Hey just wanted to let everyone know about my favorite podcast Art & Story! This week they answered my a question I asked them about Serialized Comics. If you have any interest in the craft of comics or illustration you'll love this podcast!!!

For this podcast and more check out ArtandStoryPodcast.com
Thanks for checking in!!!

God Bless,
-Marshall aka Calmplex

Also Find me on Twitter, Facebook,and YouTube

With The Quickness

Another quick update today. The world is eating my life!

I made this art card this past weekend of my character Glyf and his nemesis Tusk behind him. These are the two characters from the mini comic im working on for the Art & Story Supreme Mini Comic challenge. I'm currently working on penciling page 10 of 16 and am hoping to get to the inking stage very shortly. I'm learning a ton through this challenge with a lot of help from the Art & Story Podcast and community.

This Art Card was colored with my new Copic Markers which was suggested to me through an A&S Podcast by Mark Rudolph. Definately enjoying the new tool! I will be posting this card up for sale at my Etsy Shop tonight if your interested.
Art & Story http://www.artandstorypodcast.com
Mark Rudolph http://www.markrudolph.com
My Etsy Shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/Calmplex

Thanks for stopping by!

God Bless,
-Marshall aka Calmplex

Also Find me on Twitter, Facebook,and YouTube or email me at Plex@PlexHop.com

Alright it's on again!!! Was inspired by all the talk on the Art and Story Supreme Forums of putting a big project into smaller steps and now i got my whole mini comic mapped out!!! well roughly mapped out.

Ditching my initial idea for something simpler.

I'm not 100% sure of the title of the comic but its going to be featuring a character ive loosly created called Glyf (to the left). The comic may just be called called Glyf and the episode is going to be titled "Elephant in the room". The main dialogue is written. Literally 8 small lines. There will be a 2 to 3 page fight scene YES!!!! :) where there may be some small dialogue added.

There are only two characters. So that should help with simplifying things!

I guess the next step is some character design turn arounds and thumbnailing. Then i think I'll attack actually drawing it. I can't remember which podcast it was but somebody explained the way they attacked there comic was all the pencils first for all the pages and then all the inks then colors and digital clean up etc. instead of doing it a page at a time start to finish. I think that's how im going to try it out. Can't wait!!!! :)

Also below is some sketches for the villain of the story "Tusk". Still not settled on a final design but its enough to move forward onto the thumbnailing stages.

Very excited to get this progress going on my mini comic. The due date is coming up in less than three months and there's a lot that goes into creating a comic from start to finish so i better get crackin!!!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my progress!

God Bless,
-Calmplex

Also Find Calmplex on Twitter, Facebook,and YouTube or email me at Plex@PlexHop.com

Free Writing

Last week i took out some time to do a little free writing about Twilight to begin really developing where im going with this new comic. A pretty picture is nothing but a pretty picture without meaning. A pretty face is nothing without a soul. ;) So now its time to get to the "Meat" of my character Twilight. Now remember most of this is not set in concrete yet its just kind of to, as Jerzy Drozd would say (one of the host's of the Art & Story Podcast) , "throw some ideas at the wall and see what sticks". Alright so here we go!

The Direction

First of all i would like to comment on the story style i think im going with. This comic will be a superhero action adventure with a sort of comedic slant to it. Now in the past i always wanted to write a serious super hero story kind of like X-Men or Spawn or something. But looking at "Twilight" in that way kind of seemed boring to me. It dawned on me that all of my early comic creations sprung straight out of the hyper stylized, darkly slanted comics that tended to reign supreme in the 90's when i was growing up. All the well known characters back then were being re shaped to kind of fit that mold and i thought it was COOL!

Little did i know they were basically bastardizing a classic and rich history with these properties that fans had enjoyed for years before i was born. And if i did sense that this was going on i didnt care. I just liked what i thought was cool back then. But now looking back ive come to appreciate and actually prefer many of the older versions.

What i want to do now is take great storytelling and combine that with the stylistic art that i enjoy! Of course my opinion on style has expanded also. But this is what has lead me to decide to make Twilight a mild spoof on that era. I don't know how much that will eventually come through but i will definately be playing around with this new sensibility.

Now lets get to the character development!

Twilight

Twilight is a born superhero! He was born to a caucasian family from the suburbs of Connecticut but he has all black skin (Pitch Black) with eyes that light up with green light and smoke emitting from them. He also has Jedi like powers that allow him to control objects kinetically. As a young male he now maintains a perfectly fit physique without any special diet or work out training. He has no clue what the purpose of his glowing, smoking eyes have yet he suspects there is NO purpose to it, it just kind of looks cool. It does however hinder his ability to be stealthy in situations.

Twilight loves reading comic books while listening to underground Hip Hop and stays in the basement most daytime hours. He has become somewhat of an outcast from his community because of his odd appearence. He's a bit geeky but mostly a normal guy who would rather fit in than stand out. However he is really into his powers and quickly took on a persona as a superhero as inspired by his beloved comics. When people ask him his name he reply's "My name is Twilight, ...I scrape the night". As you may imagine he gets very funny looks cast his way when he says that. And when people inquire further he says "I am searching for my Arch Nemesis" Mostly because he knows every superhero needs an Arch Nemesis. Thing is no matter what enemy he comes across he never thinks they are good enough to be his Official Arch Nemesis. Even if they kick his butt.

Twilight works as a Security Guard on 3rd shift to help his parents pay for the bills. Between sleep and his job he searches diligently for his Arch Nemesis getting into all types of adventures in the "Twilight" hours but rarely leaves CT because he needs to get to work by 11pm. He often has trouble getting to work on time. On Twilights adventures he does good deeds protecting victims from villains which he acknowledges is what is most important but he can't help but be obsessed with the grand prospect of meeting his great opponent.

New Design

In the Images above i once again redesigned Twilight to reflect some of the things i was writing about him. Feel free to click on these images for a larger view. Since Twilight is almost always on his adventures before work he keeps his work clothes on under his cloak so he can easily take the cloak off and clock in. Much as Superman needs to change into his costume quick Twilight has to do the same in reverse. I also did a little more research on what cloaks look like and found a version that i think i will enjoy playing around with. I always loved how Spawns cloak and chains became part of the design of every page but it many times got ridiculous. I plan to use Twilights Cloak and Eye smoke as part of the spoof element on that era. Also its just fun to draw :) It also reflects Twilights character. Twilight will play kind of this brooding dramatic character but with a little more optimism and humor than your typical cave dwelling superheros.

Thanks for checkin in guys!!!! This is definitely the point were any feedback would be very helpfull if you would be so persuaded to leave a comment. If not I still love ya though! :)

God Bless,
-Calmplex

Also Find Calmplex on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube or email me at Plex@PlexHop.com

Links to Content mentioned in this blog:
Art & Story Podcast
Jerzy's Site ComicsAreGreat.com

It Begins!

So yes finally I am embarking on my dream of being a comic creator. Ever since day care i have known i wanted to be an artist. When I got to the day care facility the first thing i would nag the care takers about was if they could get me my folder so i could make some more art. I still have that construction paper and paste filled craft folder. Maybe one day I will share :). Now at that time i probably didnt know what a comic was but eventually through the years i was introduced to this wonderfull medium and knew from then on that this is what i wanted to do with my life! Be a Comic Book artist! Funny enough somehow i got distracted in high school by Hip Hop and a desire to make music so much so that my art suddenly went on the back burner. I always continued drawing but it was more graffiti and Hip Hop related stuff.

A New Hope

Over the past 4 or so years however i discovered podcasts and began re awakening my love for comics. Namely the one podcast that has been mostly responsible for this is my favorite one the Art & Story podcast! It has been so inspirational and educational that i subscribed to its "Supreme Membership" and now am involved in a 6 month challenge with the hosts of the show and other subscribers to create a mini comic and send a copy out to all participants. For many this will become a great addition to there current catalogue. For me it will be my very first comic! I couldnt be more excited!!!!

The Pesky Boomerangs

As you can see from the images, ive decided to do my comic on this character ive created named "Twilight". The first two images above were some of my very first conceptions of this character that i did way back in high school almost 20 years ago. Feel free to click the images for a larger view. It looks like the one on the far left had kind of a boxing theme. I think thats where the idea of the cloak came in. I think i was trying to come up with strong characters for inspiration yet i wanted this guy to have boomerangs lol. I also see the influence McFarlanes "Spawn" had on me coming through in this design.

The one in the center kind of reminds me of maybe a Mexican bull fighter or lucha libre style costume. I knew nothing of Mexican wrestling back then but somehow it seems the influence leaked through. I think back then in my young mind i was desperately grasping for ways to make cool costumes with very little life reference to expand upon. I tended to copy things i saw in other comics and try to somehow make them my own. Or at least mix and match. As you can see yet again the boomerangs came through lol. Can't get away from the boomerangs!

Resurrection of "Twilight"

In the recent 30 Characters challenge i did in November (involving both 30Characters.com and ArtandStoryPodcast.com) i created 30 characters in 30 days. On the last day i decided to do a re design of my old favorite character Twilight. This is what you see in the image on the far right. I didnt go back to my old drawings for reference at all but  the cloak, boomerangs of coarse, and black skin is what seemed to stick. Also the smoking eyes is something i seem to remember but now that i look back i don't see it in my old drawings. Oh well I think I'll keep it LOL.

Plan of Attack

So this is the direction ive decided to go with my first comic! I plan to not take this too seriously but instead try to make it a fun learning experience. I will be writing, drawing, inking, assembling and doing anything else that is required to create a comic all on my own and each one of those tasks involves tons of discipline and knowledge that takes years to develop into a decent well honed craft let alone master in 6 months. So if i take it too seriously i am destined for procrastination and disaster. So with a spirit of adventure and playfulness and as John and Paul would say "with a little help from my friends" i plan to bring forth something hopefully enjoyable.  This is going to be fun!!!!!

Id love for you to come along the ride with me and see if we can both benefit and learn from this experience. Thank You for checking in! Much more to come very shortly!

God Bless,
-Calmplex

Also Find Calmplex on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube or email me at Plex@PlexHop.com

Links to Content mentioned in this blog:
Art & Story Podcast
30Characters.com

Kevin Cross

LaserBeamsGo.com http://laserbeamsgo.com/
KevinCross.net http://kevincross.net/Welcome.html
Monkey Mod http://monkeymodcomic.com/
Pitch Black http://www.revelationrecords.com/rele...

Other Stuff I mentioned...

Art and Story http://www.artandstorypodcast.com/
Mark Rudolph http://cvcomics.com/
Man vs Art http://manvsart.com/
Ghettomation http://ghettomation.net/
Jim Lujan http://jimlujan.com/
Jerzy Drozd http://jdrozd.com/
Requiem Metal http://cvcomics.com/requiem/

Thanks for watching!!!

God Bless,
-Calmplex

Also Find Calmplex on Twitter, Facebook,and YouTube or email me at Plex@PlexHop.com