We're Back To Extreme Closeups of the Eye

I read Flashpoint #5 today and if there was any doubt that the DC relaunch is a return of the 1990s, it gets lessened by the discovery of the worst artistic trend of the decade, the extreme closeup of the eye.

I touched on this before, and it's a shot that's useless and usually used to elicit drama, but only when the artist doesn't realize that just pulling the camera back a little to show the expression of the face could convey the drama so much more. That being said, let's take a look at the following cuts from near the end of Flashpoint.

For a technique that's used to convey drama, this shot choice is really weak. Consider that this is the last panel on the page, and it is essentially a guy asking Barry Allen if he's all right.  Ooo, drama.

Redrawing Jet-Pack Jenny

I have a gallery show coming up in January (not April as I once mistakenly wrote elsewhere) up in my old stomping grounds of Lenoir, NC and I wanted some strips that were better suited to the gallery environment. Eventually, I am gonna re-draw an earlier Jet-Pack Jenny story that I’m not happy with, and decided that this shot needed to be expanded to full strip length. It’s Jet-Pack Jenny tossing Bad Bette over her in a judo-type flip.

I look forward to redrawing this fight. I feel I'm a much better artist than when I first did this story years ago, but don't look forward to it anytime right away. I have three or four strips left in Factor of 01, then I'm going to concentrate on a story that we're tenatively calling Hanamori's Circus. Any time spent away from that will be collecting Factor of 01.

08/22/2011

These last strips focus more on Tom coming home to his entire life destroyed. His son is dead, his wife has gone missing and a fugitive from the law. Life pretty much sucks, even though you've just been cleared of a serious crime.

08/08/2011

Four more strips to go. I've redone the commissions page last week to reflect my new availability to do commissions. If you'd like examples of my work, you should go there, or to either of the new links over on the right, Sketch Charlotte, or Big Dog's Studio. I post stuff over there from time to time, not to mention over at DeviantArt.

Now it's time to talk about what comes after this story ends. I'm going to be working with a nice young creator named Pan D'Attac (yes, it's a pseudonym) on a story divorced from the 23rd century, all while I put together a collected Factor of 01. I'm not putting together a timetable yet, since I don't know yet how long this will take. In September, The Art of Stan Ford will be available in the store for purchase, or in person if you find me at a Sketch Charlotte meeting.