At long last, the Footprints TPB should be in any comic shops that were on the ball enough to order it through Diamond. If you didn’t pre-order it (or if no one else did at your LCS), it might be hard to track down, but you can still tell your retailer to order it from Liber Distribution, buy it digitally on the 215 Ink iPad app (only $3 for the collection!!), or look for it soon on 215ink.com. If it becomes readily available any place else, I promise you’ll be hearing about it from me!
Footprints Script/Final Art Comparison – Part 2
It’s taken me a bit longer to get to the second part of this process blog up than I initially intended, but here we are! Check out Part 1 if you’re not sure what this is all about, but otherwise, read on! Please again note that this isn’t an exact representation of my script formatting, as WordPress opted to be a jerk about it.
PAGE TWO – (5 Panels)
PANEL 2.1
REVEAL of Bigfoot, still wet in his trench coat and fedora, with a look of complete shock upon his big hairy mug. He’s still holding his mail.
What we can see of his apartment is absolutely pristine. Fine vases neatly scattered about with original art hanging from the walls. No hint of dust, clutter, or grime. He’s either the cleanest Bigfoot on the planet or he’s got one hell of a cleaning lady.
FOOT (CAP):
GETTIN’ A LETTER FROM MY BROTHER THOUGH…
FOOT (CAP):
…WELL, I AIN’T ASHAMED TO SAY THAT I DAMN NEAR SHIT MYSELF.
As I mentioned in Part 1, the script I’m using for these blogs is essentially a shooting script, so there’s not a whole lot of differences between the script and what’s established on the pages, at least on my part. However, it’s notable here that in my description I say “the cleanest Bigfoot on the planet,” implying that there are, in fact, more than one of him. As you know from reading the book, this isn’t the case. As I went on and developed the characters in this issue, I realized the story works much better if these characters are THE characters we know as urban legends. Maybe there were more at one time or another (as Motheresa implies in issue #4, I think it is, where she refers to herself as “a mothperson”), but with these characters having survived “hundreds of years,” they have become the last of their species. So, the description I mentioned above is essentially a remnant of an earlier idea that was eventually scrapped.
As for the pristine/fine art aspect of his apartment (which Jonathan nailed), I just think it’s hilarious that this creature we typically associate with living in the wild as a savage is actually the complete opposite. He appreciates the human world and the things that come with it. And, judging from his taste, perhaps he’s a bit TOO indulgent (a sentiment reflected in issue #3).
This panel also holds Foot’s full reveal, in which he looks…. well, human! Just, you know, hairier. It’s not the most descriptive show of him — and I think Jonathan evolved his look to be even more definitive as the issues went on — but it establishes his look quickly and efficiently. Combined with the background details, I think this panel sums the character up rather quickly.
Continue reading “Footprints Script/Final Art Comparison – Part 2”
Footprints Script/Final Art Comparison – Part 1
In an effort to put worthwhile content on this blog that’s not entirely self-promotion, I thought I’d give a look at the process behind the making of Footprints and hopefully show off the nature of the collaboration between Jonathan and I. While I’m going to initially be using pages from Footprints #1 since it’s been available to read for free for quite some time, there were a lot of great instances of a sound partnership in the later issues, as Jonathan and I became better collaborators and, perhaps more importantly, friends. If this is something that might interest you as a fellow creator or just curious party, please read on!
Continue reading “Footprints Script/Final Art Comparison – Part 1”
GTFO 2011
I guess it’s become pretty standard for us all to reflect on the year that passed and get all sappy and thank everyone that helped us through the year. To that end, I immensely appreciate all of you that have supported me in the single biggest year of change in my life and all of my work on FOOTPRINTS and at IGN. I love you guys, from the bottom of heart. I honestly, truly do.
However, something always rubbed me the wrong way about reflecting on the year that was. Maybe that’s why I’ve always had a distaste for the New Years kerfuffle. I was proud of what I accomplished in 2010, but guess what? 2011 kicked its ass. I’m hoping that 2012 is about to do the same to 2011. As I mentioned before, 2011 saw more change in my life than ever before — new job, cross-country move, diminishing bank account, my first published comic — but I’m not interested in remembering the last year, I want to look forward to the next one. I want to do BETTER work, write MORE comics, and be generally more productive with my time.
And also, if you follow me on Twitter, you probably know how much I bitch and moan about LA. Yes, I hate it here. But I’m here for a job I love, so it’s time to suck it up and make the best of it.
With all that said, it’s time to GTFO 2011, because I’m ready to punch 2012 square in its groin.
Onto bigger and better everyone — Happy New Year.
Footprints Honorable Mention in USA Today’s ‘Best of 2011’
I’m about to type a sentence I didn’t think I would be:
FOOTPRINTS was given an honorable mention in USA Today‘s Best of 2011 feature in the “Best Comic You Might Not Be Reading” category. Holy crap! Not to mention that we’re mentioned alongside some of my favorite indie books at the moment (all of them from Image Comics) — Kurtis Wiebe and Riley Rossimo’s Green Wake, Joshua Fialkov and Brent Peeples’ Last of the Greats, and the winner: Mark Andrew Smith and Armand Villavert’s Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors.
I’m honored and elated to be listed alongside these folks and I hope this inspires some people to check out our book. Speaking of which, there’s only one week left to pre-order the Footprints trade paperback, so if you haven’t done it yet, tell your LCS! We’re in the Previews catalog on page 321, or you can order us online from Midtown Comics, TFAW, or any other online comics retailer.
Thanks to everyone for all of their support this year; here’s hoping 2012 will be even bigger!