It’s been a while, and it’s time to upload ALL THE FILES. So this is gonna be a long one, because I’ve been slacking on updating this ding dang darn site. Woo!
Scene 4 Page 2: Boosted color, added vibrancy, as it was too dark for print.
Scene 4 Page 3: Boosted color, added vibrancy, as it was too dark for print.
Scene 4 Page 4: Boosted color, added vibrancy, added a rim light, as it was a hair too dark for print.
Scene 4 Page 5: Boosted color and vibrancy to the background, and clarified some fuzzy shadows.
Scene 4 Page 6: Boosted color, added vibrancy, added a rim light, as it was very much too dark for print.
Scene 5 Page 3: Adding sick rim light. And yellow lights to the walls.
Scene 5 Page 3: Added sick rim light to background characters, because I just couldn’t stop myself!! Also because it was too dark. A little. Also continuity fix: yellow lights.
Scene 5 Page 4: Continuity fix yellow lights on the walls of the plane.
Scene 5 Page 6: Same yellow light continuity fix.
Scene 5 Page 7: Panels 1 and 3 have been inked and colored… well, panel 3 was just painted. Because GOTTA GO FAST! And painting be faster.
Scene 5 Page 8: Panel 3, inked and colored and completed. Panel 4, shaded and complete. Panel 5, finished all the background peeps.
Scene 5 Page 9: Lookin’ good.
Scene 5 Page 9: Fixed wrong number of rows in plane, inked and colored panels 1 and 3. And decided not to move the word bubble in the final two panels. It looked fine on kindle.
Scene 5, Page 10: Did all the things! Except panel 4, which was done. So many people!
Scene 5, Page 11: Painted in the first panel quick and easy, no line, no fuss.
Scene 5, Page 13: Finished inking and coloring panel 2. Was holding off, because I wanted good footage with which to make a video essay about the page layouts of this and the surrounding pages. I’ll let you know when I get around to that! ‘:D
Scene 5, Page 14: Darkened the shadows, and added some color flair stuff, because panels 2 and 3 were literally the first panels drawn in book 2, because I was excited to draw all the characters together for the first time. But it stood out as weirdly dull in comparison to the newer work around it. It still does kinda, but meh.
Scene 5 Page 16: Changed nothing. I just wanted to say how grumpy this page makes me. Like, it had pretty great composition… and then I realized I’d teleported the character forward by like… fifty feet. And it made no sense. And I had to put them somewhere else. And now… it look like this… boo.
Scene 5, Pages 20: Increase background brightness, for more contrast, better printing.
Scene 5, Page 21: Fixed up the background. Pumped up the background contrast to match page 20.
Scene 5, Page 22: Fixed up the background. Pumped up the background contrast to match page 20.
Scene 5, Page 23: Lettered Breen’s text.
Scene 5 Page 25: The crowd.
Scene 5, Page 25: Added the whole crowd. Problem I just now noticed… there are two dudes stage right, who used to be low-level workers like our main characters… but I changed it and now they’re lieutenants… oh well! I guess they just aren’t big on uniforms this early in the morning.
Scene 5, Page 26: Finished the best panels in the comic. Great Success.
Scene 5 Page 26: The best panels, in sketch, and final.
Scene 6 Page 1: Slightly brightened for print.
Scene 6 Page 2: Su and Isaac (the officers in panel 1) have been given guns. Also everything is brighter. Page two got background peeps, and a background. We added the powered soap dispenser, which we’ll need later for blocking in… act 3-ish…?
All the panels got inked, colored, etc.
Jesse’s new scar.
Big notable character design change: Jesse now has a big ol’ scar on his right shoulder. The event that created it, has always been in his backstory, and I finally decided it was unreasonable to say it happened, and not let it scar up. /vaguepost.
Scene 6, Page 3: Breen has hips and stuff. 1616’s hips have been made more anatomically sensible. Because I learned anatomy stuff. Backgrounds are in. All the things are done.
Scene 6, Page 4: Everything is wet now. ALSO, me and my friend Ian, CODED UP A WHOLE PROGRAM to track props and blocking. So all the props on the back bench line up. And all the people do blocking that (mostly) makes sense. Woo!
Scene Swoosher! A whole program for tracking blocking and props for comics! EEEEeeeeeeeeee! SO FUN!
Scene 6 Page 5: Took it all from sketch to completion! Yay!
Scene 6, Page 6: Drew it all! Complete! Also, I changed the typeface that Su and Isaac talk in. I was aiming for something that felt slightly old western flavored, but with the clarity of a modern font.
Scene 7, Page 1: Improved the side-lighting in the last panel. Drew all of everything else.
Scene 7, Page 2: Drew.. all of it. All of it got done. Added a clothesline into the tent. I guess that’s notable. Simplified the tent opening to have fewer… like no wrinkles, cuz it looked weird.
Also made 1616’s pose a little more extreme.
Then I gave 1616 the weirdest pose ever for the final panel… which is very in character and I like it, I think.
Scene 7, Page 3: I don’t know what to say… I drewed all of it!
Scene 7, Page 4: Added a few background peeps. Mostly unchanged. Added some highlights. Complete. Obviously.
Scene 7, Page 5: Everything got drawn and finished. The panel of Jesse in the lower left, is just a polished version of the sketch, because when I was drawing this scene, I was having a tough time in the life thing, and couldn’t focus. So I couldn’t get it to look better than the sketch. So it goes!
Scene 7, Page 6: I don’t know what to say, this sketch was so so silly, and now it’s done. I will simply show you the before and after with Art Buddy, FaerieFoundling’s very apt description.
Scene 7 Page 6: Sketch vs. Finished Page
Scene 8, Page 1: Put the tiny people walking around in panel 1. Complete.
My mess of a map in which I track important tree placement.
Scene 8, Page 2: Added in appropriately placed trees behind the buildings. Yes, I track tree placement.
Scene 8, Page 3: The whole top two thirds of the page got drawn and colored and finished. The bottom panel got people in it. Also rectified the discrepancies between my map, and my model of the camp.
Scene 8, Page 4: Added more texture to the wooden walls in panel 1 and 2. Also installed a multitude of windows to the mess hall building, to help with lighting in future scenes.
Scene 8, Page 5: Very last minute fix – I thought I could up with it, but I couldn’t. Jesse’s sleeves are functionally what they call in tailoring “drop shoulders”, that is, the top’s shoulders are broader than his, and so “drop” over the sides. This was a very popular look for professional collared shirts in the 90s, and the look continues to be popular in men’s t-shirts to this day. I just learned all that. Jesse’s clothes just do this because he’s small. Ironically, I’ve learned (both practically while drawing it, and in researching clothing design) that this actually emphasizes broad shoulders. I thought it would highlight that he’s smaller than his uniform, but it hilariously makes him look more masculine, not less. That’s fine, I’ll own this choice. We can work with that.
Scene 8, Page 6: Same fix for the sleeves.
Scene 8, Page 7: I’m not sure if I changed anything… but I updated the file anyways in case there was some rogue pixel I erased two years ago or something.
Scene 8, Page 8: I think I reduced the amount of white above the irises by a pixel in a spot or two in panel five and six… but it’s hard to tell. Those expressions never worked as well as they did in the sketches, and in spite of all my fidgeting, I still don’t like them. First two panels are nice though. I’ve gotta stop looking at the rest. :P
Scene 8, Page 10: Kaya’s knuckle scarring was missing in panel 2. Fixed. Hopefully that’s the last of that particular continuity error.
Scene 8, Page 14: Jk, this is the last one. Missing knuckle scars fixed.
Scene 8, Page 15: Okay, this one was missing that too.
Scene 8, Page 17: Took it from sketched to finished! Hoo wee, all those little paint moths.
Scene 8, Page 18: Same thing. Drew it all.
Scene 8, Page 19 through 22: Drew it all. Posted for the first time.
And that’s it! That’s all of book 2!
Now, after literally years of work, I need to fight the sense of unreality and exhaustion, and actually get this into print.
As of time of this post, I’ve received a second print proof. It’s looking good, but there’s a couple small edits to make. I also need a second acknowledgment page, to thank all my wonderful art buddies, who have kept me company on Twitch, through this whole process. Some contributed character design elements, many helped with feedback on how pages were reading when I’d looked at things too long to see clearly, and some put their own time into the project… through the medium of dollars. I’m so grateful for all of it.
After the first book, I was still within a timeframe I understood, as far as length of project. But it’s been seven years, and I’m officially deeper than I’ve ever gone into a thing. I really can’t overstate how important all you peeps are out there. You make this worthwhile, and you make this possible.
Book 3. Let’s go.