The Experiment Has Begun

Twelve student prodigies...
One national science fair...
No chance of survival...

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

on a roll!

I painted 4 pages this week! I guess since I only did 2 last week, that makes me about even, but still, I'm psyched to be getting these pages down. I'm a little bit apprehensive of what will happen to my productivity when I reach the end of my current batch of layouts. I'm hoping I can work on those when I go to thailand. (its easier to do thumbnails on a plane then paintings)

Friday, January 25, 2008

Page 5

[sci005.jpg]Trent really liked the closeup shot of Stewart's eyes on this page.



Monday, January 21, 2008

page 3

[sci003.jpg]
I'm finally getting back into my groove. (I painted a new page yesterday)



Friday, January 18, 2008

Page 2

[sci002.jpg]
This prologue will probably be extended by 1 or 2 or pages preceeding this when I'm ready to go into edits and revisions, but for now all progress shall be forward.



Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Foreword

Thanks for clicking on the "Read it from the beginning" button!

This comic you are about to read was based on a screenplay co-created by Trent Becket and myself (Geoff Weber) back in late 2005). In September of 2006, I decided to turn it into a graphic novel, thinking I could crank it out relatively quickly, if I kept the art fast and loose. This held true for the first 24 pages (issue 1) until I started to lose focus and production came to a halt. Then in August of 2007, the unthinkable happened; Trent killed himself (a week after my first child was born). My life became a manic whirlwind of grief, joy, chaos, and exhaustion from which I've never truly been able to emerge. In January of 2008, I decided to continue working on The Scientists as a tribute to Trent. Progress came in fits and starts, (sometimes stopping for years at a time), while I earned my Master's degree, switched careers, and expanded my family (I now have 4 boys ages 1,3,5,& 9). Having this project hanging over me half-finished for so many years has weighed heavy on me. As I write this (October 2016), I am making the final push to finish it once and for all. The art style has evolved (inevitable over the course of a 10-year project). This has been a long, difficult, and painful process. I have felt Trent's absence every single day. I used to live for his words of encouragement and feeding off of his excitement was one of my greatest sources of creative energy and motivation. Without that to drive me, carrying on has been act of will, (and stubbornness).

I would like to thank a few people. First and foremost, Sharon and Hartsel Beckett for giving me their blessing to make this book and sending me a copy of the script (I had lost access to my copy after Trent's death). To my wife and kids for always being excited to see me when I come home and for putting up with all the hours I spent scribbling away at this. To my parents for their unconditional love and support. To Ryan Rouse and Hoberto Morales for taking the time to review my work and offer their feedback. To Larry Marder, a comic book hero of mine, for offering the suggestion that hand lettering would better suit my art style. To David McAdoo for inspiring me to finish my draft before I worked on the final art. To Joseph Game and Mark Mariano for their words of encouragement early on.

And now, on with the comic book...

This is not the real cover, but a mock up cover I made for a preview version of the comic. If the comic were being serialized as opposed to a graphic novel, I suppose this would have been "issue 1"



And page 1... its just a title page, but its also a location establishing shot.
[sci001.jpg]

Teaser Poster


This is the very first image I did for this book as sort of a teaser poster. It was done entirely in photoshop. I was painting white onto a black background, which gave me a very moody looking image that I quite like:

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Welcome to The Scientists (blog)

I will be posting a little bit of the backstory behind this comic later on, for now I just wanted to get the blog up and running. I will post the pages as they are completed. I'm not sure what schedule I can adhere to but I'm going to try to update this blog every Monday - Wednesday - Friday with a new page, or a sob story on why I couldn't get it done in time... I have enough of a back catalogue of pages, that my procrastination won't become problematic for quite a while. If I should manage to stick to this schedule, I might actually have book finished by 2009!