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