Random Fandom: Blast From The Past

Opening up my old portfolios, I've found some of my older work from my days at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Completed in the 2007-2008 year, these are from my own personal project during my internship with Peter Gross that summer, a Superhero Comics workshop with Andy Schmidt in the fall, Comic Three and my Senior Project classes with Barb Schulz.

Killdove: Spreading the Love

One of the best things about working on Killdove is the chance to constantly improve my work. In an effort to present the best visuals possible, I'm always running them by Eric first. After giving me his painfully concrete feedback and insight, I make sure I get what he needs to make his story work. Here is a perfect example.

The fifth page of Kill dove involved the main character, Kevin, seeing into the future, and going through all the possible encounters with the bad guy. Each one resulted in his death. Eric had on one page 12 panels showcasing this, but I felt one page would be too small. So, I opted to make it a two page spread, Eric liked this idea. But then, I came up with an even bigger, bolder attempt: a three-page spread. This way, in my mind, I could get all four of Kevin's visions on the page, and even fit in a money shot of the character reacting!

After a few stubborn renderings of the various images, I was able to compile the final image used in our pitch.

Not being content, Eric brought up and excellent idea: Thought balloons instead of tiers and have Kevin looking at the reader. Genius! My first re-working had Kevin putting his hands on his head, as if reacting to the sudden rush of telepathic visions. But, Eric felt just having him looking forward in the same pose I originally had would be better. As always, he was right.

Killdove: Opening Pitch

Okay kiddies, here's a blast from the past! When I initially took on the Killdove project, I wasn;t quite sure what to expect. The writer, Eric, had a massive story with lots of layers and characterization. What's a recent art student to think?

Instead of starting at the very beginning, Eric and I decided to produce a few pages, just to see what kind of look we could produce. He opted to send me a few pages of script to work from, which was from about the middle or so of his overall story. It involved time-traveling back from the middle ages, dimension hopping creatures, and ninja swords.

Upon further review, Eric decided that while presentable, he wanted to start from a different point.

Fortunately, these pages serve as somewhat of a reminder of what Killdove can become.