Day 68: word on the street

Change of scene and of course, introducing more characters  (Anybody keeping count of the supporting cast  If you have, let me know how many I'm up to, cause I'm afraid to count.) These two handsome fellows are Tiny and Everest (after the mountain, not the pup...who is also named after the mountain, I think...)

Now, I did not have a chance to post yesterday, so I figured I'd better make this a little interesting. As such, here's a little bit of an explanation of how I ink. I have posted a few videos showing different panels (here, here, here and this one expands on the previous one. And this is a slightly longer one (5min) with a voiceover), but here I'll try to explain it. 

Below you see how I first "rule" all the background. I don't worry so much about keeping it clean or exact. It's more about getting all the lines in and doing my best to keep the perspective correct (always a challenge). I also make sure I use thicker lines closer to the reader and thinner lines further back. 

I then clean up the lines and add some details. Most of the detail work is done freehand to counteract the hard ruled lines. I always feel like calling it quits at this stage. I mean, who needs characters...really...?!? 

That being said, at the time of pencilling this page, I asked for some advice on whether or not I needed the background buildings, especially as there is a lot of dialog in this panel. A good friend of mine, (whose name, in an attempt to avoid sounding like I'm name-dropping, I will leave out (Mike Collins, whose list of credits is WAY too long include)...) pointed out that everything always looks better with backgrounds. 

Now that I have established the scene and made sure the background works, it's time for the characters. I always try to do the outlines of the characters first, again to make sure you can clearly see which character is in front of which and that they stand out from the background. After that is the fun part of  filling all the details and presto, panel is done. (Minus lettering and coloring, of course...)

Any questions or comments regarding my process, please let me know. 

If you want to learn more about Jon Pay or Gus MacDugal, there are three comics available on ComiXology. 

(Jon Pay, PI and All supporting characters ™ & ©, C. A. Aabø, 2018.)