This is the alternate version of page one of The Book of Lost Souls. I can’t quite recall, but this may have been my audition page.
JMS didn’t like the way the coat flared in this shot. I ended up redrawing the entire page from scratch (which was completely unnecessary. I don’t know what I was thinking). The website gallery feature will pop up the final version of this page below. Click the thumbnail to view and
go back one page for more info about this project.
Some artists are dead set against auditioning for projects. I don’t mind if the client pays a fee. Some do, some don’t. JMS doesn’t like having people work for him on spec, so I was assured that if I didn’t get the gig I would be paid for the audition.
A writer I once knew would fly into a rage if anyone asked them to audition. I think it’s one of the reasons I never see work from this writer anymore. I don’t believe they’ve had any major work in fifteen years. They believed they were too important to show clients samples. Maybe that’s true if you are Neil Gaiman. Not so much if you are a journeyman writer.
Clients invest a lot of money in major projects and have to know what they are getting. There are some clients I won’t audition for, and others I will. But I never say never. There is always a special project out there you will never get if you can’t prove you are the right person for the gig. I loved The Book of Lost Souls and never would have gotten it without an audition.
Bette Davis had to audition for the lead in the film All About Eve. If auditions are OK for Bette, they are OK for me.
Art © J Michael Straczynski
I did not see anything wrong with the first image, until I clicked on the published image.
The final image conveys a much more contemplative mood.
I agree with you.
I also like how the coat echoes the “C” created by the curve of the moon. And the larger moon looks like a halo, which I think foreshadows Jonathan’s role in the story as a kind of dark angel.