COffee Table Comics
Introduction: I have made it no secret that I have a huge affinity for Jason Brubaker’s work. I have followed his career for a few years now, and I am absolutely enamored with all that he does in and for the graphic novel community. If you need an introduction to what Jason has done check out his new website: www.coffeetablecomics.com.
This article will focus on what Jason is currently working on as he has shifted his efforts and energy to full-time, independent, and flat-out-awesome comics.
Project Sithrah and Patreon: When Jason announced that his next project was another independent book, I was ecstatic to say the least. After the critical and commercial success of reMIND, I was hoping that he would continue to create his own graphic novels. Jason followed up the brilliance of reMIND with the announcement of a new project called Sithrah. I was able to get my own copy of Sithrah Book I (available to read RIGHT NOW on WebToons for free), and it is truly an example of masterful storytelling. Sithrah has a story format that focuses on truly melding the illustrations and text together into one purposeful composition. However, even without the careful attention placed on text, the story views as an array of visceral colors that accentuate Jason’s deft line work.
I’d like to take a moment and dive a little deeper into Jason’s eye for color. The use color has always been an important storytelling component, and in Sithrah it really helps take the story to the next level. reMIND had a vast flowing color scheme that involved careful consideration for the spread, and not just the page. The same care and creativity flows through Sithrah, and that makes each page a joy to experience. Take a look at this panel below for example:
This article will focus on what Jason is currently working on as he has shifted his efforts and energy to full-time, independent, and flat-out-awesome comics.
Project Sithrah and Patreon: When Jason announced that his next project was another independent book, I was ecstatic to say the least. After the critical and commercial success of reMIND, I was hoping that he would continue to create his own graphic novels. Jason followed up the brilliance of reMIND with the announcement of a new project called Sithrah. I was able to get my own copy of Sithrah Book I (available to read RIGHT NOW on WebToons for free), and it is truly an example of masterful storytelling. Sithrah has a story format that focuses on truly melding the illustrations and text together into one purposeful composition. However, even without the careful attention placed on text, the story views as an array of visceral colors that accentuate Jason’s deft line work.
I’d like to take a moment and dive a little deeper into Jason’s eye for color. The use color has always been an important storytelling component, and in Sithrah it really helps take the story to the next level. reMIND had a vast flowing color scheme that involved careful consideration for the spread, and not just the page. The same care and creativity flows through Sithrah, and that makes each page a joy to experience. Take a look at this panel below for example:
Look at how the colors intertwine with one another to create the mood for the scene. Even without the text we can feel the cool of the water interacting with the warmth from the sunshine. The color temperature takes on character traits that deepen the storytelling experience, and allow the reader to instantly become immersed in the story. Take a look at any of the panels from Sithrah that have been posted so far, and you will be able to see exactly what I mean. I recently was able to pick up a fantastic art book from Pixar, the Art of the Incredibles. As with many of the Pixar art books it is an absolutely enamoring insight into the creation of a masterpiece, but the middle of the book features a unique portion that I found particularly interesting. In the middle there is a four page fold out of storyboarding sequences for the entire movie. While I am very familiar with the concept of storyboarding, I felt as though the view of every scene in the movie on a single poster-like image was mostly a novelty, that is until I examined it closer. You see, this was no ordinary storyboard that just depicted the actions of the movies, or the interaction between characters, no this was a color storyboard that charted the change in color from scene to scene. This idea struck me as absolute genius. How have I never done this before?! This view allows for the flow of colors to follow a pace and rhythm selected by the artist. While I do not know for sure that Jason uses this “color mapping” technique, it would certainly not surprise me if he did. In all of my future projects I plan on using a “color-map” to work off of to be sure I am achieving my desired pacing. Color choice is an important skill for every artist, and studying Jason’s work can help any aspiring artist learn the intricacies of color theory.
While there are many similarities in the use of color from reMIND to Sithrah, one of the major changes a reader will find in Sithrah is how Jason uses text to enhance composition and overall storytelling. This creative use of text completely breaks the mold for the traditional comic book format. Font style, size, shape, and color all play a major role in the composition of a page. In Todd McFarlane’s retrospective (I highly recommend watching this to any comic book fan or artist) he talks about the time when he took over his own Spider-Man project for Marvel. He was writing, drawing, and inking this monthly comic book, and Todd had some ground rules that he wanted to make sure he enforced in every issue. The one, in particular, that reminds me of Jason’s work is when Todd speaks on the importance of lettering. Todd wanted to make sure the lettering was just as important of a component as anything else in the book, and this was a crucial idea that has resonated with many artists. Todd, specifically, paid attention to the use of sound effects, and how that added a “soundtrack” to the story. Jason, takes the text and adds a literary component to graphic novels. For me personally, I find this literary component endearing, and inspiring. I use some of the techniques that Jason does in my own work, and I think this trend is something that would be great for the graphic novel community. I enjoy seeing text incorporated in a narrative fashion into the negative space of the composition, and this exponentially increases the type of page structure we get to see as viewers. Jason breaks the mold with his storytelling techniques, but this is not the only way in which he breaks the mold.
Jason has frequently been on cutting edge of programs and project websites, and with Sithrah he was able to find success in a relatively new online crowdfunding platform: Patreon.
Patreon is an interesting crowdfunding website, in that, it focuses more on the creation process and not just the final product. Frequently, Kickstarter is more of a means to fund the printing of a finished graphic novel or comic book, but with Patreon you can help fund the actual grind of creation. This, at the time Patreon started, was a difficult concept for people to wrap their mind’s around, especially, after they had become so accustomed to Kickstarter. Because of this, Jason was not only using Patreon for funding, but he had to help explain to people how it worked.
While there are many similarities in the use of color from reMIND to Sithrah, one of the major changes a reader will find in Sithrah is how Jason uses text to enhance composition and overall storytelling. This creative use of text completely breaks the mold for the traditional comic book format. Font style, size, shape, and color all play a major role in the composition of a page. In Todd McFarlane’s retrospective (I highly recommend watching this to any comic book fan or artist) he talks about the time when he took over his own Spider-Man project for Marvel. He was writing, drawing, and inking this monthly comic book, and Todd had some ground rules that he wanted to make sure he enforced in every issue. The one, in particular, that reminds me of Jason’s work is when Todd speaks on the importance of lettering. Todd wanted to make sure the lettering was just as important of a component as anything else in the book, and this was a crucial idea that has resonated with many artists. Todd, specifically, paid attention to the use of sound effects, and how that added a “soundtrack” to the story. Jason, takes the text and adds a literary component to graphic novels. For me personally, I find this literary component endearing, and inspiring. I use some of the techniques that Jason does in my own work, and I think this trend is something that would be great for the graphic novel community. I enjoy seeing text incorporated in a narrative fashion into the negative space of the composition, and this exponentially increases the type of page structure we get to see as viewers. Jason breaks the mold with his storytelling techniques, but this is not the only way in which he breaks the mold.
Jason has frequently been on cutting edge of programs and project websites, and with Sithrah he was able to find success in a relatively new online crowdfunding platform: Patreon.
Patreon is an interesting crowdfunding website, in that, it focuses more on the creation process and not just the final product. Frequently, Kickstarter is more of a means to fund the printing of a finished graphic novel or comic book, but with Patreon you can help fund the actual grind of creation. This, at the time Patreon started, was a difficult concept for people to wrap their mind’s around, especially, after they had become so accustomed to Kickstarter. Because of this, Jason was not only using Patreon for funding, but he had to help explain to people how it worked.
It was about the time that his Patreon account started to take off that things started changing drastically for Jason. Similar to his methods on reMIND, Jason had started putting up panels of Sithrah up online for free with plans to kickstart another book after he was finished. He continued his work at Dreamworks, until he was approached by an up and coming online comic website: Webtoons.
Webtoons: Webtoons is a company that, basically, specializes in doing what Jason has been doing all along. They have multiple series and genres of webcomics, and have scheduled updates for each story (most of them on a weekly basis). The idea at the core of this website mirrored what Jason was doing in his professional part-time comics work. Jason was balancing Dreamworks, freelance work, and his own work on Sithrah when Webtoons offered him a paid position as a regular contributor to their site.
It was at this point that Jason made the boldest move of his career. Jason left his job at Dreamworks and moved from California back to Idaho to turn Coffee Table Comics into his full time job. Jason’s plan was to use the new platform of Webtoons, the backing of Patreon, and his Storenvy site to back the start up and operation of his new full time company. Jason is smack dab in the middle of finding success upon his newly selected platform right now. At the time of this article Jason is receiving hundreds of likes per upload for Sithrah on Webtoons, and sporting an impressive 9.29 overall rating. If you follow him on Twitter you will also notice that Coffee Table Comics is now a Podcast available on iTunes. There seems to be no limit to what Coffee Table Comics is able to achieve, and as viewers and artists we owe Jason a great deal of respect for all that he does as a creator.
The Future and Coffee Table Comics: Creator is probably the best single word to describe what Jason Brubaker is, and because of this I truly believe that he is in the upper echelon of creators currently working in the field today. The official Coffee Table Comics website is up and running right now! Seriously, take some and explore all the Jason has to offer. He has some great newsletter options to sign up for that will keep you up to date on all the Coffee Table Comics projects. Sithrah is available on Webtoons, and uploads every Monday. Sithrah is a one of a kind graphic novel experience that is unfolding right before our very eyes, and if you are not an avid follower yet I highly recommend it.
Webtoons: Webtoons is a company that, basically, specializes in doing what Jason has been doing all along. They have multiple series and genres of webcomics, and have scheduled updates for each story (most of them on a weekly basis). The idea at the core of this website mirrored what Jason was doing in his professional part-time comics work. Jason was balancing Dreamworks, freelance work, and his own work on Sithrah when Webtoons offered him a paid position as a regular contributor to their site.
It was at this point that Jason made the boldest move of his career. Jason left his job at Dreamworks and moved from California back to Idaho to turn Coffee Table Comics into his full time job. Jason’s plan was to use the new platform of Webtoons, the backing of Patreon, and his Storenvy site to back the start up and operation of his new full time company. Jason is smack dab in the middle of finding success upon his newly selected platform right now. At the time of this article Jason is receiving hundreds of likes per upload for Sithrah on Webtoons, and sporting an impressive 9.29 overall rating. If you follow him on Twitter you will also notice that Coffee Table Comics is now a Podcast available on iTunes. There seems to be no limit to what Coffee Table Comics is able to achieve, and as viewers and artists we owe Jason a great deal of respect for all that he does as a creator.
The Future and Coffee Table Comics: Creator is probably the best single word to describe what Jason Brubaker is, and because of this I truly believe that he is in the upper echelon of creators currently working in the field today. The official Coffee Table Comics website is up and running right now! Seriously, take some and explore all the Jason has to offer. He has some great newsletter options to sign up for that will keep you up to date on all the Coffee Table Comics projects. Sithrah is available on Webtoons, and uploads every Monday. Sithrah is a one of a kind graphic novel experience that is unfolding right before our very eyes, and if you are not an avid follower yet I highly recommend it.