Mocking It Up As I Go Along...

In order to have a more tangible relationship with my material, I've started putting together a mock-up of the graphic novel.

I print pages in their "as-is" imperfect stage of development and assemble them in order.

One can meditate on a spread in In Design forever and learn nothing. A glimpse at the physical object, and there are the answers! 

Other pluses of the mock-up:

Gives me a feeling of accomplishment and a false sense that I'm moving along in leaps and strides...

Sneak Peek 1

From now on, as the layout work builds momentum, I will share my progress with you, periodically, by posting segments from the draft.

Below are 4 layouts in the works from chapter 2 "The Eye of the Beholder":

Midpoint Introspection and More

When I started this project it was going to be a short graphic novel in black and white. 

The idea was to marry my passion for comics with my passion for cinema and see where it took me. Everything about it was designed to give me a lingering experience in the less inhabited medium of sequential stills, to provide a long, meandering bridge towards cinematic storytelling.

I find myself, 3 years after the inception of the idea, mired in an undertaking of epic proportions. A 600 page, full color draft and a miniature building operation that is a black hole for money and time. I have not calculated the dollar figure sunk into the project so far but I suspect it is in the area of $50,000, most of it of my own money.

I'm not entirely surprised by this development. I've never before unleashed my full creative appetite on a project so part of this work is discovering my own capacity and the magnitude of project with which I am comfortable . Some may think I have lost direction and control over the project. However, I feel perfectly comfortable, if not intrigued, by it's bloated current state. It's just the way I work, and that's... as they say... OK. Obviously, if I had the budget to match my ambition, the whole thing would move much faster and there would be less doubts. Recently I have begun posting the project on a few college internship sites. I've gotten a few responses so far but nothing concrete as of yet.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the work, for me, is the incredible malleability of the medium. In traditional filmmaking, one must rely on the "take" in which foreground, background and dialog (Not to mention weather, light and background sound), are instantly fused together into one amalgam. Here, in "Isness-world" every aspect is accessible for editing and re-editing. A character shot, say, in a green dress standing in daylight shouting, can be morphed into a sitting character in a pink dress in an indoor night scene... singing. She can be moved from foreground to background. Her expressions, eye color and hair design all can be changed. Just recently I decided to knock a tooth out of Petro's mouth to give him a little more edge. This level of control is extremely gratifying even if the price is painstaking work which is not far from the kind of work sunk into animation.

Below is a sequence of layouts I'm working on for the opening of the story. The Russian soldier that lands on the islands shore is propelled through a psychedelic time warp inspired by Stanley Kubricks Star-Gate sequence from Odyssey 2001.

The next 2 images are a demonstration of a very simple composite in which the only things changed are the background and Nanna's upper torso (holding the phone). Light, color and focus adjustments are added too to help the scene blend with it's new environment.

Below, the 3rd room finished and ready to shoot is that of Natashia/Patchouli/Blossom (Can't seem to settle on her name yet), the eldest daughter. Her room is what I imagine a post/apocalyptic teenage girl's room would look like. Still filled with the artifacts of childhood with the objects she surrounds herself pointing to her dreams and aspirations.

In the next photo, my miniature in-house model is trying on for size a few of the aprons I made. The designs were collected from online images then printed (at some risk to my inkjet printer) on fabric and carefully cut out by my friend Mindy. Later I drenched them in a water/glue solution and hung them on their miniature hooks and hangers.

A fun, side activity for the project is the research of popular products from the 60's in North America. A favorite magazine for this is The Ladies Home Journal. Did you know the first issues appeared in the late 19th century? It's a fantastic insight into an evolving  society as it is mirrored in ideas about women and the home. 

All the images below were cut out of vintage Home Journal advertisements and scanned. My favorite is the "Cope" pills for menstrual cramps with the Venus/female symbol built into the logo and it's stylish off-center opening.

Many of these products will appear in the novel, tucked away on shelves or otherwise placed. The original cutouts are being collaged onto Thank-You cards that are going out to my kickstarter backers.

Once in a while I come across odd selling strategies of the time that seem very revealing in hindsight. Below is an ad for a "feminine hygiene deodorant spray" touted as a friendly accessory for the liberated woman. 

I think it implies something like "Sure you can have free love, Babe. As long as your pussy smells like daisies!" Love it.

Please follow ISNESS on FB http://www.facebook.com/sallweis where my posts are more frequent and casual!

In the Trenches With an Insane Project

The strange larva infestation in the diorama has reached an unprecedented degree. There is not one square inch that has not been burrowed through over and over.

I've given up on trying to get rid of the bugs.

However, I went ahead and caught one of these guys and took a picture of him/her under the microscope. This one was about a 1/4" long at most and a very dynamic wiggler. Had no interest in posing for the camera and hated being out of the sand.

My google search revealed only that there were hundreds of species larvae out there. I doubt I will ever know it's position in biological taxonomy.

My characters have started moving around the finished first floor of the barracks they call home. As expected, there are lots of unexpected issues but also some happy surprises. In the unfinished composite below, the background and foreground are miniature, while the middle ground (couch and characters) were life size, of course...

It's still a long way from here to the snug fit I'd like to see between the two scales but it looks promising. 

Below, Petro is using a part of a gas mask to siphon his beer out of the jar. I was just about to cut the tube off and use it alone but then the association with Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet (David Lynch 1986) was right there and irresistible, so we kept the mask part on. It's quite in keeping with Petro's personality, minus the psychopathic aspect... 

Talking about Petro's vices, growing miniature marihuana seedlings has been a bit of a struggle. I realized very soon that I won't find it in any dollhouse store and after a few experiments decided on the tiny leaves of fresh thyme as the little fledgling plants. After they dried I painted them lightly with green oil paint and... 

After a few weeks they grew into these lovely, heavily budded little plants:

Just kidding. Don't even ask how I made these. Not altogether happy with them. Not that I actually know what marijuana plants look like, or ever grew them myself... ever... but these guys suck and will require some Photoshop grafts.

Anyway, to further demonstrate the insanity of this work, if you can make out the two pillows that are on the couch below (the one with hearts and the one squished between Nanna and Petro) and scroll down to the next image...

...You will see their tiny replicas that will be placed in the house to create the continuity between the flashback and the time of the story. The large pillows were taken apart, fabric photographed, digitally manipulated and then printed out on fabric and re-sewn into their new tiny size.

Below is an exploration of Natashia's room which as you can see will be marked by floral patterns and lots of fabrics and knick knacks. Her ceiling is wallpapered too. Thought it would be the kind of thing she would do.

More items for Natashia's room:

 

...and more....

and there's lots more...

An interesting thing that Photoshop allows me to do is assign patterns or embroidery to plain fabrics. This strikingly out of fashion "black Americana" design gives this cloth a little more specificity and speaks to the racial issues in the story. (It's no secret that the older siblings, Natashia and especially Hunter, look nothing like their parents and their black origins are being spun into the story via a little flashback...

In fitting with the low-tech nature of the rest of the production, it's not surprising that my favorite tripod for the indoor shooting is stacks of adjustable bean bags... They are simply grains shoved into pantyhose. I have several of these in varying sizes and densities and they fit nicely in the small spaces without knocking over the furniture. 

One of the more exciting developments that happened recently is the test prints, courtesy of a generous friend (to remain anonymous) who has access to a printing proofer. This is a large, expensive piece of equipment that I wouldn't otherwise have a chance to use. What it does, is simulate a CMYK printing press such as would eventually be used to print this project and thereby provide excellent feedback on color, texture and saturation levels. I think this has saved me a whole lot of trouble down the road!

So that's the recent news from the arena of the epic, ever expanding, quagmire that I call ISNESS.

More of my recent pics are on Kickstarter, look at "UPDATES" http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/689242136/isness-a-photo-graphic-novel

Also, if you would be kind enough and "Like" my brand new artist page on FB! It goes a long way in building the kind of fan base that publishers want to see before committing to a print project!
http://www.facebook.com/sallweis

Thank You!

The Joys of Miniatures

It's been months since I transitioned into color and as I expected the work has become more complex but so much more fun! I don't regret it, so thanks to all you B&W naysayers.


Recently I've had to step up the work on the miniatures in order to finish and shoot the rooms of the house. So far only Lars' room is done. The others are in varying degrees of completion.

In attending to the fine details I've had to replicate to scale a few objects that appeared in the action shots. Lars' Encyclopedia Britannica for instance, which plays a huge role in the way he recreates civilization in his mind.

Here it is in an early scene:

I reduced and printed the covers:

And made the tiny replica's:

And here they are inside their tiny shelves:

A similar process was applied to other books and while at it, I threw in some food packaging needed for the kitchen:

I was lucky to come by Jason Liebig, an avid collector of vintage pop culture, who was a great sport and gave me carte blanche to use any of his hi res images for the project. This actor/writer has a soft spot for comics it appears, as he has worked for Marvel as story and Art editor for the X-MEN line. You can see his dazzling collection here.

On board with me for the tedious job of assembling these items was my friend Mindy Florestan.

Here she is during one of our many sessions assembling a Coca-Cola crate.

Another convoluted process was making the miniature photographs that Lars' had shot and particularly his experiments with photograms. I shot some pertinent items from the production (Such as Lil's stylish sunglasses and medicine bottles) over a light box to achieve the high contrast. Then reduced and printed the shots on shiny paper. The final step was to age the paper with a solution of turmeric in water:

(The books on Lars' tables are Cosmic View by Kees Boeke, 1957  and a car electricity manual by Delmar Publications).


Here's Nanna's sewing box. Found it online, painted it and filled it with tiny stuff. Fun!

The chandelier was a tough one. After a year on e-bay and other sites, I gave up on finding a miniature period chandelier and ended up having to make my own out of beads and metal. 

Below is a quick evolution of Lars' room up until the first tests combining the action and miniatures. Looks like it's going to work out fine. Huge sigh of relief.

For the aerial views of the entire island I intented to rely on stock photography, but again, believe it or not, after a year of searching could not find a decent sequence of photos of an aerial approach to an island. I even considered buying a video and extracting a series of stills, but the resolution was too low and the islands always the wrong kind of island.

So below is the "quickie" mini diorama I made in a few short days:

The big diorama is all finished and done and I shoot it almost every week for one scene or another. All this photography gets done at night to avoid mixing with real day light.
It's a task out of my field of expertise, but then again, so is this whole project!