Tuesday 3 February 2009

'A Moment of Glory'

















That was the title, anyway - the artwork was nothing of the sort although the first of the five pages (from where most of these panels are taken) managed to meet the demands of a superb script by Andy Nixon.

About a year after leaving Art College and training to be a carpenter; I got in contact with the editor of Angeldust - an ambitious small-press title which was based in Cardiff. Andy afforded me his best script about a (pre-Dunblane) schoolyard shooting. However, I made an outright hash of the artwork despite there being several months between the first and final panels.

Shortly after starting the strip, I got into ninjutsu which required an inescapable amount of dedication to become anything better than hopeless alongside blokes that typically began martial arts training in childhood.

I had hoped that a handful of half-decent panels would cart the strip along but the cynical strategy backfired only to enhance the dismaldom of the remaining dross. Meanwhile, Angeldust was attracting high-quality submissions and Andy (also an illustrator) was left with little option but to bounce my duff rendition of 'A Moment of Glory' from the anthology.

There followed a few witheringly satirical exchanges between us but put it this way; there's no way that the art is going on this blog! So, I guess you had the more sensible outlook at the time, Andy.

At least the experience imparted a realisation that I was unable to produce satisfactory artwork within the remotest deadline and it was also a visual turning point in that the style was 'clear-line' throughout. In that respect, I have a College tutor to thank for emphasising the integrity of line to convey information when it's often tempting to obfuscate an image with what Brian Bolland has similarly referred to as 'twiddly-noodling' - or superfluous inking habits.

It's also clear that a few of the construction details on the shed would easily antagonise the average site foreman, if implemented, although I don't suppose there are many comix enthusiasts who have to worry about that particular scenario!

2 comments:

  1. It was published on-line a few years back at www.hardvac.com

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  2. I should've googled...I prefer his visual approach actually.

    Shame about the inking, of course!

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