PAGE 10

Hey, page 10:

Alright, I've been messing around with a color scheme for the issue, and I want to stick to a monochromatic pallette. I was thinking have a different pallette for each setting, interior, building, etc. I'll figure it out.

-ryan

PAGE 9

Thanks for reading, everyone. I'm working on figuring out a coloring scheme for these pages. Probably going to go towards grayscale for print, since I haven't been happy with the two-color approach I was trying. I eventually want to do it in color, but lower the saturation of the colors in order to give it a grittier and older look.
Coolness.

-ryan.

PAGE 8

Uh-oh, Look out for that guy.
Sorry about the lack of an update Monday. But there will be one this Monday.

We finished our book project for graphic design and are moving on to the next. We're developing an brand identity/logo for a fictional magazine. I came up with a magazine that showcases comics and design, or comics that show a design influence, like Chris Ware's stuff. For now, my title is "Gutter", because I wanted to reference something related to both comics and design, and hopefully incorporate that into the logo design. Also, the tagline would be something like "The Intersection of Comics and Design", so I'm working on designing a logo playing off panels and gutters. WOW. It's getting there.

Check back on Monday.

-ryan

PAGE 7

The comics train keeps on chugging along. Sean sent me final dialogue for 3 more pages last week, so I've almost finished inking those. Gotta draw a mansion for one panel, so I need to do some reference work.

Other than comics, I've been busy with graphic design homework for school. I'm finishing a project involving a book on sustainability, and I'm adding some last minute touches. I pulled an all-nighter Wednesday night to finish a paper, so yesterday in graphic design class, I was fighting falling asleep. The weird part is that this was happening while I was working on illustrating some shapes for my book in Photoshop. At one point, I actually snapped out of it and realized I had been drawing faces and other objects while half-asleep. Weird. Sleep-drawing.

later.

-ryan

PAGE 6

I think at some point, I'm going to spend some time and color these, and possibly reintroduce them. The reason that I don't have a lot of shadow in these pages, is the fact that we planned on them being in color. But when it comes to actually printing them, I might convert that to grayscale, or color them monochromatically or something. Color costs money.

Oh yeah, last Monday I mentioned being a guest artist for 6-COMMANDO, a webcomic by Mathieu Moyen, while he's on vacation. Well, he updated his site today, so check out the tank I drew: 6-COMMANDO And while you're at it, go back and check out the whole story so far. It's headed in an interesting direction. (warning: there are a few swears here and there..if that offends you.) Regardless, it's a great comic blending both quality artwork and engaging plot. The experience was pretty fun, and I think not too far off of what MegaWest will look like in color. I wanted to keep the color close to what 6-COMMANDO usually looks like, but I prefer this style for now, until I improve my digital painting chops.

Well, that does it for now. Check back on Friday for page 7, as our story continues...


(...ominous mood being set, due to use of ellipses...)


...ryan

....

...---...

PAGE 5

Alright, page 5.
I'm also working on inking the next 10 pages or so, so I'll start on 1-2 this weekend.
The posting schedule remains the same, however. Eventually this will be colored, but I don't know how it will work out when we print it.

Sweet. Later.

-ryan

PAGE 4

Alright, I'm hoping to update twice a week for now, just to get up to speed on the pages I've already inked, but need to scan. Haven't had a whole lot of time to do comics this past week. Usually Friday and Saturday are the days I tentatively schedule for that, but this weekend I was too busy with getting my graphic design portfolio together for the annual AIGA student portfolio review that I attended Saturday.

Representatives from several local design studios, ad agencies, and universities were there to give "practice" interviews to students, and just critique and review portfolios. All of my stuff is work I've done for class, so a lot of the comments I received were in the vein of developing campaigns for brand identity–something that wasn't in my portfolio at all. However, I got some great advice and comments. The three people I interviewed with all seemed to like the book jacket I did for my Illustration class, as well as the barf bag I did. I was surprised, but as one interviewer said, it was a memorable piece, and you want to be remembered after the interview.

Overall, I think I had a decent range of work, but I'll make sure to beef up my presentation for real interviews. I included several package design pieces in both printout and mock-up form, with the intention of pulling out the mock-up to show the interviewer. But in the future, they suggested I just photograph them and put that in the portfolio instead.

It was a good experience–there were a lot of students from several schools around Detroit, so it was encouraging and inspiring to see the level of others' work, and how I could improve my stuff. I just need to get some interviews in the next couple of months, as well as try to get an internship or something. I want to work so bad.

Alright, well, I'll put the next page up sometime soon. Maybe as soon as Wednesday, but if not, Friday.

By the way, I'm doing a pin-up illustration for Mathieu Moyen's webcomic 6-Commando while he goes on vacation, so that should be on his site next Monday or the week after that. I know him and his work from the Flight forums, and he's been kind enough to provide encouragement and critique on my Guten Tag thread, as well as on the Guten Tag blog. He's a cool dude. So is 6-Commando, so check it out. It's kind of like a modern G.I. Joe, but more realistic, but with a cool, automated beast of a tank as well.

Well, take care then.

-ryan

PAGE 3

PAGE TWO

I'm planning on adding text to the newspaper in the first panel. I know it looks empty right now.

-ryan

PAGE ONE--finally...

Alright, finally, here is page one, inked. Really debating the best way to show these pages off, i.e. Wordpress blog vs. actual hand styled HTML. But for now, I couldn't wait to show you guys, since I've been talking about it for so long. And now you can see it. I will probably put up the next few pages intermittently, with no set schedule for now. I've got 10 pages inked and ready to be scanned/polished/delivered/etc. for your eyeballs.

So, please, feel free to leave comments and critiques, advice, etc.

Thanks!

-Ryan

New Year, New News.

Alright, everyone, incredibly sorry for the delay. I got pretty busy last semester with school and family, but I've managed to keep on track with Mega West. I've finished all the pencils and am now currently in the inking process. I'm technically up to page 5, but I'm also going back to the first 4 pages and filling in black areas that I left untouched for the time being. It's one of those things that you don't think of at first when reading a comic, but filling in areas of black such as shadows on faces, objects, etc. actually helps to lead the reader's eye through the page in the direction that you want. It's hard to get a handle on at first, especially in the pencils stage, but it makes sense once you start to ink. At least, that's my experience so far.

By the way, if anyone is interested in making comics, I'd recommend a book I've been reading for reference and help on this whole process: Drawing Words and Writing Pictures by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden. It explains a lot of visual techniques, materials that are used in comics, what kinds of pens and brushes to use and how, as well as story structure and developing characters. Nick Sousanis, the former editor-in-chief and cofounder of thedetroiter.com, recommended it to me last year. He's pretty cool, and uses comics to talk about and explore a range of topics.

Anyways, I would like to start posting previews of what I've inked so far, but I may have to switch to a WordPress blog for that. Last night I lettered all the dialogue that Sean had finalized up to page 10, so that's my next benchmark for now. Get to page 10. Get to page 10...

Take care.

Ryan