Saturday, February 9, 2008

A Princess Of Xylos

Today's sketch is a relaxed Princess Odyri from PERILS ON PLANET X. I had a very productive day, two penciled pages. Not too bad. But then there are 9 more pages to pencil. Writer Chris Mills and I decided to expand the story from 22 pages to 26. Why? Well, more story pages for the reader. We decided that was more interesting than a bunch of pin-ups from various artists. Don't get me wrong, I like to see pin-ups, but we are competing with hundreds of other books for readers. Since we don't have ad space like Marvel or DC, we could just use those pages for story instead of filler. Of course this means more work for the same amount of pay. And as a creator-owned product, I bet you can figure out how much pay that is. ; )

4 comments:

Gary M. Peiffer said...

Gene,

Love the Princess Odyri piece! Was this a panel from the two pages you penciled today or a separate sketch altogether? Also, I've lost track, what issue number are you pencilling? Hope to see this solicited in Previews soon!

As far as pinups, I am partial to seeing these, especially if it is by the series artist. Always seemed to me that I was getting something "extra" when a book had a pinup even if it meant giving up a page of story. Maybe a pinup on the back of the book would work for this project?

Anyway, keep us all posted on this project!

Gary

Gene Gonzales said...

Gary - this was a warm-up sketch, not from the book. I am penciling and inking the second of three issues. We will still have pin-ups just not page after page of them. The standard comic is 32 pages, it just seemed a shame for almost a third of the book to be something other than story. But we do have a plan to put all the sketches and prelims in the trade. (Hopefully!)

Craig Zablo said...

I love how you gave the piece such a feel of depth! Nice work, sir!

Gene Gonzales said...

Thank you Craig!