Corto Maltese Study

Here's a study of a Hugo Pratt Corto Maltese panel

A few things to note.
- Hugo Pratt's panel is fantastic. I love this sequence at the end of the Siberia story. When I was in Paris, I came across a huge poster of one of the images that I should have bought. Still regret not bringing it back with me, but I'll get it next time.
- I drew mine large (Approx 9"x12") which I think changes the overall effect of the drawing.
- Pratt would have used a quill for the lines and  brush for the lovely blacks. I used a brush for everything on mine. I might try another panel with a quill.

Here's the original panel. Fantastic!

A movie poster and other stuff...

Here's a poster I did for a local theater. Had lots of fun playing with the look of these characters. I absolutely love this move, by the way. The final version has logos and showing times/dates/etc..., but this is what the original art looks like, minus the grey tones.

Roche Limit 3 came out a few weeks ago. #4 is out on January 7th and I'm working on the 5th and final issue of the first arc right now. Altogether, I think the series so far is full of story and information. These aren't the types of comics you can breeze through in 5 minutes.

Michael and I have been excitedly working on the next volume as well. We're pushing the story forward many many years. so we're pretty much starting from scratch again, but building off of what happens in vol. 1.

I wrapped up my X-Files: Year Zero miniseries last month. All 5 issues are out now and a collected edition should be out in a few months. I really love what Karl Kesel and myself were able to create with the Year Zero team.

For another adventure of that Year Zero team, check out the X-Files X-mas Special out this month (Dec 24??? I think) I did a bright pink variant cover for that book but I wasn't able to draw the  interior story since I was busy withe Roche Limit. Matthew Southworth drew the story and it looks great! Again, coloured by the talented Mat Lopes.

I've been reading lots of amazing stuff, new and old. Here's what I recommend to you...

- AAMA by Frederik Peeters. The art and the story are fantastic. The first 2 volumes of this series have been translated and published by Self Made Hero.

- Go read anything by Norwegian comic creator Jason (Fantagraphics). Left Bank Gang, being one of my favorites.  There's something great about how he constructs pages and twists and turns in stories. Some big laughs throughout as well.

- Battling Boy and the Rise of Aurora West books (First Second Press). Paul Pope and David Rubin. Both books were fantastic. Highly recommended for yourself and as Christmas gifts to younger readers.

- Kirby: King of Comics by Mark Evanier. I just finished this thorough biography on the King. A must read for any fan of the medium. Frustrating and sad at parts, but it covers some of the trends and obstacles faced by the industry as a whole from the 30's to the 80's.

More updates soon.

Happy Holidays.

--vic

X-FIles: Year Zero #3

Well, it's been busy few weeks for sure. Juggling two projects (Roche Limit and X-Files) has had it's ups and downs. Lots of conflicting deadlines. Luckily all my collaborators are understanding an amazing.

X-Files: Year Zero #3 came out this Wednesday.  Here are some B/W pages from the issue and some thoughts them.

You can find a colour/lettered preview HERE

X-Files: Year Zero #3

Pages 1 to 6.

Karl Kesel delivered a great script, once again. This time giving us a fun resolution to the events that began in the previous issue.

The cabin interior in the first few pages was fun to draw. I probably went a bit overboard with the dry brush on the walls, but I found it to be a quick and easy way to lead the eye to the important information in each panel. Did I mention that due to the deadline for this issue and me taking a trip while drawing this, some of these pages were drawn on the beaches of Prince Edward Island. That sounds more glamorous that it was, honest.

For the Manitou, the show never really gave a good glimpse of what the beast actually looked like (Season 1 episode “Shapes”). In the few screenshots you can find online it just looks like a bad werewolf costume. The close-ups on the face looked better. Either way, I just made it up for the most part. I wanted to embrace a bit of what I saw in the show, the part that was kind of like a cheesy costume.

The rest of the pages I’ve posted here are mostly just me finding interesting ways to stage conversations. Finding framing devices, changing the angles (up,down) and trying to bring across the personalities of the characters across in there body language.
On page 5 panel 5, I opted for a good ol’ Hugo Pratt neck up panel. I always liked these panels in his Corto Maltese books.


Back to work. Wrapping up issue 5 this weekend.

—vic

Roche Limit #1 - Out this week!

So Roche Limit is out this Wednesday. The Roche Limit team is pretty darned excited for the release. Mostly so we can finally get the first issue of this fantastical sci-fi/noir story into the world (and your paws) Above is the cover to Roche Limit #4.

Here’s my schedule for the next few weeks. (other than the indicated dates, I’ll be hunched over my drawing table finishing up issue 2!)

— Wednesday Sept. 24 - I’ll be signing at Happy Harbor Comics in Edmonton, Alberta (This is one of my hometown stores. They’re amazing! Edmonton is actually riddled with a number of great comic book shops. Wealth of comics!)
More info on that one right here..
http://www.happyharborcomics.com/events/signings/page_event_ed_signing42.shtml


— September 26th - 28th (Friday - Sunday)
I’ll be at Edmonton Expo which is a newer convention (Third year?) but the show has grown like crazy. I’ll be taking a limited number of commission sketches while there and will have some comics and original art with me. Of course I’ll sign any and everything you bring (Anyone’s comics are fair game)
I’ll be participating in an Image Comics Panel on Saturday afternoon (you’ll need to check the schedule for time and room)
Information here - http://edmontonexpo.com/


— Wednesday, October 1st
I’ll be at Alpha Comics in Calgary, Alberta. Bring the copy of Roche Limit you bought on the release date! The third issue of X-Files: Year Zero comes out on October 1st as well. I’ll be sketching and signing stuff!
Info here… http://alphacomics.ca/vic-malhotra-signing-october-1st-for-roche-limit-1/


— And lastly!
I’ll be at Lethbridge Comic Con October 17th - 19th.
Sketches, comics, signing. All that fun stuff.
Info… http://lethbridgecomiccon.com/index.html


—vic

X-Files: Year Zero #2

X-Files: Year Zero #2 is out tomorrow (technically today... it's 12:30am here as I write this)






The preview for this issue can be found online here ... HERE

Since these pages are shown in the preview (coloured and lettered), I thought I'd post the pages in B/W. This issue was a blast to draw. There's some cool scenery changes and some tense moments.

Pick it up at your local comic shop or online... While you're at the shop, think about adding Roche Limit, my new Image book that debut's in September, to your pull list. Me and the rest of the Roche Limit team sure would appreciate it!

Click to see in a decent size.

--vic

Talking Comix: Thumbprint #2 - Pages 14 and 15

Here’s the black and white art and the colour art for a double page spread from Thumbprint which is a book I did last year.

My editor insisted I colour the book as well as draw it and it was a daunting task, but I learned a hell of a lot doing it. I’ll probably colour my own work again someday (I still colour some of the covers I do), but it’s nice to see what a great colourist can add to your work. it’s one of the best things about collaborating.

As far as the linework for this book and even for most of my stuff now, I always strive to capture some sort of urgency to the line and to the brush strokes. It’s very specific and I rarely hit the mark, but I think I’m getting better at it. I don’t think this example really worked as well as I’d wanted, but it’s still looks pretty good to me and was as good as I could do at the time.

For the colours, I planned from the layout stage to tackle the sky and the desert with colour and spent a good deal of time working on a digital painting that complimented the rough art. I spent a lot of time making a few custom brushes that gave me a good dry brush effect and used those brushes a ton for this book.

I’m not a big fan of using blur effects and that sort of thing on comic art, but I thought it added something here and the rest of the Thumbprint team liked it as well.

As for those small impact panels. I don’t think it was scripted that way, but I wanted to slow down and focus on how much of a rag doll the guy looked like as his body made contact with the ground.

—vic

Talking Comix: X-Files: Year Zero #1 - Page 11

Taking a minute between drawing Roche Limit pages to post something here.


This is Page 11 of X-Files: Year Zero #1 (IDW) that came out last week. It's also the first page from my half of the story (the 1940's story of the first X-file.)

Mat Lopes (the colourist) came up with this really nice blue centric colour palette for this page that I just love. I like working with Mat, although he probably gets really annoyed at my constant colour guides and changes. I think he said I was definitely the most involved and detail noticing artist he's worked with. ha.

I drew this page 3 times at different sizes until I decided what I was comfortable with. I ended up finally drawing it and the rest of the issue (and series) just a bit over print size. It's a size that Zach Howard (Artist of Wild Blue Yonder) showed me.

This book, even the issue I'm working on now, has,been filled with 6 panel pages, so it's a cool challenge to find different ways to layout pages. For this one I went with the uber stack (that's my term for 5 tiers, that I just invented), not sure I could do 6 tiers, but maybe that's something I should do for issue 3 of the series. You gotta know when to try something different and when to just go with 6 even square panels that I associate with some of Alex Toth's work, like his Zorro stuff. It does help that my story takes place in the 40's so I fully embrace going for a look that suits the period.

I was looking at a lot of Kevin Nowlan at the time and tried to be in control of line weights and all that stuff, but at some point I just grabbed a brush and went to town. Should have put some clouds in that first panel sky, but I like the openness of it as well. oh well.

One thing I've learned with drawing comics is just to do your best in the time you have. Make sure the storytelling works and move on. You'll have the opportunity to tackle similar shots in different ways down the line.

Okay, back to work.

--vic

X-Files: Year Zero #1

IDW put an advanced preview of the first issue on their Facebook page yesterday, so I'm good to post this.

Here's one of my pages from X-Files: Year Zero #1. Meet Millie Ohio. I drew the second half of this issue, so I don't expect more pages to show up in preview form. Colours by Mat Lopes.

--vic

Iron Fist - EEK!

An Iron Fist commission from this past weekend at the EEK Comic and Pop Fest.

--vic

X-Files Year Zero #1 - Panel Mashup + Teasers for new book

Helllllo dear readers!

Lots of cool stuff happening. Stressful work load, but I like to look at the positives of all this comic making. Mainly that it's awesome.

Anyhow, here's a panel mash-up from my portion of X-Files Year Zero #1. Karl Kesel wrote a great script. There's a lot of intrigue, fun, and action packed into this story so make sure you go pick it up when it comes out near the end of July. I'm drawing the portions that take place in the 1940's.

On another note, some teasers for my Image book have leaked (as planned ;) Sites like Comicosity, Multiversity Comics, and a few others have been running them... mostly described as a "Mysterious new Sci-Fi Image book" Reactions from everyone have been awesome.

We haven't done the official announcement yet, but here's the creative team we put together.
On writing and art we have Michael Moreci and myself.
Colours by Jordan Boyd, Letters by Ryan Ferrier, and Design by Tim Daniel.
I'm really stoked to be working with such an amazing team and I'm proud of the work we've done so far. Everyone is bringing their next level game on this one. It's really cool to witness.


For people local to Edmonton and the surrounding area, I'll be at St. Albert's Eek Comics and Pop Culture Fest this weekend. I'll be doing sketches and all that fun stuff. Come swing by. More information here... http://theeek.com/ 

--vic