Reflecting on how the project went, tools I used, and what’s coming next
Last week I wrapped up Lost Ship, a sci-fi comic I had been working on since September 2018. It’s my third finished comic, and I leveled up quite a bit while working on it.
I have been reflecting on the project and how it went as I figure out what’s next. Here’s a look at the making of Lost Ship.
Continue reading “Lost Ship Retrospective”Why I decided to redo my hand lettering with a font
As I have been wrapping up Lost Ship, I began to worry about the legibility of the lettering in the comic. My lettering has improved over the last year, but some of it is a little rocky.
So I decided to re-letter the comic with a font. It’s incredibly important to me that people can read the comic. While the lettering lost a bit of character in the move to being a font, I believe it’s a worthwhile change because it’s much easier to read.
A look at the ship, character, and emblem designs
I’ve been working on Lost Ship for the last few months, and it’s nearly complete (woohoo!). It’s a sci-fi comic about a small crew that explores the unknown parts of the universe.
All that’s left to do is print the project and release it out into the world. Before that happens, I thought it’d be cool to share a bunch of concept art from the pre-production phases of the project.
At the time I started the project, I was really into drawing different ship designs, which is what led to the initial idea for the comic.
The final designs varied a little bit from those initial ships above.
Trying a new step where I make a med-fi pencil mock-up after doing thumbnails
I’ve been working on a new 28-page comic called Lost Ship over the last two months, and it’s been enjoyable to work on a project that’s pretty small in scope. It’s about a small crew that explores space to try to discover new things.
Continue reading “A Look Into the Process of Making Lost Ship”
A four-page sci-fi micro-comic
I made this little comic called NINA over the last few weeks as a way to get back into drawing page-sized comics traditionally and experiment with some new tools. It’s inspired by Blade Runner and Tsutomu Nihei’s Blame!. It was drawn on 9″ x 12″ bristol with technical pens. I added tone in Clip Studio Paint. I hope you enjoy it.
How it’s been going and my aspirations for the next year, plus a collection of my art from the first year
I started making comics seriously a year ago in September 2017. It was an intentional change from exploring the world of filmmaking with the hopes of being able to tell visual stories entirely on my own. I can’t believe that a year has flown by. I’ve been enjoying the process of making comics and growing as an artist. It’s been slow going at times but ultimately rewarding.
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:
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:
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! 🙂
My experiences and the outcome of attempting to make 24 pages of comics in 24 hours
On Friday and Saturday I participated in my first 24-Hour Comic Challenge where I made 24 pages of comics in 24 hours. It was a heck of a challenge, and I’m happy to share that I successfully completed it!
I documented my experiences in the video above.
The result of the challenge is an action fantasy comic called Lavender, which can be read free online.
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”
I’ve been wanting to do a 24-Hour Comic Challenge for a bit now, and I’ve got the date all set. I’m going to try to make 24 pages of comics over 24 hours on June 22 and June 23.
It should be a great way to push myself to work faster and hopefully learn a lot.
I’m not doing it on the international day in October because I want to take on the challenge sooner, and I’m also not going to go for 24 consecutive hours. I’m planning on taking 8 hours to sleep. I’m not into staying up all night, and skipping a night of sleep will really throw off my life balance.
My employer, Big Cartel, has an Arts & Service Hours program where we can use some time to work on personal projects, volunteer, or learn new skills. I’m using some of my hours to take on this challenge.
I’ve got a little over a month to prepare. I’m feeling a little nervous, but also really excited.
Brett Chalupa's Journal 