[PROCESS] BASTIAN with Dave Acosta
Building a prison they don't want to leave
Today, we’re back with a very special [PROCESS] post from BASTIAN artist Dave Acosta.
If you missed BASTIAN, our latest LEGENDS Volume Two story, you can check up on it here (part 1) and here (part 2), as well as directly on the glorious new 3W/3M app if you’re participating in the beta trial.
As a reminder, most of our paid subscribers will receive LEGENDS Volume Two- our second anthology edition featuring stories from some of the best creative teams in comics, all set in the 3 Worlds / 3 Moons Story Universe- in a beautiful print edition as a thank you for their support. Members of The Circle, our premium tier, will receive a stunning deluxe hardcover, while annual subscribers will receive a softcover edition.
Finally, keep your eyes peeled next week, when we’ll be debuting the final story from LEGENDS Volume 2- THE DEATH OF THEYN KOLDURUN, by Philip Kennedy Johnson and Matias Basla. You won’t want to miss that one.
But first, here’s Dave…
Hello! I’m comic artist Dave Acosta, and I was thrilled to be asked to join the 3W/3M universe with BASTIAN, a two-part short story written by my buddy Torunn Grønbekk. Torunn and I have been looking for an excuse to work together for YEARS, so I’m very grateful to finally get a chance.
I’d like to give you a peak into my process for creating the art for BASTIAN. When drawing comics, there is much to consider, even before you begin putting a pencil to paper. We only had thirty pages to tell our two-part tale, so I created a process that would allow me to get as much storytelling, worldbuilding, and characterization in as possible
I love Sci-Fi. Specifically, I love DRAWING Sci-Fi. I love designing telephones and footwear and crazy tech, thinking about how people in this world get around, what’s different than our world, and what’s the same. Worldbuilding is an essential part of the storytelling here. Torunn gave me script that had plenty of fantastic stuff, but also required tea pots and office chairs. The most challenging part was contrasting the looks of the two sections of Gaol prison, EGO and ALIUS.
The Goal Prison complex is made up of two hexagon-shaped complexes. I don’t know if you’ve ever dried to draw a hexagon in perspective, but it’s about the hardest thing in the world. So I pulled some hexagon shapes from the web and pasted them onto my penciled layouts, transforming them to fit the perspective grid. Then I tightened up the layouts by drawing over them digitally. Next, I printed the digital layouts onto 11x17 bristol board and penciled over them. Finally, I printed the pencils in non-photo blue onto a fresh piece of Bristol board, and inked it. I also added digital zipatones after I scanned in the inked page. Simple, right????
Let me be clear: This process is overkill. I’ve worked on other projects with a much more streamlined process. But when I am starting a new project, I use these steps to refine and challenge myself, to be sure I am making the right decisions. You can see all the changes I made along the way. The process is a way of summoning the ideas from your subconscious. Each steps gives you an opportunity for a fresh perspective.
I used this working method for all the pages of BASTIAN parts 1 and 2.
Thanks for taking the time to read this behind-the-scenes and for supporting 3W/3M, and many thanks to them for letting Torunn and I play in their sandbox.
Best,
Dave
