Pierre Speaks: Between Projects

I was about to jump straight to talking about my working on the Heavy Metal 2000 feature film.

But then I realized that I should talk about what happened between Bob and Heavy Metal.

In some studios, there were enough projects that as soon as you would finish working on a project, you would get started on another one.

When I was working on Bob, we had various meetings concerning upcoming projects. From those meetings, there should have been at least 15 projects coming up after Bob.

Not really what happened.

Out of those 15 projects, there are just a few projects that ended up being made. And most of those that were made ended up being made in other studios.

That is one of the reasons that I tell people not to rejoice too early when they are offered to turn their project/comic into an animated series. Many things can and will go wrong with such projects. So until you actually see the project on TV.... wait and see what will happen.

The Nexus TV series that never was is a good example of that.

The same with movies.

Invincible is a great example of that. Having a big studio interested in your project is not a guarantee that the project will end up on the movie screen. It just mean that they MIGHT want to make a movie using your project.

The same thing happened with Bone.

That is something that I repeat wayyy too often in various discussions. So if I already mentioned it in a past Blog.... forgive me.... but it is something that comes back often. And I guess I am getting old and have a tought time keeping up with ALL the times I mention this.

While I was working on Bob, there was another project in the studio called Papyrus.

Sadly, Papyrus did not have a layout & posing team as strong as the Bob Morane one.

So at some point, the studio came very close to losing the contract on making the layout & posing on Papyrus.

What they ended up doing was take most of the Bob Morane team, and have them work on Papyrus to raise the quality of the show in order NOT to lose the contract.

Since I was teamed with a guy named Norm DeRepentigny, him doing the layouts, and me the posing, and together we were cranking up a truckload of scenes, we pretty much finished the last Bob Morane episode between the two of us.

In the end, everything worked out.

The layout posing team from Bob were able to increase the quality on Papyrus and made sure that the studio would not lose the contract. And Norm and I finished the last episode on Bob.

After Bob, I worked on the last 2 episodes on Papyrus.

After Papyrus, there was another project lined up to begin called Pirate.

Naively, the artists from Bob who had literally saved the Papyrus contract by increasing the quality for the show thought that they would be the ones working on Pirate.

Also the people working on Bob had been working for the studio longer then the Papyrus people.

But the person supervising the Pirate project was someone from the Papyrus team. And what he ended up doing was take his buddies that were working with him on Papyrus. He took the very people who almost lost the Papyrus contract just because they were his working buddies.

And those who had saved the Papyrus show, who had been with the studio longer were told that they could go home once Papyrus was finished.

Many were okay when that happened.

But not me.

First, because I did not want to work on Pirate to begin with.

But also because I knew that being with the studio longer and saving the Papyrus contract was no guarantee of being hired on the next project.

So it was no surprise to me when that happened.

But as fate would have it.... Pirate was not ready once Papyrus was finished.

So everyone, even the supervisor and his buddies who were supposed to work on Pirate were sent back home. ;)

Ironically enough, I was the last one to leave the studio because I was asked to do some last minute designs for a 3D project called Sphinx. Which ended up never being produced... at least as far as I know ;). It was decided to produce another 3D series instead called Excalibur.

Ugh!

Excalibur (and Sphinx come to think of it) was one of the projects we had seen the demo for in one of our meetings, and it was one of the worst.... if not the worst.... of all the demos we had seen. So don't ask me why,,,, other then because the series had a known name for the project and a known artist who had done the designs..... I am not sure what motivation there was behind that decision.

So now that I was a free man. What were my options??

I had applied to work on Heavy Metal 2000 while I was still working on Papyrus, and as fate would have it, the very day that I finished working, we were hit by one of the biggest Ice Strom in history.

Yes, I am refering to the Ice Storm of 88.

So I decided to take some time off while waiting for an answer from Heavy Metal, and waited for the Ice Storm to pass.

So next time, I will talk about what I did during the Ice Strom, and how I got the job on Heavy Metal.

More soon.

Mister Crimson Episode 11

Mister Crimson Episode 11
In which our hero meets a giant robot!
Check it out here!

Free Comics Monday: We Invade Mars!

Today we invade Mars! (Not only will it be good for the economy, but we need their oil too.)

[ Man of Mars 01 ]

I would also like take this opportunity to direct your attention to ZUDA where we currently have a Retro Sci-Fi project entered in the November Contest.

Planet X: In a 1960s that never was, Dylan Gunn, agent of Directorate: PLANET X, fights the enemies of the free world across a solar system out of pulp fiction dreams. His current mission: neutralize the Spider-Queen of Mars!!

[ Click Here for Planet X ]

Fans of 007 Movies and/or John Carter of Mars will dig this comic as it's influenced by swinging spy action of movies as In Like Flynn and GoldFinger and the Martian landscapes of Edgar Rice Burroughs and C.L. Moore.

beginSpiel...

Now listen guys. I don't ask about lot from you. You don't hear me plead for donations or bitch and moan because no one clicks on my google ads do you? So the least you can do is go and vote for my Zuda comic.

Look - if I win that Zuda contest, it will be like Don Quixote smelling sulfur at a windmill, okay? I'll be full steam ahead about making more Digital Comics. So, if you want to keep Free Comics Monday and Flashback Universe *agoing* then get busy with the clicky clickies.

/endSpiel.

And here is this weeks second free comic - my last issue of Planet Comics.

[ Planet Comic 73 ]

Enjoy!

New Flashback Comic Previews

So if you are a loyal Flashback Universe fan who has been patiently waiting for the next FBU comic since we released The Paladin, you're probably wonder what the hell is up with us not releasing any new comics lately?
Well, what has happened is that for several reasons we had a couple of artistic hiccups that have slowed us down.

One you know about if you've been reading this blog, and that's Pierre's long engagement working on the Arthur cartoon. That took a good bit of his time over the past year. However he has been able to work on a few Flashback related comics during this time.

Aside from Arthur, Pierre was also working on our Zuda submission.

Kharon: Scourge of Atlantis





Pierre is also working is Saturn Knight: The Knight Before Christmas, which we hope to have ready for you by this Christmas. Written by Chris Sims, this story features the a ton of Flashback Universe characters and I expect everyone to really get a kick out of it! Check out this preview page from this story...




Chris Sims actually is responsible for two more upcoming Flashback Universe comics. The other is the amazing Flashback Two-In-One featuring WildCard and The Creature with art by Gentleman Jerry Hinds. It's been a long time coming, but I think everyone will like the work Jerry is doing on this comic. Check out these two pages...







Chris is also working on a Kondorr comic with a new artist who goes by the moniker of Cornfed Cannibal (long story...) Check out these pages from Kondorr - Once Mighty!







And last but not least, we are very near completion of a comic featuring Amanita and Prometheus written by Chad Bowers and illustrated by Chris Nye and Don Jackson. Check out this great cover by Don and colors by Liezl Buenaventura and interior page by Chris.







So look for some great Bronze Age excitement to be coming from us very soon!

Congratulations to High Moon!

Today, the HIGH MOON crew are celebrating it's 1-year anniversary running on ZudaComics.Com. I credit this series for changing my view of Zuda and helping me appreciate the whole Zuda concept.

Celebrate by reading the latest installment of their second season, here: http://www.highmooncomic.com/

If you are a fan of HIGH MOON, be sure to check out this latest installment, leave a comment, and share it with your friends!

Pierre Speaks: Working on Bob Morane

By far..... Bob Morane has been the best show I have worked on. It is the TV show I am the most proud of so far.

Heck at the time, we thought we had a winner. We thought we would do at least 12 seasons of that series.

I guess it is a great example that you cannot predict success. ;)

Previously I mentioned how I could go to various studios in person and apply for work.

Ironically, that was not the case for Bob.

The mother of what would become my future girlfriend at the time (but who now is my ex-girlfriend ;) ) had seen an article in some paper about a studio looking for artists. She gave me the phone number she got from the article.

That was before I started working on Scary. I was still looking for work at the time so I called the studio and spoke with one of the producers who gave me their mailing address and told me to send to the director of the show, a great guy named Norm Leblanc who had directed the Flash Gordon TV series, my CV and some portfolio samples.

Then some time later, I was hired on Scary and pretty much forgot about that. Until I got a phone call giving me an appointment to meet with Norm.

I almost didn't go.

I was working on Scary. Although I was about done working on the design team on Scary, I had applied to work on the storyboard clean-up on Scary (yes..... again it meant doing another test..... even though I was already working on Scary) and was told I had the job.

But I figured..... let's go anyway. The worst that can happen is that I turn down the job on Bob Morane.

So during my lunch hour, I went to meet with Norm.

I was very impressed with Norm's enthusiasm. And he seemed to really want to hire me, he started showing me a truckload of designs they had done. Then he took me to the coloring department and started showing me a lot of color samples they had done to establish the style of the series.

I was hooked. I wanted to work on that show.

So as expected..... Norm gave me a test. It was a character rotation to be cleaned.

So that very evening, I did the Bob Morane test after work, and the very next day in my lunch break I brought back my test to Norm.

I had already warned my bosses on Scary that I might be leaving to work on Bob Morane instead of working on the storyboard clean-up on Scary. I asked them if they had anyone in mind to replace me if I did not take the job.

They said not to worry about it. They had someone else in mind if I was no longer available.

So a few days later, I got the job on the Bob Morane design team.

So from that day.... I always try to meet the people who offer me work before saying no (or before saying yes for that matter ;) ).... just in case.

Here's a funny story.

The guy who was taken in my place on Scary is a guy with whom I went to college with called Azad Injekian.

Some of you may know him as the creator of the comic "Sammy: the tourist trap", a series that was published by Image Comics in 2003 if I am not mistaken (great series by the way).

But that is not the funny part.... the funny part is that Azad had also applied on Bob Morane.

If I had stayed on Scary, Azad would have had the job on Bob Morane. But since I left for Bob, he got the job on Scary.

;)

So I started on Bob Morane as a clean-up artist. Which essentially meant that I would do pretty much anything required of me. From fixing some props, to cleaning-up character or location designs, inking an early version of the series' logo, or even helping out on correcting the storyboards if needed.

In retrospect, I was wayyyyy too inexperienced to be working on a series like Bob Morane. It was not easy.

But in the first few months that I have worked on Bob, I learned more then I did in all my years in college.

I also had the pleasure of working with a great guy called Gabriel Morisette who worked for DC on various series like Ragman, Team Titans or Hawk & Dove or some other series I can't think of right now. He also had his own comic called Angloman.

Then I applied to work on layout & posing for Bob Morane, and another series called Ivanhoe. So I spent a couple of week-ends doing the Bob Morane and the Ivanhoe layout & posing tests.

But this time, not only did I have a better idea of how layout and posing worked from all the tests that I had done before, but also I was right there in the studio and could ask for tips and advices to some of my co-workers if I needed to.

Let me tell you.... it is much easier to get a job once you are inside and know some of the people in the studio then when you are trying to break in from the outside.

This time.... both tests were good enough.

So I had to chose between doing layout & posing either on Bob Morane or on Ivanhoe.

I chose Bob.

But for the first few days..... I almost regretted my choice.

That first week, I had the posing of 25 scenes to do for Friday...... and by the end of Tuesday.... I had only done 2 scenes.

I was in big trouble.

I was thinking to myself..... I will never make it. I'll be fired Friday.

But as it turned out, the first few scenes were the really tough ones. Then it got easier with later scenes, and the last few scenes were very simple to do.

So by Friday, I was able to hand in my 25 scenes finished with some time to spare.

So I was given 35 scenes to do for the following week. ;)

I remember saying to my boss something like..... 35 scenes is too much.... but she told me...... you just made 25 scenes in your first week..... you can do 35 now.

And I did.

Also doing layout & posing paid you for the amount of scenes you made. So the more scenes you made..... the more money you made.

When I started on Scary, I was making $450 per week. Which was awesome at the time since I was finally getting paid to draw.

Then I was making $700 per week on Bob. Which was the most money I had ever made at the time.

But then working on layout & posing, I was making $1200, $1400, heck sometimes as much as $1600 per week.

Life was good.

I foolishly thought that I had made it. That from now on, it would always be like that. But sadly... that is not how it works.

But that is a story for some other time. ;)

Mister Crimson Episode 10

Mister Crimson Episode 10

In which our hero makes a daring leap for freedom and gently lands on a futuristic taxi.

Check it out here!