EOS 12: Makes it all worthwhile.

So, now we have introduced the full cast. I suppose I should put pictures up in the BIOs. i hope you like it. That couch drove me nuts just to get it acceptable.

EOS 11: In Case of Emergency, Break Glass.

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR FULL SIZE

OK, its 3:30 in the morning. To do an engineering "B" size (11x17) full color comic takes me about 16-17 hours of work. (Probably more when it comes to planning.) Since I want to finish my PHD at some point (Which is the bare minimum a full time job),  I had to make a hard choice. I had to choose between far simple comics or a much lighter update schedule. I pretty much decided that I love coloring these things way too much to cut down on the complexity. Therefore, I will be dropping down to one update a week, which will be on Tuesday.  As I become faster at this I might add a second update at a later time. I will post special installments on Fridays if I have anything to post.

I am kind of looking forward to this. It will give me more opportunities to think about each comic. However, the stories will develop much more slowly, and I am working several in my head already.

EOS 10: Show no fear.

Here is the post. It took way too much time, and I need to sleep tonight.

EOS 9: Enter Sylvia

For those of you who know me, you know that I have published stories about Sylvia, before. The Stories can be found here http://www.blueprintlm.com/issues/blueprint-2011.php on pages 28 through 31. If you poke around the sight some more you will notice that the release event for the latest issue, featuring a brand new story with Sylvia. is being held in less than 24 hours. If you come out to the Duderstadt Gallery on North Campus (see my other blog if you are uncertain as to which school I attend) from 5-7PM on Tuesday March 13th (technically today) you can see come to the release, and we can discuss the literary merits of whatever you desire.  

As for today's comic I think the pure digital imaging is coming along rather nicely, but it is far from perfect. I am still doing computer text. I will keep that up until I am confident in my ability to hand letter with the tablet. As far as styling goes I played around a bit with this one. No apologies, and I actually get to bed before 2 on an update night.

EOS 8: Are We Near Joshua Tree?

I told you things would be a change of pace. Next week will start a more cape style story for a few weeks.

So, I caved and bought a Wacom bambo, so this is my first all digital comic. I wouldn't call it caving since when I bought it I was half skipping half running across campus.
I did the lettering using a vector graphics program mainly because I am not sure how I want to do lettering just yet. I still want it to be by hand, but I have at least one cool alternative in mind.

Lets just say, my main focus was just being able to use the new toys. So I am willing to admit that the graphics suffered. That being said, I have always hated drawing cars. Airplanes are so much more straightforward. Maybe I will give everyone an airplane.

EOS 7: Arguing is terminal

Yes, I finally used a character's name in the strip. I figure it was kind of a necessary point. I think it is funny that one of my first strips is taking a shot at one of the strips I admire most. www.questionablecontent.net I think the main reason why I am writing this is not because of QC, but because there are unquestionably countless strips based on the exact same theme, and I am not one of them.
This wraps up this little storyline for a while. I will be embarking on a much more ambitious storyline starting next week. I think Friday's post will be a change of pace.

Artistically, the first thing you are going to think when you see this is that I finally gave in and used some computer text. The truth is that only used it because I needed a computer type font. I kind of have the mentality that, if I am not good at something I keep doing it until I am good. That means there will be hand lettering.

I also gave up on colored pencil shading. The scanner just does not pick up the colors properly. This means everything is going to be inked now, well maybe. It is helping me develop a particular style of coloring. You may have noticed that I was developing as I colored the image. Also, I downloaded some free art programs so I could actually clean up some things in the image. The hands and mouths look much better than what I inked. So, anyway. I think I may switch to doing my comics entirely digitally, for two major reasons and one minor reason. The first major reason is that pens will never have the pallet I want. The second is that inking mistakes cannot be undone until the image is in the computer. The minor reason is that eventually pens will start to cost me more than a tablet would. I love pens, but I a tablet would certainly be more portable too. Now I just have to remember how to not have the vector drawing program screw up my text boxes. (Seriously, they were not supposed to be that big.)

EOS 6: Because we all want to do this.

Yep, it took me six strips before this whole thing devolved into a catfight. We're real classy here. Don't worry. Nobody gets hurt. Besides, who hasn't wanted to rip the glasses off the face of a hipster?
By the way, I hate the carpet they have in that building, and for some reason, I get a perverse pleasure out of coloring it.

I'm sorry that it is not as clean as last time. I honestly did not have a good idea about a lot of things in the strip until I started to ink it for the second time, never a good idea. I'm taking tomorrow off. I suppose I could use tomorrow to redo the strip, but I think I will need the mental energy to actually do what I intend to do for Tuesday. That is right. This little storyline is done for a while with the next strip, Although, I would hardly call some aspects of it resolved.

By the way, that poster in the background in panel 2 is important, sorta.