Shots with Amul, Attempt 2

Every once in a while, I invite everyone I know to show up to my studio space with drinks, food and tunes. I drag my camera out and we all sit around and have a good time. It’s surprising (and gratifying) to me how many people show up without drinks, food or tunes. This time, my friend David Ordonez (“Ordo”) was driving taxi-service, and we all decided to stop off in Greek Town and have dinner first.

Originally published at Amul Kumar Photography. Please leave any comments there.

PhotoComic Research

As I continue to be excited about this exploration of photography blended with comic book style sequential narrative, I find the search for comparative efforts almost as interesting as the efforts itself.

My first stop was to Graham Cracker Comics, which turns out to have a store location almost as close to me as the Dice Dojo. Who knew I was in such a geek-friendly part of Chicago? There, they introduced me to a comic book illustrator who was known for taking photographs of every panel of his comic books and then creating illustrations over the images to create highly accurate senses of perspective. I’ll write more about that work once I’ve finished reading the comic book.

Next, I asked the on-demand comic publishers that I’m working with if they knew of anybody. Amusingly, the Ka-Blam staff directed me to the work of a friend of mine in Pittsburgh, who had done a special photo cover image version of his Cosmic Hellcats using a model that I am very good friends with. Amusing in small-world kind of way, and valuable in answering a whole lot of questions about Chris’s business model, but not actually relevant to my own creative efforts.

Since I was already on IndyPlanet at this point, I figured I might as well scour the 6000+ titles they have for any photo-comics. The problem that I run into here is that there is no way to identify successful, large scale distributions versus one-off vanity products which have only ever been seen by the creator and his mother. (Note that I am in no way judging the later group, as I would hope my own efforts will distract my mother from worrying about the length of my fingernails for a month or two.) On the other hand, this means that I can only judge the comics that I find on IndyPlanet by the quality of their execution.

There were many, for example, which I dismissed entirely out of hand because it was clear from just looking at the thumbnails that the creator had no love of, nor history with, comic books. Their understanding of the structure of narrative imagery didn’t even include standard comic panel layouts, or the idea that panel size could vary. These guys would print out a pile of 4x6s at the local pharmacy and paste them onto a comic book page, and then scrawl on the photos using acidic inks, and call it a good job. This is as far from my own project concepts as you can get while still talking about sequential photo art — and while I’m dismissive and desultory in my language, let’s be clear about what I’m dismissing. While I may be judgemental about the execution of their work, the bottom line is that they have already produced completed works in this genre while I am still contemplating works. That makes them better than me, in my book. I’m dismissing their work because the main lesson I can learn from them is the “Just Do It” attitude and the “Badly Done Is Better Than Never Done” mindset that artists like me often forget. I’ve learned that lesson, and I’ve learned it well.

One level up from this, in terms of potential lessons for my projects, I discovered Nocturne by David Yurkovich. Again, judging entirely by his thumbnail images we have someone who has a greater understanding of the value of sequencing and paneling, but has resorted to some heavy handed filter usage in order to move from Photographic to Illustrative. That is the choice I specifically work against (despite Scott McCloud’s insistence that the primary value of comics is that the art style is vague enough for us to fit into the Hero), and so I notice him, but I move on pretty quickly. I do note that there are 3 issues of Nocturne, and that the artist’s bio references other works he’s published through this company, but without dates or labels so there is no telling how current these efforts are by him.

Next, I discovered Lock & Load vol 1. There are no additional volumes. Again, I run into the heavy filter effects that try to make the images more general, more illustrative. This project shows a more nuanced understanding of visual narrative structure, but not of a quality that would inspire me to push my own boundaries.

The Littlest Vampire vol 1 was probably produced as a PDF file, which is why you don’t see any sample page thumbnails. An important lesson, and if the page count wasn’t so low and the price so high, I might buy it just to see what these guys did. There’s a lesson there in itself that I should be aware of. Five bucks for 12 pages?? Seriously? Unsurprisingly at that price, it also consists of a single issue.

Tangent: Is it hubris to proudly declaim your first efforts as Issue 1? Should I wait until I have proven my capacity to keep producing before I start numbering them?

Paydirt! The next series, Sadistik is a truly intriguing combination of story, photographic imagery, and comic book styling. Vintage, no less. The use of costumes in BnW photos, the clear exploration of themes and concepts, even the page layouts all point to someone with a solid idea and impressive skills. Definitely some work I will want to examine in depth. Only, these issues are huge! 80 pages! Still, this is one artist that I am definitely going to contact.

Hypothesis #1 looks damn impressive, and I am really surprised that I don’t see more in that series or by that artist. Some obvious filter usage here and there, but the team clearly has a story to tell that is conveyed through both image and text. Likewise can be said for Little Worlds. With Little Worlds, the filter overlays are so mild that I’m uncertain why he stuck with them at all. Both artists have engaged me in a telling manner, and I’m going to spend a lot of time considering their work, which is why they’re getting such short attention in today’s post.

Still, after about a day’s worth of research, I have yet to discover any sort of photo-comic project that has had any legs to it. A few single issue gems, but that’s it.

Originally published at Amul Kumar Photography. Please leave any comments there.