POLIS: The Trial of Socrates
Almost two weeks ago, I made a post here asking for help in choosing an artist for my upcoming historical graphic novel. Down to the top four applicants, the response from the Steemit community was nearly unanimous. I agreed with your choice, though I had some waffling hesitation. While I don't doubt the artist's talent, part of me wondered if, down the road, I might think the grass could have been somewhat greener with a different choice.
I told Gian he was the perfect fit and I wanted to work with him. I paid to get started on some character sketches, and he sent some back, though they are not yet finished. (His speed is totally fine. I am not in a big rush.)
I informed the other artists that I had decided to go with someone else. One of these, Daniel Becker, asked if he could flesh out some characters and pages as a test-run, for free. If I liked what he did, we'd move forward. If not, no big deal.
Well, I figured why not?
First he sent some character sketches:
What I liked about these was Daniel's attempt to show these characters - not just what they look like, but what they look like in a range of emotions. Pretty cool!
Then he sent me several rough sketches for pages. Totally rough - and yet, I could easily visualize what's going on, and it looked pretty awesome. This one is a spread:
A couple days later, he sends me this nearly finished draft:
I've gotta say, I'm pretty blown away. (For any history buffs out there, this is a scene from Xenophon's Hellenica where Theramenes accuses Critias of improprieties... and Critias has him arrested.)
Maybe it's unfair to ask you to make a comparison between these two artists, since Daniel has gotten a lot further into the development than Gian. But talk to me! Should I go with Daniel instead? Or am I being blinded by something?
Here's the script page in case you want to see what he was working off of:
Thanks for your support and any feedback! I hope you'll stick around and watch it all come together.