'LEROY' #1 Cover Breakdown

'Leroy'#1 cover breakdown

I have held out on posting this image, but seeing as it's the cover to my comic-themed portfolio ot would be villainous of me not to post it... HAHAHA!

The cover to issue #1 of 'LEROY' was painstaking, long and both physically & mentally draining. I must have gone over the images separately over and over then once composed as a final image, i did the same thing again, three times. with countless cups of green tea and even more countless thoughts of wanting a fag break, i finally did it. In particular, I was proud of the background, but seeing as the characters overshadow the background, I figured it was only fair to do the image justice by posting it on my really cool blog. So we started out with the basics. hand sketching the characters and backdrop individually, then going over the outline in illustrator [which i do prefer even if it does take more time], then colouring on the shop that is photo.Now given that I am using the Intuos tablet it is so much easier to colour, process and just generally draw. I really can't imagine how I even use to use a mouse or a finger pad for that matter!

LEROY

Our main character. Half French, total badass. Kinda like the attitude young Sasuke from 'Nartuto' has only a little kinder,- the one who 'doesn't give a fuck' where deep down he does. Our aspiring hero is in a bit of a slum at the moment. He doesn't know where his life is going and therefore he's depressed. He knows what he wants but he lacks the motivation. Essentially a good character but will need time to figure that out before he knows his place. And his place will be found with the aid of two people. One of them being....GERARD

This big tree will be come mentor, trainer and father-like figure to our hero to be. He is one of the, if not the most talented chef's in the world. He is direct, firm and he likes his Drambrui. Like everyone, he too has a shady side and this shows right from the beginning of the story and plays right through to the end.TERRANCE

Originally Taran, then Tyrone but I figured that would be too stereotypical. This guy has a habit of pulling the most miserable faces when he is not miserable. He is Leroy's best friend and has a god given gift with food. Already an aspiring chef he plays probably the key role in Leroy's development, not only keeping him positive and determined, but also he acts as a benchmark, someone Leroy has to keep up with. Trouble is, Terrance already has a three year headstart. I really like this background. The back end of a restaurant. Away from the table cloths and the clean floors and the friendly waiters. Away from the fake. A place where the staff have their fags and vent their frustrations and eat their food and duke it out in a battle of of 'who can spit more whilst speaking'. It's just real here. And in this world, Chan is running for president/prime minister of Hong Kong.I do love the background. Its like something I have never done before. The textures and the feel of it. I used my own works as eroded posters in the background as icing on the cake.

Now once I had place the characters on all I had to do was create a layer or rubbish for the floor, which was actually probably the most difficult part.. It took long to draw good pieces of rubbish and seeing that I was losing sleep over this image and almost near the finish line, I decided to take a break and leave it before coming back and re-touching everything, adding the title bar and logo for my portfolio.The first issue is still in the works so I will be developing that as soon as possible.

That was a looooong post... In other news, my NEW WEBSITE will be up this week so keep your eyes peeled!!!!

That means the blog will become more personal and I can concentrate on topics and themes other than my work and mememe. 

Easy.

L