The Last Day of Rain Update: 15th of March 2024
A version of this post was originally published on the 15th of March 2024, in a private newsletter to my Kickstarter backers. I’m now making all the updates available to the public, so you can see how I create my comic books.
Hi there, and Happy Friday! ☀️
This week, I have been focusing on inking the chapter. This is the part of the process that takes the longest, as the lines will be the final ones that make it to the comic. They also need to be made in a way that speeds up the colouring stage.
Since working on the previous chapter, I have studied the process that animators follow and am applying some of their ideas to speed up my workflow. I’m doing all the characters first and the backgrounds at the end since those can sometimes be repeated throughout multiple panels. It’s all about efficiency; no need to draw the exact same thing over and over again!
Here’s my favourite panel so far, where Carol tries to work out how to fix an implant. When you draw your characters a hundred times, you start to develop love-hate feelings towards them, so the best remedy for me is to make them engage in funny poses.
And yes, she’s not holding that tool properly because she’s so focused on the screen that she can’t see what she’s doing.
Here’s a sneak peek at the full page, before adding backgrounds, colours and text:
This is the scene where Carol and Art meet for the first time!
Next week, I’ll give you an insider look at the map of Shiba Town, the 3D model that I created to visualise the different neighbourhoods, and hopefully a few more previews. :D
All the best and see you soon,
- Claudia