This section documents the development of my final OCA project. The project has two distinct parts.
I started by completing the discovery and design work to create a fictional sci fi comic titled Oli, but after completing the design, the project pivoted in another direction. Still a comic/graphic novel format, but in a non-fiction genre.
About Oli
Oli is a 40 to 60-page comic in a sci-fi genre, written initially as a film script by Juan Blanco, illustrated and designed by Hugh Hadfield.
Focus sentence:
Pilot OL-11992 (Oli) is sent on a desperate mission through time and space that will save the lives of his people who are being slowly destroyed on their home planet. During his mission, instrument failure causes him to crash land on planet earth. His rocket ship is completely destroyed when it crashes into the Atlantic Ocean. By chance he is washed ashore on Coney Island Beach where he is rescued by Margarita and Alicia, a Mexican family from New York.
This set’s him on a path that will determine the fate of his people.
But his unusual appearance and strange mannerisms attract the attention of Dennis, a taxidermist more interested in turning him into a museum exhibit than helping him complete his mission.
Background
In January 2022 I was approached by Spanish film maker Juan Blanco with an idea for a collaboration. Juan, now living and studying in New York had a film script that, due to Covid issues hadn’t been developed.
Juan sent me the script and we agreed to work together to explore whether it was something we both wanted to develop.
The Oli project and all of it’s outputs can be found in:
The reason work stopped on Oli was because the script needed a rewrite to accommodate the move from being a film scrip to a comic. Unfortunately this was not possible to achieve within the available time, so the project has been shelved for the time being.
The new project
You can read a full description of the new project here, or jump to the relevant sections charting it’s progress:
- A change in direction
- Production
- Launch – the plan for this will be part of Assignment 5
Illustration 