There are two stray lines that need a dose of Wite-Out, one at the top of the first close-up of Kalbi and one at the left of the panel with the door in the beam. The second of these looks like a violation of Tom's constraint about the grid, but it's not really, because it's a boo-boo. At any rate, once those are gone and I've tidied up one other little Rapidograph smudge, this page should be ready for a high-res scan to send to Isaac for coloring.I want to thank all those who made comments to help me revise this page to its present shape. I'm a lot happier with the new design than I was with the design in the first thumbnail. And after 21 panels in a four-tier grid, I think it's refreshing to see a different layout. So thanks as well to Tom Hart, for providing the constraint that forced me to think outside of the boxes!
But please don't let this just-posted page distract you from Isaac's preceding post, featuring his thumbnails for page 4. I'm sure he'll be wanting your comments on those, so click back and let him know what you think!
I needs to get me a brush pen.
ReplyDeleteWe got ours from Pearl Paint, in NYC. They're a really nice tool for learning how to draw with a brush (a difficult skill with a lot of payoff), but it still takes a long time to learn. I've been using one for about three years, and I'm still pretty clumsy.
ReplyDeleteBecause the ink in them is a little light, though, I tend to use a real brush when I can.
While we're talking tools, I'll confirm that the opacity and blackness of the ink is a lot better when you're using a real brush with a bottle of ink, but I've usually been able to compensate for the light exposure of the brush pen by adjusting the contrasts on scans whenever there's a problem.
ReplyDeletePlus, I'm somewhat lazy about the maintenance of brushes and (especially) impatient about the frequent recharging of the brush by dipping it in the bottle. I have done some drawings with actual brushes on occasion, but I can think of only one page of a minicomic drawn in "the SatCom era" for which I used an actual brush as opposed to a brush pen. (About six pages of my very first minicomic were done with a brush, but hardly anyone has seen that so it barely counts.)
One other drawback to the brush pen: its ink isn't waterproof. If you don't live in a leaky apartment and you work in black and white, this may not be a problem, but it does mean that laying watercolor over your drawings is a bad idea. If you want to do that, permanent ink laid on with a real brush is a must.
ReplyDeleteMike - this was a great page. Especially because you left it so pregnant for Isaac to do something interesting on the next.
ReplyDeleteThe combination of the two obstructions: close-ups and breaking the grid made for a completely bizarre page which you made exceedingly readable. I especially like the levitation panel.
Now to go reread Isaac's.
Bravo.
TH
One MINOR edit I would suggset: "You should see a door on that beam UP there" would help us navigate the space in all those close-ups, I think.
ReplyDeleteTH
Thanks for the encouraging words and the editing suggestion, Tom! It has been a real challenge and a pleasure to work through these constraints. And it's a relief to get to sit back and let Isaac go to it for a while!
ReplyDelete