This week’s installment, ladies and germs, is brought to you courtesy of the incomparable Denny Fincke, who, when he agreed to do this project, literally made me jump out of my seat. Denny is not only an accomplished comic artist, illustrator and animator, with credits under his belt that include The Venture Brothers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, he’s also a webcomic artist, and draws Twit Troo of the Moon, a comic that is a daily go-to of mine, and which is not only beautifully rendered, but is also genuinely and consistently funny, an increasing rarity in webcomics today. He is also, let me tell you from great experience, a total class act. To anyone who doubts the value of a comic convention for anything other than commercial gain, let me say that it was at NYCC that I first met Denny, and the next year, he offered to let me share his table for a few hours, so I mean, if that doesn’t make someone a great guy, what does?!
So there we are. On my side of the bargain, I’ve put up this week’s progress for all to see. And let me tell you that I’ve discovered that it is the pages that only seem to need minor revision that can be the hardest to do! This one was a real bear for some reason. Man it is just a total slog at this point. I even admit to having occasional doubts as to whether it’s worth it to be doing this. But I’m kind of committed now…
Anyhow. Here’s to the next one, and all the best! See you next week, folks!
Ha! Those boots in the incentive looked great! I suppose having live reference always helps eh?
Love this page though. It has a beautiful simplicity with the colors but a nice complexity with the inks. Very cool. 🙂
Right? Really slick work Denny did on this one. I mean SLICK.
–M
For what it’s worth, all the revisions look great.
Thanks, Aviv! To be honest, I am kind of having to force myself to do them. On the one hand it feels like I should just be going forward and not worrying about it, but on the other, I just feel like I could have done so much better if I’d known the right techniques and methods at the start. And I do want to put out a book, no matter what people say about the print comic dying off. I may even just re-launch the comic entirely, I haven’t decided yet. But I have to keep on it or I’ll just say the hell with it and not bother. And that’d be a bummer.
–M
I wouldn’t say relaunching the comic is the way to go, in my opinion. Your fanbase already knows whats going to happen and having to reread it from the beginning might kill off a bit of your readership.
I edited a couple (about nine I think) pages of Stymie and cut the loss to my buffer with the time spent. Just replacing the former pages will probably be good, that way fans can look over them to see the improvements if they want.
Just thinking out loud (in text?)…
Yeah, I hear you. (ha!)
I guess it’s just me being me – I’m doing as much as I can this summer, and let the consequences be what they may. But beyond that I am planning to launch Chapter 4 around the middle of September, I think, if all else fails. I don’t want to put the site on hiatus any longer than that, and I’m starting to get more willing not to put the book in print right now, if that means taking a whole year off the story. I’d sooner get as far as I can, and then just go back to writing new chapters. I guess that makes me “un-serious,” but I’m not really a professional artist, so I mean.
Anyway. I’m trying to be hedgey, while having some guts when it comes to confronting my early work. I don’t know if this makes sense or not, but it’s how I feel about it at the moment.
–M
So it isn’t the first time MIKE turned a total shut-in and went a little loco in the mainframe?
Nice. Really nice!
>>> Revamped page: Well done. Like always. So many new details and attention to detail (like the little straps to keep the shirt’s sleeve in place). I like it!
I have to restrain myself because I already know the story, but rest assured Chris captured the essence of 6-Commando perfectly. And Denny really went the whole nine yards on this page – I could hardly believe it when I saw it for the first time!
And by the way, thanks. To reiterate what I said above, it’s tough going, but I have to believe that it’s going to be worth it in the end!
–M