In part 1 of this series and tutorials on making comics, I reduced the first part of the creative process to a series of hardline decisions. In part 2 of this series I guided you through what I call the creative funnel, the way you continue making decisions as you work way down the funnel going deeper on your decisions, and how rather than restraining your creativity, making firm decisions early on and following through increases your creativity.
So you’re probably wondering where is the fun stuff? The actual doing? The writing,inking,and rendering of comics?
We’re getting to it now, and because we made some decisions to cut off all other possible options, it will be smooth and joyful.
Alex Toth was a fantastical comic book artist and illustrator with a simple philosophy behind his lively and beautiful drawings.
“Eliminate the superfluous, the unnecessary. Be lazy!”
Alex Toth
The simple set up and gut punch endings of the comics and TV adaptations of Tales From The Crypt inspired this comic book adaptation. But if were to analyze the story structure, only the shock ending appeals to me from what made Tales From The Crypt special.
So I needed some inspiration to get from the beginning through the middle to the shock ending. For that I turned to Ray Bradbury and his fantastic quiet shocker, Come Into My Cellar. A boy’s fascination with mushrooms might or might not be a gateway to a silent alien invasion. What makes this story so effective is the superficial commonality of the developments, and how the common and the mundane are twisted into something sinister. How the possible aliens arrive in the most unimaginable and anticlimactic of ways. The way Bradbury dishes out exposition so what seemed unimportant earlier takes on a different and darker meaning when revised through the minds of certain characters. I consider it the highest form of storytelling prowess when a writer can misdirect and surprise his reader as effortlessly as Bradbury does in this diamond-hard short story.
So this story was my creative bridge. A social media practice I find lazy (engagement farming) takes on a sinister meaning, because so many on social media take the easy way out. What if this easy out is the in for a club you can’t just walk away from?
Only, it happens without you knowing. You do a thing regularly, and before you know it, you’re in too deep. Now they have a part of you!
This would be the shock reveal at the end. The narrative would drop a tiny bit of information every page. The accumulated effect would lead to the reveal in a way that wasn’t obvious, but you, as the reader, would be curious to know more as you read.
This was exciting to think about and present in a visual way. And having made all the cold decisions early on, I had no doubts, I could dive in without second-guessing myself and be plagued by the usual decisions that pray at creators as they do their thing.
The only aesthetic consideration left was to present the story. The visual style of Tales From The Crypt is so strong that at first I thought I would go with that.
But then I felt that was too easy. The visuals would be telegraphing were things we going before you go to the last page. It would almost be like a message that contradicts itself. No harmony.
So for the visuals I went with a bright and open style rather than the murkier tone you associate with horror. I was heavily influenced by artist and designer Ashley Wood. He has a light and easy touch with bright coloring that appeals to me, and I felt that applying something similar would add to the misdirection I was taking you through till the-next-to-last page and last page reveals.
Below are a few of the thumbnails I generated from the short story by
that eventually became the short story you can read here, for now. This short story post will be here for a few weeks before it goes to the paid tier. You can have it as a download, along with my graphic novel and the awesome extras collecting there when you upgrade your subscription.From page to…the page? From page to screen doesn’t quite work. A comic book panel can be treated as a movie screen.
I took the craft of making comics all the way to writing and illustrating my own graphic novel. Click on button below to own your copy of my sci-fi/suspense story, The Plot.
I enjoy watching artists talk about their process I noticed you mentioned Ashley Wood, a lot of his artwork from the MGS series which always blows me away, it's pretty iconic. And it's pretty smart to share the process online for future clients as well, all you have to do is share a link with clients - does this help your portfolio as an artist? Anyway I'm enjoying it either way and look forward to seeing more!
Cool seeing your proces. As a major fan of the EC horror books, this should a fun romp.