Tim Sale

JIm Steranko

There is very little that hasn't already been said about Steranko, he is the artist's artist. For his many skills I consider his uniqueness to be in his skill for composition; for design. He has created images that still resonate and are regularly homaged many years after thier original publication. His impact on the comic medium runs deep, demonstated by the fact that his 3 issue run on Captain America are among the most original and popular stories ever featured in the title. Something that generally speaking escapes the public eye is that during his time as a film concept aritst he created the look of Indiana Jones before Harrison Ford was even cast.

Character design sheets

I got my ideas on how to present my character design sheets from those created for the Spectacular Spider-man tv show by Sean 'Cheeks' Galloway (http://gotcheeks.blogspot.com/). My sheets still needs refinaement though- as shown by me not really passing the 'silohette test'.

Alan Lee

Obviously for such a big project I must do substantially more research, at the moment I am looking more at artists that inspire me than ones that might help me move my project on- expect there to be no rhyme or reason as to the ordering of these.

Alan Lee's work is made in a style that rarely interests me, I often find tonal work (particularly watercolours) muddy and unfocused- the opposite of the stark black and white in my beloved comic art. But there is something about his care, his attention to detail, the personality of his drawings that I find endlessly facinatating and enthraling. I, like most I expect, discovered his through his work in the worlds of Tolkien, in the illustrated edition of the Hobbit. I was 10 when I got the book and spent quite some time pouring over the images, hoping to glean some tips by copying them over and over. Several years later the Lord of the Rings movies hit and I was an instant fan, doing all I could to become closer to the lifestyle they represented by spending a great amount of time outside, having wooden sword fights and making my own arrows to practice archery with garden canes with arrowheads taken from the tips of gel pens. I was desperately sad when the final film hit and I realised that the hype about my favourite films series would fade away (But what did I know- they're making the Hobbit into two films right now with one of my favourite directors- Gillmero Del Toro directing). Behind all of that, the head of a vast team of artists, was Alan Lee. I received his sketchbook from his time working on the films for christmas and it has not left my bedside since. Perhaps its not even the art thats the reason I like it so much- its the memories it invokes.


"Drawing, for me, is more the process of editing out than attempting to delineate something that already exists as an image in my mind. The pencil continually corrects itself and trying to veer away from what feels wrong, and I will often do many drawings before coming up with something I feel happy with"

Lee. A (2005) HarperCollinsPublishers, London

Plot outline

Oh and all my characters in the previous post still need names by the way. Anyway heres a plot outline for the story, point by point, as you can tell there are some holes in it that need filling, I'm currently trying to find something to take out- its probably to long at the moment.

At this point the main characters name is Chip- thats definately subject to change.

-Chip is running dramatically down a street
-Reveal that he's being chased
-Chip turns a corner, pauses, then shoots straight upwards
-The 2 army soldiers arrive in the alley, annoyed at losing Chip
-We see his point of view high above the city
-Cut to flashbacks of his origin:
~Chip wakes up in a lab, greeted by a menacing general hovering over him
~Chip panics
~Cut to shot of a heart moniter, showing that his heart is racing, suddenly the equipment blows up
~The room is engulfed in the explosing
~Cut to a shot of Chip stumbling through a burning lab, behind him prisoners attack the doctors
~Shot of a furious general
-Back to Chip in the air, a close up on his head
-He's hit from behind by a missle
-Plumets to the ground
-Lands in a dumpster
-Groggily gets up to see 2 of the army units standing over him
-He Beats them easily, dispacting the second by shooting lightning out of his hand to his own surprise
-Zoom and and the screen becomes a computor screen, revealing that hes being watched by the general, who is not pleased.

thats a possible and probably realistic ending- going on the fact that i can animate a shot a day, meaning it should be about 30 shots long. I'l post the additional story, that is beginning to seem like to much now, later.


However I think its clear from this that there is a lack of character development that need to be adressed- I'm looking at you here Liam.

Model Sheet

This is my current character model sheet featuring pretty much every character I plan on including, also I need to 'toon up my designs for the extremes.

Concept art

1st up I wanted to create a finished peice of concept art for every major scene, here are the 1st time. These were made using entirely a brush, I quite like the effect.

I'm still stuggling with coming up with a name for the main character- any suggestions?