This exhibition documents my role in the Watchmen comics adaptation. I will go over the design process, in depth, that occurred during this project.
TW: Please note that some imagery from this project may contain violence, racial slurs, and/or depictions of death.
About the Client
Dr. Gabriel Hankins is an Associate Professor of Digital Humanities at Clemson University. He recently became the Director of Graduate Studies. Hankins’s research interests lie in Modernism, Digital Humanities, Correspondence, and Visualization. He holds a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from the University of Virginia, M.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Virginia, and B.A. in English Literature and Greek from Swarthmore College. Hankins taught the ENGL6420 “Cultural Studies” seminar I took while studying at Clemson University.
Exigency
After about two months of working under Hankins, I contacted him about potential design projects revolving around pop-culture. He asked if I had any ideas for a project, and I mentioned my idea for a comic adaptation of HBO’s Watchmen series. While working on this project, I was also taking his cultural studies course, which aimed to cover the difference between media adaptation and continuation. Hankins contracted me to create the comic over the next four months.
The Hugo Award-winning graphic novel, Watchmen, details the “fall from grace of a group of super-heroes plagued by all-too-human failings. Along the way, the concept of the super-hero is dissected as the heroes are stalked by an unknown assassin.” Watchmen is thought to be one of the “most influential graphic novels of all time” (Moore, Gibbons).
The HBO series, Watchmen, is based on the graphic novel. The story picks up thirty-four years after the final chapter and takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Wikipedia describes the series plot: “After a white supremacist attack on the local police department, which leaves only two surviving cops on the beat, laws are passed that allow the cops to hide their identities behind masks. One of these cops, Angela Abar, adopts the identity of Sister Night and fights racists while dealing with the decades-long legacy of the vigilantes.” This episodic television series continued the graphic novel, relating to how our current culture consumes pop-culture media.
The project goal was to (1) define cultural adaptation as it relates to Watchmen the graphic novel and the show and (2) understand how our culture consumes media, specifically how we consume visual print media versus film media.
To accomplish these goals, my supervisor and I initiated a comics-adaptation project of the HBO Series Watchmen. During this project, I served as the comics designer. I focused on adapting the HBO Series Watchmen from film into a comics book, similar to how the Watchmen graphic novel was originally released. I collected research and references, designed the template, and converted the film shots into comics panels. Dr. Gabe Hankins, my project supervisor, met with me on multiple occasions to help plan, track, and ensure a successful end to my project.
This deliverable aims to represent how our culture not only adapts text to film, but also adapts film to text. As McCloud writes, “each successive frame in a movie is projected on exactly the same space—the screen—while each frame of comics must occupy a different space. Space does for comics what time does for film” (Understanding Comics, 7). Comics is but a snapshot or glimpse of a bigger picture. Unlike the viewer in film, the reader has to create his or her own continuity between panels, in gutter spaces.
To illustrate the entire series would be a feat greater than a four month project, so I focused on the sixth episode “This Extraordinary Being.” I treated the episodes as chapters of the graphic novel. By working on this project, I developed illustration skills and streamlined my knowledge of the Adobe Creative Suite applications used. I also gained experience in (1) researching and implementing current trends in pop-culture and film studies and (2) fostering a foundational understanding of adapting a message from one medium to another.
Audience
The adapted comics was intended for my supervisor and undergraduate classmates to review. As the project progressed, it became clear that there were three viewer/audience levels:
Primary - Dr. Gabriel Hankins
Secondary - Undergraduate Classmates, Future ENGL4420/6420 Classes
Tertiary - Future Employers
Constraints
Throughout the design process, I encountered a few constraints, listed below:
Remote Completion
The majority of this four-month project was completed remotely via email and Zoom. Two months into the course, we went into quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This presented a few constraints: opportunity for miscommunication, time management concerns, lack of physical interaction between supervisor and designer, etc., but by developing organizational and deadline-oriented skills, I was able to solve most problems. I outlined each development phase in my planner and design journal, setting due dates for myself. Hankins also made project checkpoints and set up Zoom meetings to discuss my progress.
Timeline Management
The timeline for the project was four months. Due to the pandemic and quarantine, the timeline was thrown off a bit as we transitioned from an in-person course to remote instruction. Most of the research was completed during the in-person half of the course, but once we went into quarantine, the design phase became unbalanced. Transitioning into quarantine was more difficult than I planned as I moved back to my home state. It took almost a month of traveling back and forth, which ate up my weekends and extra time to work on this project. The project that was meant to take four months was realized in about one month.
Scope Creep
As I completed each phase of the design process—from research to layout to paneling—I began to realize some of my ideas were outside of the project’s scope. Specifically, this happened during the paneling phase in which I tried to decide whether to completely redesign the series as comics panels or to adapt them using Adobe Photoshop techniques. To alleviate this issue, I corresponded with Hankins during project checkpoints and he redirected me toward the “adaptation” project scope. Regardless of technique, the comics was still an adaptation.
Deliverables
This section details the deliverables I was responsible for during the comics design and layout process. I’ve broken down the comics into two different deliverables: (1) the panel illustrations and (2) the panel layout. For each deliverable, I will detail deliverables’ design phases, research methods, and collaborative work efforts. The deliverable PDFs are included with this exhibition.
Illustrations
Comics is a medium of narrative expression that commonly uses illustrations or images combined with text to create a story. The original Watchmen graphic novel, which used this common form of illustrations and text, was released as a series of comics later turned into chapters of the novel. I decided to create my own illustrations of the sixth episode of the HBO Watchmen series, paralleling my illustrations with the design of the graphic novel.
Design Phases
The illustrations went through the following design phases: (1) Research, (2) Sketch, (3) Iterate, (4) Refine, and (5) Deliver.
Research
Before starting the illustrations, I did research on what comics illustrations look like. I was familiar with this from a previous course during my undergraduate career and then again from reading Watchmen in Hankins’s accompanying cultural studies course.
My goal, after completing this research, was to create illustrations of the HBO series in Gibbons’s form. Gibbons actually illustrated the main character from the HBO series, Sister Night, in his comics style. See the image below. To watch him draw Sister Night, click here.
Most comics use some kind of coloring system, which Watchmen used expertly. The vibrant colors in the graphic novel had an intended meaning based on each chapter. In the HBO series, episode six was in black and white with flashbacks in color—which Hankins discussed in class as reversed from how we generally think of film (i.e., in-color constitutes modernity, while black and white constitutes the past). My comics stayed within the color scheme of the HBO series.
McCloud touches on the importance of color in comics, saying its use can “amount to far more than the sum of its parts” (192). Gibbons uses a muted color scheme, specific to each chapter. For instance, Chapter 4’s title page uses variations of pink and purple, and the opening utilizes light blues, light pinks, and blacks mostly. The title page's varying hues and tones were used in my own chapter title (though it was not used in the final design because I forgot to add the file after my scope change). I picked the colors using Adobe Photoshop's Eyedropper tool, which allows the user to directly pick the color out of a pixel and transfer the swatch to a shape or text.
If I could imitate Gibbons’s style and color palette, I would be able to adapt the HBO series better.
Sketch
After deciding what style to use, I started sketching. A lot of these sketches were hand-drawn and storyboarded. Due to the shift from in-person courses to remote learning, I had to move out of South Carolina, where I was in school, back to my home in North Carolina. During the moving process, most of my hand-drawn files were lost. With the unexpected time constraint, I was unable to draw out each page as originally intended.
Instead of redrawing everything, I decided to draw the comics digitally. As I had previously sketched out the images and panel organization, I didn’t want to waste time re-sketching out my ideas. I started the process again with the Iterate phase.
Iterate
The overall concept stayed the same, so I began with the front matter illustrations. I used a free Watchmen font from dafont.com, imported it into Adobe Illustrator, and designed a cover based on the original Watchmen cover.
Refine
After establishing a concept and sharing it with the undergraduates in the cultural studies course, my time was running out. I only had about a month left to complete the project. Instead of sketching everything out by hand again, I made the design decision to take screenshots from the series and edit them in Adobe Photoshop.
Each image went through the same filtering process described in this video. I chose not to incorporate the Color Halftone filter, as I couldn't get the sizing of the dots just right. I felt they added too much to the images and distracted from the overall illustrated-feel.
While using the filtering process, I recorded each brush filter action, image trace, etc. with Adobe Photoshop's Tool Recording. After editing the first image to the desired effect, I could essentially copy and paste those effects onto my remaining images. By recording the actions, I was able to universally apply the filters to every screenshot I took, creating a repetition and subsequent cohesion across my illustrations.
After refining the design concept, I then put the illustrations into panel frames using the Clipping Mask function in Adobe Illustrator. This created the final deliverable, showcased at the end of the Panels section.
Panels
The comics layout and paneling followed the illustration development process. Generally, illustrations are usually drawn inside of the comics panels; however, for this project, I finished the illustrations separately. I then used a clipping mask in Adobe Illustrator to fit them into the panels.
Design Phases
The panels went through the following design phases: (1) Research, (2) Sketch, (3) Iterate, (4) Refine, and (5) Deliver.
Research
Like the illustrations, I researched comics panels and what paneling looked like. McCloud writes about various types of paneling:
Word-specific
Picture-specific
Duo-specific
Additive
Parallel
Montage
Interdependent (153)
My adaptation of Watchmen uses most of these panel types, but the most prominent of these are the picture-specific and duo-specific panels. Picture-specific panels are defined as panels where “words do little more than add a soundtrack to a visually told sequence” (McCloud, 153). After watching the HBO episode, I knew that part of the comics would have an actual soundtrack in the textboxes, so emphasizing the illustrations would be paramount. There was an implied rhetorical meaning in the text, but explicit meaning in the visuals. Duo-specific panels are defined as panels in which “words and pictures essentially send the same message” (153). At the beginning of the episode, there’s a point when words and visuals hold the same focus. In my adaptation, I knew this would occur in the beginning. The beginning of the HBO episode mixed words with visuals as the characters, Lori and Angela, speak in the jail cell. The visuals take over and transfer to the picture-specific panels.
To mirror the graphic novel, I decided to use the same panel layout as the “Watchmaker” chapter of Watchmen. This chapter involves the coming-of-age of Dr. Manhattan. In the same way, “This Extraordinary Being” in the HBO series depicted the coming-of-age of Hooded Justice. My adaptation chapter matched the same coming-of-age story from the original graphic novel layout.
Sketch
There wasn’t much of a sketching phase since I used the original panel layout from Watchmen. If I had designed my own panels, I may have included various shapes to make the panels more diverse.
Iterate
The drafting process for these panels was very straightforward. I used the exact same layout as the Watchmen novel to cycle my adaptation back to its original. I did this by overlaying the Watchmen Adobe Photoshop panel layouts with my images in Adobe Illustrator.
After drafting each page out of Watchmen’s chapter, I duplicated the pages until I had the exact number of panels for the amount of movie frames needed.
There were certain times when I ran out of images for a certain page, so I’d duplicate an illustration and have to re-situate each panel. There were also instances where I had too many illustrations for a page and had to create another page. When those issues occurred, I would duplicate either the image or a page layout and reconfigure the panels until the images/panels fit on the specified page.
The text was the last thing I added. I played the episode on one screen while typing out the dialogue from the other. Every line from the episode is present in the comics. After typing out the text, I copied it into the Adobe Illustrator panels in the Canted Comic font. I then used the Shape tool to create comics-style bubbles—some with connecting lines and some without, all dependent on who was speaking, what they were saying, who they were speaking to, etc. I overlaid the bubbles with the text and repositioned the bubbles behind the text. The final step was changing the text weight for certain words. By setting the font as bold, I emphasized certain words in the same way actors would emphasize speaking them in the television series.
I showed Hankins and the undergraduate class the first 10-or-so pages of the comics for review. We only met for an hour and during that hour, we also discussed course material and other students’ projects. Due to the short meeting time, I only briefly received feedback from Hankins and the other students. They said to “forge ahead” with the design.
Refine
In the refinement phase, I created more illustrations and panels until I had successfully adapted the entire HBO series “This Extraordinary Being” episode. I also added in the “Under the Hood V.” back matter from the deluxe edition of Watchmen. This back matter gives insight into the identity of Hooded Justice, so it parallels the chapter well.
Deliver
I transferred the refined pages into an Adobe Illustrator file with the front and end matter pages. My original intent was to have a 26-page comics. Excluding the front and end matter, the comics came out to 51 pages. With the covers, front matter, and end matter, the comics came out to 60 pages exactly. I then converted that into a PDF.
Informed Theories
This project was informed primarily by Understanding Comics, but it was also informed by Koski’s “Reboots, remakes, and reimaginings: a guide to confusing Hollywood terminology” (Vox).
Koski defines reboots, remakes, and reimaginings as follows:
Reboot: resets the continuity of an established film series; extends beyond a single movie and throws out established continuity in favor of a new status quo
Remake: closely re-creates one particular film; updates a single film; mirrors original film in terms of plot, character, and format, with some allowances made to appeal to modern sensibilities
Reimagining: are remakes with at least one big change; adds or changes the original film in some altered way
If we take these terms into account, the HBO Watchmen is considered a reboot; however, there’s another term that can be applied. Instead of a reboot, Watchmen is what Koski refers to as a “delayed sequel.” The HBO series is not a reboot, as it does not reset the series in any way. The events of the graphic novel happened and years later, the events of the HBO series resulted. It continues the story, as opposed to adapting it.
This project is not a continuation of events, though. This project mirrors Koski’s “reimagining” term. It’s tempting to call this comics a “remake,” but it’s not a remake; otherwise, I would have created a television episode of Watchmen. Since I created a graphic novel chapter, adapting the series to the comics form, this project is closely related to a reimagining. Koski references the relationship between reimagination and adaptation: “They’re a close cousin of the adaptation, which lifts content from one medium and applies it to another; the film reimagining is just adapting within the same medium.” Because I did not apply the same medium, this project has to be defined as an adaptation.
Often, we think of “film adaptation” as literary to film adaptation. Dartmouth Library defines adaptation as “a pre-existing work, often literary or theatrical, that has been made into a film,” but adaptation also moves from film to literature. This can surface in everything from children’s books to fan art. With Hollywood’s focus on pop-culture films from companies like Disney, fan art has become another form of adaptation, defined as “artwork created by fans of a work of fiction and derived from a series character or other aspect of that work” (Wikipedia, Fan Art). This project rests comfortably in the definition of adaptation, and I would also define it as “fan art,” as I am a fan of the Watchmen graphic novel and series.
Collaborative Efforts
This project was completed on my own. I received feedback from my supervisor and classmates throughout the drafting process, though.
Competencies
This project examines the following MAWRM competencies, which align with and demonstrate an understanding of writing, rhetoric, and media:
Visual communication theories
Research and design methods
Classical and modern rhetorical theory
Technological and media production literacies
Skills
Collaboration
Email writing
Zoom meeting
Review and feedback
Content Creation
Storyboarding
Photo-editing
Illustration
Graphic design
Software
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Google Suite
Zoom
Other Soft Skills
Creativity and innovation
Attention to detail
Time management
Understanding of pop-culture market
Deadline-oriented
Reflection
Reflecting back on this project, there are a few areas that I’d like to discuss: (1) Project Strengths, (2) Different Outcomes, (3) My Weaknesses, and (4) My Strengths.
Project Strengths
This project was successful in its ability to adapt the HBO series into a comics reminiscent of the graphic novel. The strengths lie in the paneling and the front matter, which showcase the original Watchmen intent behind this project. With my previous experience using Adobe Illustrator, I was able to make up for lost time during quarantine and create something based on the original Watchmen, focusing on adaptation versus continuation.
Different Outcomes
If I could start this project over again, there are a few things I would do differently. I would have continued the planning process during my quarantine-moving period. I would have started the actual design and layout process sooner than I did. If my weekends and spare time had not been taken up with moving out, I think I would have been able to illustrate my comics as originally planned. Ideally, I would have gotten that month back for design purposes. I also would make the project itself more narrow than broad. In the field of comics, no one would really want to read a 60-something page comics. Comics are generally shorter.
My Weaknesses
As for weaknesses, I think this coincides with the outcomes section. The main issue was the length. The planned comics was around 16 pages or so—the same amount as the chapter of the original graphic novel. Having that many pages proved to be difficult to render. Adapting film into a comics was also incredibly difficult because unlike a text to film adaptation, a film does not have gutter space. There’s no jump in time. A lot of film scenes are necessary to show action. In comics, there’s more space and time to make it more imaginative for the reader/viewer. My comics was much too detailed, I think. I used what McCloud calls “moment-to-moment transitions” (70). These transitions, though they are probably the most common, also create this balance/imbalance of visual moments between making comics additive or subtractive. If I had taken the time to think about certain jumps that the reader would make on their own—assuming more about my audience—I may have been able to hold the same meaning with less pages (McCloud, pp. 85-86). Along with the length, using the images instead of the illustration also somewhat took away from the illustrated intent behind the comics, but with proper filters and careful selection of my panels, I think I was able to combat most of the imagery issues.
My Strengths
I developed more design skills throughout this project which have served me well in my time at Clemson and will continue to serve me in my professional career. Luckily, I used a lot of my past experience with Adobe Illustrator and photo filtering to speed up the design process, which aided me after the time gap from quarantine and moving. This project enhanced my ability to filter photos, use framing tools, create templates, use a grid system, and so much more. A lot of this project informed my client project a year later.
References
Articles
“How to Create a Comic Book: Neil Gaiman’s Step-by-Step Guide for Making Comics,” MasterClass, www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-create-a-comic-book-step-by-step-guide-for-making-your-own-comics#quiz-0
“The Forgotten Story of Watchmen’s Unsung Hero,” Abraham Riesman, www.vulture.com/2019/10/watchmen-colorist-john-higgins.html
“The amazing stylistic history of comic books," Jamahl Johnson, 99designs.com/blog/design-history-movements/history-of-comic-book-styles/
Websites
“Panel Layout: The Golden Ratio,” Underdogs, www.makingcomics.com/2014/05/07/panel-layout-golden-ratio/
“Watchmen: Art and Composition,” Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen#Art_and_composition
“Film Adaptation,” Dartmouth Library, researchguides.dartmouth.edu/filmstudies/adaptations
“Fan Art,” Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_art
"Watchmen TV Series," Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen_(TV_series)
Books
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
Watchmen: The Deluxe Edition, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
