graphic novel journal
01.17.10
OK, in case I did not make it clear in previous posts, it’s official. My thesis is a graphic novel. I have, at least, tacit endorsement from the faculty, a fairly articulate presentation and a plan of attack.
My book list is growing. Some of these titles would never in a hundred years have occurred to me to read. Now, however, that I’m embarking on writing my own, the study of form and the observation of the maestros seems critical. There’s more here than meets the eye; much more. The book list is broken into two parts: books that analyze comics (a graphic novel is a comic, a comic is sequential art intended to tell a story, and some argue that a single frame constitutes a comic also), and graphic novels (most of which started out as comics with a “story arc” that continued from issue to issue and then they were compiled into a single bound edition and bestowed with the name graphic novel). That was their intent all along.
Anyway, I’m immersing myself in this right now. What it is, and what’s going on inside it is a rich visual language with conventions, and icons, and devices that communicate to those who are willing to discover within that language the story being told. Japanese is a language. Visually, it uses pictures that represent concepts that form thoughts and mental images that represent words. Comics employ a language as well. It’s not all spelled out for you the way a literary novel does it with page after page of descriptive exposition. In a comic the same description could easily be a single frame. In the graphic novel you see what the literary novel says. This well is deep. There are not only thousands of comics and graphic novels. There are hundreds of scholarly examinations of the art form, its history and the language of comics.
WInter quarter at OSU. As the process lays out. This is my quarter to immerse myself in the art form, to understand what is at work and hopefully expose myself to the best examples in the medium.
Since this is going to be a digital creation using CG, I’m also trying to polish my visual chops, learning new software and polishing my fluency on stuff I already know.
Finally, I’m trying to — at least — figure out my story line so I can begin to think in terms of character development and visualization.
More on process some other time.
This is a great ambition. I hope your project comes along well – I’ve been going at a graphic novel of my own for a while, and stories like yours always intrigue me. I hope your project works out! Good luck and don’t quit on it!
I put a link up to this on my blog (which doesn’t look half as good as yours – yours looks awesome).
http://zombie-dinosaurs.blogspot.com/2011/03/behind-scenes-with-nick-bertozzi.html
Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the the support! I’m in it for the long haul. Stay tuned. Best of luck with your project, also.
Hooray! I can’t wait to read about your process. What a fantastic adventure.
As for graphic novels, if they’re not already on your list, I’d highly recommend Jeff Smith’s “Bone” series, Joe Kelly’s “Bad Dog” (sadly on hiatus) and Joe Kelly’s “I Kill Giants.” Excellent story-telling and art all around.
Thanks Schwabby! Bone was on my list but I was unaware of the other two. I’ve been deep into the theory part of it like Scott McCloud and Will Eisner, but I have managed to knock out some of the classics: Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor, Moore& Gibbon’s Watchmen (of course), Spiegelman’s Maus I & II, Satrapi’s Persepolis, Venditti’s Surrogates, and two from Darwyn Cooke’s Parker series. It’s a new career.