Cynical Annplum

i spent a lot longer on those first three pages than i expected. i wanted to replicate the feel of the original comic, and i realized very quickly just how detailed jack lawrence's original inks are. my two big takeaways were this: there were backgrounds in almost every shot, and lots of hatching that made everything feel scuffed and lived-in. luckily, i'm very detail oriented myself, so i rolled up my sleeves and got to work.

the first page wasn't so bad. i had fun figuring out how to replicate a screen-tearing effect in my lineart, which as you may have seen was beautifully enhanced by @frogswamp-mp3's rendering. the background in the second panel was my biggest hurdle, even with all the reference material, which i was able to finally overcome with the help of a 3D model i whipped up to sketch over. when i started, i was still primarily using krita, and i was going to attempt my inks in clip studio to try to get more used to the program. well, it worked a lot better when i was expecting, because i fell in love and moved over to CSP for good before i'd even finished the first page. i was hitting a groove and already feeling accomplished.

but when i set out to tackle the second page i ran into a pretty big problem: this was taking WAY too long. i probably put 20 hours into this page. yes, there were a lot of characters, yes, i was trying to include backgrounds in every panel, and yes, i was experimenting and getting creative, but if i was going to survive this project (let alone hit my deadlines) i was going to need to figure out a much better way to spend my time while maintaining a satisfactory level of detail and quality. i resolved to prioritize being strategic and realistic with my goals, cut my losses, and celebrated the fact that i'd never have to look at this page again if i didn't want to once i was finished. despite the grief, i'm proud of it, especially the aerial shot at the very end. i'd never really drawn anything like it before. my favorite bit is the cable.

fun fact, almost every scrapnik has a name (that we could find) and i learned the name of every scrapnik that i drew. it was partially out of necessity. but also, when you spend 20 hours drawing a character, it's hard not to develop opinions about them. the only scrapnik on this page without a name is the drill-headed one, which our team ended up calling "Spinel." this page was where i fell in love with Junio, the little guy that runs to join sigma. he's my favorite scrapnik :)

my time-saving efforts become apparent in page 7. i stop including backgrounds that aren't strictly necessary, which is easier since we've already seen enough of the room to be able to fill in the gaps. the one instance i'm a bit regretful about is the fourth panel, which is just a little too open to match the style of the rest of the comic. but alas, there was simply no time. and honestly i'd had enough of drawing that room at that point!

my fun fact about page 7 is that it has another favorite panel of mine, which i didn't know i'd like so much until it was colored. i was experimenting a bit with the shadows in the second to last panel, and when the colors came in i was blown away. the end of page 7 was a relief because it meant i would get a break from drawing so many robots and i'd finally get to draw our antagonist! there's some shorthand i developed for his design that i hadn't started using for this first panel, which makes it kinda funny to look back on-- i wonder if anyone will notice.

if you read this far, congratulations, you've earned a look at my pencils and thumbnails :) that's all from me for now-- i'll be back with more inks in 2 weeks!