Wild Stars Production Notes

Whenever I talk at a library or school, I'm always asked about the details involved in the creation of comics and books. Since I've already discussed the printing side of this in detail elsewhere on this site, I thought I'd devote this page to the actual creation phase.

For Volume 3, I tried several new art techniques, going as far as to hire a professional model to pose for all the panels of the Native American Shamaness featured on the cover (which one Native American reviewer found scandalous... showing her bare shoulders). I'm not posting any pictures of model Rebecca Rivera, since I didn't purchase publication rights from her agency. But the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette did publish her cover pose when they did an article on the printing of that issue.

Since Volume 3 opened in an alternate reality where Native America was never colonized, I also hit the library and started doing research and making character sketches.

Production Notes 1-1

This issue was originally drawn back in the Nineties, when I tried a new art process by using Due-shade art paper. New to me, at least. Due-shade paper was a main staple of political cartoons for decades, providing two different levels of screen tones by applying two different liquids.

But first, I'd penciled all the pages. Bigger than the usual thumbnails, if I'd had a Mac computer and Photoshop back then, I probably would have gone with these. Ultimately, I wasn't that happy with the results of the Duo-shade experiment. But those pages did finally see print, as a bonus in the 25th Anniversay hardcover, released just this year (2009).
Combining all the Pieces

Production Notes 1-2

Now... to the subject of scripts. From this point on, I'm going to concentrate on how a writer communicates with an artist.

When you know what you want, it makes life easier for an artist. Do everything you can to let them know what your vision is, because they're not mind readers. They're professionals who make a living delivering the product that the customer wants.

Since I'd already drawn the first issue of Volume 3, there was no script for that issue. I also did not do a cover sketch for that issue. That cover image was all Frank Brunner, based on a phone conversation, referencing the unpublished version, and photos of the model.

Production Notes 2

But for the second issue, I wanted to use an unfinished image from work I'd started before I made the decision to hire professional artists. After that, the process was that I'd send Frank my original sketch, he'd make adjustments (always for the better) and send another sketch back for my approval, and ultimately would turn my scribblings into an artistic masterpiece.

I feel fortunate to have been able to work with a professional as top shelf as Frank Brunner. I have never been anything less than 100% satisfied with his work!

Even though I was now scripting, I still used the same process of working up the pacing of the story with thumbnails and page sketches (I went through a whole spiral bound sketch book for each issue). Only now, I put most of my visualization efforts into describing the actions, and only sketching the really
complicated scenes (or those I couldn't wait to see).
Production Notes 3

However, it is a little ironic in that the chapter where I started converting the novel into script form, is also the issue that was the most different from the novel.

My style of comic book storytelling is that there is a key scene on every page. But what works well in novel form doesn't always adapt to comics. It's a completely different type of pacing. Not wanting to have pages of talking heads, I also incorporated my short story about a doomed confederate soldier, whose spirit bonded with the black oak tree that germinated in his blood.

So, while the confederate ghost was an addition not found in the novel, there were a lot of other characters and sub-plots from the novel that had to be dropped, all situations that would have slowed the pacing in an already complicated story with many scene and character shifts. You can't fit everything from one format into another.

With the third issue of Volume 3, Dave Simons took over as the series penciller. What Dave brought to the table was decades of comics illustration experience, the same as Frank Brunner.

In addition to the script and pencil sketchs, I also sent Dave a ton of reference material, showing scuba diving equipment and boats, to help with this adventure that takes place in the caribbean. I also included a bunch of my underwater photography. The shots of sharks and other underwater wildlife were all mine (scuba diving and photography are hobbies of mine).

This process continued throughout the series.

You'll notice in my sketches how I always have activity in the foreground, midground, and background. Dave and Frank would take these and made astute artistic adjustments that always enhanced the final product.