Oh hello, Dear Reader.
As you can probably see, I've been working on the first of the two "cover" images. It's a work-in-progress! I'm happy with it right now, but I'll have to take a fresh look at it next week and see how it holds up.
The goal is not necessarily to have an actual book cover, but I do need som...
2023-03-23 23:53:33 +0000 UTC View PostLettering for Chapter Three of PRACTICAL DEFENCE is underway, which is exciting: it's the first time the comic really comes together to look like a comic, I think.
First, though, this video popped up for me on Youtube the other day, offe...
2023-03-17 14:02:00 +0000 UTC View Post
This week's theme is "making do with the technology at hand."
I've put the same images in the Patreon Image Viewer (above) as in the body of this post. If you want to be surprised ...
2023-03-09 20:33:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Join me in Happy Town this week, where we look at…
As ever, I've put the same pages in the image viewer above (if you're reading this on the Patreon site) as well as below (for ease of talking about them,...
2023-03-02 20:07:01 +0000 UTC View Post
This week we pick up where we left off two weeks ago, inking the last few pages of Chapter Three then looping around to ink the first pages last! (I get better at drawing and inking as I go, and I want the first pages to be the best.)
As ever, I've duplicated the images above in the body below.
If y...
Sit down across from me for this week's talkative update, featuring…
This is a public post in line with my belief about making ostensi...
2023-02-16 19:10:59 +0000 UTC View Post
THIS WEEK: a busy week! I've been throwing "Reels" at Instagram, drawing the ins and outs of boats again (hoo boy), and looking after a toddler who is a foot taller every day, it seems.
(As ever, the images above are repeated below, just for ease of reading/viewing, and the inked pages are the last item in this post, in...
2023-02-09 21:45:13 +0000 UTC View Post
THIS WEEK!
As ever, I've posted the Chapter Three images above AND below for your viewing convenience. But first…
I am rapidly approaching inking the end of Chapter Three, wherein we see a pirate flag unfurl, but I still haven't chosen a flag to use.
Please help.
Some background: real pirate flags, it turns out, were boring....
2023-01-25 19:56:00 +0000 UTC View Post
As ever, the images above are also posted below (with commentary), with a buffer of other fun business inbetween to defend against inadvertent spoilers.
This week:
This week,
I put the same images in the "image viewer" above as are below, just in case you ...
2023-01-12 20:22:01 +0000 UTC View PostHappy New Year!
In this first update of 2023…
A simple request:
Vote for the cover which MOST makes you think, "I NEED TO READ THAT."
That's the criteria.
Here are some bigger images, but honestly? If it's a really good cover, it will work ...
2022-12-30 19:05:01 +0000 UTC View Post
This never happens. Sure, statistically, it does happen, and it snowed a whole bunch last year, but still: this never happens!
If you are not familiar with the Pacific Northwest of North Amer...
2022-12-22 19:11:01 +0000 UTC View PostWhile drawing pages of Chapter Three this week, I had an experience that really emphasized the importance of visual reference. And I already know visual reference is important. Here, then, is a small story about what I think is an interesting discovery about drawing, designing things for comics, and story-telling. 2022-12-15 18:56:00 +0000 UTC View Post
A few weeks back I posted a video showing—in great detail—the process of thumbnailing a four-page sequence. Here are the "pencils" that I've drawn based on those thumbnails, plus a great compositional trick I learned from a perhaps-unlikely sou...
2022-12-08 19:45:00 +0000 UTC View PostFriends, please let me share some simple checklist ways to help a comic look as good as it can. These items are low-hanging fruit, little quality niblets ready to be snatched up, free points to be scored, and they're all mistakes I've made in the past. I offer them in a spirit of comradeship, locking my arms with yours as we ...
2022-12-01 19:34:01 +0000 UTC View PostThis week:
I've been thinking about what PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY will be like as a book-book, so I got out some of my Delilah Dirk editions to see what their sizes would tell me. What is most appealing? Is bigger necessarily better?
At the start of PRACTICAL DEFENCE, I felt that if I was going to invest my time and energy...
2022-11-17 18:22:01 +0000 UTC View Post
In the previous video I looked at the laying-out of four pages of dialogue-heavy character interaction. Here's the companion video, looking at the laying-out of a fight scene.
The heart of this video is the idea that if you (and I'm assuming "you" is a comics-making person) are going to take the time to draw a fight seq...
2022-11-10 20:04:01 +0000 UTC View PostThis week:
As of this writing, I've made a complete pass through the next chapter plus the one after, all in thumbnail form. I'm going to leave it ...
2022-11-03 14:23:00 +0000 UTC View Post
One of the pieces of advice that I've heard given to beginning podcasters is "record three episodes, then throw them away and record your real first episode." This is ostensibly so you can learn your weaknesses and discover your shortcomings, then start fresh with the awareness necessary to overcome, minimize, or combat those...
2022-10-27 18:22:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Notable Jackass, Provveditore Vignelli, offers to host a dinner and a ball to celebrate… well, to celebrate himself, certainly, but also nominally in honour of Alexandra's approaching birthday.
Since it's more of an unpleasant announcement than a question or an invitation, Alexandra wonders how she can make t...
2022-10-20 18:24:00 +0000 UTC View Post
The Provveditore has returned to Archipoli, and Alexandra (on a rooftop, conferring with a Winged Wisdom-Keeper) is in the perfect place to overhear his interaction with Nikos. The caped blowhard seems thoroughly perturbed by the presence of a British sailing vessel in his bay.
This sequence features one of my favourite...
2022-10-13 19:22:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Last week Alexandra was low enough that she sunk to spending time with the midshipman. This week, she goes to see what the church has to offer her. Plus, she's in the right place at the right time when the governor of the town returns.
(As always, to read completed pages, 2022-10-06 19:35:01 +0000 UTC View Post
We've just learned that both Alexandra's mother and Katerina knew what was in store for Alexandra as an English Lady while Alexandra, herself, did not. What's a girl to do except pick up a handful of rocks?
Now look, I know it probably seems like I say this about every sequence, but this one (and the n...
2022-09-30 12:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
This week: I sing, you sing, we all sing for Wanted Things.
This whole passage may be sung to the tune of… uh… to the tune of… oh, I don't know. Someone call Alan Menken!
I'm so excited to finally share this section. This, as much as anything in this book so far, is a product of the policy of "let's keep it ...
2022-09-22 19:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
After her parents shattered her childhood dreams and—to twist the knife (so to speak)—gave away her beloved practice swords, Alexandra roams Archipoli looking for her friend, whose reassurances will certainly right all the world's wrongs, Alexandra believes.
(To read all the Patreon posts with finished pages, simply...
2022-09-15 19:10:00 +0000 UTC View Post
In which Alexandra discovers an ornate weapon, which her father assures her is—despite its appearance as a sword—not a sword. This is the second time we have seen it. What is its significance? And what could ever make Alexandra forgive her mother for what she did with her swords?
Tying into the themes of fa...
2022-09-09 13:01:04 +0000 UTC View Post
In which Alexandra vents her frustrations against her mother, who was evidently unaware what sort of effect her plans would have on her daughter.
(As always, to read the other finished pages, simply browse the DD4 tag.)<...
2022-09-01 19:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
