July 7, 2014

Somehow I figured out comic coloring in the past year....

So in case you hadn't heard, I'm kinda doing this webcomic called SKY'S END.

I had started drawing this comic ages ago (like what, 4 years give or take? maybe it's 3? I DUNNO I'M GETTING OLD), and the beginning was kind of gobbledygook and as I was re-writing the story, it kind of got more precise and I needed to change a lot of stuff from the beginning. However, going back and retconning like 40 pages would be a tad difficult (I honestly lost count at this point too), because so much is different than when I started it.

So very very much.


THAT HAIR. Gave me more tendinitis problems than I'd care to advertise.

The original comic came from a chat-based RPG, long long long LONG ago. When considering adapting it, I had started trying to keep it exactly the same as the plot we had. Maybe with a few tweaks. Welllllll, there were two flaws with this:

1.) I'd already know EXACTLY what every character is doing at every moment and I would be reliving the same tale again and again over a LONG period of time. And frankly, that's kinda boring for me.

2.) The comic would go on forever, probably most of my life. I don't need that. I'd like it to finish at some point and I can work on other things!

I worked with my husband on switching around plots, characters, tightening up a lot of world-building stuff and plot stuff I had left up in the air. Needless to say, during this time, the more and more I looked at the old comic... the more I didn't like it at all.

I also had the problem of changing my medium every dozen pages or so - I started doing just straight ink, tried to do digital tones. I wasn't really happy with that, and then eventually moved onto digital inking with digital tones. During this time, I also switched over my drawing template, so my margins were COMPLETELY differnent than what the original pages were. I also wasn't happy with this style either. I would find the pages would take me a bazillion years to finish, as it would be eons between when I could get them done.

...the project got sporadic. I lost interest as the old version I didn't like as much anymore. And I got busy with a bunch of other stuff. Like getting married and things.

So I decided to officially set a new date for myself. I found some new pens (yay JET PENS), and I did some color testing. And, as was expected there was only ONE TRUE WINNER when it came to what I could color with the fastest:

can I tell you how much I love this panel?

Copics.

The comic officially launched on last Wednesday, July 2 (I was gonna originally do it the 1st, but then I realized I wanted to update M-W-F, and the 1st was a Tuesday and i wasn't having any of that. Also, my power went out. ALL FREAKING DAY - I actually went to my husband's work and borrowed a cubicle just so I could use my light box. I don't think Panera would have liked me bringing in all my art supplies).

I think I've definitely improved since the last, original, batch of pages:

the actual size of this picture is on 11x14 paper and it FILLS the length of it.

There are always things I can improve, and I will say, my biggest nemesis is making sure my boxes are straight-straight. But it's not too bad. I think it looks just fine for now. (It's a tad more difficult because I don't have a blue box line on the 11x14 paper - since I'm doing it in color, it'll be hard to remove that exact color in photoshop, so I have to HARDMODE it) I'm working on better ways to figure this out - but these things come with time. The key to webcomics is clearly: JUST POST IT. OMG JUST. JUST POST IT. I DON'T CARE, POST IT.



As always, you can find the comic at http://skys-end.com, and it will be updating every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as much as I possibly can. (I'm now fighting the buffer monster, which I should be able to finally build properly now).

If you're lazy and want to be auto-reminded on when I post, go onto tumblr and follow my page: http://skys-end.tumblr.com! I always post an update at 9 am, and I'm working on nighttime reminders around 10 pm!

3 comments:

  1. I love what you are doing with the new version and I'm glad to know I'm not alone in this sort of process ^_^

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    1. Thanks! I feel the hardest part about webcomics is resisting the urge to go back and re-do the original pages, especially when it feels like there's such a heavy competition for the best.

      You just gotta do what you gotta do and PUT THOSE COMICS UP.

      Do you have any pages/strips posted yet? I'd love to read them. :) (and that goes for anybody else too! I love finding new stories)

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