Page 17 Inked

Inks for page 17. I really like this page. I enjoyed doing panel 1 and I think the page layout is quite different from anything else in the issue. I've also noticed I've been using more blacks and "lighting" in the last few pages and it's really putting them a level above some of the earlier pages. 

The Pages So Far

15-16 Inks

Here are page 15 and 16 inks. 10 pages to go for hand in. I am really starting to feel ambivalent about some of the earlier pages. I think I will go through them all and re render some parts before colouring. It doesn't feel consistent when i take it all in at once at the moment. One of the main things is a lack of strong blacks in earlier pages. I'll make a pass through the pages soon and rectify these things.

I also noticed several panel layout patterns I keep defaulting to. I want to stamp that out as much as possible going forward. I tend to use a wide middle panel frequently and I noted before I used the 3 panels along the bottom of the page a lot too. I know there are only so many layouts possible but I don't want to be doing things the same way out of habit. 

12-14 Inks

Inks for 12-14. Should be able to get 15 completely done tomorrow and the 2/3's milestone , page 16 on Tuesday. I am trying to keep the panels mixed up to avoid repeated page patterns. I noticed on 3 separate pages already I have 3 uniform panels running along the bottom of the page.  I want every page to be individual. Another thing to look out for going forward.

On page 12 I have little to no backgrounds. Partly I thought the dialogue would take up more space and partly because  I didn't think it was overly relevant having established the setting in previous pages. Looking at it now though I think maybe I can add some more detail to panel one just to anchor the page in that scene. I'm fairly unhappy with page 13. It's a bit bland but I think I got enough variety of shots in there. I might go back into it and open the border on panel 1. Both of these pages feel like they are missing the "one key image" that draws the eye.

I've added an extra panel here at the start. I'm not totally sure it's needed but as I mentioned in a previous post I think I need to be wary of how close my "camera" is.  I am trying to spend more time drawing the environments and establishing a sense of space in the pages.

Page 11 Inks

Page 11 is inked. I am expecting to look at this tomorrow and see a whole lot of little things I want to change. Sometimes this will be details or cleaning up lines other times it will be rearranging panels slightly or masking out areas to redraw. It's very rare I complete a page in these projects and don't go back to them to work into them more as the project proceeds.

9-10 Inks

I changed these pages a lot from the initial layouts. I felt that page 9 was too cramped for a few reasons. The figures were all too small, nothing was really becoming the interesting element of the page and there was quite a lot of dialogue. I was also conscious that I need to include more establishing shots. I think its a pretty big flaw in my most recent pages over the last year or so and am trying to consciously do things differently. So I decided to move the bottom panel to page 10 and lose panel 2 from the page 10 layout. I will need to shuffle some word balloons around but I am happier with the results. Page 9 I feel is still incredibly weak. I will definitely make further changes to this page before it is finished. Page 10 has turned out brilliantly though. It's probably one of the best so far.

Progress

Here's pages 1-10. There have been minor changes over these pages as I've progressed. The sort of major one was changing the lack luster chest emblems to something else. I can feel the pages getting more "Jim Lee" as I go as well. I'm just going to roll with it. This project is a chance for me to experiment and try new things. I don't want to rigidly stick to anything for the sake of it. 

7-8 Inks

Couple more pages inked. As always I will probably make some changes at some point when I get a few more pages in and realise something isn't right.... 
Here they are for now. Page 8 took a lot longer than I though. There was lots of perspective things to work out. 

I would hate to have had to do this on paper without the digital perspective tools in Clip Studio. The concentric circle ruler is invaluable. 

I would like to get nearly all the pages inked this month. It'll be a challenge but I think it's possible. That would leave me almost a full month to get the colours, letters and various other tasks done for hand in. 

5-6 Inked

First of 3 double page spreads. I think my inking is improving. Some of the lines I am able to get are much more appealing looking. A lot of it is still very wobbly though. Partly that is because i am conscious I have a really tight deadline. I will come back over all of the work at the end and do a tidy up pass once the pages are coloured and lettered. I'll need to make sure the rendering matches up to previous pages. I can feel the style becoming more "Jim Lee-esque" as the pages progress.

Progress so far

Here are the first 4 pages together. I've made some edits on one to three since previous posts, the largest of which was the background in the first scene. I tried to make it look more futuristic.

* I'm going to keep this page updated with the latest pages so they can all be viewed together. 

13/6/17 added pages 5-8

Page 4 inks

Inks for page 4. Pretty happy. Might need to go in and add some detail with white to the top left. Can maybe add a fire escape or something. I have totally cheated with some of the perspective and positioning of figures here but who cares it looks cool. 

Likely I will look at this with fresh eyes in a day or two and make some more edits. It possibly needs some stronger blacks in places as well.