Here are pages 56 and 57. Click to enlarge. Right-Click to open in a new window full size.
I’d like to say these pages were easy but… well, I’m still not sure if they are finished. In fact all these back story pages have gone through so many revisions that it’s a wonder I’m even able to post anything. This blog has been one of the key motivations for locking things down so I’m grateful to all of you for reading and coming back expecting more. It keeps me on schedule.
So for example with these pages, at first Victuals was suppose to be a peasant at this part and so I gave him a hand woven bed and nothing special in his room. There was no crab claws in the right side at first either. Originally Victuals woke up to the dog’s warning and then noticed his room was trashed. The following pages were him running to the palace to see if the king was alright but that never made much sense to me and I kept coming back to it wondering how to make it work. I wasn’t planning on revealing a giant crab again until later but hey. So with the changes, I was planning on adding decorative decor to his room much like Cyrene’s room but somehow I imagine Victuals still being humble in his personal life. Plus, hand woven organic mattresses are the most comfortable. It makes enough sense to me anyway.
Now on the left side, I’m still a bit unsure. It seems to me like the SMASH sound should be above the crab hands so you read it first then move down to the crab hands and then to the broken door. I could always move the crab hands down a little to make this work. Let me know if I’m thinking too much about this. Or maybe I not thinking enough. I just like the composition like this with the middle of the panel a bit empty. Any thoughts would be well received.
Coloring Tutorials Finally!
The most common question I am asked is how I color my pages. I’ve been holding off for a while because it’s just too complicated to talk about in one post. Don’t worry though, I’ve been listening and I’ve been writing an 8 part series where I show my full process from the final line art to a finished colored page. There are going to be plenty screen grabs and videos of each stage of the process. I’ll even break down making your own textures and how to best prepare and use them.
I’m hoping to start the series in June on Thursdays if I can get it together in time.
The Lizard Man.
A few weeks ago I got a nice comment from someone named Jenny saying, “I can’t believe you’re writing about the Lizard Man. I’m from South Carolina (origin of one of the tales) and I knew people who took part in the Lizard Man hunt!” I commented back explaining that I made this all up before I ever heard of the Lizard People Conspiracy but now I realize I was talking about a completely different Lizard Man.
You see, there is a conspiracy theory that shapeshifting lizards rule the Earth and take the form of Presidents and high powers and you might catch one of them transforming into a lizard if you look close enough to bad quality video. Just look up Lizard People in Google and you will see how amazing some people are. This is what I thought Jenny was talking about at first but then I decided to do a Google search for Lizard Man and I was completely floored.
There is a whole other set of stories on the Lizard Man and parts are surprisingly similar to reMIND. There’s drawings and images of sightings and 3D models of a Lizard Man head. It’s like Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster but not as popular. Here’s a Wikipedia page about it. Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp. On the Wiki page it even talks about missing cats. That’s so cool! There’s plenty of other old sci-fi shows and comics with lizard type people that must have inspired the early thoughts of reMIND but this one was too similar to just ignore. I really need to plan a trip to Scape Ore Swamp when I finish reMIND. Maybe some specialty shops out there will buy a few copies of my book.
Then I really got to thinking. I need to make a tourist shirt for Cripple Peaks kinda like this one.
Hopefully it wont look as touristy. Thanks again, Jenny, for the comment!
Link Love!
I want to thank all the new webcomics who have taken the time to link to reMIND from their sites. You guys are really helping me out and I can’t thank you enough. Every new visitor you send me is pure gold! I have a few new comics I started reading while bored at work and I really need to add them to my links pages. Some I’ve already talked about in the past but recently I got an email from Travis Hanson who has a webcomic graphic novel called The Bean. I wasn’t expecting to spend much time on his site but it sucked me in and now I’m subscribed. Check it out if you have time. It reminds me of Bone by Jeff Smith but with more gritty art. Reading about Travis’ journey to make this book really hits home. Here is a page from his webcomic.
[EDIT] reMIND is featured on a Podcast!
I woke up this morning and got word that reMIND was featured on a Podcast called Deconstructing Comics. How cool is that! Listen to it here.
The crab looks more like a game render and it seems not to fit properly with the rest of your illustration. Also the red tones look a bit oversaturated to me.
It’s interesting you think the crab looks out of place. I put him in last and never drew lines for him. I kept wondering if it fit in or not and now I know. I’ll go back in an add the line art to match the rest. As far as the red tones go, this is really one of the first times I kept bright reds and even my wife said she didn’t like the bright red words but I ignored her like most husbands only to find out later that she was right.
Thanks for the honest opinion! Oh yeah, I spelled crab “grab” ha! I need to fix that too.
I like this page and i like the blog notes- the t-shirt pic cracks me up for some reason. Very cool.
Yeah it makes me laugh too.
As always, I am very impressed by the artwork. Since you are looking for critiques … I would consider having the positioning of the word balloons in the third panel reversed (have the dog speak before Victuals, maybe). Or maybe rearrange in the second panel so the reader can see the dog heading toward the window in the background as Victuals rubs his eyes. I think it wouldn’t hurt to have a bit more connection between those two panels. I agree with mt’s comment about the right-hand page. Of course, I offer my opinions humbly. It still looks amazing.
I never thought about that but it does make sense to reverse those balloons. Looks like I have a little list forming for things to fix on this page. Thanks for the help. It’s greatly appreciated.
Well the podcast was interesting – they had a lot of good things to say about reMIND which is fantastic. That’s a testament of your abilities, J.
I think everything looks great. Looking forward to the battle. :)
Hey man, Glad you enjoyed the podcast. It’s pretty weird hearing your comic talked about in detail by people you don’t know. It was crazy some of the things they were pointing out.
what a post!!!!!! :D
Thanks Jason. Love the new painting on your blog!
Your written part of your postings are always as entertaining as the art my friend!!
haha Glad you think so. I’m such a lame writer that I have to just pretend I’m writing to my friends and not think of it as going out to the world to see.
i can’t wait for the coloring tutorials. Thats really gonna be helpful for me. =)
<:D You made my evening! I've been swamped (pun intended) with finals for the last week and at long last, I'm settled back at home. That's insane, I've never heard of the Lizard People Conspiracy. In fact, I only heard about our Lizard Man a year or two ago (and thought it was a joke until a police officer/family friend said she was involved in the hunt). You're right, it is very much like the stories of the loch ness monster. There was a particularly interesting one I read online about how this family was driving home laughing about how they were in the Lizard Man area and then were suddenly attacked by this huge creature that was not a bear. (Not that bears would be in swamps but point being, it was larger than human size and swamps simply don't have those kinds of animals in them.) It's interesting for sure. I love to be able to claim that story as a somewhat local. :) I can't say that other than stories there's much around to see, but I'm sure there would be touristy fanatics who would love to read your comic!