after that, meaning I can start posting (yes!).

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Sledgehammer Day Has Arrived!

by Max Miller Dowdle on October 15, 2012 at 8:35 am
Posted In: Artagem Library, Blog

Make way.  I’m tearing down walls to prime this place for the arrival of Shattered With Curve of Horn.  Everything should be ship-shape soon, but please, please, please bear with the dust for a bit.

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Swimming the Sea of Ink

by Max Miller Dowdle on October 9, 2012 at 8:53 am
Posted In: Artagem Library, Shattered With Curve of Horn

That’s right, I’m up to my elbows in Speedball Super Black Ink (the best!).  But I’m making progress, freestyle, breaststroke, doggie paddle, whatever, it’s all moving forward.  Swimming’s fine, but really you should know, I stand when I work.  I built my own drawing table that’s just the right height so I can be on my feet all day rather than hunched over and chained to a drafting table.  So, I don’t get back aches, or a paunch from too much sitting, but what does happen is I get massive cramps in my hand when I’m working on inking pages.  It’s mainly the ring and pinky of my right hand.   Maybe it would be better altogether if they just weren’t there at all.   A friend told me a story one time of a sculptor who chopped off three of his fingers so he could get his hand inside a sculpture and carve it out a specific way.  I don’t think that was really true, and I don’t really want to lose any fingers, but eighteen pages into Shattered and damn if the cramping doesn’t hurt.  Any suggestions, fellow ink-jockeys?

Speaking of art, I’ve got some ruminations on the subject.  Just what is ART anyway?  You’ve probably heard that question.  For years I’ve used the simple definition that “Art is the selective recreation of reality.”  I’m not sure where I first heard that, but it stuck with me.  So the other day I was rereading Danse Macabre by Stephen King (a totally fantastic nonfiction meditation on the nature of horror).  In it King gives the following liberal definition of art: “Art is any creative work from which an audience receives more than it gives.”  On the surface I thought this might be too simplistic a definition but digging into it I find that it really resonates.  Think about it.  There are epic poems or fantastic works of literature that you really have to give a lot to, to understand them, but they stick with you, giving you more back for months or years after you close the book and set it down.  Conversely, there are paintings that I offer a glance of the eye (not much in the transaction sense), but that don’t even pop enough to hold my interest for a single second.  They fail in the arena of offering me more than I give to them, thus to me, and according to King’s definition they don’t register as art.  What I’m getting at here is that as a graphic novel auteur I want my selective recreation of reality to resonate, to offer the reader/audience more than they give to it.

One final note, friends.  After a lot of thought, and one very good reason, which I can’t reveal without spoiling some plot points, I’ve decided to drop the comma from Shattered, With Curve of Horn making it now Shattered With Curve of Horn.  I know, please don’t be so torn up over the demise of this lovely specimen of punctuation.  I’m sure she’ll turn up again, somewhere.

 

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