HOME

ABOUT

FILMS

IMAGES

PROGRESS

COMIC

e-mail

Why do a comic strip?

There are several reasons I wanted to make this comic strip. First of all, there's the fact that I'm a big comic book fan. Having spent a lot of my life in France, where comic books (or BDs as they refer to them) are very popular, I got to read and be mesmerized by some amazing pieces of work.

In any case, my dad got me some for Christmas, and as I tried to justify my interest in them (some people suffer from the delusion that comic strip fans are nerds...) he innocently suggested that I try to make one (as a child I used to make epic comic strips that were undecipherable, though presumably I enjoyed making them). I thought it was a great idea, though I had two problems. I didn't have a subject, and I don't know how to draw.

The second of these problems actually became one of the main reasons that I wanted to do this comic strip. The research and execution of a comic strip could only help my drawing skills, and it is becoming increasingly clear to me that to do well in 3D animation, it's a useful skill to be able to draw well, thereby communicating your ideas visually and more quickly, as well as giving yourself a better sense of direction as you get bogged down in the intricacies of animation.

Then I decided that I could make this comic strip in conjunction to my major project. That is, base it in the same world and with Dreg. This opened up many interesting ideas.

It seemed immediately obvious that the two projects would bolster each other. During the creative process, all the preparatory work I did for the comic strip was also valid for the film, and vice versa. Making the storyboard for the film was good practice for drawing Dreg, and modeling Dreg in 3D further enhanced my understanding of how he works visually. Similarly, drawing Dreg so often and giving him a better defined character and setting helped my work on him in 3D.

But I feel the relationship goes further than that. By the end of this year, I will have two different pieces of work, telling a different story, but enriching the same universe. If you watch the film, and would like to understand more of who Dreg is and what this world is, you can read the comic strip. On the other hand, read the comic strip, and you might want to see how Dreg moves, and experience the gravity shifts of Disarea. I have always enjoyed mixed media narrative, where a story is continued or complemented by another piece of very different art work. There are a few good examples of this, but the recent deluge of films based on comic strips is not one of them. These are simply remaking the comic book characters, often going a long way away from the comic strips.

Some better examples would include things like the Animatrix; a series of short animated films set in the universe of the matrix. In fact, references to what happens in the first of these films are made in the second Matrix film. But the other films in the Animatrix also add to the universe, giving you a much greater sense of the world than the three films do on their own. The films themselves may not be all that great, but I think this mixed-media narrative is interesting. Another good example is the clever use of websites to enlarge the scope of Blair Witch project. People who followed it's website before watching the film probably had a more complete, enriching experience as a result. There are also countless examples of computer games adding to a universe. You only have to play a few of the Lucas Arts Star Wars games, and you'll see what I mean- the Star Wars universe becomes much bigger, and real, that it would be if only the films existed.

Why do I feel this form of narrative is successful? It has, of course, several short comings. It's a lot easier to go to the cinema to watch a film, than to hunt down all the websites/comic strips/games/short animations that are related to it. If you spread your narrative over several media, fewer people will experience all you have to say. It is important therefore for each piece of work to stand alone, so that people can appreciate it without having to know all the other pieces. The idea is that their understanding of it can be bolstered with these other works. In fact, the inaccessibility of the entire narrative will make it all the more rewarding for those who have read/watched/played it all. It adds a sense of mystery to the world for those who know of these other works, but have not experienced them. I find that these extended narratives seem more real to me, there's a sense that they're not confined to the two hour film, the fifty page comic, or any one piece of work. The worlds and characters are somehow more real as a result. You are aware that you're not being presented with an entire reality, that there are elements in existence of which you are not aware, and that this work in particular is just a slice from that world.

What with Disarea having been stirring in my head these last few years, it has for me become a very real world. By spreading the narrative over animated film and comic strip, I hope to communicate a suggestion of that reality to the viewers/readers.