With the script done I’ve begun dabbling in some concept images and pushing myself back into drawing and painting. So to tied us over till summer I thought I’d post some concept stuff from time to time. I’m not the greatest digital painter so its fun to learn the craft and have some subject matter to explore. SPOILER – There will be some sea creatures in the next story. Not sure if the Giant Viper Fish will make the cut but it’s a creepy looking fish and suits the idea.
First off – its been a while and things have been moving along nicely but there hasn’t been anything too visual to report. But in the last couple of weeks the slow gears of my marketing machine have reared 2 reviews! Which is awesome. They are constructive and spot on in there impressions. Please check out their sites when you get a chance. I think it is easy to loose site of just how small the comic community can be when Hollywood starts playing with the bigger entities.
Comic Crusaders – Review
Primary Ignition – Review
It will come as no surprise that Hold Fast, Leviathan! was meant as an open ended stand alone. It really has a “dead sprint” pace and was always to be more adventure and action than character building. First and foremost, I wanted to see if I could pull it off and see it to the end. And of course, what the response might be. Since both of those questions have been answered, it has become a launching point for the next story.
Speaking of story, the first major arc is completely written. After creating thumbnails and a few pages of art before actually having a complete script, I realized I was getting ahead of myself. This has always been my Achilles heal. Patience is not something that comes to me naturally – I dive in and start the process without pacing myself for the entire journey. For me this has lead to many unfinished projects – “Captian V Space dog” 🙁 – Top Images – Finished a couple of pages thumb-nailed about 9 pages and they have sat that way for a number of years… because I thought I could figure the story out on the fly. Bad Idea.
Its taken decades to realize and I still have to remind myself to slow down and be patient.
I had to do a lot of research regarding deep sea diving and underwater habitats to help flesh out the ending. While fuzzy animals underwater can stretch the reality of what of humans have to go through to live and work under the sea, I did want a point of reference. Salvage of the SeaStar (SotS) has gone through 3 major iterations.
My process for storytelling is fairly simple. I like to initially outline my story in broad strokes then ponder different sequences and themes that I want to add. I think their is a balancing act between pigeon holing a scene you desperately want versus the idea of the sequence and how it may fit more organically in the story. The drawback to the latter approach is it takes time. I have to step away from the story for a couple of days and come back to it with a fresh perspective. And that take patience. I wanted to be much further along but without the proper plotting of the story I think you set yourself up for writing yourself out of corners. In this case the actual Salvage operation has gone through many rewrites to avoid just that. No specifics just yet though!
Generally, SotS expands the world, while pushing deeper into V and Sam’s relationship. Their backstory is hinted at a little bit but with Salvage of the SeaStar, I wanted to establish their working relationship and banter in more depth than we witnessed in the first story. Also, just how awesome they are together as a team – in or out of the water.
Okay I know if isn’t much of an update much thats where I stand. As I get into more rough pages I’ll start posting some preproduction stuff. Never thought I’d spend so much time on What Captain V wears when she isn’t on the clock…
Hindsight is a double edge sword. Its easy to be critical of my own work and kick myself for a few things that I should have executed better. Sometimes its best to walk away and chalk it up to experience but in this case I always knew I needed a better Logo for the cover. The logo and font slowly evolved over the release of the webcomic. Each page of the comic was slightly reworked for social media image formats and the title was long and designed to react with the image beneath it. The whole idea just got in the way. So, as I start to spread the word about this project’s existence to different outlets that might “bite,” I figured I better put my best work out there and make no excuses. So a little surgery was necessary. The cover was not a drastic change but it definitely feels more dynamic and the DEEP DIVE 5 title does not look like an after thought.
One other page has always bothered me. Its actually 2, because its a double page spread. I’m not sure how it slipped through the editing process but it’s fairly glaring. Once V and Sam rescue the whale, we turn to a double truck with the whales jumping out of the water happy and free. No problem with the main panel. Captain V’s inset panel is the issue. She is looking up off the page – bad. You want to know what she is looking at but there is a disconnect as you assess the page. I was probably looking for a strong diagonal layout so your eyes went from V to Whales to Sam to Tentacle. But you look at the main panel first and see the whales then go to Captain V and then to Sam so it doesn’t work. By rearranging the panels I have a distinct triangle layout and it keeps my visual information tight and connected. I added the net to help justify my reconstructing the image to include both above and below the water line. It also serves as reiteration of the dialogue. I suppose its debatable how strong a layout this new version is but it assists the story better and that is what tips the balance for me.
In the next story, my main antagonist is wealthy and a bit of a private financier. What he’s financing and why, is the big question that pushes the story – so no reveals on that here. But!- He does have his own float plane. I knew a while back that I wanted to derive the character’s transport from a WWII era PBY Catalina. My grandfather was in the Coast Guard during the war and was part of a PBY crew stationed in Greenland.
I played around with a few variations with the wings and tail but always kept the main fuselage close the original plane. I finally settled on additional rudders on the rear stabilizers and a glass ball enclosure on the forward tip of the plane (Stole it from a Mil mi-24 Hind).
It doesn’t play a huge role in the story and is really just there to ferry characters to and from. But it was an important personal nod to add it to the story. The script does acknowledge its older vintage and hints at some arctic operations they were used for in the past. Not sure that will lead to anything for a future story but it certainly helps world building.
Page 20 is up! I have finished penciling the first 2 pages of the next story and well onto the third. More info on the second story is coming soon. A couple more weeks and I’ll start teasing it with a bit more detail. Also the people over at Best Webcomics have posted an interview if you are so inclined. Its quick and a bit tongue and cheek – LINK They also gave me my first real press and quote “Great art & Story, a must see!” So Thank you Best Webcomics! They have a great database of webcomics out there and tend to have solid advice for creators. Its a good site to follow and bookmark.
Last but not least I have the remaining Inktober sketches. Time actually got pretty tight here this week as I stepped up my production with the next story. It didn’t leave to much time for more involved Inktober endeavors but I managed to crank out a few more and stay on schedule… almost. Thanks again everyone. Now that I’m in full production mode I’ll try to post a little bit more about my process. I have a few tricks from photography that I apply to my comics once they inter the world of photoshop. They might be handy for some people so I’m happy to share. Until next week!
It has been fun burning the candle for Inktober and I’ve enjoyed playing around in this world without being held to any certain story or timeframe. And I might be getting better at using ink. Its taken me until todays entry to sort of let go and try some different approaches. I tend to be very heavy handed with my pencil and my pen but I’m starting to play with some subtlety with lines and I like where its going. Here are the last weeks worth of Inktober sketches.
Thanks again for following along!
