Author |
|
Peter Martin Byrne Robotics Member

Joined: 17 March 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 16262
|
Posted: 17 August 2025 at 1:57am | IP Logged | 1
|
post reply
|
|
Will there be any tweak to the ending for publication?
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 135134
|
Posted: 17 August 2025 at 10:25am | IP Logged | 2
|
post reply
|
|
Yes.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
Brian Miller Byrne Robotics Member

Joined: 28 July 2004 Location: United States Posts: 31760
|
Posted: 17 August 2025 at 2:02pm | IP Logged | 3
|
post reply
|
|
How long had it been prior to your inking this since you had inked anything?
What was the feeling, sitting down to begin that process again?
Did it take long to get back into the groove?
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 135134
|
Posted: 17 August 2025 at 3:04pm | IP Logged | 4
|
post reply
|
|
How long had it been prior to your inking this since you had inked anything?••• My “retirement” lasted about two and a half years, so that long at least. ==== What was the feeling, sitting down to begin that process again? ••• A mixture of trepidation and exhilaration. ==== Did it take long to get back into the groove? ••• Question of definition. The inks have been steadily improving, giving me George Lucas urges to start the whole thing over! (Realizing that if I did that I would just want to do it again when I “finished”.) Some of the improvements spring from the pencils having gotten better as I went along.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
Mark Haslett Byrne Robotics Member

Joined: 19 April 2004 Location: United States Posts: 7036
|
Posted: 17 August 2025 at 8:44pm | IP Logged | 5
|
post reply
|
|
I remember (IIRC) when you started this, it was a pencil experiment to see if you could still do full pencils in the way you once did. Did you ever “answer” that to your satisfaction?
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
Paul Wills Byrne Robotics Member

Joined: 18 August 2018 Location: United States Posts: 953
|
Posted: 18 August 2025 at 1:21am | IP Logged | 6
|
post reply
|
|
JB, working on these panels really puts into focus the wonder of certain scenes. How do you make, for instance, a city street scene look like you actually took a snapshot of that location and drew it from reference? There's a down shot of Spider-Man swinging above the street and there's people reacting to what's happening with Nightcrawler, then you've got vehicles passing by and mannequins in shop windows (just an added touch that a bunch of artists probably wouldn't bother with). The building windows are not standard windows but have an art deco design - It all looks so natural. I may have asked before but is this just straight from your mind without reference?
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 135134
|
Posted: 18 August 2025 at 11:15am | IP Logged | 7
|
post reply
|
|
When I was a kid I somehow got it into my head that using references was “cheating”. Where this came from I cannot guess, but I convinced myself artists created everything strictly out of their imaginations. This caused me a good deal of anguish as I struggled to do the same. But it also created a habit that has served me well over the years: consciously “absorbing” what I saw in movies and TV shows, as well as the real world.* I built quite a catalog of “reference” in my head. I’d been a working professional for a decade or so before I broke down and started allowing myself to use reference, and it made quite a difference. With the arrival of Google and my iPhone I have allowed myself more and more access to what is, after all, the greatest reference library imaginable. (Tho my city street scenes still spring almost exclusively from the “generic New York I have crafted over the years.) ———— *When I decided to use the Stephens house from BEWITCHED as the Grey home in X-MEN I had no actual reference and worked entirely from memory. In ELSEWHEN I was able to google images.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
Fred J Chamberlain Byrne Robotics Member

Joined: 30 August 2006 Location: United States Posts: 4073
|
Posted: 18 August 2025 at 2:44pm | IP Logged | 8
|
post reply
|
|
I can't imagine the madness that comes from being an artist and not using references.That said, JLGL worked on a Batman 66 one-shot a number of years ago and went on a an obsessed quest, trying to find an on model batmobile, which he determinesd should be a matchbox or other physical manipulative, that he could reference for the book. Turns out that true artists apparently endure a certain level of madness, regardless of which angle they pursue.
Edited by Fred J Chamberlain on 18 August 2025 at 3:16pm
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
e-mail
|
|
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 135134
|
Posted: 18 August 2025 at 3:07pm | IP Logged | 9
|
post reply
|
|
I have become very fond of toys as references for vehicles. Usually high end, more “display models” than something for skidding around the living room rug. But I have found things as simple as Hot Wheels cars can provide shape and proportion, with just enough surface details that I can fill in the rest.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
Bryan A Carney Byrne Robotics Member

Joined: 18 July 2025 Location: United States Posts: 1
|
Posted: 20 August 2025 at 1:36pm | IP Logged | 10
|
post reply
|
|
Hi Mr. Byrne,
Just wanted to say thank you for working to get this published in a completed form… it’s a nice feeling to be REALLY excited for a comic again.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 135134
|
Posted: 20 August 2025 at 1:40pm | IP Logged | 11
|
post reply
|
|
I wish I could take credit for “working to get this published in a completed form…”, but that was all Chris Ryall’s doing. He basically presented me with a fait accompli and I said Sure!
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
Vinny Valenti Byrne Robotics Member

Joined: 17 April 2004 Location: United States Posts: 8340
|
Posted: 22 August 2025 at 6:35pm | IP Logged | 12
|
post reply
|
|
Imagine the alternate universe where Chris Ryall took up another line of work instead of comics!
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|