Kotian's Blog.

Process.

2012-01-15T20:43:00.000-08:00

So anyway, sometimes people ask to meet me and discuss how to go about making comics. I’d like to help them but I spend most of my time drawing and am pretty beat after the day’s work. However I always felt guilty about politely declining offers for coffee (I prefer beer) To assuage my guilt I’ve put together a sort of basic beginners tutorial on how to make comics keeping in mind some of the problems that I’ve faced as a self taught artist in india. You can find much better tutorials online as well as dvds and of course books are an invaluable investment in the learning process. This is just a starting point with some random stuff thrown in. Just to start off with you have to read the following books. How to draw comics the marvel way http://www.flipkart.com/books/0671530771?_l=gWxQa0snNjHUHKJhnj_y0w--&_r=YCwPQNAEt_ej5sUdFxaDBw--&ref=a0f68480-7b43-4c87-b6f4-d87db980f6b4and Will Eisners Theory of Sequential art. http://www.flipkart.com/books/0393331261?_l=pFlIm8T2HxANhwos7dMXmw--&_r=uVVDmqaOr4BgCoAhQo7bQQ--&ref=fad65f0c-ce3e-4514-9bab-0d841b04b254There are hundreds of book suggestions that will pop up on amazon’s recommendation list. You’ll want to learn as much as possible after these two books.

After reading the script I make about three or more mini thumbnails per page. Here’s a zoomed in version of a few. These are literally as big as my thumb. Here I start fleshing out the idea for the page, the size of the panels, the placement of the figures and the flow of the dialogue balloons. This is the stage where you do most of your planning.

After I settle on a mini thumbnail I draw the bigger thumbnail on an a4 size paper roughly in the dimension of 18.5cm by 28 cm. I have tried various methods of drawing pages getting different results. After you have completed your final thumbnail you can Xerox or print it out to 11 x 17 inch or 13 x21 inch paper. Slap another paper on top of it and start the final pencils by using a lightbox. A light box is basically an a3 size box with a couple of bulbs in it and covered with a glass screen. I’m not sure where you can buy one in india but you can probably get one made by any carpenter. Sometimes if I find a better way to draw a page I abandon the thumbnail entirely. As you will notice with the following page.Another method you can use for final rendering is to scan the thumbnail and blow it up. Flesh out the pencils further in Photoshop or corel painter and start digitally inking it. I don’t really like either of these methods because it’s too constraining and feels like an assembly line procedure. But then again what doesn’t work for me might work for someone else. My advice is to experiment as much as possible until you find something that feels natural to you.

Now a little bit about paper. You can order comic art boards online but they are expensive when converted to rupees. I find the best paper locally available to be glossy ivory card paper. You can buy them as big as you want. Right now I use 12 x18 inch ivory card paper. The only drawback is that the paper is not acid free and will turn yellow over time. It takes pencil, ink and gouache paints without warping or wrinkling. To start off I mark out the 11 x 17 inch area and loosely sketch in the panels. As you can see the first two panels are nearly done in this scan. I currently use a 2mm staedler pencil holder with hb lead for sketching .5 mechanical pencil with Faber castell hb lead for detailing. and Faber castle kneaded eraser. You’ll also need French curves, a big triangle and a ruler. Some people recommend a t square too, I have one but I only use it as a pretend Thor’s hammer.

Over the course of 6 to 8 hours I finish the pencils. I used to keep my pencils pretty neat and tight until I realized there really was no point in that since I’m going to ink over it anyhow. If you are working with an inker you might want to keep it as neat as possible. You also might want to invest in a good scanner since quality of your image would depend on it. I currently use Epson perfection v300. It seems good enough. At least better than the god awful canon I had earlier. Drawing on larger 13 by 21 inch paper lets you add a lot of detail but most of it will be lost in the final printing. Also it takes a loooooootttttt of effort and keeping it up page after page day after day for months on end will make you insane or insanely late on deadlines. But I still recommend you try it at least once.

Everything in nature follows a rhythm or flow and you need to incorporate that into your pencils and inks. In fig 1 you’ll see a badly drawn leaf =P Notice the direction in which the lines are going. They flow outwards and for anything organic that you draw the same spiral principle will apply. Like for the head. And for everything else. I guess the only exception is mechanical stuff and buildings and such.

Finally a little intro on line weights. There are many different types of lines you can use to draw. 1 There’s the straight line without any shift in weight.2 The thin to thick or thick to thin line.3 The thick to thin to thick line.4 And my personal fave. The chicken scratch line. I avoided using this for a long time because most books tell you it’s the worst kind of line but I actually love it =D Just observe how your favorite artists handle lineweights it’s pretty easy to pick up and fun to do.

Happy Holidays 2011.

2011-12-24T09:40:00.001-08:00

Here's wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

other style

2011-12-20T05:34:00.000-08:00

Ok. Here's some pages featuring my other style. I have two. I can't decide between them. This one is faster, dirtier and more energetic though. The story for this was written by my friend Saurav Mohapatra.

sigh...abandon ship.

2011-12-14T20:29:00.000-08:00

Here's a pencilled page from my own project. I finished the entire first issue but now I'm having second thoughts about the story. You see it was my stubborn nature that made me write, rewrite and then draw and re draw the concept. and in the end i landed with a workable story (3 acts, complex characters. visual metaphors, ironic down ending, the whole nine yards) except I missed the first rule of writing sci fi. Which is; every sci fi story needs one technological invention or some futuristic event at the heart of it. This was just a noirish story set in a sci fi world. Looking back at it, the story could've been set in the real world and nothing much would've changed. I might go back and rework it later because I like the characters but after all the months I've already spent on it (nearly a year)I think I'm pretty sick of it. Working on something until its perfect is one thing but there's something to be said about letting go of lost causes.Also, I learned how to write stories from screen writing blogs and books. It helped me a lot but it kinda made the story 'decompressed'. that style of storytelling may have been in vogue some years ago but I'm personally pretty sick of it. I just want to make a fun comic book. The kind of comics that I used to read as a kid. Some magic, some action, places I have never seen before, cool villains, tragic heroes and gorgeous babes. I want to make the kind of comic book that I can pick up and enjoy for 15 mins and that's pretty much it. No earth shattering revelations, nothing about human nature or the bitter realities of the modern world. (Whats so great about reality anyway?) Funny enough, this was my intention all along but somewhere along the way I guess I went off track. To tell you the truth I don't like to write. every time I do, it feels like I'm literally switching from one side of my brain to the other. I can draw forever though :)

forgotten pages

2011-12-11T20:23:00.001-08:00

My god, the later part of 2011 has been utter crap! Here are some pages I was going to send in to Heavy Metal but didn't. As usual, I thought it wasn't good enough. But looking at it now it doesn't seem half bad. But not really something HM would publish I guess. The latter pages could've been better. I'll probably post the whole story when I get it re-done. It was just four pages long. a gag rather than a real story. I worked on these around march of this year or something.

Dean.

2011-09-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

R.I.P Dean Ruben Hyrapiet.
1981-2011.

Today I found out that my good friend Dean passed away in Bangalore due to health complications. It was a double whammy for me; Dean was not only one of my few friends during the torturous years I spent in Bangalore but also an amazing artist and visionary. But you wouldn't know that unless you knew him personally and that seems like a crime. So I'm going to tell you a little something about my friend who was taken off this earth far too young.

The first time I met Dean he was sitting in the waiting room of the studio, I had seen his portfolio earlier and told him that I liked his work: it looked like the bastard child of Bart Sears and Stephen Platt. That was the only time I remember a big guy like Dean blushing (or maybe he got mad, I asked him about it much later, he said he didn't remember). Well the only other time he really was blushing was when he talked about his long time love, Beth, whom he would eventually marry.

I think it was natural for Dean and me to be friends although it didn't happen right away; both of us were anti social as hell. Neither of us had an art background, we just loved comics with a fanatic passion. And as friends we argued and fought but it was always forgotten. We discussed art and geeked out over new comics and collaborated. We even shared the same views on humanity and the mystery of the universe.
I suppose I spoke to him the most in Bangalore. He lived up the road from me and we'd travel together to and fro from office. And in the 40 minute rickshaw ride we'd discuss high brow matters like, well, mysterious forces of the universe and low brow matters like mysterious promotions in office.

Like all geniuses Dean was eccentric. He was the worst drinker I have ever seen. He'd gulp down alcohol and then make twitchy eyes. He had a hell of a temper but he always listened to his mum. He was the smartest person I knew but just when you were in awe of his intellect, he'd tell you he has the ability to kill people by flicking his finger at them. He'd talk about peace and then tell you about the time he fought off 19 people with a switchblade. What can I say? The guy was a born storyteller and much like his artwork, he was a study in contrast.

Dean was the kinda artist you would love to hate if you were an artist yourself. You see, unlike normal artists who spend so much time studying, reading books, making notes, memorizing and so forth, Dean just drew naturally. He used to tell me that he'd close his eyes, imagine something and then draw. Most of the time he didn't bother with circles and cylinders, measurements and thumbnails, he'd just start off. It was that simple for him. And his art grew at a monstrous pace. If you don't believe me just check out his work on Dead Soldier which I think was his last book http://www.liquidcomics.com/digital_comics/deadsoldier.html Dean never was on DA or much on facebook. He didn't have a blog where he talked about his ideas and he didn't twitter. He just did his work. He is India's secret comic genius.

If you want to know the kind of story ideas Dean had I'd say it was like the stuff Jordowsky and Moebieus would do. I mean this dude loved epic space operas that had multiple levels of meaning. He was mad about the European sci fi comics and got me hooked onto them as well. He'd show me comics of Enki Bilal with a big smile on his face, recalling the time he met the artist. That was what he loved. Those were the kind of stories and art that he wanted to do. I would've loved to see him draw in his favorite genre. Hopefully collaborate like we did before. But I guess the both of us figured there was more than enough time to get to those crazy big ideas…

Its funny how sometimes time isn't enough. No…scratch that, there's nothing funny about it.

Dean was one of the few lucky people who ended up marrying their one true love. Beth and he were awesome together. And she made him happier than I had ever seen him. I remember when he talked about Beth his tough guy exterior would melt away and you could see he was actually a softie at heart.

Here's something that he told me that was typically the Dean I knew.

He said that sometimes he would close his eyes and concentrate real hard to send a telepathic message to Beth, willing her to call him. You see back when I met Dean they were apart and had not spoken for a long, long time. He didn't even have her number. And she was in a different part of the country altogether. You can believe this next part or not but as he tells it, pretty soon the telepathy paid off, because she tracked down his number and called him up out of the blue. Within a month they were together.

So, if you believe, send a telepathic message out to Beth, urging her to be strong through this tragedy. I'm sure Dean is doing the same thing right now from a far better place.

--Miss you, man.

Traditional inked spawn

2011-09-17T04:51:00.000-07:00

Here is an earlier attempt. Also for fun. This was traditionally inked and I honestly don't see much difference between this and the digital one. I think its the technique that has to go. It's time I started experimenting again. MUWAHAHAHAHAHAhahaha!

Spawn

2011-09-17T04:44:00.001-07:00

Just for fun. Writing is hell...another thing that's hell is monitor color. How do i know the color sickly green is the same sickly green that you see. These are the things that make comic artists go insane.

twilight guardian #4 pages

2011-05-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

and here are some pages from the last issue of the twilight guardian mini.

Lanfear

2011-03-25T09:05:00.000-07:00

Lanfear from Wheel of time. Tried traditional approach to drawing. Colored on ps. Couldn't join the page properly. Have to give this approach another try soon. Was a lot of fun. Like the composition.

twilight guardian #3

2011-03-15T00:51:00.000-07:00

Here are some pages from twilight guardian #3. Its a mix of the parody pages as well as my regular style. I've finished the fourth issue last month. Currently just working on my own concept. Gotta keep busy :P some people like creating their own stories. I find it painful. I like drawing but the story bit of it drives me bonkers. However it does give me a chance to draw stuff I've never gotten to draw before. Really looking forward to that.

twilight guardian#2

2011-02-23T20:37:00.001-08:00

Here are some pages from tg #2. One of the challenging (and fun) parts about working on this book are the insert pages done in different styles. I think at the heart of it Twilight Guardian is about celebrating the awesomeness of comics.

twilight guardian #1

2011-02-15T22:23:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pages from twilight guardian #1. Written and created by Eisner award nominee Troy Hickman, colored by Bill Farmer. Bill's done an amazing job coloring these pages especially on issue #3. I just saw some of the pages :) It is awesome!

wb pinup

2011-02-15T22:12:00.000-08:00

Here's a pin up I did for last years Witchblade annual. I think I prefer storytelling even if its in pinups. Iconic shots aren't my strong point and I get a little bored just posing people (and I think it shows). Didn't have a story to work off so I just threw in a lot of my fave topcow women :) When in doubt, overdo it!

long time no upload

2010-11-14T07:34:00.000-08:00

Long time since I uploaded anything. Here's a sample pencil page I was working on earlier this year. Don't know when I can put up the new stuff I've been working on. Probably next year. Anyway, this was from a Witchblade script by Ron Marz.

red sonja colored

2010-05-10T06:16:00.001-07:00

Finally got time to put some colors on the babe.

slash sketch

2010-05-03T08:40:00.003-07:00

A very quick sketch of the guitar GOD. Heard his new self titled ablum. Love every minute of it.

super sketch dump

2010-05-01T08:35:00.000-07:00

Well, they're not rough enough to be sketches. Was just drawing some established characters because its good practice. Some of the best artists in the world have already worked on these so just by drawing them I get a good idea of where I stand and what I need to do to improve. Also I like superheros but the work that I generally get is not of the capes and tights kind. Its enjoyable and I learn a lot on drawing regular stuff but I also like to keep my superhero drawing skills sharp too....its a psychological dysfunction I'm told. I have an obsessive need to draw everything! :D

red sonja

2010-04-09T07:41:00.000-07:00

usually I guess it'd take me a coupla hours to finish a piece like this but this time it took a coupla weeks. I did it in small installments between completing pages. all sneaky like :P

wsbw

2010-01-12T01:22:00.000-08:00

tandav nritya

2009-12-31T22:24:00.000-08:00

As per wikipedia '# The end of the world, all creation and illusion is prophesied to happen at the end of the Kali Yuga.
# Lord Siva Nataraja, the Destroyer kills the paramount demon of the time and performs the Tandava Nritya (The Dance of Tandava) on his back.
# The mystical dance is the penultimate martial art, destroying all forms of matter and energy, materials, beings and illusions, which are absorbed within the Supreme Brahman.'

theres no time for love, charlie brown.

2009-12-06T07:04:00.000-08:00

Ruthless and corrupt comic artist hellbent on world domination. likes dogs.

palace design.

2009-10-13T07:15:00.000-07:00

lost in space

2009-07-19T07:36:00.000-07:00

sgbnw

2009-05-29T06:32:00.000-07:00

the pen and ink version

Spacegirlll!!

2009-05-29T05:57:00.000-07:00

In Travis we Trust.

entertain me, foo!

2009-05-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

yawn. Its a hot summer day with no rain in sight. I'm bored and annoyed and cant get to my creator owned stuff. Sigh...so bored...I drew this. Tried to get a traditional sketch feel to it but its colored in photoshop.

Usually people draw wolverine all berserker when he escapes from weapon x. I either drew him at the end of his strength or fallin' asleep...:P...like I'm about to.

On a more metaphorical note (ahem) the pipes and thingies attached to wolvie are intentionally drawn as puppet strings. The white space symbolizes the peace that he always craves. The strings/pipes holding him back symbolizes his past that won't let him go.

didn't expect that didja? (wiggles eyebrows)

Someone entertain me....screw it..I'm not getting anything done today might as well go to sleep :/

devi vs kratha

2009-05-12T07:33:00.001-07:00

Comission for my friend and fellow comic scribe, Saurav.

dark (k)night

2009-04-28T07:10:00.000-07:00

I wanted to capture a more human moment of the batman because unlike the other big two at DC this guy is the most human and he'll have moments of despair. Especially in the face of the rampant violence that is part of Gotham city life. I also wanted everything in the room to be old/used. 'Cause I don't think anything in Gotham is untouched or pure. It should all look like its rotting.

Gosh.

2009-04-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

My first attempt at painting a full traditional image with gauche paints ^^ This was just a trial run using photo ref but I have an image for a darkness withcblade pin up that I'll be hopefully getting to this weekend. Sunday is gauche day!

who?

2009-04-27T02:42:00.000-07:00

Quick sketch of my friend done from a photo taken when we had gone to watch the watchmen.

bats

2009-04-22T22:45:00.000-07:00

messing around with grayscale again. Done for club batman spain on request.

grayscale colored.

2009-03-18T22:53:00.000-07:00

slapped some quick colors on this one.

Hanuman

2009-03-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

I was approached by a comic company and they sent across a sample page for me to draw.

Anyway, here’s my interpretation of the character Hanuman.

'nother comiss

2009-02-17T16:56:00.000-08:00

Komodo girl! (c)2009 siddharth kotian. Just a rough sketch colored rapidly on ps. I promised this to a friend but had real drawing work to get to so went pretty fast on it. And basic. She loved it anyway so its all good. Even thought it looked like her o.O which was not my intention but what the hey. Took about 20 mins to make. Hope you like it!

tarzan boy

2009-02-10T00:19:00.000-08:00

My friend wanted her and tarzan hanging in a tree. And here it is. I broke one of the cardinal laws of pin ups, I included feet! never include feet! :O And since I'm an over achiever and all that I put king kong in there too. So its kind of a crossover cover :P

Image copyright (c)2009 Siddharth Kotian.

comission colored.

2009-02-05T02:28:00.000-08:00

Colored version :)

My web comic Splitting Atoms; is up and running. If you have the time please check it out at http://www.zudacomics.com/node/1041

And vote for me! You'll have to register first. but its quite painless and has very few entry fields.

Comission

2009-02-04T06:14:00.000-08:00

A commission for my friend Nanoo. Colors to come soon. She has a german shepherd that she loves to bits. So she wanted him in the pic. And her with samurai swords. I threw in a gun too :P

Also, check out my webcomic 'Splitting Atoms' at http://www.zudacomics.com/node/1041 and if you like it, register and vote for me. Registration on this site is relatively painless and requires few fields.

Thank you! :) Hope you like it!

Escape!

2009-01-13T21:51:00.000-08:00

Its been some time since I put up anything new and right now I’m working on a pitch to Image comics but that’s gonna take some time. In the mean while I was dying to do this pin up that was stuck in my head.

The character you see here is Sir Archibal Fluffyclaws known as Clawy to his friends. He has just taken a giant dump and realized that the plumbing in his aristocratic subterranean mansion is broken and hence he takes his ire out on the heavily armed Plumbers Union.

Some people may mistake this for the scene in which Wolverine (a clear rip off of Clawy) wakes up after his adamantium transfusion in a berseker rage. And wolverine being a force of nature when in such a mood would not hide or sneak out of the base but go through anything that stands in his way. The shortest way between one point to the other being a straight line. So it really sucks to be a terrified nameless soldier who happens to get caught in the same narrow corridor between Wolverine and freedom.

Can’t wait for the Wolverine Origins movie!

Some more old artwork from the Standed.

2009-01-13T18:58:00.000-08:00

Here are two sample images for the Sci Fi Mini series The Stranded which was written by Mike Carey. These are probably the best images that never made it to the comic book. They were trial artwork. The real art for this project didnt turn out that good... :( for many reasons that I don't want to talk about, personal as well as proffesional, because its in the past and better off left behind. When I think about it last year was probably one of the worst years of my life. Boy, I'm glad thats over.

Best thing about the project was I got to interact with Mike who is a totally great guy and one of my childhood comic idols!!! :D

colored e card

2009-01-05T19:54:00.000-08:00

The colored version of my Christmas e card.

character designs

2008-12-18T19:58:00.000-08:00

A few character designs from Splitting Atoms :)

Ramayan Reborn pages.

2008-12-18T19:23:00.000-08:00

After finishing Eat the Dead I realized my style of drawing needed some work because the whole moody, drenched in black works for horror but if you want mainstream you need to get something more. So while doing filler issues of Ramayan Reborn I tweaked my style a little bit. Going in for more widescreen panels (which seemed all the rage back then) dual source lighting and hatching lines. This I think worked really well for me :) I especially like the redesign I did on the 'babe' character. I gave her a gypsy look since her homeland was destroyed a few issues ago and she was a vagabond now. I also gave her this gigantic laser sword that can be flipped around and used as a bazooka :P

Eat the Dead- moi first published woik :P

2008-12-18T19:12:00.000-08:00

I'm a comic book writer/ artist. My first published work was in 2007. It was a horror graphic novel called 'Eat the Dead' I had a lotta fun on this one. Learned a lot in the use of blacks and what to do and what not to do.

I especially liked the creepy feel that I tried to get into every panel and the montage images that were the flash backs. Looked at a lotta Arthur Rackham for inspiration.

Getting started

2008-12-18T19:10:00.000-08:00

Well, here's my blog. Its the first time I'm making one :) I'm gonna be adding a lot of my art work, previous ones as well as current.