A Refusal to Compromise

I'm pissed off.

Every day I find myself fighting to get motivated into drawing the very comic that I want desperately to finish, and when I actually manage to post something, I piss and moan incessantly about how it's not up to my standards. I spend hours awake at night thinking how to resolve this. Do I go back to pencils? Do I post rough drafts and finish them as I move along? How can I avoid the mistakes I've made time and time again?

Well, thinking about it isn't good enough. I need to bleed on to something before I can put some fire back in my veins. I need practice. I need space. Let me have my fun, give me my freedom, lend me some time. I'll be putting out a few one-shots, turning my entire process upside-down and inside-out. I'll be examining a number of different styles and stories. I'll be finding out what works and what doesn't. And when I've grown sufficiently, I'll give these characters and events, over whom I have toiled for years to design, their proper treatment.

This is not a cancellation. This is not a reboot. This is the first step. I will post one more time, exactly fifteen days from now. Yes, on April first, but know my resolve when I say that this is no joke. Then, I'll post here for the last time, but I won't be going anywhere. Thank you for your time, and your patience, but for now I'll simply say as always, "Expect it later."

V1 C1 P7

Finally found my damn flash drive. This has been done for a few days.

I suppose I am just over thinking matters, this coloring would be fine if not for the shitty backgrounds and inconsistent light sources, but I've put myself in a bit of a corner in those regards by having this entire chapter take place in an environment that I had not conceptualized in the least bit. I'll have to wait for the next chapter to work out my muscles in this area since I don't want to create continuity errors the size of Saturn's moons by altering it just yet. Since I've drawn and redrawn designs for Fahl's Harbor over and over again despite my immense hatred of drawing architecture, the results should pay off.

More Coloring Woes

Man, I'm really in a bind here. I'm going about coloring all wrong; it shouldn't be as shiny and colorful as it's been, but when they were more muted I had trouble setting apart the characters from the background and it looked too noisy. I'm probably overthinking this, but right now color seems to be a huge waste of time. I know that in the end, all of this experimentation will pay off, but MAN it's a pain in the ass.

I've thought about going back to black and white. I mean, I was getting pretty good at that. But With some of the designs I've created with color in mind, taking away the color would hurt them. I mean, how would I show how unique Icxthys is? Suddenly he becomes "That thing with no outline" instead of "That solid black-and-white thing with no outline." One is a LOT easier to recognize immediately. Also, cool scenes that I had envisioned, like Ace peeling off her outline, causing her color to fall out and making her look like Icxthys would be impossible. Is her SHADING supposed to splatter onto the ground?

I guess I'm just ranting here, but I had to get it off my chest and explain why this chapter is taking so damn long when it's so damn short. But while I'm here, I may as well ask any so inclined what they believe are good examples of a simple coloring method so that I can learn from them. First of all, I know I need to lighten up on the fucking saccharine, but "soft" outlines seem like a pretty good idea.

So, to sum it up, please help me figure out how the hell I can make this look better.