Two years of living Graphic Novelly – redux, Part 8

I some ways I feel very lucky to be both writer and artist on my graphic novel projects. When writing I see the scenes in my mind and the movement of the characters in my mental visualization of the environment they occupy. I make notes along with the dialogue of the scenes to record my thoughts on how the artwork will be rendered. It is very satisfying to have control over the artwork and the overall look of the novel. I do not have to try and convey my vision to an artist and trust that the art work will be what I hope for.

On the other hand, working alone and without other creative vision, I feel the limitations of it being me, me, me. I often think that another artist would see the scene differently and that their rendering would be far better and something I would never come up with. As a graphic novel reader, I pay attention to the artwork of other artists and find some artists are not only able to carry the story and provide beautiful visuals, but that they bend space and time. Some scenes are nearly 3 dimensional, giving you multiple simultaneous views. The artwork is seamless and stunning. Some of my favourite artists are Fiona Staples for her work in the Saga series written by Brian K. Vaughan and for Bill Willingham’s Fables series when illustrated by Mark Buckingham. There are scenes that Mark Buckingham has drawn that I keep going back to and studying to see, not only how he drew them, but how he even conceived them. I find Fiona Staples peerless in her artwork. Each frame is beautiful. I admire her use of colour and composition. Emotional expressions are perfect and the characters are compelling because of it.

So, someday, it would be great to work with another creative mind and see what would happen.