Archive for ‘Hockey, Love, & GUTS!’
Here’s a sneak preview of a massive post that’s about to come which explains what I’ve been doing for most of the summer while looking for work and trying not to get too bogged down with unemployment… So, let me just gather my thoughts and sketches a bit more so I can provide a pleasurable read for you, dear internet readers.
So this is a story that I’ve been working on since the latter days of pre-production as a storyboard artist on “9.” It started as they usually start, a sketch, a character, a feeling, which then develops into a character’s life, the other character’s in that character’s life, a story, a purpose, and so on. I’ve been very hesitant to just let the ideas out like this, but alas it seems that I have to let them go a little bit to be able to share them and hence develop them further. For now I’ll say that girls field hockey isn’t what I even expected to be interested in, but as I learned from a film professor dear to me: “write what you know? NO!” What he was saying was that the mantra of “write what you know” is far too limiting, and that rather we should be thinking about writing what we feel.
So I said I was going to talk about my influences in the last post’s “PS,” but I’m still not quite organized with those ideas. So, think of this as an intermission. I decided to take a sketch of one of the characters from “Hockey, Love, & Guts” and see how I could make a painting exercise out of it. Maybe it feels a little too overworked and too clean, but alas, I had better get it out there and move on. I’ve done some painting before, and I especially learned a lot doing character design paintings for “9,” of which unfortunately I can’t post yet (and IMDB is listing the release for that film for September of next year!) But, I think of it as an intermission, a relaxing break from the struggles of story structure, character, and the still frightening idea of page layouts and a clean look for my comics… Well, it’s my birthday, I think I deserve a break.
Development, development, development… While I continue to write, I continue to design, and the toughest thing sometimes is figuring out a final look for things. Obviously none of this comes close to what I want for the final art of the comic, but it serves as a good exercise in grayscale, and ideas for character expressions and moments. Supporting characters are sometimes tougher to write for than main characters, and I think that also applies for design. Heidi and Pasquale are friends of Pearl, but I gotta make sure they don’t become redundant. Alas, I again feel I’m showing too much, especially when I don’t see a release of this comic coming anytime soon. Anyway, this is how I think about it sometimes.
Patience, Wondercon, and Tales of Banyan
by Régis on February 12, 2009 at 15:06I’m still not quite there yet, but I promise that very soon I will upload some comic pages. A few factors are preventing me from fully delving into that world, and while I could list all of them, I’ll say this: 1: drawing with a tablet is NOT the same as drawing with a Cintiq; 2: developing a process for writing and drawing comics is still new to me; and 3: it takes a lot of patience to draw nice looking lines with a tablet. This is not to say procrastination doesn’t factor in, but I don’t know if I would constitute looking for a job and promoting my short film as procrastinating from doing comics… maybe, or maybe not. Either way, I’m still incredibly excited about the characters I’m developing and just storytelling in general.
Hockey, Love, & Guts – First Three Pages
by Régis on February 25, 2009 at 23:57Okay, here it is! These are the first three pages of “Hockey, Love, & Guts.” Chapter 1 is about 14 pages long, and I’ve roughed all of them, now it’s just a matter of getting them to the level of these pages here. Of course, this is my first try doing it, so I’m sure changes will be made in the future, but this is the best first glimpse that I can show you, for now. Well, let the pages speak for themselves, and let’s continue this conversation in the comments. So, please comment and let me know what you think. Enjoy!
Ré
(Note: rated Pg-13 for strong language and adolescent themes. Also, Studio CATCH! is the name of my new production company… well at least the one for this comic… more on that later…)
Hockey, Love, & GUTS! – Chapter 1 – Pages 4 – 7
by Régis on March 16, 2009 at 11:28Hockey, Love, & GUTS! – Chapter 1 – Pages 8 – 14 – Chapter 1 End
by Régis on April 5, 2009 at 23:31The end of chapter 1 is here. Now I understand this isn’t the best way to read these pages, so as I’ve mentioned before, I’ll build a new page just for this comic with subsequent pages for different chapters. If you stop by the blog and they aren’t there on the sidebar yet, it’s probably because I’m still working on them. I think also from now on, I’ll probably post previews of chapters amongst my other posts, and then just post the whole chapter on a page instead of a few pages on every post. But, this was the beginning of something new for me, so I’m bound to make mistakes. Anyway, enjoy and let me know what you think.
HLG – Chapter 2- Preview sketches #1
by Régis on April 22, 2009 at 16:01Yeah, I’m still going at it… albeit slowly. But, no worries, thumbnails for all 18 pages of chapter 2 are done as well as the script. Now it’s just a matter of drawing it out. I’m still making some decisions about the final look to things, even though I learned a lot from doing chapter 1. Had I been doing this on tangible media, then perhaps doing it all in B&W would have been faster, but it seems that I get more mileage done and I’m able to maintain an appealing aesthetic with the gray scale tones. But, if B&W is faster, and I’m able to convey tones solely with that, maybe I’ll switch. Just have to wait and see. I’m sure there will be another preview post like this, and I even thought of posting one of the rough pages for this one, but I thought that might give away too much… maybe?
Well, I’ll try and find a good rough next time. In the meantime, enjoy these sketches of an upcoming character… by the way, Mercedes and Pearl are still alive. Oh no SPOILERS! DA DA DAAAAA…
HLG – Chapter 2 is now 2 and 3 – also, more sketches, so: Chapter 2 – Preview sketches #2
by Régis on May 11, 2009 at 23:21Ok, so I lied in the previous post. Those sketches are not for chapter 2, but rather 3. But, you know, that’s story. It’s a constantly evolving thing – it’s neither progression, nor regression, but rather, evolution. So, things change, but the good news is that inking for chapter 2 is almost done, so maybe it’ll be posted in another week or so? (Crossing my fingers here…) In the meantime, enjoy these quick sketches of some of the characters that I can guarantee you will show up in chapter 2.
Hockey, Love, & GUTS! – Chapter 2 is here!!!
by Régis on May 27, 2009 at 11:04Wednesday is comics day, so to get right to the point, here’s Chapter 2 of “Hockey, Love, & GUTS!”
Enjoy!
Ré
One for the Road
by Régis on June 12, 2009 at 18:53I’ll be at the KidsFilmFest http://www.kidsfilmfest.org/films/ in Brooklyn, NYC this weekend! I’ll be back in town on Tuesday, June 16th. Here’s a sketch of Pearl to keep you tuned in until then. The comic is still in B&W mind you, but maybe this will become part of a cover someday…
Ré
SDCC, 9, Her Lion's Jump, and Miyazaki… oh, and yeah, I'm still working on my comic.
by Régis on July 20, 2009 at 22:06I didn’t plan it that way, but it seems like it’s all happening this week. My short film “Her Lion’s Jump” was selected to screen at Comic Con, which is fantastic, of course, but its screening schedule is right against “the 9 panel” so, I’ll be missing all the audience excitement for that. And I can only imagine it will be intense if the panel at Wondercon was any indication, plus this one has most of the cast, Shane himself, some surprise guests, and heck, it follows the Hayao Miyazaki panel! But, it’s all good, I’ll come prepared. So much so that I’ll be in and out of the Con very quickly, to see the master himself in Berkeley on Saturday. I presume the Miyazaki lecture up north will be more civilized, or maybe just lacking fanboys with 15 part questions… oh wait, I’ll be there! 0~0
Getting back into painting… "And I said to him like, whatever…"
by Régis on August 9, 2009 at 12:19It’s been a while, but I just felt the urge to paint again. Chapter 3 of “Hockey, Love, & GUTS!” is taking a little longer to finish and the disappointment of unemployment is only exacerbating that progress. But, it’s getting there, and I’m trying to find ways to keep me motivated to keep writing and drawing. So I decided to take the character of Mercedes into a more colorful realm, trying to maintain the line weight and quality that is so strong in the black and white drawings, while giving some dimension and developing a style that fits with my tastes. Also, lately my blog has gotten quite a lot of views from 9 fans (I’m looking at you “9 Movie Boards”) and that’s gotten my riled up to get back into character concept design. So what better way to practice than to use my own characters.
Character Design is of course as hard to describe as art, so I’m not going to get into definitions here, and only talk about and show what I like, and you’ll probably get a feeling for my tastes. It may come to no surprise that I am a fan of the artists at CAPCOM and SNK. I’ve grown up being flooded with their art work, so it’s hard for me to even think without their influence. Recently though I decided to look at my art books again and do some “art studying.” I’ve noticed that while the Capcom artists differ wildly in style, their line work is still the thing that governs a lot of their color and compositional choices. I think that’s what keeps their illustrations feeling “cartoony” and fun, being very realistic, yet not explicitly. Subtlety is key, and I revel in that.
So expect more to come. These didn’t take that long to do, and hopefully I’ll only get faster at doing them. Well, for one, they help me relax from all the story brainstorming I have to do while drawing panels and pages of the comic. So enjoy the progression below of my thought process and feel free to give me tips on that too.
Happy Birthday, Reggaenights' Blog!
by Régis on August 21, 2009 at 18:14I just noticed it now, but yeah, it’s been a year since I started this. I could say a million things about it, but I’ll just have this sketch of a future “Hockey, Love, & GUTS!” character do the talking.
Thanks for all the visits, to friends, acquaintances, or just passers-by. You’ve made all the difference this past year for me, so thanks so much!
Ré
Hockey, Love, & GUTS! – Chapter 3 – Home Afterthought
by Régis on August 26, 2009 at 17:01It’s about time isn’t it? Well, let’s get right to it then, and I’ll leave the talking for another post. As usual, click the image below for the chapter page.
Enjoy!
Ré
Summer 2009 Odds and Ends
by Régis on October 1, 2009 at 10:56Here are some sketches and pieces that I did this past summer but never found a good reason to post them.
Hipster Tennis – she’s so ironic… she doesn’t even use a racket – inspired by my brother and sister-in-law’s shenanigans.
Hockey, Love, & GUTS! – Chapter 4 Preview!
by Régis on December 7, 2009 at 23:59Ah, yes, the drama continues in chapter 4, and in my life as well! Making comics is hard! But incredibly gratifying as well. But, there is also time, and jobs, and life that get in the way (or is it the other way around…) Anyway, enjoy a sneak preview of the jam-packed Chapter 4 of “Hockey, Love, and GUTS!” Expect to see a full release of the chapter in early 2010, since this time the page count goes all the way to 27! YEAH! Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten much faster at writing and drawing, but maybe the wait will be worth it. I also have better plans to release it, with a proper website for it in the future, so hopefully that will come with the release of the next chapter or soon after that.
Welcome to Studio CATCH! Thank you for visiting and please update your bookmarks!
If you’d like to know where and why this all came about, here is my last post from my previous blog - “Régi’s Blog”:
Hockey, Love, & GUTS! – Chapter 4 is HERE!
by Régis on April 2, 2010 at 00:48All 27 (or 26) pages of it. Click Below to read from the start of the chapter.
For the chapter gallery, click on the “Comics” on the menu bar, and click on the chapter title after that… Or you can click the HERE.
Enjoy!
Ré
PS: I still don’t know what will happen with the release schedule of this comic. I’d like to make it my priority, but life seems to be getting in the way :/ – either way, rest assured I won’t leave you hanging for too long.
Busy is good, right?
by Régis on July 22, 2010 at 00:17Maybe. A lot going on job wise. Been jumping from gig to gig more often now, which is good because it pays the bills, but bad because it puts all my personal projects on the back burner – oh, and there’s this thing called “life”, which according to a friend of mine, doesn’t really exist if you’re an artist.
So here are a few points about what’s going on, or not going on lately:
* Hockey, Love, & GUTS! – continues to be on hiatus. Not because of lack of interest (believe me, chapter 5 is already written) but really had to put it on the back burner – see next point
* The Hairdresser’s Nightmare – story thumbnails/script are done. Now I need to really board it properly, and make it into a nice portfolio, maybe to send it somewhere, or just to show off. Keep in mind, this process takes a while too, especially since I’m also doing some color scripts… yeah, it’s gonna take a while…
* Hollywood Star FAIL! – I have more stories written out and would love to board them and put them up here, but alas, it’s not a top priority.
So what is a priority now? Well, basically just try and balance out my projects, and continue to get more work to get more money and eventually being able to turn those projects into professional work. Until then, I managed to squeeze out a sketch featuring a future character in the Hockey, Love, & GUTS! comic.
Ré
PS: She’s carrying a barber’s knife though it really should have been a switchblade… goes to show you how much I need to organize my ideas… :/




















