SAKANA EARLY ACCESS pages #574-#576 and 575/576 process

Hey! I'VE GOT A LITTLE BUFFER GOING! Shocking, I know. Here's the next few SAKANA pages so you can see JUST HOW AWKWARD this "interest meeting" can get! 

Feel free to right click and "Open Image In New Tab" to view these images at a larger size! 

#574: 

#575:

#576: 

These guys...they're trying their best...

And here's process work for 575-576! 

1. YOU PROBABLY ALREADY KNOW THIS, but I always have to reiterate: Sakana strips are drawn two to a page. So its a happy occasion when I can work on two strips at the same time, because it makes work go a lot faster! Panels 6-7 on the top strip were originally supposed to be one panel, but I thought it was funnier to separate them. Sippin' that anxiety juice. B]

Other than the angled panels and the tiny vertical slice betwixt two long horizontals in the bottom strip, these are some fairly standard layouts.

2. I say it's easier to work on two pages at the same time because that means I have TWO PAGES WORTH OF EASY PANELS TO PICK OUT AND INK FIRST. I basically avoid any panels with complex shapes, poses, backgrounds, and overlapping elements until I'm absolutely forced to start working on them. 

You can also see, at the bottom of panel 5 in the bottom strip, why working with my favorite pens is basically playing with fire. They're not waterproof at all! If I sneeze on these pages and then try to wipe it away THIS is what happens. (actually I think this smudge was an errant drink ring on my desk. whoops.) Since the ink's not waterproof, whiteout also doesn't work well for corrections. I just have to live with this smudge on this page forever and edit it out in photoshop after scanning. 

3. You can see I was SO committed to the easy panels that I went ahead and just did all the spot blacks before I had to force myself to continue. 

4. Still avoiding backgrounds, because I'm shameless.

5. And done! You can see I edited out the water smudge but otherwise this was a fairly edit-free experience. Hope you enjoy!