21. Another Echo In The Dark
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Hi, Everyone! I hope you’re all having some good times, laughing into the roaring mouth of madness.
I’ve been updating the bible of the full 404EVER world and timeline, everything that happened before the comic begins and everything that the story is leading towards. I’m fast approaching DUNE levels of world-building, but the trick will be to integrate it all into the comic in amusing and powerful ways. Despite it’s satirical roots, the 404EVER story does evolve and spiral out into some deep metaphysical mysteries.
The first episode is called: HEAVY META.
I’ve also spent some time creating and customizing a set of digital watercolor markers, brushes, and textures for the print version of 404EVER: The Phantom Pleasure. I had to test them out repeatedly, trying different techniques and drawing disparate scenes to make sure the new brushes and textures can do everything I need for the comic. I think it was worth the effort, as I now have a full set for characters, close ups on faces, rough or smooth textures, for large architecture; and so on.
You can see the versatility of the tools pretty well here:
And here’s a breakdown of the illustration:
And you can see a simplified version of these brushes and techniques in this early in-progress art (not finished with her face and background) from a page from the HEAVY META prologue:
Thank you all so much for your support of my art and this world. You’ve made it possible for me to work every free moment I have on this project, and I’m doing everything I can to produce the most entertaining end result possible. Also, I’ll be working with a talented partner(s?) on the printed version, which should really help make all the work more manageable.
Just for fun/practice, I did this quick sketch of Echo for my Phantom Pleasure Instagram:
This one was very much inspired by wonderful Hitrisisters (follow Hitri on Insta if you aren’t already).
For those of you who’ve been following me for a while, you’ll recognize Hitri’s art from the early days of 404EVER. This is one of my favorite pieces that Hitri did for the story:
Yutaka Minowa Interview by Cartoonist Kayfabe
Cartoonist Kayfabe (by Ed Piskor and Jim Rugg - Subscribe to them on youtube/Follow on Instagram!) just did a Japanese adventure and got to interview the humble living legend, Yutaka Minowa. He’s an animation director and character designer who probably helped to create your childhood, haha. His name doesn’t get celebrated as much as it should, but if you’ve seen the Five Star Stories film, Patlabor, Redline, Memories, Animatrix, (and tons of others); then you’ve seen his fantastic work.
One of my Ninja Scroll animation queries got asked, so listen for the Lordess question during the interview! Also, if you don’t know about studio MADHOUSE, find out.
My 2 favorite pieces from the Gojira Minus One Film Score (by Naoki Sato):
Divine (I love the way the chords take form and move around the high pitch, pedal tone note. It’s dreadful, almost to a spiritual degree.)
Honor (A more subtle piece of music, but so beautiful. I love the underwater andante arpeggio, and how the horns rise out of the waves in the distance.)
I got to see Gojira Minus One in the theatre recently. I don’t want to talk too much and spoil everything, but I really enjoyed it. I thought it perfectly illustrated how living with (unforgivable?) personal guilt, sin, and regret is a tunnel vision-inducing metaphysical nightmare. It makes us selfish and selfless at the same time. Go see it in the cinema, if you can…
That’s it for now, but I’ll be back soon with more work. Much love to you all <3
