Author: beyondforward

This week’s page has been uploaded courtesy my newly installed and 100% functional graphics card, which I successfully installed to my ‘legacy’ Mac Pro earlier this week. So far, all systems go. The card installation itself was very simple, the trouble was figuring out which kind of graphics card to use. About midway through troubleshooting it I realized I should just go to the Mac forums and ask around. 

With all that hassle behind me now, I just finished inking pages 22-23 and I’m working on page 24 this week. I’ll try to capture some of that work-in-progress in video soon and post here.

SR

I use a 2010 model Mac Pro and 2009 Cintiq drawing tablet for all of my digital graphics work. Bought when new, my Mac has been a reliable workhorse for years, but on my last day of work before going on vacation, the graphics card failed. So, I’ve had to switch to my Mac Book Pro until the new graphics card arrives. It’s actually been a decent enough temporary fix, as I have a 2nd monitor that I’ve connected to the laptop, which enables me to continue with all of the various graphic design and web design jobs I’m working on. The downside is that I have to put any digital illustration projects on hold until I get the Mac Pro up and running. There’s probably a way to connect up my Cintiq tablet to the laptop, but I think I would need to connect a new adaptor for that, and honestly I have no energy left to troubleshoot another birds nest of cables.  And don’t even get me started about the latest OS not supporting Wacom’s ‘legacy’ tablets. Anyhow. Enough of the techno babbling.

I love technology until it stops working. Incidentally, in my phone call with Apple support, tech support considers my Mac ‘obsolete’. THOSE ARE FIGHTING WORDS, APPLE. We’ll just see about that.

Never fear, I’m still several weeks ahead of schedule. Even though I’ve taken a week off from posting a new page (last week’s was a double-pager, after all), expect the new page next Wednesday. In fact, I’m finishing the inks on yet another gigantic double-pager that appears later in this first issue, and am sharing here a brief overview of my work-in-progress.

SR

Although HARK is being published online for now, my goal is to get the book into print at some point. So, with that in mind, I’m posting this double-page spread as is, without splitting it up into a more browser-friendly format. I am however posting it as a gigantic 2000px wide image, so if you have trouble reading it, just click on the image, or download it as an attachment below. 

SR

I originally had written dialogue/exposition for this page, but when the art was finished and it came time to letter it, I went a different route here. Sometimes less is more, and very often I make significant changes to dialogue once the art is complete. This is my way of distancing myself from the script and assuming the role of editor. A character’s facial expression, camera angle or some new, unexpected layout decision will make me re-evaluate their dialogue. As for this page, believe me it’s the calm before the storm. 

SR

I’m working from a completed script, but I always end up straying from it a bit during the art stages. It’s how I keep myself motivated. And considering I have no publisher behind this project yet, I have to find ways to remain creatively charged enough to produce a new page every week. Just like the reader, I want to be surprised. Juggling the writing and art and everything in-between can be a laborious process. That’s why I’ve chosen to completely finish one page at a time, rather than turn myself into a one-person assembly line, finishing all the pencils, going back to add the inks, etc etc. I’ve done that before in previous books and it’s nightmarish. Making comics is hard work, especially when I’m taking ownership of every single thing on the page. With HARK, no nightmares. At least, not yet.

SR