Color Test: Vanessa

I'm still new to using color in this stuff, and I've realized that, more often than not, the color is a detriment to the inking, at which I've been getting better. After noticing that the opposite happened in the second panel of the latest page, I wanted to see if I could replicate the effect of making color enhance sloppy linework. I had a colorless version of this saved just in case, but I think this taught me enough.

My major problems stem from the fact that I've been ignoring light sources, and my palette is way too bright and colorful. I still need to work on light and shadow a bit, but just washing out the colors a bit makes it look that much more pleasing to the eye. I'll see what I can do to enhance the pages I've done so far now that I know this; maybe I can get away with a levels adjustment.

Also, this isn't indicative of Vanessa's final design. Honestly, I haven't given either her or Isaac much thought since they don't appear until Chapter 3.

V1 C1 P3

Man, I have no discipline. This really could have been done yesterday, but I ended up playing Oblivion for hours on end instead. Since I couldn't work on it over the weekend, after seeing it with fresh eyes I guess I kinda lost interest. I recognize that I'm not a great artist, so when I end up working on something after looking at it objectively I usually end up pissed off at it. This just means I need to draw these things in one or two sittings.

This Is How I Apologize

I don't see a reason why the whole blog should be flagged just yet, so for now, you'll have to go to this place in order to see the uncensored version (18+ yadda yadda). I'll have to upload that to Newtrul before Imageshack deletes it. I think that this is a sufficient way of making up for multiple missed updates, so at least you have something to anticipate if I flake out.

The skin is a weak link, so I'll have to look into how to improve that. It came out looking a bit weird. I'll have to consider studying poses. As for the subject, I wanted to do something obscure, but something that actually does have a fan-following. I am ashamed to say, though, that I don't know a damn thing about Spoiler. I thought she was Taskmaster's daughter, but it turns out she's actually Cluemaster's. And Cluemaster is essentially The Riddler except even more lame.

Well, Crap.

No digital pen and no scanner. I'm not entirely sure how I'm supposed to catch up on four updates like this without feeling like I'm cheating somewhat, so forget it. I guess I'll make up the absences later.

Hm... I think I know how.

V1 C1 P2

I was too tired to finish this last night. In order to make up for missing the update, I'm working extra hard to get another page ready. I tried to have them both today, but despite my efforts I don't think that'll happen. I'll catch up tomorrow.

Yes, Distraught Woman is Richter's teacher from the last chapter of /Newtrul.

Volume One Rundown

I'm still finishing up the next page of the comic, so for today I think I'll give a brief summary of the chapters in Volume 1: Introduction

Chapter One- In Medias Res
This is the current chapter, and the title refers to a literary device that occurs when you start a story in the middle of the action. I'm sure the relevance of this must be pretty clear. Ace, Keefe, and Machete storm an office building while Ace investigates the likelihood of the existence of another with the same powers as her.

Chapter Two- Deus ex Machina
Upon learning of threats to Ace's life, Colleen's ragtag group of vigilantes vows to protect her, but only after Ace learns how to improve her power to levels previously unimagined can she defend herself.

Chapter Three- Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes
Vanessa, new to the city and its customs, begins training at her new job, but it would seem that keeping the most powerful being on the planet under control is more than she can handle.

Chapter Four- Justitia Suum Cuique Distribuit
Ace decides that something must be done about Colleen, and in an effort to make her less dangerous, Ace attempts to force out her deadly programming, and ends up endangering everyone around her.

Chapter Five- Non Sequitur
Ace and company are trapped in an alternate world where they need to learn the rules in order to survive.

Chapter Six- Experto Crede
In order to discover more about Ace's nemesis, Richter and Colleen are sent to Ace's hometown, a city built in an enormous glass tower called Infinite Heights. There, they learn of Ace's past as well as the secrets of the Power of Existence while attempting to save the city from its imminent destruction at the hands of the sun itself.

From there, things really start to heat up as Ace's unseen foe begins an endless assault against Ace and the rest of the cast. But I guess that's why it's called Volume 2: Rising Action.

Author/Sharp Pages

I've got three things to post today, since I missed yesterday's update and because two of them are only what I'd consider "half-an-update."

First page of Author/Sharp. Took two weeks to do this, due to a break I took to gain perspective. Perspective on this:
I made this version in one sitting, so I needed to stop what I was doing, take a break, and look at it after I had forgotten how I even made it. This helped it to not look like the lame version you see here. You'll notice that I did eventually realize the error in taking this the serious route, and on the redo, I fixed the monologue to actually make it sound like Ace talking. Voice isn't hard, it's just easy to forget about.
Unfinished second page. My laptop's screen is half-busted, so you can see why it's a bad idea to color on it without first making myself a template on my desktop.

I should talk about the decision to place the setting in another world, since this is its first occurrence. In short, it allows greater liberties and a greater importance on the secondary characters if the world has different rules. Also, it was a bit strange that a series about a character whose power is only limited by imagination took place in an environment that seemed to stifle imagination. Also, I can't trace buildings anymore, so it forces me to grow.

Author/Sharp Cover (abandoned page)

This was my first attempt at relaunching the continuity. Too serious, too dark. I got two pages into this when I had to hit myself and realize that Ace was originally designed to parody self-insert characters like the Author from Bob and George and decided to approach the series from a different angle. You'll notice that I use a much brighter palette in the current continuity.

I was just experimenting with those monster things, since I had never done color work to any large extent.

Richter's Tentative Design

We're really talking rough, here. This is just to give you an idea of what the reboot effects, since Richter is probably the most different. Again, though, his personality is more or less a combination of his /Draft and /Newtrul personas.

I think I'm on to something with the clothes, but the face needs work. He won't show up for another chapter, though, so I still have time.

V1 C1 P1 Redux

It's not very often that I fix a page I didn't like, but I forgot to put Icxthys in, so it gave me an excuse. I hadn't planned on redoing the background at the time, so I designed Icxthys' form to take up most of it.

V1 C1 P1

By now, color in an online comic is the standard, and I wouldn't want to look like a lazy bastard. I'm not too fond of the deep background, I suppose I did end up getting lazy after all.

V1 C1 Cover

It's a cover. Simple. To the point. Sister thinks it's just adorable.

About the Continuity Reboot

Much like an astronaut who has just knocked over a stage light during the moon landing, I feel as though I have some explaining to do. At this point the Author continuity has been killed and resurrected more times than Jesus and has only managed to restore faith in about as many people as it takes hold open an automatic door. But rest assuredly knowing that there will never again be a retcon following this. That means no more character redesigns, no more new plot elements coming out of nowhere and acting as if they had always been apparent, and no more "Oh, let me fix up everything before right this moment. You won't hardly notice."

Frankly, I'm sick of toying with the two or three people that have not yet given up entirely. So here's the deal: If I ever get sick of or unsatisfied with this comic again, I will end it and start something new. I don't care if I need to infect every cast member with AIDS to do it; at least the orgy will be fun to draw.

In a nutshell, the comic is intended as a reconciliation between /Draft, which was the result of a high school student who just finished watching Rurouni Kenshin and got it in his mind that he had what it took to draw and write something other than with what one would line the cage of a parakeet on a steady diet of rancid tacos, and /Newtrul, which was the result of a college student who decided that "shit" is a really cool word and tried to be Frank Miller without ever having actually read Frank Miller, which is why I'm dropping the subtitles and simply entitling the comic "Author.". Alright, so it's a one-hundred-eight-word-long nutshell, but a nutshell nonetheless. If you would like something simpler, it returns to its roots in anarchic humor without being utterly stupid. At least that is how I envision it when I close my eyes and think of a perfect world.

So here we have Ace, a teenage girl with the appearance of a very young, asexual blob, who has the power to do most anything. The first thing she does, of course, is become the Ace that readers will recognize, and whom I am keeping male, thank you very much. Keefe and Machete are there from the beginning, Richter is not. In fact, I'm still designing Richter's new appearance but should mention that he is no longer A.B.A from Guilty Gear's long-lost grandmother.

The change from /Newtrul to Author is not as dramatic as the change from /Draft to /Newtrul. Sure it may be jarring at first, but I have kept many of the characters largely intact, and the plot that I never got around to is more or less the same. As an added bonus, we now know what the plot of the comic actually is by the seventh page of the first chapter. The first chapter which is, in essence, a remake of /Draft. I thought about actually putting Author back in its original continuity, but that didn't work out.

I know that I haven't really explained too much, but by now I hope that you trust that I know where I'm going with this. At the very least, you have that orgy scene to look forward to if I don't.

My Server is Too Secure

My server is too secure for me to update it from home. I seriously need to upload my content from a specially-prepared computer with about a thousand gigs of RAM and a $90 FTP client or else the server doesn't even want to talk to me. Obviously this causes scheduling conflicts, so from now on I'll do weekly archiving on Newtrul.com and leave daily content here.

About five years ago, I swore I would never have a blog. Well, there was that one time I created a Xanga account to troll my brother, but that's neither here nor there. I also had a short-lived journal based on my Pirates! file. I can't remember where that was hosted, exactly. The point that I am laboriously trying to reach is that I don't intend to make a real journal out of this. Some kind of content every day, a couple of quick comments, and I'm off to bug someone else. Sort of like Japan Time, but without the mass of planet Earth increasing due to its population having shat bricks when confirming that a furry blue rodent will indeed be punched in the face by Super Mario.

Well then, I suppose it's time to get to work.