commentary

Technical stuff:

The major characters are inked with a Micron 02 pen (.30mm). Then they're given an outline with a Micron 08 (.50mm). What this does is it gives the characters a slightly heavier outline, which helps to unite the lines that make up a particular character. It's a bit hard to see here, but believe me, it's there and it works.

This goes back to my days in high school, when my art teacher (Nick Digioia) was working on a children's book for a group that dealt with ADD or some other condition that made it hard for children to focus. He wound up using thick thick black lines as outlines around the main characters to focus the reader's attention.

I've done some strips without the thicker outline -- I can really tell the difference between them, the actual impact the strips have.

Likewise, when the strips have a background, the background is saved as a grey color (anywhere between 30% to 65% grey). There's a feeling of place this way, but there's nothing to really overwhelm the foreground.

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