Behind The Comics IV (Maré Odomo)

We continue looking 'Behind The Comics' of the upcoming š! #10 'sea stories'.

Maré Odomo was born in San Mateo, California and has been living in Seattle since 2006. He’s got a BFA in Visual Communication from Cornish College of the Arts in 2010. He makes things that are small and honest and is best known for his Pokémon fancomic Letters To An Absent Father. His name can be translated to sea, so it is a no-brainer, that we had to invite him for the upcoming sea issue (especially after Ryan Sands suggested him to us).

So Maré told us the following about creating his comic 'Okinawa':

This is my work desk. I keep changing my setup (that's not usually where I put my computer) but I've been using a standing desk for a little while now. I'm trying to use fewer art supplies, or at least move them out of the way. But then I forget about them. I don't know what's worse.  

Please take note of the banana in a jar.

My comics usually start as scripts/poems, but nothing's set in stone. There's always room for improvisation and improvement.

I like writing in Evernote because it keeps everything tidy. For larger projects, I have separate 'notes' dedicated to scripts, inspiration, and photo references. These two scripts are free-writes. The one on the left is kind of long. I ramble about a girl from high school that moved from California to New York, and then about my mom's plans to move somewhere closer to the beach. It goes on. I started writing about visiting my Dad in Okinawa and decided that was a good direction to go. The script on the right is a more distilled version. I keep the false starts (like the lonely "the") because it keeps me going. I guess that's part of free-writing? I don't know if other people type like this, but I recommend it.

 

This is essentially the same thing, except written. I'm just writing down what I remember of the typed up script and trying to add on to it. In the days that I'm working on a specific comic, I repeat the words in my head and try to compose it mentally. The words that stick in my head are usually the ones that get picked for the comic, because they're punchier and easier to remember.  

That first sketch was a rough comp for the title page. I don't really do a lot of thumbnailing. I just overwork my final drawings. I think of it as sculpture.

I like using stumpy 2B/4B pencils for more spontaneous sketching, but mechanical pencils are more precise. Same with the eraser stick, or whatever it's called. Kneaded erasers are pretty good too (as long as you keep them clean, which is why I have mine in a little case). I also used an inkwash in this comic, but it's pretty subtle.

This is one of the few comics where I've used a lot of personal photo reference. I wanted my drawings of scuba equipment to be more accurate than the image in my brain. There are a handful of pictures from this trip on my facebook, but they don't really capture how the whole experience felt. I hope my comic does it a little more justice.  

Oh, and I cut the pages out at-scale + bleed. I usually don't work on bristol, or cut anything out until it's finished. So that was new. It was kind of nice.

On the left is a raw scan. I mess with my levels a lot. Sometimes the contrast helps, sometimes it doesn't. I have to find a balance. On the right are some colors. I'm trying to use fewer Photoshop tricks, but it can be addicting. It's like a puzzle game, it just keeps going. There are no right or wrong answers. Except for lens flares, I guess.

Maré, thank you very much for letting us see over your shoulders and even out of your window! This was a very nice insight and hope you don't mind if we copy your idea of the banana jar...

š! #10 'sea stories' featuring the comics by Maré Odomo and 28 more international and Latvian artists will come out in the beginning of March and is available for pre-order here. To get an even further insight into Maré's work, we recommend to read his interview on the Studygroup blog or simply follow his tumblr.

Nordicomics workshop in arctic Riga

Despite the temperatures well below zero, last week in Riga kuš! hosted the traveling Nordicomics workshop organized in cooperation with the Finnish Comics Society.


Seven artists: Mari Ahokoivu and Heidi Salminen from Finland, Esben S. Titland from Norway, Mikkel Sommer from Denmark, Maria Dziarmaga from Poland, Ingrīda Pičukāne and Oskars Pavlovskis from Latvia came over to explore the deep freeze and create Riga inspired comics, which will be published in a set of postcards. (first Nordicomics-Rigacomics postcards ever!)

To warm up for drawing,  EatRiga alternative tour guides zigzagged us through the city to get a closer look and feel of places, especially those outside the centre district, that otherwise we might have never visited or would have just walked by without noticing.

Indeed it's hard to believe but here once was a river that gave the name and place to the city of Riga

Did you know there is a bunch of very special Riga characters?
Some guys were built in old church walls, some are still sitting on top of buildings and churches in a form of a cat or a rooster...

some other might work at, or follow you from the Central market...

or maybe hide inside the beautiful wooden buildings in Maskavas forštate or Āgenskalns...

Mikkel Sommer and Esben S. Titland probably found a few more behind the hot heaters inside the very beautiful wooden Jesus Church in Maskavas Forštate area.

On Wednesday night at Nabaklab we closed the Nordicomics exhibition (showcasing the works created during the Nordicomics  previously visited cities) with comics presentations and a comics battle.

Mari Ahokoivu draws and teaches comics, and her comics blog is the longest running comics blog in Finland!

Ingrīda Pičukāne revealed some very interesting details of her creative process

Oskars Pavlovskis has recently returned from a study semester in Lisbon and definitely has met many impressive and inspiring characters as we can see in his illustration...

Our cameras unfortunately blurred the pictures of the presentation by Esben.  However, he took part in the comics battle and won it along with Mikkel!  For the first time there were 2 winners - Riga is truly inspirational, told you!

 

 A few more impressions from the comics battle:

Mārtiņš Zutis

Mari Ahokoivu (or 2 of them?)

Ingrīda Pičukāne draws one more cute kitten; there can never be too many of them!

And finally some impressions from the workshop itself:

On the last day Ingrida and Oskars find out they have drawn the same character

Oskars Pavlovskis' Sketch

Ingrīda Pičukāne's Sketch

Riga by Maria Dziarmaga

Heidi Salminen sketching faces of Riga

Trams in Riga or trams in river by Oskars Pavlovskis

by Esben S. Titland

by Mikkel Sommer (or Esben S. Titland?)

by Mikkel Sommer

Esben and a kitten by Mikkel Sommer

by Mari Ahokoivu

The Nordicomics workshop and the exhibition was supported by: The Embassy of Finland, Latvian Art Academy, Eat Riga Tours, Finnish Comics Society, Latvian Contemporary Art Centre, Nabaklab, Norden Culture Point, kuš!

Behind The Comics III (Martha Verschaffel)

Today we take a look behind the comics Martha Verschaffel made for š! #10 'Sea Stories'

Martha Verschaffel graduated as an illustrator and master of fine arts at St-Lucas institute in Ghent, Belgium. She is self-publishing her own zines and her short comics appear in several international magazines. Her story 'Braids' will be in the next š! and now she tells a bit about her creation process:

 

I have a small atelier of my own, but I work as well at my kitchen table or on the floor. 

My stories are (almost) always based on my nightmares. I write them down when I wake up, and collect them in this box. For my stories and drawings I use them as a starting point, or I combine different dreams together. The one I used for the kuš comic is about a woman I met in a thorny rose bush, who could take her face off.

I don’t often make sketches, because I like not knowing the ending of my stories. I just start drawing, as if I’m making up a story with images instead of words.

These cheap plastic pencils are my favourite.

Because I keep working on the same drawing, without sketching before, I use my eraser as much as my pencils. Also because I like the effect of the eraser on my drawings.

Another way is to cut and paste my pages back together. They often have different sizes, or look really dirty because of the glue stains. 

I like to interpret a story or action only by drawing hands. Sometimes it’s all you need to understand what they’re doing or saying.

Good night, sweet dreams.

Sweet dreams Martha! Hopefully not too sweet, so you get a lot of inspiration.
To read the complete comics by Martha Verschaffel, you need to wait for š! #10 which will come out in the beginning of March and is available for pre-order here.

Nordicomics Closing Event

Tomorrow, the 8th of February we will have the closing event of the Nordicomics/Naturegraffix exhibition in NabaKlab. Currently artists from Norway, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Poland and Latvia are here having a one week workshop creating comics inspired by Riga. Tomorrow evening they take a break and give you an insight into their work and then will fight in a unique comics battle.

flyer by Endrju

At 18:00 will be portfolio presentations by:

Mari Ahokoivu (SF)
Esben S. Titland (NO)
Ingrīda Pičukāne (LV)
Anna Pavlova (LT)

At 20:00 pencils will be sharpened for an international comics battle with the following contenders: Mikkel Sommer (DK), Heidi Salminen (SF), Oskars Pavlovskis (LV), Martins Zutis (LV),Mari Ahokoivu (SF), Esben S. Titland (NO), Ingrīda Pičukāne (LV),Anna Pavlova (LT). The winner after each drawing duel will be chosen by frenetic applause.

The workshop and the exhibition are supported by: The Embassy of Finland, Latvian Art Academy, Eat Riga Tours, Finnish Comics Society, Latvian Contemporary Art Centre, NabaKlab, Norden, Kuš!

Exhibition is still open in Naba Klubs until Sunday. Free entry!

Join the event on facebook

Behind The Comics II (Simon H)

After Lars Sjunnesson recently gave us an insight behind the making of his comics for the upcoming š! #10 'sea stories' we now snoop around Simon H's comics.

Simon H has been working in various crafts from signmaking to screenprinting and in 2005 made the official change to full-time drawing. Landing in the very active comic scene of Eastern Austria, has granted him with shows and work in groups like Tonto or Kabinett, as well as the opportunity to work on his own drawing and comics - luckily for us also a sea story for š!, of which he now tells us how he created it:

When I can, I work on toned papers I find, or ones that come as wrapping of other stuff. The grey or beige tones make up for some nice contrasts and structure.

The digital corrections through scanning and making the work print ready, will come in early enough, so I'm glad about every haptic element that will happen by way of the basic materials.

My sketchbooks are also folded from these papers.
I tend to make little new ones for every project, so I don't mix things up - which happens enough already...

I'm not a big character developer, but through various mess-ups, I've found that it's better for me to work some basic cringes out before starting with the final draft and drawing of a story.
Anatomic and narrative quirks always happen for me, so I'll just give them enough air to take place in the making. 

As with most of the other drawing I do, I try to not be to concrete with the sketches, but work things around in my mind as much as I can, taking short notes and making scribbles around the text. 

Everything gets moved around a lot, back and forth...
I hope for it to be more like writing put to pictures, rather than finding text to go with drawings - or the other way around.


Usually I start out with more dialog and then cut it down to one or two phrases. Finding out that I'm better off putting what is said into the drawn part of the story.

I had three drafts, all are somewhat different, but still circling around two people living on a isolated beach, with not much going on.

Ideally, there would be as little dramatic action as possible, just following the inhabitants on their daily routine, finding a moment to start and stop my intrusion in their lifes.
It sounds more literate than it actually is, it actually being pragmatism to get anything done...

Goodbye from Lost Shore Beach!

Thanks a lot to Simon for this great insight. Don't get lost at the beach! To see the complete comics by Simon, you need to wait for š! #10, which will come out in the end of February and is already available for pre-order. This series will continue soon...