My Comic Book: Issue #2 first test print!

Yay! I got the test copy for Bomb Squad #2 in the mail last week! Sorry for just dropping off the posts, but after coloring and sending off the files to be printed I just stopped to a halt with my comic book work! I got sucked into video games again (I've been sucked into Yakuza 4, Binary Domain and Rhythm Heaven Fever lately!)

Anyhow, the print came back, and I am so excited! The paper quality's better than the first run of the first issue, but the color ink seems a little sparse, it's not QUITE a solid color when it's laid down on the page. Still it's a nit-pick; the book looks pretty sweet in print and in my hot little hands!

Temporary cover. I need to get a-crackin'!

The first two page spread looks like it's working. Still I need a few color
tweaks on the highlights on the window in the panel with Kid Hotshot.

This page is almost there, the highlights on the building need a little tweaking as well.

It's nice to see some of the colored pages when they're side-by-side like this.

The print is a little strong on the blue, the sky is supposed to have a little more green and some of my really subtle light tinted grays aren't picked up, so they just go to white. I'm actuallu using the same chade of blue for the sky in the first book, but they turned out pretty different. Still, I like the print from Ka-Blam. I'm excited to finish off the cover and sell it at a con! But the only cons (close to me) are A.P.E. and Wondercon (if it comes back to SF) next year!

I need to get back into the regular groove of working on the book again, then ride that flow into issue #3! The idea was to do a book a year, so I'm already late! Story of my life! Seeing my book in print though always gives me a second wind. God Bless you all, and see you next post!

My Comic Book: Issue 2 Cover WIP

I kinda had this idea for the second issue's cover where Kid Hotshot is standing really close to the viewer. Like a fish-eye lens shot type of thing, with the rest of the squad standing behind him. But it just wasn't working. So I kept doing more and more thumbnails, trying to get my idea to crystallize. I still don't think I'm there. However, this is what I arrived at:

initial sketch - kinda neat, but the logo area is too small

cropped it a little different and cut up the legs to force the perspective

So after that, I scanned it into Photoshop and drew on a separate layer using a red color. Once I got some of the loose linework in there, I jump over to the inking side of things. I jump from the red lines to the inks and cutting and pasting stuff to get it to the composition I'd like.

Still workin' on it...

 I'm still not sure where my composition is heading, but working digitally really loosens me up. I don't feel afraid to make a mistake. Anyway, that's enough outta me! Goodnight and God Bless.

Adopt a Rainforest

No posts on my comic book today, just kinda taking it easy before I dig back into it and draw the cover for the second issue.

So as a 'filler' post, I dug up something I worked on awhile back. I freelanced a bit for a company called LOLapps on a facebook game called "Adopt A Rainforest". I don't think it's up anymore because A) the landing page on Facebook only said it had 10 active users a day and B) When I try to connect it just gives me an error message!

This was my second social gaming gig I think, so it's interesting for me to see this body of work nowadays. I produced a lot of assets for the game. Come to think of it, I think I produced all the assets for it! But before I get into that, let me start at the beginning: it started out with a test.

I was given some character design parameters and look that LOLapps was trying to go for with this new game they were developing. I can barely remember what the parameters were, but this is what I submitted:

I have very little knowledge in working with Illustrator or Flash, so I did this guy in Photoshop. Luckily, the client liked what they saw and I landed the job. I recall that they were hiring other freelancers, but I think they must've settled to use just me (I could be wrong). Of course if I had known I'd be the only one producing art for this game I think I would've freaked out and not done it at all!

Anyhow, I produced a bunch of work and all of it was done after my regular job. So I would usually clock in another 3-4 hours a night extra once I got home. It was VERY tiring, but I must admit it was also good experience. I was producing, I think, 1 of these assets within 30 mins. I think I was averaging 45 mins to an hour per asset. The client wanted me to work faster and they seemed pretty happy with what I was producing...

Animal Character Designs

I think the fact that I worked so fast was stressful, but also very fun. I clocked my time, and budgeted what I could get away with with my schedule in mind. I think that disciplined me a lot to not dwell and move on to the next one. Admittedly, they're not all great designs, but there are maybe a couple in there that I still like.

Events

I learned alot about color and silhouettes with this project. Because I was working at a small size, I had to make sure things were clear and distinct.

Supplies

After these submissions, the client asked me if I could provide a background that all this art could reside on. I wasn't really thinking of backgrounds when I generated the art, so that was a little difficult to design. Backgrounds aren't quite my strength, I'm afraid. Still, it turned out okay.

Background

When I saw the game in action however, I wasn't quite that pleased with how they interacted with each other. I guess I didn't really plan ahead in how these things looked together.

Later on they asked me to generate a banner for them too. Of course I wasn't that great of a graphic artist either, but I dove in for that assignment as well anyway! Here are the designs I came up with: 

The last one ended up being the final comp that they liked.

It was pretty tough maintaining my day job and this at night. I was pretty tired, so I was quite happy once I shipped off the last of the assets for this game. While the freelancing gave me some great pocket money on the side and  invaluable lessons for my art, it was quite tiring. I don't thtink I'd be able to handle something like that anymore!

That's it for this post! God Bless and good morning!

My Comic Book: Mock up prep

All pages of issue number two are done!

Now, I'm going to do a test print with a mock-up cover and send it off to Ka-Blam to print. However, I'm not completely done: I still have to prepthe interiors and do a cover. But this test print will help me take a look at how my colors will come out. Here are the mock-up, inside back and back covers.

Mock-up cover

Inside front cover

Back cover

Tomorrow, I'll start cutting up the pages to the right size and getting it ready to upload and place an order in. Boring stuff, but it's a nice feeling to get my pages in order. The neverending battle continues!

My Comic Book: Page 23 final colors (cheat page!)

Creating comic books is such a giant mental challenge. Locking yourself away to write, draw, ink, letter and color takes it's toll after awhile. It's so easy to procrastinate or make excuses after a tiring day at work.

When I work, I find that if I do little countdowns for myself on how many pages I have left to finish, it helps push me on. I usually have a couple pages in the Bomb Squad that I know should be easy for me to color. I usually color those last, like a mental ace-in-the-hole that I bust out when I'm starting to get fatigued. Does that make any sense?

Anyhow, this is one of those pages...

Fortunately, this page works with the simple monochromatic color scheme to signal a flashback much like in the first issue. And that's it for tonight. And that brings me to...

2!

more!

pages!

left!

God Bless you guys and good night... er, morning!