Character Tease!

Who is this? Well I can say he's not a human, and that doesn't bode well when ol'John is on the loose. Stay tuned to find out more!

Fired!

John has a real problem with Vampires.

Been a while between updates so here's a taste! John hates all monsters but has a particularly special hatred for Vampires. So when John found out Dynacorp was run by Vampires he thought he'd drop by unannounced for a visit.

Tiny Drawings of Big Monsters

For those unfamiliar with them, Thumbnails are the rough sketches you do in the planning stages of an illustration or, in this case, a storyboard. It's a very quick way to get an idea down and work it out before diving into a more finished drawing.

I threw a quarter in the shot so you can get a sense of the scale. Keeping them small is important to me for a couple reasons:

1. This is the step closest to the idea. Quite often drawing them is a mad dash just trying to keep up with the flow of ideas. If I keep them nice and small it allows me a quicker response to the initial idea and forces me to keep things simple - which brings me to my second point...

2. Clarity. You need to make sure that your idea is being stated clearly. Comics/films are a visual medium and if the audience can't follow with the pictures alone, you're not taking advantage of a tremendous opportunity. With comics and animation it's an incredible challenge to get the audience to care about your characters. They're drawings (or in the case of computer animation, Puppets). Your challenge is not just to get the audience to believe in your world, but to engage and care about the characters - to feel. If you've set up a confusing shot that an audience can't visually follow or is sending mixed messages, you're shooting yourself in the foot. With a small drawing there's no room for unnecessary detail and you're forced make sure the idea is stated simply and clearly.

And now back to killing monsters ;)

Stay tuned!

John Helsing...

Hey folks! So the idea is to use this place to share the making of the John Helsing book up until it's release next Spring. I'll do my best to keep the posts spoiler free but if people begin acting up, I'll spoil this whole thing I swear to God...

So above is the final image for John's design with colour. It was important for me that this design reflected the tone of the book. So the idea with John (and the rest of the designs) was to have him gritty but at the same time feel animated. So hopefully people will believe it when on one page John's in a room having an emotional conversation and then in the next, he's swinging from a rope tied to a monster flying through the city streets.

John Helsing: The Monster Murdering Bastard!!! TEASER!!!

It Begins!

Welcome to the home of John Helsing: The Monster Murdering Bastard!!!

A man, Hell bent on revenge, traverses the globe looking to rid the world of the creatures that took so much from him. But can he emerge clean from such a filthy job? Stay tuned to find out!

Here I'll be posting updates, concepts, and new art for the up coming graphic novel. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do making it!

~Dave