Character Designs for new comic...

Over a year ago, a friend of mine talked about an idea her husband, another friend of mine, had for a comic. I loved the idea so much that, even though I had barely drawn in years, I said I'd love to draw it. I came up with some sketches for the main character, and then various things happened in my life that stopped me from continuing with the comic. So now, it is November 2007, and I have some free time on my hands, and a script from my friend that has been revised since I last tried to design characters for it. So here are some initial designs for the main character, Gered - who I'm trying to make dorky and accessible, but still cute. Someone I worked with once said something that I found to be very interesting and telling about one very actory (and therefore annoying) actor. He said that even though this actor was playing someone who's supposed to be the kind of person that everyone gets along with, the actor himself wasn't the kind of person you'd want to go out and have a beer with. So, I want Gered to be the kind of dude you'd love to talk with over a beer - and think that he's cute enough to get a kiss from later. I've been going through different hair styles, but after talking with my friend about what he's going for, I believe short is best - and anyway, when I tried longer styles, Gered was quickly going into super-hipster-douche land, instead of superhero-dork land (check out the drawing of the dude with the longish hair and the snicker. Exactly). My favorite design that I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with is of the guy with short hair and the nice smile who's looking straight at the viewer. He knows he's the favorite!

It's funny, the whole not-drawing-in-years-thing... see, I was once a bigger dork than I am now. How can I back up all of this dork talk? Well, I went to what I guess you could call a magnet high school with a focus on the arts from sophomore to senior year, with other people at various levels of dorkiness. I drew ALL the time. Every day. Even in the classes that were straight academics like English and Math, I would draw my classmates on my lined paper alongside whatever notes I'd take during class. I'd fill up with my drawings 11x14 inch notebooks monthly. MONTHLY. On the weekends 90% of the time I wouldn't go out (I didn't have a car, and growing up in Southern California and all, that really put a cramp on my social life), but instead would lock myself up in my room, listening to overly sentimental music as I drew until 3am. I was madly in love with art, and making it. I had a drawing teacher once say something that I'll never forget: He told us as casually as could be that he hadn't drawn in years. I remember looking at him wide-eyed and horrified, along with some other equally art-crazed classmates. Never drawn in years? I couldn't go a day without drawing, let alone several years! Drawing to me was like breathing. What was wrong with him? Then, I went to college and studied film. I tried to keep drawing, but I couldn't. I was writing (crappy) scripts, making (crappy) shorts, and using other outlets for my creativity that didn't involve drawing. Worst of all, I felt like I plateaued and wasn't especially improving that much when I drew. So I said, screw it, and stopped, except for the occasional doodle. The love was still there, but it was no longer capable of making my heart race as it once did. I then understood all too well in my 20s in a way that I couldn't at 17 how that drawing teacher could stop drawing and keep going with his life. Then a couple of years ago I started reading comics again. Not a ton, really on average about once a year, but when I did read I'd look at the line work on the well-drawn stuff and sigh, remembering the heady days of drawing every day, of wanting to be an animator, of drawing being so much of what formed my identity. Of my endless potential. Last year I somewhat got out of the creative funk that had plagued me since I graduated college and made a decent short as a result of different things that were happening in my life at the time. It felt wonderful to make it. But one of the best things was realizing that my talents hadn't atrophied in my 20s, that I was still capable of good things, maybe even great things. My potential is still there. Realizing that couldn't have been more thrilling, liberating, and a welcome relief from the fears that I had of mediocrity and sucking all those years. And if I do suck, well, who cares - it's still fun to create something.

So I see doing this comic as finding out what else I'm capable of artistically. And also, it was a dream of mine back in high school to do a comic at least once, so it'll be fun to finally actually do one. Plus, my friend's script is dope so it's going to be a pleasure to illustrate it. Fun!