Roland: Behind the Scenes
April 29, 2009, filed under: Roland, by LexI am now 3/4 of the way done with Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland and I can almost see the finish line. This one’s been a long time coming…
Believe it or not, this book has been in the works since 2004. I rolled right into Roland after I finished the first Kid Beowulf GN (a self-published version, much different from Blood-Bound Oath). At that time, the Kid B. series was looser, jokier, and not nearly as focused dramatically as it is now. The artwork was much cruder too. I was working on Roland when I signed with Bowler Hat Comics but had to put it on hold as I redid book one. At the time, I figured I’d be way ahead of the game when book two came around since I already had so much of it done.
When I came back to Roland after Blood-Bound Oath, I realized that a good chunk of what I had already done was completely unusable. Not only were some of the plot points going to be different, but my art style had changed considerably during that time and I just didn’t feel comfortable using some of the older art. Only 60 pages were still usable from the 176 pages I had already done for Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland. So all that time I thought I gained for already having done book 2? Bogus.
The part I just completed was Chapter 3 in the first draft, and was originally published as a stand-alone preview book for Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland. I didn’t have time to redraw the entire chapter, so I decided to keep 20 pages or so and integrate it with the new story. This chapter effectively becomes the the bridge between my old, “chunkier” style and where it’s at now. There were a couple of pages that featured Beowulf and Grendel that I needed to redo entirely, simply because they were too “off-model” (Grendel in particular, has slimmed down A LOT). Below are comparison shots (click to enlarge):
Maybe one day the “never before seen” footage from the first draft of Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland will see the light of day (for those of you who are really curious you can find some of it in the Ambition Studios Anthology). For now, it will remain hidden, tucked away, and visible only in certain spots of the new and improved version.
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