Q&A about Gisele's Archie work

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sun tzu
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Re: Q&A about Gisele's Archie work

Post by sun tzu »

I gotta say, this is the first time in my life I've ever bought an Archie comic.
Great art, unsurprisingly. I actually felt slightly disturbed at how much "Regina's" body-language reminded me of Cyndi...which, like "Archie meets the Punisher", actually highlighted how innocent Riverdale really is. ^^'

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Joe
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Re: Q&A about Gisele's Archie work

Post by Joe »

I loved the Reversedale issue! Great takes on all the characters, even the ones you squoze into the background. I'm not sure the world was crying out to see a gender-switched Svenson, but that was all fun. So many characters were jammed into it, and they all looked great and were very well designed as their reversed selves. Great work.

I like the way you did Salem. That cat is easily the least draw-able character in all of Archie Comics, as his facial features never seem to look right, but you did a great job there. You could actually read his expressions! I like the visual trick on Jughead's hair to match his hat. There was something very creepy about seeing Archie's gender swapped parents - I don't know why.

The cutest girl in the whole comic? Dilly.

For the first time in a long time, all the characters look contemporary and up to date in an Archie Comic. They also look and act more like the kids they are.

The critical part: There's a lot of shots of ceilings in this comic. I think there's a slight over-use of low-angle views. Sometimes the characters look stiff. Reggie sneaking into the school with the bag of fireworks, the football scenes of Billy and the dodging fireworks scenes probably could have had more dynamic poses. It was also tough to tell the fireworks were fireworks. Betty and Veronica don't stick out for me like they normally do – I think it has to do with their facial expressions. I don't know if their personalities are coming through very well in their limited appearances, but they came across the best on the very last page.

I'll also suggest enlarging the pupils, eyes and mouths a little. The characters eyes don't look "alive" sometimes. In some drawings you absolutely nail it, but in others the facial features are too small on a big head. I'm not suggesting a dramatic change, just the slightest differences in sizes. Salem and Sabrina's blue eyes looked a little washed out, and probably needed more black pupil.

Of course I wanted more from the story, but it's the best one can expect from a kid's story in 20 pages. If they just had a few more pages to make things really, truly weird...

I hope you get more scripts like this to show off. This was a great display of your talents, and matched the madcap tone of your web comics. The more action in a comic, the better it suits you. You bring something new and compelling to Archie, and it's probably exactly what they need.

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Giz
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Re: Q&A about Gisele's Archie work

Post by Giz »

Thanks for the comments, Joe, and welcome. :)
I should mention that I didn't ink the issue, so certain things like pupils will vary a bit sometimes when it gets to the inking stage.
I'll keep these suggestions in mind though whenever I do more work for them. I'm 2/3rd's into Archie 639 right now.
I'm still very new at drawing Archie (and these were gender-reversed) so I'm still trying to get comfortable with them.
#639 is certainly good practice. No gender-reversed in that one. lol

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sandman
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Re: Q&A about Gisele's Archie work

Post by sandman »

I got the variant issue as soon as I heard you were doing this issue.It's great :x :x :x
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Milnoc
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Re: Q&A about Gisele's Archie work

Post by Milnoc »

Giz...

You monster!

How could you?

You turned...

You turned Hot Dog into...

Into...

A FRENCH POODLE!!!

:((

You were suppose to change their sex! Not their species! :D

Aside from that, great work on the issue! Much more consistent than the last one, which was already a great improvement over what I've seen done by other artists. Also, you had to deal with entirely NEW characters in the switcheroo part, and yet you still maintained a high level of consistency.

Congrats!

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Azrael
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Re: Q&A about Gisele's Archie work

Post by Azrael »

But hasn't Hollywood taught us that all poodles are girls? :p
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sun tzu
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Re: Q&A about Gisele's Archie work

Post by sun tzu »

Milnoc wrote:Giz...

You monster!

How could you?

You turned...

You turned Hot Dog into...

Into...

A FRENCH POODLE!!!

:((

You were suppose to change their sex! Not their species! :D
Now, now. All dogs are the same species.
Contrast us boring humans, who look virtually the same regardless of race. ;)

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Milnoc
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Re: Q&A about Gisele's Archie work

Post by Milnoc »

Okay, I stand corrected. Same species, different race.

But still. Why a poodle? They can be insufferably nasty little bitches! :D

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Giz
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Re: Q&A about Gisele's Archie work

Post by Giz »

Tania wrote poodle in the script. I think it was effective at getting the message across fast. After all, we only had one issue. :)

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Re: Q&A about Gisele's Archie work

Post by Kamino Neko »

Which is too bad.

Any chance of revisiting Reversedale? I know you and Tania totally want to do it. >_>

(Also, since this wasn't addressed earlier in the thread, any reason you're credited first-name only?)
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Re: Q&A about Gisele's Archie work

Post by Ravenhull »

One quick question. How much did you have to say on the storytelling side? Was there some back and forth, or closer to " draw what I asked for"?
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Giz
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Re: Q&A about Gisele's Archie work

Post by Giz »

Kamino Neko wrote:Which is too bad. Any chance of revisiting Reversedale? I know you and Tania totally want to do it. >_> (Also, since this wasn't addressed earlier in the thread, any reason you're credited first-name only?)
I guess if the demand it there, they might revisit it. I also don't know if Tania had other ideas for it. I'd assume that she does or is thinking about it, just in case the demand is there. If they revisit it, and they ask me, I'll more than likely do it. ;) In regards to my last name, that's a bit confusing as I've seen it used in full sometime. I don't mind either way. I told them they could do whatever they wanted on that front, since I know some of my work is not for kids.
Ravenhull wrote:One quick question. How much did you have to say on the storytelling side? Was there some back and forth, or closer to " draw what I asked for"?
The story is all Tania. However, I did help out with some ideas & clarifications around the end (how Sabrina gets close to the kids to change them back) as it wasn't clear in the script. In terms of layout and design, pretty much total freedom. I did have a bit of back & forth with editorial in regards to how they would look gender-reversed. After all, we were building a new world here in a sense. Having the chance to do more with this world would be nice, considering the amount of work was put in to change them.

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Re: Q&A about Gisele's Archie work

Post by Artemisia »

Well...I ordered a copy for myself :) So, maybe they will down the line.
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Milnoc
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Re: Q&A about Gisele's Archie work

Post by Milnoc »

Giz wrote:In regards to my last name, that's a bit confusing as I've seen it used in full sometime. I don't mind either way. I told them they could do whatever they wanted on that front, since I know some of my work is not for kids.
God forbid they ask you and Dave to work together on a single issue! It'll be the first Archie sold in a plain brown wrapper! ;))

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Re: Q&A about Gisele's Archie work

Post by thebitterfig »

Giz wrote:
Kamino Neko wrote:Which is too bad. Any chance of revisiting Reversedale? I know you and Tania totally want to do it. >_> (Also, since this wasn't addressed earlier in the thread, any reason you're credited first-name only?)
I guess if the demand it there, they might revisit it. I also don't know if Tania had other ideas for it. I'd assume that she does or is thinking about it, just in case the demand is there. If they revisit it, and they ask me, I'll more than likely do it. ;)
I'm going to grab a copy sometime this week (have to swing near the comic store to sign a lease *NEW PLACE YAY* but I'm already craving 6-page Reversedale regular feature in one of the "Digest" editions. Once, like, I actually read 636, I'm totally writing the company.
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