Let's char some Kraken!

Hey guys!

This is both a post about my work process and mild reminder/recommendation regarding our $5 pledge, which gives you access to Slavic Nihilism #1, Son, 20 pages worth of secret old-ass comics done "for exposure" and also - thanks to this month's update - CHARRED KRAKEN (yep, it's also on Comixology). 

It was done as one-shot based on Chris Irvin's short story sometime during 2014, given a limited print run by Chris and then released digitally. Not a lot of people know about it, but I thoroughly enjoyed drawing it!

Now - to my process on these pages:

1. After years and years of drawing everything digitally in MangaStudio 4EX I continue doing most of my pencils there. I love this ancient version of the program (it's already 11 years old!) and will probably stick to it until I decide to go "the To-Zo Road" and buy me an iPad with ClipStudio.

2. Since Undertow, I'm usually printing out my pencils for traditional inking, but Charred Kraken was actually my last comics (at least for now) inked 90% digitally. If I remember correctly, at the moment I switched my busted old PC to more capable laptop and bough some of Kyle's Dry Media Brushes, so I was eager to torture myself with Photoshop inking. I guess it worked out pretty alright!

3. This is something I do to salvage my messy inking and save some time to my colorists - gray tones! It's usually 2 layers of black with 25% and 50% of transparency, and my colorists (in this case - Kelly Fitzpatrick) are free to do whatever they want with them. I have another book slated for 2018, and we'll be using the same coloring method there.

4. And at this point I'm gone - it's coloring magic time for Kelly!

Aaaaand low let's see them with Thomas Mauer's beautiful lettering! We worked on a ton of comics together during that "era", and I really hope we'll get back together for some project soon.

That's all for now, folks!