Renovation 6

Well here we are again.  The sixth page of Renovation is done for real now, I hope it was worth the wait.  This page was finished in my new studio fresh off of me moving in.  It has been a busy week but I think I am starting to get settled.

Like I said before this decision to go black and white as well as sketchier was made to both save time and free up the process from traditional comics.  If you want more detail on that notion see last week's blog post.

I like how this page ended up for the most part.  Panels 4,5,6 I think worked out particularly well, though I liked them better before I put in the word balloons.  A note for next week is to plan out where the words go better; I am still quite the novice when it comes to that.  One other thing I am not happy with is panel 8.  Quin's face sort of fell apart I thought.  I couldn't decide how cartoony to go with the expression and so in the end I think the indecision shows.  Also, maybe her head is too small.  Oh well.

It has also come to my attention that drawing multiple figures is taking me significantly more time than when this thing was just Jeremy in a car.  This fact is really obvious and I should have planned for this sooner but I think black and white will be a necessity from now on.

I said last week that I would also have a 3 panel strip.  This turns out not to be the case.  But don't fear, I do have something else for you to make up for it.

More details about this other project will be out soon.  I am going to get a website up for it in fact; so you can look for that in a few weeks.

That is all for this week.  Hope you all have had and are having a good long weekend.

-K

Renovation Sort of 6

Hello people, another Sunday has snuck up on me.  As you can tell the comic isn't 100% done; for that I am really sorry. I am in the process of moving this week and so I haven't had the time to hunker down and get shit done.  That said the Renovation page and a gag strip will be done for next week so you can look forward to that.  In the mean time I thought I could still do a blog post for the first time mid process.  So, here we go.

The first thing I should say is that my plan for this week was to do the strip black and white.  this decision was made for two reasons.  Firstly, as I have talked about before I have never really liked colour.  It always makes me uncomfortable and I don't know why.  Secondly, I knew I was moving this week so I decided ahead of time that I could speed things up and get the comic done if I didn't colour it.  And look how that turned out!  In any case I feel like not colouring was a good idea because I didn't want to approach this like I usually do.  Let me explain.

When it comes to process I have been really traditional with Renovation.  I started with rough "pencils" then I "inked" the stuff, then I coloured it all in and added the words last.  When it comes to the drawn elements of a comic that whole pencil, ink, colour thing is like the holy trinity.  In my opinion it is a pretty archaic way of going about things.  But that is the way I have done this because that is the way comics are traditionally made.  As Liza would say balls to you that.  I got to thinking that this three layered methodology sucks because it was made in a physical media mind set (instead of digital) and furthermore it was designed in the traditional comic industry, where you had different people to do each of those steps.  All this brings me to the biggest change I made this week, other than a really rough sketch to sort out layout I am just drawing this weeks comic.  That's it.  It is being drawn in photoshop; as in that is the one and only step.  As much as I hate to harken back to my artschoolspeak I am treating it like a painting.  It is just a bunch of stuff on a flat page.

Now, that said I am still not using the fact that I do this digitally to it's full potential.  As much as I rail against tradition in the previous paragraph I am still not using this new medium to it's full potential. I am fully aware of that, but baby steps.  In two weeks ill come up with something else to disturb, but for now this is it and I hope it has made things a bit more interesting.

Other than that I would say that I like how the page is turning out.  I finally get to draw someone other than Jeremy, so that is a treat.  I particularly like Tod's expression and pose in panel 7.  I didn't think it would be that interesting but I am liking it more and more.  

I think that is it for now.  Have a good week.

-K

Renovation 5

Hey everybody, I am back.  Utah, was great, and Nerdtacular was the best convention I have ever been to by far.  I thought I would get this out early, seeing as how I have been so bloody late for the last few weeks.

The entire trip has me really inspired to make cool things, and so this is just the beginning.  the fifth page of renovation, I hope you all enjoy it; god knows you've been waiting long enough.

So lets get back to business and talk comic. Looking back now the approach to 'inking' in the last three panels is way different than the first six, this probably has something to do with them being made a week apart.  For those with a keen eye you will notice I redrew Jeremy in the first panel.  In any case, this gets me to thinking about my general thoughts on process.  The way I have been doing things thus far has been very traditional by comic standards, rough pencil drafts, then 'inking' then colouring.  It is an archaic way of going about things given the comic is 100% digital. From now on I am going to be messing with that process, its order or cutting out steps or whatever.

I think I agree with the sentiment of the last panel. I feel like I have been putting off any interesting character interaction or narrative in favor of this sort of vague tone setting prologue that has been going on.  Upon reflection I don't regret any of it, the last few pages have been fun and I believe necessary.  That said I am ready for the story to actually start moving.

Originally this page was going to end with Jeremy wandering in the dust looking for the mysterious figure only to encounter something\someone else.  I cut things short to get the plot moving a bit and add some mystery or whatever and I think it works, but I am curious as to whether or not anyone felt the shift between panels 6 and 7 was jarring at all.

This page we also get a view of the cast  I think their general look will be fairly stable, but with the visual style changing page to page I can guarantee nothing.

That is it for now I think.

A new page will be out in two weeks.  Next week I will have another black and white strip out on the usual Sunday.  Till then have a good week.


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Renovation Page 4

Hey everyone, sorry I am late.  This is as good a time as any to talk about scheduling.  From now on this comic is going to update on Sundays.  This just works out much better with how my week is typically planned out.

In other news I graduated with my BFA this week and so it has been kinda hectic; hence the late comic.

But back to business.

No playlist for this comic.  The vast majority of this was done in silence, it was just one of those weeks.  Probably the earliest sketches were done to the new Daft Punk album; but I can not be sure. 

So linework.  You may remember that in my last blog post I talked about how I was not satisfied with my lines.  Well this week I feel is a bit of an evolution but I am still not satisfied.  I was mindful in some of the panels to have a thin hesitant sort of stuttery line, just to see how that would work out.  In the end I feel like it was equal parts good and bad. It seems like where I used this type of line things seemed to fall apart.  Shapes are made, but they don't know what they are exactly; almost like they are perpetually on the verge of rattling apart.  I am not sure how I will move forward in the next page.  My guess is that I will focus a lot more on the line, cross hatching, fully blacked out shadows, that sort of thing.  That said, there is a chance that I might make things even flimsier just to see what happens.  I did have moments of weakness (panels 2 and 3) where I fell back onto a thicker line made with a more confident stroke.  So maybe the answer is to expunge that idea completely with no regrets or second thoughts.

Colours are coming along.  I have always felt that they are my weakness and I feel like I am getting a better grip.  I am still trying to stay away from anything too painterly, but at the same time I am giving myself some room away from a purely graphic approach.  I have a hunch that I might have gone overboard with the textures a little in this page.  I have been hesitant to use them in my digital work, I feel like some people use texture to cover up bad drawings or colour choices and I don't want to do that.  All in all I am happy with the colour, though I think I should have made things a little bit lighter.

 I am happy with page layout.  Nothing is too adventuress but then again not everything has to be.

As far as story is concerned I am biting at the bit to get past this prologue and introduce the full cast, but I do want to take things slow; it is a thriller after all.

I can't think of much else to say about this one.  Thanks for reading and have a good week.

Jeff K.

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Renovation Page 3

Hey people it is that time again!  Sorry for being late with this comic, I was having some computer trouble, but that is all smoothed out now. Besides, I got this thing out the next morning so get off my back.

So lets get back to business.  Soundtrack for this one is mostly Iron Maiden and Beastie Boys.  If there was more then I forgot.

 I think I should mention before hand that a friend of mine, Ian, gave some good suggestions that helped the layout quite a bit. That said, I jumped the gun a bit and I think this page could have been a bit clearer.  Specifically, I think that I should have put the foot on the break panel earlier on in the page.  Other than that I am happy with how things turned out.

I decided to tighten up the linework a bit in this one compared to the last page.  Maybe that isn't the right word, but whatever.  I have a thing with lines, they strike me as being all really similar.  Hear me out, this isn't as stupid as it sounds.  I find I have a habit of making lines a bit too curvy and too think for fear that they won't be seen.  Best examples of this can be seen in panels 1 and 2.  In panel one, the interior of the car
 bothers me, and this isn't an issue with variation in line weight.  I know that I might have a problem with having too uniform of line weight, but what I don't like about the work is more that when lines get thick I don't like how they look.  Secondly, the curvieness of lines I feel like I never make straight lines, like they always have to swoop.  So, what have I learned form all of that?  Well next comic you can expect something very different in terms of line.  I am thinking of thin thin lines that don't very in weight that much, also a lot less swoop.

Colour was interesting this comic.  I knew that I wanted to have all of the exterior shots of the cars and stuff have a yellow orange haze that hinted at a day that is a little too sunny; then with interior shots, stick to cooler colours.   Not sure how well it worked out.  Also, in the battle of painterly vs. graphic I think I hit a reasonable middle ground.  Earlier versions of this comic had the gravel road and fields really worked with a bunch of grays browns greens and yellows.  It all looked a bit cluttered, and the colour began to fight with the lines so I smoothed things out a bit.  While I allowed some of the nuance to come through in the gravel and grass I think it isn't too distracting and gets the point across.  So I guess I am saying that I am happy with colour for once.

Well that's it for this week, so have a great long weekend and I'll be back again next Friday.

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