'Lazarus Burne's Maleficus Seven' cover for 'Soldier Legacy's Strange Tales.

Lazarus "Larry" Burne and co., created by Chris Sequeira and Paul Mason. Art by Paul Mason.

This is the cover for the back up feature in next month's 'Soldier Legacy's Strange Tales'. It features characters created by writer Chris Sequeira and myself, which has a bit of a slight history that I couldn't be bother talking about in depth now, but basically it was a pitch that Chris presented, and I illustrated the original idea, using a cast of supernatural characters from one of the big guns. They couldn't find a place for it, so we then decided that we could create our own characters and do something ourselves with it.

What you see above is basically the concept ideas we talked about, and I went away and played on the drawing board. A couple of character ideas and details were merged- I'm not sure if it was forgetfulness, lack of sleep or otherwise, but essentially what notes we made in a plotting session last year is what you get. We were going to launch the original 8 page strip in last year's Black House Comic anthology 'Parahuman'. It was fun to plot- basically, the first 3 pages existed for samples for myself, and concept pitch for Chris. That character was removed and ours entered, and the remaining 5 pages was tossed around, and action panels made "Kirby-style"- however I wanted a demon to be "dealt with", I did :P. However, the Parahuman book was cancelled. At the time, I recall being pressed for time with Soldier #4, The Soldier graphic novel, the 6 page back up story in 'Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes', and pencil layouts for the artist, that were all due at the same month. I was upset we lost a cool title that Parahuman was going to be, and the page rate and 50 copies of the issue was for all intents and purposes, the best thing going in any independent publisher I've seen on our comic scene in recent years. So it did boggle the mind that creators didn't jump on board. I'm getting off topic.

Anyways, the pages for our story were penciled and feature in my 2012 folio issue for last year's LA trip (colouring was shelved 2 pages in, but pencils were the aim of the game anyway), and got great response from industry folk. We decided we should finish the strip based on that positive response. When issue 5 of the Soldier was complete late last year, I restarting colouring, and finished it last month, where Mr Sequeira worked his scripting magic for me to letter, and here we are, ready to insert into our appropriately titled "Strange Tales" one-shot. We'll see what you readers think, yeah?

Anyway, think 'The Dirty Harry of Exorcists' (hence the homage to the original 'Dirty Harry' film poster and Clint Eastwood-ism in the main character). The names of the rest of the 'Seven', include (from left to right, front to back) 'Johnny Incubo', 'Ju Ju Heart', (then in white) 'Sister Strigoi', Sinquisitor, Grotesque, (and at the back) Deadriver.  

Oh right, the cover. A pinup for the book, and most likely a back cover for the issue. 

Like all my colouring, it's "man, this isn't working, what the hell am I doing?", until it gets completed, and it does work. Kind of. *sigh.

If I saved a screen shot or jpeg of every colour variation for the foreground figure, and the background figures, there would be about 200 images in this post, particularly when flicking through colour blend types, or overlays to lighten/knock back/bring forward the characters. Craziness. The main things I aim for are a clear focal point, value control, temperature control, and making sure the characters seem like they're in the environment- I feel if you manage to maintain the character's colour scheme in an image, you've failed. I feel you need to include the colours and "lighting" of the environment on your characters, otherwise the image comes across as "gawdy", with elements fighting for attention. Anyway, my 2 cents; I could be wrong. I prefer pencilling- I colour out of necessity.

The top of the post in the final image, and the process is below (roughs, clean up, flats, black and white value checking (an early one- still has "muddy" grey bits undefined), the almost finished colours: the pre-colour line holds and extra fiddly "on-top-of-the-lines" colours and highlights that the completed image has (in my poor man's attempt to get a "Dean White" feel to it). Unfortunately I lack the skill, patience, and bravery to be able to pull off the work he does in this colouring, and my little bamboo tablet is no match for the hand/eye control a Cintiq would allow to even properly pull off those fine white line details that lift his coloured characters off the page. One day perhaps, when I don't have multiple day jobs and actually make enough money to be comfortable enough to invest in toys....*to dream. Anyways, I make do with what I have, and a lack of equipment, or inspiration or any other thing you can think of, is no excuse when it comes to producing something. That's the beauty of the comic medium- worlds can be created with a pencil and paper.

 All characters featured here in this post are copyright © 2013 Christopher Sequeira and Paul Mason. Illustrations copyright © 2013 Paul Mason.

San Diego Comic-Con 2012- thank yous.

Yes folks, you guessed it. Time for me to take a moment to thank those who I recently touched base with, or met while overseas at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con. I make no apologies for "thank you" posts like these; as I've said previous, I am a firm believer for being thankful for the kind people I meet in this job, particularly in comparison with the sort of people I run into in one of my other jobs (:P). I'm not here to put anyone up on a pedestal or suck up/grovel. I am merely showing a small piece of appreciation for the other human beings I happen to encounter while doing comics :D 

Trying to get back into the swing of things after returning from another fantastic San Diego Comic-Con trip is proving to be very difficult; it's not because of the fact that I've gone from nice, sunny, summer California to chilly, wintery Brisbane (although... ;P), but it's because I'm so very busy now that I've returned.
Regarding the trip, I am very pleased with the meetings (before and during the con), contacts and opportunities that occurred, and am very pleased with the progress thus far in achieving validity with my comic book art practice within the scope of the industry. For the sake of not wanting to come across as a "wanker", fanboy, or unprofessional in general, I am refraining from mentioning any of the companies, details  or people I and my traveling companion/mentor/collaborator Chris spoke to, only to say how pleased I was to receive those opportunities, and say thank you to not only them, but Chris for his help and guidance too :) Thank you also to Dave Elsey, who was kind enough to show us around his current working studio in LA and pass on kind words regarding our work. What a thrill to finally meet the other mastermind behind 'Dark Detective:Sherlock Holmes', and the creator of those fantastic covers. A lovely guy.

In the short term though, the focus post-con will be not only stay on the radar, but also on the new uni lecturing job to add to the list of things I do in a week (4 jobs now is crazy, I hope to give at least one or two away in 6 months, but the future is much brighter in this respect), plus the next issue of Soldier Legacy in time for Brisbane Supanova, my 20,000 word (or around about) uni thesis (*sigh), a collaborative project with excellent prospects, and maybe training to attempt to return to tournament fighting o__O (we'll see if I have room to sleep in the schedule :P)

To spare you all from the 100's of photos taken at San Diego Comic-Con, including the San Diego SeaWorld and Disneyland photos, I've thrown up a small selection of pics taken as we made our way around the con floor, talking, meeting and enjoying ourselves. I want to thank Chris and his wife Jacqui, and daughter Valentina for taking care of me while overseas, and making me feel (as always) like part of their family, Jason Franks, Matt Emery Chewie Chan, my family and Sarah Ellen for the pre-trip support, and my Australian publisher Baden Kirgan of Black House Comics for providing me with the resources I needed not only for this trip, but for Oz Comic-Con the days before I left. Thank you of course to the well wishes from close friends and fans also.

...yes, I'm a jerk.

A pleasant surprise while walking the con floor: I heard my name being called out, I turn around, and this gentleman says " Hey man, I'm Dean White, I recognize you from your photo." DEAN WHITE! Up there with my all-time favourite comic book illustrators, I had no clue he was going to be at the show visiting a friend, and so awesome to meet him in person. I tried to catch up again later, but was unable to locate him. Arguably the best colourist currently in the business, it was a highlight of the con for sure. And I guess proves the power of tweeting, too :P

Nicola Scott draws for a huge crowd of fans at the DC Comics booth. It is always great to see her, and I very much appreciate the encouragement and support she has given me in my comic book endeavors.  It was also great to catch up with other Australians on the trip, includingWolfgang Bylsma and Justin Randall from Gestalt comics, Paul Abstruse, Tom Taylor, Tristan Jones, Royd Burgoyne, Carissa Avenhouse and Rand Ratinac.

While standing at the Neal Adams table, I suddenly hear a familiar accent, and as the conversation turns to my favourite topic (Jack Kirby), I realised I'm standing next to British television host, and creator of the Steve Ditko doco, Jonathan Ross. A terrific guy, who was very gracious in accepting a copy of 'The Soldier Legacy', and taking this photo with me.

Another highlight was touching base with comic book legend Mark Waid, and partner Christina Blanch. Mr Waid has been a supporter of Chris's writing for a while, and I too have appreciated the support and feedback in my comic book endeavors. What was even cooler was that at the end of the day this photo was taken, Mark won three Eisner awards for Daredevil and his writing, and then during his spotlight panel the following day, won the Inkpot award! What a massive haul of awards, congratulations once again to one of my favourite writers. Speaking of which, his new digital comics project "Thrillbent" is a must see, so go to http://www.thrillbent.com when you're done here ;D  

"Kneel before Doom!", This guy is the coolest.

The influential comic book illustrator, Neal Adams, with a signed copy of 'Superman vs. Muhammad Ali'. Fantastic!

Now this guy was cool: a spot-on impression of Stan Lee, and never dropped character. "Excelsior!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxWE8C0Kgo4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_790841&feature=iv&src_vid=jxWE8C0Kgo4&v=6RX-gNBRgqc

The passionate Arlen Schumer at the annual Jack Kirby tribute panel, discussing his illustrated essay 'The Auteur Theory of Comics'. 

Images from the Jack Kirby panel, featuring panelists such as Comic creator and Jack Kirby's assistant Mark Evanier, 60's Marvel colourist Stan Goldberg, Prof. Charles Hatfield, author of 'Hand of Fire: The Comic Art of Jack Kirby' (an Eisner award winner also, a really nice guy, and a wealth of Kirby knowledge), Comic book/animation writer/producer Paul Dini.

Probably the less said about these, the better...

I had to get in on the action too. "Excelsior!"

As Chris put it "The Hard men of Aussie Comics". That's two! Two idiots, ah ah ah ;P

I also want to thank, and shout out to Agnes Garbowska and Francis Manapul, Jamal Igle, Ben Abernathy, Bobby Curnow, John Barber, Rand Hoppe, Lisa at the Jack Kirby Research Museum booth, John Morrow, Steve Saffel, Arlen Schumer, Brett Smith, James and Robyn Coburn, John from Twomorrow Publications and "Iron Mate". Thank you folks, great to meet/see you again, and to talk to. I do hope I haven't forgotten anyone, let's just blame my tiredness, ok?

All the best, everyone. The work beckons ;)

Paul Mason: Article writing for Girly Geek Speak: Retro Comic Review of 1963's 'The Avengers'

So last week I did something a little different from my usual deadline/thesis work, and thanks to the good people of 'Girly Geek Speak' (of Geek Speak TV), I wrote a review of sorts for 'Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers volume 1'. THe whole idea was to warm up for thesis writing, by discussing some of the earliest appearances of characters that are now raking in the dough in international cinemas.

You can find there article here at: http://girlygeekspeak.com.au/books-comics/retro-review-the-avengers/


Back to work!

My issue 2 page tributes to 'Kick-Ass' colours

Page from #2 by me.

I have had the privalege recently of chatting on twitter to one of my all time favourite colourists in comics, Dean White. This man has this great painted colouring style that hasn't got me this excited over a colourist since John Higgins. And even then, as primarily considering myself a Penciler, I have never been one to look outside the pencilers and certain inkers that have inspired me over the years (and still do), be it their visual style or storytelling methods. See, I liked John's work on WATCHMEN, and got a chance to meet him in person and show him my work on the early pages of issue 1 after his lecture at my uni. He made me realise to not be afraid of using a broad range of colours, or be scared of colouring in general, but to understand colours and how they work in the context of the project.

'Fantastic Four" #1 painted cover by Dean White. Drawn by Jack Kirby 1961.

I was first introduced to Dean White's colours through his work on John Romita Jr's/Klaus Janson's work on books such as BLACK PANTHER, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, DARK REIGN: PUNISHER and the recent AVENGERS run, but also as a huge 60's Marvel fan (as you guys already know thru my archived posts), I noticed and really enjoy his extremely faithful/beautiful colouring/painted works of Kirby/Ditko/Buscema's classic covers on the front of MARVEL MASTERWORKS.

'Kick-Ass' Cover by John Romita Jr, Tom Palmer and Dean White.

He also worked on John Romita Jr/Mark Millar's 'Kick-Ass', an awesome and clever satire/superhero book which I discovered AFTER I becgan working on the masked young grandson of 'The Soldier' ...damn. I'm always worried mine comes off as a copy, as I was inspired by the realism with the vigilante street-based heroes in Steve Ditko's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and Wally Wood's DAREDEVIL. After reading 'Kick -Ass' there are many differences (thank god) , such as being set in two different countries, different settings, and the motivations/driving force behind the character's motives. For example: Dave in Kick-Ass is a teen who wants to be a superhero (loves the idea), dresses in the garishly bright costume, doesn't know how to fight or what he's getting into until later and goes through the ringer. Awesome stuff, great drama as I guess you never want your character to cruise through a story safe and confortable Mark Millar always pushes his characters to the brink (don't believe me? Read WOLVERINE: OLD MAN LOGAN, THE ULTIMATES series 1 and 2, WOLVERINE: ENEMY OF THE STATE or CIVIL WAR, and tell me they all had a good time ;P).

Page from #2 by Me.

When I wrote in the grandson story in the modern Brisbane/Australian Suburban setting, (not knowing anything about Kick-Ass), I made the character approach the vigilante idea more practically. A young man, not a soldier himself, but someone who's obviously honour bound somehow (delveloped in his upbringing) to make some sort of difference in the lives of even total strangers (more on this in later issues if I'm smart enough to pull it off :P) His grandfather wore a mask to 'keep lives safe' in WW2. His local neighborhood wasn't that safe anymore. He wanted to honour his Grandfather's legacy, but only engages conflict when absolutely necessary. (Such as attempting to save the unarmed woman in #2) He wears street friendly clothing- dark colours so not to be seen (thanks Batman ;) ) and could easily strip off the mask and zip up the jumper jacket if need be. Also, as later issues will show more in depth (*Spoiler*...well, not really), he is a trained martial artist. Not in the mystical manner, but an Aussie kid who grew up studying and training and continues to do so in his young adult years. But even then, realises he's not exactly Bruce Lee, so relies on surprise-not announcing he's a hero ready to save the day. Sure he does some fantastical stuff like that flying side-piercing kick you see above, but you have to embellish a little in comics, right? But all this isn't to say that this guy won't be put through the ringer too. If you've read the 2nd issue, a simple task of neighbourhood watching becomes a huge problem for him which will begin to snowball rather quickly when #3 comes along.

Page from #2 by me.

Anyways, I'm getting off track. The whole point of this to touch briefly on the visual approach I took, and it was Dean White's colouring that inspired me in scenes for #2, which I have posted here. Not that I got close to his application, but I do hope the influence can be seen.

Yes, that was the point to all that rambling.

At the end of the day, I am researching medothologies of various artists for my course, be it in storytelling visually, story writing methods/structure, penciling, poses, camera selection, composition and colour. I have no illusions: colouring isn't my forte' and it is difficult for a guy that just wants to draw pencils, but I believe a competent understanding of each mode of production is necessary to put out a product in the Aussie climate battling against a small industry structure/existence, small Aussie readership (in comparison to overseas) and superior American products from my favourite juggernauts.

Thanks for listening, check out more of Dean White's wonderful colouring here: http://deanwhite.deviantart.com/ . Take care all, more from me later as I start to put up some of my research for my degree.

(All pages in post copyright their respected copyright holders.)