I mentioned in a previous post that for the major project I am going to create a piece that will fill some gaps in my portfolio and will be relevant work to show publishers at conventions, with whom I would like to work. My main interests are horror, science fiction and superheroes when it come to genres. As I already have The Lost Legionnaire under my belt and have done freelance Science Fiction comics in the past I want this project to be about Superheroes.
As such my main goals are:
- To create and draw a contemporary Superhero story drawing on what I have learned from The Superhero Module specifically and in general the other research modules on the course. This will include all the elements I consider necessary to Superhero stories such as Coogan's definition of Mission, Powers, and Identity, Reynolds ideas of extra effort and Science as Magic and the contrast between ordinary and extraordinary, a political element and an overarching theme being explored in the story.
- To include modern city environments, modern people, vehicles and technology as these things are currently lacking in my portfolio. I need to be able to show I can do these thing's effectively as well as just figure drawing or creatures. I think achieving this would result in my portfolio being quite complete.
- To have a female protagonist. Partly because I am much more comfortable drawing males and it's something I need more practice drawing but also partly because in the past whenever I have written characters they have always been men and I would like to challenge myself to do something different.
- To continue to experiment with page layouts and different ways of effectively communicating the story, again drawing on areas covered in the critical approaches module. I feel that previously I have focused a lot on simple effective visual narrative without really trying to do anything interesting. The storytelling is always number one but at the same time there are also multiple ways to do any one given panel or page. I liked a quote from Alan Moore talking about writing where he said he tried to never do the same thing the same way twice and was always looking for a new way to communicate the idea. During the production of The Lost Legionnaire this was helpful in forcing me to experiment with more illustrative pages - something I had always avoided maybe due to lack of confidence. I am really pleased with the results I got from The Lost Legionnaire and want to continue exploring that aspect of my art with this major project.
The idea I have settled on will include time travel and nanotechnology induced superpowers vie DNA re sequencing with the narrative revolving around a team of enhanced people chasing a criminal through time from decades in the future to present day.
Years ago I read an article about a time traveler who came to our time from an idealic future and while here for one month posted on message forums talking about the future and events to come. This idea, even though clearly an elaborate hoax really captured my imagination and I had always wanted to do some sort of comic around these ideas.
I thought that combining this setting and idea with a Superhero story would be interesting to do as a Major Project.
I will be working on the script in the coming weeks. What I know now is that the story will be about Grief/Loss and will feature a team of 4 Superheros, much like the Fantastic Four really, doing battle against a Superman figure that has gone insane. The majority of the story will take place in present day or the very near future (+2-3 years max). I think the main protagonist will be a girl on the superhero team although I don't want to sideline any of the other characters on the team either. This way I think I can achieve all the goals listed above.
What I am unsure of at the moment is the length of the story. I would very much prefer to have it be a full story complete without the need for further work but the concern is how to achieve that in a number of pages that can be completed to the standard I am aiming for in 3 months considering I will be doing the whole production on my own.
I have had some thoughts on how I will colour the piece in a simpler way to save time but hopefully still look good.
For the penciling and inking style I was going to try and go for something contemporary in superhero comics but after chatting with Heather Antos and thinking more about what way I enjoy working I think I will go for what I did with The Lost Legionnaire but add more fine detail. What I did on the Lost Legionnaire had a very chunky feel to it in terms of the line work. I think I can get a similar appeal on this project but also make it looke more fitting as superhero artwork.
