Project Updates Homeless G's

This is the longest I've gone without blogging in years but I've found there just isn't the time to do it if you're drawing/writing/inking for 8+ hours a day. Creating a comic by yourself take a long time if you want everything to perfect I go back over pages I've inked and add more shadows/textures, I am constantly bumping up the dialogue and tweaking the script as I go and I have yet to even scan these pages and start adding panel borders, word bubbles, gray scale (I'm doing the books in black and white to save money on printing) shading etc.

I am currently working on FIVE books at once, this was a conscious choice so I didn't get bored with slogging away at the same issue for days at a time, the bottom pic shows four of the folders that I'm working with.

The Homeless G-Men Issue no. 1 is at 29 "sides" (a comic page is two sides) that leaves about three more to go, this book is getting to be in a good place, I have the script figured out and hopefully it will be ready to go to the printers in a month. I also have 14 sides for issue #2 and six sides for #3. I just want to make sure that I have the whole Five issue miniseries story worked out.

C.Z which is the second series I'm working on is at approx. 8 sides and another project that I'll take about soon has 24 roughed in sides.

I am learning more and more every day about planning pages, panel breakdowns and becoming better at getting to a finished page faster - this involves being able to plan ahead for where the book is going and also just making fewer mistakes.

In time I will post some of the panels from the series so you can see where it's going but for now I have to head to the studio and get started.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

The Homeless G-Men and cleaned up

I had to leave before I was able to reorganize the walls at the Press Club, so they looked pretty sloppy for a week or so (see last post) but Jimmy Byron saved the day as he always does and tidied them up for me. The show is up for eleven more days so head on by for a pint and some live music, they've also bought new tables for their excellent back patio it's a great place to get off the main drag and chill out for awhile.

850 Dundas West is where it's at.

It's been a slow week here so far haven't accomplished mush besides a lot of gardening and cleaning around the house, I've been sketching and plotting but haven't produced the amount of work that I thought I would this week, here's hoping we turn a corner tomorrow

I did come up with a great concept for one of the crime families in Gull City that the Homeless G's go up against, just fleshing out their look right now.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Homeless G-Men Drawings Up Until the End Of May

Work is still up at the Press Club (850 Dundas West) and selling steadily come on down, have a pint hear some music and pick up a drawing. All proceeds go to the printing of the Homeless G-Men comic which is really coming along, you'll see, I 'll post some pages over the next couple of days.

Reading any good comics ? Let me know, I'm currently reading Manifest Destiny, BPRD Hell on Earth with the killer art by James Harren and the Morning Glories trades and a whole bunch of other stuff.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Character Drawings Locking Concepts

Trying to draw for at least six hours a day, the only way to improve is full immersion, eat, sleep, breathe comics and story. I am solid on Swinnerton Hale's design, he's the heart of the series. I wish he looked a little more world weary in the drawing and a little less like Gary Sinise but that's fine for now.

The second sketch is our "Black Widow" type "Blackstrap" currently she's just missing one item, something to make her a little different from all of the other kick ass spy types out there, it will come to me.

Hope everyone had a great FCBD

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

We're Gonna Have a Good Time

Here's one of the first promo pieces for The Homeless G-Men, I'm doing them to lock in main character designs, this is Swinnerton Hale. I grabbed the name Swinnerton from my friend Jay Swinnerton who is the force behind the band Tarantuela. It's such a great name and I think it fits the character perfectly.

I'm using "We're Gonna Have A Good Time" as the catchphrase/slogan for the series I want readers to instantly know that they are in for a fun run with this book.

The only drag with designing these is trying to make the figures fit in a way that reveals what is written behind them, there are nine Homeless G-Men that we meet in the first book so I have eight more chances to get it right.

I also screwed up that left leg so badly that I may have to redo this whole thing, which is fine, I have lots of time.

I have been working like mad on pages, I was going to post a lot of work in progress shots but I have too many photos on the go to keep track of them all so I'll just be posting work like this and successful or unsuccessful panels.

Don't forget Free Comic Book Day is Saturday so be sure to head out buy some comics and get some free ones - comics are fun - we're gonna have a good time

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

Homeless G-Men Drawings and Plotting

Here's an updated shot of what is still available for sale at the Press Club 850 Dundas West, Toronto head on over for a tasty pint and some live music. All drawings are $25.00 each and the proceeds go to the printing of the Homeless G-Men graphic novel.

I've finished plotting the first story, "Jawbonin" in rough and just have a couple of weak story points that I want to clear up before I push ahead with more pages, the story is alot of fun, it's a revenge story filtered through Good Fellas and Deep Blue Sea, I think you'll enjoy.

You can buy direct from the bartenders at the Press Club, drawings are framed and $25.00 each

cheers,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Workloads and Wise Decisions

 

Really happy that I chose to go back to the standard comic format, I started blocking in the first Homeless G-Men story "Jawbonin" and have four roughed in pages today that I'm very happy with. I like the concept for the story, the humour and how each page intros the characters in the story. This first one will be the learning curve, there is some improvisation involved with this one as I didn't write a script but I know the story and just need to block it in correctly, the total for the whole thing may only be 16pages, but it will be a fun run full of mobsters, mad scientists and aquatic fisticuffs.

The Homeless G-Men is starting to feel a lot like Eric Powell's series, "the Goon" of which I am a fan but I know the arc of the characters is very different, more on that later.

Ordered some sample books from Print Ninja so I'll be able to get a handle on the size I want for the book, I will admit I'm not great with numbers so getting some of their books will really help me nail down how many stories I want to tell in the first book.

Happy Earth day, do something nice for the planet

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com