500 YELLOW BIKES~ DAY ONE~!

I started a Graphic Novel back in 1995~

and never finished it due to a Death in

the Family. I may complete this project

someday~ but I need to find a way to

get over the mental associations that

are attached to it first...

Here is the premise:

A SCI-FI CONCEPT:

A Business Man travels to a vacation

hideaway in a small Swiss village. He

has a technological meltdown, and

SNAPS~! In an act of irrational

behavior, he decides to steal~

then HIDE~ all of the 500

yellow bicycles owned by

the community (which

were meant to prevent

theft to begin with~!)

Immediately upon

hiding all the bikes

in a mountain cave~

something happens~

which ENDS life on

Earth as we know it~!

FLASH FORWARD~ 2 Million Years~

Humans are now extinct. A species of

intelligent CAT CREATURES have evolved

to the point of having an organized Society.

The Swiss Alps are now a Jungle-Swampy

terrain. During an exploratory expedition~

the Cave gets discovered~ full of 500

yellow bikes~!

The Elite attempt to conceal this discovery

from the masses~ to protect them & also to

exploit this technology if they can figure

out HOW the bicycles are meant to be

used. A war eventually ensues...

This concept was designed to truly

TRANSPORT our imaginations.

My intent was to use NO WORDS~

no universal translator~ just a

made-up language of grunts

& growls & meows etc. It

would be up to each

individual Reader to

translate/interpret

the words & pics

in this sequential

cautionary tale.

500 YELLOW BIKES~ FINALE~!

Final post for 500 Yellow Bikes...

1st up, some set-piece drawings with story

elements thrown in; more visual prompts.

Running away from a large Moon-

chunk that crashed into the Earth

with waves of destruction hot on

the M.C.'s heels...

Comic size sample page,

without the backgrounds

Calm before the storm. One section

of the Swiss Alps still remains...

Making whoopie with a fine Kitty

The Swamp-Cats territory~!

And lastly, a couple of random sketches

that I forgot to post a few days ago...

500 YELLOW BIKES~ CAT MODEL FOUND~!

Finally found the original Model I made for

the M.C. Cat character back when I started

to get serious about this 500 Yellow Bikes

Project. Having a model to draw from is

the ticket~ as any Animator will attest.

Being able to rotate a 3-D image of

something really adds that realistic

effect to one's artwork. This thing

had a copper-wire armature with

a skeleton made out of various

pen-shells, cut to length, then

wrapped with electrical tape

to build up musculature,

coated with liquid

rubber/latex...

500 YELLOW BIKES~ DAY EIGHT~!

The middle 3 sketches were made from the

3-D model. The skeleton sketch below is

what I drew before sculpting that model.

That last bit of rubbish is a charcoal

doodle straight outta my noggin.

500 YELLOW BIKES~ A SHORT ROYAL~!

Hot off the Photo-Shop Press~ an amalgam

of sorts. Still not an ideal character~ the

scales are a bit too big perhaps. But

this is closer to the Elite species

than sketches from previous

posts. It looks a little out

of place amidst the

swampy marsh.

Oh well~ back

to da ba baa

board...

500 YELLOW BIKES~ DAY THREE~!

More designs~ refining the "intelligent"

Cat Creatures. They are like Wizards,

really; using all kinds of Trickeration...

500 YELLOW BIKES~ DAY SEVEN~ THE SCARY SWAMP-LIVING WATER-CATS~!

LOST CHARACTER DESIGN SKETCH

This was an early sketch of an 'Elite'
from the epic unfinished Graphic
Novel "500 YELLOW BIKES"...

Found sandwiched between odd-
ball religious pamphlets in one of
my art tool-boxes. I used to get
visits on Sunday Mornings
from Jehovah's Witnesses.