Sunday, October 12, 2014

This Little Piggy: A Dusty Folk Opera

I had the immense pleasure of collaborating with the old Trout Puppet Workshop over the summer, creating a comic for the program of their latest show This Little Piggy. The deadline on this was crazy tight, but I am really pleased with how the story came out. Big thanks to Pete Balkwill for being a great collaborator on this, and helping to push my work into some strange new places.











CANADIAN PULP - Week 3: One Tough Cookie


Final


Initial Colours


Inks


Pencils


Rough Pencils 2


Rough Pencils 1


Second Rough


First rough

I went through a lot of roughs and revisions for this piece but I was pretty pleased with the final, so it was all worth it. I knew one of my pieces had to draw upon the pulp mythology of the femme fatale and I really wanted to spotlight a heroic lady from Canada's past. Marie Anne Gaboury was first on my mind. Probably known most famously for being the grandmother of Louis Riel, she was also a courageous adventurer, a real pioneer. You can read about some of her exploits here.

My first rough wasn't quite dynamic enough for me, so I revised it with Marie Anne in a more dynamic pose. My first crack at the pencils had her looking a little too posed, too regal. I wanted her too be tough, capable, strong. I nearly went with the initial colours for the final but realized at the last minute that it didn't quite have those pulp colours. So I jazzed it up a bit with some fiery reds and damn, if that didn't do the trick.

Next week: Mounties!

CANADIAN PULP - Week 2: Engines of Malice


Final Image


Inks


Pencils


Thumbnail

I'm a bit behind in updating my blog, but the CANADIAN PULP series for FFWD has wrapped up, so I'm jumping back on board the process wagon to show off the rest of the series. This image was inspired by horror films comics and definitely has that "Mignola vibe."

It refers to the story of how Dead Man's Flats, Alberta received it's name. There are a couple different legends about its dark origins but the one I chose involves two brothers who moved out West to do some logging. One became convinced that the other had planted electrical engines in the forest that were controlling his mind and actions, so he murdered his brother with an axe and dumped his body in the river. Chilling stuff. Perfect for Canadian Pulp!

Next week: Femme Fatale!