Brandon's "untitled" romance graphic novel

[Brandon Hanvey]

Since I finished "the stereos: in the garage" over a two months ago, I've been playing around with what should be my next book.

I've been wanting to do something other than my diary comics. Plus while doing "the stereos" is fun, I wanted to do something new. I knew I wanted to stay within the slice-of-life genre since I think it is one of my strengths, and I enjoy making those kind of stories. I decided I wanted to do a romance book, but was hung up on what kind of romance.

Then one night, I had a dream. I dreamt about my next book. It was a romance set in rival prep schools. It was a sort of West Side Story/Romeo & Juliet story about a boy and girl from differing groups falling in love and the strife it causes. I woke up startled that I dreamt my next book.

I then began to flesh out the story. I soon dropped the two prep school angle and switch to a WASPy prep school group and a bohemian/punk art school group. The guy would be a preppy rich kid and the girl would be an indie arty girl. I worked up the supporting characters and started on the major plot points.

Since it was a romance book, I thought a digest size would be the best format for the book. I bought a half size sketch book (5.5 x 8.5) and began sketching the layout and pacing of the book. I do all my books this way. I plot, draw the layout in rough format, draw everything, and then script.

I just finished roughing out the story pages of book. It came to 100 pages. I will be using some new page techniques for this book. I'll use full bleed single pages for certain high impact moments. Plus I'll be using a double page spread for one sequence.

I'll try to update this thread from time to time with the progress of the book. I hope to start working on drawing the pages in April so I finish the book be the end of the year.

[howyadoin]

I'll try to update this thread from time to time with the progress of the book. I hope to start working on drawing the pages in April so I finish the book be the end of the year.Cool. I look forward to watching it take shape.

[Brandon Hanvey]

I've been playing aorund with the title. I want something that says love and romance but without using those words. I also want a title that could capture the feeling of the book which is two people from different backgrounds falling for each other. I also want something catchy.

So far, the leading name is "infatuation." I like the way it sounds. But right now I'm not to hung up on naming the book. I'll keep it as a working title.

[taintedcereal]

How about "Love and Romance - The story of two people of different backgrounds falling in love"... I think its pretty catchy :D Well now for real, the title "infactuation" is catchy, and it does suggest romance, but I dont think suggests love, I think it suggests well, infactuation

[howyadoin]

I've been playing aorund with the title. I want something that says love and romance but without using those words. I also want a title that could capture the feeling of the book which is two people from different backgrounds falling for each other. I also want something catchy.Heh. Dharma & Greg?

[Ayo]

How about "Love and Romance - The story of two people of different backgrounds falling in love"...

Heh heh heh heh!


Heh. Dharma & Greg?

Or that movie...She's All That, I think?





So Brandon, sounds like a cool project. Your process is interesting--I've never attempted a graphic novel or longform comic strip, personally. I had a concept that I wanted to pursue about a year ago, but I just didn't have the endurance to stick with it (still have all the notes though).

I look foward to seeing the work!

[Brandon Hanvey]

Thanks for the feedback, guys,

As for the title, "infactuation" is still a working title. If anyone can help with a better title, I would put a credit in the book.

The main characters are named Kira, the indie ary girl, and Riley, the preppy rich guy. I don't think "Kira & Riley" would really work out as a title.


Ayo,

The process of making a GN is long but rewarding. I found doing my weekly diary comics helped get my skills where they needed to be in order to try making my first one.

I always start with the basic plot idea. I then work out the major plot points I want to showcase in the book. Next I breakdown the page count based on those plot points. After that, I choose the size of the book, and make a panel grid for the book. I then rough out the book in my sketchbook to get the number of panels per page and pacing right. For this stage I take the major plot points and connect them with scenes inbetween.

After all roughs are done, I start drawing and shading everything on in Photoshop with my Wacom. I try to stick to my roughs, but I do change things in case they don't work when I'm drawing them. After all the pages are drawn, I letter them in Illustrator. This is when I script the book. I do have a basic idea of the dialogue when I'm roughing and drawing the pages, but I leave the leave writting to the lettering stage.

When I'm finished with the lettering, I put everything in a page layout program and make a pdf of the whole book. I print out a couple copies, and let my wife, Nicole, look it over to make sure thigns are spelled right and make sense. I also look at the print proof to catch my own drawing the writting mistakes. I then take all the editing suggestions, and redo what needs to be changed. I usually go through the editing process couple times to make sure I catch everything.

I then finally sent it to the printers, and rest for a couple months.

[Brandon Hanvey]

I digitally sketched out the first five pages of the book today. I think I'll try for a few more this weekend. Check out the preview I've attached.

[Ayo]

Cool.

ten, ten.

[Brandon Hanvey]

I sketched pages 6-13.

[Brandon Hanvey]

Page one in progress

http://thegeekout.com/images/001rb.gif

[Deathstroke]

Ewwww....icky romance comics?

LOL!

Looking forward to reading the progress on the book BH.

[Jaye]

Page one in progress
[/IMG]


Looks great... wooo!

[Brandon Hanvey]

I'm on page three right now.

Here is a logo that I may use on one of the shirts Kira wears during the story.

http://thegeekout.com/images/obeytvlogo.gif

[Reptisaurus!]

I want an OBEY shirt.

[Brandon Hanvey]

I want an OBEY shirt.

I may make some when I publish the book.

[Brandon Hanvey]

I've been thinking about starting a blog on my site that will chronicle the progress of this book as well as various other projects.

Basically I've stopped doing my diary comics. I've enjoyed creating them and learned a lot by making them. But I've just moved on to different things. If I do the blog, I'll be able to share what I'm working on with people, and even get direct feedback from my readers on my site.

[Brandon Hanvey]

Pages 1-5 drawn and shaded.

http://www.thegeekout.com/images/rb1-5.gif

Wahoo. 5% done.