Julius Caesar is here!

My first book.

What a lovely day Thursday the 3rd of July 2008 has been. This afternoon, the sun shined brightly and the weather was fine as the intercom to my apartment rang. It was the postman on his bicycle with a very special delivery for me, my first graphic novel. Manga Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is here. I am so happy to see the final form.

Go out, stay in, order the book, pull yourself up against a quiet spot by the window, or tuck yourselves in bed and read away. Let me know what you think, and most importantly, enjoy Shakespeare’s great and ambitious play.

^_^


- Manga Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar by Mustashrik is available to buy at all good book stores such as Borders or Waterstones and online via Amazon and Play.


Mustashrik. Copyright 2008.

Lucilius.

A wonderful little boy
Blessed with a joyous soul
Singing and dancing
Wherever it is he may go

A great little seed
For the future of the world
Smiling and skipping
To the very end of the road

A loyal little one
A brave little one
A beautiful soul
This seed is their life's hope


Mustashrik. Copyright 2008.
Character from Julius Caesar.

*Desktop wallpaper for you my friends

Julius Caesar coming June 2008

Ruby Blue.

Hey there,

News front is open, and it looks like this, my first book is finally done and ready to rock and roll for publication and a summer release this June! It’s all very exciting, yet at the same time surreal to be happening so fast. Julius Caesar has been something I’ve been working on for about 5 months and invested a lot of myself in physically and emotionally, in regards to the time spent visualizing it all and the metaphorical symbols and characterizations. I sincerely hope you like it and would like to thank everyone whom has supported me along the way, this book is for you.

Here’s a look at the cover artwork they’ve decided to run with for the first print, paperback edition. The colours are an artistic collaboration with fellow Manga Shakespeare visionary Robert Deas, whom is also putting an amazing re-imagining out on the shelves at the same time with the classic Macbeth (look out for it too!). Thank you Robert for the last minute pitch in.

So what does Caesar mean to me and what do I hope it means for you…To me it very much reflects a feeling of peace, redemption, sanctity and friendship. That all these themes are present in the story itself I hope is something you connect with, and realise the fragility of. Life is precious, enjoy every moment of it.




Official Publishers book information: http://www.selfmadehero.com/manga_shakespeare/titles/julius_caesar.html

Production Blog : http://mangashakespeare-mustashrik.blogspot.com/


Mustashrik. Copyright 2008.

Crystal tears

A vision of Brutus from the manga, i've isolated all the other panels that appeared on this page so I don't give away too much in regards to what moment this is in the story...He smiles, as he closes his eyes.

Mustashrik. Copyright 2008

Caesar Ends

End of the road.

It's the 1st of April, and right on the dot, stepping over the line, Julius Caesar has finished production at 01.45am in the morning. All the pages are ready, and everything is winding down. It's a strange feeling, maybe this is what it feels like for parents when they finally see their children leave for college or university.

I'll write a retrospective sometime this week, but for now, I leave you with this image of the character Pindarus and these words of Shakespeare which captures the entire atmosphere of his play perfectly.

'This was a man'


Mustashrik. Copyright 2008

Times are a changing

Final Act.

Twenty four hours to go to deadline, 18 pages left, it's been emotionally as well as physically exhausting as creative journey's go, I will miss all these characters as they one by one go - Like people in my life, slowly drifting into a new path, but never forgotten.

The soundtrack to the final sequence of Julius Caesar : Times Are a Changing, by A Whisper in the Noise. Originally written by Bob Dylan.

As I write this, and listen to this song, on a rainy and blue silent night (03:15am), Cassius is drawn in his last act. His tears speckle out into the air, ' I am sorry for all the wrongs I have done'.

R.I.P Cassius.


Mustashrik. Copyright 2008

The long road home.

Hello again everyone, bonjour, hola, salut.

It’s been a while since I blogged anything on the production of Julius Caesar as I have been m.i.a for sometime now on other ventures and productions. One of which you can see the gloriousness from the link below.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=m0jik2Vd88g

You can read more about it over on the main hub blog.

Right, so now that I have explained that, let’s talk Manga Shakespeare and what lies ahead in the tracks of March. Well ahead is about one hundred and twenty pages of finished narrative…That’s right, deadline looms, and it’s approaching ever so soon. In short I have to complete this by April. But now that I’ve finished up on my other endeavours for the time being, the way is paved so I can make it all happen without hurting myself too much and still sticking to that initial vision that came to me when thinking of a new take on the bards play.

Julius Caesar is by no doubts an epic parade, a beast of a machine, and so layered in subtext/implication that it just get’s me excited every time I read it. It really is a brilliant book to be on. Richard, our text adapter is doing a great job at editing down the vast array of dialogue into manageable chunks, but even still it’s tricky as the proceedings are very text heavy. I really wish I had some more pages, some slack and leeway to let the sequences breathe, but alas, like film or animation directing, you make a deal with the screenplay and just get on with problem solving it all. The trick is rather to flesh out the drama/action from what is being said by the characters, and try keep that fresh and new for the reader twenty pages later. For me on this, is and always will be the drive of making it all seem like it’s a world which has a history before these events portrayed, and a life after it happens. As Brad Bird says, story, story, story, and I agree whole heartedly.

The characters relationships should seem tangible, to make them believable, as real despite how unreal their setting/scenario might be. How do I do this? As always, personal experience is the key to understanding something. I draw on aspects of my own life, my own experiences and flesh/fuse them into all the characters and its world. There are symbols and pointers which tie people to one another, there are metaphorical interpretations of places which adhere to a certain memory or locale which reminds me of a time or place similar to what I believe the context of the play is suggesting.

I’ll leave you with this piece of artwork from the book, a look at some of my really loose thumbnails. Keep on dreaming dreamers, the moon she waits for you.


Mustashrik. Copyright 2008.

Scribble with love.

Creating a narrative world and characters for anything I do, and with this adaptation of Caesar, comes from understanding the subject, and fully absorbing the source material. Once you are able to understand the matter and its subtext, everything blooms in your mind. For me, it’s about making it personal, about being one with the piece, and recognizing it as part of who you are rather than a process.

Here is a rare look at the very first concept marks which defined the characters Brutus, Cassius and Metellus Cimber. Ten to fifteen seconds in producing, a lifetime in consideration, and these simple marks are the essence of the characters, confirming in the mind their personalities through physique. And that’s it, just a few swishes of ink.

Find what you love, and use it as your drive in life.



Mustashrik. Copyright 2008

Session 02

Ink dripped dreams.

For Caesar, being a dark tale, what better tool to use than the Japanese brush pen, something which I have brought into my work since introducing it there about two years ago. If you look at the short story ‘Never Forget’ that’s published in Mammoths Book of Best New Manga Volume 2, which was crafted in 2005, years before it’s publication in 2007 you can get a glance at how far down the yellow brick road I may be running, can you see me there? I may be wearing a trilby.

To me, the brush sings like a dream, it’s such an expressive instrument which is more like an extension of your feelings than an object by which to make a mark with. I’ve always loved the art of sumi-e and Japanese calligraphy, and find it a form of Zen. What’s your favourite mark making toy I wonder, and why? Think about it. Also, on that note, go back to just using a big red crayon, you’ll love it. Nothing beats nostalgia.

Photographed here, on a table is only a glance of the amount of them I’ve been through to get the first 69 and cover/concept arts down. I’m planning on holding onto every used refill, pen, nib, from now on until the end of production to show you just how much passion is going into this. Bon appétit.



Mustashrik. Copyright 2008

Session 01

Julius Caesar, the manga.

Since the end of last November 2007 I have been working on a very special, exciting and truly emotionally immersed project. That project is a 208 page, original, graphic novel adaptation of the great bard William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar. One of the next in line to be published in Self Made Hero’s series of existing books; this truly is a re-imagining worth getting excited about, especially if you have a love for stories bathed in consequence of human action. Covering themes of heightened tension, conspiracy, turmoil, treachery, regret, remorse, sacrifice, love, loss, revenge and redemption, Julius Caesar is no stroll in the park, but a barrage of darkness. At its core, this is perhaps one of the more character driven plays Shakespeare has written, and features an ensemble cast of the likes no one will imagine coming. There won’t be a Decius, a Cassius, young Casca, old man Cinna, brother Metellus Cimber, protagonist Brutus, and Caesar himself in any other take you’ll see like the one I’ve crafted here with the support of the brilliant publishers bringing out these brave books.

Having created everything from the ground up in this new world of Caesar, (from the Capitol square to the desert bikes and a setting loosely inspired by our current political climate, merged with the land of my dreams that lives within me) this journey I’m crafting for each character I hope will amplify the messages and themes of the original script and perhaps capture it’s allegory for life, whilst representing the classic tale with enough justice and dignity as all the other versions before it.

To this date at the beginning of the New Year, 2008, since starting the first sequential image on November 28th 2007, on the midnight clock striking December 29th, all interior pages up to 69 have been completed. Right now, everyday that I am awake, everyday I am asleep, dreaming, breathing, I am living in the land of Caesar, side by side with all the characters, feeling their trails and tribulations and watching Brutus’s life slowly crumble in his palms. Like I mentioned earlier on, emotionally exhausting. I am there.

I’ll be commentating on the production of Manga Shakespeare’s Caesar from here on out every now and then when there’s some downtime over at the newly created sister blog below, so please do drop by to catch up on the machinations of the brush.

http://mangashakespeare-mustashrik.blogspot.com/

Nothing less than a 100%, exit stage right.




Mustashrik. Copyright 2008