comic book 1a

OUTLINE BRIEFThe main theme for this project is to make a comic book based on

mythology with modern twist to it. I will be working towards a story

board from an existing mythology story. Even though my storyboard

will be based on an existing mythological story, I will be making my own

mythological character designs such as creatures, people and

illustrations to go with it. My final outcome will be constructed using

Quark Express, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photo-

shop. I will be making two, double page spreads including, a front cover

for my comic book. But if I do happen to complete the first two spread-

sheets in time, I will continue to add extra spreadsheets in my comic

book.

I hope to present my project on a monitor in the centre of my show

space along side with a comic book. I have also discussed my ideas and

concept of my final major project with my tutors.

Some of my earliest idea is to take scenery from exiting movies such as

Clash of the Titan or Jason and the Argonauts and re illustrative it in

comic book using my own character designs.

TARGET AUDIENCETo the young generation mythology seems to appear as insignificant or

not important, so the main aim and target of this project is get the

younger generation interested in myth. The main target audience is 13

years and above.

INFLUENCE/MOTIVATIONI will be carrying on my research from the following below:

Mythology (myth creatures and mythology from different country)

Films (Clash of the Titan)

History of Comic such as Golden age of comics and Silver age of

comics.

Comic Books (Method of colouring)

Colourist

Inkist

Tatto Artist

The underground comics of the 60’s such Marvel, DC and Dark

House

1930’s character – Actions – Batman, Superman and Bob Kane.

Ink and Iron (http://www.ink-n-iron.com/)

Website

www.keithompsonart.com

www.simoncpage.com

Imagine fx

Gigart and Gigart Posters (http://www.gigart.com/)

Gnomon workshop

ACTION PLANWeeking Ending: 26 FEBRUARY

Between now the ending of this week, I carry on various research to

gained inspirational ideas and concept behind comic book designing and

the historical content of mythology. Through out the research, I will

discuss on the layout and composition of comic books, character design,

the mood been created, the use of brushwork and colours.

Weeking Ending: 26 March

After been influenced and motivated by the work of others, I will move

on in sketching my ideas and concept basing on a existing mythology

movie. I will start off by working the character and the background

design. I will make sure to use a variety of art techniques such, lino

prints, dry point printmaking, spray-painting and mono printing. I will

experiment with traditional paintwork using acrylic paint, watercolours

and inks.

Weeking Ending: 28 May

By beginning of this week, I will work main design using my sketch work

as the base. Using softwares such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photo-

shop, Adobe Acrobat and Quark Express, I will complete my comic

book design. After my illustration and designs are completed, I will me

visiting printing companies to get some quotes in the cost of printing

and an advise on the best way to present my final major project in ex-

hibition. An other alternative of presenting my work will be on a inter-

active smart board which will be made using Adobe Acrobat.

P r o p o s a l K w a k u A n k a p o n g

C O M I C B O O K B A S E D O N M Y T H O L O G YW I T H A M O D E R N T W I S T

F i n a l Ye a r B T E C N a t i o n a l G r a p h i c D e s i g n

T H E P A I N T I N G S O F J O S H K I R B Y

I n T h e G a r d e n O f U n e a r t h l y D e l i g h t s

K w a k u A n k a p o n g



L i n e l Yu

LINELYULinel Yu has produced a variety of creative and imaginative illustrations

and digital artworks. His style of artwork is totally different compared

to other previous artists. Linel Yu designs, I supposed most aspects of

his illustration have been created traditionally or hand made. I was

inspired with most his background, which I would like to experiments

with ink, acrylic paints, graphic pens, crayons, pencil colours, water-

colours and others in creating my comic book. Through out, I noticed

Linel uses warm colours and earthly colours. In creating my comic book,

I would created a style of my own and record it, using the action plan

in Photoshop. With my designed recorded, I will repeat the style on

other sketch images or photographs. I was inspired and motivated by

Linel Yu’s designs to use such an ideal.

.




C a r l o s E z q u e r r a

CARLOS EZQUERRACarlos Ezquerra is the creator of the violent “Judge Dredd”comic. He

was in Spain but lived in England in most of his life. In 1977, he began

working in British comics. “Judge Dredd”, was written by John Wagner

and Pat Mills but made its first appearance in 2000 AD magazine. Besides

”Judge Dredd”, Carlos designed the graphics for Bloody Mary, Strontium

Dog, and Al’s Baby.

I decided to intensively research on this particular artist because I

admired his style and hope, his work may have influence through out

my comic book. I also admire his attention to detail in every aspect

through out every process i.e. from pencilling, inking and colouring.

Coming across “Judge Dredd” comics motivated me, to study most of

his work.

I presume all his digital artwork have been completed and finalized on

Photoshop. I noticed that most of Carlos’s characters have vibrant and

dominant colours. Also he represents creases on his characters by inner

glow, tinted or blur. I like the page layout style he uses in creating his

comic pages. I also took notice that most of his colouring texture has

spray-painting effect on the character custom. I was also inspired with

his background style, which I presume, he uses different brush stokes

and scattered brush effects to form. I also presumed some aspects of

his designs; he uses photographs, which were manipulated in Adobe

Photographs. By looking at and focusing at his artwork, I suppose Carlos

experiment with image adjustment filters and artistic effects. Since the

colours of his characters are bright and vibrant, most his background

have warm and calm colours which makes the characters stand out,

which is an aspect which I would like pay attention to in creating my

comic book. I would like use 3 dimensional effects, especially on the

background effect. I would also make sure to pay major attention on

tonal colours or skin tones. Some of his design appears or seems like

it was constructed in Adobe Illustrator. I assume, he uses the flare tool

to complete sections of his digital artwork.




D a v e M c K e a n

DAVE MCKEANMcKean is best known for creating graphic novels, which includes his

bestselling Arkham Asylum. He also creates hundreds of graphics for

CD’s, comic covers and books. Besides his own projects, he collabo-

rates with other artist such Neil Gaiman in designing the comic book

cover of “Sandman”.

Most of Dave McKean written books deal with superstition and

mythology. Also his illustrations are based mix media (photography, art-

work and digital illustration) approach. I was mostly inspired with his

photography of materials and image manipulations of textures. He also

uses seems to like overlapping layers and different concept together

which I presume, attract viewers. In creating my comic book, I will ex-

periment with overlapping manipulated images to create a creative and

effective, sceneries and backgrounds. I will also experiment with image

adjustment, to create similar outcomes like Dave Mckean’s illustration.




Comic Book Covers

Graphic Novels

C l a s h O f T h e T i t i a n s K w a k u A n k a p o n g



J a c k K i r b y K w a k u A n k a p o n g

JACK KIRBY. Jack Kirby is one the most influential and significant illustrator and

comic book creator. The following are Captain America, the X-Men, The

Incredible hulk, the Fantastic Four, The Silver Surfer, The Mighty Thor

and hundreds of other characters.

I also researched on Jack Kirby’s comic character collections and comic

book covers, to get inspirational ideas for my comic book. I noticed in

most of his comic book covers has a mix media twist to it. I do like

how he incorporates his paintings, photography and sketch work to-

gether to create his comic book covers. I observed particular on his

background artwork, which I found very inspiring. I presume, Jack Kirby

created his background using a variety design techniques such using tra-

ditional artwork, image manipulations and digital artwork. He mixes

colours from swatches library and uses gradient tool, and mesh tool in

creating his background. I do also admire, how he combines tonal

colours in his character design. Through out all Kirby’s work, I notice

he combines all his work using Adobe Illustrator, Indesign and Adobe

Photoshop.

I was also inspire with his inking of characters and illustrations.



R e s e a r c h ( W h a t i s M y t h )




WHAT IS MYTHOLOGYMythos (myth) from the Greek work means story, therefore mythol-

ogy is the study of myth. Myth also refers to the story tales, which talk

about the origination of the universe and humanity. Mythology is also

seen as a distinctive characters of particular

cultures, whiles some consider myth as “ancient “and “dead” and other

regards it as “contemporary” and “alive”. Science and myth both provide

the explanation of the universe. Whiles science can provide a test on

the creation of the universe; mythology cannot provide an evidence of

it. Science depends on the frequent update of general knowledge whiles

as mythology is based mainly on belief.

The following are the general concepts involving the definition of

mythology;

Mythologies are sometimes narrated as a scared nature, which may

include superstition, cultures, rituals and religious belief.

Myths are in connection with the foundation, the origin and the creation

of the universe.

It also often heroic characters such as super humans and gods

They are representative ways of understanding nature. Mythology does

represent the contrast between lightness and darkness.

Mythology CreaturesAfrican MythIn Africa most people believe the earth as a female goddess, which looks

after of people and all things. They believe e the earth lives and produce

births to new generation. She (The female goddess) provides rain for

plants to grow, which serves food for humans. Many parts of African

peoples believe their ancestor; still live their houses similar to them on

a different surface, where they also won their own properties such as

cattle, farms and absorb their food from the grassroots beneath the

earth. They believe the earth controls and rule over life and death.

When the earth (female goddess) is upset, she takes actions by moving

the forest, sea and mountains to cause disaster (punishment).

Jok(The concept of the divine)Jok means the concept of divine, (spirit or gods) which is used by all

Nilotic Languages. They Nilotic language include Kenya, Uganda and

Sudan. The word “Jok “is spelt different by different countries (Juok,

Joagh, Joghi, Joogi and Jwok).

ElephantIn Africa most mythology stories told are based on big animal such

elephants. With size of the elephant, which makes it appear very strong

in nature and also appear fearful to other animals. In most Africa

mythology stories, the elephant is described as kind and unselfish. The

Ashanti’s from Ghana relates an elephant as the chief of the community.

And if they happen to come across a dead elephant in the forest, an

arranged funeral is provide to it bury it.

K w a k u A n k a p o n gA d a m H u g h e s

ADAM HUGHESHughes is well known for his stylized makings of women such as super

heroines and figures in fantasy illustrations. Most of his work is best de-

scribes as the new generation of the “Good Girl Art”. He was inspired and

motivated by Petty, Vargas and Elvgren.

FIGURE 1

To create similar design, I will begin off by sketching out my ideas and

concept for the background, which will serve as the base of design. The

sketch work will be scanned in Adobe Illustrator. I will use the pen tool

and brush tool to trace around the scanned in sketch work. With the

outlines and structure of the background drew, I will apply colour to it

by using colours from swatch library. Using colours from swatch library,

I will use gradient tint (which allows me to mix three or more colours

together). With other areas, I will use the mesh tool to add fine and

smooth surface. I will download or take photographs of buildings and

models. Similar to the background, I will sketch the outline of the central

image of design and ink the black areas. But this time, I will be using

Photoshop to finalize the central image. Using filters and effects such

as, halftone patterns, colour pencil, cutout, colour pencil and other ef-

fects.

FIGURE 2

I was inspired particular out this artwork, because of the perfection and

smooth colouring. I like colour combination of this design, even though

there was only two or three colours used. The colour coordination is

settle and standouts. I will presume Adam Hughes used softwares such

as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop in creating his designs and artwork.

FIGURE 3

I decided to this particular illustration to discuss about because of the,

composition of the design. I do find the background artwork very in-

spiring and vibrant which makes the central image of illustration stand

out.

I presume traditional acrylic painting or a digital artistic effect (cutout

effect) was made to the background. To add colour to the central image

of this design, I will experiment with tonal colours from the swatches

library and smooth brushes from the brush palette. I will also experi-

ment using the mesh tool and gradient tint to add finishing touches to

the design. And I will finally, add shadows to some essential aspect of

the illustration.

FIGURE 4

I was particular inspire and admire the background for this illustration.

Even though it appears very simple, it’s effective and makes the colours

of central image stand out. To create similar style of background, I will

start off by opening new document in Adobe Illustrator and open es-

sential tool palette (gradient tool, brush palette and bright colours from

the swatch library).

Most ofAdam’s illustration has vibrant colours, smooth colours and has

detailed aspects to it. I was inspired with his backgrounds style and skin

tonal effects applied on the characters. I presume, he uses inner glow

effects and variety of artistic effect to make his illustrations, appear very

realistic and stand out. His illustrations have smooth outline, curve out-

lines and effective inking is style, which I would like to adopt through

out my comic book.



Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 3

H i s t o r y O f C o m i c s

A comic is a narrative story presented in sequential images

(graphics). Most comic books combines with images and words in

speech balloons. Comics originally began in United States in the early

20th century. Although the idea and concept of designing a comic began

in 1920’s, but it officially became well known and seriously studied in

the 20th and early 21 century. Around the 20th century, it was designed

mostly in newspaper comic strip. Comic strips began more popular and

were soon combined together, to create a comic books. It spread

around the globe, from Japan (the world most largest comic culture)

to Korea and Europe.

Rodolphe TopfferRodolphe’s work was regarded as inspiring and motivational in designing

page layouts for comics.

Rodolphe Topffer is a francophone Swiss artist who designed sequential

illustration stories in 19th century. Even though around the late 19th

speech balloons were not established, Rodolphe work’s was influenced

by most and was reprinted all over Europe and United States.

Little Sammy Sneeze(1904–06) by Winsor McCay

Winsor McCay was an American cartoonist and animator, who became

best known for creating the newspaper comic strip “Little Nemo in

Slumberland”. He was inspired and motivated by generational artist in-

cluding Chris Ware, William Joyce, Moebius and Bill Watterson.

A massive market for comic books was soon followed close after comic

strips in 1938. Around this time, action comics were launched with su-

perman as cover feature. This comic genre became popular in American

comic and also became the main style for most America comics.

After The World War 2 Osamu Tezuka established manga comic (it was

the country’s about the tradition of Japan). It became hugely popular

across the globe. Osamu Tezuka expanded the page count into hun-

dreds. During 20th century comics became one the most popular item

collections.

Bill Conselman and Charles PlumbBill Conselman and Charles Plumb’s (Sunday Comics)

This comic strip shows space writers and artists (Bill Conselman, Ella

Cinders and Chris crusty) were provided in newspaper to produce

comic strips during 1930’s and 1940’s.




Little Sammy Sneeze (1904–06) by Winsor McCay

Rodolphe Topffer

Bill Conselman and Charles Plumb’

H e r b Tr i m p e

HERB TRIMPEHerb is Marvel artist who is best recognized for his designing for “The

Incredible Hulk”. After a year in Vietnam and few years as a student at

Visual Arts in Manhattan, he joined Marvel in 1967. He also worked for

comic books such G.I Joe and A Real American Hero. Herb Trimpe has

occasionally returned to pencilling.

Most of his comic pages are effective which will have influence through

out my Final Major project. I mostly inspired with the page layout, inking

of scenery and comic speech text. The brushstrokes and the use of pen

tool provide a fine outline and detailed aspects to each scene. The ty-

pography used will have major influence in creating my comic pages. I

will make sure to experiment with different font styles and use typog-

raphy terminology to make my page legible and readable. Through this,

I also noticed that inking your comic is the main aspect of comic book

because it makes it easier, when colouring pages later on.

In creating my comic, I will make sure not too sue too much colours

but rather experiment with colour contrast and brightness. Simplistic

background mostly, makes characters and central images of illustration

stand out against and also show off the image.


