The March Toward Issue 2 Begins
in which our hero shares insights about page one, plus loads of cool news
Dear Readers,
Today, finally, I begin sharing bits and pieces of issue 2 of The Blood of Seven Queens. I’m going to give everyone a peek behind the scenes at how I made page one, then I’m going to offer up the first four pages to my wonderful paid subscribers as thanks for being extra-awesome.
But before we even get to that, I’ve got a few other super-cool things to share. The first is the full cover, which I first teased a couple weeks back:
The second super-cool thing is that you can sign up to be notified when the Kickstarter for issues 1 and 2 goes live. You may remember that I’m bringing the comic to that there crowdfunding platform as part of my efforts to expand the audience, and I promise some very nifty rewards for folks who back the project.
And speaking of expanding the audience, you can now buy digital copies of The Blood of Seven Queens #1 on Amazon or over on Global Comix—where its rubbing shoulders with amazing series like Invincible, The Boys, and Transformers, among others. In both places, you can read panel by panel on smaller screens like the one on your phone, which I think is super-nifty technology. And if you’re looking for the best possible deal, Global Comix has it for $2 instead of the $4 it costs on Amazon.
Silly Amazon demanding to make more money than me on my own damn comic.
You can also still grab a physical copy for $4 on my Ko-fi shop. Or, if you’ll be in Auburn, New Hampshire on Saturday, September 14, you can buy a copy from me personally. I’ll be selling books at the 31st Annual Auburn Day Duck Race.
Alright, so let’s talk a little bit about the first page of issue #2 and why it took me so damn long to finish it.
To begin with, the flashback scene which kicks off issue 2 is filled with more characters than I’ve ever attempted before. There are two main characters, five undead henchmen, and six human soldiers standing by to backup the hero if she needs help.
Spoilers: she’s going to need help. Sinister bad guys being all sinister, y’know?
I also decided to evolve the art style from issue 1, so that I can get closer to the traditional comic book look I’m looking for. For those who don’t know, every panel I create begins with 3D modeling, posing, and camera placement. That’s a lot of work in and of itself, though I’ve been perfecting my technique for years now. What I added into the mix this time was rendering the main subjects of each scene separate from the background, all so that:
I could more easily give the characters an inked outline; and,
I could decide separately about the level of detail I wanted in characters vs. background.
And the last thing I spent a lot of time learning during the production of this page was a lesson I can sense I’m going to be learning with every issue for a long time to come: I use a lot of words in my dialogue and narration, and I need to both A) work on using fewer words, and B) better plan for my verbosity while laying out each page.
I’m happy with how the page came out, but I definitely made it harder for myself than I needed to. Thankfully, I’m happy to report that things have gotten easier as I’ve moseyed along through the issue.
Alright. That’s it for now. Paid subscribers can keep on scrolling for a full look at pages 1-4. Everyone else, I’ll catch you back here next week.
Yours,
Chris
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