Nick Davis's Blog, page 30

Anniversary Unobserved – Fifteen Year Anniversary Of My Immigration In The USA

Why I Made The Journey

Wow… As of August 8th, 2000 approx 7.02pm I arrived tired, a little disoriented with a suitcase and carry-on bag, (the other bag was delayed and was to be lost for the next two weeks), at New York JFK.

My flight had arrived late, I had missed my connection and I still had another 10 hours ahead of me before I would finally arrive at my destination of Philadelphia, then another 2 hour drive to Wilkes-Barre, PA. This was the start of my immigration journey in the USA. I had arrived to start a new life, a new adventure in a strange, strange land where it turns out everything was much more different from I thought it would be. This day in history a new journey began… Adventure ahead!

Drawing Outside Your Comfort Zone – Anime Nurse In a Chinese Dress With a Phoenix Motif

This was an odd commission to get – drawing an anime styled Nurse in a Chinese dress with a phoenix motif. This would take me completely outside my comfort zone of my more normal cartoony cuddly toy Teddy Bear zone and really did test me.

I am still learning human form, and struggle a lot drawing the female form especially with the cheesecake anime references that this illustration would require. I gathered and researched a ton of anime references, (a dangerous business typing Anime Nurse into your browser,) and as the commission came from an African-American Lady I had to work with a different skin tone, and different body style too. I was challenged by this drawing, (a lot,) and was really a source of a weekend long frustration until something clicked, and she came to life in front of me.

The Progress

The Gallery below gives a good overview of the progression of this illustration from pencil to finishing with blended inktense pencils.

Challenge Yourself

It is too easy as an artist, especially one that is learning like me to get stuck into a grove. It is important we find projects that challenge our skills, because unless you try something beyond what you’ve already mastered you will never grow. The Anime Nurse threw several curve balls at me, first body form, then face, lips, legs and lastly feet. While drawing is really just a series of shapes that connect, you still have to figure out proportion and human form is really… really… hard.

Keep pushing my friends… Keep pushing…

Writing Without Fear – To Make Your Story Work Sometimes You Have To Discard Everything

Hero Ted has got an upgrade, with a smoother style and clean lines I have finally arrived at a character I feel that works, fits my art style and I am comfortable drawing to reboot the Hero Ted comic the second Teddy Bear Tales book that I will be creating as artist and writer.

As you know a couple of days ago I reviewed the art I had done for Hero Ted, my upcoming early reader comic and decided I had to change it. The story and the art were just not working. As a Creator this was a huge step to take, I had committed to story and had drawn, and colored the art for three of the comics pages. Turning around, looking at it with a critical eye and then discarding it took a lot of strength

It Will Do… Just Wont Do…

To often as we create we fall into the trap of making it just okay, saying it will do because we are tired, or have created numerous pages based on the older work. The hardest thing for any Creator, especially an Indie Creator is to be self-critical, especially with existing work already in the bank, then having the courage to change direction and discard what has been done. But we must.

Stories sometimes don’t work, the idea maybe very solid and you can at times write your way out and make it work, however you can also write yourself into a creative corner lose direction. I found this with the first script I wrote for Hero Ted, it was an origin story, standard Superhero fair, but it was not working.

Was it the art? Well… I had elected to draw it in my scratchy E.H Shepard ink style, not the cleanest style to draw an early reader comic in. Was it the story? It was an origin story, as a kid they excited me, but would it excite the audience I want to release the book into? Did they really need to know where the character came from to enjoy him?

I had two possible negatives, these red flags caused me to reexamine the work I had already done, and come to a hard decision.

Not Good Enough

Hero Ted as he existed, while exciting as character, had a really boring story to introduce him to his audience. The concept of early ready comics is visually pleasing, while light on narrative and the current comic as it stood did not meet this standard. I had to do the hardest thing a Creator ever has to do… Rethink the story.

This is the hardest thing you can do, your effectively abandoning your first notes, concepts, maybe half a book to start afresh. You must be prepared to do this, to be brave enough to look at your work and say… No… It is not good enough… I can do better… This is not telling my story.

Embrace The Change

Part of my Writing Without Fear articles is about being brave, about not being afraid to show your work, to write and to create. One of the biggest fears any Creator has is change, change in their characters, or having to change their work to actually tell your story. Embrace this change, you will come out the other end with a much stronger work.

Good luck, keep writing, keep creating!

Concept: Mr Button the Teddy Bear The Ultimate Defense Against The Monsters Under The Bed

Meet Mr Button the Teddy Bear… Do you have a Monster under the bed infestation? Things that go bump in the night? Dealing with a Bogeyman manifestations? Meet the ultimate solution to all your night terrors, with Mr Button you no longer have a problem.

Yes, he is a mean looking Teddy Bear and deliberately so. I based him off the Teddy Bear character that I wrote a short Fabula synopsis for called A Teddy Bears Journey.

Mr Button could easily be this lost Teddy Bear, but I will leave that up in the air for now. It is certain the character of Mr Button is a lot more extreme and R rated than the normal fair of that I write with the Teddy Bear Tales; and given how society is most likely be more popular than our G-rated Tristan… Sigh…

Anyhow, Mr Button incorporates all the style changes I’ve slowly been teaching myself in my drawing of Teddy Bear characters, (remember I only started drawing again about four years ago.) We lost the squiggly edges for a more defined line, made the body longer and the limbs shorter, while make the head a lot bigger. It has taken me a long time to get here, but I find this style very easy to work with and will be incorporating it into my Hero Ted work.

Our dangerous looking Teddy Bear concept was finished in blended Inktense Derwent pencils and lined in black ink from Faber-Castell Pitt pens XS, S and F.

Concept: Mr Blue Button the Teddy Bear The Ultimate Defense Against The Monsters Under The Bed

Meet Mr Blue Button the Teddy Bear… Do you have a Monster under the bed infestation? Things that go bump in the night? Dealing with a Bogeyman manifestations? Meet the ultimate solution to all your night terrors, with Mr Blue Button you no longer have a problem.

Yes, he is a mean looking Teddy Bear and deliberately so. I based him off the Teddy Bear character that I wrote a short Fabula synopsis for called A Teddy Bears Journey.

Mr Blue Button could easily be this lost Teddy Bear, but I will leave that up in the air for now. It is certain the character of Blue Button is a lot more extreme and R rated than the normal fair of that I write with the Teddy Bear Tales; and given how society is most likely be more popular than our G-rated Tristan… Sigh…

Anyhow, Mr Blue Button incorporates all the style changes I’ve slowly been teaching myself in my drawing of Teddy Bear characters, (remember I only started drawing again about four years ago.) We lost the squiggly edges for a more defined line, made the body longer and the limbs shorter, while make the head a lot bigger. It has taken me a long time to get here, but I find this style very easy to work with and will be incorporating it into my Hero Ted work.

Our dangerous looking Teddy Bear concept was finished in blended Inktense Derwent pencils and lined in black ink from Faber-Castell Pitt pens XS, S and F.

Rethinking The Storytelling Box With Hero Ted

Have you met Hero Ted yet? He is a character I am working on for an early ready comic book that I want to release in the Fall of 2015. The adventures that Hero Ted goes on take place in the same world as the Teddy Bear Tales, and he was intended to be an early reader comic.

Hero Ted was supposed to be my artist/writer project and I even produced a handful of comic pages for the project. But something is not working with the art and I stopped. For an early ready comic I was being to advanced with the story, too many words, not enough action. Hero Ted is supposed to be brisk, fun and brightly colored, and the art didn’t reflect that.

Sometimes when you tell a story you have to look at the audience, look at your work, and then be brave enough to walk away from what you’ve already done, and try a different approach. This is what I am going to be doing with Hero Ted. I still plan to launch in the Fall, just with a slightly different looking book. As a treat you can see the now discarded art below.

Stay tuned Teddy Bear Fans!

Are We Now Picking Sides Over Superhero Movies, Seriously?

I am not sure how to start this Op-Ed, I am actually kind of sad that we are getting so fractured that we are now picking sides over what Superhero characters and publishers we like, and openly mocking fans of other books. Have things got this bad we can’t even enjoy comic book characters and discussions without an open act of war upon each other?

What prompted me to write was a throwaway comment I made on a Comic Book Resource Facebook Post, here is the post below.

“Batman v Superman” director Zack Snyder discusses the interconnectivity of DC’s emerging film universe. Do you think Warner Bros. has a good system worked out?

Posted by Comic Book Resources on Wednesday, July 29, 2015

I have made no secret that I feel the DC Movie Universe (DCMU) is joyless place that mourns what a Superhero is and is wasting the potential of the DC pantheon with a Batman all the time approach to the writing, the character’s appearances,turning characters into Batman and using the Batman color palette. So here was my comment.

‘I think they are scrambling to catch Marvel and have forgotten the magic of their universe with Batman all the time.’

I fairly honest observation based on my opinion that Warner Bros (WB) and the DCMU have no idea what to really do with their characters and are playing catch up with Marvel who are running away with it right now.

The first reply to the comment was ‘Wtf…this is an obvious Marvel Fanboy post‘

Yep, this was the comic book that started by journey into USA Superheroes and Superheroics

I do not think I am a Marvel Fanboy, I certainly have been enjoying their product a lot more than DC of late, but I first got into comic books with the Giffen Justice League books back in the 90’s. They grabbed my attention because they were fun books, that explored the joy of superheros and got really serious when they needed to be. Now before I go into the meat of this blog here was my reply to this sad comment.

‘Honest observation from a 20 year fan of both publishers and now I am Marvel fanboy? We are picking sides over Superhero movies now? Divisive, much?’

Now based on the observation of my reading 90’s DC comics books you might think, he only likes light. funny comic books. Please remember I am English and grew up a diet of Warlord, Battle, Starlord and 2000AD, stories that were grim, satirical, and often bloody. Very different to what the average American kid was digesting. The books that influenced me and my writing were incredibly serious.

Why Are We Picking Sides?

Now, as I type this my comment kicked off a huge back and forth between various commentators about the virtues of their comic book universes, and what did I mean by my original comment. What made me sad and a little shocked was just how angry the tone of some these posts were, (mainly for hardline DC fans.) It was like you were not worthy because you read one comic book publisher over the other, that you know nothing and an idiot, the enemy, and must be beaten into submission… People literally picking sides over Superheroes now… With the USA fracturing under Politics, Race, Sexuality, Rights, it is now time for comic fans to start drawing lines as well?

Now the classic nerd argument always has been about what character is best, who could beat how, but now these conversations have reached a harsher, more brutal level. The warm friendliness, commonality that we are all fans of comic books has gone. Reason has given away to extreme posturing… It is kind of sad… The flag has been raised and it has become to hate again, and really we can do better.

Picking sides over Superhero movies is frankly… Pathetic…

Is DC doing better than Marvel?

If you look at the numbers DC is struggling in Marvel’s wake, their comic book market share has dropped below 29%, although Marvel hasn’t increased or decreased their share of 42%.

The DCMU has largely been unimpressive in terms of box office, (unless it was Batman) while Marvel is just cranking out hit after hit after hit, and is slapping DC in the face by doing this with B and C List characters. Look at it this way, while the DCMU was trying to figure out if audiences would get Wonder Woman; Marvel released a movie with a talking Raccoon with a machine gun and a walking Tree that was the biggest box office draw of 2014. There is a serious disconnect going on somewhere in the DCMU.

DC has one animation on TV, while Marvel is pretty much all over Disney/ABC thanks to their new ownership. So DC is struggling to catch up and if they don’t do box office you can be sure WB (based on WB’s past behavior to money losing properties) will pull the plug on DC completely. Then WB will break up DC into individual properties and sell them off to the highest bidder, (yes Disney could end up owning DC… Batman in the MCU?)

What DC is doing better than Marvel is on TV; their Live Action stuff is really good, their feature animations are miles better than Marvel’s attempts and they have the Box Office wunderkid with Batman to fall back on. But the DCMU cannot be Batman all the time… They does DC a huge disservice.

DC has a magical pantheon of characters rich in lore and history, even more so than Marvel’s offerings… Why are they struggling so much to exploit this? Look what Marvel did with Ant-Man… I mean even the name is corny and it is the biggest box office movie for two weeks now. DC has to have faith in their properties beyond putting Batman in everything… They need to rediscover their joy.

What Now?

I am not in mood to bicker senselessly, and to name call, and to draw lines just because I don’t agree with your opinion. You’re a comic book fan, I’m a comic book fan… Let’s enjoy comic books and everything that comes from them. Right now is a pretty cool time to be a fan of the funnies.

Why can’t we all get along?

Feel free to leave your comments below…

Reintroducting Sigmartyr – A Stikfas Action Figure Webcomic

Did you know I scripted, shot, build sets and produced an action figure photo web comic? It was called Sigmartyr and chronicled the story of a group of Biologically Altered Soldiers in an unending war for resources. This web comic used Stikfas for the players and GI Joe Sigma Six Vehicles for vehicles and props. You can view the entirety of Sigmartyr Volume One here.

Kepler 452b Are We Looking Back At Our Home? #NASA #Kepler

Today NASA announced the discovery of Kepler-452b discovered by the Kepler Telescope, what makes this planet so special? Well… I will let you know after the jump.

If the readings are correct Kepler 452b is Earth’s twin… The planet is about 60% larger in diameter than Earth and circles a sun-like star that sits about 1,400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. It orbits at roughly the same distance as Earth – its year is 385 days, just 20 days longer than our own – which means it probably gets a similar amount of sunshine. We are looking at Earth 2, and perhaps someone down there is looking right at us?

By all accounts Kepler 452b is a couple of billion years older than Earth as well, so I am going to advance this theory. I am convinced that life out here did begin out there, one of these theories is we are planet hoping across the universe trying to find our way home, that we have lost our way and means to walk among the stars like we used too. Is Kepler 452b our home? Where life as we know it began? One day we will go and find out, and this story for now will be continued…

Has Jurassic World Killed The Movies For The Next Decade?

With SDCC behind us, I ask you all this question. Did you see anything original come out of this media event? Anything? Now think carefully and see if you can recall anything that was not Superheroes, a Reboot, a Revival, a Retread or a Sequel? I will give you a minute to think about it and I will see you after the jump.

Did you come up with anything? Chances are you didn’t because frankly that was SDCC offerings from the major studios was everything old is now new or is a Superhero, a sure sign that original works are dead in the water… And Jurassic World helped hammer in the nails on the coffin of original works ever making their way to the silver screen for at least the next decade. Check out this How It Should Have Ended video based on the Jurassic World movie.

Pretty rough, eh? Sadly, as spectacular as the effects were, and to be fair, they actually weren’t that good they just threw more stuff at the screen, Jurassic World was just a retread of Jurassic Park with a fairly charismatic leading man added. As Hollywood Blockbuster movies go it was a lazy swing that made a lot of money… Perhaps too much money. For minimal risk and on name recognition alone Jurassic World became the number three highest grossing movie of all time – and killed the movie industry in the process.

With the success of Jurassic World you will see the various studio Movie Execs scurry to uncover any of the older franchise names that the studio owns and start to throw money at them. Forgetting in the flurry of craving the next Jurassic World hit, that some of these franchises crashed for very good reasons. If you have an original work waiting for the Hollywood green-light this is going to be a worth time for them as the Execs will simply not be interested in taking a chance on an unknown if they can fill seats with the next Battle Beyond The Stars on nostalgia and dodgy effects. Meaning the next decade at least we will see nothing but Superheroes, Reboots, Revivals, Retreads and Sequels…

Jurassic World has killed Hollywood… (not that it was ever in a good state to begin with)