Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Introduction to Killer Cheeps and Neurotic Weeks

Hello Everybody! (all two of you)
I am yet again postponing part three of my favourite comics. I write these blogs as text files and then upload them so that one's still being written. But I bring you news I have just finished the seventh issue of Neuropsychosis, and I am now working on my first trade paperback, "Killer Cheeps and Neurotic Weeks", which contains all seven of my comics in one swnaky package. And so I've decided to print my first draft of the foreward to said book here.

Courage....

Introduction
by David Arroyo

It has been over ten years since My brother and I had our first Ideas about the comic book you are now reading. and the fact that you are reading it now is a great joy. As mentioned earlier the first inklings of Neuropsychosis occcured. just over ten years ago but the story goes back even further. My brother Daniel and I have always loved making up stories, and once while I was in junior High school my we made up a comic book world inhabited by the children of the Marvel universe. Each character the byproduct of one of the many relationships between marvel heroes at the time. Remember this was the early nineties when marvel was "soap opera central" we were so interested in this that I even drew some pictures of the characters. This was the first time that I had ever drawn without copying. Eventually, some have said inevitably, these stories started taking on a life of their own separate from their marvel origins. to the point where Daniel and I decided that not only were we going to have characters but we might as well make it a comic. So we made up, first I believe (though the names may have come first), the concept of a all girl, I could not draw men well, rock band who were also a superhero group "Kinda like Gen 13", our favourite comic at the time". we named the four characters the first and last names of girls that we where hot for and gave them bold stroke character traits. The first time I remember drawing any of them was one night when we rented the movie "Strip tease" and I drew the characters with my brothers guidance while the movie palyed. In Fact I can honestly say that I have never actually seen this movie as my face was in sketchbook almost the whole time. To further the goal of drawing this book I took my first art class in my senior year of high school. after this the stud of art became a constant in my life. Eventually leading to my desire to be a professional artist. So in a way you now hold the byproduct of the spark that lead to most of my adult life. It was sadly not long until my brother let me handle all the writing and Soon being full of piss and vinegar I wrote and drew my first comic a 34 page pile of excrement that none of you will ever see. I needed to work more on art, I somehow always felt good about story, before I could proceed.
. . .

In 2002 after four years of sketching writing stories and taking art and a screenwriting class. I felt I was ready, well actually I still didn't feel I was ready, but if I didn't start then, I felt that Neuropsychosis would never start. so I began my work on "Abduction" the first story in this little collection. The process was long and hard, I never expected drawing a comic to be so much work! after drawing it for months I began my first semester at CSUN. While at CSUN I began taking classes from the teachers that would shape my work especially my first proper figure drawing class tought by master draughtsman Ken Jones. When I returned to work on this story my drawings were tremendously better. and it can be seen in the work. "Abduction" was by far the hardest single work of art that I had ever worked on. It's fifty pages were drawn between may of 2002 and october of 2003. And it came to fill two printed 'zines. the frist which premeared at The ani-magic convention october 2003. I had toyed with may thoughts of how to print my Neurposychosis. Everything including lofty plans of a maga style Anthology magazine that would change Amercian comics forever to online publication, this was before keen spot and their ilk so this was a hard road for me at the time. But Inspired by seeing the mini comics of Tom Beland at my first comi-con I chose to go the DIY method. My plan was to release Neuropsychosis 1&2 simultaniously but in a unwise desision to start on them, scanning, lettering, compositing, copying and stapling them in two day led to them being printed half a year apart. But my first comic was done and I was walking on air. I was then ready to begin another. The second story by far the most favourite amongst readers. "The Attack of the Killer Cheeps.
KIller cheeps had a smooth creation but it ended up taking me almost a whole year to draw. Because I Developed severe Tendonitis in my ulnar region. I then had to undergo a lengthy bout of Occupational therapy. And my elbow still aches from this upon, occasion, to this day. I also Had to redefine my drawing style. Not that I ever lost my ability, I was lucky in that respect, but I had to re educate myself in how to go about my job. Upon printing Killer cheeps, Which was retitled "Neuropsychosis Episode III Attack of the Killer Cheeps" to make parody of the recent release of George Lucas' "Revenge of the Sith" , Turned out to be quite a hit for me. Being the first 'zine I sold out of at a convention.

Almost immediatly after "Killer Cheeps" was done I began on my little experimental comic. "The AV's Boring" I wanted to introduce the characters that I would be expanding the cast out to, But could not for the life of me come up with a plot based story. So I decided to write four short stories, draw them independently and then edit them together like a film editor would a movie. It is probably because of this process, which I am thinking of using again on the next story, that this chapter is my favourite comic I've drawn to date. It also came together very smoothly taking only two months. After finishing "The AV's Boring" I realised That superheroics where really not a part of my book any more. So I got rid of them. And threw myself into the Big Story.
The final chapter in this book titled "That Dirty Black Cloth" is the most recent story, Having just finished it two weeks ago, and it is still awaiting serialization at this writing. I feel I've finally hit my stride with the book. The characters are finally taking their final shape, both physically and pesonality wise. I figured this would be the perfect way to close the book.
As You will be able to see in the following pages. Neuropsychosis has grown and changed with time. As all Things do. And this book represents, I guess you can call it, the "research and development phase". The characters subtly change in personality and appearance, often in the same chapter until it finally gets into as consistent of a work as I can possibly handle in "That Dirty Black Cloth". "Killer Cheeps and Neurotic Weeks" is to me not just a collection of comics but a sort of "snapshot of those last ten years. It is a great way to close off this chapter in "Neuropsychosis" as well as this chapter in my life.



David Arroyo
Lancaster California
May 9 2007