drugsandwires

Chapter 3 Page 18

A little late, but here's the latest page. After a couple of slightly more decompressed pages I definitely found it challenging to get back to 8 panels of full on action, especially with Saturday written off for a rare, but unavoidable social occasion :p In the ideal world I'd prefer to have fewer panels and spend more time fleshing them out then have lots of wonky ones, but hey, with weekly updates it's important to have enough content for readers. And while usually Io gets the blame for writin...

Chapter 3 Page 17

Static version of the upcoming page! Currently wrestling with After effects and export settings, but the animated version should be up..either in a bit, or tomorrow.  I might make some extra tweaks later, too, like maybe darken the last panel if it doesn't end up looking glitchy enough.

Tilt Brush vs Dreamspace fun

Bigger (6MB) gif here - http://i.imgur.com/DPZkoDx.gifv

Though I'd take some of my older Dreamspace graphics and stick them into Tiltbrush since I'm kind of obsessed with it at the moment. Didn't come up with anything too exciting, but hey, if D&W was a PS1-era game, it'd pretty much look like a gif above. 

Chapter 3 Page 16

IT BEGINS. This and the next page were done in a slightly different way to how we usually work - I started out with the storyboards first and Io added a script later. As a result, this scene is a bit more decompressed than normal, but I really wanted to, well, paint Dan tripping balls and have enough space to do so. Pretty much all of it references his original Skullfuck.exe trip back in the Dreamspace comic. I definitely want to establish a theme with his visions/fears, though hopefully without...

Quick design test

Sooo recently it has occured to me that with all the upcoming...uh...events in future chapters, Dan should really look a bit scruffier, at least for a couple of scenes.  On one hand, it's getting harder for me to make our protagonist look sufficiently shitty when he looks perfectly groomed every time. I think we could do with a bit of realism there.  On the other hand - 1)there's enough gritty, stubbly protagonists out there, 2)I'm irrationally opposed to changing anything about his de...

Chapter 3 Page 15

So this week we learn that Lin's reputation is about as good as one might expect. Though Fixer better up his game after all that trash-talking :D Very excited for the next couple of pages. 

Chapter 3 Page 14

Not much in terms of art commentary for this one - i had to rush this page a bit so we stay on schedule! This scene is pretty decompressed so I didn't want any further delays in getting it out.  But i still made sure to include some little details to provide insights into Fixer's interests :) I have a feeling Fixer's poster in the 2nd panel might have to become a real thing some time.

D&W Prequel Art Dump

So, while I posted most of these already in some form or another, I thought I'd do a megapost with all of it in one place and with some context. Few months ago I was contacted by a certain artist I like and was offered a musical collaboration. A D&W concept album! I was extremely excited about this and thought it would be fun to create a concept album around the Dreamspace time, especially since the original comic is so open to interpretation and left a lot of stuff untold. Io and I already ...

Chapter 3 Page 13

Oh boy, this page was challenging. Good thing we're gonna spend at least 5 more pages in that room, right guys? But now that I've got the 3D model of Fixer's shop sorted and stocked up on some refs (Thanks to user grimmware for helping out with those!) things should run a bit smoother.

Of course,  I did the thing I always do and drew the panel with the most speech bubbles as the most detailed one because I don't learn. So here's a patreon-exclusive closeup for you guys:

2016-11-04 00:05:44 +0000 UTC View Post

Layouts and things for the upcoming scene!

So, it's been a while since I worked on the comic with MCM happening and all! Thankfully, I have a couple of days off before the next con which should help me catch up. Been mapping up the next scene which is proving a bit tricky so far. Fixer's lair's definitely not gonna be the easiest to reproduce frame by frame. Also attached: some lazy Sketchup blockouts i had to resort to. Despite having a career in 3D modelling, Sketchup is still somehow beyond me, so for the most part I use other people'...

Chapter 3 Page 12

I know, this update's only a few hours earlier than the public post, but hey, baby steps. The bad news is that MCM next weeks most likely gonna set me back on updates again - but the good news is that I'll have a few glorious days off after, so hopefully I'll get to do a few pages in bulk and finally catch up on everything! That's the plan, anyway,

In the meantime, here's Dan sulking. Always fun to draw.

As a bonus, I'm including a PSD file of the actual IStalkU layout! - so in c...

Bonus Art Thursday

We..don't actually have bonus art Thursdays. But I'll try to get it to you guys as often as i can. I really shouldn't be showing any art from this project at all, as it's still SUPA SECRET, but hey, you guys give us money. You deserve to at least see a random out of context pic every now and again :D (just make sure you don't share it with anyone...I really don't want to piss off my collaborators and ruin a cool thing >_>)

Attached some layouts/messy thought process doodles. Still no...

Chapter 3 Page 11

Not much to say about this page other than this was my first time drawing an explosion. EXPLOSIONS ARE FUN. 10/10 would draw another one. Drawing our Russian Ted Kaczynsky's lair was a bit tougher, though, and I'm pretty sure googling bomb making accessories is gonna get me on the list, so I didn't go too in-depth on my research.

Chapter 3 Page 10

So, I'm still not quite caught up to be ahead, but the good news is that I have started pencilling the next page. And I managed to get all of this done in one day, which might be a new record. Sadly yesterday i was pre-occupied with another art test (which i might just post here soon) so catching up was one again, a pain.

I'm fairly happy with this page, though. I feel like more organic environments work better with my style in general, seeing how i can't seem to draw a single straight line. 2016-10-10 00:38:05 +0000 UTC View Post

Bonus art no one asked for

Hi, I'm Cryo and while Io writes respectable comics and accompanying posts, here I am, posting dumb fluffy doodles for I am trash. But hey, I had a long week drawing serious, useful things. Gotta unwind somehow, right? :v

Layouts and things

Here's some layouts - 3 from the past pages, and 3 from the upcoming ones :) Hopefully, not too spoilery.  So far I've been keeping pretty close to layouts when pencilling, with some small exceptions, like that panel where Dan's trying to lift the barrels - drawing out an entire action was a lot more fun in the end. I'm much better at dynamic poses and gestures than...well, anything else, I guess.  If anyone's doing anything stupid, I probably want to draw it.

Here's another coup...

Chapter 3 Page 9

Heyyy finally done. This week I've once again failed to catch up with buffer to keep you guys ahead and I'm really sorry! Next scene is spreading over two pages, so I'll pencil it all at the same time, and, hopefully, it'll allow me to finally have an extra page for you guys again. I should also have some concepts for them soon.

But yes, lesson learned - combining a full-time dayjob, multiple arty things going on and conventions is maybe not ideal, but sadly, the only solution at the mome...

Other Art I - Environment concept

Hey everyone! First of all, thanks to all of you who supported us last month. I apologise for, perhaps, not posting as often as I should have due to being incredibly busy with other projects. But I figured I might post one of them - this is an art test I did for a platformer game. The brief was extremely loose and all I had to work with was a few of your typical cyberpunk images. I did some photobashing to save time and then just painted it over. Realism still isn't quite my bag (especially with...

Implant Designs

Unfortunately, Cryoclaire's big trip up north to MCM Scotland threw our production schedule off, so no new page today. Sorry! By way of apology, here's a little exclusive slice of behind-the-scenes concept work. 

In Dreamspace, the look of Dan's DS-909 implant was never 100% consistent, so Claire sat down and drew up a "canonical" design for the Crow Bar scene in Issue 1 - and cooked up a few more implants while she was at it. Dan's big, relatively sophisticated implant is desi...

Chapter 3 Page 8

heyy on time page for once! This week we're back to the character we briefly introduced in Chapter 2 - Filosof ("Philosopher" in Russian. I was trying to use existing  Russian mafia names as inspiration, which are anything but sophisticated. This one in particular was given to "Filo" for being just a little bit too smart for his own good. We'll learn more about him as the comic goes on :D

I've been trying to leave a bit of an art commentary each week and insights to my process to make it ...

Bonus Art 3

Sooo I still can't tell you guys anything about another project I've been working on, but, as you can see, it's still very much D&W related :p In the meantime, guess I'll just keep feeding you WIPs! Sorry. Have some sulking Dan (because there clearly hasn't been enough of that already)

While drawing this I've also just learned that I can apply an outline effect in Clip Studio Paint through the Layer Property panel! I used this technique for the wires here (using a white brush with black ou...

Chapter 3 Page 7

Sorry for the late update, but it's 2am and I've only just finished it! (...which means that the final final version is likely to need some tweaks...) But yes. Digital Serenity people are back -  still flawlessly colour-matched and still moping about clothes.

Their boss was originally supposed to be Dan's boss from the Dreamspace prequels, but those old drawings were old and not very well thought out, so I ended up designing a guy straight onto the page.

Same with environment - I d...

Upcoming character concepts

Digital Serenity goons are back next week! And, of course, they need new outfits, especially seeing how NoK00l's  amazing shirt's now got Dan's lunch all over it.

I'm still deciding on the final versions, but N0K00l's 2 & 3 seem a bit too clubby for work at the moment - then again, I doubt he'd miss a chance to show off, dress code be damned. He'll definitely be keeping the shades, since he looks like a total dork without them.  I also took this opportunity to design his arm in f...

Chapter 3 Page 6

..Gonna counter last week's late update with this week's slightly early update! Two wrongs make a right...right?

Anyway, pretty happy with how this one came out, even though I generally don't like switching environments mid-page (mostly because it makes colouring a pain, but also makes the page look a bit disjointed). I also inked with a different brush today, a slightly softer one which I do prefer - though, again, colouring is a bit more difficult this way and I dread seeing this in print. <...

Chapter 3 Page 5

A bit late, but here you go! A new page : ) After a shocking lack of drugs for a comic with our title in the previous chapter, Dan's slowly getting back on the stuff. I remember suggesting Io we make him steal some morphine from Lin's place, but had some doubts about whether pure morphine even comes in a pill form. But according to a quick google search, it does indeed? Worst case scenario, I'll rename it to something else later. Not too happy with the layout of this page - I feel like the ...

Bonus Art II

Alright, I can't show the rest of this since it's a super secret thing (or as secret as I can keep it), but check out Fixer and Mira looking like a bunch of 12 year olds. It's only supposed to be a couple of years before the main comic's events, but they came out looking so...adorable. This is just wrong.

Chapter 3 Page 4

EARLY UPDATE! For the next 24 hrs you're not 1 but two pages ahead of everyone else :p  But yeah, I just couldn't wait. Very excited to have our protagonist back - even if the cliffhanger of the last chapter isn't resolved just yet...

Speaking of the creepy gasmask dude, I drew some very bland generic looking mask on him at first:

But then got back to our original concept and referenced 2016-08-21 00:42:14 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 3 Page 3

Have I mentioned how much I love drawing Marilyn?...

And of course I had to rip off Patrick Nagel for board room art:

Bonus Art I

So, I can't tell you which project I made this drawing for just yet, but it's been a while since I've shared anything extra with you guys, so here goes. Something from Dan's early days.

Chapter 3 Page 2

Come on, Marilyn. Everyone knows cybersitcoms are all the rage back in 1995.