The Darkest Hour 32-35

Brilliant! Google makes me look like an idiot. First I announce my next update a fortnight in advance, then I don't make it. It wasn't for lack of trying either. Somehow my old computer and Google are conspiring against me: Google Accounts doesn't load, and via my blog I can't sign in either. Blogger also appears to have eaten my replies to comments. Terribly annoying :-(. I cleared my browser's cache, and I can sign in now, but I still can't post from my own computer - Google says it can't make a connection, which is weird as I have no such problems for any other sites. It's a mean, nasty boycot intended to smother my creative urges! I won't stand for it. If needs must, I'll shop for a new computer - one that can run Photoshop, for example.

*grinds teeth*

Fine. I'd better post while Blogspot lets me.

At this point in the story, I have added a slightly comical interlude - it's a way of combating the gloom. It's such a horrible tale I'm telling; fortunately it's not from my own imagination but from a 13th-century cleric's :-).

As usual, click the small versions for readable pages.

Quick update

A very short, and very quick post before I leave, just to announce this:

Next update of The Darkest Hour on Saturday 11 July.

There will be four pages!

(I can promise that because I've already drawn them :D...)

The Darkest Hour 28-31

Four pages this time instead of three! There are two reasons:
1) it would have been awkward to break off after page 30;
and
2) I wanted to do a little extra because I won't be posting for two weeks in a row. I will be travelling and won't have access to a scanner.

I'm feeling a bit apprehensive about the coming pages because they will contain battle scenes and horsemen... Not easy.

Meanwhile I'm re-reading Vagabond and trying to study Takehiko Inoué's way of using the space of a small manga page. I keep getting distracted by the story, though :P.

The Darkest Hour, 25-27

This week the story came rather more fluently than the last. In terms of drawing, page 25 was actually intended to look quite different from the way it does now, but as usual the perspective went spectacularly wrong and so I had to make everything much simpler to avoid the page looking utterly and completely inept. ...Yes, well. Page 26, then, is basically Talking Heads in Funny Places, but then sometimes I do need to pass on some information at short notice :-). Will be made to look right in the final version, never fear. Page 27, finally, is rather more pleasing to the eye, or so I like to think. I used pencils instead of ink, by way of experiment. I don't intend to start pencilling the storyboard from now on. It's just that I have been thinking about rendered pencils for the final version of The Darkest Hour, and I used this page as a kind of try-out. It doesn't have any backgrounds or anything, but it does allow me to assess what clean pencils might look like scanned, and what the contrast can be like.

Please let me know what you think!

As usual, click for readable pages :-).

The Darkest Hour 22-24

I don't know why, but this week's pages were difficult. They will need some work for the final version. Story-wise, I think they are mostly okay, but graphically... *sigh*

Next week better?

Click for readable text.

The Darkest Hour 19-21

So! As of last week, the story's important actors are all in place. We are getting to the core of the tale. It's not a particularly nice one. I'm having a great time drawing it, though :-).

As always, constructive criticism is most welcome!

Click the images for a readable view.

IM IN UR INTERNETS, EFFEMINISING UR HEROES

More celebration of the coming Ambiorix exhibition in Tongeren, intended especially for those who think of the Eburone king as a moustachioed, muscular, axe-wielding sort of bloke. Not in my book, ladies and gennelmen ;-).

This one painted itself and just went miraculously well (in my terms). Try a close-up (by clicking) if you want to see more detail.

In this one I like the paint, which looks rather as I hoped it would look; the hair colour, which for once is not yellow; and the gold bracelet, which actually looks like a gold bracelet. For the prosecution: my token long nose is really too long a nose, so dear Trix looks less handsome than he should.

That's it for this rare non-weekend post. And I'm wondering what else the Eburone muse may bring in the near future. Dare I hope for a short story?

The Darkest Hour 16-18

I'm back! As predicted, I was very unproductive in Istanbul, but I suspect that sooner or later I will end up doing a picture inspired by my trip - no doubt something involving Ottoman costume ;-). The present and I, we'll never get along *g*.

Let's retreat even further in the past than the Ottoman empire and see how things are in post-Roman Britain. Gorlois and Ygraine have just said hello to King Uther, who is celebrating the success of his latest Saxon-bashing spree.

As always, click the images for readable dialogue...

By all means keep sending me concrit! There's little point in telling me my grasp of perspective is lousy, because I already know that, but all other advice is very welcome ;-).

In other news, the Gallo-Romeins Museum in Tongeren is open again after having been closed for a thorough renovation. It truly is a very beautiful museum and well worth a visit. And guess what? In September there will be an exposition devoted entirely to my chouchou Ambiorix! I'm very excited :D. To celebrate, I'm throwing in a video *g*.

The Darkest Hour 13-15

Small announcement:
Next Sunday I will not be able to post. I will be in Istanbul for five days (yay!! I have been wanting to go to Istanbul for so long!). I'm only leaving on Saturday, so I should be able to draw during the coming week as usual. That week's pages will then be posted on Sunday 24 May.

I always take art materials with me when I go on a trip, but I'm sad to say that I hardly ever produce anything worthwhile with them :/. If I do manage to draw/paint anything decent, though, I'll be sure to post it here :-).

Now for this week's pages. I drew with mixed pens again, mostly because I just feel comfortable sketching a pose with my small pen and then going over the good lines with the brush pen. If I were to use a brush pen for the final art, I would, after all, sketch in pencil and then ink with my brush pen.

Plot-wise, we are finally getting to the heart of the matter :-).

Click the images for readable views! And constructive criticism is very much appreciated...

The Darkest Hour 10-12

This week's pages were drawn entirely with a brush pen. I am still figuring out what style to adopt for the definitive version of the comic, and brush + ink is one of the possibilities. I am not used to inking with a brush, but I do find that many of the artists I like use this technique. Brushes seem like an antidote to stiffness - though I know very well that such a quality also depends on the artist and not necessarily on the medium :-). In any case, I thought I'd try my hand at using a brush pen. I gather these pens are much despised by the real adepts of the brush, but seriously, how practical is it to take a brush and inkwell on the train? Plus, even the professionals admit that they ruin many a Kolinsky. I'd like to get an idea of what kind of results I get before I start molesting brushes à €20 each ;-).

Anyway: today's digest. Click for a readable view!

I am thinking that it might be best to start drawing the definitive version as soon as a story arc is finished. That means that as soon as The Darkest Hour has been completed, I will start on the final version. The good news is that doing so will not interfere with my storyboarding, which always happens on the train, on weekdays. I think that storyboarding during the week and doing neat pages during the weekend may prove to be stimulating. On the one hand, I'll see where I am headed, and on the other, I'll see the story take a definite shape.

So I would ask you to please keep giving me feedback. Am I going to quickly? Too slowly? Are the characters too vague? I want to fix as many mistakes as I can, because I will be investing all my spare time in this story. I want to have something to show for that.

Thank you for reading!