Comic Report #99.2 - Almost There

Hello again!  I've made a lot more progress on the comic this week, and I plan to have the page ready to post this weekend.  I try to be conscious of how long the gap between pages gets and really don't want to go over a one-month mark, and since the last page went up March 25th I am determined to have this thing done before April 25th, just for my own peace of mind.  It has been an incredibly dense page, though, and I have found myself slogging through it trying to just get over the finish line.  Today, though, I'll talk about that slog and what I've been doing!

Throughout the comic I have always evolved and tried to improve the way I make my art.  Lately- and this is part of why the page has gone a bit slower- I have been colorizing game sprites, and in order to get *that* to go faster I've been developing my coloring process in my sprites.  One of the big ways I've been thinking about colors is to "just make it all shapes".  Just use simple shapes to define contours and facets efficiently so I can get my colors down and move on to the next thing.  I feel like this way of thinking has been finding its way back into my comic art, since I'm generally using the same brain for both things, so if my art ends up a bit more facety and shapeful that would be why.

It's been a fun part of this page to paint Monday's classic outfit again. I originally drew him with this kind of sloppy untucked dress shirt and loose tie look at the start of the comic, but that really only lasted until he got to Chantelle's house and put a sweater on, and then dressed up in a proper three-piece suit.  A fair bit of this flashback arc has been doing some reconstruction work in the continuity but one part of that that seems to work out favorably is the reason Monday had his suit like that is because he was encroached upon while he was resting in his home and had to skedaddle.  I made his hair a bit more messy like it originally was but I also did add the bit of receding hairline corners that ended up a part of his design because, really, that should just always be there.

As mentioned, I'm expecting to get through this page before the end of this weekend.  I'll probably be rounding out the first pass in the last few panels and then Saturday into Sunday will be background refinement and other detail passes.  I'm almost out of the woods, and this flashback scene is almost over as well!  Thank you, as always, for your kind support of my work.  You should be hearing from me again very soon with the textless update post.  In the meantime, I hope your Friday treats you well.