Hammer Sound
Genre:
Science Fiction, Action/Adventure
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Jonah Henry doesn't like most people. As a matter of fact, they just plain disgust him. In the year 2057, folks have just gotten too lazy for a hardworking, hammer-slinger like him. With no family and no friends, Jonah only really cares about two people in his world, Evelyn, his landlord, and her six-year-old daughter, Pollie. When Jonah returns late one night to find a group of gussied-up men beating Evelyn, he stumbles upon a conspiracy that could destroy all mankind. Unable to save her, Jonah feels duty-bound to grant Evelyn her last wish -- deliver her daughter and their tiny kitten Beebee to the only man she trusts, the father that ostracized her years ago. As the entire city collapses on Jonah and his young charges, he finds himself pounding his way through futuristic assassins and killer robots. Prepare yourself for all-out war as a man entrenched in the ways of the past fights against all the technology the future can muster.
Thia is really good, after rereading it though I only have one main comment, I think the fact that you change your panel story throughout is what makes it feel disjointed, sometimes you have smaller panels and then one big panel in the background, and other times for instance the third and fifth screens the whole area is divided into panels, if you were to keep it consistent with the first style, I think it would have felt a bit smoother.
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just to let you guys know that i've loved this comic. hope i do get a chance of viewing new screens of you all some time in the near future. keep it up, guys.
awesome pictures and story line.good job.
Congrats on an awesome comic guys. You did an amazing job with the competition, and created a beautiful comic. Kudos!
Pretty damn cool. I really like the coloring the most; the way the reds and blues evoke such an intense mood in the middle pages. I sort of don't give a crap about Jonah Henry, though, since he really wasn't in much of the comic...
Hey everyone, one week to go. Woosh, it's been a crazy journey. Anyways, I've just uploaded a commentary track for the comic over at our production blog. So load it up in another window/tab and follow along for some insider scoop! Please excuse the production, i did the best i could with my limited audio know-how. Any feedback would be appreciated as I want to do more of these for our future projects.
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http://hammersound.blogspot.com/2008/10/hammer-sound-commentary-track.html
Yeah I like the small hands a lot. Works well with the broad strokes and other exaggerations in the art.
Evan - I see arm wrestling in the new sketches, Awesome! I also just wanted to say, seems like everyone will disagree with me but; I like Jonah's little hands. I even like the sound of it. "Jonah's Little Hands."
so much potential for goodness. come on, hammersound...WIN!!!
Sooooooo, I have some new sketches, as well as some re-vamps of characters, most minor stuff, refining and such, but I like the new design for Pollie Ann: http://hammersound.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-pics.html
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Ryan-Thanks man, we really appreciate it!
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Nate-I'll have to look into it, I'm still trying to find a decent to use shirt company in the area.
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Splatted-Thanks for the read man!
I dig the art style, but the story is a bit jumpy and confusing in the first 3 pages. Good luck!!!
Dear Zuda Competitors/Creators,
I’m the creator of the Zuda fan blog, and I would love to interview all of this month’s creators. If you would be willing to answer 5-10 questions, to be posted on the Zudafan blog, please contact me at: zudafan@gmail.com.
Feel free to check out the blog: zudafan.blogspot.com
Thanks!
~Liz
Looking good Evan. Especially like the creepy robot butler guy. I want him on a t-shirt.
I love the art. You guys have my vote.
mpd57-Interesting review to read, I have things that I'd like to respond to, I'll post a comment on your blog!
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miticitis-Thanks for reading the story, sorry we weren't able to hook you, also, good luck with your submission. I hope that this month is a good example of how important the various forms of advertising have become, learn from that and make sure to prepare for it!
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Alex-I can't thank you enough for your continued support of Hammer Sound! Really, I am so amazingly thankful!
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Loren-Thank you for the compliment! I get Paul Pope from a lot of people, who I really admire a LOT! But that's extremely astute to recognize my huge influence (especially color wise) from Kristian. Kristian's here in the same city with Luan and I, and I look up to him like a brother. We both started off as color flatters (though he was with the esteemed Lee Loughridge). I started off with Chris Walker (Invaders, various Wildstorm books). Chris has a crazy color pallette, and I used to talk with guys like Kelsey shannon and I've always been drawn to off-beat color combos, but I feel that the ones I choose are my own. We wanted to set up a feeling of intensity for Jonah, he doesn't talk much, but you 'hopefully' can feel the vibe of the raw energy he puts off. If we can move forward he unleashes and you'll see how powerful he is and a better insight into his thoughts. Jonah ultimately is a man who follows the ways of the past in a world that is continuously moving forward and casting away the old thoughts and techniques. Thanks again!
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severo-Thanks for reading bro! Glad we got you hooked!
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Nathanoox-We'll definitely give it a try "Over the Top!" style!!! BTW, an e-mail is forthcoming! I've been hitting the various forums trying to gain some extra votes!
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TCSmith-Thanks man, I can't wait to see what you've got rolling around in your head!
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Gnar Duce-Thanks for enjoying it, we enjoyed making it!
Cool style. Great colors. Good start on the story. Interesting last panel. Great Work!
You slipped a notch, Hammer Sound! Time to redouble your efforts!
Fantastic stuff!
Evan, I think we need a robot butler arm wrestling Jonah wallpaper. Week three maybe?
And with that- I'm hooked. Great work all around.
Good stuff. Love the art, I've been following Evan's work on the web for some time, he's got a great Kristian Donaldson/Paul Pope kind of energy going on in these pages. The colors were awesome for the most part, with a great use of complimentary colors, but I would have liked to see more of a glowing orange/red type of hue on the first page and the "technicolor bright" pages and panels kind of threw me off a bit. Good job on both the story execution and the readability of the story overall. I would have liked to see a little more characterization of Jonah Henry but with the limited number of pages you guys have done a great job. Best of luck!
i'm spreading the word about you guys. hope it helps.
Team Hammer Sound,
You guys got a fun looking entry here. I typically don't really go for the look (indie/alternative press) you guys seem to sport, but it is working wonders for this story. You and the two stories trailing (Azure and Mathema) deserve the top spots. Colors, Illustration and Typography all strong, but I couldn't give my vote on account of the story, just didn't hook me. Sorry, but it doesn't seem to be hampering you much in the competition.
;-)
Good luck, and I hope to be joining up soon with my own submission.
-Miticis
Didn't see much in the way of 2057 going on apart from the robot, but still a review has been cast over on http://www.mpd57.blogspot.com
Doo doo doo doo, doo doo, doo dooo ya can't touch that!
Posted a new graphic on the blog; i think you'll guys will like it.
http://hammersound.blogspot.com/
The new wallpaper is great! Everyone should check this out!
Soooooo, there's a new wallpaper I added onto the Hammer Sound blog...if you all have the time, go ahead and check it out!
http://hammersound.blogspot.com/
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Matt.Place-Thank you very much!
Goood s**** maaannnn but not good enufff. It's alll a bit heavy handed I'm looking for more quality and lesss substance , more trrancendance and less wallowing in the filth of human greed y'kow whhat I mean?
really nice work. I want to read the next one!!!
RKB - Thanks, man. I always try and invoke a particular voice/sound when the story calls for it or would benefit from it. It has to be subtle and not a 2x4 of FONTS to the face. I try to make sure it doesn't call attention to itself but have it be natural and flows with the art/dialogue. I think Todd Klein on Sandman is a wonderful example of how to do it right. That particular run was artful in its lettering.
Hey sounds like your colours are getting a lot of conversation here; for me on each page they made a big impact; , but with such a wild variation between pages, I found they made the story feel disjointed. Definitely a strong entry guys, but I can't help feeling a bit lost by it.
RKB-Heh heh, yeah, it doesn't exactly make it easy for us to have such variety in names since there's 3 of us on this story! I have to say, I'm not going to try and defend any crits because I feel your crits are totally correct! I agree that the hands I drew were jacked up. I like to improve on things like that, so I have since worked on it, and I think I'm improving a lot.
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I can't begin to tell you how glad I am to hear that you enjoyed the colors and application, especially that you understood what I was going for on screen 2. Doug told me in the script that he wanted to see a huge contrast in the world that Jonah and Pollie live in compared to the city. I wanted technicolor bright for the happy side of Jonah's world and the reds/purples/pinks for the background.
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I love colors, I love to feel them rather than plot them out. My watercolor professor in college taught us to apply color based on emotion rather than structured theory, and response. I feel like you can make a lot of mistakes, but how you respond and correct is the way that you can grow.
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I was teaching myself to ink with brushes throughout this process, so you'll see some minor shifts in techniques. I also learned some different techniques for working with lineart, so by the end of the 8 pages you start to see the, as you put it "Pollock" effect.
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I wanted to try some different types of layouts from the splash that has panels embedded to the straightforward David Lapham style consistent box shapes that you see on screen 3. I kept in mind story throughout the whole process, but this was purely fun, and a lot of experiments that I feel weave together into a crazy trip. The good thing is that if we get to move on, we get to keep doing it, and I have to tell you, I'll keep trying new techniques and improving.
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As for working professionally on colors. I worked behind the scenes on colors for a while, but burned out on working on coloring other peoples work. I've pretty much stayed true to myself in only coloring my own work. A few of my friends have gone the same route. I started off doing color flats for one of my colorist friends. He has a really crazy sense of colors too...come to think of it, most of the people I'm friends with have odd color choices. It might be that the structure of flatting makes us need to break out on our own and really express ourselves...I don't know. But either way, I just have fun with the coloring process now.
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Thank you very much for all your comments, they are extremely insightful, and I've re-read them a few times because it's kind of like you were looking at my brain during the thought processes in a few instances. Also, thanks for the vote!!!
P.S. Sorry about the Evelyn revelation, I blame Doug for writing that!!! ;)
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jjmain-Thank you very much! Colors are something that I have fun with! I also hope we can maintain the #1 spot!
This is powerful stuff. I love the colours. You get my vote for sure. Keep that #1 SLOT.
Evan Bryce, deedubyajr-DWjr.?-, vinhluanluu -couldn't you have just gone with your initials like some of the rest of us;)-, hereafter known as EB, D, and V. Great job on the comic, letters, colors, art, story, I got a few crits, but you got 5/5 stars and a fav from me.
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I really enjoyed the well written synopsis, i always read that first in hopes it will help in my understanding of the comic, and yours didn't disappoint.
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SCREEN 1Great job on the different fonts, and word balloons V, it helped me 'hear' the difference in Jonah vs. the robot, but was still readable.
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I loved the colors throughout, it really helped to set the scenes and also seemed a little expressionist, which is a good thing.
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Throughout the comic a mostly damn fine job on the dialogue EB.
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D a mostly damn fine job on the art D, but with 1 crit from me. i like how short legged, and bulky Jonah looks, but what's up with his itty-bitty hands? He swings a hammer for a living shouldn't he have some massive paws??? Was the little hands just a style choice, or maybe it says something about his inner sweat nature and you wanted to go against type. Really what's the deal with the little hands?
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Great layout on this screen, nice sound effects, good place to start the story, the hands looked messed up to me.
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I'm guessing D you did the colors as well excellent work on this page, art is good, the colors make it so much better for the purpose of telling your story.
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The I hate to interrupt/ then don't line seemed to show some of that anti-robo feeling, nice touch EB.
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SCREEN 2 Oh hell yeah we for sure got the expressionist colors kicking up here now. With the greens of the grass that almost hurt my eyes, and the read pink background. Loved the landscape you set up in this panel, and his interactions with the little girl. Again a very cool panel layout.
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The whole don't call me 'mister' line even more insight into his character. Your really developing him EB without a whole lot of lines, or a whole lot of screens.
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SCREEN 3 Ah yes the old grid panel layout. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it does put more focus on the art inside the panels. The first time I saw this screen it actually reminded me of a part of the DC's guide to drawing comics book that talked about this. The art inside the panels is so good (love the blue hues), it looks amazing, and easy to follow. Loved the way the action moved between these panels. The colors moved too blue figures purple background moving into the orange door, and in the last panel looking through the windows at the figures with the scary red background. Very impressive, very professional, you should get a job as a colorist at DC proper at least if Zuda doesn't work out for you.
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SCREEN 4 Now we change to red, no doubt a precursor to the upcoming violence and the mother's panic/ fear. Best colors of the contest this month, and in the top ten for best colors of all time.
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I liked the design on all the characters, and the interactions on this screen. You have the art chops to pull off the more or less grid page layout.
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SCREEN 5 Good panel comp. here, and a good set up to the mystery of this story. Talking about destroying their society, and the Mcguffin of the discs, you really are putting all the pieces of the story together. Great use of the 8 screens you have to work with.
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In the background of panel 3 it seems someone has knocked the head off the robot, or hit the off button. It was kind of unclear to me how this happened, when I guess sometime in the gutters, but a sound effect somewhere would have been a nice tip off.
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SCREEN 6 panel 1 great forced perspective on the fist.
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the interplay between jonah and the girl getting beat on, nice add to the drama.
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Maybe you shouldn't have tipped off evelyn died in the synopsis?
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SCREEN 7 Great panel composition here, and use of the panels going from the goons to Jonah. You could really see her pain in panel 4.
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SCREEN 8 Nice cliff-hanger ending on screen 8. Liked the jackson pollock-esque white paint splattered throughout this screen. Also, the way you showed the energy of Jonah breaking through the door. Very impactful esp. with the colors you chose.
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I didn't really get the "i just found out I'm going to die" line.
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My few crits aside I was really impressed with your story across the board. Very dynamic and professional, art/ colors/ letters/ story. Your fighting it out for my vote this month, this comic seems to have a lot of promise. Great job.
If you haven't seen already, I put up a spoof pin-up of one of my friends who has a similar last name to "Hammer." Also, Luan, awesome graphic/comm designer that he is, made a sweet graphic so you can 'tag' the internet. No, internet graffiti is not a felony. So tag away! We just want to have some fun with all this and really enjoy the competition by doing some enjoyable work! Hope you enjoy: http://hammersound.blogspot.com/
Riq-Thank you so much man, we appreciate it!
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elliotblake-Thank you very much, we wanted to establish the tone of the story, and start off in a way that introduced you to the characters in a pretty fast paced method getting you ready for what happens next...which as you may have figured out involves a lot of action! In terms of art, I wanted to create stylistic choices that were really different and specific for Hammer Sound. Thanks!
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Bobs yuncle-Sorry, I'm really not sure what you mean...
Thanks for reading through though!
Nice work - interesting set-up, looking forward to seeing where this goes - and the art is terrific - love the style!
Work it Guys.. Nice stuff. riq.
NeutronCrush-Thank you so much! We're excited by the rank and hope to keep going in the same direction so we can continue our story!
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Neal-Thanks for your support man! I have to tell you, I really enjoyed your Love, Lust and a Giant Turtle! 3 things that are always in the back of mind (think about that, then don't, because it's creepy and icky)!
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michiru25-Honestly, that's the FIRST time in my life I've ever been called a 'tease.' Usually it's the other way around! But thank you very much! We really hope that we can show you more of this story! So keep checking in, and tell a friend (or many) of course!
Oh, and I meant you guys were teases- not that I was teasing you. Get it? Cuz you know... I wanted more? And I couldn't have more? You get the idea ;)
Bad. Ass. Great job guys! I was so pissed when I got to the last page because I really want to see MORE!
Tease. :P
<3 Alex
Nice work guys!
Congratulations on the first place rank!
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You've got a great comic here.
I wanted to thank everyone for your feedback. It means a lot that you took the time to post. I'm hoping we can maintain this top ranking, because I REALLY want to tell this story. Thanks again.
First off, thanks to everyone for the support and the #1 rank for the week! I did a special new wallpaper as a thank you! http://hammersound.blogspot.com/
Chris DiBari-Thanks for the compliment man! I love fans!
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David Hopkins-Thanks David, I'm slowly building up the content, but I want to have a lot of quality stuff on a regular basis for it!
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ptimony-THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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mpd57-Hahaha, I was waiting for that joke!
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dznrwlf-Thanks, we look forward to doing some more (hopefully)!
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JakeEkiss-Thanks Jake, I kinda feel the same way about you!
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Alex-We will with all the support you've given!
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wlfmn68-Thanks for the compliment, I like to keep things raw to really push the tone of the story.
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jobajec-Thanks for the support, and we really hope to be able to tell you what happens next!
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quasilucid-Thank you!
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BTimony-THANK YOU, I can't tell you how much that meant to see yesterday!
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Alan-Thanks much man!
Awesome stuff! -Alan
Congrats on the first place ranking!
Beautiful work.
Ooo! Ooo!! What's next? WHAT'S NEXT?!?!?! I love a good story! Keep it up, my friends.
I like it alot, its very edgy and raw, ma brutha. great work!!