I decided to develop my idea of having a detective looking for meaning in everything and drew out a short story.

 

I was inspired by the aesthetic of noir detective films and graphic novels and I started by drawing out the protagonist in more detail, I wanted to introduce color as the story progressed, I also wanted to have the detective be black and white throughout as he is stuck viewing the world and himself through his own lens, but the world around him doesn’t conform to his assumptions and so is colorful. I also decided to use folding bits of paper to reveal the story of each page, this causes the viewer to actively look for meaning on the page, just as the detective is looking for meaning.

The text on the first page reads “I have been on its trail for years, surely these clues must mean something!..”

 

I didn’t realize at the time but this character had appeared in my previous project, this short message is an addition to the original post after I finished the project and the blog, but I noticed this when writing the tell us about it portion of the blog:

I think this really shows how my brain thinks about certain topics, the same way when I see a dog, I think of the word dog, when I think of someone trying to figure something out, I think of this detective character, of course, this is all subliminal but it is strange to see part of my visual alphabet twice, totally independent of each other, months apart for the same reason and even with the same pose. This is the end of my short interjection and the rest of the blog post is as I had originally left it.

The second page in the spread introduces a magnifying glass and some more colors, I wanted the illustrations to be slightly nonsensical and I used false perspectives to do this. The magnifying glass is focused on the glass of water on the floor which looks out of place, I did this so the detective focuses on it and ignore the other objects around the room which include a cross, a photo of what seems to be the detective with someone else, a bottle of wine and a plant, the window is also open and in many noir novels, this suggests the criminal has just escaped or left the crime scene. Everything included was carefully chosen as they could all have equal amounts of meaning associated with them, everything has meaning and also doesn’t, so this helps to suggest that the detective is looking for clues randomly, without rhyme or reason.

the text on this page reads “To be the greatest detective I must solve the mystery of life and this mystic magnifying glass will show me the way. The shaman said he hoped id find the way and gave me this, it draws me to point it at all these objects, but what does it mean, if only I could decipher this great mystery, What does this mean” I was going to do some Mystic Meg, Mystic Mag jokes but couldn’t fit it so abandoned this idea, although it still makes me giggle.

The next page shows the opposite perspective of the detective looking down the magnifying glass, this creates a situation where rather than looking at random objects, as he sees, we the viewer are shown that the magnifying glass is in fact always pointed at him, just from another perspective. I wanted to include this as it helps illustrate the idea that people tend to look for meaning through their own lens, always pointed outwards but really this lens is usually just reflecting back to them what their assumptions and biases already reinforce.

amongst this visually illustrated self reflection the detective doubts himself and the legitimacy of the magnifying glass, he says

“I don’t know where to start, finding meaning these objects is confusing and distracting, I’m beginning to think this magnifying glass isn’t so magic after all. if that shaman is still in the woods he’s going to give me some answers.”

I wanted a bit of self reflection and doubt to come across here, detectives in media are famously always right and are always in a position of power where they know what happened, and are more aware than the other characters in their story, and in most cases more aware than the viewer.

I began sketching out another page where the shamen would live, I took a lot of inspiration from kill bill when Beatrix meets the Kung Fu master Pai Mei as I felt this is a cliche in a humorous way (which is a great rhyme)

I struggled to find my vision of what I wanted the master character to be, I wanted him to appear silly as he would not actually be a shaman or a master, but I didn’t want him to look so silly that it’s inconceivable that he would be mistaken for a wise or great teacher, as this would make the detective look even more nieve.

I liked this character but felt he didn’t fit the style of the other illustrations, I really liked the frog hat and thought about using a frog statue as frogs and mushrooms are often associated with shamens.

I decided to take a break from drawing with line and opted to use tone instead for a bit of experimentation, I wanted to work on creating 3d forms with tone as sometimes my work can be quite flat, so I chose a few of the great teachers that have influenced me and drew their portraits in a very loose way. I thought this might help me find my groove when it comes to drawing strong confident characters that inspired the shamen character.

 

IP Man, a Chinese martial artist and master of Wing Chung, trainer of Bruce lee

“Judo” Gene Lebell, one of the greatest grapplers to ever live, a pioneer of Mixed Martial Arts, 9th dan blackbelt in BJJ, a 10th-degree black red belt in judo (highest belt possible) and 10th-degree black belt in Kyokushin Budokai, he also trained female MMA legend and Olympian Ronda Rousey

Helio Gracie, also one of the greatest grapplers of all time, and co-founder of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu) he was a 10th-degree red belt (a master) of BJJ and passed his knowledge on to his sons, which created the Gracie family dynasty, all masters of BJJ that helped make it the dominant grappling art of the modern era

Helios son Royce Gracie fought in the first UFC and MMA organizations and was almost unstoppable against larger, stronger and more physically gifted opponents

Gracie vs Akebono 2004

Royce Gracie (6’1″ 180lbs) won using a shoulder lock against legendary Sumo Grand Champion Akebono (6’8″ 486 lbs)

I would recommend anyone watch this