Goodbye, Phenomena 2!

Hello, Phenomena 3!

Hello from Castrum Lusitania, my fortress in northern Portugal. Welcome to another edition of our weekly newsletter.

Well, that’s it, I’m done with Phenomena! Now to the next thing… more Phenomena!

With Book 2 in the can it’s now time to wrap our trilogy and move straight into Book 3. It’s a fantastic opportunity that the folks from Abrams gave us: to be able to stretch our wings on a brand new creation, providing us with a platform with fully creative freedom and space to make things matter with the 3-book deal that they put in front of us.

The feeling of working on something created and owned by you for so long is priceless.

Goodbye, Phenomena 2!

137 pages. 18 spreads. Done and delivered.

My computer folder with the final files

The pile of original artwork.

It was Tuesday, right after lunch, that I did the last bit of work on the very last page and it felt great. I always follow the order of the pages so every time I finish an issue/series it feels doubly special. Not only is the work done but so is the story. I will always finish the book feeling what the reader feels when they read it.

You’ve already seen bits from the last finished pages, but it won’t harm to show you a couple more. There’s lots of arguing in the build up of the last set piece:

These are compressed jpegs, hence the weird textures you see . Ignore it, because the hi-res TIFFs will print smooth and beautiful. Speaking of beautiful, one of my favorite panels the book. Not in storytelling terms (there isn’t much going on here), but technically speaking. Stairs in perspective can be a lot of work:

And I’ll tell you what: sometimes making comics is hard, but the feeling of having them done is unmatched.

Hello, Phenomena 3!

When I wrapped Righteous Thirst For Vengeance, I suggested to Brian working on books 2 and 3 of Phenomena back to back, as if it was an ongoing. He was very keen on the idea as well and did not fail me. The moment I finished Book 2 he already had a bunch of script of Book 3 ready for me. 46 pages to be precise.

We had previously discussed what we wanted for the final piece of our trilogy and as he was writing it, I sent him some design ideas. That together with a long chat we had this week made Brian want to adjust some bits and made me want to design some new stuff. So each did his thing for a couple of days and then we sent each other the thing the other did. Teamwork!

I’ve already read through the script and it’s another grand adventure. Many notes were taken and even some new character designs, as lots of imagery popped into my mind. It’s fantastic to move from an epic story right into another, it feels breathtaking almost to look back at the pile of work you’ve just finished and the amount that is now in front of you.

Next week will be split between some more designs/concepts and beginning the layouts/thumbnails. The goal is to finish it until the end of the year or be as close to that as possible. As it unfolds we’ll see how possible that is. Onwards!

Recommendations

One of my favorite’s is Frank Quitely (I’d say he’s everyone’s favorite) so the first thing I did after finishing Phenomena Book 2 was recharging my artistic batteries by going through two of his books, both of which I highly recommend.

1. Frank Quitely: Drawings + Sketches - this is a lovely book where Frank (or Vince) goes through some of his works (comics, posters, designs) while explaining and detailing his process. Absolutely invaluable information for pros and fans alike.

2. Ambassadors #1 (written by Mark Millar) - and this is Frank’s first comic in a few years, again with Mark Millar, and his return does not disappoint. They both work great as a team and it’s a shame we don’t get more from both of them (each issue is done by a different superstar artist). All we can do is hope for more Quitely comics in the future because there’s nothing like those. And I was lucky enough to grab a special edition which came with a bunch of his uncolored pencils in the end.

It’s all for now - keep reading comics and I’ll see you all next week.

André