SPECTATORS - Part 61
Plus, a new Artopsy from Niko Henrichon!
How was your spectating this weekend?
Brian here, and on Saturday I went to my first live comedy show since before the pandemic, an evening of stand-up at the Comedy Store that included Marc Maron, who just released a hilarious/harrowing/highly recommended HBO special called From Bleak to Dark, but who nevertheless already has a ton of incredible new material.
It was a tremendous relief to get to laugh about all the horror currently consuming our world, so I hope you also got to experience some levity before your workweek resumed.
Speaking of terror and delight, let’s get to the latest vignette of Spectators from artist/co-creator Niko Henrichon and letterer Fonografiks (who will be off-duty for Niko’s next couple of awe-inspiring double-page spreads, but will be back to wrangle my alphabet soup soon enough).
As always, you can catch up on past installments of our serialized graphic novel over in the Exploding Giraffe Archives, still 100% free to read…
What a shot, huh?
More on how it was made in just a bit, but first, some news for you fans of Niko and/or original art: Essential Sequential has just released several new hand-painted pages from Spectators!
Paid subscribers in what we call The Tower got first dibs on this new “drop” last week, and while they already nabbed some classics, a few of my absolute favorite pages like this one are still available, though probably not for much longer:
Anyone lucky enough to have some disposable income at the moment is welcome to purchase these one-of-a-kind masterpieces, but Tower members also get an additional 10% off—using the secret code we revealed after last week’s paywall—so if you’re thinking about finally adding a Niko Henrichon original to your collection, membership pays for itself (and helps underwrite the ongoing creation of our book, so huge thanks again for your support).
This happened just as we were about to “publish” last week, but I have to congratulate my pal and Y the Last Man co-creator Pia Guerra for being named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for illustrated reporting and commentary!
In a past installment of Exploding Giraffe, I already shared one of Pia’s pieces on gun violence that’s literally haunted me every day since I first saw it, and I encourage you to check out more of her outrageously fearless work on Instagram and/or Twitter.
Like all of my past and present artistic collaborators, Pia is a much better writer/person than I could ever hope to be, and I’m enormously proud of everything she’s accomplished since the end of Y.
Okay, a few final bits of business from me before I turn the controls over to Niko for his latest “artistic autopsy.”
First up, the results are in from our latest legally binding poll, and the people have spoken (and I appreciate your preference for grammatically correct sayings):
Fair enough.
Nice to hear that most of you seem to come for the bread and butter of Spectators, and then stick around for everything else… like our weekly Tower-only chat thread, where we recently ended up talking about “which Muppet most closely resembles your inner self” (in honor of my old friend Jeff Yorkes and his new show The Muppets Mayhem, which has been getting rave reviews).
The three most common responses were Animal (by a commanding percentage), Kermit, and then Gonzo, but here are a few outliers randomly selected by our intern Genesis the Exploded Giraffe to receive a signed copy of last week’s Saga #64.
amorriscode:
Rizzo the Rat, if not for the physical resemblance then certainly the shared acrophobe attribute.
Mike N.:
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. Think I’m just smart enough to calmly wreak havoc on the Beakers in my life.
CT_in_TC:
As long as I’m not Scooter, I’m happy.
Thanks, Tower pals, and Genesis will be in touch with you soon about your signed comics.
With that, I should get back to work on the next chunk of Spectators script, but I leave you in the loving care of Monsieur Henrichon, and I’ll see you again in seven short days…
Hello, everyone! Hope you’re all having a wonderful Monday.
As usual, each month, I’m showing up to give you a small glimpse into my creative process. For this Artopsy, let’s take a look at the new double page I delivered today.
So here’s the description provided in Brian’s script:
Pages 156 and 157
DOUBLE-PAGE SPREAD
For this visually spectacular spread, cut to this establishing shot of THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: https://loving-newyork.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/museum-of-natural-history-181017134455011.jpg
It’s closed at this late hour, and the streets are mostly empty, maybe just another HOMELESS INDIVIDUAL pushing his or her belongings in an old-fashioned shopping cart.
Regardless, the focus of this low-angle shot should be the formation of HELICOPTER-LIKE FUTURISTIC MILITARY JETS that are currently zooming over this old building. Could they be the “ride” that Sam was referring to…?
We can also see some little SWARMS OF COLOR dotting the night sky, the gathering crowds of spectating GHOSTS watching NYC from high above.
No Text
Obviously, I’ve heard of the Natural History Museum.
In fact, I already drew it in an issue of the Meet The Skrulls miniseries…
So the first step is to gather some reference about the site.
Thankfully, we’re not in 1995 and I don’t have to go search for hours at the public library or go to a physical location to take my own picture. It’s almost like the internet was invented for us comics artists.
I like to pick up pictures of different angles of the building and I also take a look on Google Earth and Apple Maps to really get a good grasp on the environment that I’ll be drawing.
The next step is to start sketching, and once I have a good feeling about the angle and proportions of the composition, I put in some line grids to keep the perspective accurate.
This is what I print before I put it on the lightbox and work on the inks. Notice how I picked up a picture I found of the statue in front of the building just in the right angle and pasted it on the drawing.
Inking time!