The Resonator by Prentis Rollins

Randomly borrowed this from the library because it looked interesting. After reading this, I have developed an even higher capacity for respecting comic book/graphic novel artists. The Resonator is a two-sided feature that features a graphic novel (titled The Resonator) and its Making Of. Prentis Rollins is the author of both parts, and in the making of part, personally shows all the process he went through to compile the book, including preliminary design works from preproduction, thumbnails needed to lay out the orientation of panels, and the techniques and tricks he uses for actually doing the final version. Very informative and insightful, and the best part is that Rollins is the one writing everything so that all the information is straight from the horse’s mouth. My favourite part was when he showed pictures he got from an old Sears catalog and used it as inspiration for his own work. I also liked being able to compare the pencils to the final product.

The graphic novel itself is quite interesting, and pertains greatly to my interests because it’s of the sci-fi genre. It’s rendered completely in solid black and white, and everything from the lettering, inking, pencils, story, etc, are done by Rollins. No mean feat for one man with no assistants at all! The art is extremely detailed, and I can never get over the godly crosshatching skills of Rollins. The characters all have an edge of realism and seriousness to them as well, and can be pretty expressive. I personally quite like this style. To be honest, though, the story didn’t really immerse or captivate me, and I had no emotional responses to it. Nevertheless a good book to take a look at, but I recommend trying to get this at a library or borrowing from a friend before deciding to purchase. [Samples]