…in which the Captain acts like a stubborn old pill, and he pays for it.
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This week I've been preparing federal and provincial grant applications. I shouldn't complain about the process, because it's great that these opportunities even exist at all. So I will not complain...
2021-09-10 19:55:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Jillian Tamaki posted insights on how she chooses which tools she uses throughout the graphic novel-making process. Read the w...
2021-09-08 18:45:31 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's what the Patron Acknowledgement pages will look like, more or less. There will be revisions, once I receive the final form submissions.
Please take a look through! If you see anything that bumps you, please let me know.
I'm really torn on that typeface. The stubborn part of me ...
2021-09-03 20:32:37 +0000 UTC View Post
In which the safety of the ship is cruelly, selfishly given greater priority than the birthday wishes of one young girl.
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"Istoria" is not a real island! "Archipoli" is not a real town. You cannot go there. But! Archipoli is inspired by the town of 2021-09-03 17:37:50 +0000 UTC View Post
In which our heroine absolutely must know what's going on.
Fun fact, and potential spoiler: Dad shows the captain a precious object. I'm planning for that to be an important plot point later, and for it to generate a big decision for DD. BUT I am also over here chuckling to myself ...
2021-08-27 16:31:27 +0000 UTC View Post
In which our heroine re-encounters thoughts of her most hated nemesis.
I think we've only hinted at this in the past. Maybe the books have mentioned, "oh, DD hates the stuffiness of grand balls and the manners etc. etc." That's all true, but it's dancing that she hates the most. It...
2021-08-20 17:08:56 +0000 UTC View Post
Just a brief reminder: all patrons, please fill out this form if you...
2021-08-17 02:36:00 +0000 UTC View Post
In which we discover that our heroine has a vivid imagination.
As an aside, I very much enjoy the line, "I can climb wherever I like… I am an English Lady."
And of course, considering how heavily pirates are built-up as villains, do you think Pirates will end up actually be...
2021-08-13 18:05:37 +0000 UTC View Post
In which our heroine reveals a very optimistic view of England.
(That "Pirates" page is the kind of thing that would be considered indulgent by the part of me that has been instructed toward storytelling rigour, but I think that part of me is wrong, and this page is right.)
Ed...
2021-08-06 19:53:49 +0000 UTC View Post
Let's go!!! Let's burn through my yearly quota of exclamation marks!!!
If you're up for a fun game, keep an eye out to see how the text changes as time goes on! (I mean as different versions of the same pages are posted/published).
More pages next week! I'm hoping to have Chapter One ...
2021-07-30 21:35:09 +0000 UTC View Post
I was asked to join the lovely folks at the Cult Classic Callback podcast for an episode. ...
2021-07-21 23:23:20 +0000 UTC View Post
Every day, we're getting closer to finished pages.
Colour prep (flatting) for Chapter One is finished. That went quicker than I anticipated. So let's look at what's next for DD4:
( ^ Colour prep (or "flatting") is the process of painting flat colour on separate layers, which has an effect similar to using masking fluid for a watercolour painting. It makes it easier to colour, lat...
2021-07-07 20:12:04 +0000 UTC View PostPlease tell me how you would like to be acknowledged within the pages of Delilah Dirk Four!
Here is a link to a Google Form that will collect the information I need.
The acknowledgements will ...
2021-06-30 20:00:46 +0000 UTC View Post
Just a reminder: as always, these posts include spoilers. But you knew that, and if you were really worried, you wouldn't be reading these posts.
Above, you can see the basic sort of steps that a sheet of colour keys goes through. In this case, the colour progression almost...
2021-06-25 23:25:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Oh man, I was nervous to start colour work, and the big first splash page (ha, "splash page") was the first one I dove into (ha, "dove into"). I'm super happy with how it turned out! I love it when a plan comes together.
In other news,
2021-06-18 22:30:02 +0000 UTC
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That first image above, with the three increasingly-grimed-up DDs, I had to share, because I really like how it works. In previous books, I don't think DD got filthy enough, considering all the dirty business she got up to. I'm aiming to correct that.
You can also see some additional Greek-...
2021-06-16 23:05:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Chapter One is all lettered-up, and I've shared three of my favourite pages above. I'll share a lot more as I move into colouring. In the meantime, some notes:
Literary References
Prior to lettering the first page above, the Captain and his ship did not have names. I ...
2021-06-09 22:39:18 +0000 UTC View Post
Hoo boy, you know that feeling when you look the same word too much and it stops even looking like a word? Yeah, that's-a-me.
I'm proceeding to letter pages (in Photoshop)!
One of the benefits / curses of making a comic by yourself is that the lettering process is also the re-writing ...
2021-06-04 17:25:16 +0000 UTC View Post
[ ^ The same page, lettered in Photoshop (on the left) and Clip Studio Paint (on the right). ]
Chapter One of DD4 is all scanned, and I’ve finished laying out the pages with their panel borders (...
2021-06-03 21:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
I have a stack of comic pages drawn on paper, and I need to get them into the computer, where I will clean them up, complete the typography, and colour them. This is how we get from...
2021-05-30 21:42:34 +0000 UTC View Post
Here we are! Now that the first ten pages are done, the line art for Chapter One of DD4 is complete, all forty-something pages. Here, we learn…
There is an adventurer aboard this ship. Brave and bold, with eyes full of the spark of exploration. Her name is Alexandra Nichols.
She is ...
2021-05-26 23:03:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Folks following along since the start of DD4 will know this is the first time I'm using ink to… ink my comic pages. Previously, I just drew real clean pencil lines, the way they taught us in animation school.
Now, I'm kind of lazy, and I like to keep things clean, so I have naturally grav...
2021-05-21 22:56:29 +0000 UTC View Post
Above, I've shared the last two pages of Chapter One, and the first two, all of which I drew this week. Why finish them out of order? Why not start at Page One on day one? I touched on it briefly in a previous post, but I was recently reminded how non-obvious this choice might be, and I don’t t...
2021-05-14 23:19:59 +0000 UTC View Post
…in which a disgraced captain is rowed ashore. Young Delilah had warned him about the hidden rocks, but he didn't listen. Delilah's mother tells her, "you'll need to get used to that." Naturally, this makes Young Delilah unhappy.
The town prepares a hostile welcome, and the Mayor makes it...
2021-05-07 21:48:13 +0000 UTC View Post
I don't include the panel borders on my paper line art. The reason could be filed away under "idiosyncratic pursuit of consistency" or "lunatic devotion to minute details," or both, depending on the day.
Panel borders help us read comics, distinguishing one panel from another. I could do it...
2021-05-05 16:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostI have just sent Patreon direct messages out to the first three members of the TRAVELING COMPANION tier asking for details and reference photos for the cameos they would like included in DD4. Seems like a good time to air out some thoughts on how this might work.
Please enjoy this smattering of inked pages from chapter one of DD4. Whoof, I thought I had posted more of these than I had! It’s been a busy few weeks.
“What am I looking at,” you ask?
Spoilers! The Nichols’ ship diverts to avoid the suspecte...
2021-04-24 00:22:50 +0000 UTC View Post
Would you believe me if I said I was terrified of this panel? Either way, it was true, and perhaps because of or despite that, I am super happy with how it turned out. (I wasn’t sure how to render the landscape; what mediums to use where, and whether to consider lighting, which I ended up not d...
2021-04-14 22:38:50 +0000 UTC View Post
A selection of recent pages, all inked-up and looking good.
In the last page there, you’ll see an alternate re-draw for DD’s face. Today, when I was prepping pages for next week (see: tightening up the pencils where they’re ambiguous or lazy) I found two panels that looked wrong, for ...
2021-04-09 23:11:52 +0000 UTC View Post