And so June Begins

Hey there sports fans, Al here with the latest:

TALE OF TWO JO(H)NNY'S


Let the pages COMMENCE!
You heard it here phase 1 one of the cross over is now complete and onto phase 2.  Its time for setting up the lettering and word balloons in place to see if artwork needs to be expanded upon for the  story to flow evenly between the script and the art.
   Then it will be onto Phase 3.
   Of course in the case of Phase 2 there is the issue of expanding pages.  Jason has written a brilliant action oriented story involving one space ranger Johnny Vega and Jason's gun toting hit man,  Jonny Morbid.  In such a crossover there is going to be a lot of revelations made by both parties.






This leads to the expanse of the book.  Especially in such a jam packed book.
   Jason has definitely taught me something that I had forgotten about and I believe it is a problem that all comic illustrators run into when they write their own stories - action and fun. 
  Unfortunately we artists/ creators have a tendency to be "up in our collective heads".  The stories are clear to us but not those around us.   
A page of the crossover


  When working with Adam Watson on the crossover with David, The Ghost Assassin, I learned quiet a bit.  Pacing and lack of dialogue can keep a mood and keep a story flowing just as well. 
For more check out this crossover for purchase at myebook.
  Vega had been suffering from a couple of things when I first started him about 12 years ago.
  But at the time he was simply an homage to the movie serials of the '30s.   But as the stories grew in their complexity the character had to grow and change he couldn't just be a carbon copy of space heroes of the past.  So I began to change him from the inside out while trying to keep the flavor of those stories.  That's when the crossovers began to exert a particular kind of influence on the over all story arc of Vega.
  Anyway,  I'm getting off topic here.
  I didn’t want to trim any of what Jason had written down so I took the previous drawn figures and moved them into bigger panels.  This meant more pages. 
  So there you go.  A kinda long winded explanation but gives the story the room it needs to breathe. 

IN OTHER NEWS


Scratchboard is rocking hard with the  latest piece for Ben Perkins "Perkins' Essence". And now a updated larger "Brain Cage".  The original 5"X7" was sold up in Olympia but the image was such a impression on me and those around me I thought I would reproduce the image.  It is in line with the 8"X8" format that I used for the Big 100 art show last year.