Page Five Finished! Second Story Complete!!!

Well, I finished lettering page five of issue two, so I'm done with that story! Not much I can show without spoiling the end, but how about this panel? Dino has an idea!

 

Actually a good bit of the last page focuses on her and has little or no dialog so the page was relatively easy to do and had the quickest turn around thus far. It wasn't planned to be an easy page, but it is sometimes nice to coast over the finish line after a long sprint.

And so after 13 year I can FINALLY say the second story for College Follies is done! Well, the story is. If it was 2000 and this was still a back up story, I would be "done done." But since this will be released as its own short issue digitally I'm not quite done yet. I got the cover, title page and backcover done up front, but there's still the matter of the letter column, which I'll be doing a teaser for issue three on. So I've got one last image to create for this issue that I'll be knocking out this weekend, announcing the first completely new story in the series since 2000!

And then I've also got to look over the pages, make corrections and do some other odds and ends before it's complete. So still a little bit to go before shawarma time (or however I'm celebrating this time).

And so I'll leave you with the first panel I drew when I started the work to finish this story, which is now complete...

 

Just eat the damn fries already!

 

While I still got a little work to do to wrap up the issue, I will say it's good to finally have Dino walk out of the exit of Super Happy-Mart. It took a little time to get there. but it's been worth it.

Page Five Colored!

Page five is colored! Almost done with the story, just got to letter it. 

Designing Dino

So before I wrap up the second story, I wanted to show my original designs for Dino.

With Stickboy and Psychoboy, I was going for funny looking, exaggerated characters. For Dino, since her character is more normal and grounded, I wanted the design to reflect that. Yes, I've said that normal people look boring, but it can also be a lot of fun to capture the likeness and essence of a person in caricature. So the design is based off my ex-girlfriend. Here are my early attempts...

Yeah, not that great. I don't why, but I don't like glasses with rounded bottoms on my characters. I was debating whether to go with doing a caricature or maybe try an intentionally cartoonish, humorous hair style with the curly hair.  The design in the bottom right corner was a Charlie Brown swipe, since Dino is essentially grown-up Charlie Brown in this story.

Obviously I want with a straight caricature, which I refined in this next page of designs....

Caricatures are challenging. but this one turned out okay. The shorter hair and her full figure gives a unique look among my characters. It also makes it a challenge to draw. It's more difficult to capture feminity in a character like that. It's far easier in someone like the skinny, hot female cashier in the story. Most comic characters tend to have perfect, toned, muscular bodies, not because comic artists are pervs but because it's easier to draw (though some artists are still pervs). I actually originally drew the story with Dino skinny. Not sure why, since no design I have of her was like that, but I eventually corrected it.

Dino doesn't appear that often in my plots. Stickboy is more often teamed up with characters that lend themselves to more outrageous stories (like Psychoboy) as more of my stories lean in that direction. However, very few supporting characters get their own solo story, so I guess it evens out.

Most of my supporting cast won't appear for some time since I can only put out a few shorts a year, so it's good that one of them got their moment in the sun early on.

Page five inked.

Page five is inked. Since it's the last page I'll show one panel so as not to spoil anything.

 

Inking Page Five

Currently inking the last page of the second story!

Page Four Done!!!

So page four for issue two is done. Since it's so close to the end of the story, I don't want to give it all away, so I'll just show you this little bit....

The nameless cowboy cashier is based on my real ex-girlfriend's ideal man being a cowboy. I'm sure there's at least one working at every department store. You'll have to get the comic once it's released to see what transpires between these two.

The page was much faster to put out. There was again a lot of stuff repeated between panels I could just copy, since it's just a few characters talking against a fixed background and foreground. It gives it a very animated feel as you move between panels, which should translate well to guided view as a digital comic.

Next up, the final page for the second story, as we get to see...Dino's lunch break!

Page Four Colored!

Finished coloring page four last night. I'll be lettering it today.

Coloring Page Four

I'm in the middle of coloring page four for the second story. It's going quickly and I should be able to finish the colors tonight and wrap up the page tomorrow if my work schedule permits.

Page Four Inked

Finished the inks for page four of the second story. I'm going to have to color it later in the week.

Still Inking Page Four

Had to work all Friday so I'm not as far a long as I'd hoped I'd be. I should be able to at least get the inks done on page four this weekend.