The sky is not the limit for local artist, comic creator and animator Randyl Bishop. Outer space is.
Bishop, art director and lead animator for several of California band The Silvers’ video projects, found out on Sunday, April 17 that the “Out of This World” video, which he directed and did animation work for, won an award for Best Music Video in the Rock category by the Akademia Music Spotlight online. He said he was blown away by the video winning and that he is in the process of creating a comic book based on this award-winner as well as two other videos in a video trilogy for The Silvers. The comic, entitled, “Silvers: Up, Out and Back,” should see print in June of this year, but is available for pre-order right now.
“There will be some bonus content, and the comic book itself should highlight some key differences between the sequential art and (music) video mediums,” Bishop said. “Sequential art has more possibilities since so much of it takes place in the reader’s imagination, and the effects budget is unlimited.”
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Bishop said the comic is far less prescriptive than the video version. As a true comics fan, he loves tinkering with that unique dynamic inherent in sequential art. Bishop said fans of the video will love the comic because it will present the story again in a different way plus allow them to experience the action at their own pace. He has promoted the comic as one that gives readers a memorable and tangible souvenir.
“Fans of comics will love it because there just isn’t much wholesome content out there right now for families, and I don’t know of any that has the added bonus of having a music video complement they can look up and watch for free,” Bishop said.
Bishop said the comic could introduce comic readers to the band, make some fans of them, and maybe even sell some albums as well.
Additionally, Bishop has produced several short promotional comics in the past. They are similar to the mini-comics that were included with He-man action figures in the 1980s – the perfect size for bundling with CDs.
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Bishop said, “I’ve chosen to promote some projects by using what I call the “Combi-comic,” which is roughly the size of those old He-Man comics when folded and which is a great size to accompany a CD album (remember those things?).”
“It’s an eight-page booklet with a story that folds out to an 11 by 17-inch poster. It’s a clever format (maybe not the most professional one), but it’s cheap to produce, and as such I can sell them for very little or use them as a giveaway to kids at comic conventions,” Bishop said.
He said small children might feel a bit left out of the collector hustle going around them at some comic conventions. “I hate that kids today don’t read comics like they used to. I see that format as being key to helping address the issue (Pun intended),” Bishop said.
Bishop concluded by saying that mini-comics can easily be handed out to children at cons to encourage them to read comics or to read in general.
In the video series destined for new life as a comic book, Bishop’s daughter definitely shows she is drawn in (pun unintended) and emotes well as she reads through a comic based on The Silvers. The comic comes to life as she’s reading. “Up in the Air” is the first video in the series she stars in and is found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRNxNy2Sp3Q .
The “Up in the Air” lyrics about wanting to transcend one’s circumstances become a little more literal when, in the video, a U.F.O. abducts a crab. The big influence for the plots in his animated video animations, Bishop said, is the Silvers music. He uses their songs as his guides for the videos.
Even so, the comic will not be exactly like the videos, Bishop said.
The comic book is a different medium, and he relies “heavily on modifying existing animation to still frame art to tell a very similar story,” he said.
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Bishop said the framing device within the video is not present in the same way in the comic.
“…But I am experimenting to see if I can get photos of my daughter and my son, who’s in the third installment of the series in a music video called ‘Gravity,’ put into the comic on the inside front and inside back cover of the comic, respectively,” he said.
Bishop said, “The photos are there to use and a part of the story (they loved their experiences acting), so I figure, why not?”
Bishop said there will be other differences in the two media in which he’ll tell the same story.
“There’s a lot of dialogue that gets made up, too, that I can’t do in the context of the music video (because there’s music playing, and it would require some voice acting),” he said.
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He said the sea creatures dancing to the band in the first video in the trilogy, for example, will have dialogue in the comic.
“In fact, I think the comic format allows for the reader to get to know the characters better in general because no voice acting is required in this format; written dialogue is far less resource-intensive, so I can just do more with less,” Bishop said.
Bishop’s son stars in the third video in the series for The Silvers’ song “Gravity,” which was released four months ago. He becomes part of another framing device when he picks up the comic the girl reader character, Bishop’s daughter, dropped in the second video, “Out of this World.” He attempts to return the comic to the Blythe Library. Readers/viewers will have to watch the video to see how it turns out. That video is shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGhYH9dMXIs .
The Silvers are a musical group of mostly older gentlemen. Some may think The Silvers band name refers to the hair-color of most of the band-members, but it really originated, according to the silversmusic.com website, as a shortening of their original band name, Silver Laughter, back when they used to be a cover band in the late 70s. They have not continued as a cover band. Today, they write, perform and record their own material. They market their music through Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, and other online services. Their new album “Back to Basics” may be purchased here: https://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Silvers/dp/B09KTN3X5Q
For more information on ordering Bishop’s new comic, “Silvers: Up, Out and Back”, see https://www.timebound.co
Or, find Bishop on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ArtOfRandylBishop.
Ron Baxley Jr. is a correspondent for The Augusta Press.
