Adventures to Draw - Noir - Week 1

Let's start with a little background.  Ten years ago I was on a boat in the middle of the Caribbean with my lovely wife and a bunch of Texans.  While sitting outside chilling with my wife the idea hit me.  A Detective Noir with a twist.  I wrote down the general story idea while sketching out key moments.  After the cruise, I passed the idea off to Jeff Still who crafted the wonderful script full of details and characters that made it come to life.

With the many abrupt starts and stops over the years, it's about time for me to get this story finished.  This is my process of creating Jeff and my Noir caper.

After re-reading the script I started to sketch out the main characters and rough out the first few pages.

During my page planning sessions I have been watching some classic Noirs such as "Gun Crazy," "The Set-Up" and "Out of the Past".  I have also been listening to old time radio Detective Shows.  The films with the radio shows have been inspiring and educational of the Noir style genre.  Learning about the importance of symbolism, composition and use of shadows has motivated my style for the graphic novel.