Cover

Here is the finished cover for the comic. I think the logo could be better but it kind of works. I was trying to capture the feel of the old X-Men logo. I also think that the cover could be stronger. I was already too committed to the lines to completely change it when I decided I wasn't 100% happy with it. I should have had a few more options in the rough stage before I moved ahead. I don't like that the heroes are kind of small in the back and I wonder if it's clear enough who the heroes and villains are. If i had to redo the cover I would make that more obvious and have the team take a more central role in the image.

18-24 inks

Here are the latest pages without the balloons. Likely further changes to come as always!

I think the later pages in the project have a much better balance of black and white but the style I've worked in has evolved since the first page - at least to my eye. I will make a pass through the pages before finalising to try and make it all more consistent in terms of quality and style but I have to wonder if anyone else will even notice. 

One thing that has bothered me about working this way compared to what I did on the Lost Legionnaire is that the hatching is much less deliberate than on that project. There are lot's of wonky lines and intidy parts. I never know if I am obsessing over something like that needlessly or if it actually would make a difference to make each stroke deliberately. I don't have the time to do it any different anyway. It might be something to keep in mind for future projects as I work on improving my inking.

Pages 1-24 Inked

This is the 24 pages inked and with balloons in place. I've made various edit's to earlier pages since last posting. 

I have just under 3 weeks remaining to complete the following

• two extra wrap up pages
• colours for pages 1-24
• A front cover
• interior cover designs
• logo design and credits
• and last changes to the art.

Needless to say I am feeling the pressure. 

I will tackle the remaining pages and colours first and focus on the rest after that. I want to make sure the main body of the story is complete.

Page 17 Inked

Inks for page 17. I really like this page. I enjoyed doing panel 1 and I think the page layout is quite different from anything else in the issue. I've also noticed I've been using more blacks and "lighting" in the last few pages and it's really putting them a level above some of the earlier pages. 

The Pages So Far

15-16 Inks

Here are page 15 and 16 inks. 10 pages to go for hand in. I am really starting to feel ambivalent about some of the earlier pages. I think I will go through them all and re render some parts before colouring. It doesn't feel consistent when i take it all in at once at the moment. One of the main things is a lack of strong blacks in earlier pages. I'll make a pass through the pages soon and rectify these things.

I also noticed several panel layout patterns I keep defaulting to. I want to stamp that out as much as possible going forward. I tend to use a wide middle panel frequently and I noted before I used the 3 panels along the bottom of the page a lot too. I know there are only so many layouts possible but I don't want to be doing things the same way out of habit. 

12-14 Inks

Inks for 12-14. Should be able to get 15 completely done tomorrow and the 2/3's milestone , page 16 on Tuesday. I am trying to keep the panels mixed up to avoid repeated page patterns. I noticed on 3 separate pages already I have 3 uniform panels running along the bottom of the page.  I want every page to be individual. Another thing to look out for going forward.

On page 12 I have little to no backgrounds. Partly I thought the dialogue would take up more space and partly because  I didn't think it was overly relevant having established the setting in previous pages. Looking at it now though I think maybe I can add some more detail to panel one just to anchor the page in that scene. I'm fairly unhappy with page 13. It's a bit bland but I think I got enough variety of shots in there. I might go back into it and open the border on panel 1. Both of these pages feel like they are missing the "one key image" that draws the eye.

I've added an extra panel here at the start. I'm not totally sure it's needed but as I mentioned in a previous post I think I need to be wary of how close my "camera" is.  I am trying to spend more time drawing the environments and establishing a sense of space in the pages.