Interview | Newsarama covers BLADES & LAZERS

I talk with Zack Smith over at Newsarama about the upcoming BLADES & LAZERS. Check it out here.

The Marra Method: Traditional Comics Techniques for Visual Storytelling | Interrupt: THE HAMA RULES

Via The Beat, Larry Hama has posted on his Facebook page his rules for creating a comic book page. They're perfect and succinct. Here they are:

These are my ten rules for drawing a comic book page, that sums up what I have learned in forty odd years in the biz. They are not universal, they are my own personal guidelines, so there is nothing to disagree about.1. Don’t have people just standing there.
2. ANY expression is better than a blank stare.
3. Avoid tangents, and any straight line that divides the panel.
4. If you use an odd angle in the shot, there has to be a reason for it.
5. If you don’t have at least one panel on each page with a full figure, your “camera” is too close.
6. Plan out your shots in “Lawrence of Arabia” mode rather than in “General Hospital” mode.
7. Don’t think of backgrounds as “things to fill up the space after the figures are drawn.”
8. If you know what something is called, and you have an Internet connection, there is no reason to draw it inaccurately.
9. If the colorist has to ask if a scene takes place at night, you haven’t done your job.
10. If you can’t extend the drawing beyond the panel borders and still have it make visual sense, you’ve cheated on the perspective

The Marra Method: Traditional Comics Techniques for Visual Storytelling | 8. Never break the panel border

An on-going, evolving series collecting my thoughts on the craft of telling stories through comic books. These posts do not document rules; these are the ideas passing through my mind when I'm making comic books.

8. Never break the panel border ...

• ... ever.

Zatoichi Illustration for Criterion

Here is the illustration I did for the Criterion Collections Blu-ray Box set of the Zatoichi series of films.

Workspace

VIGILANTE CITY GANG

Recent private commission.

BLADES & LAZERS

Debuting at this year's SPX, the first issue of BLADES & LAZERS. Published by Ian Harker's bi-monthly risograph endeavor, SACRED PRISM, this issue introduces readers to the Gearson brothers. One a mute barbarian blade master. The other, a sweet-talking las-slinger. Together they kidnap wizards to summon and slay Galacto-Demons. The brains and hearts of the Galacto-Demons are a tremendous resource amongst the planets of The Periphery and the Gearson's are the best Galacto-Demon hunters in all the Inter-Galaxies. Advanced orders are now available at the SACRED PRISM Store.