Lunar Space Colony – Brett Chalupa's Journal

Launching Lunar Space Colony

My new comic launches today, with a new episode releasing every Tuesday

Today’s the day that I launch Lunar Space Colony, my weekly sci-fi webcomic. The first three episodes are available to read today, and I’ll be releasing a new episode every Tuesday.

The story is about Bri, a young engineer who leaves Earth to work aboard a massive self-sustaining colony that orbits the Moon.

It’s my take science fiction and slice of life.

Read Lunar Space Colony

You can also read Lunar Space Colony on Tapas and WEBTOON, both of which have dedicated phone apps.

I can’t believe it’s already July and that LSC is launching. I’ve been working on it every day for the last few months, and I’m going to do my best to stay ahead and hit the weekly release schedule. I hope you enjoy the comic and stay tuned for where the story goes.

From Thumbnail to Ink to Color

A peek at my process for iterating on a comic panel

When making the art for a comic, I do a rough sketch, letter the text and sound effects, ink over the rough sketch, and then add Color.

Here’s what a panel from Lunar Space Colony looks like in the rough thumbnail stage:

And then after inking:

LSC Panel Inked - Fran's Couch

I’ve tried skipping the rough sketch to see if I could speed up my process, but then I end up lost when trying to figure out what goes where at the inking stage.

Once the inking is done, I go in and add color:

LSC Panel Color - Fran's Couch

Lunar Space Colony has a pretty limited color palette since I’m still learning color and need to work relatively quickly with the weekly deadline.

That’s the evolution of a panel from sketch to ink to color. I’m sure that evolution will only get better and better as I improve as an artist.

I’m going to start publishing Lunar Space Colony in only a few days! On Tuesday, July 3rd, I’ll publish the first three episodes and then publish a new episode every Tuesday after. I’ve hit my stride with the project and am enjoying working on it. I’m excited to share it publicly soon! 🙂

Lunar Space Colony Launch Date and Preview

How I’m going to publish the project and a sneak peek at the first episode.

I’ve been steadily working away at my next project, Lunar Space Colony. It’s a slice-of-life sci-fi story about a woman named Bri who leaves Earth to work on the colony. It’s a longer story that I’m going to serialize weekly online. My plan is to launch the first few episodes on July 3rd and then release a new episode every Tuesday after.

Continue reading “Lunar Space Colony Launch Date and Preview”

Lunar Space Colony Character Designs

After a bit of a break between projects to focus on developing my skills, I’ve started Lunar Space Colony in earnest. I decided that I’m going to publish the project online in weekly episodes as vertical comics instead of print sized pages. Printing my last project was a good learning experience, but I want to instead focus on accessibility and publishing regular chunks of the comic.

Also, with this change, I started drawing digitally. When I started making comics last September, I set out to focus on using traditional tools because it seemed like a nice way to take a break from the computer. After taking some time to think about it, the power and ergonomic implications of digital started to really appeal to me. I don’t have space for a drafting table or a setup that would serve me best for traditional art. But I do have enough space for a tablet. I’m going to write more about this switch soon.

After taking some time to get used to drawing digitally, I began Lunar Space Colony by designing the characters.

LSC Character Concept Art - Bri