This idea bumping around my head for a month or two: noir-ish Soap Strip style comic of a man sitting in a diner waiting on a public phone that never rings.
Execution somehow not satisfying. I had wanted to depict him refusing a coffee warm-up, and perhaps an aside of two waitresses commenting on how all he does is sit there smoking and watching the phone.
Models for the scene were from Twilight Zone episide "Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up?" (1961). Amazing how hard it is to google classic images of a 50's noir coffee shop, there are too many 'noir' themed coffee shops now.
For all it's shortcomings (I wish I'd had another 12 hours to throw at it), I am happy with many aspects. The row of chairs works for me, the phone looks good, I like the posture of the man in the foreground in the third frame, and I feel the main character is consistent enough for us to know it's the same person. Half-tone shadowing works but is nothing extraordinary. But maybe that's for the best.
The title, 'Nothing To Be Done', is the first line from Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' (1953), and is repeated thematically throughout. Both an admission of the impossibility of action (character lacks agency) and also, when action is achieved, an admission of the the absurd futility of action.
When I was fishing for a title, Godot came up and seemed appropriate: waiting for the call that never comes: the call that provides divine inspiration, direction, inclusion. The 50's coffee shop feels like an appropriate venue for that absurdity: Hopper's 'Nighthawks at the Diner' (1942) and the like.
This idea bumping around my head for a month or two: noir-ish Soap Strip style comic of a man sitting in a diner waiting on a public phone that never rings.
ReplyDeleteExecution somehow not satisfying. I had wanted to depict him refusing a coffee warm-up, and perhaps an aside of two waitresses commenting on how all he does is sit there smoking and watching the phone.
Models for the scene were from Twilight Zone episide "Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up?" (1961). Amazing how hard it is to google classic images of a 50's noir coffee shop, there are too many 'noir' themed coffee shops now.
For all it's shortcomings (I wish I'd had another 12 hours to throw at it), I am happy with many aspects. The row of chairs works for me, the phone looks good, I like the posture of the man in the foreground in the third frame, and I feel the main character is consistent enough for us to know it's the same person. Half-tone shadowing works but is nothing extraordinary. But maybe that's for the best.
The title, 'Nothing To Be Done', is the first line from Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' (1953), and is repeated thematically throughout. Both an admission of the impossibility of action (character lacks agency) and also, when action is achieved, an admission of the the absurd futility of action.
When I was fishing for a title, Godot came up and seemed appropriate: waiting for the call that never comes: the call that provides divine inspiration, direction, inclusion. The 50's coffee shop feels like an appropriate venue for that absurdity: Hopper's 'Nighthawks at the Diner' (1942) and the like.