'Tara Normal' gets graphic: On the background

Each week artist Howie Noel, creator of online comic heroine and savvy paranormal pop-culture investigator Tara Normal, checks in with a "making-of" blog entry about his upcoming graphic novel, Tara Normal and the Case of the Boyfriend Robbers From Outer Space. Howie uses this space to give a first look at artwork and to update readers on the pain and suffering of writing a full-length comic book. When not blogging, Howie also contributes a special edition of the Tara Normal strip to TAPS Paramagazine and spends way too much time on Twitter @hcnoel.

'Tara Normal' graphic novel: Background info

Page One for my graphic novel seemed like it was going to be so simple. It turned out to be more complicated when I began to color it this week. I wanted the art to set up a mood for the opening of the book and hopefully the sample art I provided with this blog entry does that.

The shape of the comic panel itself is influenced by the widescreen look of films. I see the story ideas play out in my mind like a movie so for the graphic novel, I felt a cinematic format would work best. I'm influenced by film and TV heavily as a visual artist and I hope this panel shows a dramatic quality in terms of setting and tone.

For the Tara Normal webcomic, I mostly focus on drawing characters' faces and expressions. But for the graphic novel, I have set a goal to make the backgrounds and settings equally as important to enhance the story's cinematic feel.

So what do you think? Any movie that this panel reminds you of?

Next week I'll share a little bit about how music helps me write and draw!