Thursday, December 30, 2010
Episode 0 Page 3
Page 3
Here you can see the process behind how a page of ZSB is completed. I normally draw a rough sketch of the layout and then in Photoshop refine the design of the page and then do the final drawing. One of the big things about ZSB is that I've been experimenting with doing panels or scenes in different styles using the pacing and character design to tie them all together.
For example Mirai's grandfather, King Cadillac, is supposed to exude an aura of majesty and classical romanticism, and so his panels are made to have a more painterly quality to them. So far, this take on the art in the story has been very successful and eduacation for me, and has pushed me into new territory as an artist.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Episode 0 Page 2
Page 2.
With this page I wanted to get something that resembled my friend, Cheeks' art style. His style has a really loose, active feel to it and he has really subdued, deep color palettes.
For the most part I think that came out well on this page. I had also previously spent alot of time going back and forth between stylistic vs. realistic looking zombies for this story. Right now, I'm going with the stylisitc zombies because I think they can be just as creepy as something that is photo correct, it's just all about the set up of the image. Hopefully, I've succeeded on that end as well.
In the end, I was really happy that I was able to get the end result to resemble the storyboard so closely. You can the storyboard below.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Episode 0 Page 1
Page 1
So, I've been kicking the ZSB idea around now for a couple of years. Jed Desuka, the editor/ webmaster of GW and me came up with idea one day while I was visiting him, which was inturn based off of a completely random topic of conversation developed by two of my best friends while they were at work. The idea of "Zombie Shark Bear" was so cool I knew I had to run with it somehow.
So, while we had the concept and the barebones version of the story down, how the story would actually be told was something that was up for debate; as was the art style of the comic. I knew I wanted something different from Gremlin World, but what I knew I wanted to get out of it was beyond my grasp at the time. It wasn't until I saw a friend from Deviant Art's digital inking tutorial that I had the epiphany that brought it all together.
Below is one of the early drafts of the first page of ZSB, while it does have some stylistic similarities to the final version, I don't think it has the cohesion of the final piece, which I'm quite happy with and think it has a nice, dreamy kind of quality to it.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Episode 0 Cover
Here is the cover of Zombie Shark Bear Episode 0.
This page was really simple to make, actually, it's pretty much just the old "Coming Soon" image on a black background. Since I wanted the artwork in the chapter to speak for itself, I decided that a simpler cover page would work well. I also like the way Mirai's eyes contrast with the rest of the image.
The original teaser illustration I took Mirai's picture from is below.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Pending Updates
Okay, so I have a new plan!
This upcoming week, I will be posting ZOMBIE SHARK BEAR Episode 0 and Episode X here on the Production Blog and will giving some commentary on each page with each update! I'll also be showing the storyboards for some of the pages and may even include alternate versions of scenes if I still have those available! Please make sure to check out these updates!
This upcoming week, I will be posting ZOMBIE SHARK BEAR Episode 0 and Episode X here on the Production Blog and will giving some commentary on each page with each update! I'll also be showing the storyboards for some of the pages and may even include alternate versions of scenes if I still have those available! Please make sure to check out these updates!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
ZOMBIE SHARK BEAR 1 LAUNCH
So in case you hadn't gotten a chance to read it, the first chapter of Zombie Shark Bear (Episode 0) is up for your reading/browsing/viewing pleasure at my pixiv account and on my Deviant Art account. Please check them out when you've got a minute by clicking on these links:
PIXIV and DEVIANT ART
PIXIV and DEVIANT ART
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Character Development: Mirai Samekuma
In this post, we'll take a look at the origins and design history for Zombie Shark Bear's main character and heroine, Mirai Samekuma.
The first interesting aspect of Mirai, in my opinion, his her name. It's Japanese. The reasons why I decided to go with a Japanese name for the character is a. the language allowed me to create an interesting pun to use to describe the character, and b. although the story takes place on a fictional world, it allows readers to easily picture the character by making a cultural analog to people of that world.
Mirai's first name means future, which says alot about the type of person she is. She is a character that has gone through a considerable amount of grief, but will still continue on toward the future.
Her last name is a merging of the words shark and bear- because she's a Zombie Shark Bear.
Design-wise, Mirai has taken a very long time to develop. It really wasn't the personal details that were tricky to figure out, actually Mirai's final design doesn't vary too much from her initial concept.
Her dress has been more or less the same since her second draft, and her facial scars have always been a part of the character. She has also always been a slight character, with a very petite build and a baby face, I did this in order to make her different from Pai Bunny in Gremlin World. Whereas Pai is fit, active and muscular, Mirai is delicate and small, though she hides incredible power.
What was difficult to develop for Mirai, though, was the art style to render her in. Because Mirai is the main character, the art style she is rendered in is very important to the styling of the overall art in the project.
The first two efforts I made had her drawn up in a style similar to the Gremlin World art style, with the third example of the character being more Disney-esque and taking several stylistic ques from an artist I admire greatly, gueuzav. It was at this point, with the urging of 3D Johnny, one of the editors on the project, that I added Mirai's bear-feet, as well, to better illustrate that part of her character.
With version four of Mirai's design, I began taking a much more stylized approach with the character. This version eschewed the softness of previous attempts and introduced harder edges to the character. This direction stayed with Mirai through her next few design phases, which mostly dealt with variations on the character's body build, hair style and eyes- which at this point were given black sclera with varying irises.
Upon the seventh design variation of Mirai (which I had intended to be her last) I went back to using soft shapes on the character, but still kept the basic shape approach to the character. But she looked much too young in this rendition and I set about on an eighth design, which culminated in the final version of the character. This version also has a simplified hair style and a bow on her head, as well as having a black eye with red iris and a completely blank white eye.
The first interesting aspect of Mirai, in my opinion, his her name. It's Japanese. The reasons why I decided to go with a Japanese name for the character is a. the language allowed me to create an interesting pun to use to describe the character, and b. although the story takes place on a fictional world, it allows readers to easily picture the character by making a cultural analog to people of that world.
Mirai's first name means future, which says alot about the type of person she is. She is a character that has gone through a considerable amount of grief, but will still continue on toward the future.
Her last name is a merging of the words shark and bear- because she's a Zombie Shark Bear.
Design-wise, Mirai has taken a very long time to develop. It really wasn't the personal details that were tricky to figure out, actually Mirai's final design doesn't vary too much from her initial concept.
Her dress has been more or less the same since her second draft, and her facial scars have always been a part of the character. She has also always been a slight character, with a very petite build and a baby face, I did this in order to make her different from Pai Bunny in Gremlin World. Whereas Pai is fit, active and muscular, Mirai is delicate and small, though she hides incredible power.
What was difficult to develop for Mirai, though, was the art style to render her in. Because Mirai is the main character, the art style she is rendered in is very important to the styling of the overall art in the project.
The first two efforts I made had her drawn up in a style similar to the Gremlin World art style, with the third example of the character being more Disney-esque and taking several stylistic ques from an artist I admire greatly, gueuzav. It was at this point, with the urging of 3D Johnny, one of the editors on the project, that I added Mirai's bear-feet, as well, to better illustrate that part of her character.
With version four of Mirai's design, I began taking a much more stylized approach with the character. This version eschewed the softness of previous attempts and introduced harder edges to the character. This direction stayed with Mirai through her next few design phases, which mostly dealt with variations on the character's body build, hair style and eyes- which at this point were given black sclera with varying irises.
Upon the seventh design variation of Mirai (which I had intended to be her last) I went back to using soft shapes on the character, but still kept the basic shape approach to the character. But she looked much too young in this rendition and I set about on an eighth design, which culminated in the final version of the character. This version also has a simplified hair style and a bow on her head, as well as having a black eye with red iris and a completely blank white eye.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
THE LEGEND CONTINUES
The second half of the origin of Zombie Shark Bear begins now!!
So, after sometime was spent thinking about a project that'd be a nice aside to Gremlin World (which you should all go read here: http://gremlinworld.com) I decided I wanted to do something that was over-the-top violent and could deliver a high body count in its action scenes.
After some self imposed brainwashing with films by studio Gainax, I emerged from my room with an idea for a samurai epic where one man could contend with a whole army himself and come out unscathed. But it was missing something... an edge... I guess you could say.
After talking about the topic with my friend Jed, I suddenly remember the idea for a story featuring a Zombie Shark Bear! It was a topic that lent itself to violence, it was an idea so ridiculous it could ONLY be super-over-the-top, and having a zombie girl for a heroine seemed like a great idea, especially since Pepper from GW is so popular!
And from this conversation, ZOMBIE SHARK BEAR as it is today was born!
NEXT TIME, we take a look at the development of the main character, Mirai Samekuma!
So, after sometime was spent thinking about a project that'd be a nice aside to Gremlin World (which you should all go read here: http://gremlinworld.com) I decided I wanted to do something that was over-the-top violent and could deliver a high body count in its action scenes.
After some self imposed brainwashing with films by studio Gainax, I emerged from my room with an idea for a samurai epic where one man could contend with a whole army himself and come out unscathed. But it was missing something... an edge... I guess you could say.
After talking about the topic with my friend Jed, I suddenly remember the idea for a story featuring a Zombie Shark Bear! It was a topic that lent itself to violence, it was an idea so ridiculous it could ONLY be super-over-the-top, and having a zombie girl for a heroine seemed like a great idea, especially since Pepper from GW is so popular!
And from this conversation, ZOMBIE SHARK BEAR as it is today was born!
NEXT TIME, we take a look at the development of the main character, Mirai Samekuma!
Monday, April 5, 2010
ZSB BLOG LAUNCHES!
After nearly 3 years of work, the newest project from Aswembar Productions is nearly ready to launch!!
How did Zombie Shark Bear come about, you ask?
Well, to tell the truth, I wasn't ever originally part of this story, and I heard it from my friends when we were hanging out one night. So, as legend has it, the story goes that these two friends of mine were talking at work one day and one asked which was scarier, a shark or a bear? After a moment's pause, the other said "a zombie shark bear."
After hearing this, I thought this would be a great idea for a comic... and thus Zombie Shark Bear, or rather, that's the first half of it.... but we'll save part two for next time!!!
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