By popular demand, here’s Ramona dressed as Kim and Kim dressed as Ramona

STEP 1: ROUGH SKETCH
Probably did some basic doodling in a sketchbook, then launched into this big scribble in Photoshop. I decided to do it this way because it would be easier to move stuff around and make changes and edits. So in this first sketch, a few of the characters are fully established and others are going to end up changing a lot.

STEP 2: SKETCH REVISION (1)
I changed Envy and Ramona, flipped Stephen’s body, added a rough sketch of Joseph beside him, and redrew the Twins. At this point it became clear that I had a few too many characters and some major ones were getting lost in the shuffle.

STEP 3: SKETCH REVISION (2)
I pushed Scott and Ramona toward the center, requiring me to redraw Roxy and Patel. Then I went ahead and redrew the entire left-hand side, making Kim / Wallace / Lisa more prominent and making Knives Chau dominate the bottom corner, removing Mr Chau, Stacey and Joseph in the process, as well as spontaneously giving Stephen Stills a guitar. Still not satisfied with Envy Adams.

STEP 4: SKETCH REVISION (FINAL)
I brought everything in from the edges and extended the artwork a bit to make it feel less crowded. Envy still felt boring, so I gave her the hammer (from Vol 3) and redrew her yet again. I redrew Ramona’s leg and brought the CN Tower into the foreground.

STEP 5: PENCIL CLEANUP
So at that point I printed the art out (in light blue) on a big piece of paper and tightened everything up in that form, then moved on to inks.

STEP 6: INKS (1)
This shows the inks having been scanned in (pencil roughs still visible) and a few additions in Photoshop. I mainly inked with a Rosemary & Co kolinsky sable brush, #3, plus a few miscellaneous pens and markers for small details. I meant to give Envy a bunch of jewelry and forgot to draw it, so I did that on the wacom. I also drew the CN Tower on wacom in order to get nice straight lines on it.

STEP 7: INKS (FINAL)
This is the final inks that I sent on to colorist Rico Renzi. Between the last step and this one, I erased the sword and hammer lines and redrew them (in Photoshop) to make them nice and straight. I also ended up simplifying the lace on the bottom of Envy’s dress, and extending everyone’s legs all the way to the bottom of the page.

STEP 8: FINAL FINAL
There were a few rounds of back-and-forth with colorist Rico Renzi, but it was a pretty painless procedure from my end and it turned out really cool!

Next week, Nov 9th, the Scott Pilgrim DVD and Blu-ray come out, so we have a few events planned.

Tonight (Monday) at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood: Q&A with me and Edgar Wright, moderated by Guillermo Del Toro (sold out).

Wednesday: the Scott Pilgrim box set should start trickling into comic stores… not sure when Amazon is getting them. Hopefully I will have info soon on how and where to purchase the box + poster separately (if you already own books). Also, hot tip: if you’re buying the books for someone else for the holidays, buy the set, steal the box and poster and just give them the new books! They’ll never suspect a thing!

Friday: I’ll be in Toronto, signing at HMV (Dundas Square i assume?) 12:30 pm and then the big screening at the Bloor 7:30 pm. I’m getting a real schedule for this tomorrow, so I’ll try and post more details about Toronto in a day or two.

November 11th: a big signing in LA… details to come.

The Soundtrack and Score are available from today! You can buy the soundtrack CD anywhere music is sold! Is music still sold? You can also purchase it in ethereal digital format from iTunes (with exclusive bonus tracks) or Amazon.com or I’m sure other places too!

Don’t forget the Original Score by Nigel Godrich & friends! 34 magical tracks! Extra-magical bonus tracks! Download it from iTunes or Amazon.com!

The video game is available now on PSN!

Check out this 5/5 review on Joystiq!

Preorder the game via Ubisoft!

NOTE: The game will also be released on XBox Live Arcade in two weeks’ time. (As of this writing, there are no other releases planned for Wii, PSP or any other system)

1. a lot of people showed up — probably around 2000!

2. scott pilgrim fans are very awesome and sweet and well-behaved. The morning after, we were all kind of in a daze and conversations revolved around “Wow, i can’t believe nobody called the cops and there wasn’t any trouble.”

3. people put together amazing costumes! I hope more pictures of them surface soon. I only had a chance to take a few pics, since I was, um, busy. But I wish I had gotten to walk around the street more and just mingle. I also wish I had put the flash on my camera.

4. I was up at 6 AM that morning, did interviews all day long, and then signed books TWICE — a bunch of stuff before v6 officially premiered, and then solidly signing v6 from midnight to about 3 AM. Towards the end i think my brain completely shut down.

5. I got to see Hurry Hard and Sister play (for the most part). Sister played SCOTT PILGRIM! for me! I heart them! Unfortunately, i didn’t get to see Chang-A-Lang or Soft & Wet play, but I bet they were amazing and I can’t wait to hear the recordings!

6. i love everyone *_*

Monday July 19: Midnight book release events across the US and Canada!!! I will be in Toronto, at the Beguiling! Bands will play! Books will get signed! Fun will be had!

Tuesday July 20: The book will be in stores, I hope!

COMIC CON, SAN DIEGO:

Wednesday to Sunday, July 21-25: I will be doing signing sessions every day at the Oni Press booth. Schedule coming soon.

Thursday July 22, 6 pm: Scott Pilgrim movie panel!

Saturday July 24, 4 pm: Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour Vs The Fans panel! THIS IS ABOUT THE BOOKS and will be a discussion of the complete series (including volume 6). More info forthcoming…

Other comic con events TBA! Follow @SPvsCC on twitter for more!

BACK IN LOS ANGELES:

Tuesday July 27, Los Angeles: the big red carpety Scott Pilgrim movie premiere! It’s also debuting at FANTASIA FEST in Montreal the same night! (Montreal screening is sold out, sorry)

Wednesday July 28, Los Angeles: Another screening that I just heard about and am not yet at liberty to discuss.

BACK IN TORONTO:

Thursday August 5th, Toronto: the Toronto premiere of the Scott Pilgrim movie! I will be there! (Note this is for cast / crew / family / friends and not really open to the public, but I include it on here because I’m glad it’s happening!)

AND:

Tuesday August 10th, Playstation Network: the Scott Pilgrim game debuts! Downloadable! 4-player!

Friday August 13th: Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (the movie) opens in theaters across North America!

ENGLAND VISIT:

Monday August 16th, 5-7 pm, Nottingham, England: I’m signing at Page 45! Come one, come all!

Tuesday August 17th, 6 pm, London, England: I’m signing at the big Forbidden Planet store!

Wednesday August 18th, 4:30-6:30 pm, London, England: I’m signing at GOSH!

Right after that: the big red carpety London premiere of the Scott Pilgrim movie! So excuse me if I’m dressed a little “posh” for the signing beforehand. (The film is released August 27, 2010 in the UK)

LOS ANGELES AGAIN:

August 21, 5-10 pm, Los Angeles: Signing and video game night at GIANT ROBOT 2 in West LA!

THE END…?

That is IT for now! No other trips or appearances planned just yet! I LOVE YOU! I’M VERY BUSY!

This is music from a forthcoming video game! What could it be???

anamanaguchi.com

This morning I read a review of the Scott Pilgrim movie soundtrack and this afternoon I had a chance to listen to all the songs in order, so I thought I’d talk about them a little!

Edgar Wright (the director) and I were sending mix CDs back and forth in the early days (2004-5) and then just bombarding each other with MP3s as the years went by, and all of the “library” songs on the soundtrack come from those conversations. (I’m not going to talk about the newly-recorded material, since most of you haven’t heard any of it yet.)

Plumtree: “Scott Pilgrim”
The EP version is on the soundtrack, and to my knowledge it’s only ever been on vinyl before! Me & my sister used to have it and I made my own mp3 rip at my friend Carlos’s house, which is the version I sent to Edgar back in the day. Widely acknowledged by experts as the greatest song of all time. Point: O’Malley

Frank Black: “I Heard Ramona Sing”
I actually had never heard the first Frank Black solo album when Edgar sent me this track, although I was a huge fan of “Teenager of the Year” and some of Black’s later countryish stuff (“Show Me Your Tears” in particular). So this is an Edgar pick. Point: Wright

Beachwood Sparks: “By Your Side”
I was really into Beachwood Sparks as part of a whole cosmic alt-country Gram Parsons kick in 2003-4. I put it on my initial Scott Pilgrim mix, “Scott Songs”, which set the tone for me when I was starting the books. I played the mix for Edgar in 2005 while we were sitting around chatting. He sat up at one point and said “…is this a SADE song???” Ever since then I knew it’d be in the movie. And yes, it is a cover of a lovely Sade song from the early 00s. Point: O’Malley

EDIT: Edgar would like to add… “Sade was actually the first to sign her clearances for SHAUN OF THE DEAD and had no problem with Diamond Life being thrown at a zombie. So for that and ‘By Your Side’ I am eternally grateful.”

Black Lips: “O Katrina!”
This is an Edgar choice. I believe he is the one who introduced me to the Black Lips in the first place. Their album “Good Bad Not Evil” got a lot of spins during the making of Scott Vol 5. “O Katrina!” was one of Edgar’s song references for what Sex Bob-omb was supposed to sound like. Point: Wright

T. Rex: “Teenage Dream”
This is another Edgar (obviously!) — he’s used T.Rex a few times now I think. I have one T.Rex hits compilation that I’ve listened to numerous times over the last five years, so yes, I love them, but I am not as big a fan as Edgar is. Point: Wright

The Bluetones: “Sleazy Bed Track”
This one’s tricky! I was BIG into this track and this album back in the late 90s, but they were pretty hard to come by in Canada in the pre-itunes days, so I fell away from them. When we were first talking, Edgar brought up this band and I instantly remembered my fierce devotion to this song and put it on the vol 2 soundtrack. So we each love them, although, I mean, he directed a video for them. However, he brought up the band, I brought up the track, so… Point: TIE

Blood Red Shoes: “It’s Getting Boring by the Sea”
Edgar sent me this track when it first came out in summer 2007 (I think it was just a pre-album single at the time) and it rocked my world. I wasn’t actually able to procure a copy of the record until 2010 — they’re another band that was only available in the UK due to licensing blah blah blah. Anyway hopefully this will bring them to an overseas audience! Go Edgar! Point: Wright

Broken Social Scene: “Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl”
Broken Social Scene was sort of everywhere during the early 00s in Toronto. Every human I knew was a fan of Broken Social Scene. It was the age of “Broken Social Scene as air”. Anyway, I put this song on a list for Edgar at one point, so I think it’s technically my pick, but really, it’s everyone’s song. Point: O’Malley

The Rolling Stones: “Under My Thumb”
I pulled this song at one point because I thought it was thematically relevant for Vol 5 and hilariously inappropriate for Scott. It’s a very confident, strutting song about a guy who feels very in control of the situation, which is not like Scott at all. Edgar agreed with the choice, and apparently this song was really hard to get, the Rolling Stones being kind of a big deal, so let’s have a round of applause for our hard-working staff! Point: O’Malley

Final tally: TIE! We’re split down the middle! I can hardly believe it… to be honest, I had a sneaking suspicion Edgar would cut out all my picks and turn it into a britpop extravaganza. Having 4 and a half song picks on this compilation is like a dream come true.

The soundtrack (from Abkco Records) will be in stores, on iTunes, etc, August 10th.