Communicating 01

As you probably know by now, my sister and I entered a comic book contest back in January, hoping we would win a grand prize of 6,000 euros. Actually, I didn't think we'd win, but she was very excited about the idea, so I agreed to participate. The arrangement, as it tends to be the case, was that I would write it and draw it, and she would color it on the computer. The topic they gave us was how technology has impacted the way we communicate, and I had an idea we could draw a story about the history of communication: what the different media and inventions have been, what they brought to the table, and what their limitations were. Actually, the first thing that occurred to me was that it would be funny to have a Native American on top of a mountain sending smoke signals, and that it would also be sort of funny to have a couple of guys using those glasses connected with a cord talking to each other. After that, it was only a matter of coming up with other devices to fill up the minimum number of pages required by the contest administrators (a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 12 pages).

We basically had a month to do the whole thing, so I knew I would have to work as quickly as possible. Since the comic was going to present a humorous approach to the topic at hand, I thought it would be fun to have sort of a Mortadelo and Filemón look to it, which would also allow me to practice my new curvy-line style. (My "Leonardo Da Vinci style", as I think of it.) I also decided to keep the panels and page composition simple to be able to work faster. However, since every single panel in the comic has the same importance, I thought the storytelling wouldn't really suffer, and I still think it didn't. (At least, not because of that decision.) Once all these matters were settled, I started working on the comic book as fast as I could, using the pencil to sketch only the bare minimum and drawing directly with my technical pens for the most part. This, I think, gave the panels a fresher, more dynamic look than what I am usually able to achieve.

Just like the drawing, the writing was done on they fly. I had a list with all the panels I wanted to have in the book, but I did not have a script per se, which means I was writing directly on the page as I was drawing. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to say, and I just articulated it as I went. I think this also gave the book a more dynamic, less static look, but you might think it just looks sloppy.

As it happens, I managed to finish the whole thing in a week and a half, and I didn't even draw every day during that time. If nothing else, creating "Cultura de comunicaciones" was a feat of focus and speed, and I discovered I can work pretty quickly if I have to.

At any rate, I'm happy with how the pages turned out, because this story looks nothing like the sequentials I've done before. (For other sequentials here on the blog, check out Terra Inkognita, With Love, Amor acuático, and Worlds Collide.) Not only does it have its own distinct look, it also looks pretty much like what I envisioned in my mind, and those pictures, like Adam Hughes once said, are the pictures I tend to like the best. But I want to know what you guys think about it, so here you have the first page. I will be posting the whole story through the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned and leave us some feedback!