Featuring the works of Scott Reed
It’s New Years Eve and I’m still in the midst of coloring the last few pages of Hark #2. Hopefully I’ll wrap this issue up and send it to the printer sometime in February or sooner. I had hoped to bring this issue to market in 2021, but my freelance workload this year made that target date slightly out of reach. Regardless, I’m feeling pretty great about how this issue is shaping up and thought I’d share a few process images. Enjoy!
SR
Here’s your signed, limited edition 24″ x 18″ poster print! Thanks again for being a part of this endeavor!
SR
I’m releasing the complete first issue today exclusively via Patreon. This edition includes a few art corrections and enhancements, along with some subtle technical adjustments. Just click on the attached pdf file below to download your copy.
These last few weeks have been a blur. I was busy selling my old house and buying a new one. To make matters even more interesting, closing and moving fell on the day before Thanksgiving. As of yesterday, I finally unpacked my new studio and am back up and running. I’m pretty stoked about that, so I thought I’d share a couple of studio pics here.
Although I really need another week to recuperate from all of this, I’ll instead be sharpening my pencil today and getting started on Hark Book II, so expect to see some new art here shortly.
SR
I don’t see any reason to show specific ‘before-and-after’ views of the various art corrections and improvements I’m currently working on, but I thought it would be interesting to share a couple of glimpses into my efforts. In the first example, I realized that I needed a panel that actually shows Aeda placing the mysterious device in her pocket, as a visual cue for readers to understand that she actually kept the object (panel 3).
In the second example, I initially planned to keep the Reactor character completely in shadow, for a prominent reveal later in this issue. However, as the art progressed, I realize that it might have greater impact to reveal him in stages, and I didn’t want that to compete with Hark’s own big reveal at the end of the chapter. Anyway, these are hindsight decisions that weren’t as clear to me in the script stage, but I now have the opportunity to make these little course corrections and clarifications.
I’m still plugging away on fine-tuning issue #1, but hope to have the Patreon-exclusive digital comic ready for release here in the next couple of weeks.
SR
This wraps up the first issue of HARK! Without a major publisher onboard, making comics can be more than a tedious project to undertake– it’s very often a financially unrewarding effort. Although I’ve had periods where I’ve made a good career in this field as a comic book creator, first at Malibu Comics, and later at Dark Horse, Image and Marvel, there are also long periods when I’ve made comics because I have stories I need to tell, regardless of whether a publisher shows interest in them or not. As a sometimes self-publisher, I enjoy the freedom of calling the shots, without having to pander to demographics or align with the continuity of corporate super hero intellectual properties. As a Graphic Designer, I eagerly dive into the design and marketing of these works, exploring new ideas on two fronts: in the story itself, and in the way that it’s ultimately published.
Patreon has been a great platform for me to explore both of these things. It’s prompted me to stick with a regular online publishing schedule, getting a page posted every week (more or less!), knowing that there are patrons who expect it. Your presence here is a big part of what’s helped me to the finish line of this first issue, and I can’t express how much I appreciate your monthly patronage.
In the meantime, my next step is to do a bit of fine-tuning of Hark #1 before I get underway on issue #2. I’ll have some works-in-progress to share soon, so keep an eye out for those, along with some special rewards for you.
SR