Author: beyondforward

I’m experimenting with adding subtle and simple gray shading to this comic, which I think adds an ominous tone to the art. I’m also exploring opportunities to add symbolic imagery, which is something I may not have had the chops to do back in the day. You can see that when comparing the original page with the updated.

As much as I swore I wouldn’t try to tinker too much with this project, I’m also staying open to way of improving the work without reinventing the entire thing. I’m also mindful of the time required in making any wide-scale changes, but fortunately adding these shading effects is a pretty quick and easy treatment. I’m not 100% certain I’m going to go this route or keep it all in stark black and white, however. I think it’s going to be a matter of adding the shading to each re-inked page and then making a decision about it at the end of the project.

Scott

Here’s my inks and colors over the great Gene Colan! After finding what seemed like a fairly obscure drawing by him online, I couldn’t resist inking and coloring it. Most of the comic artists I admire most are several generations behind me, so I didn’t get a chance to work with or even meet most of them, including Colan. What’s left to do? Plenty of scanned pencil art on the ‘ole inter webs, and I’m always on the lookout for unique pieces that I can try my hand at.

This treatment was one of my first on the iPad Pro, using Clip Studio Paint. I’ve included here Colan’s scanned, pencils, my inks and rough color study plus the final high res art.

Scott

This week I’m sharing several WIPs from current projects Saga of a Doomed Universe II and High Strangeness Redux.

High Strangeness:

In case you’re wondering why I’m inking these stars in yellow, it’s because I plan to adjust the levels and turn them white once I’ve filled in the black space beneath them. I found this is the only way I can re-ink the star patterns correctly over the original scanned art. This double-page spread is probably the most detailed so far in this project, so it’s taking a bit longer than usual to re-ink.

Saga of a Doomed Universe II:

Another two pages closer to the finish line on issue 2 of this series. I’m currently in the middle of penciling these two pages, as you can see.

Scott

Stop by the studio and hang out with me as I work on my next graphic novel! I wasn’t able to do Thursday’s livestream due to other work commitments, but I’ll be here tomorrow at 10:30am (EST), where I’ll likely be finishing up the lettering for issue 2 of Saga of a Doomed Universe II. See you then! Here’s a sneak peek:

Scott

I spent most of today lettering the next chapter of Saga of a Doomed Universe II and am sharing a screen cap of that work in progress. You can see some of that in today’s livestream recording. For me, lettering is a very important aspect in the process, because I typically edit my dialogue and rework the narrative in this stage. For instance, in just these first 12 pages lettered today, I’ve discovered better ways to convey some key pieces of dialogue, as well as repositioning the action in a few panels. Once the penciling is finished, I’ll likely continue to modify the lettering somewhat.

Scott