The Moon Prince by Kevin Fraser

Moon Prince Page 101: Round Up The Fleet!

2012-02-24T06:21:00.001-08:00

Click HERE to see previous episodes.

Yet Another Process Post

2012-02-22T09:22:00.000-08:00

Here's another little animation, this time showing how page 79 was made. As usual, it starts with a quick sketch (or “thumbnail” page) to figure out how the images and words will fit together. Then I make a photo-collage combining snapshots (in this case, of myself and my wife Melissa, who plays the Queen) and simple 3D renderings of various background elements. Next I make a drawing based on the collage, using a Cintiq monitor to draw directly into Adobe Photoshop. Then I add color, tones, and the word balloons and borders (or “gutters”). The whole process takes me about 20 hours!

The Moon Prince ONE HUNDREDTH EPISODE

2012-02-17T08:21:00.000-08:00

This week: Our ONE HUNDREDTH EPISODE!!! Whoopeee!!!

Click HERE to see previous episodes.

Moon Prince Page 99: Fear and Determination

2012-02-10T08:06:00.000-08:00

This week, an ultimatum is delivered, and a decision is taken.

Click on the image to read the whole page.

Moon Prince Page 98: An Unsettling Accusation

2012-02-03T08:15:00.000-08:00

This week, things take a turn for the creepy!

Click on the image to read the whole page.

Yet Another Process Post

2012-02-01T09:28:00.000-08:00

Here's a behind the scenes peek at the creation of a page of The Moon Prince - page 78, in this case. It starts off with the rough "thumbnails" sketch, just done on printer paper with pen, then shows the photo-collage (with 3D backgrounds) I made for the page, starring myself and my wife Melissa as all the characters. Next comes the drawing I did based on the photo-collage, and then the color and tones, and finally the word balloons and "gutters" (borders between the panels):

Stay tuned for this Friday's episode!

Moon Prince Page 97: Only a Lad

2012-01-27T08:29:00.000-08:00

This week, Max gets dissed.

Click on the image to read the whole page.

Moon Prince Page 96: The Moon Pirates

2012-01-20T08:16:00.000-08:00

This week, the Moon Pirates manifest themselves!

Click on the image to see the whole page.

Bat People on the Moon?

2012-01-18T08:51:00.000-08:00

While we're waiting for this Friday's action packed installment of the Moon Prince, I thought it might be fun to show you a few of my influences in writing this part of the story. The idea to have bat-people on the Moon actually goes back all the way to 1835, to a famous hoax published in the old New York Sun that claimed astronomers had spotted creatures on the lunar surface using an enormous new telescope. Wonderful drawings of these bat-men were published and caused a huge stir at the time. Here are a few of them:

You can read a fascinating article about the Great Moon Hoax here.

And my list of influences for this part of the story wouldn't be complete without mentioning Jack Kirby's great comics series Kamandi the Last Boy on Earth, which I devoured as a kid. The ninth issue of the story featured bat people battling astronauts in a balloon! Here's the cover (you can click on any of these images for larger versions):

Moon Prince Page 95: We Don't Stand a Chance!

2012-01-13T08:19:00.000-08:00

This week, things get scarier than ever!

Click on the image to see the whole page.

Moon Prince Page 94: Careful, Molly!

2012-01-06T08:35:00.000-08:00

This week, all sorts of stuff happens!

Click on the image to see the whole page.

Buy the Book!

2012-01-04T08:37:00.000-08:00

I've got a few extra copies of a promotional Moon Prince comic book I had printed up to show at conventions. It's the first chapter of the story - pages 1 to 29 - and it's in really nice full color. If you want one, you can buy it for $5.95 here (and I'll sign every copy sold).

Moon Prince Page 93: The Bat-man Speaks!

2011-12-30T08:14:00.000-08:00

This week, we hear from the bat-man. But what are we hearing???

Click on the image to read the whole page.

Moon Prince Page 92: Angry Pirates!

2011-12-23T08:40:00.000-08:00

This week: those are some mad pirates!

Click on the image to see the whole page

- and Merry Christmas from Kevin, Melissa, Max and Molly!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-21T08:33:00.001-08:00

Here's a video I wrote and co-directed many years ago for the Crash Test Dummies - it's their version of "The First Noel". We shot it in a pizza joint in Niagara Falls, Canada in a single day - then had to go shoot another video for them (for their cover of "Androgynous" by the Replacements) at a nearby amusement park for the following two days!

If you look closely, Brad (the lead singer) is holding a "World's Greatest Dad" coffee mug, which I asked the props person to go buy somewhere. The next day, on the set, I looked closely at the mug and realized he'd drawn it on in magic marker, having been unable to find one in a store! He did a good job, too.

When the camera pans over to Ellen Reid sitting at the piano it's a deliberate nod to the opening credits for Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Merry Christmas!

Moon Prince Page 91: Ahoy, Bat-men!

2011-12-16T08:21:00.000-08:00

This week: more violence!

Click on the image to see the whole page.

My Ugly Thumbnails

2011-12-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

Many cartoonists create beautiful little pages of preparatory drawings for their comics called "thumbnail" pages. My friend Bishakh Som, who is a wonderful cartoonist (you can see his work here) posted some of his thumbnail pages on Facebook last week that were just gorgeous, and suggested to me that I post some for The Moon Prince.

I'm sort of torn about this, because my thumbnail pages are very loose and scribbly. I use them to write the dialogue and plan the sequence, design and layout of the drawings, but the drawings themselves sure aren't much to look at. On the other hand, I guess it's sort of fun to see to see the process that goes into making comics like these, and I like to give visitors to this site something to look at while they're waiting for new pages of comics (stay tuned for more piracy and warfare on the Moon this Friday!).

So, without further ado, here are some of my ugly thumbnails, followed by the finished black and white drawings for the page they're from and the final colored page, with all the water and spooky fog.

Moon Prince Page 90: Kitko's Revenge!

2011-12-09T08:25:00.000-08:00

This week: Kitiko don't play like that!

Click on the image to see the whole page.

Cedric Murray - Behind the scenes!

2011-12-07T08:51:00.000-08:00

Here's another behind the scenes peek at a photo used to make the Moon Prince. In this case, it's the author (Kevin Fraser) himself posing for Cedric Murray all the way back on page 4!

Stay tuned for this Friday's page, where Kitiko gets really mad!

Moon Prince Page 89: Batmen! On the Moon!

2011-12-02T08:24:00.000-08:00

This week - a fight to the death in the Lunar skies!

Click on the image to see the whole page.

Queen Melissa

2011-11-30T09:21:00.000-08:00

Making The Moon Prince requires thousands upon thousands of reference photos. Here's one of Queen Mathilde being posed by Max and Molly's mom, Melissa.

Moon Prince Page 88: She's Gonna Crash!

2011-11-25T11:27:00.000-08:00

This week: Spectacular action abounds!

Click on the image to see the whole page.

Sugar for The Moon Prince

2011-11-23T08:27:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles based art critic Doug Harvey had some kind words for the Moon Prince in the latest issue of Artillery Magazine, calling it "one of my favorite current comic-reading pleasures."

Moon Prince Page 87: Where There's Smoke...

2011-11-18T08:23:00.000-08:00

This week, ALIENS! No kidding!!!

Click on the image to see the whole page.

Grandpa Fraser

2011-11-16T08:35:00.000-08:00

Since the last couple of pages of The Moon Prince have featured a young girl (Molly, of course) standing guard with a rifle, I thought it might be interesting to post an old, old picture of my grandfather (the real Max and Molly's great-grandfather), William Fraser.

This photo was taken around 1902, and shows Bill with his pet black bear (really!) and a toy gun. I believe at the time he was living near Keewatin (a Cree Indian word which means "Blizzard of the North"), Canada.

Click on the image to see a larger version.