Out this week from Titan Comics is the worldwide release of Rivers of London Deadly Ever After, a brand-new graphic novel set in the world of the best-selling Rivers of London novel series, written by Sunday Times bestselling author Ben Aaronovitch. The 112-page graphic novel is by Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel & Celeste Bronfman, with art by José María Beroy involving an enchantment breaking accidentally in the woods bringing to life deadly fairy tales from a mysterious old book.
To celebrate, Titan has sent AIPT an exclusive inside look at the art process of the comic from artist José María Beroy. Read the comments below, or read along with your very own copy which is available to order now.
Rivers of London Deadly Ever After commentary by José María Beroy:
It is too tempting to compare drawing comics with directing movies, although it is not accurate. However, the truth is that the artist must take into account many things when putting the scriptwriter’s instructions into practice, and sometimes what is not described is just as important as that which is detailed in the script.
Visual narrative choices, character design and acting, sets, raccord between panels, documentation on times and places are examples of that.
There are lots of decisions to be made, but that’s exactly why I enjoy being a graphic novel illustrator.
1: On many occasions, there are discrepancies between the sketch and the final result of a page: last-minute adjustments are made, many times caused by tight deadlines.
2: Comedy-inducing dialogue can add an extra dimension to a scene, even if it is a very dramatic one.
3: For instance, Rivers of London: Deadly Ever After is full of situations where we get emotional in one panel only to be amazed or amused in the next… Or even all at once!
4: This time Peter and Inspector Nightingale are protagonists in only a few panels, although their appearance surely did not go unnoticed!
5: My style of drawing depends a lot on the final color, and I don’t usually add too many shadows in the pencil drawing so, whenever I can, I add gray shadows to the inks to make it easier for the colorist to light them up, although I don’t always have time to do it.
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