In which Alexandra's expectations are shattered.
(To read all of the posts with finished pages, simply browse the DD4 tag!)
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Aha! The first of Chapter Two's Big Fun Experiments, the four-page "Proper English Ladying" spread. I am very happy to be able to share the finished pages with you, after all the work that went into it.
Just now, I've been messi...
2022-08-26 13:01:03 +0000 UTC View Post
In which Uncle Nikos* returns a generous gesture made long ago, Alexandra meets a horse, and her dad makes a thoughtless joke.
(All the posts containing finished pages are sorted under the "DD4" tag!)
*Continuing the theme of "Tony Definitely Knows All His Characters' Names," as I was posting this, I noticed Uncle Nikos was called "Nico" on this page. Add this to the list of things...
2022-08-19 13:01:03 +0000 UTC View Post
In which someone certainly has a lot to learn about being respectful.
(As always, if you wish to take a look at only the Patreon posts with finished pages on them, simply browse the "DD4" tag.)
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I got bodyslammed by an illness this week—not COVID, but I won't go into details. And anyway, it's improving. So this week's update will be short.
In an upco...
2022-08-12 14:01:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Alexandra and Katerina take a look at a few of the night sky's splendours, and Alexandra's mom moves up the schedule.
(To browse all of the completed pages, simply hit up the DD4 tag!)
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I almost forgot to do this, but this week I revised two pages from Chapter One with new artwork.
One of my goals was to make the town a little more drear...
2022-08-05 14:01:04 +0000 UTC View Post
In which Alexandra and her newfound companions explore more of the humble town of Archipoli, discovering places they may or may not be "allowed" to "go."
To browse previous posts with finished pages in 'em, simply pull up the "DD4" tag: right here.
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I mentioned a few items of archaeological interest last week. Here's another: I just learned about 2022-07-29 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
This week, Alexandra and her father address some sticky topics.
NAMES!
Last week, a reader (hi, Emmanuelle) pointed out that Alexandra's dad was previously referred-to as "Andrew," but that Alexandra's uncle was also named "Andrew."
Here's Nikos calling dad "Andrew:"
Now, I knew there was something fishy going on with the names. Somet...
2022-07-21 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Katerina and Alexandra decide they need nicknames for each other for some reason. Names should always be very carefully considered and chosen using thoughtful, meaningful criteria.
Art note: dappled lighting is very difficult to get to look right! Especially if ...
2022-07-15 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY continues apace, this week featuring naval strategy from the mouth of babes.
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In "how are things going" news: I suspect our toddler is reading my philosophy books and has chosen to test my resolve. (Of course he is not; he is a toddler.) All I wanted to do on Wednesday was use his two-hour mid-day nap to finish colour on some of next week's pages. Based on the preceding week-or-so's behaviour, this was not an unreasonable expectation. ...
2022-07-08 18:13:29 +0000 UTC View Post
I am proud to present you, Dear Reader, with the very first pages from Chapter Two of Practical Defence Against Piracy, in which the reader is unlikely to be misled, despite the narrator's attempts.
There are three (!) cameos in these pages. If you recognize yourself (or your loved one), I hope I've done right by you. We'll see more in the coming weeks.
Thank you Emmanuelle and Fergus for pointing me to references for styling the chapter synopsis! (Which I've also added to Chapter...
2022-07-01 14:00:10 +0000 UTC View Post
This week:
THE STAR CHART WORK-IN-PROGRESS
Please take a look at the WIP Star Chart images above! Try to find your own name! And, most importantly, please let me k...
2022-06-22 20:56:36 +0000 UTC View Post
The Patron Acknowledgement pages for Chapter Two will be styled after a "Star Chart," similar to above. I talked a little about this concept in a previous post.
Please fill out this form<...
2022-06-14 20:01:09 +0000 UTC View Post
It's just about time to get started on the Chapter Two Patron Acknowledgement pages, so a "call to action," as they say:
IF you would like to be publicly acknowledged by a different name, or anonymously, or would specifically not like to be acknowledged, or would just like to be very specific about your name, 2022-06-10 23:38:48 +0000 UTC View Post
Every now and then, while writing, there are magic moments where story mechanisms click into place and your project feels more complete than before. Those are joyful moments, where it feels like the disjointed windmills and chutes of your Rube Goldberg device whirr together perfectly, where your Frankenstein monstrosity picks a daisy and hands it to you with childlike sensitivity. I recognized one of those moments just recently and I want to share it with you.
[ Here there be mild s...
2022-06-02 23:42:26 +0000 UTC View Post
Still flatting Chapter Two of PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY (DD4). Since it still doesn't offer a lot to look at, please allow me to point your eyeballs elsewhere.
Jonathan Case's LITTLE MONARCHS
I've excerpted six pages from LITTLE MONARCHS above. After those six pages, I was on board. I knew immediately: this is a book I will not want to put down, and which I will absolutely read to the end. That's a good feeling to get.
Necessarily, I felt as ...
2022-05-25 21:12:06 +0000 UTC View Post
[ SPOILER WARNING - if you care about spoilers, or you just don't want to see this sequence 'til it's done, skip this post! ]
I've been teasing this for a while, holding it back, because… ha ha, I am nervous about posting it! AND YET! Here it is. One of the sequences I'd most been looking forward to for Chapter Two. One of the silliest ideas. One of the sequences that feels most high-stakes to me, in that if I don't get it just right it's not going to be what I want ...
2022-05-20 20:51:01 +0000 UTC View Post
[ Above: This is generally what my flatted pages look like. The colours here may only be loosely correlated with the final colours. ]
Flatting continues in its usual manner. If you’re unfamiliar with the process, think of it like working on one of those “adult colouring books” that were so popular not too long ago. It’s like spending whole days doing that. The end goal is that ...
2022-05-13 18:11:47 +0000 UTC View Post
On the one hand, people say "done is better than perfect," meaning that getting anything to any sort of finished state is better than pursuing perfection. But on the other hand, I promised myself at the start of this project to not to let myself be too free with the feeling of "good enough." I've written about this in previous posts, and the TL;DR is that being in too much of a rush and letting deadline pressure affect me too much made me exhausted and miserable during the making of ...
2022-05-05 21:06:46 +0000 UTC View Post
As always, when I shift gears from one task to another, I feel out of my depth and anxious. In this case, I've switched from inking (thinking in terms of black and white lines) to colouring (thinking in terms of value or light-and-dark, and forms and shapes). I want to share some of the methods I use to keep myself feeling good and steer myself toward "successful" colour ideas.
VALUE TH...
2022-04-28 21:02:21 +0000 UTC View Post
[ Photo credit: Olivier Guillard on Unsplash ]
Last year, for Chapter One, I prepa...
2022-04-21 20:32:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Usta be, I would write out my story as a long manuscript, almost novel-style. As previously discussed, I am not doing that this time. Instead, I'm using whatever this approach is.
I sit in front of the page in Photoshop, text cursor blinking, paper arrayed all around me. As I've progressed from notes through thumbnails through value thumbnails to the finished pages, I've been re-writing the text. I'm guessing about 2/3 of the time the original text makes it through, bu...
2022-04-15 20:58:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Let's take a look at some of the choices that we get to make during the scanning and page-prep process! All the images above are duplicated below, just FYI.
But first:
BIG SCANNERS ARE STILL EXPENSIVE
I began the scanning process by looking at prices for Epson large-format scanners. Bad news: they're still diabolical! A professional-quality 11x17" Epson scanner typically costs CAD$4,299 as of this writing. $4800 after tax. The 8.5x11" Canon scanner I u...
2022-04-09 20:49:58 +0000 UTC View Post
If the natural settings seem very Bill Watterson-y, it's because I pulled out my CALVIN & HOBBES to see how he did it. Someone reminded me that Watterson inked using the same brush I'm using now (Winsor & Newton Series 7 #1), and in situations like this, it's always good to go back and re-look at things to see how they compare to your recollection of them, to observe them anew having acquired fresh experience. I've drawn 60-someodd pages using this brush, so knowing what I know now ab...
2022-04-02 22:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Whey hey, we got all the way to the end of Chapter Two with inks, now I've looped around to finish the first dozen or so. For new Patrons (hello, new Patrons!), I like to ink the first handful of pages last, because my drawing and inking skills are better after, oh, eighty pages of practice. By saving the first for last, ideally those pages are drawn more nicely, and thus make a better first impression.
19th Century Travellers in Europe: More Resources Than Y...
2022-03-26 20:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Back at it, finishing a very "talky" sequence. We meet Vignelli, the Provveditore, who has just returned from a visit to Barathron, the island's other town. Alexandra dislikes him immediately and is confused as to why everyone else isn't as flagrantly repulsed by the man as she is. Do they not see what she is seeing? Whether they do or not, they are of course demonstrating the strange and exotic practice of Deferring To A Man's Station. It's a practice Alexandra has seen previously, ...
2022-03-19 23:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post[ This is Chapter Six in an ongoing, improvised prose story about three adventurers trying to find their way after the head of their party has died, as well as trying to get paid from a town full of miserable racists. Chapter One; Chapter Two; Chapter Three; <...
2022-03-11 22:27:06 +0000 UTC View PostA few weeks ago I was complaining about cliffhangers. Because no one likes the guy who complains but doesn’t offer solutions, I have made a casual search for some solutions.
THE PROBLEM
The problem is the misuse of a very specific storytelling technique: when and how to cut between distinct, parallel storylines within, say, one novel. Say we have a chapter or sequence concerning Character Group A. That chapter comes to a climax and ends. Then the narrat...
2022-03-10 00:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Got to ink some of my favourite panels from Chapter Two this week. I'm especially happy with that very first panel of the bunch, walking into the chapel. The inks only hint at the light and atmosphere I'd like for the image, so I'm excited for colouring.
I'm also very happy with "scronk." I will admit I did not look to figure out exactly what sort of sounds storks make, but if scronk is not correct, I have a strong feeling that it's scronk-adjacent.
Bit ...
2022-03-07 06:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post[ This is Chapter Five in an ongoing, improvised prose story about three adventurers trying to find their way after the head of their party has died, as well as trying to get paid from a town full of miserable racists. Chapter One; Chapter Two; Chapter Three; ...
2022-02-28 18:42:12 +0000 UTC View Post
This week in inking: maybe my favourite sequence of the book so far. I’m so glad I threw in that midshipman in Chapter One. He's been a delight so far. I’m excited to see how his role evolves.
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The week started off rough. I had less work time than usual because my partner’s schedule (it changes occasionally) meant more baby time for me, so I was getting anxious about my productivity. I’m inexplicably exhausted; consensus in the household is that allergie...
2022-02-26 17:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
A curious thing about comic art is that comic art (or at least my comic art) never looks done until it's done done. It doesn't look complete until it's got the lettering—at least—in place, and the panel borders, and sometimes not until the colour is finished.
This is especially obvious in the page above where Alexandra's mom is hunched over, surrounded by exploded pottery. The background is supposed to be black, but I'm not going to waste time pouring blac...
2022-02-19 22:13:05 +0000 UTC View Post