I felt a lot more comfortable with my inks this strip. I did a lot of the area fills by hand. After a few of them, I realized I was comfortable but stupid: The computer can do the fills much faster than I can! I left out the ones that just needed the magic wand, and it was a lot quicker. If I ever display or sell these originals, I’ll have to go back and fill them in to deliver the full effect. I’ll worry about that if and when the time arrives.
I’m really excited about this story line! I’m also really digging the chance to try something new. I’ll be using the red that’s present to unify some themes and make certain things stand out, so don’t worry: It won’t be showing up in every strip.
This is an example of how a story can just jump into my mind, fully-formed. I desperately try to scribble down every little thought that coalesces before it disappears, fleshing out notes wherever possible, and hoping I get enough to work with. The idea is fleeting, and too soon I’m left with just a pile of barely coherent notes. I spend the next few hours or days reconstructing what I can, as flashed come back to me.
I can’t help but look at the word “sake” and not think of Japanese sake, which allows for a lot of creativity when interpreting sentences which involve it.
This one’s just some fun I had, no reference images. I wanted to continue with the established characters, but I needed a (relatively) quick throwaway strip since I skipped one update and I needed the extra time to work on other projects. I have a lot going on over the next two weeks, including a whole new way of presenting my comics, and I needed the extra two hours.
This comic is a response to Jamie’s ad for a day-long date at http://www.daniellecorsetto.com/archive.php?today=645&comic=644. Jamie’s from Girls With Slingshots by Danielle Corsetto, a talented artist and a sweetheart who always answers all of my questions about cartooning thoroughly and honestly. I can’t say enough nice things about Danielle, so please send her an e-mail telling her how awesome she is and tell all your friends to try her strip.
Yay, Chris is back! You may remember him from #72 (I like the joke there). I originally intended to have the main characters be dating, but I nixed that and had them married because with their history it made more sense. So, Chris was supposed to be the guy’s best friend and a swinging bachelor, doing all the fun stuff single guys can do but usually don’t. I’m glad to bring him back, and hopefully he’ll appear more often.
I had a hard time balancing the photos in this. I wanted enough elements to tell an interesting story, but I was again in a rush and had to draw the line somewhere. Also, I really should have used my straightedge more in this. I thought a more organic line would look more natural, but I’m still too shaky and the lines went everywhere. I used freehanding for the lettering and inside the pictures, but framing the pictures with straight edges helped them stand out as photographs. I need to remember to use my straightedge more, especially since I paid for the stupid thing.
This one was an example of plain ol’ fun to draw. I learned a lot about perspective doing this, something I would have been able to apply to the comic had I done sketches first. However, I’m usually doing these strips last minute, so if I want to do something I haven’t done before I pretty much end up inking the rough draft. Far from ideal, but it’s very time efficient. The downside is I put up strips where the windows don’t line up, doors are too tall and the left and right side of the streets don’t match, amongst other things.
Why didn’t I play around with brushes earlier? Oh, right, it was already taking me several hours to digitally work a strip. Shading by coloring black at 15% opacity is great, but it doesn’t allow for texturing with color like on the flannel shirt. I have to add another layer for the texture colors, but it’s still faster. plus, the brushes allow for the neat dirt effects. I played with a lot of other things, to give a painterly background to the second panel, but I need more practice with that.