Today I thought I give you a peek inside my sketch book as I work on the forthcoming comic, Mark Bertolini's BROKEN. Mark had a situation where the artist on issue 1 was unable to continue. I've known Mark for some time and we've always wanted to work together. However the stars never seemed to line up in our favor...until now.
BROKEN is a crime drama. And I've been dying to sink my teeth into such a story. BROKEN is the tale of a child Quinn, who witnesses the death of his parents at the hands of hoodlums. The leader of this pack, a mob enforcer by the name of Big Mike Murphy, takes the child in to care for him, teaching him the skills to survive on the streets. If you get a chance you can check out the first issue. http://www.amazon.com/Broken-1-Mark-Bertolini-ebook/dp/B00CAUH5HO
Whenever I begin a project I normally spend a few weeks gathering material...references..and begin sketching characters. In this case the previous artist had already established the look of the characters, making my job much easier. But to get the true feel for them I seek out people that may resemble them...to attempt to ground them in my reality.
The character of Big Mike was based on several actors...more notably Brendon Gleeson. Minus the hair of course.
Mob boss Rossi was based on actor Jon Polito...a guy you just love to hate.
The main character of Quinn...the child growing up under the wing of Big Mike, took me a bit of time to lock down. Since we follow Quinn from childhood, to teen and then adulthood. I settled on child actor Rider Strong, who I felt had the childlike innocence, but could pull off the cold blooded look of a killer as he ages. Check out the film Borderlands if you doubt me.
And I neglected to add that RBMC's own Tim Switalski will be joining me again...adding his bad ass colors. I'll be posting things as I go along....with Marks approval first of course. I leave you with my tighter sketch of Big Mike Murphy. Stay frosty.
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