It continually amazes me how willing Seth was to draw architectural details. For myself I dislike doing things that require constant measuring--making curtains, figuring out taxes, etc. Tedious work.But as I go through the pages of Vertigo Pop Tokyo I realize that he put these details into every page, most especially in the pages where there is the least action. Therefore, there is something interesting going on in every panel, not only in the center of interest--as he reminded himself in Tip 25.
However, Seth's architectural details are more than merely measuring the lines, they are also designing the buildings and putting in the small forgotten objects that make the places seem like a real place. Maki's house looks like a real Japanese home, with its wooden posts and eaves. The arena where the concert is held--is it a real concert venue in Tokyo? Knowing Seth, I doubt it. But it has all the hallmarks of a real one, with its staircase and landing, wide overhang, space for patrons, and in the back room, boxes and extra microphones and odd equipment. Each of those objects took some work to conjure up and draw in, throwaway details though they are. We may not notice them, but taken together, they give the feel of a real place to the 2-dimensional world of Maki and her friends.
1 comment:
I too dislike measuring things out (but maybe it gets better once one really knows what one is doing (I started the Perspective book but haven’t tried to apply it yet), but I admire the heck out of it. One of the many reasons I love seeing preliminary drawings; to see the work that went behind the final image.
Seth’s backgrounds are always stunning. In past years I’d have hoped that this is something that *eventually* people will appreciate, but nowadays many “artist” are using highly detailed Computer Generated backgrounds, so the skill that it takes to actually DRAW such a thing may be lost.
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