| This is Chad Jones, the editor for Hybrid. Hybrid was a great project to work
on for a number of reasons, not the least of which being to work with
penciler Pablo Churin. We went through number of page tests with different artists,
and from page one, we knew that Pablo was going to knock it out of the park.
This was his first professional gig in the States, but you wouldn't have known
that considering the work he's done. Hybrid was a difficult tone to nail
visually. Horror is a tricky genre in comics. Hybrid is, with the exception of the
creature, a very grounded story. And Pablo's style added a touch of realism
and detail that helped to make Hybrid work.
He had a real good sense of what he needed to do to bring the script to life.
Just take a look at the prolog in the first couple of pages to know what I
mean. We go from water landscape to industrial setting to subtle clouds.
Pablo's inks really take his pencils to the next level.
Add to that Shipeng Lee's moody colors, and it was easy to see that we'd put
together a great team for the project.
In page two, we get to see a bit of how Pablo would handle the action in the
script. This is a simple scene and Pablo was able to get just right sense of
panic in the eyes of the diver and his body language.
A few subtle tweaks and we were ready for inks and colors.
As we get introduced to the main characters of the story in pages 3 and 4,
Pablo really started to get into a groove.
The changes Pablo made between the pencils and inks are really subtle, but he
worked really hard to keep the characters consistent throughout the book.
And Shipeng did a great job with this book.
It's easy to focus on the minutia of a project and forget how talented he is.
He took all of our comments in stride and pushed himself harder and harder to
make sure the book was a good as it could be.
Not to pick on Pablo, but check out the giganto chin on the character Ross in
the last panel of this page! Once again, it's a subtle change from the
pencils to the inks to keep it from ever getting too cartoonish. And it's that kind
of dedication and attention to detail that I really appreciated in working
with Pablo.
And for the colors we'd been dealing with a lot of blues and grays over the
last few pages. Between the underwater and the rain. And as we're introduced to
one of the main characters of the book, the Scooner, Shipeng really was able
to shift gears from a visual storytelling stand point. And like all good
horror stories, setting up the calm before the storm.
And what penciller doesn't want to draw crowds of people! Here we're
introduced to Carrie, the group's sexpot. And I assure you that Pablo very much
enjoyed drawing her throughout the book.
And the finished inks and colors.
I have to say that I really enjoyed working with Pablo on this project. Even
now, as we're wrapping the inks on the final issue, Pablo never slowed down.
He gave it his all throughout this book and it really shows.
Find out more about this comic at Studio 407.
Comment on The making of HYBRID. |
