Morning lovelies,
We had a good meeting last Wednesday regarding the overall progress on the book Jingle Squad & as I think I’ve mentioned before it’s a real tonic being able to discuss your work with like minded folks, although, like minded might not be the right description more of a similar mindset, but with new perspectives & ideas that they can drop in, things you (I) may have missed or simply hadn’t thought about.
It’s highly recommended to anyone working in any field really, that constructive conversations can really push your work forward that little bit further.
As I’ve stumbled my way through these past 15 or so years, at least that’s the rough timeline since I made a more ‘serious’ attempt at making comics ( like a lot of us I’ve actually been chipping away at this since I could hold a pencil), I’ve developed the ability to recognise when I’m happy with a panel or not? Sometimes it’s noticeable in the form of wrestling with the drawing over & over until the time comes when you suddenly take a left turn & completely change it, only to find that the new version of said panel was screaming at you from behind the mediocre version you’d spent hours trying to make it fit (square pegs, round holes)!
Suddenly it makes sense.
That’s not to say I grasp it every time though. Some of the time you find yourself ‘quite’ happy with a panel but something still doesn’t feel right about it, you can’t help feeling it could be…better.
This zoomed in shot of a skyscraper was swapped out for…
…a much more dynamic angle, leading your eye down towards the street.
I should mention that this particular catch was just one of the VERY useful catches made by team jingle during our Wednesday meet.
As well as having some sound adjustments brought up about your work it’s also very important for yourself as a comic book artist to recognise that when around 15% of your rough thumbnails/ pencils have a makeover or slight tweak, there’s the remaining 85% that is on course.
That’s a big chunk of panel decisions that you’ve made that others have agreed work & look great!
At the time of writing this I’m approaching the halfway point on the inks & its hard to pull back on the small details that I should hold onto until after the colour stage, I’m still trying to be mindful about what you should or shouldn’t leave out of a panel & I’m sure as the years go on I’ll notice that more & more.
I’ve also found that when working on a collaboration or pencils for hire, your own creator owned projects jostle on the back burner reminding you they also need revisiting soon & that some of the new things you’ve learned ( & are still learning ) will also bare fruits when you do?
It’s (Jingle Squad) certainly made me want to revisit INCOMERS OF THE BLOATED GOAT, I’ve been aware for sometime that the version of Incomers I currently have (practically finished) is nowhere near the version I’ve got going around my noodle so I’m hoping to at least get a rewrite done over the coming months which will recycle a lot of what I do have so it won’t be a complete re start!
Well, I’m off over to my bro-in-laws for a roast this afternoon so I think I’ll wrap it up here.
Go steady.
Rory.