deadwinter

Dead Winter Minicomics Batch #26

This week I had plans to get two or three minis done.  I had another mini half-done but I had to put that one on hold- there's a couple characters in the main comic who I want to keep as a bit of a mystery as to what their fate will be, so putting them in minis would sort of impact that in a way I don't want to spoil even if they turn out fine.  I also wanted to focus more on getting the main comic finished as soon as I can so I don't have it draw out past when I get my second covid...

Comic Report #79.1 - Quicktime

Hello again!  I've been making speedy progress on the next page, and I think I can have it done this weekend, or probably some time tomorrow specifically.  This scene being indoors and pretty close-quarters is a big contrast to the previous page's outdoor shot and crowd scene, so I'm happy with being able to deliver a pretty quick turnaround on this one.  I do have my second covid dose coming up this week, so I might not be good for drawing much more than minicomics for a littl...

Game Journal #135 - Alignment

This one's a bit of a brief update. I could summarize it in one sentence as "I finished up standardizing all the large level backgrounds", but there's a bit more to say about the process so I'll give it a couple paragraphs before I push send and get some dinner in me.

In my last gamedev update I posted about standardizing all our small background assets- uniformly square single building segments- so they all fit on a 100-px grid.  There's a few kinds of background element in the ga...

Comic Report #79 - A Real Eye-Opener

Hello!  I've got the next page penciled for you this week.  This is a fun one, so I'll just get right into it!

While I've been working on the minicomics there's been a recurring sub-theme of scenes at Alice's job in the Tombstone medical ward.  I'd been planning this scene for a while, but now that the diner arc is a wrap the comic gets to be a hospital drama for a short while, focusing on Alice taking care of one of her new patients.  Due to how long it takes me to ...

Comic Report #78.2 - Crowded Thoughts

Here's the textless version of this page for you to read!  On Friday I said there was a topic about the page I forgot that I wanted to talk about, but I remembered what it is, so I'm going to type up a quick paragraph about that and then get to lettering.  

Somewhere along the way I started using a new technique for painting human faces.  For a bit of the comic I would shade faces the same way I shaded clothes or objects, casting shadows like solid structures, but I've st...

Comic Report #78.1 - The Boys

Hello again!  I've got a lot of progress done on this page, I expect I should be able to have it finished up this weekend.  I had my first COVID-19 vaccination yesterday so I got a little bit of that weird-feeling brain today, but I'll do my best to deliver an enjoyable write-up for you.  

I'd been spoiled a bit by so many pages of indoor shots, now I have to pay my dues and paint an exterior looking-down-the-street shot for one page before I can draw indoor shots again. ...

Dead Winter Minicomics Batch #25

Hello again!  This week I focused entirely on minis.  I'll have main comic progress to report next Friday, but for today I've got five new strips to share!  I managed to make it to five-and-a-half, but the last half comic is going to have to wait until next week.  For now, though, let's embed some minicomics and make a really tall patreon article!

#068: The bulk of Dead Wint...

Dead Winter Minicomics Batch #24

Hello again!  Last week I hadn't had time to draw up new minicomics, since I posted a new comic update basically on Friday, and I ended up burning a week off my buffer.  That's what it's there for, but I'd like to shore it back up.  This week I had a bunch of things I needed to handle and only managed to get one mini done, but I've decided to spend this week making minis so I can get the buffer back up closer to 20 like I originally wanted.

Before I post the week's minico...

Comic Report #78 - Reciprocation

Hello again!  I've got some new comic sketches to share with you today.  I've been working towards this page for a while, since it sort of caps off one scene and when it goes up I can start working on the next, so I'm excited to get it done.  Today I'll go into the sketch phase write-up and share a bit of my thought process on this one.

This page as planned is intended to compliment the previous page, like they are meant to fit together to tie off the little mini-arc of L...

Comic Report #77.2 - End Scene

Hello!  Here's the textless version of this page for you to enjoy before I apply text and put it online.  

Between last Friday and now one of the things I went back and did was sorta smooth out Lizzie's hair pieces.  I like to try to convey it as a sorta messy frame around her face but I think I'd been painting the pieces a bit too distinct, so I made a top layer on top of my inks and just smoothed it out a bit more.  This is probably the last Lizzie-centric scene fo...

Dead Winter Minicomics Batch #23

So my plan this week was to try and get four minicomics done, but I gassed out a little bit and only got three.  But!  I figure if instead of overworking myself I just do three minis next week too I'll have retroactively hit my goal for this week, which is my current plan.  Three is a net gain on the buffer, though, so I'll take it.  I tried something new with this week's batch, so I hope you enjoy!

2021-03-19 21:55:34 +0000 UTC View Post

Comic Report #77.1 - Aesthetic

Hello again! This week has been very busy, I've been juggling a few tasks with dayjob gamedev work so I didn't get as much of the comic painted as I wanted to, but I expect to be able to finish the rest of this page this week.  It's felt like I've had a lot on my plate this past year, and I'm somewhat impressed with myself for being able to keep pushing in spite of everything.  I did get three minicomics done as well, though, which I'll post right after this write-up.  Since I ...

Dead Winter Minicomics Batch #22

Hello!  Last week was a bit of a crunch on work stuff and I didn't have room to make more minis.  I managed to get two-and-a-half done this week, so if I can do three-and-a-half next week then I'll be back up to where I was before, which I think I can manage.  But for now, here's another batch of minis for you to enjoy:

#062: I like to write Tombstone's medical crew as their own ...

Comic Report #77 - Perspective

Hello again!  This week I made a bit more initial progress than usual, so the first work report preview of this page is already at the inked-and-flat toned stage.  My gamedev work was a bit lighter so I put that time into working on the comic, and I think I can probably have this page done by the end of next weekend.  But for now I am over the most tedious hurdle, so it's all downhill from here.

The last page introduced Sally but it was largely about Doris and Lizzie, so ...

Comic Report #76.2 - Clocking Out

Hello again! Here's the textless page real quick before I letter it and put it online.  

The last half of this comic's backgrounds were a bit more of a headache than I anticipated.  It's painting that corner of the counter set against the front wall corner with the window/door/side wall a bunch of times that I sort of underestimated going into this page.  The pool table in the middle of the big open space is probably something I'm gonna try to think of a reason to get rid...

Dead Winter Minicomics Batch #21

So I have a bit of a confession to make.  Normally when I've been posting these minicomic batches I've been putting up work I did earlier in the week, but lately I've found myself finishing minicomics on Friday before I make my write-ups.  These minis have been good for raising and maintaining awareness of my work so it's something I want to keep up on but I also feel like I've been crunching kind of hard to get everything done that I need to so my time is getting squeezed into Frid...

Comic Report #76.1 - Lunch Break

Hello again!  It's another Friday and another weekly work report is upon us.  I've got a lot to type up this week across three articles so please bear with me as I type into the night.  But to start, let's report in on the main comic progress.

This page ended up taking a bit of time to ink, on account of all the individual characters popping up between all the panels, but it's been pretty easy to actually paint.  Inking is a slow, meticulous process that kinda runs a...

Dead Winter Minicomics Batch #20

Here is the twentieth batch of minicomics for your weekend enjoyment!  I'd originally started this project out of a mix of wanting to expand on the world I was building in the comic and me not wanting to be forgotten in between longer main-comic updates.  It's been fun to work on but with the honeymoon over I can sometimes feel the pinch of having to fit at least two strips a week into my work cycle.  It's something I feel like I need to do, though, given the long-update cycle ...

Comic Report #76 - Team Meeting

Hello again!  I've got another page started to share today!  I also have two other articles I'd like to write up as well so I'm gonna just hop right to it without any further ado.

When I plan a page out I always want some major important thing to be the focus of the page, the reason that page exists.  I'd wanted to wrap up the diner scene in one more page and move on to the next scene but I couldn't fit everything I needed to into just the one page, so I've split it up in...

Dead Winter Minicomics Batch #19

Hello again!  We had a main comic update this week so today I've got a batch of minicomics to share with you.  Next week I'll have the next main comic page to share, but for now please accept this humble offering of comic strips to bring you into the weekend.

#056: This is one of those "comic based on the game" comics.  In-game Lou's special ability is he can produce decoys that ...

Comic Report #75.2 - Light Fixtures

Hello again!  As promised I've got the next page painted and ready to share within the week, so here's a quick textless update for your enjoyment before I letter the dialogue and put it online.

Overall I'm really happy with how the lighting came out on this page, particularly in the last panel.  I wanted that shot to be Sally coming in from the doorway at the back of the restaurant, so the front window is the bright light source, and all the characters are lit from that side. ...

Dead Winter Minicomics Batch #18

This week I'm back with two more minis to share.  Thank you for your patience last week, I've been somewhat overwhelmed with work and needed something to give, and the minis happened to be it.  Having such a large buffer is nice, so I was able to take advantage of it for the first time in I don't know how many years.  But either way, I'm back on track and have some new strips to share, so let's get right to them!

2021-02-06 00:29:46 +0000 UTC View Post

Comic Report #75.1 - Staff Meeting

Hello again!  This week I have some main-page progress to share, in addition to another batch of minicomics.  I expect I should be able to get this page wrapped up before next Friday's report, but for now I'll talk a bit about where I am at the moment.

As I've been working on this comic for so long I find myself able to paint it how I like a lot quicker than I used to be.  I don't know if it's just my art style developing into something more efficient or just putting 10,0...

Comic Report #75 - We Meet Again

Hello again!  Today's work report is all about the next comic page.  I regrettably haven't been able to get minis done this week, but I do have a fun reason for this!  In addition to my other duties on comics, minis and games for Dead Winter, in 2020 I'd started working with Kitsune Games doing pixel art for some upcoming titles.  I ended up becoming the lead pixel artist of the studio's flagship title, Kitsune Tails, which you can look at here: 2021-01-29 23:53:39 +0000 UTC View Post

Dead Winter Minicomics Batch #17

Hello again!  This was a bit of a short week with the new page update going up. I'd wanted to get the next page fully-drawn but I ran out of steam and wasn't able to get it to a satisfactory state, so this week's update is going to be just a batch of minicomics and a small gamedev item afterwards.  I'm past the new-idea fresh point on these minis where I could blast out nine in a week and am in the "gotta keep this up" phase of starting a webcomic project. It's been a huge help to m...

Comic Report #74.2 - Special Delivery

Hello!  Here's the finished textless version of the upcoming page.  

I had a lot of fun painting this one, and I think some of the shots came out really sharp.  In particular, the bottom half panels are shots I'm really satisfied with, where the depth of the restaurant interior is so neatly contained, with the foreground subjects popping ahead of the background.  It all just came out exactly how I wanted it to.

One of the details about this page I left until th...

Dead Winter Minicomics Batch #16

This week I got another small batch of minis to share with you.  I'm one page behind the buffer I want to have but I've been juggling a few jobs so I haven't had a chance to do a three-page week yet, but I'm maintaining equilibrium with a two-strip update.  This week ended up having a fun theme to it, which I didn't intend, but here they are for you to enjoy:

#050: Alice is the team m...

Comic Report #74.1 - Halfway Home

Hello again!  I've actually had quite a busy week and I've got a lot of stuff to share with you today- a comic update, a minicomic batch and a gamedev post- so please bear with me while I type it all up.

I made a good bit of progress on the next page this week, getting it inked, flatted and halfway prepped on an 80% pass.  These indoor shots have been really light and easy for me to work on, it feels like I could get these pages drawn super quickly if I wasn't also juggling a ...

Dead Winter Minicomics Batch #15

This week I've got another small batch of minicomics to share!  The thumbnail shot for this one lines up rather nicely with the current newly-posted strip- I didn't plan that in advance, it just kind of happened.  I had some fun with these so let's just hop right to it!

#048: I think this is the first silent minicomic I've done so far.  In the game we wanted to have a snow level,...

Comic Report #74 - Breakfast Crowd

Hello again!  Today I've got the sketch phase of the first new comic page of 2021 to share with you!  I had a lot of fun planning and laying this one out so I'm excited to get it inked and painted!  But for now, let's hop into this week's page breakdown!

There was a bit of engineering going into laying this page out, so the top panel is wide and somewhat shorter than normal, with the top half of Monday's head going outside of the shot.  The reason for this is I actua...