SUPER REAL SPECIAL: VS The Movie Industry / PREVIEW 1 - Dennis Budd / PART 1

After coming up with the idea for the first special, Super Real VS The Comic Book Industry, I quickly knew there was a great opportunity to repeat it's formula. Taking the cast of Super Real and putting them in situations from the theme, different mediums of entertainment, and writing the stories for short sequences to be handled by a lineup of guest artists. Not only do you get fertile ground for action packed stories, but you get to work with, and showcase, a variety of artistic talent that the mainstream may not be aware of (and even work with some bonafide comic book stars; Jim Mahfood, Josh Howard)!!

So, having put together a great book the first time, it didn't take long to start hatching plans for a sequel - Super Real VS The Movie Industry. This time though, everything is bigger, with a story of over 40 pages, all in full color this time out (just like the regular series), and while I'm again working with 4 guest artists (in addition to once more pencilling a section of my own), there's also going to be an artist jam section, and pinup collection. It's going to be spectacular!!

Since my climax was running too long for what the awesome featured artist, Josh Howard (Dead@17, Lost Books of Eve), was gracious enough to sign up for, I've decided to have some special friends help out with the finale - a sequence of splash pages to wrap up the issue, artist jam style (you know, like what Bendis did with the last issue, or was it an annual, on Ultimate Team-up?)!! There were no shortage of talented creators and friends to sign up for pages and pinups this time out, so it's really become a matter of fitting them all in, and getting them material to have fun with (so you the readers and fans can have a blast too). I think we've succeeded, and over the next few weeks, I'll be giving you a peek at this metric ton of crazy cool artwork. Starting now!

I've decided to take the artists, one at a time, and give each of them a week of behind-the-scenes features, showcasing character studies, page layouts/roughs, pencils, and more! (That's the idea anyway, can't promise I won't bend those rules as we go)
First up? Dennis Budd.
Dennis is the co-creator of MODEL OPERANDI, an awesome OGN (that's original graphic novel) released last year from After Hours Press. You might recall I talked the book up here, and featured it as an indy spotlight in the print version of TSL. Dennis is the main artistic force behind the concept, a modeling agency with action-packed extra-curricular activities, along with his co-creator Joe Caramagna (who's also a letterer for just about every-other Marvel comic you might read... no really, check the credits on any Marvel book, and you'll see what I mean). Anyway, Dennis has a really clean animated style, and the book blended sexy girls with comedic action, in a fun tasteful way. If you STILL haven't dug up a copy, check it out!!

Dennis can currently be seen gracing the pages of Platinum Studios' CONSUMED, where he's again joined by Joe, for some of the art chores on a tale that's penned by someone else. A work for hire gig. The book has been a fun read so far, with some great writing from a scribe I've not seen before, Asa Shumskas-Tait. Check it out, you can't miss the Joe Lisner covers!

So anyway, what about his artwork for Super Real?!?
Well, I'm getting to that :)
Dennis stepped in to take on a showcase section of the book, featuring participant number 1 (Holly Hood, our main character) facing off against a never ending mob of Quentin Tarantino inspired goons!! Dennis, being a true pro (he went to the Kubert school kids) started cranking out character designs once I got him the script. And well, since he offered up a character sheet for Holly, I went ahead and made some suggestions, to keep our main gal looking the part. So today I'm sharing those two sheets he created for her.

The first character sheet was his initial take, and the second was with some of my suggestions.
Basically, Holly has a pretty big build for her height (broad shoulders, long legs, etc), and I thought the first one's made her look a little too small, so I suggested he pattern her more after his character Gracie from MO (as she's pretty much a twin of Holly, even also wearing a pink and black shirt). Also, since we were doing this exercise, I could suggest little things like changing the shapes of her eyes, and how he drew the hair. That's pretty cool for an 8 page stint on one book!

Gracie and Holly, seperated at birth?
Tomorrow we'll check back with Dennis, and take a look at the really cool stuff... his character designs for all of the Tarantino inspired bad guys!!!! They're a LOT of fun!

So, be sure and tune in tomorrow!
jason