Wednesday, December 25, 2013

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 Just incase you wondering why Santa did not go down your chimney last night?
Merry Christmas everyone

Friday, June 7, 2013

Intermission and Golden Brush Art Battle!





First I want to apologize for the delay for Inquest of Missing Time book 2, but I wanted to share a painting competition that I was involved in! Golden Brush Art Battle a 80 minute painting battle 

I want to be honest its was my first time painting on canvas! 

"Unexpected trouble"

Our dreams of a brave new future are not what it they seem! The minds of our children are raped by ideals of characters constantly brainwashing on TV. these hugs are for real, the delicate hands of a robot are far from gentle steel. But these toys are getting stronger and less human for us to understand and deal

Inquest of Missing Time Episode 1 Chapter 2 of 3 coming soon to Youtube, music by Sanity54
if you missed our first chapter then check it out in the link below

I will be announcing Inquest of Missing Time Book 2 shortly as I will start Season 2 of the Webcomic


Monday, May 6, 2013

The Fable ( the moral of the story )

Page 17 of Inquest of Missing Time

At the end of every volume of Inquest of Missing Time, We will introduce a short fable that will shed a light on the morals portrayed the previous chapters. with my initial plan and dreams of animation, I have planned for mini sketch animations as intermissions in mid episode just before or after advertising. these short stories will keep the viewer focused on to the actual drama of the series, this final string will braid the comedy and horror will come together to our special storytelling weave.

Many have argued the idea of mixing the three genres of horror, comedy and drama but i think its the best way for the viewers to interpret my complex story...

I hope you enjoyed our first volume of Inquest of Missing Time. Our second issue will be coming in the next couple of weeks, make sure to come back and enjoy more from our motion comics, interesting guerrilla advertising, games and more inspired drawings by the many that fuel this cartoon


Time warp to first page




Monday, April 29, 2013

Life is short, better make the most of it!

Page 16 of Inquest of Missing Time
Time warp to first page

  Scopia lies of the floor dead, after her internal with the future of the chosen ones  struggle with no one to feed the little ones as they have devoured their meal not knowing that this would be their last supper, they have scraped all the meat needed for their survival leaving the time consuming decorations.

  The next day at the orphanage, Aorta takes care of the orphans and alone she calls the young boys and girls to come have their dinner. Knowing that her mother has not come back yet from doing her secretive deeds by maintaining the horrifying family legacy that she denies. Her heart boils with fear worried of what could become of her mother around the cannibals.

  This brings us to the end of Inquest of Missing Time Volume 1, Next week I will be sharing a short fable that will put our story in perspective

  I hope you have enjoyed the first slice of our epic horror comedy adventure, make sure to run back and read the story from the beginning to find out more

Time warp to first page



Monday, April 22, 2013

Stairway to Heaven!

Page 14 & 15 of Inquest of Missing Time 

  As Scopia climbs up the stairs once more after feeding her darlings, she revisits her past and family history. The orphanage and the secrets that been passed down through the bloodline of her ancestry. The Immortal orphans and the countless souls and dishes that were collected.

  Scopia remembers the immortal adoption of Cebriel, the last orphan to the clan. Gifted a life that man dreams of and cant understand, for even her only daughter denies that evil plan. A truth that troubles Scopia and threatens the survival of the twelve innocent orphans of ancient history.

  When the days that are left are less what what we've had, we reminisce and try and give that moment another hand....

to those that have inspired and passed, your footsteps and like fossils to be kept in our memories intact.

Monday, April 15, 2013

dig in little ones!


  The orphans are amped and ready to dig in, Scopia understands their feeling as they have been starved in Neverland. Evetta tries to tip toe her fingers across the table reaching for the cake first but Scopia still tries to instill table manners, as she cant bear watching them do their thing.

  The celebration begins and the immortals attack the cake as it explodes like dynamite exposing its complex ingredients and goodies! They chow viperously as secret sauce paints their faces as the smile enjoying their meal.

  Have no fear! these orphans are not wasteful and will not leave a crumb anywhere to be seen!

                                                       Time warp to first page


Monday, April 8, 2013

a picture is worth a thousand words!

Page 12 of Inquest of Missing Time

  The cake is on the table! this is the moment the orphans have awaited. Their beloved Scopia continues  the ritual song and lets go of the feast. The orphans are in trance, with their eyes peeled and ready to pounce, they keep their cool as Scopia is still close and watching their table manners!

Monday, April 1, 2013

Dooom Taka Taka! Phantasos' wake up call!

Page 11 of Inquest of Missing Time
(play the music below)

  Ajax Starts drumming following Decimus's lead and takes his orders. His powerful hands drop a turkish drum beat as he flicks one of the table boards in sleeping Phantasos' face waking him from his slumber. dizzy and confused birds fly around over Phantasos' head and a cow pops up to spray his face with her miracle milk to put him back into focus. Ajax is ashamed as he notices what he has done, and sits there thinking, as Decimus enjoys his scheming.

  Some frames in this page seem confusing, but they are  intended to make us feel that the actions are simultaneous. Asclepius mimics Scopia's celebrative song as she drops the feast on the table! the smell is so intense and familiar to the kids, they pop up on the table with excitement as they salivate for there meal!

  In this page I think I have gotten closer than ever to perfecting my frame intentions. the timing and flow of the page feels right to the pace and random actions of the orphans, you can read the page in different ways but still get the same story! many things are missed in our life as we focus on major things to us! nothing will be lost in time as the viewer gets god's magnifying glass on the moment!



Monday, March 25, 2013

The excitement of hunger!


Page 10 of Inquest of Missing Time



The orphans continue with their character introduction as the goof around the table! Scopia can barely notice what they are doing cause she has grown older and less aware of the fast movement! Trista's mixed emotions take over and give her the impression of food on the table as she chows down on an empty fork!

Phantosos sleeps comfortably on the table. his narcolepsy takes over most of his time, but he dreams of the future as he is considered an oracle as he could tell the future! In greek mythology, Phantasos is the son of Hypnos the god of sleep, and His mother is Pasithea, the goddess of hallucination. in our story Phantosos combines the characters of his mythical parents takes the position of fate! rarely Phantasos will guide the group as he might share some of his knowledge if his sleep is disrupted.

Decimus, out favorite mischievous character loves messing with Phantasos as he sleeps, he is smart and always convinces someone to do the dirty work. We can see him trying to get Ajax's attention to start banging on the table, and with Ajax not having the ability to think for himself and his love to follow orders he concurs

This page is a true representation of my cousins when gathering up for lunch on the Jordanian dish called Mansaf! I hope the fed Obama some since he is in Jordan this week, I am sure the Jordanian hospitality will not allow Obama to leave without trying!



Photos above show the infamous Mansaf! 


  • The Mansaf: made of a special Jordanian yogurt called Jameed, with lamb rosted almonds on top of a sheet of shraak (bread), rice and samneh! (THE TASTIEST JORDANIAN LARD)
  • The desert Beduin (nomad) of Jordan cooking the Mansaf
  • Two great gentlemen I respect and know in the animation industry! Producer Noritaka Kawaguchi and Director Makoto Shinkai From CoMix Wave excited to dig into the Mansaf! Thank you guys for the inspiring trip to Jordan, and the support to the Jordanian peeps! :D
my Mansaf preparation! 


Time warp to first page





Monday, March 18, 2013

The world revolves around the orphans, as it also revolves around itself!

Page 9
  
 Excitement fills the air! as we can see the orphans are full of manners and great self control! Felita starts the action with a drumroll for the the birds of the cuckoos nest to sets free! 

   I have created wacky panels for the orphans that I call "moments", these panels represent a parallel world. Just like Jim Henson's "Fraggle Rock", the Fraggles live their own secluded world which abides by rules that are different from the human world. The immortals live in a world that will sometimes collide with the caretakers and other humans, giving the immortals new outlooks to life outside the womb. any frame that has a human will have the standard rectangle feel.



Wednesday, March 13, 2013

damn! they chose the toy...


  Today on Facebook, I asked my fans if they wanted to see a sketch page from book 2 or an initial design of Cebirel's character to be prepared for the making of a vinyl toy! The votes were cast and the toy was chosen.  I am sorry if some of you did not have the chance to participate with us but if you become fans of our Facebook page you will be updated with all our interactive ways of story development.

Party time!! YAAAAY! lets hope these fans that voted buy it :P


Time warp to first page



Monday, March 11, 2013

Shackled in Neverland

Page 8

  As a kid the world paused the moment a birthday cake entered the room! My mom would make the craziest designs turning every cake into a story! She would hide it in a cold room as she took her time crafting it. it was the best surprise every year. My parents always questioned why I have become an animator and disagree with my horrifying concepts...

  We all feel in someway shackled under the care of others, we take upon ourselves to obey trust and love unconditionally. these bounds keep us from exploring the world in our own way, under the umbrella of culture and heritage we pick up traits that become intertwined in our characters.

  The shackles in the womb is what gives the orphans the comfort and acceptance, like the umbilical cords it connects them to the room. Lev tames the wild Pluto by yanking him off the table to enforcing table manners. Just like a T-rex Plutos arm dont work much to his benefit, making him suffer with geting up when down!

  Umbilical strangulation is a common situation to occur in child birth, the good thing is it can easily be handled today, but I would say this is where our fear of suffocation begins!

My mother's cakes, and that is a my uncle and his wife as cake!


Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Dedicated to the music

 
In honour of the musicians that help me in my motion comic in creating the fantasia like score with a cartoon! I make a character of them as one of the immortal orphans devouring their most important  human inspiration, The concept is that we all feed on each other's ideas or art, and evolve to create our own! The artist Ziko the Ghost which features in our pilot motion comic below, has created musical masterpiece specially for the book and was inspired by its pages!


if you are a fan of electronic music, please follow and support Ziko on soundcloud
also check out more music submitted by fans at Inquest of Missing Time's Soundcloud group
www.inquestofmissingtime.com

Monday, March 4, 2013

The Immortals ... where should I begin!

Page 7

  The immortal orphans, or the wild bunch? the honest truth I still dont know what to call them but what I am really sure of that it is important to me and the story not to label them as we will all explore together what they are! all the characters combine to give the spectrum of our human emotions. If taken to the simplest form like a comic illustration, we will find all of them inside of us! The collective feelings of the group will battle just as our feelings and morals decide our judgment. Just like any decision in life, we accept the consequences and carry on trying.

  Blind Asclepius senses the coming of Scopia and tries to calm the group, and smacks the wolf child Felita which constantly needs the discipline like a dog! not really paying attention to went on she turns her attention to something more important and licks herself or it some more!?!

  Surely nothing funnier than breaking the ice with a killer fart to bring the orphans to the chaos that they know. Pluto aggressively shoots up in the air spreading the giggles and discomfort across the dinner table. clearly he has gone commando as his oversized testicles peeks from under his clothes. As a kid I loved anime on arabic tv called (Tum Tum or Ø·Ù… طم) till this day I am not sure and cant find its not sure of its original the name and cant find it except in Arabic! maybe you could help? with all the censorship in the Arab world Tum Tum nuts seemed to go by unnoticed!


spot Tum Tum's family jewels in the opening! a symbol of humanities survival! 

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

the wild bunch!

Introducing the immortal orphans (the wild bunch)


Inquest of Missing Time (the motion comic)
Episode 1 ◊ Chapter 1 of 3


Because it is not the regular day for posting! I thought I would share the first frame from next monday's inquest of missing time page 7 which as well is the last frame in our first chapter of the motion comic!

This frame is the first glimpse of the family secret, the cuckoo's nest!
The characters of Inquest of Missing Time
going clockwise around the table starting with our sleeping drooler
Phantasos, Ajax, Lev, Evetta, Decimus, Asclepius, Pluto, Felita, Cebriel, Calva, Zues and Trista
if you want to know more about what to expect on monday click below 




Monday, February 25, 2013

Page 6 (the belly of the beast)


The first reveal! Scopia sinks into the ground and prays fearing the unknown consequences of her families evil deeds. Away from the world in the womb where they have been cooped for years, the immortals orphans live happily under the family's wing. Shelterd in "Neverland" and far from the hardships of life, they comfortably forget about the life outside the womb.

The secrets we keep from the ones we love gives the illusion of comfort, many of us grow in a protected shell that makes it difficult to cope adapting to the changing world around us. our instinct for survival have transformed into helplessness that plagues our existence. We always feel like our time is running out! Its how much we believe we can do that gives us this weakness


Time warp to first page







Monday, February 18, 2013

Inquest of Missing Time Page 4 & 5 (double spread)


  Pages 4 & 5 are my favorite pages! Personally, I see the top part being page 4. I wanted a wide panoramic view to show how isolated everything was from the world outside! It definitely added more depth to the scene as it also implies zooming out while the frames fit in each other.
The bottom part shows the reveal of the underbelly or the hidden secret. As Scopia peels back the layers of the floor and goes down the spiral staircase, the layout of the frames are meant to feel similar to the famous shot in Hitchcock's "Vertigo."

  I put a lot of detail into this scene because I am from the desert. We do not have so much colour and I have always been fascinated by the forest landscapes. I love how the colours of the mountains mix with the trees here in BC. I kept revisiting this panel all throughout my time working on the comic. Living on the west coast influenced my desire to bring the natural beauty that surrounds me to life in the comic.

  We all have secrets kept hidden inside. the most important of them we take to graves. deep down a portal is a world for the self to explore.


Time warp to first page


Monday, February 11, 2013

Page 3 of Inquest of Missing Time (the final moment)


  In page 3, Scopia puts the final touches on the cake. Anything we do in life takes effort, the feeling of achievement builds with every step we take! As we get closer to our goal it feels like the world comes to a pause, just for us to enjoy putting the final touches as we peak getting swept by the climax of our own.

  The O face that I had when I finished the book! It was the day earth stood still!



  

Monday, February 4, 2013

Page 2 of Inquest of Missing Time

Page 2 of Inquest of Missing Time

Page two sadly shows Scopia suffers loneliness and agony of age. As we become older like any other being or thing. wear and tear will prevail. We become clumsier with ourselves as our excitement for life keeps pressing. even as we lay sick counting the days. the beauty of life gives us the strength to get up everyday to follow our dreams, take care of the people we love, especially the one dependent on us.




Monday, January 28, 2013

Page 1 (sweet & tender preparations)

Page 1 of Inquest of Missing Time

  Scopia delicately prepares a meal for her loved ones. This page reminds me of my grandmother, and how she was with her cooking. Her purpose in life was to stuff her children and their kids. Her food smelt so delicious, mostly we dug in without asking what it was. I remember a day where I was introduced to sheep intestines. She wouldn't tell us what it was, it looked like never ending links of sausage, but its wasn't. Stuffed with rice, meat and spices most of us just devoured it as the older generation giggled.

My mother always kept the surprise until we were on our car ride home. My stomach turns when I think of my ignorance, as the idea of what I have devoured, eats me up inside.

With our modern day eating habits, sometimes I wish that my grandmother was alive and still hiding recipes from us...


Time warp to first page



Saturday, January 19, 2013

Inquest of Missing Time Volume 1 (cover page)

Hihihihihihiiiiiiiiiiii
  Hello and welcome to Inquest of Missing Time. This is the cover for the first book of our exciting new ground breaking horror comedy adventure series, written by me the creator, producer, illustrator and designer, Bashar Sawalha. together with my talented team of a Co-writer Aaron Rosenberg, and a Co-colourist Sara Cantine, we will make sure to give you your weekly dose of goodness.  please dont hesitate to comment or ask any questions about the content that will be released in the weeks to come. this update every Monday!

  This story highly depends on interactivity with its fans, I will explain more along the way, keep an eye on the forums where you will be able to play along and contribute to our production. I will do my best to present this story across all the media platforms that i can control.





Thank you for your time
Bashar