Just a quick update because I’m getting an influx of readers right now after the Float Conference. Just page completion, no completely new pages.
Intro, Page 13 – Fixed a massive continuity error: I somehow forgot Kaya’s cigarette. I hated her hair in the shown panel. I hate other things about that panel, but it’s functional, so I’ll leave it for future self. I also cleaned up all the gutters, because it was messing up the flow.
Intro, Page 14 – Inked, colored, completed.
Intro, Page 15 – Inked, colored, completed. I got a note the other night that someone didn’t know why she was grabbing her shoulder. Which is fair, because my expectation is that you discover the damage with Kaya. But if the gaping wound at the bottom of the page isn’t grabbing enough attention to immediately answer that question, then I have a composition problem to solve. I mention it, just in case any of you found this confusing, or annoying to read.
Intro, Page 16 – Inked, colored, completed. I made a change to the lighting design in the scene. I’m playing up the light of the cop cars outside, partially because dramatic lighting makes it easy to make clean compositions (not to mention hide the background); partially because these images are from Kaya’s perspective, and she’s become a more emotional person since I first blocked this scene; and partially because it makes it much more obvious that the cops are here, without adding lines.
Intro, Page 17 – This change is super apparent on the following page. Added bonus of allowing me to fix my bleh color choices the first time around.
Intro, Page 18 – Inked, colored, completed.
Intro, Page 19 – Inked, colored, completed. I am all about this page. I rolled a critical hit on it, and thank god, because it’s the point of the whole damned scene. I mean, aside from plot stuff.
Intro, Page 20 – I borderline didn’t want to update this one, because it’s less than half done. Got two panels inked and colored though, and Kaya’s expression adds a lot. Two embarrassing panels with my models showing are still there.
Intro, Page 22 – Inked, colored, completed. Finished off the greek chorus of aghast cops in the first panel, and did a couple more lighting effects layers on the splash panel, just to deepen the shadows and make it pop a little more.
Scene 1, Page 9 – Tidied up and completed. Didn’t feel like I needed much more than minimal viable product for this talking heads page that everyone’s going to blow past anyways.
Scene 1, Page 10 – Inked, colored, completed. This one’s been missing for a while. Kept forgetting it was there, with that scene otherwise pretty much done.
Scene 1, Page 11 – Cleaned up the first two panels, re-lettered (old lettering was with a brush that varied in weight too much, and was less legible), completed.
Scene 3, Page 2 – Got sleepy one night and did a little polishing on Jesse’s last two faces. Because that’s what I do when I’m sleepy. Get overly detailed. I also added a little ellipse on the second to last panel, to show Jesse is thinking.
Scene 3, Page 7 – I’ve just never been quite happy with the last panel. His expression is so good, and his body looks so off. Poked at it.
There are a couple more pages I could re-upload, but I think I’m going to wait on. I’ve gotta figure out what I want to do about the double-spread online, for instance. I may be that the print version is just slightly different from the web version. I really don’t like it when webcomic switch aspect ratio all of a sudden. I only have so much screen real-estate, and often a larger spread actually means I have to zoom out, and ironically see less detail in order to see the whole image.
Outside of the pages themselves, I’m also working on getting Jesse’s file together; the one Kaya’s looking at. I think it would make for an amusing read for people who are into it. With a bit of work, you could potentially solve his case, and intuit some backstory.
But for that, I’m going to need to redraw the crime-scenes, write up a few court transcripts (yawn), and weave all of my notes on Jesse’s conspiracy into Jesse’s notes on his conspiracy. That last one is going to be a lot of writing–in someone else’s handwriting no less. So that’ll take a little bit. Probably work on that while I’m proofing book 1 for print.
Gah. So much to do, so little time. I must draw. Ttyl.