Letterer Without a Crew

So I haven’t posted a new Blog in ages. It’s been a number of things, ranging from that Home Run King illustration I did for Spike ballparks. Which took me much longer than I thought it would. It was tougher to take a jab at Barry Bonds than I thought. I didn’t want to be too blatant and just bash him. It would’ve been easy to do that, but less is more… I think that came across in the illustration.

I’ve also been adjusting to some changes that have come in via my lettering gig. Essentially it adds up to us being dragged into the production wing of comics. We’ve always been lowest on the totem pole, but not far down enough I guess. Because of this I’ve really been searching for more creative outlets…stuff outside of comics. The baseball gig has scratched that itch but I’m still looking for more. I’ve been researching Mini DV cameras and writing a script. I’m kicking around the idea of a live action trailer for a black and white underground comic. Just something, anything that takes the comics I’m doing to a place that I and people reading them wouldn’t expect. Why not a movie that promotes the comic? Flip da script as the kids say.

Quick plug for a movie I checked out the other day. Robert Rodriguez’s Once Upon a Time in Mexico. This guy is making movies is own way… writing, directing, shooting, editing, scoring, production design… he basically does it all. In the 70’s when guys like Lucas, Coppola, Scorsese, DePalma and the rest of the “Movie Brats” where coming up, they make movies from start to finish, the Auteur Theory of filmmaking with one person being the “author” of the film. Today’s Hollywood seems to just churn crap out like an assembly line…. (kinda sounds like some comics) Rodriquez is really one of the few young filmmakers that are outside of Hollywood (in Texas) shooting movies fast, cheap and with high quality. He and Quinten Tarantino are two of the auteur filmmakers that emerged in the 90's.

There’s and energy and just fun and enjoyable aspect to his flicks that really appeal to me. He doesn’t take himself too seriously, his first film, El Mariachi is one of the success stories that young filmmakers look at. He shot the movie for $7000 bucks and caught the attention of Hollywood by doing so. Of course, there are a lot of folks who dispute this budget, most of which seem to be bitter film geeks, but no matter how you look at it the guy literally became a human guinea pig by volunteering for human research studies to earn money to make Mariachi. So in my opinion, split hairs all you want on the 7000 dollars, they guy became a pincushion to make his film.

Mariachi and Mexico are just fun, fast-paced action flicks with great quirky characters. There’s a great DVD extra called “10 minute Flick School” and an even better book about the making of Mariachi called “Rebel Without a Crew”. If you’re in need of an inspiration story to get your work kick-started, check ‘em out.

Stay tuned, I’ve got a new NYComix in the penciled stage…should be ready in a week or so.

--Gent