Week 14

I've been working pretty much every day since convention season started in March.  It's just a busy time of year and as a freelancer, I have to get in there and take paying jobs while the getting's good in order to make projects like Over the Surface possible.  I took this weekend off, though, kind of on accident.  Fun things came up and I did them?  I didn't make it to work Saturday or Sunday.  It was nice!  It's good to recharge, be more social, and rest my drawing hand now and then.

Also, artists, I cannot stress how important regular exercise is for us.  Cardiovascular exercise improves circulation, which improves our endurance at the drafting table and makes it less likely that we'll injure ourselves.  Just gonna keep harping on that now and then...

So I got less done than I wanted this week, but I'm alright with it:

I was going to prepare an inking video for this update, but that'll have to come later.  I can't do it alone: I need a buddy to hold the camera!  Gonna have to bug one of the Periscope interns.

Week 13

 Chapter 1 is coming along!  8 pages penciled and inked.

For inking, I've decided to go with a brush for main characters/foregrounds, and a G-pen nib for backgrounds/details.  I'm a fan of inking everything with the same tool--it looks consistent and it's faster if you don't switch tools in the middle of a page--but letting myself use a tool like the G-pen allows me to draw very fine lines and make backgrounds more detailed and delicate.  I'm really happy with how the environments are turning out.  Slowing down and taking the time to look up reference have also helped a lot with that.

Week 12

I went and bought cheap sculpting clay and made Victor's face.  It was really fun!  I used fake pearl earrings I never wear for his eyes, so he has this haunting, 1,000-mile stare.  He's very creepy, but I think he is going to help.

Here are some reference photos I took for chapter one:

^This was the closest I could come to Ava's outfit.  Getting an approximation of what the clothes do helps, even if it's not perfect.

And yeah, I'm out of the gates on the final artwork!  Wish me luck!

asd

Week 11

I'm back from TCAF!  It was a great reminder that there is some seriously awesome stuff out there and I need to be continually upping my game.  In that spirit, I'm back at it this week; tomorrow I'll be starting the final artwork for chapter one.

For now, here are some sketches I did over the weekend:

I still draw Victor differently every time.  I think I'm going to have to buy some sculpey and MAKE his face so I can understand how the bridge of his nose and eye sockets interact. :-/

Week 10

Same deal as last week.  Stumptown was great (recap here), and I'm getting ready for TCAF this weekend (details here).

Week 9

Thumbnails are in with my lovely editor for review and I am taking 1-2 weeks off to do other jobs. 

If you'd like some new Tally art, check out my Tumblr!  I've been doing Legend of Korra reaction comics and other fan art.

Week 8

I finished the thumbnails yesterday! :D And immediately went shopping. (You've gotta treat yo self when you hit milestones or they become meaningless!)



On to the final artwork!!!!!! I'm a little nervous to start...making an irreversible mark and all that...(meta moment: it's the exact same feeling as the first time I drew Over the Surface, which I talk about in this Between Gears page)

Week 7

I'm about 1/3 of the way through the thumbnails.



I am 90% sure I will be digitally coloring this book. I'll test the waters with the first chapter pretty soon, and make sure it's working.

Week 6

I'm working on thumbnails this week. It's slow going, as I'm still recovering from Emerald City ComiCon, but I'm really excited to be drawing the book (drawing! DRAWING!!). I printed out my template onto bristol yesterday, so in my mind I have officially begun the final artwork. 8-D



It's really interesting to me that after 2 years off from the story, rewriting the script, and re-thumbnailing the first chapter, there are some sequences that I think work exactly how I drew them the first time.

Week 5

Last week I made some test pages to see how different combinations of tools would look. I printed out a loosely penciled page twice and inked it 2 different ways, then tried toning and coloring each of those. Results:

1) Inked with a metal nib


2) Metal nib inking + flat graytones


3) Metal nib inking + color


4) Inked with a brush


5) Brush inking + halftones


6) Brush inking + color


I also got positive feedback on the watercolor sketches last week, and suggestions that I watercolor the entire book. I am preeeeeetty sure that is not going to happen, because it would be difficult to correct mistakes without redrawing pages (or at least panels) from scratch. On the other hand, I LOVE watercolor comics and I think I might actually be faster at watercoloring than digital coloring.