When I got the files from the editors, I seamed as if the penciller scanned them in two parts. In other words, he didn't have a full size scanner which can scan a 11x17 area. It looked as if he scanned the top half of the art, then scanned the bottom half, only to paste them back together to form one larger piece. I noticed that because in the center of each page, there was a horizontal line all the way across and the art didn't always match the top to bottom. I had to get in there with photoshop to match it up and get rid of the extra scanning blurs and lines across before I printed them out.Here's the first pencilled page I received out of the eight pages I inked. Even thought this was the first page that was in my hand, it was the last page to go back out due to the amount of details. While I was inking the other seven pages, I would go back to this splash page and do a little work on it, then back to another interior page and so forth. The reason I do this is to stay fresh every time I work on this splash page. Every now and then, I would get a page that's insanely detailed. Instead of finishing it in one sitting, I would spread it out with other pages I work on. A little here, a littler there, and before I know it, it's done! Sometimes if you work on something too long, you'll just get tired of it and what it to be over with. This rotating method I do where I keep going back makes me look forward to finishing it with a lot of energy each time. Here's the result of my method...
Here's two more interior pages for this issue. Just like the rest of the pages that I worked on for this issue, they're also detailed. Just not at detailed as the first splash page you see above. 
By the way, did I mention I used a lot of stencils on that splash page above? Circles, ellipses, rulers, curves, anything non-organic was stenciled. Lots of stenciling and technical pens. Even the teeni-tiny light on the space ship with stenciled. Lots of work, but I think the final results is worth it. I'm happy with how that page turned out. Below, the last panel only took a few minutes to complete. Big head shots are always easy and fast for me. Mainly because they're big and easier to get in there with the inking tools. It's just like drawing a face on a large piece of paper compared to drawing on a small post it note. Just easier when bigger. I'm just glad that first splash page wasn't drawn into a small tiny panel. I would probably go blind.
This issue is out in stores now and you can learn more about it by clicking here.
This issue is out in stores now and you can learn more about it by clicking here.
Spacing out the splash page work is such a good idea! I've only ever worked on the mentality of 'one page at a time, until it's finished' and it can often lead to pages taking longer than they should because the brain starts to switch off a bit on high detail pages.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well man, even if the template work can take a little extra time, it adds to the crispness in and overall makes it a better page. Particularly like the renders on War Machines face on the bottom panel of p12, some really crisp pulls! :-)
So, why is it that the production department at Marvel couldn't splice the scans together for you? I mean, that is added time on your part that you have to take the two images, combine them, print the Blue Lines out, etc. All of which I'm guessing you aren't getting paid for.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm glad you did post the info on the book. Like the inks for sure but since they don't list that in the solicitations, I would have missed it.
Thanks Tom.
ReplyDeletePatrick, the two images were combined together. Just not perfectly. I went in there to nudge it a little myself. Looking at a low res scan of it, you won't see the split. When it's opened on photoshop, it was noticable. There's another project that I worked on which required a lot of photoshop work. I'll talk about that once the book is out.