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Home Blogs Newt and John - Early Concept Designs to Final Characters Submitted by Mike on Sat, 06/30/2007 - 02:56. Hi Everyone, When I started this site, I wanted to have a small gallery of concept sketches of "Newt and John"...showing the various designs I created, that evolved into the final characters. I finally had some time to put it together today, so I've gathered many of the earliest quick-sketches I did when trying to get a 'feel' for the characters several years ago. I included some early reference images, the first Flash Designs, and other details. All of the designs should load up in the long Jpeg image below this blog entry. Many of the early concepts were just quick thumbnail sketches in the first stages. Then, when I could see where the characters were going, I'd spend more time on the poses, and expressions, to give the characters personalities. Newt evolved quicker than John. I knew his design would likely be simplified to the basic shapes. Initially, Newt started out as John's pet, and walked on all-fours. I figured if I was going to have any real dialogue, or create fun adventures with the characters, the 'all-fours' pose would be really limiting. As soon as I had Newt walking upright, his personality came out... and the design improved. I tried different eye styles, but the good old 'cartoony eyes' seemed the most suitable... and matched what I was designing with John. When Newt's design was brought into Flash, I gave him a smooth and clean flowing line design, where all lines lead back up to the character's eyes and mouth.... which is where all of the emotion and personality is shown. Newt's colouring is based on a pet newt I had when I was a kid. There are really only 2 colours that I know of for newts. "Firebelly Newts" which are black with an orange belly, and these green 'speckled' newts, with bright orange spots on their back... which is the more suitable colour choice for a cartoon character. I gave him a lighter green belly to define the front side edge of his body, which helps define his 'front' when he's in various bent poses. John took more time to work out. It was his face that I just wasn't happy with... that is, until I put the glasses on. As soon as he was wearing glasses, his eyes weren't too far apart around his spherical head, and there was a lot more 'character' there. I also wanted John to be the 'Brainy Scientist', so the glasses, and little bow-tie seemed to suit him well. In the early sketches, I went through so many big-head / simple body designs. I wanted John's arms and legs to be a single bent line, as I knew they'd be built in Flash, and a single line is very easy to bend into any pose. This concept made the most sense for his design, since ants have very thin legs. John's colouring is obviously based on a red ant. There are only so many ant colours... black, brown, or red. I could have made him purple, blueish or another more cartoony colour, like the ants in Pixar's "A Bug's Life" for example, but knowing that red is a complimentary colour of Newt's green, it seemed like a reddish brown colour was the right choice. When I designed these characters, I thought I'd do something right away with them... but life and work got in the way. It wasn't until a while ago that I felt I needed a new 'creative outlet' while working on my daily animation work. I was going through the many sketches in my "Idea Drawer" again, and I thought if I created a comic series with Newt and John, it would be a fun way to do something different that I haven't done before... as most times when I've designed a character, it's for animation projects. It's been great to be able to write creatively again, and have some fun with the dialogue. I hope you've enjoyed it too. Cheers, Mike Hogue - June 30th / 2007 » Mike's blog Newt and John Promoted on PLASQ "Comic Life" Website! Submitted by Mike on Thu, 06/21/2007 - 01:11. Hi Everyone, I just wanted to announce that "Newt and John" have just been promoted on the official website of the company that makes the comic software I use! The company is called "Plasq" and they make the "Comic Life" software that is bundled with ilife on Mac Computers, and they've just released a Windows Beta version as well. I sent them a link to my site, and they really liked what I've done with their software, so they wanted to talk about it. The first 3 comics I've released (at least) will be shown in their gallery for their products as well. Take a look at the blog on the left-hand side, at the following link: www.plasq.com ....and if you're visiting Newt and John from the Plasq website, thanks for taking a look at the first few episodes, and we'll see you again on Monday for the next issue of Newt and John! Cheers! ~ Mike H. » Mike's blog All Systems Go! Submitted by Mike on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 22:01. Thanks for taking the time to check out the new website! This Weblog is where you'll find updates on the projects I have going on...as well as my general ramblings. This website has taken some time to get ready, but I think it has turned out just great. Pierre Marcel of www.imageryfusion.com has taken my custom artwork and animation files, along with an art layout guide I created for him (image to the left), and literally matched the guide block by block. He's got me singing the praises of 'Drupal'! (Which for the non-techies out there is the open-source website design database that this site is running on!) It's great to be able to update this site in sections without needing to over-write the entire site each time. So, I suppose I should explain where the name of the comic came from.... well, yes, I did find myself watching the movie "Grease" a lot when I was a kid. That's what happens when you grow up with sisters. Most of the boys my age had a thing for either Farah Fawcett or Olivia Newton-John. I think I chose wisely. But there's more to it than that... The name actually was something else I remembered from my childhood. My Dad had 3 pet newts in an aquarium... "Olivia", "Newt" and "John". Those newts lasted for around 15 years in a small aquarium! Anyways, the names just stuck in my memory, and when I designed the 'Newt' character a few years ago, I knew that I had to create 'John' as well. I sketched them out on several pieces of paper to get a feel for the designs, but in the end, they just ended up in the 'idea drawer' of my desk. I found them again not too long ago and thought now is the time to start a new series. So... here you go! I'll post in this blog when I can. Each new comic will have an 'Artist's Commentary' underneath, so check those out for info about what went into each episode. If you like what you see on the site, then bring a friend next time you visit! Now that the characters are established in the first episode, I can really start to have some fun with them. I'll see you again, Mike Hogue » Mike's blog
Website News! A Brand New Comic Series!... A Brand New Website!... and all you had to do was show up! THANKS FOR READING NEWT AND JOHN! While you're here, take a look at all the previous episodes in the Archive, and check out the fan club on Facebook! Thanks for for telling your friends about Newt and John! *** Members of the ONLINE COMICS Website, can CLICK HERE to add this comic to their list of favorites! Members of the WEBCOMICZ Website, CLICK HERE to VOTE for Newt and John! Thanks for your support! * NEWT AND JOHN EARLY CONCEPT ART TO FINAL DESIGNS For anyone interested, I've put together a Newt and John gallery of "Concept Sketches to the Final Designs" in my Blog section... including the earliest sketches, Flash Designs and a write-up of the thought process, that lead up to the final comic characters! You can read more by clicking the thumbnail image below, or click HERE Enjoy! * COOL NEWS! "Newt and John" were promoted on the official website for the "Comic Life" software I use to create the comic! The "Plasq" company is very enthusiastic about what I've produced with their product, and posted a 'blog' entry, and added Newt and John to their Comic Life "Gallery" on their main company website: www.plasq.com You can read more about it on this website in my 'BLOG' section... where I've archived a screenshot of the Plasq Blog. *** If you'd like a Newt and John Banner to place on your Comic Website, here you go! 88 x 31 Pixels You can find larger sized banners in the 'Downloads' Section of this website. I just wanted to say a special thanks to Pierre Marcel of www.imageryfusion.com for arranging all of my artwork into this great interactive website! Get in touch with Pierre if you have a site of your own you'd like to improve! And thanks to you for checking out my Comic, returning for new epsiodes ... and passing a link on to your friends! - Mike	JOIN THE FACEBOOK FAN CLUB! Newt and John are on Facebook! Click the logo below to join the Fan Club! There you can meet other readers, discuss the comics, and post links to your favorite episodes! Click this RSS Feed button to set up your computer so you'll know when each new comic is online! ABOUT THE ARTIST Click HERE for Mike's Biography Mike's Other Websites View Mike's "Insanely Twisted Shadow Puppet" Animation at the following site: VISIT OUR SPONSORS WEBSITES! To advertise on this site, click on the ‘Project Wonderful’ links below the ads, to bid on that spot for your Banner.
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