GD "Graphic Novel" Collab

[JohannaRaeRamone.]

Yeah, something like that. Or maybe Tunny can be someone from the Holiday-gang, with whom JOS partied and stuff. They both left Random Shittown (Suburbia in JOS's case, who knows where the other Holiday people came from), and Tunny made it while JOS has, well, nothing really anymore. And JOS was bugging Tunny to help him or something like that. The line "I haven't drank or smoked nothing in over 22 days" confuses me, though. Not drinking or smoking doesn't seem like the rock'n'roll life. I can't really explain that line, so that it works with the rest of Rock'n'Roll Girlfriend. The only thing I can think of that remotely makes sense is that his girlfriend forbids him to smoke/drink, and that gets on Tunny's nerves, but that's just really random and doesn't fill in with the rest of Tunny's story. I think Tunny's letter isn't completely "look how good my rock'n'roll life is", that it also has a hint of that it's actually not all that good. I don't really know exactly why. But it fits. Also that after JOS reads Tunny's letter, he realizes the that everyone he used to be friends with or whatever, just desperately wanted to live ("desperation murmur of a heartbeat"). etc etc.

Yep, exactly. He's back where he's started, but he's learned some important life lessons.

I really like this idea of Rock N Roll Girlfriend. I think he hasn't drank or smoked a thing because he's already hit the wall with that stuff and is now being told by all sides that he needs to knock it off. Also I think it can't be "Tunny", just because we dont want to infringe on the musical. But regardless.

So now I guess what's left to decide is whether the home he returns to is his mothers house or simply an earnest, fresh state of mind. Does he go back to face her and his embarassment and shame or does he start off again on his own. (Thus going straight to rehab)

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

I really like this idea of Rock N Roll Girlfriend. I think he hasn't drank or smoked a thing because he's already hit the wall with that stuff and is now being told by all sides that he needs to knock it off. Also I think it can't be "Tunny", just because we dont want to infringe on the musical. But regardless.

So now I guess what's left to decide is whether the home he returns to is his mothers house or simply an earnest, fresh state of mind. Does he go back to face her and his embarassment and shame or does he start off again on his own. (Thus going straight to rehab)

Yeah, but that doesn't really fit with the "look at my awesome life, something you don't have"-vibe of the rest of the letter. That's kind of what causes my confusion. But maybe it's just a way to make clear that his rock'n'roll life isn't all shiny and good.

Oh, I'm just calling him Tunny because in the booklet the letter is from Tunny, and Tunny is easier to write than "the writer of that letter". We probably don't even need to name or identify the letter-writer.

I think he goes back to Suburbia, but not to his mom's. He got away from that environment and has learnt from his journey. He is back at his home base, but refreshed, with new insights, so I think he has his own apartment or something. I think mom and his old punk gang etc have completely disappeared off the picture, whether literal or from JOS's life. Suburbia is cleansed, or something like that. I don't think rehab is necessary. Song!Whatsername (and the end of Homecoming as well) is kind of his rehab. Just a journal JOS writes.

[Punk-tastic32]

Yeah, but that doesn't really fit with the "look at my awesome life, something you don't have"-vibe of the rest of the letter. That's kind of what causes my confusion. But maybe it's just a way to make clear that his rock'n'roll life isn't all shiny and good.

Epipha-idea: What if his life is so awesome that he doesn't need to drink or smoke anything?

That way, it solves our problem and "provides life lessons for young readers"

(love the phrasing xD)

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

I just read the last of the St. Jimmy SOTW thread, which got me thinking about the Death of St. Jimmy part. I think in that part, a lot of things happen. St. Jimmy turns out to be not just a bad influence, but also a friend (I refer to this post which perfectly explains). The St. Jimmy is the spark in the night. | In the crowd of pain, St. Jimmy comes without any shame. He says "we're fucked up", but we're not the same. St. Jimmy dares to admit that life isn't all rainbows and butterflies. St. Jimmy gives you the naked truth. The whole "What the hell's your name (....) is a crutch" thing says that. Who are you. What do you really like and what pains you. Are you really being realistic? Do you need a crutch? (Jimmy being that crutch). Jimmy dies, but with that, a part of JOS dies as well, and he's left all by himself, now that his last friend is gone. But nobody cares.

JOS loses everything. He loses his crutch, he loses his drugs (the stems and seeds are the last of the dope). He's standing all alone. He thinks his journey was wasted ("waste another year flies by". Later, in Whatsername, he realizes his year wasn't wasted, that it was an important life experience).

This album is truly genius.

Epipha-idea: What if his life is so awesome that he doesn't need to drink or smoke anything?

That way, it solves our problem and "provides life lessons for young readers"

(love the phrasing xD)

Lol Let's completely scratch the drugs from the story then, 'cause that's a bad influence for our young readers! And maybe JOS should stay with his mom to support him, and then they'll both figure it out and JOS meets a princess and they live happily ever after!

For serious, though, I don't think JOS would need to get off of his case if Tunny was so incredibly happy that he doesn't need to smoke or drink. But, props for coming up with that. I wouldn't have thought of it.

[Punk-tastic32]

I just read the last of the St. Jimmy SOTW thread, which got me thinking about the Death of St. Jimmy part. I think in that part, a lot of things happen. St. Jimmy turns out to be not just a bad influence, but also a friend (I refer to this post which perfectly explains). The St. Jimmy is the spark in the night. | In the crowd of pain, St. Jimmy comes without any shame. He says "we're fucked up", but we're not the same. St. Jimmy dares to admit that life isn't all rainbows and butterflies. St. Jimmy gives you the naked truth. The whole "What the hell's your name (....) is a crutch" thing says that. Who are you. What do you really like and what pains you. Are you really being realistic? Do you need a crutch? (Jimmy being that crutch). Jimmy dies, but with that, a part of JOS dies as well, and he's left all by himself, now that his last friend is gone. But nobody cares.

JOS loses everything. He loses his crutch, he loses his drugs (the stems and seeds are the last of the dope). He's standing all alone. He thinks his journey was wasted ("waste another year flies by". Later, in Whatsername, he realizes his year wasn't wasted, that it was an important life experience).

This album is truly genius.

Lol Let's completely scratch the drugs from the story then, 'cause that's a bad influence for our young readers! And maybe JOS should stay with his mom to support him, and then they'll both figure it out and JOS meets a princess and they live happily ever after!

For serious, though, I don't think JOS would need to get off of his case if Tunny was so incredibly happy that he doesn't need to smoke or drink. But, props for coming up with that. I wouldn't have thought of it.

I like that. And yes. It is total genius.

Why not? "American Idiot: The Graphic Novel" and "American Doo-Doo Head: AI for Kids"

I was totally kidding by the way xD

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

Why not? "American Idiot: The Graphic Novel" and "American Doo-Doo Head: AI for Kids"

I was totally kidding by the way xD

I still associate the word "graphic novel" with something different than simply a book that consists of images, like this project is. Which kind of makes the contrast between the two even more hilarious :lol:

Haha, yeah, I figured you were kidding, but I wasn't entirely sure and didn't want to come over like a bitch in case you were serious. xD

[JohannaRaeRamone.]

I like that. And yes. It is total genius.

Why not? "American Idiot: The Graphic Novel" and "American Doo-Doo Head: AI for Kids"

I was totally kidding by the way xD

Did I not tell you guys that this is actually going to be a coloring book? o_0

Well this is embarrassing, letting you go on about interpretation like this. So sorry.

[st.idiot]

dfalsdkfjal;skdfasd im soooo sorry. i have not been keeping up with this and i havn't been on in a while =[[[. stupid school and work. can anyone summarize in a paragraph or few sentences what's been going on and any new ideas please

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

I have this awesome idea for Novacaine. Now to get it on paper.

^ dunno when you were last one, but it's been about Homecoming and Are We The Waiting. I don't remember anything further back, and/or anything before October 18th.

[JohannaRaeRamone.]

Time for character design, folks!

While I finish up writting out and dividing the story into sections for your consumption, let's talk some character design! For characters that will be represented by more than one artist, we will need to decide on a general look so that JOS doesn't start the story a skinny latino kid with pink hair and end up being an mohawked sumo wrestler. Y'know? So we will need to decide a look for:

• 
  
  
• Jesus of Suburbia
  
• His Suburbia girlfriend
  
• His mom
  
• St Jimmy
  
• Whatsername
  

As my two cents are concerned, here is some American idiot art I've done. Sorry for the crappy quality and unresizing, photobucket isn't cooperating.

[Punk-tastic32]

^Those are awesome!

Nice. I was just about to ask when we were gonna start character design

Hmmm. I'll wait to see what everyone else has to say first. I'm to much of a help now, since I can't draw what I'm thinking (as you all have witnessed)

Anyways, when you are divvying up the story bits, can you kinda keep me off the final part?

I don't mind helping with (very) rough sketches and fillers here and there, but I kinda wanna stay on the behind-the-scenes storyboard and development stuff.

I'm not exactly artsy enough to make the final cut without looking totally out of place

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

I love the imagery with being crucified on a bottle and a syringe, it's pretty great, and strong as well. Although I think the rage and love angels might be pushing the Jesus reference a little bit too much (for this project - in the artwork standalone it works well) - instead of "Jesus of Suburbia" having the name Jesus because he's the leader and self-proclaimed messiah of the neighbourhood, it almost seems like it's mocking religion. On the other side, it does make a very good thing of the being pulled between rage and love.

I also love the black and white and what atmosphere it gives in the first one. Me likey

As for the actual character design... I'm not good with drawing people, haha. I'm messing around for a bit, but nothing good has come from that yet. xD

And as for something not character design, I made some very, very quick sketches. This one is a general idea for Give Me Novacaine, to have something like

this. Less amateurish and stuff, of course (I made this in Latin class while trying to not have anyone notice I was making creepy shit http://www.greendaycommunity.org/uploads/emoticons/default_laugh.png' alt=':lol:'>). And in ink. I love ink. Have the lyrics and chaos and vague imagery of drugs on the background express the feeling of it, haha.

And for Whatsername, make that a multiple page something and have the last page be an image of a book, where you see the last page of it with the lyrics lyrics "forgetting you, but not the time" as only thing on the page. (there's no text in the picture because it's very small and it was more of a 'hey I'm bored let's draw random shit' thing, haha)

Whoop, I know this is lame and bad and all. But it might bring people on actual decent ideas, haha.

[JohannaRaeRamone.]

I love the imagery with being crucified on a bottle and a syringe, it's pretty great, and strong as well. Although I think the rage and love angels might be pushing the Jesus reference a little bit too much (for this project - in the artwork standalone it works well) - instead of "Jesus of Suburbia" having the name Jesus because he's the leader and self-proclaimed messiah of the neighbourhood, it almost seems like it's mocking religion. On the other side, it does make a very good thing of the being pulled between rage and love.

I also love the black and white and what atmosphere it gives in the first one. Me likey

As for the actual character design... I'm not good with drawing people, haha. I'm messing around for a bit, but nothing good has come from that yet. xD

And as for something not character design, I made some very, very quick sketches. This one is a general idea for Give Me Novacaine, to have something like

this. Less amateurish and stuff, of course (I made this in Latin class while trying to not have anyone notice I was making creepy shit ). And in . I love ink. Have the lyrics and chaos and vague imagery of drugs on the background express the feeling of it, haha.

And for Whatsername, make that a multiple page something and have the last page be an image of a book, where you see the last page of it with the lyrics lyrics "forgetting you, but not the time" as only thing on the . (there's no text in the picture because it's very small and it was more of a 'hey I'm bored let's draw random shit' thing, haha)

Whoop, I know this is lame and bad and all. But it might bring people on actual decent ideas, haha.

Muchos gracias! And nice ink, ink is underappriciated and awesome.

So what we really need to decide is what features each of those characters will have. Race/weight/hairstyle/notable features. Kind of like a police report, haha/

Oh, and let me add that I personally I don't think any of the characters should resemble band members/JOS in the videos. I dropped the ball in my painting.

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

Not resemble as in not have the same general features, or not look exactly the same?

I think it wouldn't be that bad to have JOS look somewhat like the JOS from the video, as in, the very mean features (dark hair, slim figure, that kind of clothing style). I mean, you can't really have JOS be some douchebag with popped collars or a blond overweight sweaty dude because that'd be a bit weird, and if you go too punk, it gets hard to define between St. Jimmy and JOS.

Furthermore I agree with not having any of the characters resemble an already known look for them.

Well anyway... I have Whatsername in my head as a white girl (race), with dark red hair, heavy dark make up and medium hair, in whatever style, it doesn't even have to be the exact same style every time. And quite skinny, but not like shapeless or a skeleton with skin. Blue eyes! Because that would look cool with dark red hair. I think?

Soo... that's my proposal for Whatsername, haha. Any agrees or disagrees?

Although I should probably not be too involved in character design as I suck at drawing people.

[JohannaRaeRamone.]

Are there any other character suggestions? Let my above drawing serve as my suggestions for Whatsername and Jimmy, and I suppose JOS too, although mine is a little Billie-esque. I'd almost like to throw people off a bit and have a JOS that isn't a skinny white boy. What do you think?

[Christie's_Blvd.]

I like the drawings a lot but I don't think I'm gonna be much help here sorry...I'm tired now so my brain's not working properly, I'll see if I can be useful in the morning

and sorry for not being in the thread, I've not been on the computer for ages

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

I'd almost like to throw people off a bit and have a JOS that isn't a skinny white boy. What do you think?

Well, what would you suggest, then?

not asking in a sceptical way. stupid internet's lack of tone in voice and facial expressions, haha.

[JohannaRaeRamone.]

Well, what would you suggest, then?

not asking in a sceptical way. stupid internet's lack of tone in voice and facial expressions, haha.

I know, it's like the sarcasm via text thing. Ahh modern convience you fail us!

How about his mom is from some hispanic nation and he takes on those traits and therefore faces racism throughout his journey too, makin him hate the redneck agenda even more? And here's a vote for stringy blue hair, maybe dreads? I like dreads. :eyebrow:

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

I know, it's like the sarcasm via text thing. Ahh modern convience you fail us!

How about his mom is from some hispanic nation and he takes on those traits and therefore faces racism throughout his journey too, makin him hate the redneck agenda even more? And here's a vote for stringy blue hair, maybe dreads? I like dreads. :eyebrow:

Ahh, sounds cool. And yes on blue hair!

[Punk-tastic32]

I can't remember if this has been mentioned before, but I think St. Jimmy's appearance should always be changing. Not drastically, but minor details. It kinda shows how he is imaginary. Maybe his hairstyle, or eye color, or stuff like that.

Y'know when you try to think of something, but you mess up the minor details like that? Or is that just me?

[JohannaRaeRamone.]

I can't remember if this has been mentioned before, but I think St. Jimmy's appearance should always be changing. Not drastically, but minor details. It kinda shows how he is imaginary. Maybe his hairstyle, or eye color, or stuff like that.

Y'know when you try to think of something, but you mess up the minor details like that? Or is that just me?

Yeah, I get what you mean! However I wonder if, without it being explicitly explained, it would add to the imaginary factor or just be confusing?

[Punk-tastic32]

Yeah, I get what you mean! However I wonder if, without it being explicitly explained, it would add to the imaginary factor or just be confusing?

That's what I was wondering too.

but I think if we set it up so that St. Jimmy only talks to Jos, and only Jos reacts to things he says, it might be ok...

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

I think it might be a little confusing... as there will be multiple people working on it, it's going to be hard to have any consistent factor, if you change around the primary things you use to recognize that it's St. Jimmy. In a movie or something, it would work, because you can see from the face that it's the same person, but for this, I think it would get confusing. It's a cool idea, though.

Unrelated: It reminds me of that movie with Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Even though there the hair colour changing serves an entirely different purpose.

[JohannaRaeRamone.]

I think it might be a little confusing... as there will be multiple people working on it, it's going to be hard to have any consistent factor, if you change around the primary things you use to recognize that it's St. Jimmy. In a movie or something, it would work, because you can see from the face that it's the same person, but for this, I think it would get confusing. It's a cool idea, though.

Unrelated: It reminds me of that movie with Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Even though there the hair colour changing serves an entirely different purpose.

Yeah. There's too much comotion already going on with the rotating artists. So other nominations for Jimmy's look? Also we need Suburbia girl friend, mom, and Whatsername. Again my paintings serve as my own personal suggestions.

And I've been told to watch that movie, I suppose its really good? I do like changing hair color a lot!

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

Yeah. There's too much comotion already going on with the rotating artists. So other nominations for Jimmy's look? Also we need Suburbia girl friend, mom, and Whatsername. Again my paintings serve as my own personal suggestions.

And I've been told to watch that movie, I suppose its really good? I do like changing hair color a lot!

Mm, I think Suburbia girl friend could be a bit slutty. Have it clear that it's not a serious relationship or anything. Woah, that does sound a bit prejudiced and stuff, haha.

I quite liked it, I definitely recommend it