Today and Thursday, we’re offering a little insight into the creation of Namesake.
Isa says: Some of the first sketches of Warrick. As you can see, the feathercloak and attitude was always there. I did a lot of sketches trying to get the cloak to look more realistic and/or medieval, but in the end, since it’s magical, I just went with the really empty and huge look that it has today.
When Namesake was just budding, I was still in school (University of Ottawa). I drew Namesake sketches all over all my notes. The most interesting character design progress I did was all over my business class notes. Honestly, drawing in class kept me focused on the class. Otherwise, I kinda just plunged into daydreams. Thank you, Namesake, for keeping me as a straight A’s student. Alice and Warrick still kinda look like themselves. Emma went thru 10 different hairdos before we decided to go with her ponytail-on-the-side look. Warrick went thru about 20 different noses. Alice about 100 costumes.
Meg says: We went through a number of different formats for Namesake before deciding on a webcomic. We went from a straight graphic novel to a prose novel with illustrations by Isa then to the current webcomic format that’s compiled into a graphic novel.
The first draft of the prologue was handwritten when I was working an overnight shift at Bank of America in 2009. It’s actually one of the few things that didn’t change from the first draft to final form. The big difference is that the prologue was written in prose. The original draft of chapter 1, which I’ll talk about Thursday, also was in prose form. Here’s an excerpt from the original prologue. It reflects a lot more of the research I did into Dodgson’s life when we were just starting the story:
He cleared off some of the worse of the mess, placing torn scraps of paper in a rubbish bin, straightening the corners of a lecture he was to give the following week. His gaze landed on a framed photograph of the Liddell girls, taken five years earlier. He ran his finger over the glass, over the young Alice’s solemn face. Even at age 6, she looked as if she had already lived a hundred lifetimes.
“I’m sorry,” he told the photograph. “You weren’t meant to go so soon,” he added as he set the frame back in its proper spot. He thought he’d had more time. Months, even years. Alice was still too young for such an arduous journey, he thought. Four years of meticulously documented research had led him to that conclusion. Those books were safely tucked away in a lockbox that was hidden on a shelf he had affixed to the inside of the unused chimney in his guest bedroom. They had escaped the frantic search by police, who had grown convinced that the eccentric mathematician desired a mere child for his bride.
I’ve always found it rather interesting to see the “behind the scenes” making of stuff. Maybe that’s why I like the extras on DVD’s so much, lol!
And Isa, I can see on the bottom page of sketches that they were done on the back of a print out of some sort. Hey, I say use what you got!
That’s what you think but in truth they’re subliminal messages. =P
Actually, they are notes about how to manage businesses, so both?
I’m like Snapdragon – I love behind the scenes and things like that, so things like this are fun to me. ^_^
Yay, extras! So wait, is the middle bottom character supposed to be Alice in another of her wardrobes? Maybe I misread the description, but that’s what it seems like…but she looks so different!
Am I the only one sappy enough to hope for a Warrick/Emma Romance?
Glad you fixed his nose. Other noses made him too… Disney :/
It really did. Goddammit Warrick, you and your weird design issues.
Love the prose! I think I’d be just as happy to read Namesake: the Novel as Namesake: the Graphic Novel.
I’ve actually got a few short stories written out in prose that we might do something with one day.
Haha, I understand you, Isa, as I draw in my classes, too. The best thing is when I do it in Interpreting class and when then lecturer asks me I can make a good interpreting, ’cause I was actually listening xD I can assure that I payed a lot more of attention in class when I used to draw than now that I use the laptop in class (to correct the translations more conveniently, that is). That does distract me.
And, by the way, I absolutely love Warrick’s final nose ^^. I didn’t like that much the one he had in the previous header (yes, I’ve noticed
)
I’m pretty sure everyone noticed. I,m a fickle thing – I still hated his nose when he had to appear in the comic! So I gradually made it pointy and felt better.
Glad to know i’m not the only one who can’t concentrate unless multitasking. I had to start a story in my work training after being told I couldn’t play solitaire. At least the story is starting well.
a) Love special features of a DVD too, so similar content for a comic is just as good!
b) And here we are again, the girls behind the story making us wait a bit unexpectedly more . . .
Pandering to the fanbase I see!
Warrick is a very cool character and I’m glad we see a lot of him. I hope that he ends up involved in the wider Namesake plot, as I’d hate to think he vanishes from the story once we leave Oz. Not that I want to leave Oz, you understand.
Who is the girl in the sketches on the bottom? Alice?
Or is it Gender-Swapped Warrick, since you did say they were Warrick sketches…?
It’s actually one of the first designs of alice and Emma. Forgot to specify.
I was mesmerized with the prologue, what a great start for the series. What amazes me is that it only went up from there.
It’s intriguing to see how that narrative was translated into comic form. Great stuff.
Wow Meg, I love the atmosphere and detail in your prose work dealing with Dodgson and Alice Pleasance Liddell. I’d love to read the whole prologue in that form.
Isa, please let us know more about the two female characters on the bottom left of the image.
I forgot to specify – The bottom girls are some of the first designs of Alice (tall one) and Emma (shorter one). Emma was always shorter. She was also sassier before. She evolved into calm-and-badass Emma only much closer to the end. Alice has always been kinda the same, but pinpointing her uniform was hard.
I do have the entire prologue available, so maybe we’ll do something with it!
The chibi looks like a character from the animated version of The Hobbit.