4 Down 11 to go!!!

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Making Comics

Aaaaah How satisfying is it to finally get to this stage of my first comic book! I've been wanting to make comics since the early 90's and i can't believe it took me this long to actually buckle down and do it. So all 15 pages are pencilled and im 4 pages into the inking. It's really starting to come together!

Don't be too Precious

I've been learning some things along the way with this project. First and formost don't be too precious. I've approached this project giving myself a TON of leeway meaning i'm approaching it in the spirit of fun knowing i'm going to be far from perfect and I'm ok with that. The deadline coming closer and closer has helped with that as well. The temptation to lose traction because of obstacles has definitely come and because my time is extremely limited i have been forced to push through.

Next Time

This brings me to another point. This project has made me very aware of my artistic weaknesses and has pointed me in the direction of some area's that i need to practice before my next comic project. In all honesty the amount of improvement i need is a little overwhelming but I have some ideas of how i can make some progress in the near future. First of all i think i need to get into the habit of drawing at least 5 minutes everyday. Figure drawing and still life's of things i'm interested in drawing I think will help. Second I think I will begin to blog about it on a daily basis even if it's just an image to keep me motivated and to have more accountability.

Tightening the Process

Also I've noticed a few more things more specific to comics. One thing is i'd like to have each stage of the early process developed a little tighter next time. My Thumbs we're real loose. So much in some spots that i had to make a lot of changes eliminating and adding panels and pages as i penciled each page. Even the dialogue changed dramatically at the pencil stage. I do like the freedom this approach afforded me but it seems the more work you do on the early stages the less work you will have to do on the later stages fixing problems. Same thing with the penciling. I penciled these pages so loose in some spots that i am having to re draw some things as i go with the inking process. It can get very frustrating to say the least.

Also I'm learning what kind of tools i prefer. I'm definitely digging the brush tools and would like to get better at using them for sure! I do however need to buy one bigger brush to fill in large black spaces so it doesn't take so long and it looks less blotchy. I really like the look of using a combination of brush and crow quill with the tight lines and the loose lines but i'm struggling with knowing where to use which tool and the crow quill is a bit difficult. When i use the crow quill it feels like I'm digging into the board when and I also don't like only being able to move the quill in one direction. But like i said i do like the look of the mix of brush and quill so im going to have to practice more for sure.

So yea that's about it for now. I'm hoping to get a few more pages out this week. I only have about 6 more weeks to finish the art, scan the pages and set them up to be printed and put together. Plus i have to draw a killer cover ;) And did i mention ive never put a book together like this before so that will be a bit of a learning curve as well. So wish me luck LOL.

Thanks for stopping by!

God Bless,
-Marshall aka Calmplex

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