Bionicle by Sayger to continue!

[Stuart Sayger]

Some great news for Lego Bionicle fans! I've been asked to return for another year as penciler and inker of the Bionicle Ignition comic book. For those who are interested in receiving the Bionicle Ignition comic book you must be a member of the Lego fan club. Bionicle Ignition is a stand alone comic book that is mailed inserted within the regular Lego fan club magazine when mailed... ( Which incidently makes it the largest circulated comic book in the world!)

To sign up on-line click on the link below!

http://club.lego.com/eng/magazine/subscription.asp

[BCii]

Hi, Stuart! I guess the fan response to your art was just so good, they couldn't not have you continue!

Judging by the proportion of posts about your work on Bionicle, the comics aren't taken all that seriously here. Not that they're intended to be serious art... the point of them is to sell toys, after all. But I'm surprised that more Bionicle fans haven't tracked down this forum. You did mention this place on the world's biggest Bionicle forums site...

Here in Finland, the Bionicle comics aren't distributed. I have to buy mine from the magazine stand. Kind of a drag, since the translated issues come out way behind the North American schedule. Ignition 3 and 4 should be coming out in a combined issue pretty soon, or will they wait to add #5 as well? I don't suppose you'd know...

Awesome work! I love what your artistic interpretation has done for Bionicle. I'm glad the Bionicle team hired you and I hope you continue beyond 2007!

BCii

[Stuart Sayger]

A Bionicle fan from Finland!... I'm always knocked over when I think about the far reaching scope of my Bionicle work! Unfortunately I don't have any knowledge as to how the Bionicle stories are published outside of North America... I do know that there is a UK magazine called "Jetix" that has a variant ending for the first story arc! That might be the ending that you will get in Finland as well, but I don't know difininately. ....I can tell you that I just finished the newest issue that introduces a new group of 6 bad guys... The script for issue 7 should arrive shortly! So that Bioncle story line marches on!

I'm suprised that more posts for Bionicle don't appear on this forum as well... I"m happy to discuss the series and my work with anyone who is interested. I have a good time drawing the stories and they are a great change of pace from the other work that I'm doing for DC and their game cards... and ofcouse the Bionicle work is so very different from the work in Shiver in the Dark.

Feel free to ask any Bioncle questions that you might have here in this forum. Perhaps word will get around and this will be a home for Bionicle fans!

[Vrahno]

Hello Stuart! I'm the representative of the Hungarian Bionicle fan base here. Unfortunately, we don't get the comics in this country but we can see your art thanks to some image-sharing BZP members and, of course, to the online comics on Bio.com.
I'm sorry to say that the fans over here mostly dislike your art and are always complaining about it when new comic pics appear on the web. :( You have a style and it is only a matter of opinion if someone likes or hates it. There's always something to complain about. Nothing's really perfect, ya' know. Me? I don't have anything against it. I myself think that it's actually a good thing that more artists are introduced to Bionicle. :)
Since it seems you're staying for '07, I would like to know something: Are you good in doing underwater pictures? I only want to know this because I haven't seen any underwater art of yours and, as we know, Bionicle's going all wet next year. I assume you're good at it (heck, I know) but I'm interested in seeing what your underwater pictures look like.

Vrahno

[Stuart Sayger]

Gosh!.. I'm sorry to hear that my work isn't better received there! I'm curious... Is there any particular point that fans are most bothered by..? I try to give it my all each issue.... Having said that, I do believe that I've gotten better as the series has gone on. There is certainly a learning curve when it comes to becoming familar with the anatomy of the toys, getting used to Greg F. story telling techniques.. etc.

As for the new underwater direction for Bionicle in 07... The first issue is finished on my end and Lego said that I had "out done myself".. They are happy with it and so am I... Now to see if I can win you guys over as well! The tricky thing about the underwater setting of the new series is that Lego is rather sensitive to maintaining the correct colors of the toys at all times... Sea water tends to cut out a lot of the light spectrum as light penetrates down through the depths. Things that are actually red would tend to look closer to orange or brown below in sea water. Coloring the scenes like this might prove confusing at times, particularly when dealing with all new characters for young readers. I've not seen any of Alex's colors on this first issue of the new series, but I've been happy with his work on the first six issues of Ignition and I'm sure that he's up for the challenge!
I do know that there are a few scenes in the first underwater issue where I'm really happy with the water... page 2 has some really nice shots.. and page 3 is a nice splash page with a lot of depth! Take a look at the cover to Bionicle Ignition #1 for a good example of what my water rendering tends to look like.

... I'd also like to invite you to go to my webpage http://www.stuartsayger.com where you can see some of the pages from Bionicle Ignition #1, #2, and, #3 (including the cover to #1) before they are colored, or in some cases with slightly different art than what was used in the final comic book. It's a good chance to see what my art actually looks like before it's colored, lettered.. etc! You can really see how much of the lighting I'm supplying!

Thanks for the comments! I don't get alot of Bionicle fans on this messageboard. Hopefully threads like this can help change that!

[Vrahno]

Oh yeah, I almost completely forgot those watery pics from Ignition 1! Those were great and very realistic!
Hmm... what were they complaining about again?... They complain about everything, really. But I think the thing they're mostly disturbed by is they way you draw the characters and by the proportions. One of them - a good drawer and a fan of Bionicle since 2001 - thinks they look like stickmen. At least, those characters that are in the backgrounds. I know that those don't have to be so detailed as the foreground characters, but still. A little more elaboration wouldn't hurt. :rolleyes:
Now, about the proportions... By looking at the pics on your site, I realized that you gave some Piraka an oversized torzo in some panels or made their spines look too thin. And I see wispy arms and small hands... the masks of the Toa Inika look rather strange in some pictures... see, nothing you can't improve with your talent. ;) We know '07 introduces new characters with new body designs. I'm excited to see how their looks would turn out in the comics. Since the new guys - the Barraki - already have strange proportions, I think you will be able to handle them. :D
Sorry of you found something insulting up there, I was just trying to transmit the fans opinions. I don't see you having any difficulties in improving your Bionicle art and giving us better and better pictures in comics.
Actually, whatever we - or fans in general - say, we're always glad to see new comics being uploaded to Bio.com. Some fans even try to translate them to our language, although it can be tricky sometimes, as the online comics don't show full pages, only one or two panels at a time. :/ Your webpage helps a bit for it has at least a few whole pages. Heh, and I myself translate the Bionicle books. :P

Vrahno

[ValhallaComics]

Awesome news, Stuart! I had no idea that the comic was distributed in such large quantities. Congratulations on that. =] Seems like you're reaching a huge audience. Looking forward to seeing more Bionicle art from you.