Sam's Comic Relief: Molly

Monday, January 27, 2014

NEWS - Updated Season 7 Poster and Upcoming Documentary!

First things first! That last poster I uploaded? I battled my 10+ year old PC today (for the first time in months) just so I could use my old shading techniques and enhance the final season's cover photo. I spent all dang day on it, so you BETTER like it. hahaha.

Release dates for Season 7 have not been confirmed yet, so stay turned for that!

top, right to left: Morgan, Alex, Joey, Zach, Sam, Amelia, Jani, Monica, Robin. Bottom: Caroline, Gabri, Nick, Molly, Kenzie, Ryan, Rachel, Frank, Sarah, Shannon, Bailey

Since this will be the final season, I've decided to take another step. Ever since yesterday afternoon, I've been working on a special documentary about the series. I've shot a good portion of it already and have been editing it on and off today (namely when I needed a break from battling the PC). It's turning out great so far and I can't wait to finish it and share it with you all!

I am kinda sad that the series is ending, and I'll be honest I still haven't decided on the final outcome, but I'm feeling good about the direction it's taking. This is an opportunity for the comics to explore places I've never written before, dealing with concepts that everyone faces in their lives, and much more. It will make you smile, it might make you cry, and it will definitely make you laugh, so here's to the final season of Sam's Comics.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Tuesday Oddities! - Behind "When Movies Become Reality"!

Hey all! Since I don't plan to start Season 7 anytime soon, I'm going to start doing what I'm going to call "Tuesday Oddities". I may not be able to do them every single week, but for the foreseeable future, these will be up weekly and will show you some of the cool things I do for the series outside of the comics and the artwork portraits. Today, I'm going to start off with the story behind the latest subset, "When Movies Become Reality".

This subset has been around for a while. It even predates Season IV, as evidenced by the pictures below only featuring Season 3 characters. It also played with alternate concepts, such as Kenzie being Elizabeth Swan from Pirates of the Caribbean, Molly being a Harry Potter/Hermione Granger hybrid, and Nick being Chief Brody from Jaws. It also played with more enemies than just the stormtroopers, including undead pirates, orcs, and telmarine soldiers from Prince Caspian. Sam was always Indy, Bailey was always Satler from Jurassic Park, Joel was always Frodo from Lord of the Rings, and Ryan was always a Jedi (even though the looks changed a bit). Sam's cat Buster was also supposed to be the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.

Back when the subset was first being developed, I started doing concept drawings to give myself a better picture. I only ended up doing three, because before Season IV, I was unsure of how successful the series would turn out to be. The first concept art featured Kenzie as Elizabeth Swan on a Pirate ship, pointing out a shark (a subplot that didn't make it to the final story). The second showed Nick, newly rechristened as Doc Brown from Back to the Future, and Sam as Indy reenacting a classic scene from Back to the Future. Finally, the third showed Sam and Molly in the iconic scenario from Jurassic Park. This technically happened in the final product, but in a different context.

Even though I didn't do more concept artwork, I did do "cover art" in two variations.

Finally, I have some cover artwork done for the Season Six incarnation of "Reality". One is unfinished and the other still features Molly as Harry/Hermione. Kenzie is also still portraying Elizabeth Swan in one of them. One also has Elino as Gandalf instead of Dumbledore and Gabri as Lady Mary from Downton Abbey, who in the final product was portrayed by Caroline. Sarah also has a different character, being Spider-Man instead of Alice.