A long time ago there was a thing called “Myspace” and for some reason, Dark Horse Comics was producing comic book anthologies in partnership with the now-antiquated social media platform.
I was commissioned to illustrate the cover of “Myspace Dark Horse Presents #6: The Year We Make Contact,” which you can see below, but the thing that really got me excited about the job was the chance to write and illustrate my own 2-page comic for the anthology.
My entire senior year at Art Center was spent writing and illustrating a 24 page comic about a guy’s shoes coming untied, which was nominated for an Eisner award in 2010.*
The cover illustration for Myspace Dark Horse Presents Volume 6: The Year We Make Contact
The student painting that inspired the Forever Adrift. story.
I came up with a story called “Rick Shambles is Forever Adrift,” based on a painting I did at Art Center, about an unconfident space hero who uses visualization and other self-help techniques to achieve his self-serving goals (one of my illustration students accurately described him as a “loser”).
You can read the story here on my site.
Process
Below, you’ll see the pencils, inks, and finished colors for the comic.
I recently began reformatting some of my comics to be easier-to-read online.
I was inspired by the Marvel Comics app for the iPad. The experience on the iPad is better than what I was able to achieve here, but I think this a decent alternative.
John Buscema’s cover of Silver Surfer #1
If you decide to download the Marvel app, I recommend purchasing Fantastic Four #1 and my favorite, Silver Surfer #1. Those books look incredible on the app. It appears that the original art was rescanned and adapted for a tablet. They stayed true to the original flat colors that are so mesmerizing.
I didn’t plan on this post becoming a commercial for the Marvel app, but there you go.
Have a read of Rick Shambles is Forever Adrift and let me know what you think.
Cheers,
Frank