Rocks and Rolls

A pic! It's been a while. Been busy actually drawing the damn comic - uploading work-in-progress always seems like a luxury I don't have time for. But I've scanned and am currently piecing together about twenty new pages (chapter two is gonna be about 32 pages in total I think, so it's longer than chapter one!) Here's a pic from it. Can't explain too much without plot spoilers, but the car belongs to a chap called Taylor who is Robert Temple's 'employer'. Can't tell here, but this panel is a biggy which spreads across two pages.

Trucking Hell

One of the advantages of setting The Absence in the 1940s is that the vehicles are pretty blocky in shape, and thus easy to draw in perspective. This is especially handy when there's a whole queue of 'em... This was another of those pictures which I approached with a 'gulp - this ain't gonna go well' attitude but which actually worked out ok in the end. Gonna need to fiddle with the load on the back of the truck though. Looks a touch unbalanced.



Oh, and I need to fix Marwood's left eye which is wandering across his face.

And I'm going to add some clouds, cos there's a storm approaching.

And I might add a bit more grass.

Other than that: finished.

Research

Trying to write a 1940s-based comic can be a pain in the arse. Although I'm not slavishly researching the time period I'm doing what I can to at least avoid any basic errors. Currently I'm trying to find out what a medium-scale building project might've looked like (What type of cranes would've been used? What type of perimeter fencing? What type of building materials? What type of trucks? Did the builders wear helmets...?). You'd have thought that, post-blitz, there'd have been a plethora of images online of London being rebuilt. But no. Maybe I need to try (gulp) a library. I think I still have a membership card somewhere...

Occasionally with this research lark you get lucky. Issue #2 briefly has the eight-year old Thomas playing with toy soldiers. Obviously, when I was a kid the things were made of plastic, but in the 1940s...? Well I found this lovely pic:

And here's the pencils for 2.8.1 (issue.page.panel)

How things can go awry

Last post I introduced Mr. Pitman. He only plays a very minor role in the Absence (although oddly his one major 'scene' was one of the first ideas I had). He's Robert Temple's site manager and his frustrations at the demands of building Temple's strange house is meant to reflect the readers feelings.
So, this is Mr Pitman:
Now, in my head I imagined him looking something like TV presenter Dick Strawbridge (or at least having a mustache like Strawbridge's):
I added a flat cap. Because he's a builder. And because it's the 1940s. Duh.
And finally I put him period style over-alls:
Brilliant, I thought. Mr Pitman! Until a friend pointed out Mr Pitman's similarity to this guy:

Bugger. Still as I say, he's barely in the fucking comic so frankly I don't care that he looks like an Italian plumber.
Humph.

Issue 2, Page 6, Panel 1

I'm 7 pages of pencils into issue 2 and, with a couple of days off work, I hoped to have them inked soon. Here's one of the panels featuring Robert Temple (right) and his erstwhile building site foreman Mr Pitman (left). That crater? Ah, well, you'll have to wait to find out about the crater...

"They say he didn't sleep during the entire war..."

With issue one finally finished I've allowed myself a month off before launching into issue two. Feedback from the folk who read #1 was very encouraging and has really rekindled my enthusiasm for the project. But it a weird way it's made me more nervous too. I need to make sure that issue #2 is better than (or at least as good as) #1 and I didn't have that pressure before. I think I have 'difficult second album' syndrome.

I've not been idle for the last month. I don't have a lot to show - I've mostly been plotting #2. Annoyingly, I have a very clear idea of what will happen in issue #3 but #2 is a little more... nebulous. I need to introduce the other main character, a chap called Robert Temple, who's a new comer to the town. I have the first few pages roughed out and I know where the issue needs to end to lead into #3, but what happens in the middle is proving a challenge. I think if The Absence was, as originally conceived, a novel it wouldn't be as difficult because it'd be based around interior monologue - but as a comic I'm trying to find a way to navigate the story in a more visual way.

Anyway, while I struggle with this here's a thumbnail sketch of a promo poster I might, at some point, work up, and also some (very rough) sketches from my development of Robert Temple. They say he didn't sleep during the entire war...

(Obligatory sales and marketing comment: Uh, there's more copies of issue #1 available if anyone wants one. See info on the right for details. Obligatory sales and marketing comment ends.)

Issue #1 available now!

So. Back from the printers: a bunch of lovely copies of The Absence #1. A handful have already been sold, but there's still plenty available if you'd like one. Feedback from early readers has been good. Lots of people commenting on the lovely paper stock that lulu have used (a clear case of damning with faint praise...)

Being utterly useless at... well, at many things, but especially at sales and marketing crap, I haven't quite figured the best way to sell these. So currently there's two options:

UM, ACTUALLY THERE'S NO OPTIONS ANYMORE... SINCE I'VE SIGNED THE ABSENCE TO A PUBLISHER I CAN'T REALLY GO SELLING #1 ANYMORE... SORRY!


Here's some pics as proof the thing exists:



Now, buy one.
Or don't.
Whatever.
(See, told you I'm rubbish at sales and marketing...)