To view the story from the beginning, Sanctus Sanatorium
The whole process of laying out a graphic novel page has taken me back to school in so many ways. I would be the first to admit some of my attempts have been clumsy and awkward. Yet as Sanctus Sanatorium continues I am hoping that my story telling skills visually will evolve.
Right now the first 8 pages have been rather text heavy. This is not intended to be the case throughout the rest of the story. I needed to build a back story as well as develop some atmosphere. In fact Chapter 1 is in this way almost a prologue.
Sanctus Sanatorium is being done in a rather unconventional way. It is penciled out first then digitally colored in Photoshop. My Photoshop skills are mostly self taught through tutorials and such and just playing with the software. If I traditionally inked my work then I would never finish due to the fact I am a meticulous inker
. I find that pencil and digital colors go hand in hand and also help move the process somewhat efficiently for me. I also like the way the finished pages look. I recently joined the group Serious Comics, [link] and have been very impressed by the work going on there and also very humbled. There is a lot of great stuff there.
I know that many do not see comics as a serious art form, yet it is one of the oldest outlets for illustrators that remains alive today. I also learned and was inspired by comic book artists in my youth. Artists like Jim Steranko, Barry Windsor-Smith, Bernie Wrightson, M. Kaluta and others had me breaking out pencils and pens when I was a lad trying to emulate them.
In fact growing up, all I wanted to be in life was a comic book artist.
That never happened.
Yet the desire to tell a story in a visual medium such as comics never left me though often I would discard the idea due to the amount of commitment required. That is until now. So in my own amateurish way I have come full circle. Queue Harry Chapin's "All My Life's a Circle."
I am enjoying doing Sanctus Sanatorium and also I am learning again. Not just in the area of visual story telling, which I am a novice at, but also humility in realizing that what I am doing will not strike a chord with everyone but most likely a select few. Trust me, I am totally alright with that. I would rather have a good impact on a few then a minor one with the many. I also have an ace in the hole in respect to this. I am not being published so like a corporation that has to play to the share holders, I can be rather true to my own creative vision.
I never was good at marketing
So to those that are enjoying Sanctus Sanatorium, its for you.
Anon
