Thursday, May 22, 2008

"Return To New York" #3 layouts

It's funny what you can find when you're looking for something else. I was going through some big manila folders the other day looking for a particular piece of artwork, and stumbled on something I had forgotten.



It's a book of layouts for the third issue of the "Return to New York" three-part arc in the original Volume 1 "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" comic. What's particularly curious about this artifact is that these layouts contain roughly equal parts me and Kevin -- we had decided that, after he laid out the fist RTNY book and I laid out the second one, we would share the duties on this third issue. The way we did it, as I recall, is that he would focus on the Leo vs. the Shredder stuff and I would deal with the other Turtles in their battle with the Shredder mutants and the rest of the Foot.



I actually have no clear, specific memories of how we worked on this book of layouts, but it would appear that once we had agreed on the plot, and worked out which pages would deal with which scenarios, we passed this book back and forth between us and drew in it those layout designs that we came up with. (I suspect that I had done even rougher thumbnail layouts on some other pieces of paper somewhere -- maybe someday I'll stumble on those too).



Once this was done, these layouts were passed to Jim Lawson, who went ahead and did the full pencils (and did a great job on them, I might say), which Kevin then inked.








I'm going to put up the first few pages, and if there is enough interest in seeing the whole thing, I'll put up the rest of them. Please forgive the quality of a few of the images -- I used a digital camera rather than a scanner, and got a little camera shake on some of the pages. -- PL

16 comments:

  1. -->> ok ..this is archival / TMNT Museum stuff..

    ..like they've been sayin' ..a good premium, print to order coffee table book of this stuff would be beyond beautiful.

    ( The Camera pix aren't that bad. )

    Claw Shredder .. !!

    >v<

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  2. This is AMAZING!!!

    To echo Tokka: I would buy a replica book of the entire thing!

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  3. I love seeing this sort of thing. They're beautiful.

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  4. These are wonderful-- I *love* seeing the process and how this all came together.
    (RTNY #3 happens to be one of my all time favorite comics ever. I remember sitting at the counter at my Mom's house *squealing* like a teenager (I wasn't!) at Leo's redemption and my poor Mom gazing at me like I had totally lost it...)

    Oh yes-- I'd love to see more of these!

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  5. Now this is awesome!
    Yes rough sketch, early pencils, toy designs things like that would make for an amazing book or series of books.
    I'm with everyone else.

    Also the Shredder Clone's are top choice for figures by Neca. :)

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  6. This is awesome, thank you so much for sharing it with us!

    I agree, a replica of this is something I would most definately purchase

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  7. Stuff like this, assuming it was published in it's original format and not altered, would make for an amazing book that I'd buy in a heartbeat. We've gotten a great nice TMNT book from Kevin, but I'd LOVE to see something like that put together by you, Pete. Maybe not just roughs, either... I'd love to see a collection of merch development art, unapproved designs, rough page layouts, old photos, etc.

    As for posting more on your blog, yes please! (But DO consider publishing a big fatty book, because my coffee table will forever be naked without one).

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  8. I always love the "behind the scenes" work that creators and people in the industry can always provide!
    Awesome job!
    Your work rocks!

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  9. This is amazing. Honestly, I would also be one of what I imagine many who would pick up a replica book of this!!

    And please, please upload the rest've the pages! There is in fact one page in particular that I would love to see, one that I won offa Steve Lavigne a while back on ebay, hope you dont mind me posting a link, its on my flickr account:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/7722255@N06/2497249859/

    And although I haven't made any comments on any of your other posts, i'm coming on here everyday to check out what's what, and am loving everything I see so far. I also dig the non TMNT stuff, its great!!

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  10. Another vote for more please!

    Funilly enough I was going through some old boxes of work material yesterday (my old desks tend to get packed up by others as I move from site office to site office at a moments notice) I don't find anything cool like this.... I want your desk.

    Great layouts from a fantastic story!

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  11. Pete, keep this stuff comin'. I also agree with anyone who says they want this stuff in book form. I will gladly hand my money over for it.

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  12. I like it because I've over the years liked to show my students the PLANNING processes in all forms of writing-- especially in making comics. I, too, would buy a published version of this.

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  13. Would love to see more. As someone who was too young to get the early TMNT stuff when it came out, I'm definitely interested!

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  14. The best thing about your blog is that you make us fans feel as though we are standing in the room with you as you create. Thank you. I remember buying the issue when it hit the shelves. Incerdibleness.

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