The Young Gods #1: Page 2

One of the biggest problems I have when it comes to digital art is that no matter how good the computer I'm using is, or how good the software I have is, I always seem to test the technology at my disposal right to its very limits. And sometimes beyond.

The script for this page called for three panels. Panel one is an aerial shot of the sity, no problem. Panel two is a shot of "The Chariot" (the Young Gods high-tech jet thing) in the sky...again, no problem. The description for panel three simply read, "Paladin, Impact and Juice can be seen at the controls of the Chariot." So...I load in the model of the Chariot, then the models for Paladin, Impact and Juice, and pose them at the controls. Then I click "Render" and the system freezes. Sigh...

Of course, the end result is better, now instead of one panel, which didn't really work because the three cockpits of the Chariot are too far apart, we have the triptych you see here. I think it looks great (yeah, go me!) but it took a whole evening to get right...because the three panels had to really work together as one image. So, whereas this page was going to be finished last night, it's now gone 2am on the following night and it's finally done. Still, this is one of the biggest differences between the original version of #1 and this new version - I'm taking more time to get it right.

I've had some great feedback from page 1 already, feel free to post some comments on this page, I love hearing what people think.


In other news, I've just said "Yes" to doing the art for a forty page one-shot from Visionary Comics Studio called Project H.E.R.O. It's quite a daunting project and will really stretch my abilities as a digital artist, but it's just too good an opportunity to pass up. I've pointed out to them, though, that it will take me a long time to produce 40 pages, and I'm just waiting to hear back from them as to wether or not I should go ahead with it. Of course, that will slow production on The Young Gods up a bit, but anything that raises my profile as an artist will only serve to help The Young Gods in the long term. The goal is still to have YG#1 ready for the Bristol Con (assuming I can find somewhere to stay...but that's another story...) and that's looming ever closer. Now if only I could win the lottery and quit work, I'd have enough time to get everything done then...