Update will be late, possibly Saturday. Got lots going on. I do have the strip penciled and the letters inked. This one is really good, though, so it will be worth it when I finally get around to it.
Also, as an added bonus, I’m working on refining my process page for the new site! Neato!
I’m still using the softer brush for shading. It definitely has limits to its utility, but I’m learning a bit more about it.
The big difference for today is that I reduced the saturation of my background colors. Actually, I put the background in a separate layer then reduced the opacity. Since the background was white (full RGB), it had the effect of “adding white” to the colors, reducing their saturation. I settled on 50%, but I tried lots of levels and I’m not convinced it’s perfect.
I think I’ll do another reason or two before I roll into another story, but rest assured, I’m going to start up another story soon.
More fun, and some new painting techniques. I’ve alternated brightness up and down over a flat wash for the floor, and drew straight lines with the brush by holding Shift. The wall was a flat color with a darker color spread over it with a sparse brush.
The big change is that I shaded today with a soft-edged brush as opposed to a hard-edged brush. I think it looks really nice, but I can also see advantages to the hard brush depending on the lighting.
I think I may do a few more of these, give the lobster some face time.
New comic tomorrow: I had friends in town tonight. Friends trump drawing. If any of you were in town, the same thing would go. Y’all are awesome and I hope you’ll understand.
Something I’ll probably throw in from time to time: Reasons why lobsters are good pets. Of course, these hold no bearing on reality. They wander aimlessly through a fanciful forest where trees bear whimsical fruit. The choice of forty-two was by design, and I positioned the lobster as an analogue to The Guide. Clearly it’s not a perfect analogy, but stuff it, I had a lot of fun putting this one together. Plus, more lobster. This is a win-win situation.
I have closed comments on the site regarding books. If you have an opinion, there’s always e-mail.
Hooray! Got the site back up! Apparently Internet connectivity (rather, lack thereof) was a common issue in Georgia the past day or so, and during all this downtime my provider decided to switch some modem settings without telling me. My router stopped talking to my modem, so even though I tested the modem connection directly once, I should not have assumed that it meant anything.
You know, there used to be a time when people would send you a mailer with your monthly bill when they planned on changing the terms of service on you. That way, you were prepared.
I tried something new with this, using some different brushes to give the whole thing a bit of texture. Frankly, it was probably a bad choice because it didn’t fit the theme, but I do like the results for a first try.
Does anybody else smell crayons or colored pencils when y’all are looking at this?
I plan on posting today’s update tomorrow. It is pencilled and inked, but I must get to sleep so I can get a head start on work tomorrow. It took a while to do, because at the last minute I decided to cut out the last strip in the story line. To that end, I have also updated the notes for the most recent strip; If you are a fan of the notes, you may want to revisit them.
Sorry, y’all, but I think this revision does the story more justice than all the earlier ideas I had. If you read the notes, I think you will agree.



