Every thing I can quantify from my desk, I judge to be satisfactory. I'm a little worried that it'll be lousy pacing which will throw the film off, because pacing is just such a hard thing to get right. I also have concerns about the casting of Ozymandeus, but lets wait and see. Otherwise, the tone, the cast, the colours - all have my approval. I hope it's good. I can't remember the last time I wanted something to be good this much. And at least I've only been a fan for a year. Last night, we ended up at this pub with Kovaks, who'd been waiting on that darn bridge for some two hours in a t-shirt and surfer shorts and sporting a Rorschach tattoo, having taken every recording device he posessed - and then corrected me when I suggested the PR stunt would occur at midnight. Apparently, it's six minutes to midnight. His plan, and this was explained with one of the most friendly smiles I've ever seen in London before you decide he's a psycho, is to hide weaponry around the theatre, so that if it's bad he can cause a proper riot, everyone can join in, and the film will be sunk.

But I think it's going to be OK. The crew seem to appreciate the gravity of what they're getting into. I've been wearing my Watchmen badge all week in celebration. I've also cut out the image of Rorschach from the London Paper. It reads "This city is afraid of me - I've seen its true face". I have bluetacked it to my door; while the poster has gone above my bed.

And to celebrate, here's my sketch of Rorschach leaping out of the window. You'll know the scene. One of my favourite, favourite things I've ever drawn. Artist Dave Gibbons claims he doesn't have a favourite Watchman to draw, but that if he's signing he tends to draw Rorschach. "If you can draw a hat, you can draw Rorschach" he claimed, and he's right. Since discovering that, mini-R's have peppered my doodlings, because it's so easy, and so effective. It's also fun to play around with heavy, noiry shadows - shading is something I still feel weak in, the practice is excellent. This was a freehand doodle out of the blue with nothing but an inkpen, and I'm very satisfied with it. Couldn't have been better had I planned for a week.

It's interesting to compare it to the original panel however - it's obvious which scene I was attempting to draw, yet drawn from shaky memory so is very very different. The original is front on, bold and fearless. Whereas mine is drawn in my usual "cute" style, curled up, clinging onto his hat and shielding his face. Compare the two: [link] The police spotlight isn't in the comic either, though I knew that - I was just having fun with shading.

It gives the scene a different feel, and obviously gives the character a vulnerability. Which is certainly there in the comic - that's what's so great about R., because he's so so rounded. He's the toughest bastard in the city, at the same time as being the small, terrified child (and there is something very childlike, I think, about the way he percieves the world as black/white without grey, the way he speaks, the thing with the sugarcubes). The line between hero, who is genuinely seeing what has to be done, genuinely wants to do good and sadistic psycho who enjoys hurting people because of an unhinged vision of humanity, is almost invisible. It's these contrasts, added into all-around adorability, which make him by far the most loved character of the fandom. He just needs a great big hug. Actually, when I next get to a shop which sells felt, I'll make that my project - a cuddly toy Rorschach. It's the incongruity which makes it so cute...

So the vulnerability is there in the comic, certainly - but is allowed to come out in different scenes and different ways. Probably better ways, but like all my drawings (like all drawings full stop...?) they're more about my interpretation of the character and aim to illustrate a character trait, not a literal occurance. And I think the expression, such as it is, is quite moving and powerful. Bear in mind I was using ink, so couldn't think too far in advance about where to put all the arms and legs. "Portraits are painted with the feeling of the artist, not the sitter" as Oscar Wilde would put it.