YES! At long last the official countUP to the GILLIAN’S HEART WEBCOMIC launch date begins!
What will be the date? That’s unknown as of now, but within a few short months one way or the other. The artist is getting ahead of himself, to give us some lead time (first page is in the can! Whoot!), and as soon as we’re about 2 months ahead, we’re shoving this puppy out the gate. So look for an approximately early July kick-start. Hell, maybe we can make it happen right smack on my B-day: July 3rd (day before the 4th, my naked-suit day being the much more important day, IMHO).
So here’s the first update, the first official character sketch of lead characters, Gillian and Dave:
Rick Worley's GILLIAN AND DAVE Character Sketch
Rick usually has a Robert Crumb/Bill Watterson vibe going on with his work, so he was in particular need of finding “superhero” art styles to inspire him to find his way to drawing his own superhero series. He was apparently riffing on Frank Quitely for this rendition. I love it to pieces, though we pointed him toward a Frank Quitely WONDER WOMAN COVER to get a slightly less stumpy look for “Gillian X” (Gillian’s superhero alter-ego in the comic – it’ll make more sense when you actually get to read the series, trust me).
As an example of Rick’s swift evolution as an artist, and just because so much time has gone by since the last time I posted these, let me show you this first character sketch he did of Gillian X’s nemesis, “Mr. Right” – this one was sketched around November of last year in preparation for Rick drawing an 8-page short sort-of prequel to the WEBCOMIC. The short story should see print later this year in the HOPE H.E.R.O. Anthology from RONIN STUDIOS. Here’s the initial sketch:
Mr. Right - First Sketch by Rick Worley
Rick and we we’re going for a militant look, a Nazi stormtrooper outfit with American aviator headgear. A sort of dictator-meets-liberator motif, which is important because Mr. Right is a libertarian Doctor-Doom type: he’s Batman if Batman were willing to break all laws instead of just arbitrarily chosen ones. So then after the 8-page story was complete, and Rick had a bit more time to develop his superhero style and confidence, he would up sketching this little follow-up ditty while we sat in a swank (*shudder*) bar in San Francisco during WONDERCON after hours:
Mr. Right WonderCon Sketch by Worley
He dated the damn thing the wrong year (that was drawn this last March, not 2008’s – we haven’t been slacking THAT badly!), but you can see that, with only about fifteen minutes of effort and half-drunk, as compared to the previous first sketch which he labored and fretted over for HOURS, and this one comes across with a far more fluid grace and dynamic effect. It’s a throwaway sketch and it’s superb. So just imagine what this guy’s comic pages are going to look like, many more months later and whole issue’s of experience behind him?
As a final, parting gift, because it’s here and I might as well share: JASON COPELAND’S sketch of GILLIAN X and MR. RIGHT, which he did for me on the inside cover of his recent MARKS ON PAPER SKETCHBOOK (which you can still grab a copy of along with a custom sketch of your choice, all for yourself, but hurry as he says only a few a left of the print run!). Anywho, here’s the sketch he did for moi:
JASON COPELAND'S sketch of GILLIAN AND MR. RIGHT!
Not bad, eh? JASON’S the guy behind the upcoming, much ballyhooed BRAIDS OF THE GORGON, so look for it!
And come back soon for the next CountUP toward the GILLIAN’S HEART WEBCOMIC release! Whoo-hoo! We’re on our way!
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