Do Your Research

When I sat to draw my piece for the evening, I had full intention of drawing environments, furniture, and clothing. But as I began doing my research I stumbled onto interesting facts, and inspiring images. My plans to make simple studies turned into a semi-erotic scene of the Blonde Assassin and her student/lover.

When I left college I swore I was done with writing papers and looking up facts. Now I realize research is one of the most important parts of developing art, comic books, and animation. I always knew research was a large part of writing, but while working on this latest character development piece I found myself searching out images and information very similar to the way I would on a paper or report.

The comic is set in Feudal Japan. My initial Google search brought up mostly pop culture images and anime. In order to find true images and facts I had to make a more educated search. Although set in Japan, the story revolves around the human slave trade. This is what brought the Masked Man and the Blonde Assassin to Japan where they are unlike anyone else. For me the story's genesis is the question."What would have become of foreign slaves in Japan, prior to the arrival of the west."

I chose a date range based on Japanese art of the 1600's - 1700's, during the Edo Period. My decision to set the book in the 1690's was determined primarily by ink brush, watercolor, and block print art of the time. For my piece I took inspiration directly from the artist Hishikawa Moronobu. Moronobu's work is my best reference for Japanese cultural aesthetics of the time. I am inspired by his line work, blocks of black, and patterned fabric. His graphic style translates well into comic form. The goal is to create something believable. It is the aesthetic texture and detail which makes the environment and clothing feel real.

Authenticity sells stories, and you can only find it at the source. I always viewed using references for creating work as cheating, but now I am starting to understand the saying, "Good artist borrow, great artist steal."