A few weeks ago, one of my Arsenic Lullaby readers managed to track down all for issues of the comic book series that was my first published work Harvest Moon. He was kind, or sadistic, enough to send me some scans of what I thought at the time was pretty damn good.
I almost cannot bear to look at it, now...The series only lasted four issues (mercifully). It started as a crime/horror anthology by me and a couple of my friends, who will remain nameless...the world in which we live being what it is, they might not appreciate being being attached to the project or me for that matter haha...sigh.
The sales were...not good...but oddly enough they didn't drop much from first issue to the last, implying that the few people who found out it existed....liked it enough to keep buying it. That notion along with my own giant ego, propelled me into trying a comic series of my own Arsenic Lullaby, and the rest, as they say, is history.
These issues are so rare, that I myself don't have any and to the best of my knowledge this is a block chain #exclusive ! Maybe somewhere out there is a picture of a cover, but certainly no one has bothered to put up any interior pages, and only here...can you be present for me squirming in my seat at what my first work looked like...
Looking at this now, I am baffled that I thought I should try again. Hubris, not skill is what built my career.
I'll start with a couple covers...and you'll excuse me if I put something recent after each example. It'll ease my mind and it's a nice example of how far you can come when you keep working at a skill.
ISSUE ONE!
That's not good...but not exactly awful. The composition is what saved it and that was the effort of my partner, who also did a nice job airbrushing the face of his character onto it.
But...it's not exactly THIS is it?
You want a good laugh? Here's the cover of issue no.2 ...I didn't exactly change things up a lot did I? Main character standing one the left, looking to the right...some sort of victim at his feet. Oy. He does seem to be drawn a little better though...maybe?
Okay...I always contend that the visual story telling is what separates the men from the boys. Lets look at some interiors. HERE, my friends, it the first page I had ever published. AND...It's actually kinda good...storytelling wise. Sets an eerie mood, interesting composition
But...it's nothing like what I can do now, eh?
It gets worse...here's a embarrassment of a page from Issue no.2
Good...lord... That is an absolute mess. The vanish points must have just been guessed at, the composition sucks, tangent lines everywhere, splattered ink in lue of actual details...I don't remember if I thought that was good or not. I remember putting a lot of work into the car. I'm a bit better at drawing cars these days...
Here's another interior...I've white covered the words because there are some things in the dialogue that are kinda interesting that I might use in the future. For now let's just soak in this mess. I remember really thinking I was getting the hang of vanishing points here...
Awful...and at no point when looking at this, would someone have reason to think that the same person would eventually be able to do this...
The cover for issue four starts to hint at some level of skill or style...
The "Joe" in this series is no relation to VooDoo Joe (below)
No, the "Joe" being reference there was - Joe the Plant- an anthropomorphic Plant. This issue had a two page story with him...
Not great, but you can start to see a bit of promise..a glimmer of hope... That maybe some day this illustrator might get good.
Well...that's as much of a trip down memory lane as I can stand.
Here's my homepage with recent more respectable work
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It's always great to see a comparison between recent and earlier work. I must say, you were already pretty good in your first pages! That's very inspiring. Makes me think there is still hope for me... ;-)
You would hope to get better over time. I cringe at some of my old music videos. At least you were getting work out. I wonder what the Simpsons people think of their early editions that look pretty rough. Of course you will see more faults than others. I think it shows good promise :)