MERCER: The Making of a Comic Book Cover

So, getting back on track...

You deserve two posts this week as I was unable to do one last week. Here's the second :) ;

After my first two initial character sketches, and countless hours working out the details of the story, I felt it was time to do a pin up of the comic. Something that stood out, told a story in itself, and looked cool.

I had a clear picture of what I wanted, and began the initial sketch. This one was done at A5 size. (Picture 1)

I then copied it and blew it up to A3, then light boxed it onto a comic art board (Picture 2)

When I completed this, it was over to the talented Ander Zarate (http://zaratus.deviantart.com/) to work his magic with the colors.

When an artist (or atleast me) draws a picture they sometimes have a clear and precise view of what they intend the final colors to look like. To be honest, sometimes its not entirely clear, but I know what I want when I see it. This sometimes means re-work. This one was was clear to me, and was only re-worked once, and then I asked the background to be lightened as I wanted our hero MERCER to 'pop'. (Picture 3)

I think Ander did an amazing job.

Hope you like it!

Best

Picci8

...

I created this blog to document the process of my comic book Mercer. But if it's ok with you, I'm going to stray a little off topic for one post.

At 4.20pm on Thursday 16th February, I received some unexpected news, and my life was thrown into limbo. Everyone goes through their fair share of hurt, in one way or another. I have definitely experienced some of my own, but not like this, and never thought I'd be in this same position once again.

They say life changes every 7 or so years. I'm definitely not the person I was at 21. That guy was, well, 21 (mentally closer to 16 :) ). Funnily, I still had the same dream, but no clue of how to get there. In fact, I didn't even know what I wanted out of life, besides of course, a career as an artist.

Those things seem a little clearer for me now. In the past year I've realised what I want. I've gained a sense of clarity, now it is the time to simply work on getting there.

Though as I mentioned, the events of that Thursday were unexpected. It left me feeling empty, and I'm left finding myself all over again. Only this time I still know what I want, I just need to find a way to obtain it, in some form or another.

My advice to you all? Find out who you are, and what you want to achieve in this lifetime, and give up nothing for it. Never waver, and never place it second, not even for the person you love. Because if they love you, they'll stick with you no matter how hard it gets. Once you've found you, and achieved what you set out to, then let love in. If you are in the rare position that you have someone who loves you and grows with you through time, and you form a great team, then I say to you, don't ever take it for granted. Appreciate it. Hold onto it.

I've been thinking about Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement speech where he says;

'You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.'

To be honest I don't know where this fits with me, and I don't know what the future holds. Im trying to connect the dots but they don't make sense just yet. Im sure they will. I am definitely not the type of person to move backwards, and always look forwards. But in my recent past I see lots of good. Some great. And if that was to ever come back into my life again, I will consider it. But it'll have to begin with a crawl, until it can begin to walk.....

I want to thank all of you who have begun following this blog, and/or taken to the time to read it. Or simply taken the time to speak to me this past week. I appreciate it so much.

Love,

Dan

THE BEST FRIEND..

So we've introduced JOHN MERCER, and now here is his partner and good friend, NATHAN KILLGORE.

KILLGORE, nicknamed 'Killer', is also an ex-NAVY SEAL, and was selected alongside Mercer to undertake BUD/S training (Basic Underwater Demolition School/SEAL), a gruelling 25 week course that pushes the body to its physical and mental limits. It is aimed at producing graduates who have an enhanced repertoire of SEAL skills, ready for use upon arrival at an operational SEAL team.

They were both members of SEAL TEAM 7 for four years, leading their team into worn torn areas of Iraq searching for weapons of mass destruction and intel.

Although both highly skilled, they will be tested and pushed to their limits with an invisible enemy neither are ready for.

Picci8

THE MAIN MAN

So after I found a writer it was time to work out story details, and I could also get to the fun part; the characters!

The main protagonist is named JOHN MERCER. An ex Navy Seal with an impeccable track record. Highly skilled and trained, who lead his team into the Iraqi green zone in 2003 in search of weapons of mass destruction. He is now retired, living in southern California. For the time being.....

This pic was to simply get the overall style/flavor down. His face will slightly change, and his outfit is not solid yet, but will be a variance of this right here.

Enjoy

Picci8