Still debating if I want this to be one of the few times in the comic that we see Ms Shepard smiling. I love that Ms Shepard's so intimidating that if she makes a vague-enough command, people /automatically/ assume it's going to imply extreme violence.
2023-10-03 17:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Every panel is a chance to convey at least some small detail. And boy howdy you better believe that I almost forgot to show Simon putting away his weird metal detector-like device before getting to the thumbs.
Unrelated, but I try to gather up a TON of reference material before a chapter starts to help with inspiration. I have a BUNCH of images saved and ready to pull up of lakes, rivers, and forests... but with the way I designed the scenes here, I really only need to know what two or ...
2023-09-26 17:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Leon please can you just SIT in a chair normal-WHOA WHAT THE HECK IS /THAT/ THING
2023-09-25 17:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Another favorite aspect of thumbnails is that it lets me consider little visual jokes that I hadn't considered in my script. Since the umbrella didn't exist when I was /writing/ this scene, I wouldn't have thought to include the little joke about Ms Shepard getting rain water poured on her.
2023-09-19 17:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
A plan is set in motion. Answers will be found.
... Still undecided about the team name.
2023-09-18 17:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
A big part of why thumbnails are so critical for me is that it forces me to recognize a bunch of stuff that I may not have thought about purely from writing the script.
Of note here is that... it's raining. It's /been/ raining since this page started. But now Trinity and Ms Shepard are going out into the rain. This forced me to consider a holo-design for an umbrella Trinity might use.
Also, hey Simon. These thumbnails are incredible for reminding me to include certain details in p...
2023-09-12 17:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
You have no idea how badly my script editing software wanted to change Icatsca to Itasca. But no, I'm not bowing down from the cat puns.
2023-09-11 17:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Around this page, I'm starting to feel better about my page flows. It also helps that I'm more willing to break the original structure of panels I might have set for a page now, if I find something might suit it better.
2023-09-05 17:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
I gush about it every chance I get, but I LOVE any opportunity to do something visually clever with the comic. In this case, conveying a scene to the audience that the /characters/ can't fully remember.
Also it uh. sure implies Something about the Champ now.
2023-09-04 17:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Establishing shots are hard.
While I doubt most readers would notice or care, I do my best to maintain continuity on where characters are standing relative to one another at all times. This hasn't been such an issue in the prior two chapters, where most scenes were just between Leon and Trinity/Luca, /maybe/ one other NPC... but now (and likely, for the rest of the story), we have a lot of shots involving at least four characters.
Hence the need to remind myself on occasion where ...
2023-08-29 17:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Another difficult establishing shot, requiring a lot of testing around. I don't know why I ever thought that ship design was ever going to get shown off well in a mostly horizontal panel.
Speaking of the ship, this ended up being the main part where I tested out designs for it. Apart from it being sword-shaped and intimidating, I really didn't have a lot of details in mind. Once I started playing around with segments of it being open, though, it started to take shape (literally).&...
2023-08-22 17:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
I started using Clip Studio for Chapter 3, and already around this page or so, I was getting the hang of it and starting to love it more than Medibang.
Oh also everyone's favorite sisters are back!!!
2023-08-21 17:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
[Key to the Future’s Fate is currently on HIATUS. The story will return with CHAPTER 3 on AUGUST 24TH. In the meantime, please enjoy this CONCEPT ART for the series!]
For some reason, I got it in my head that it'd be so funny if this relatively normal - albeit probably kind of ugly - 80s-style home just had half a car jutting out of one of the walls. AND FURTHER, that said car was the means by which one controlled the time travel elements of t...
2023-08-17 16:39:58 +0000 UTC View Post
Since I'm so devoted to figuring out a good flow between all of the panels, it leads to pages like this where I'm having to try out way more poses and viewpoints to fit in all of the dialogue AND make it flow well.
Some poses and expressions really only work well from certain perspectives, ones that may be challenging to convey depending on their lead-up. It's all a learning process.
2023-08-15 17:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
[Key to the Future’s Fate is currently on HIATUS. The story will return with CHAPTER 3 on AUGUST 24TH. In the meantime, please enjoy this CONCEPT ART for the series!]
I tested out a new method with developing the environment for the Chapter 2 Intermission. I still went out to gather a TON of refs, but this time, I sat down to examine each of them for elements that I could specifically reference for regards to the setting /I/ wanted to make.
Sp...
2023-08-14 16:58:36 +0000 UTC View Post
Exciting news, everyone - KEY TO THE FUTURE'S FATE IS GOING TO BECOME A PART OF THE SPIDERFOREST WEBCOMIC COLLECTIVE!!!
SF is a group FULL of awesome comics that have inspired my growth, and I'm honored to have earned a place among them!
2023-08-10 17:50:58 +0000 UTC View Post
[Key to the Future’s Fate is currently on HIATUS. The story will return with CHAPTER 3 on AUGUST 24TH. In the meantime, please enjoy this CONCEPT ART for the series!]
I made plans to redo the refs for all of the characters, since the last full-color ones I did were back from 2019 and did NOT age well. That meant digging down more on what everyone looks like, and maybe even testing out some new design ideas in the process.
Ultimately, I o...
2023-08-10 15:38:55 +0000 UTC View Post
Trinity's pose in the first panel was one of my favorites.
I debated a lot on the swap between being in the twin's Orb-It and being in Leon and Luca's, but ultimately I decided to keep with the relatively same perspective as with the initial swap.
2023-08-08 17:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
[Key to the Future’s Fate is currently on HIATUS. The story will return with CHAPTER 3 on AUGUST 24TH. In the meantime, please enjoy this CONCEPT ART for the series!]
To help ground myself, I've taken to making little maps of major buildings or other environmental details in the various settings. We don't really get a good look at most of the buildings or games therein, but it's at least helpful to know just in case the script calls for a shot of th...
2023-08-07 17:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
It's officially night time now. But there's time for a little bit of review before bed
2023-08-07 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
[Key to the Future’s Fate is currently on HIATUS. The story will return with CHAPTER 3 on AUGUST 24TH. In the meantime, please enjoy this CONCEPT ART for the series!]
Similar to the Quizard Duel section, I'd hit a point in my script where I needed a visual element to tie to the plot. Specifically, this segment would be where Leon fully breaks down, realizing that he can't possibly make the call for how to guide the future himself......
2023-08-03 17:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
This is a bit of conceptual design work I'm pretty proud of, something that /might/ work in something like animation, but I personally thought was really clever for comics.
The disappeared things being only a faint bit of existence, as if only noticeable by their /absence/, is one of those written/visual flairs that other mediums wouldn't be able to pull off as well, IMO.
I was actually considering cutting this first scene to move right onto the arrival at Foundation B, but this g...
2023-08-01 17:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
[Key to the Future’s Fate is currently on HIATUS. The story will return with CHAPTER 3 on AUGUST 24TH. In the meantime, please enjoy this CONCEPT ART for the series!]
The section inside Leon's head was my favorite part of the chapter - and one of my favorite parts of the /comic/ - hands down. Script-wise, I needed a reason for Leon to start to having second thoughts about his own confidence with regards to being a guide for the future. Originally, t...
2023-07-31 17:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
CHAPTER 3 BEGINS
What's this place? Who's that on the top floor?? What's going on???
2023-07-31 14:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post
[Key to the Future’s Fate is currently on HIATUS. The story will return with CHAPTER 3 on AUGUST 24TH. In the meantime, please enjoy this CONCEPT ART for the series!]
The Champion's partner! I already basically just put Seto Kaiba in my comic, so why not go all the way with it?
The Dragon Tecktrin is probably one of my FAVORITE character designs I've done for the comic. Not only is the design itself just really good (IMO), but it also helps to demon...
2023-07-27 16:29:26 +0000 UTC View Post
There are two major guiding factors for me with this chapter. One is telling my comic's story more efficiently. I enjoyed slowing down and smelling the roses (so to speak) with the prior chapter, but I want to push the pacing to be a little quicker going forwards.
Secondly, I'm making more of an effort to cleverly and smoothly draw the eye across the pages. I want to panels to be both dynamic AND easy to parse as much as possible.
I'm feeling pretty good about the first aspe...
2023-07-25 17:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
