Mackie Messer

A graphic adaptation of Die Moritat von Mackie Messer. A song from "Die Dreigroschenoper", an opera by Kurt Weill and Bertholt Brecht.

This comic was shortlisted at The Irish Times/The Comic Lab short graphic story competition 2019.

I normally develop the story opening a few fronts at a time and advancing on all of them simultaneously. With songs, I start laying out the lyrics and trying to divide the story in something that will make sense in the number of pages I intent to do. I try to research a lot to look for visual references to inform the style as much as possible. I also work on the narrative of the page so I make sure the story flows well. And at the same time, as images come to my head, I try to develop what the characters look like.

Normally this all happens in days, sometimes weeks and in a number of sketchbooks or the iPad. This is one of those notebooks: