This page went through a slightly loopy process. I penciled the big salvager ship (as shown on the final page) but then wasn’t sold on the design since it didn’t look unique enough to me. I then spent a bit of time concepting a new ship, erased the old one, and penciled the new one. And then realized that new one looked too much like another ship I already used. I then decided that the first ship was actually ok, but I had already erased it! Ack.
Luckily, for the regular Patreon reward of Art Stages, I always scan the pencils, so I did have the old ship pencils from that scan. I printed that out on bristol board and was able to ink that and composite it in Photoshop into the rest of the page, which was inked without the enemy ship.
I’ll cover a bit more of this on my Patreon, with some images of the unused ship design.
I kinda hate the wasted time concepting and penciling a new ship, only to just revert back to the original design. It’s a little reminder to maybe not overthink things and be ok with some things as is.
Speaking of time, once again this year has been a real struggle for production. As I am scheduling this post (mid-October), I am again away from home for a month, dealing with some things related to my mom’s stroke earlier this year. That has taken up a bit of time, in addition to already being behind from other time sucks, so unfortunately, I don’t have the next chapter ready to go.
I’m hoping to be back home in November and back to my regular production schedule, but it may be a month until I have some new pages to post. I’m really hoping to start posting regular pages again in early December.
I’ve been a bit frustrated for a while at just how long this one volume has taken me, but I did just realize the other day that this is an EXTRA LONG book. The first two books were 5 chapters of around 25 pages each, or 125 pages total. This book is 7 chapters of 25 pages each, but with the first and last chapters being extra long. So this book will end up around 200 pages, which is over 50% longer! So thinking about it that way, it’s basically like doing 1 normal book and half of another, so I guess in that respect, it makes absolute sense that this book is taking so much longer than the previous ones.
So I guess I feel a little better about that. But I still want to get it done sooner!! So much more to tell! Anyway, sorry for the pause in November, but new pages will post as soon as I’m able.
Considering this isn’t a monthly book I think you can afford yourself the luxury of going back and forth with a design. And it looks quite menacing, so: good job!
Sorry to read about the frustration, as a reader I do feel like I got a steady flow of story to read despite a few breaks. And these were announced breaks, it’s not like you stopped posting without warning.
Good luck dealing with the personal stuff!
Thanks Feroz!!
I hope everything is alright, mate…
Hi Sauro. Things are pretty good here. A good chunk of Jan and Feb were spent getting our mom’s house on the market and then dealing with the many issues that came up that really complicated the process. But it looks like that is all just about done. It was pretty exhausting. In other good news, I have the first 10 pages back from one of my colorists. Huzzah! I just need to do my usual review and tweak pass, as well as the lettering, and then I should be ready to start posting again in early March! Very excited to get new pages to you all!!
Good news! Hope the heavy stuff is almost behind you. Looking forward to the new pages!
Good to know that you’re fine!