THE ITTY BITTY PARTS

I've finally finished laying out the first volume of Frankenstein into small thumbnail sketches. This helps me with page compositions so I don't approach a page completely blind. They are simple and rough, but a very important stage in the planning process. It looks like volume 1 will have 70 pages to it. If the other two volumes are similar in length, it looks as though the book will have roughly 200 pages of illustrations. I think I have my work cut out for me.

Be Grim!
Gris Grimly

THIS IMAGE SAYS IT ALL...

I just completed a pretty simplistic illustration that will be used as a page to mark VOLUME 1 in the Frankenstein book. But despite it's simplicity, I look at this image and see this sole icon representing the overall tone of the book. The dark dingy background, the harsh black strokes of the title, the vibrant punk colors reminiscent of films like Re-Animator and Return of the Living Dead and the cartoonish skeletal hand; All of these elements are twisted and assembled together to create the creature that is...Gris Grimly's Frankenstein.

WILDEST DREAMS

One of the exciting elements to the Frankenstein book I'm working on is the multiple styles that will emit from page to page. The book will comprise of full aged letters, maps, vignettes and sequential illustrations. Some pages will be fully colored and detailed with ink lines while others will be rendered in black and white. Here is an example of a dream sequence Victor has after he brings his creation to life. I chose to depict this scene in saturated washes (almost black and white) with no inking. This gives the page an airy almost smokey feel like a memory that could be wisped away.

Here is the text from the original manuscript that will be conveyed solely pictorial in my illustrated version:

"I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking in the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I embraced her; but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms; a shroud enveloped her form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the flannel."

Hope you enjoyed. There is more to come.

Be Grim!
Gris Grimly

MAPPING OUT THE JOURNEY

I've been a bit scatter brained in my execution of the Frankenstein book. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. It just means that I haven't been focusing on one task and carrying it through. In a way, this keeps me sane. The biggest satisfaction that comes from working on a book is seeing the completion of an illustration. Working on planning, thumbnails and sketches for weeks can be really draining. So instead, I've been running back and forth from doing thumbnail sketches to working on maps and letterheads to completing full page illustrations.

As a kid, I always liked books with maps in them. Here is one such map to be used in my Frankenstein book for future children to admire.

Be Grim!
Gris Grimly

COMPARISON EYE TO EYE

It's been a slower start than usual getting Frankenstein put together. One of these reasons is that I have been playing around with technique. I thought it might be interesting to do all the illustrations for the book on dark paper. The papers would range from shades of brown, gray and black. Rather than adding darkness to the paper, the technique would rely on adding the highlights (bringing light out of the darkness). My theory was that it would give the illustrations a darker and grittier feel.

In exercising this test, I came to the conclusion that I prefer my original technique of painting darker colors onto white paper. Although the illustration on the dark brown paper has a darker tone, the technique displays a lack of grit and actually looks more modeled and slick, yet uncontrolled. I was frustrated with the difficulty it was translating the image in my head onto the paper using this technique. Accurate shapes and style are much easier to accomplish when working from white paper.

So there you have it. Two different approaches to the same illustration are displayed side by side so you can see their differences. I have decided to continue with my signature style, like the one on the left.

More to come soon.
Be Grim!
Gris Grimly

FIRST SIGNS OF LIFE

Maybe it's just a bony finger twitch or the flutter of the eyelid, but my creation is starting to show signs of life. I have finished the first painting for the book. This painting will accompany a quote from "Paradise Lost" in the front. It is a little more abstract than the other paintings for the book. But I felt that it is fitting for the purpose. Here is the quote:

Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
To mould Me man? Did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me?-

Paradise Lost

I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I know this quote hits a personal chord with me. Maybe not so much now, but at least in my angsty years of youth I've felt animosity for being brought into this world.

Earlier today I spoke on the phone with my editor, Jordan. We went through all the omissions and notes from the first volume of Frankenstein (there are 3 volumes to the book). All the abridgments have been made and approved to the first volume. I have decided rather than go through and complete the last two volumes, to proceed with thumbnails and paintings on this volume. Getting my hands bloody will help keep me sane.

So you can all expect posts from here on out to be exhilarating.

Be Grim!
Gris Grimly

EXHAUSTED, I REVISIT MY CREATION...

It's been a long and busy Halloween Season. Starting with the final days of September, I've found myself wrapped up in my new book release and other festive happenings that required my involvement. I've done a number of signings to promote my latest book, Tales of Death and Dementia, a heavily illustrated collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories. Along with my California signings, I traveled to Richmond Virginia for the east coast book launch at the Poe Museum. I also traveled to Baltimore for the bi-centennial celebration of Poe in conjunction with the Poe House there. I also hosted a multi-talent entertainment show at the Magic Castle during the three days of Halloween weekend called Cabaret Macabre. These events will be documented and posted on my Gris Grimly Blog.

Now all of that is behind me and I can again indulge in the Frankenstein project. Obviously, I wasn't posting anything on Frankenstein over the past month and a half because there has been no progress. But now that my elbows are deep into the rotting flesh again, I will be back to posting weekly or more.

In late September, I received an email from the editor Jordan Brown. Attached with the email was his notes on my abridgment of the text. In a way to help you feel more a part of the project, I will explain our work process with this stage. I took a word document and highlighted in red all the text I thought should be cut and sent it to Jordan. He then sent it back with his notes. The parts that we agree on remains in red. Then he highlighted in blue additional text he thought should be cut and highlighted in purple the text he thought I cut that should remain in the book.

Are you following me so far? Good.

Now the manuscript is back in my hands and I have to go over his suggestions and make the changes that I agree with. I will also highlight in green any additional text that I think the both of us missed. This should take me a few days and then I will send it back.

This is not the most thrilling part of the project by any means. But it is the foundation which will support the stylized-Gothic cathedral I plan to design and build on top. So it is one of the most important stages.

More to come...

Be Grim!
Gris Grimly