it seems time for an update on the
progress of the graphic novel in search
of Hannibal now those of you who've been
watching my channel recently may have
picked up on some subtle hints that I've
been dropping that I'm working on this
graphic novel with my collaborator Chris
Stein ago and working on Hannibal yep
everyday Hannibal all day every day
until it's done which is a fantastic
thing it's the best job in the world I
have the best job thanks to you guys for
supporting and picking up this project
it's amazing I can't believe it
it's fantastic I love getting up and
going to work every morning it's going I
would say put you well I wouldn't say
that we're hurtling through it I
wouldn't use nothing hurtling would be
the wrong word but you would monster
hurtle through it now it's been it's
important to get these things right so
we're not hurtling but we're making
steady progress and it turns out that
writing and illustrating a graphic novel
is actually quite a lot of work now the
broad process is that Chris will draw
perhaps a character designed and send it
to me by email and I'll have a quick
look at it and say something along the
lines of yep that looks absolutely fine
can't see anything wrong with that at
all and then I'll write some script and
writing script well it goes something
like this
right yeah okay so then he says and then
she says and then ah this stuff just
write it so it'll play mr. paperclip it
looks as though you are writing an epic
historical drama would you like some
help
Oh mr. paperclip Oh oh yeah yeah that
would be good yeah he's right he's right
yeah actually I suppose you know but
full disclosure I should say that it's
often more like this
yeah caps-lock
anyway eventually I will write some
scenes that I'm having with send them
off to Chris Chris will then read them
lay them out as he thinks they story
should be told in pictorial form in
roughs and he sends me here ups and then
I have a look at them and possibly I can
see something that could be made even
better
or possibly I'll fail to understand
something because it's perhaps not clear
to me for example in this page bottom
left there were two panels that I didn't
realize we're a continuation of each
other
there was a vertical gutter which
confused me and so in the light of that
revelation Chris added a horse that
spanned that that gap and making it
clearer that that was one continuous
picture that was just broken up in time
by that vertical gutter but how much
clarity should we be going for this is
actually something that we wrestling
with you see graphic novels I think are
often read more than once if it's a good
graphic novel that someone's being you
know you just pay the reason amount of
money for it and you could read one
reasonably quickly much faster than you
can read a novel and if there's enough
in it if it's dense enough and good
enough then the reader might think well
I'll read it again and perhaps that
would not long after reading for the
first time we'll read it again so what
I'm aiming for and is this right I don't
know I mean although I know this is the
first graphic novel I've ever done but
what I'm aiming for is for a reasonably
intelligent reader to get near enough
everything the second time he reads it
now obviously if I write something
that's so obscure that even after three
reads he's still thinking and I've no
idea what's going on here I failed and
if I make something so difficult to
understand that you can't appreciate it
first reading at least not all I'm
emotional at once the first time you
read it to you to have it to have some
emotional impact but maybe there are
things in it which you leave you
thinking I'm averse to some more to this
somehow I feel that if I read this a
second time I'll perhaps understand it a
little bit better so on the second
reading then you start noticing although
this I've seen in the background I
didn't see that first time and oh look
she's wearing that and that's the same
as she was wear ah all right so she's ah
I think I didn't pick up on that first
time
so I'm hoping that there will reward the
reader to read it twice but I also hope
that you get near enough everything
enough to enjoy it
first reading so that's the sweet spot
I'm aiming for but you know it's not
always easy this is a difficult tale to
tell
and all for a muse of fire that would
ascend the brightest heaven of invention
a kingdom for a stage Prince's to act
and monarchs to behold the swelling
scene for then with the war like
Hannibal like himself assume the port of
Mars and that is healed leashed in like
hounds should fire famine and death
Crouch for employment but it's difficult
because the second Punic War is such an
enormous epic tale and I got compressing
I gotta get it done I got into into well
there's a comparatively small space so
many details will be missed out but I
can't just have every every detail of
the war put in there because then it
just read like a list of battles I've
got to have characters with a bit of
small talk but I don't have room in a
graphic novel for the long conversations
about what they call hamburgers in Paris
or whether you should tip a waitress or
not but I can't just have everyone get
immediately to the point and say exactly
what they mean and tell everyone
straight up from how they're feeling
because real people don't speak like
that people don't speak in in exposition
all the time at least so I thought but
maybe in the far future they will
because I've just been reading watching
this it's a DVD boxset of dune this is
the 2000 edition it's the television
miniseries version not the David Lynch
feature film and efficient just William
Hurt it says above the title I think
we've got a star stick your name above
the title
this does not star William Hurt we've
heard in it but he's very very far from
the stuff something happens to his
character failure Leon
but then the David Lynch film I remember
seeing posters of that saying June
starring sting it's not starring sting
again he's in it but I'm getting
sidetracked and the thing that I found
absolutely jaw-droppingly amazing of
this production of dude is that everyone
speaks in exposition all the time people
just have lines of dialogue like this
you must remember Paul our society is
tangled web competing force the Emperor
decided only one man is honest enough
and loyal enough to be trusted with
restoring the spice production
adequately do you Leto Atreides
temporarily interrupting 80 years of
harkening rule and all the profits that
go with it the only thing that doesn't
be a Nawrocki store with the giant one
could it be possible that she brings the
model endless feud stops here Hawking
under a rule and we have spies
everywhere doctor ue1 is this place of
remnants each a small one there's a
storm coming we can stay here and call
it packing yet they must talk rest here
how did you know where to find us
doctor you sent a courier yes I agree
now that it is two days before the
Battle of trivia I think that do actual
humans talk like that well batten the
far future they will but I don't think
it makes for the greatest of drama if
but no one has any small talk and people
are never sarcastic or even the humorous
now admittedly um I can never keep the
jumps out I think there's one YouTube
video that I've uploaded which has no
jokes in it but pretty much all at least
some humor at some point because I just
can't keep it out but I'm not I'm not
turning this story into a comedy it is
very very far from a comedy it's quite
definitely a drama there's quite a bit
of blood in it I think here for those of
nervous disposition I should warn you
that several people do get quite badly
hurt in the Second Punic War and about
imagining though that my audience my
readers are going to be adult and so
will be able to cope with with gore and
the occasional I hope non gratuitous bit
of rudeness so the projects going fine
blast to work on core characters cool
story it's just it's great it's so much
fun will we deliver on time and we did
say Christmas 2017 which is coming up
alarmingly rapidly at the current rate
of progress I think that's gonna be
difficult I think we are going to
overshoot by a couple of months but
it'll be fine it'll be fine so if we
just you just hang in there you'll get a
good product
I hope then one minor setback was that
Christie illustrator did have to
unexpectedly
emigrate which didn't help but he's fine
he's found a place everything is fine
and he's got his Cintiq he's got his
enduring and that's that's all he needs
I got coffee Charlie need okay and
coffee I forgot about the coffee so
there you go he's got all he needs and
it's it's it's I'm drawing the challenge
it's it is very satisfying challenge
trying to do it's a difficult task but
then you know I set up
these times not because they are easy
but because they are difficult there's
no magic button there's no magic
Photoshop fell through there's no app
there's no instant pressing be done and
spit out a comic there's none of that
stuff contrary to popular belief you
have to draw everything and it's really
time-consuming there's nothing automated
about this exactly now you may think
that an area of solid black on the page
was in this day of Adobe Photoshop be
accomplished by simply a kick of the
paint bucket tool a bull there you go
jet black but know every bit of the inky
blackness you see on these page is
actual ink on actual paper it's been put
there using good old fashioned India ink
using pens and brushes of various sorts
so what Chris wanted was a sort of an
organic look he wanted to see that
you're an artist a human hand had drawn
this you may for instance notice that
the panel edges are not all perfectly
strict as drawn by a computer but have
been put in there by hands have got a
very slight wonkiness which adds
character to the picture with this
project because I'm only doing at once I
want to do a wreck but I want to have
any like kind of art regrets looking at
this in the future so I want to make
sure that it's as good as it can be
having completed the pencil stage on a
computer Chris then prints this out
really big so that you can overlay it
with a big sheet of good quality paper
and get down to the business of inking
and then he has to color it and the
colouring stage involves some
watercolors and other paints applied
with a brush on actual paper and other
stages are done on a computer as you see
here Chris working on a huge picture of
and huge elephants attacking the rebel
you've got to have a big elephant in it
I mean here it's the second Punic War
it's Hannibal you've got to have some
elephants in it and you'll notice these
pale white streaks across the page well
that's because it was raining that day
and things in the background which look
a bit faint because you can add on
computers all sorts of haze effects and
weather effects on layers and so for
this little terribly technical and arty
through the grace of your your purchase
I think it will to have this job so I
owe it to you guys to do a good job
pretty patiently
enjoy and thank you
[Music]