Open your eyes / A Brush with greatness

"Open your eyes" applies to “the others” in this weeks completed page of Jack Kirby’s 2001:-

Whom all of a sudden get a bit busy in the decision making department, apparently deciding to follow “he who hunts alone” and to see if the monolith is real for themselves

At least as far as I can make out from what has proceeded before I am uncertain that "decision" is really the right word, as this implies a thought process which by implication of events shown thus far might not actually be totally possible by “the others”  - certainly not in the way we would define a decision


That aside it’s more of case of myself thinking that it is the impetus for survival which provokes “the others” to follow “he who hunts alone” and that possibly more precisely that their need for food actually outweighs any fear (baring in mind they have all just been soundly beaten by “he who hunts alone”) they feel in making this move. Obviously the fact that they make this move as a pack rather than individuals pushes this along as well.


Also “the others” motivations are vocalised,  they see a clear need to find the monolith and take it for their own, seeing it as being key to their survival. So this is a consequence of “he who hunts alone” attacking them earlier, that action being the proverbial straw that broke the camels back.


Still they clearly remember the attack and their fear of “he who hunts alone” is right on the knife edge of them actually carrying out anything other than observing at a safe distance and as stealthily as they can manage.


At which point they all experience an epiphanic like revelation and "the others" eyes get opened both literally in the 3rd panel and metaphorically in the story as it goes on, as they see the monolith is real


The Others obviously had in their mind that possibility the monolith was a figment of “he who hunts alone's” imagination to some degree or another, or maybe it was just simply they needed to see it to believe it, as the monolith not only clearly defies belief but also understanding


Not just their neo-man definition understanding but the understanding of anyone


Still “the others” seem to know enough that the monolith works telepathically


Meanwhile at the moment blissfully unaware that “the others” are around “he who hunts alone” apparently gets his instructions on “how to make a tooth” from the monolith , concluding with “I know what to do now” implying that before he did not


This suggests that something else than just a tooth is going to be the end product as previously “he who hunts alone” had made the logical connection between the tooth and the sabre tooth tiger it comes from


So what will be the end product and how will this affect “the others” and most significantly (as this the focus of 2001) the evolution of the segmented species, we will find out hopefully as we go along...


January Madness
Just a reminder that - January is Images Degrading Forever Collected Edition Volume 1 Month - this item is on sale here at £3 a go and The "Feedback competition" is on, full details are here... Speaking of feedback...


A Brush with Greatness
I got some feedback this week, from none other than Ryan Cecil Smith, the brilliant creator of SF SF, which you can check out at Ryans Web site http://ryancecilsmith.com/

Yes he is the greatness in question!


Over to you Ryan:-


Hey Robin, I've been meaning to say that your hand lettering looks GREAT in these pages.


I also would suggest that you try using some different tools in these drawings. It's just my opinion, but Kirby has a cool PUSH and PULL effect that is fun to try to recreate by alternating thick pens, thin pens, a brush pen, or even a brush if you want to try it. Just an idea... hey why don't I try it??? That's cool right????


Right indeed!


Ryan -Thank you very much for your feedback


Please chose the item you would like in the "feedback competition" part of this blog post:-


http://imagesdegradingforever.blogspot.com/2012/01/happy-new-year-now-here-are-some.html


I am very glad that you can read the hand lettering, let alone that you actually like it ! I am not using any method of blocking out or spacing the lettering per se but i have only just started to even try doing the lettering


Using brushes is something thats been lurking around for a while, I have actually brought a set fairly recently with the idea of using them for something different or special which would be my mid point special piece of art which will be presented on this blog in 3 weeks time


This will give me a chance to try the brushes out on something stand alone without going into the ongoing adaptation I am attempting, as this will be my first use of brushes! If it works out well maybe i will try more brush work


But yeah I agree that my inking needs some work - if you keep looking you may see that for example the pages to date if anything was probably over inked to a degree (with a rollerball!) something I have noted and attempted to correct from page 9 onwards which hopefully have a bit of "cleaner" look - mind you I don't know if thats going in the right direction! 


I still don't really know what i doing here, my methodology (at drawing) is somewhat unusual i know that much


I would love to see your or in fact anyone's attempt at using a brush which will be undoubtedly better than mine - in fact if you like we can make it interesting and we can all make the attempt at the same thing!  


I have got some scanned kirby pencils from the 2001 movie adaptation of a page I really liked the look of 

What I want to try for the mid point special is to take these pencils and ink with brush, while at the same time completely replace the background with something else entirely but you or anyone else can do whatever you like, no rules other than have fun!


In return for anyone sending in their version of this in I will give away my hand drawn original finished version - if there are several entries then i will do a print of my finished version and the best one will win a print and my hand drawn original - I hope that sounds okay?!


Images Degrading Forever Weekly


This week we have issue 16 of the ongoing Janson / Miller Dare Devil Adaptation:-


"Beneath this Gruff Exterior There Beats a Heart" in which i discuss the influence Frank Millers revision of The Kingpin of crime and DareDevil in general affected a number of things that followed it and ask is that a good thing or a bad thing


As usual this is completely free digital publication and all you have to do to subscribe is email me at Robin.barnard@ymail.com. 


It is worth subscribing as each issue will only be free for on week and will go on to form part of Images Degrading Forever Collected Volume 2 which will be print only and sold at print cost (and will come out later this year)


Thats it for this week, see you next week