Ted Naifeh

I wrote this on Facebook, but it sparked enough interest that I thought I should repost it here.  *************************SPOILERS************************************************* Some superheroes, like Thor, Green Lantern, or Superman, have alternate worlds built into their origin. This can be very difficult to depict in a movie, as there’s little time to conjure a fully realized realm, and make it feel authentic, before they must move on from the origin story and into the main conflict. As with everything else in the Green Lantern movie, its depiction of the Lanterns’ homeworld Oa failed spectacularly. Man of Steel’s Krypton was filled with visual spectacle, but felt as deep as a puddle, a collection of…

ANATOMY OF A PAGE shows my process from sketch to final page. Again, with the first issue of HEROINES, I skipped the sketch and went straight to rough pencil. Though I wouldn’t necessarily recommend doing it that way.  Here we have the introduction of Jones. This one is interesting, because I made several changes after coloring.  Originally, I had Jones entering from the bathroom, as though she was already over when Raven drops in unannounced. But that’s not very clear in the dialog, so I decided to change the background, simplifying the situation. More noticeably, I hated Raven’s pose in panel 2. The “leaping at you” pose is a staple of…

This is how my pages develop from rough design to color. Again, with this one, I skipped straight to pencils, which worked out, though sketch a rough can be very helpful.  This another page is from HEROINES #1, the introduction of Thundergirl. As you can see, I added to Thundergirl’s snarled hair. Now I almost wish I’d taken it even further. I did for later issues. What I was aiming for is an amazonian woman who’s kinda scary. How’d I do?