There's no way around!

All right, I was hoping that after finishing my teaser artwork for the magnificent mystery project I would instantly be able to update the blog with all the glorious details. Well, it looks like we'll have to wait just a bit longer until an official press release is ready and so I'm updating the blog with some news on the Wormworld Saga online graphic novel.

Well, I have to start it now.

There is no other task in the way, no obligation that's holding me back (well, I could do the taxes...) I now have time to do the final artwork of the online graphic novel. The layout is ready and I've gotten very positive feedback from test readers over the last two months. I even have a professional translator checking my writing and all I have to do now is to paint it. And it's really damn hard to just start!

I made a first move yesterday and made some decisions concerning the dimensions of the final artwork. The online graphic novel will be displayed much like the online exhibitions on my website. It will be 1024 pixels wide (centered in the browser window) and the layout was painted directly in this size. For the final artwork I'm going to work in three times the final resolution which means that the panels will be painted in 3072 pixels width. The decision in which size to work is an important one and I'm pondering on this questions for some days now. A too high resolution creates too much space that wants to be filled with detail. On the other hand, a resolution too small doesn't hold the detail when it is needed. First I thought, double resolution would be ok but my plan is to offer prints of the panel artwork and therefore I changed my mind towards tripple resolution. On a sidenote: the online graphic novel will perfectly fit the size of Apple's iPad (which runs a resolution of 1024x768) in landscape mode. I'm vaguely thinking about the possibilities of creating an app for the iPad which could feature extra content and which people could purchase to support my project. Well, but in any case the iPad will be a great device to read the online version of the Wormworld Saga OGN.

Well, now that this is decided, I can start.

Yeah...

... and then I have made a small but important change to my story development wall:

In earlier posts you can see that I had arranged the post its in a timeline fashion. At some point I felt uncomfortable with this arrangement because it made it very hard to change the number of post its of a given chapter. Now that I have arranged the post its from top to down it feels a lot better. This way it's very easy to add new content or notes to a chapter and I also realized that now the chapters on the wall resemble the final graphic novel which is also a vertical format.

Ok, now ... where was I?

Oh, right. I actually have to create the graphic novel. Well, if there's no way around it...

Finished sculpting

Finally I've finished the concept sculptings of my main character. It took me quite some time to arrive at this point but I'm happy that I've invested that time (close to 15 hours, for those who care about the figures). I really love sculpting and it is a great way to get to know a character. As you can see, I have created a full body figure. I really wanted to get the full picture here.

So, please let me introduce you to Jonas Berg! 

Also, I created a set of emotional states. That was especially fun to do.

 

And it was the moment, when the character really started "speaking" to me. The character lived in my head for quite some time now. But his picture was blured and whenever I sketched him he turned out a different character.

It's a strange feeling to dismiss all these possibilities and to commit to a "face". But now that it's there I'm able to connect much more directly to the character. He's there, he's real. He asks me questions and challenges me to send him on his adventure. Somehow I now feel responsible for him.

And it'll make a hell of an action figure, won't it?  ;)

Next on my schedule is a teaser artwork for ... well, a not yet to be revealed project. But soon the curtain will be raised and I'm really excited about it!