Vampires Don't Sparkle! (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse)


Pencil Marks: In the beginning I had this idea to do a painted picture of Kari in a grassy plain holding a Twilight book in her hands while phantom-ish Erik and Edward hovered behind her. A kind of Plight Site spin on the whole "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" phenomena, only with a Team Erik choice instead. The background was going to be all abstract and flowery. But in the end I just couldn't get it looking right. Sure what I had finished may have been passable, but I didn't like it. So I decided to go a completely different route instead.
This year, being our tenth (and possibly "final") year doing the Summer Blockbuster Gallery, we've had quite a few pictures that went back and touched on older pin-ups. I don't know exactly why we started doing it, as it wasn't even an idea that we discussed, but it seems like a large portion of this year has done it. So I sat back and thought of how this picture could kind of incorporate that same vibe. Then I remembered that we had actually done a picture featuring a vampire and a werewolf for our Van Helsing pic. When that occurred to me, finding the picture itself wasn't that difficult.
I tried to keep things a bit cartoony this time round, because I love some of my previous anime/toon styled drawings, though getting Wolfman and Dracula to fit wasn't as easy as I had hoped. Though it looks like Jake was able to adjust some finer details to get them thematically similar.
Big ups to Jake as well for the background - what I gave him was pretty much what he did - but mine was only a rough sketch that he re-created and changed perfectly in the Photoshop portion of the picture. I DID tell him a different set of lines, so both parties were speaking (hence Drac's mouth being open), but I didn't write them down as they weren't "finalized" or anything, just vague notions of what they were saying. When Jake called for the lines I told him the feel I was going for, but he wanted something more firm than an idea.. thankfully he was able to come up with something a tad more catchy than what I was going for. - Tony

Ink Smudges: There were a few challenges with this picture but nothing, except for one thing, I couldn't handle. It wasn't any problems on Tony's end. Even with a slight change in design styles between the humans and the monsters, it wasn't a big deal getting a common look throughout. Nor did I struggle with the colors or backgrounds. In fact I might have spent more time on the background than was actually needed. No, the major hurdle I had to face in this illustration (other than having my computer crash just when the picture was almost completed) was the dialogue.
You might read the two word balloons above and think no big deal, but it was to me. I had dozens of jokes I could have wrote. And while I thought in my own opinion they were mild to pretty funny, I also felt they crossed the line to being just outright offensive. Oh, I have no quams poking fun at things. The "Twilight" movies are not my cup of tea and I freely admit it (although I will point out I gave the first movie an honest chance by sitting down and watching it.) And on occasion I will make jokes about it. But there is a point where I feel the jokes can turn into just straight-out bashing.
Yeah, bashing. That is the perfect word for the problem I had writing the dialogue. All my other ideas came off not as funny quips but as ugly commentaries about how the fans of the series must all be idiots, or if any males liked the series then they obviously must be gay, or only freaks would like "The Twilight Saga". "Guess vampires aren't the only ones that sparkle"..... things like that.
Am I over-analyzing it? Perhaps. But the greatest error an artist can make is creating something that the artist does not feel right about in a negative way. And I didn't feel comfortable with it. Some of the most important people in my life really dig the "Twilight" saga and more power to them. If they get enjoyment out of it, then I'm happy for them. Likewise I've met some of the most nicest people on this planet who just happen to be homosexuals. It's not a lifestyle I would choose but if they're happy and in love, I give them all my best. And believe it or not, I even knew someone who was a werewolf. Okay, THAT person was a total freak, but all the rest of them are folks who I admire. So yeah, I did a lot of thinking about what the dialogue should be because I didn't want to offend. To me that's not self-censoring; it's just being respectful of others.
Wow... could I have gotten any more emo? You'd think my name was Edward or something! - Jake