You know whats funny? Is when you have drive and inspiration for a completely different project that will probably never see the light of day. But you know you really, really should focus on the project at hand. But you can’t because your brain keeps playing the super cool pieces and juicy bits from the other unnamed project. So you just sit at your desk, quietly vibrating.
ANYWAY
So, I finish the inking with the micron pens. She’s gorgeous, a beautiful masterpiece- I wish it could be done right here but alas and alack, I made the GREAT decision not to have this comic be in black and white and instead IN COLOR. Because comic artists are notorious for punishing themselves needlessly.
However, even though coloring is the longest step (the step that isn’t pictured is me staring at the wall and sighing loudly) its still a whole lot easier on my wrist and hands then penciling and inking- Probably because there’s very little pressure applied to the paper. Watercolor is a very loose medium, its like the sketch pencil of the paint world.
While I’m erasing pencil lines SOMEONE, (LOKI) decides my empty lap space is an invitation to interrupt my work (because you know my brain doesn’t do that often enough naturally). He then leaves- utterly disillusioned and offended- when he realizes that the eraser is not, in fact, a treat. And my pens and pencils are not, in fact, his toys to toggle with.
I use Copics to make sure I’m giving the characters the same skin tone across the entire comic. I Like alcohol based markers because they work really well with watercolor and don’t bleed. My concern with doing the skin tones in watercolor is that that the skin tones would gradually change over the course of the comic without me noticing. Even if I did have a reference sheet. Which would have been kinda awkward.
Flat colors! With watercolor its all about the layering, waiting for it to dry, layering, waiting for it to dry, getting a cup of tea, layering, dipping my paintbrush in the tea by accident, swearing, getting a new cup of tea while waiting for the page to dry, then layering.
So here we have the original Pg. 200 on the left and the new one on the right. It looks a lot better, Whitney looks a little more concerned when she realizes Merman isn’t in the pool and she’s shielding herself from the onslaught of water in the final panel in a way that makes the water look more violent. Which is what I was going for. Hopefully.