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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Nine

Just came out of the movies watched nine I couldn't wait till I got home I'm blogging from my phone the movie kicks five kinds of ass, in a time when all movie are formulaic money making machines (even though I loved avatar) rhis is one movie that dares to be different in a perfect marriage of stage and film with spectacular performances by the all star cast not to mention d day lewis' unblemished portayal of guido quentini this movie is AWESOME

In my life there are a few movies that I felt personally talked to me in person or felt more than empathy but sort of a sibling likelyhood with thprotagonist one was aviator with howard hughes' dream of being the best at flds miles apart and blowing everyone out of the water and nine is the other quentini's struggle for a story and juggling his life and not to mention him thinking he's dying all the time just spoke to me at a deeper level here it's movies like this that make me want to be in the business of storytelling be it comics movies or stand up I know I am where I want to be.

Go see nine now twice sorry cameron I love this one more
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld

Monday, January 25, 2010

More work Shocking

So I kept working on that drawing being the most productive thing I've done for I while so I kept going with it till it was complete here are the progress shots

inks


flats


final with part of my desk showing

you can always click on it for a bigger view and more excruciating details

work done

is force multiplied by distance....



oh yeah I went there, what's the point of studying mechanical engineering if you don't make dynamics jokes really, but today was finally productive I wrote a whole ten page stroy complete with layout and everything it is called blog interestingly enough :P I also did a full body drawing traditional nontheless which is a departure from my usual digital work nor reference there but I love the outcome it shows a bit of progress I have gone through anyway here's the drawing, I won't post the story yet till it's done something for you to anticipate :D



oh and remember page 2 of cherry Apocalypse that I posted a while back well at the workshop I showed it to Magdy el Shafee and he decided to rework the last panel and here it is in all its glory allbran and Lilac by Magdy el Shafee, I'm just honoured to have this as my first official fanart piece


anyway this is the warman out for now catch up with you later then

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Pissing Contest

I noticed this annoying habit of mine that potentially pisses allot of people about me, apparently I tend to try and measure up to whoever I;m around if it's someone with an amazing talent or skill I could learn from or someone I admire then I place them on this pedestal and try to learn from them as much as possible, however if I consider them in a position to be equal (and notice how I didn't say equal immediately) my conversations with them would become a pissing contest, if they know something I have to show off I know more of that even if it is a trivial geeky piece of unimportant trivia, if they are having trouble with classes I have to be having more trouble if they are busy I have to be busier and so on and so forth, I noticed it pisses people off why do I have to try and be better than them all the time, what am I trying to prove ? am I this vain that I need to be better than everyone all the time ? but at what cost ? I mean I think highly of myself and it has helped push me to reach for my ambition but why do I always have to gloat and show off ? sure I love the spotlight, it's why i gon stage, it's why I do whatever I do, but why do I have to make it clear to everyone that I am "awesome" ? why can't I just leave them to percieve it on their own ? what am I trying to hide ? what is gnawing at my insides that I'm always trying to impress certian people ?

I mean I would usually act like the non conformist but that initself is just conforming to a different style, I might act differently, but what is the reason for the showing off, the gloating, the constant blab about myself the vanity of it all, what am I Johnny Bravo ? can't I just leave people recognize me to their own merit without having to keep proving myself ? let my actions talk on their own...

I have noticed one thing I do have a certain amount of talent sure I can admit that and so can allot of other people (there it is again) but I noticed one thing about me, my talent isn't as polished as others, I'm not the 100% talent sort of guy that gets it as fast as everyone else I'd have to work twice as hard to reach the level I want to be at, because self critical as I have become just being very good at something isn't enough I have to be the best (pissing contest again ??) maybe in this case it's different, because here it is healthy ambition and I guess the answer would be simple I guess I just should work hard since the payoff is huge, I mean who get's anything without work right?

well for someone like me who went through school one of the top 3 students without having to work as hard as everyone else I would have to say it's not easy to work hard, having gotten into the habit of minimalism doing less for more, why should I have cared when the minimum amount of effort deemed me a good enough position above everyone else for me to bother with it. i have grown into the habit of procrastination and time wasting. the only reason I am not as great as I wanna be at this moment is because of the stupendous amount of time that I currently wasting.

you might have noticed the sort of dead activity around here I haven't drawn anything new in a while or even wrote, though the workshop has been going great and me learning allot as well having fun picking at other awesome people's brains (not in a zombie manner) not to mention getting a chance to write a group of really good stories some of which I've started working on actually. not to mention Dr. Magdy el Shafee actually redrew one of my panels (which I'll be posting soon) which could count as the official first professional fan art of cherry apocalypse.

another thing yesterday I stumbled upon 2 really old friends from before highschool (I met each separately) and reexchanged numbers it's been a while since we last met and I'm glad it happened and I should invite them to meet and catch up at one point, we've been apart for long enough and I don't want it to end up with someone coming to terms with their mortality while us being away form each other I've already had that enough, I don't wish to repeat it soon.

anyway enough for now more later

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

power down ?

I haven't been updating for a while which could only mean one thing PROCRASTINATION, sure I've been wasting allot of time doing useless things like watching gossip girl but a friend pushed me into it, I mean I'm not the person to go see gossip girl on their own, but now I'm hooked and wasting my time. ah well, I guess the blog was useful in showing how little use I'm making of my time. so in response I'm going to push extra hard to get some stuff done. Await an update with productivity soon

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Dramarama

Ok, so the last entry was more of an open heart melodramatic entry, glad to say that HOpefully now I'm on my way to change, cut my hair and trying new things with it and today I quit the junk both food and drinks let's see how long I hold on to that.

and here's a web comic for you guys for being good listeners (readers?) : Grim Tales

Friday, January 15, 2010

Dying at 22

I dunno why I'm doing this to myself but I feel Like I'm slowly killing myself  for reasons beyond my comprehension, my sleep cycle is fucked up to say the least I have turned nocturnal and my bedtime is getting later and later it has reached the point where it could be referred to as earlier. sleep time is getting shorter cause I have stuff to do during the day but that's not the end of it, I'm still wasting a fuckload of time, if I'm ever to make this graphic novel work I'll need to reach a proper discipline that will not take a toll on my health as well as give me enough time to work on it.

Now this lack of sleep is taking it's toll I'm shivering, jittery, and starting to develop ticks not to mention now I'm getting rapid heartbeats at random occasions heartbeats that you feel bashing at your ribcage to the extent that you can't breath, heartburn (though I've grown accustomed to that) is on the rise, not to mention that I already have problems I need to deal with. I've been skipping on my medication for a while and now my joints are starting to hurt which means that the uric acid has risen again (yes I have a slight uric acid problem as well as some potential liver problems and of course fats around the liver, and I was prescribed medication for it but I've stopped for a while).

Not to mention the biggest problem of all, and ironically by calling it biggest I'm reffering to its nature which is size, unforetunately I don't mean my penis instead I mean my belly, yes I am overweight and I'm pretty sure I've crossed the first line at the obese mark being 190 cm tall and 120 kg heavy is really not a good thing, it didn't show before cause I mostly gain weight from the stomach region but now I'm noticing a receding neckline (i.e I'm slowly but surely losing my neck for other chins). and I'm not helping that fact with the increased intake of fastfood I'm currently on not to mention your occasional chocolate and sweet thing.

I'm cramping at the slightest movement which is a sign that I haven't been exercising for a crapload of time, something which has never been the case being an athlete all my life I have never gone this long without sports in my life and I can't blame being busy because really I've been putting off working out for a while using lame excuses every now and then.

Me being 22 I shouldn't be complaining like a 90 year old and rambling on the health problems, but they are starting to bother me more than usual I should be in my prime right now and instead I'm screwing myself over, I dunno why at this point my self destructive path is ineffable, is this the decent to madness I've started this blog to try to avoid, to try to grasp whatever sanity I have left, could it be that I've been awake for what seems to be 20 or so hours. I dunno I guess writing my thoughts helps put things in prespective sharing them with the known and unknown readers (if any, it's not like it's raining comments over here) just eases the load off my chest. maybe then I'll start taking action.

it's helping also that while all this is happening I have to bear the burden that with all these problems I am faced with the fact that I have never been in a relationship, in fact I don't believe that there is a girl out there that has met me that has given me the time of day or even gave a second thought about me being a potential boyfriend I'm not talking suitor, fiancee or anything just boyfriend or even date. eh... I might be picky myself, but I guess I still have the diginity to choose someone I would like back the problem is the ones I did choose didn't want anything to do with me and from that point I dunno how to approach the new ones. yeah sure I might have reached the conclusion that when it happens it will happen but how am I kidding, I really don't believe that I want someone to share feelings with that would be of the other sex. that fact that in 22 years i have not had a girlfriend or even a proper date is seriously threatening my masculinity, I feel less than adequate something which is devastating for a guy with such a huge ego such as myself especially when even to some girls I come off as a ladies man (or so I have been told) I dunno how, because I am clearly not and there's something that I'm doing (or not) that is terribly wrong.

So it seems to me that the only thing working for me at the moment is the comic, and in my eyes I still suck as an artist in comparison to the world around me sure I might encourage myself and boost myself but still I'm way behind I just got the ambition and lots of maybe i don;t have the talent but I have the heart. I'm hiding behind tons of books to try and learn and jump start my missing elements in my talent, sure I'm satisfied with page 2 but that is still the pencils and it took way too long, and I need to maintain this type of quality and still it's not nearly as good as it should be there IS better. could the books help I sure hope so because I paid a fucking lot for them. not to mention my graphic novel, the one that is supposed to define my position in the comic world and establish my name with a publishing house to start churning out books, the one that is my graduation project is nothing but an idea at the moment sure this idea is one of those rare ideas that are living and breathing and growing with more and more magnitude but it still stays an idea nothing is concrete I dunno how I'm going to handle it into a 40 page book.

I haven't cut my hair in a while I loved my hair long but I'm getting bored and disgusted with it, and so I have decided. to get to where I want I will need to start to change. first I will need a discipline to prevent procrastination this will probably be the one most hardest thing I will ever do in my life because I am the current most practictitioner of procrastination the ever existed.

second I will quit fast food and soda starting sunday while drastically reducing my candy intake if any, and hopefully actually getting a proper diet as prescribed by some expert in the field.

Exercise, a word that I can't spell and heve to spend some time on, this is symbollic somehow, will need to get back on track, go back to the gym and work out the fat.

start taking my medicine again and going to bed earlier and waking up earlier, using the time of day instead of the night that way i make the best of my day and go to sleep at the proper hours this bat lifestyle has got to stop.

I shall start by cutting my hair let that be a first step into fixing myself and I shall follow up while updating you on the results of my work on comics, my other work on myself, because If I'm enhancing myself as a writer and as an artist I might as well work on myself as a human being, maybe these deep rooted insecurities about getting a girl (not even the girl yet) and the struggles to get a better healthier body (because at this point if my body was a temple it would be the temple of the shit and piss gods) would actually benefit my writing and solving these issues and trying to reach emotional stability or more like emotional satisfaction would subconsciously affect my drawing because as I am not satisfied with the way I look my art is affected by that because art is a psychological emotional activity and if the emotions are fucked up so will the art be.

feel free to share your support and comments by all means, yes I am that insecure that I'm seeking confirmation from a group of anonymous readers that are reading my woes and pains, and suddenly I am emo, I dunno how more emo one can get without having to resort to black makeup attire and hair product, but I assure you I am still the happy go lucky person you know (or don't know), and maybe just going to bed will fix that which is what I'll do now. so good night (or more like good morning to some of you since it's 8:20 am)

proof of Productivity



oh yeah baby here's the rough pencils of page two in cherry apocalypse enjoy this sneak peak for now because this is the process of reaching the final coloured version hopefull I'll be able to finish it by sunday, I'm thinking to reach this quality of a comic page I'll need to update biweekly for now till I get faster I guess anyway enjoy and if you can't read don't worry that's a good thing cause the punchline won't be wasted till the end result

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Alan Moore and Moore

so last morning (the day of the massive burger) my books came from amazon, YAY my friend shaltout woke me up early enough (10:30 am) to get them since they were delivered to his house. anyway I'm more than excited about them I already read one cover to cover that was Alan Moore's Writing for Comics and DAMN that was an awesome book, I mean I adore Alan Moore's work but getting to pick at his brain through reading his thoughts about the craft of writing is amazing.

the book is basically a collection of articles he wrote before about writing and then finally his afterword recaping on his thoughts that were concieved at a younger less experienced Moore. the book covered the craft of writing from idea formulation to story plot timing transitions etc. but it's not really a how to book, it's not really how to write the Alan Moore way (if there is such a thing) in fact it is more of an intellectual discussion of the actual act of writing with some insights and examples this approach allows for every writer to have a completely different experience from reading it that would have only one thing in common with other readers, that being eyeopening. it was a helpful read in envisioning my own story (the one I'm making the graphic novel about). He also puts into words allot of stuff in the thinking process that we might have known of but none has dared to put in writing (none that I know of), also a couple of great lessons I learned from the book is the importance of observation of fellow human beings and the importance of maintaining an ever changing element of chaos and spontaneity while working and ignore stuff like reputation and posterity because the more you work towards them the more your work turns stale.

A relatively small book, it was a reading experience that left my brain erupting with ideas.

and now for the web comic section of this book here's on e of the greatest webcomics out there and I say that with great authority, it is the best in term of writing and art not to mention technical experimentation within the medium with lettering, paneling and more here it is Tessa Stone's Hannah is Not A Boys Name

Burgers

Oh yeah making the burgers was a complete success and not just me to prove it my brother liked his too,


the first trial


and then I made fries


fries awesomeness


yesterday while doing it I burned my hand though some oil splashed out and got on my hand, it will recover soon and hopefully no scarring too

Trying to treat my hand (with toothpaste)


Leftover burns

However this was the ever useful learning experience that led me to create THIS MASTERPIECE this morning:

Marwan's awesomely great amazing burger (with cheese)

so this is it, how is this related to making comics, well one of the major parts of the process of making comics is eating as preperation at least for me grabbing a bite before working is the best excuse to delay work, not that I..er.. ah what the hell. anyway enjoy the looks of it and maybe I'll make a comic witht he recipe sometime isA.

Anyway Time to pimp up another comic this one is a little for older crowds Menage a 3

Monday, January 11, 2010

New Character

Yeah that's right more characters for Cherry Apocalypse

Butcher

butcher here's a serial killer say hello, I won't divulge more you'll be seeing him soon anyway

Also now I've decided to make my own burgers at home this dude has a pretty good idea how also here are a bunch of good recipes and tips. I'll tell you how it goes once the minced meat unfreezes and I actually cook it.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Not slacking off

I swear I'm not I'm actually working more and more on cherry apocalypse but I don't wanna do a half assed job just to get out on time I'm willing to risk some more time just to get things right, and to prove I'm not really pulling your leg and saying that cause I'm procrastinating here are the redesigns for the two main Characters Allbran and Lilac since I was working on wrap-arounds for quicker reference I just did a better job at redesigning them completely since the initial comic was a random spur of the moment thing



Allbran



Lilac

And yes those will be their names, and it will make more sense when you read more of the comic which hinges on me working on it more I guess.

Oh and I notcied I've been bulking up on burgers lately, eating them everywhere and most of the time it seems they are becoming more of a staple in my current un-diet :P, it seems I might have to quit soon, I want to but just...I dunno, guess I just will...

oh can't leave without Pimping another webcomic here's another great one Looking for Group

Gears in Motion

so unfortunately the workshop was postponed to next weekend due to unforeseen circumstances (them being Magdy getting sick, but thankfully he's better now so W00T) so more news on that when it happens.

now for What I've been doing, well i finally got done with Graphic Storytelling and the Visual Narrative very interesting and inspirational yet not as much as the first one though, but it covers pretty decent ground on how to handle a story when it comes to comics with their various shapes and forms be it graphic novel or newspaper strip or any other form. he also discusses story approach techniques, how to approach a story and handle it. the main Gem of the book is the plethora of personal examples he offers from his own work as well as others. This provides you with a good background on how different stories are handled, so if you're completely oblivious to what a comic is capable of (or just think comics are batman, superman, spiderman and hulk) you're in for quite the learning experience that will thrill you and open your mind to new possibilities and if you are a seasoned veteran of the comic art, you're still in for a wild ride of Eisnerian splendor.

I layed out some pages in Cherry Apocalypse which means now I have a vague idea of how the story will go at least for the next 3 updates, wrote some character bios which I'll work on more later tonight isA. Also page 2 of Cherry apocalypse will be up soon (as soon as I finish it that is, sunday just sneaks up on you doesn't it)

I'll be linking you guys to fellow webcomics out there that I think you should check out for their AWESOMENESS: comic for this time is The Meek

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Workshopmania

So tomorrow starts that collaborative project with Magdy el Shafee and the group of local comic artists. they have a very intensive program for the weekend I mean we start at 3 pm and finish by 9 pm, hopefully it will be very interesting as well as educational. Laying out a couple of pages for Cherry Apocalypse so it doesn't seem like I don't know what I'm doing (which I really don't) hopefully I'll try to keep a story in there to make it more engaging I guess.

still working on graphic stroytelling and the visual narrative want to get through it now cause reading is getting less attention from me and I need to get back on track.

saw the
princess and the Frog and had so much fun with it really. I suggest you go see it.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Putting my money where my Orifice is

Finally, the first episode of Cherry Apocalypse is out there fixed and everything and I'm glad that finally happened now on to the next one.

A couple of books arrived in the mail yesterday very excited will start reading them soon enough they are
Zombie Survival Guide
World War Z

I've heard awesome reviews on both

also great news I've enrolled in this workshop about comics being given here in Egypt by Hicham Rhamah and industry Proffessional who has worked in several publications in the region so that would both give me some good connections (it already has, I'll explain in a bit) as well as great insight from an industry professional not to mention hands on work because you can only do so much working on your own, being with a mentor pushes a perosn forward more (at least with me).

Now about the connections, remember I mentioned Magdy El Shafee a couple of times before, he is a great comic artist and one of the active ones in the field right now, though he had the unforetunate incident of having his graphic novel banned. now I met him at the seminar introducing the before mentioned workshop, I talked to him (having met him before once to interview him about the ban for the school newspaper) and i showed him some of my work, he loved it (idea wise, technically I still need allot of improvement) and asked me to join him in this collaborative project with other local comic artists both amatuer and professional to try and produce a body of work in a short intense workshop, now who am I to say no to that. anyway I'm just grateful this happened because not only will I get a chance to learn from proffessionals in the field I will also be a part of the local comics scene which reminds me allot of the underground comix scene Art Spiegelman used to do comics in, and he went on to win a Pulitzer prize for his comic MAUS


And in a final note I ordered 11 books from amazon today they'll be here in a week or so isA here's the list and I'll be mentioning every book when I start reading it:
1- Dynamic Light and Shade by Burne Hogarth
2- Dynamic Figure Drawing by Burne Hogarth
3- Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery: Solutions for Drawing the Clothed Figure by Burne Hogarth
4- Vanishing Point: Perspective for Comics from the Ground Up by Jason Cheeseman-Meyer
5- The DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics by Freddie E Williams II
6- Alan Moore's Writing For Comics Volume 1
7- Expressive Anatomy for Comics and Narrative by Will Eisner
8- Drawing Dynamic Hands by Burne Hogarth
9-  Dynamic Anatomy: Revised and Expanded Edition by Burne Hogarth
10- Drawing the Human Head by Burne Hogarth

Btw Observe and Report, and Miss March were both Crap, the Latter had some Laugh out Really Loud moments but not that much of a movie anyway. I say don't bother giving them a once over maybe if they ever air on tv which is highly unlikely since the first is rated R, and the second is pretty damn close to that too.

Pink Pather 2 However was very funny I enjoyed that one allot Just got done watching it a while ago, but then again Steve Martin kicks everyone's comedic butt and mix that with Jean Reno and Andy Garcia and you got yourself a great sequel

Monday, January 4, 2010

Relative Productivity

So it starts, yesterday I worked on cherry apocalypse spent the better part of the day working on this Background for it that i hated and decided against in the end so now I'm working on another one which delayed production a bit cause I'll be out of the house most of today.

The Background in Question



But I got some shit done though, I finished readin Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner and that was a great eye opening experience on the medium, I mean the man covers everything he approaches the medium from outside starting with reading it and perceptions about it and goes into it's core bit by bit taking it apart and putting it back together again, his talk about panelling to me is by far the best because he really knew how to handle a panel or a non panel for that matter he even talks about the page as a super panel or meta panel and other different uses for that box like frame that is the core of comics, then moves on to timing, composition, human gesture which shows you really how much of an actor the comic artist should be because they have to make every character act properly with body and facial gesture to properly pull a story off (this part especially I liked because he had a ghetto denzin perform hamlet on a bronx rooftop in comic form, to properly illustrate his point. THAT WAS AWESOME). then he goes on a bit about the technology of printing this part though might be a bit outdated due to the book being written so long ago but it's still interesting to know. he even approaches the writing element of comics if you are an artist or a writer or both and how to manage working together. the book is lined with examples from eisner's personal work which in itself is a treasure trove of comic art and writing splendor. This is a book not to be trifled with and I'll be using more of it's wisdom in my works isA. and I'll be Discussing them when I do to explain them even more.

Another thing I did yesterday is watch allot of movies, that's what you do when you spend a day in your house with a vast library of movies so I saw (in chronological order throughout the day):
The Darwin Awards
An awesome comedy about a criminal profiler with a dehabilitating disease that makes him faint at the sight of blood, he is obsessed with the darwin awards a site that tells you the most stupid deaths in existence, so he decides to analyze these personalities and help an insurance company with their claims against these deaths. very funny to watch lots of hidden cameos and great performances by all and hey this one has Winona Rider and personally I haven't seen her in a film since Edward Scissor Hands and Alien Reseruction
Ice Age 3
Another Sequel, still funny, Ice Age still has that funny factor going for it and maybe because the three main characters are well established comedians I guess so at least they got timing right, interesting story this time going more into the family theme (which was what the first one was also about) so I guess they're taking it back to the basics (also evident in them going back to having dinosaurs :P) the addition of the great Simon Pegg though a Buck the weasel was kickass that dude alone made the movie twenty times funnier not to mention the viscious monster known as "Rudy", anyway you will have fun watching this. tip: don't watch it alone it's more fun in a larger crowd helps pull the laughter.
Funny People
Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen in a Judd Apatow Movie ? is this for real ? YES, well this movie promises to deliver a high power comedy AND IT DOES but not in a way you'd think though. It is a very heartfelt story with very well written characters, Humor is their the film is very funny and with a crapload of comedians on board like Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman and Aubery Plaza not to mention the original Hulk Eric Bana and the Beautiful Leslie Mann (Judd's wife who plays the role of a mother to her own two girls in this movie) this movie is a full package. it is quite the long movie and it delivers a very good story, interesting in that it is not your usual fluff comedy, it is not a Superbad nor a 40 Year-old Virgin, yet it is more it has great dramatic elements that make up a very good film without shedding the comedy facade so it really won't disapoint and if you are into comedy and comedians then you'll love the star spangeled Cameos in this one which I won't divulge because they should remain as surprises.
9
I've been waiting to see this movie for a while now, becuase it never came to theaters here in egypt. now the concept of a movie produced by two of my favorite directors Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov , was unbelievable and the fact that it was animated and that the Trailer played Welcome Home by Coheed and Cambria just made me wanna see it even more. now this movie is based on a five minute short director Shane Ecker made in school (filmschool that is) and I guess someone in a studio decided to blow it up into a feature length movie, and it deosn't disappoint, it stays true to the original in some parts that were taken as is from the short but then adds a nice story over it all which makes it allot more interesting to watch, the film is eventful and exciting which make watching it a great experience you never get a dull moment watching really it was really fun to watch.

Those were the ones I watched yesterday, the day before some friends called me up to go see District 9 another movie based on a short now that was AMAZING, I know I just said every single one of these movies was good but seriously district 9 was a breath of fresh air a new take on science fiction an new technique in filmmaking (although a documentary in the begining of the film was originally made in Orson WellesCitizen Kane) and also a great story, I've never heard of the actors personally but they did a great performance, the CGI and live action blend together seamlessly, the world created is very plausible and finally the alien mothership didn't go to New York or California it went to Johannesburg and was shot in, lo and behold JOHANNESBURG. i really had allot of fun watching this one even though (For a movie buff like me) some parts were quite predicatable but all in all Defintely worth the watch plus it was Produced by Peter Jackson.

Anyway That's it for now Next up in reading is Graphic Storytelling and The Visual Narrative and hopefully soon you'll be seeing the fixed page one of Cherry Apocalypse and Page two Next Sunday isA

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Bits and Pieces

When one tries to write a story, I have no idea how they do it.

But when it comes to me it usually comes through a series of inspirations and influences, scenes and characters that pop into my head at certain instances of time. Be it a certain event that I've seen in a different light, or maybe a piece of music or a song that thrust a scene into my head in sync with the music. Or maybe a conversation with a friend anyway you get the drill.

The graphic novel I want to write is at this stage now, a bunch of characters that I'm still getting to know better and a bunch of scenes that are formulating in my head. I went down at four am a couple of days ago to get something to drink from the supermarket (which turned out to be closed but i still got a bottle of coke from a street kiosk) and going down the stairs of my apartment I noticed some black sticky stuff smeared down on the stairs and on the corridor and an image popped in my head," blood smeared on the stairs, this could be visually interesting "

A monologue that I think am going to use for the villain popped in my head while driving another day, and while watching a nature show last night I thought of a great build up for the climax, but that's all there is right now bits and pieces, like the a song my dear friend kazaz wrote "bits and pieces on the floor, I thought I had it all but I still want more" (little does he know is that I love this song :P).

So now I think I'll let my imagination run free for a little longer before trying to formulate this large see of scenes and characters into an actual plot. till then I'm doing extensive research of the artform of comics I've started with reading the books by the Master of the graphic novel Will Eisner, first his book "Comics and Sequential Art" and then moving on to his other book "Graphic Storytelling and The Visual Narrative". I've read the first one before but I am reading it again now and seriously two pages into it and I'm already enlightened enough to really have this graphic novel stand out.

I'll keep you posted when I'm done reading the book. also Tommorrow should be interesting since I'll be launching Cherry Apocalypse, my new webcomic...

Friday, January 1, 2010

Links To keep an eye out for

Ok as I said I will be discussing online articles about the glorious medium we call comics as well as sharing said links.

Now being a comics artist in egypt entails me knowing my current contemporaries in the field both local and international.
since the international ones are more known, I'll try to make an effort to make known the local ones, one of them in particular, is one of the greats and deserves special recognition, me being a huge fan of his work.


 



More are available online I decided to share these now and more when I come across more.

Enjoy these for now

And it starts

I think every blog should start with an adequate introduction, I don't know how adequate I can be or what adequate really means at this point but an introduction is in order nonetheless.

My name is Marwan Imam I am a double major in mechanical engineering and art at the american university in cairo, and am approaching graduation after 5 and half years of education at the time of writing this, now as I approach my 12th semester there I have already completed my engineering graduation project and now am working on my Art graduation project. and I've decided for it to be a graphic novel. A decision that is not as easy as it sounds, you see I want that book to be later on published as one of the earliest graphic novels in the egyptian market in arabic as well. because to call the local market of graphic novels and comics in egypt dwindling is to assumes it has some sort of existence unfortunately said existence isn't really much of an existance there might have been one or two people that have a published book out there one of them was already banned. So now my goal is to get this book published by the end of next semester just in time for the gallery exhibition of senior art projects (Yes I intended to put a comic book in an art gallery THE HORROR).

So to accomplish such feat I've started studying comics a bit more extensively reading and rereading books and articles about the topic (my formal education being in fine arts and taking one course about comics my junior year the only one offered at my university) so with this new year dawning on us I have started an extensive study schedule of the medium and all aspects of it. I feel though that going deep into this will make me lose my grip on reality so I decided to share my trip with the world in this blog I will be posting up comments and discussions about my readings and studyings as well as personal reflections of my journey and of course when the time comes sketches and bits of the comic I'm working on.

Simultaneously I'm also working on two comic strip series that are being published at my school newspapers those are Driving Home and The Fifth Authority and though these will start back when the new semester starts I have my very first webcomic starting next sunday the 3rd of January and will be coming out every sunday from then on. so I'll be pretty industrious and you shall witness my descent (ascent?) to madness very soon.

Hopefully this blog will help Maintain my sanity long enough for the book to come out.

and before I leave here's a good read about, the history of manga what it is and what it was? this is the article that made me decide to do this blog.