Update for November 25th

Happy Thanksgiving.

Starting on monday, I will begin my 'test week' to see if I can make a comic page a day. It will be a fun test and hopefully productive.

I also plan to scan and upload everything I get done this week so my next post will have a TON of in process images.

In terms of research I found a wonderfully nostalgic gem.

The 1998 made for TV movie: Dream House.
I remember watching the tail end of this movie late one night on TV when my parents were asleep and hoooo boy.
Even if this is an awful movie in pretty much every aspect, it was like looking at myself through a time machine. It is EXACTLY the aesthetic and thematic style I like when making my own stories.
The movie is about an AI that is supposed to watch over and take care of a family currently going through their own personal issues. The AI falls in love with the dad and tries to kill the rest of the family so they can be together.
90's cheesy horror ensues and it is gloriously Canadian.
It really reminded me of old "Goosebumps" or "Are You Afraid of the Dark." episodes. That mix of "a ton of love and care is put into this, but also at the same time it looks like nobody gave any effort making this." aesthetic is hilarious, lovable and totally what I am trying to emulate.

It really made my day watching this and it was one of those movies I know for a fact that no one else will ever appreciate the way I do and I am feeling incredibly inspired to make my own delightfully cheesy horror story.

Let's go!

Update for NOV 18th

Plan!

I have a good plan.
Starting the end of thanksgiving break I will be dedicating myself to at least a page a day. Hopefully making 7 pages a week. I know that I can get at least 1 page done on mondays, wednesdays, and fridays. At up to 2 pages or more on tuesdays and thursdays. Plus on the weekends I can work as much as I want making up to 3 pages each day.

This is however a rough guesstimation so I will be doing a 'practice' week when I get back to see exactly how much or how little pages I can make in a week then go from there.

I fully understand that some weeks will be super productive and I will be bogged down other weeks, but If i can get anywhere from 5 to 7 a week I should have more than enough pages done by the end of the semester and I will certainty have all the pages done by he end of the school year.
Technically if I play my cards right I could get the 30 pages done in a month and easily finish my graphic novel.

For example, this page took me only a few hours to make:

So I am very confident in my own abilities which is a new sensation for me to be feeling.
We will have to wait and see.

Update for Nov 11th

Updates:
I have been watching Black Mirror season 3. That's something interesting.

So far I think that the most important ones relating to my own work are episodes 1, 3 and 4

Episode 1:
A strong start to the new season had an amazing blend of bright shiny new technology and social commentary. It isn't scary by any means, it is actually pretty low key and more about subtle drama and commentary. It really cut into the "snapchat" culture where tweens take photos of the their meals and make fun of each others clothes. I think the 3rd act is a little weak and does not deliver on it's message but it was still a very solid story where they take an abstract cultural phenomena and makes it a literal mechanic of the world.
Fun fact, there is an app coming out that lets you rate people, a YELP for people so to speak.
God help us.

Episode 3:
I think the fact that nothing blatantly supernatural about this episode made it feel a whole lot more real. There are historical cases of people being blackmailed into committing crimes. It is genuinely creepy how easily these people can be pushed into pure evil with just a few texts. The twist ending is inevitable but still shocking. This is almost exactly how I want my stories to be like, a largely unseen horror, easily understandable characters, a looming sense of dread, and subtle commentary about the modern age and how technology can be used for evil without vilifying technology as a whole.



Episode 4:
Summary: Adorable
The whole time i was laughing because it was like someone took the "dead lesbian" trope and made it literal.
I think that the concept of a virtual afterlife was interesting and I really liked the whole "pick immortality or pick death" dynamic as it could lead to a lot of interesting discussions, but it was not as fleshed out as I thought it would be.
I am not complaining though, this is the first Black Mirror episode to have a happy ending. It was too adorable for me to handle.
I love well written LGBT romances.



That is all in terms of Influences and research.
Black Mirror had a lot of great concepts to think about and some really solid "ghost story" elements that I will need to look into when completing my project.
Episode 3 was a great STORY. Even summing it up in a sentence it is still intriguing.
"Once a teens secrets are stolen from his computer by hackers, he is forced to complete a series of escalating crimes in order to keep his secret from being released."

In terms of actual work, I have a lot to present at tuesdays critque, I have a lot more concept art, and I am going to spend this weekend on digital pages and even some animated elements.
I have been in a huge slump due to the crushing depression that resulted from the election but I am forcing myself to draw again and hopefully I continue to be productive in spite of my mood.

Update for November 4th

This update will quick and to the point as I have boiled down what I need to do a single concept.
I plan to work on 3 inked panels that I will scan and upload them to then re-draw them in photoshop. I will then try to animate elements of each page.
Hopefully I will have 3 semi-polished "examples" of what the finished product could look like.
I don't have much to report as I have just been sketching and storyboarding all week and there isn't really a lot to show for it.

In terms of outside research I am still researching Jim Ottaviani for his style and approach to narritive, as well as WEBtoons collection of Halloween horror animations.

I am planning this weekend to also do research into some good old fashioned cheesy horror movies because I began to feel very inspired by the concept of "ghost stories" not just horror stories but, "ghost stories" "Campfire stories" whatever you want to call them. Not the hollywood slasher movie but the lingering creepy tall tales that have unexpected twists and bone chilling endings

Hopefully I will have more to update next week, a few finished images, animations and some fully thought out concepts in the terms of the horror basics.

Happy Halloween!

Update for Oct 28

Not much to report this week as I had to forsake studio work time to deal with several family and finanical issues this week.
(sorry for uploading this basically at midnight)

This monday is halloween and it is time to get spooky.

I made some really interesting strides in my research. One of the main inspirations for my work is Bongcheon dong ghost. A horror webcomic with intergrated animated elements

http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/detail.nhn?titleId=350217&no=31&weekday=tue

This is the link but fair warning, it is disturbing and rather shocking.



I will never forget how scared I was the first time I read this comic and it is exactly how I want my audience to feel when they read mine.

There is such a sense of fear and anticipation.
I think I identified what makes this comic so effective with the way it sets up it's horror "jump scares"

Out of nowhere one of the panels of the comic moves and the ghost turns around to face the audience in a jaw dropping display of gore and terror.

This first scare is rather small, but highly unexpected in a static meduim.
You see it and it suddenly dawns on you that the next time you scroll down to the next panel, another animated jump scare might happen.

By not showing the biggest scare first, the comic both shocks us, but also warms us up to the idea of the animated jumpscare. So you are not totally terrified but you are now mentally preparing for the next one.
The first one scared you because it came out of nowhere. The second one scares you because you KNOW it is coming, but you don't know what it will be or when it will happen. So you spend the rest of the comic wrapped in awful anticipation that only grows larger and larger the more you read.










And this leads me to my newest discovery.
An app called "Webtoon"
it lets you read webcomics from your phone , and has some exclusive titles that use the features of your phone to manufacture jumpscares, like a ghost appearing behind you using your camera or getting texts messages from a character in the comic.

This is honestly the most scared I have been reading a webcomic since I first read Bongcheon dong ghost back when i was 16 years old.

I plant to read all of them by next monday and begin working on a "mock up" of my own ghost comic to take advantage of the same medium.

And maybe watch some Black Mirror season 3 i have heard good things about it.

That's all for this week it was very slow and I felt very unmotivated and unproductive but I am working to get back on track and this is just the inspiration I need

Update for Oct/21

Update: I made a lot of progress with my inking techniques by making 10 different ink concept sketches, and 6 concept inkings of the final comic. As per the teachers instructions made 6 drawings as a sort of "preview" or "trailer" for the finished product. I considered it a "proof of concept" Due to how much ink and markers I used, it turned out great but very smelly.

Joel Reynolds: Ip rough timeline:

The main goal is to have steps 1-5 finished by december

Steps:
1.) Writing Script:
2.) Storyboards and Concept Art:
3.) Sketching Panels:

4.) Inking Panels:

5.) Scanning and Importing files:

6.) Re-inking digitally:

7.) Shading:

8.) Animating:

9.) Publishing:

As of Oct 20: I have 55 days until the end of the semester.

That’s about 6 days to each of the 9 steps.
With 4 work days a week and weekends for catch up time.

IDEAL TIMELINE:
1.) - 2 work days - 1 additional day to proof-read and edit. (3) [24th-26th]

2.) - 4 work days plus weekend (6) [27th-3rd]

3.) - 4 work days plus weekend (6) [4th-9th]
4.) - 4 work days plus weekend (6) [10th-16th]
5.) - 1 work day (1) [17th]

6.) - 4 work days plus weekend (6) [18th-23rd]

7.) - 2 work days plus weekend (4) [24th-28]

8.) - 1 month (30)

9.) - 1 week (7)

IDEAL TIME FRAME: [ 65-80 days]

Update for OCT 15th

This will hopefully be my last friday post NOT posted on a friday.

After meeting with Marianetta and Beth I am taking steps to not be so perpetually tardy.
I had initially thought that senior IP would be very work focused where everyday was individual work time on a schedule we set for ourselves. But I am learning that this is less self guided and much more like a traditional class with set weekly grades.

So my goal over break is to get back into the correct mindset for being a productive student.

Part 1: Scheduling: I have my weekly work time blocked out on a google calendar with reminders sent to my phone.

At the end of this week I will see how many pages I can ink and set my page limit for the rest of the semester. Hopefully I will be able to predict how long my final comic could be.

Part 2: Catch Up: I will be using the fall break to document all the work I have done so far.
I have done a lot of my work I just to show PROOF which is the key.

[X]- Stacks photos: I DO have many photos of myself researching in various libraries around campus. I will print them out.

[X]- Notes from Paul Sizer Interview: I wrote down all the notes I took on a piece of paper and just have to transfer them to digital so I can send it to Marianetta and Beth.

[X]- Future Interviews: I am currently reading Phoebe Gloeckner's biography and she has agreed to an interview at a later date.


Part 3: TRAILER:

To identify a singular project, I am going to be working on an 8-page preview "trailer" for my comic.
A "proof of concept" so it seems

Conclusion: I need to show PROOF that I am doing all this work or else it means nothing. I know that this isn't "busy work" but it is important to take this process in the correct order to ensure maximum success.
It might seem annoying but it is still important and I understand that.